KitPlus | Articles

Keeping the Show on the Road

There is long-established saying in the media business that, if something goes wrong, at least nobody dies. It is almost true unless you happen to be a TV producer suffering a cardiac arrest because your primary video feed has gone blank during a high-budget programme. First-line maintenance is usually in the hands of the user. If a device malfunct...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 10 September 2019

The Evolution of Audio Monitoring

Every user, production, environment, operation and application is different, meaning that universal tools simply cannot provide the versatility required by today’s customers. Audio monitoring continues to evolve as productions advance, with the need for multi-channel monitoring, configurable metering as well as the ability to adhere to the latest l...

Submitted by Stephen Brownsill

Published 16 July 2019

State of the Nation - If Winter Comes

Here’s an important fact that might get lost in all the noise of the moment. HBO’s Game of Thrones, which is relentlessly covered in the press as well as being talked about by its fans, is not actually terribly popular. The opener of the current (and last, thank goodness) series attracted a consolidated audience of about 3.5 million – that includes...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 04 June 2019

Video Tape recorders cannnot die.

In its simplest form, Tape Archiving requires:- 1) Playback decks 2) Tape Cleaning Facilities 3) Tape Baking Incubator/Oven 4) Ingest Platforms 5) Storage This article concentrates on what is often described as the weakest link, namely 1) above i.e. the Playback Decks and what could be another weak link, namely 2) i.e. Tape Cleaning Facilities. I h...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 02 November 2017

Dick finds the truth out there

The Oxford English Dictionary has determined that its word of the year for 2016 was "post-truth". We\'ll skip over the fact that it is, clearly, two words. Post-truth is, according to the world\'s best lexicographers, "an adjective defined as \'relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opi...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 15 February 2017

Matrox VS4-based Multi-channel Recording System

October 2015 Skehan Communications, a leading video production and transmission company provides multi-camera HD video production, webcasting, satellite uplinks and other unique services to broadcasters, Fortune 500 companies, professional associations and government agencies. Though based in the Washington-Baltimore region, their projects have tak...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 November 2015

Tapeless Workflows, MAM and Archive: Back to Basics

by Mike Shore Issue 103 - July 2015 The broadcast industrys appetite for file-based workflows existed long before the technology required to implement them was available. With the emergence of cheap capture hardware, the continually decreasing cost of storage and the ever-increasing capabilities of inexpensive computing power, the transition from t...

Submitted by Michael Shore

Published 01 August 2015

Keep memories safe at RWF

by Martin Bennet Issue 103 - July 2015 RWF World founders Gwynne Roberts and Sadie Wykeham have embarked on a 30-plus year mission with a single purpose: to tell the world about human rights violations through the eyes of its survivors. Through the course of their journey, these truth-seekers have informed the world of late 20th-century injustices...

Submitted by Martin Bennett

Published 01 August 2015

An end-to-end solution

by Kevin Shaw Issue 102 - June 2015 BBC Studios and Post Production (BBC S&PP), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC, provides an end-to-end solution for what we refer to as post-post-production. Our services include preservation of media in our Front Porch DIVArchive and an end to end service that includes digitization of film and tape, quality cont...

Submitted by Kevin Shaw

Published 01 July 2015

Big rush with little fuss at new Birmingham broadcaster

by Neil Hutchins Issue 99 - March 2015 Big Centre TV is the latest of the new wave of UK Local TV stations, having launched on 28th February. But behind the calm and successful appearance was a frenzied period of activity, as Ofcom had only confirmed their licence just three months earlier. To get from nothing to on-air in such a short timescale wa...

Submitted by Neil Hutchins#

Published 01 April 2015

The fast-moving business of providing pop-up editing suit...

by Danny Carri Issue 97 - January 2015 Video editing is moving at a fast pace, with video, software and server specifications all changing with the seasons. For production companies who know what they want, hiring an editing system for the duration of a production is an efficient alternative to hiring the services of a post production facility. We...

Submitted by Danny Carri

Published 01 February 2015

Do Not Be Cheap With Your Data

by Kieron Seth Issue 94 - October 2014 Everyone used to leave a Betacam or DVCPro tape on the shelf for years. It would probably work fine a decade later (as long as the VTR still worked). Now production companies are stacked high with external hard drives full of archived video projects and media files. It\'s a recipe for catastrophe - apparently...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 November 2014

Making the invisible visible

by Charlie Watts Issue 92 - August 2014 September 2014 will see a brand new communication and televisual experience unleashed for University of Portsmouth students within the newly opened Eldon Building. Catherine Harper, Professor and Dean of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) Faculty, and Gary Bown, Principal lecturer, have both made it t...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 01 September 2014

Automation...

by Robert Lisman Issue 87 - March 2014 What is broadcast automation and why is it important to me?Broadcasters and media operations face the complex task of managing all kinds of hardware and software, such as switchers, video servers, graphics systems, routers, newsroom systems, craft editors (NLEs), VTRs, tape formats and file codecs. Broadcast a...

Submitted by Robert Lisman

Published 01 April 2014

The international worship market: shoot, compress and del...

by Kieron SethIssue 81 - September 2013 The worship TV market in the U.S. is big business, with an output that rivals many international broadcasters, both in terms of quantity, production values, audience size and commercial success. John Hagee Ministries leads a 17,000-strong congregation and broadcasts to the USA on 160 TV stations, 50 radio sta...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 October 2013