December 2009

Transcription

December 2009

TVBE_Dec P1,8,10,11 news
9/12/09
11:44
Page 1
Inside: Acquisition Special I, World Cup Preview, DTT Analysis
TVBEUROPE
Europe’s television technology business magazine
DECEMBER 2009 £5.00/€ 8.00/$10.00
www.tvbeurope.com
World first for DVB-T2 HD
TX Analysis
The UK has become the first country
in the world to benefit from
comprehensive upgrades of its
digital terrestrial television (DTT)
transmission network to DVB-T2.
Adrian Pennington examines the
momentous move
The DTT rollout, which began
in the Northwest, will over the
course of the next year deliver an
increase in capacity of 67% to the
BBC’s Multiplex B, creating the
space needed for the HD transmissions (and other advanced
services like iPlayer) of the
BBC and commercial PSBs. This
improvement comes on top of
the 50% capacity saving that
comes from the adoption of
MPEG-4 in place of MPEG-2.
It’s hoped that half of the UK’s
9.9 million DTT-enabled households (those which have Freeview
as their primary set) will be able
to receive the new service by the
time of the World Cup in June
although Richard Lindsay-Davies,
Digital TV Group director-general
won’t be drawn on actual take-up
of Freeview HD receivers.
“The run in to the World Cup
is a period of enormous consumer
buy-in but it doesn’t make sense to
run promotional campaigns for
Freeview HD, even regionally,
without at least half of UK
households covered,” he says.
The DTG has been instrumental in the development of
the specifications for a DVB-T2
platform (D-Book 6 published in
March) and the establishment of
a rigorous test and conformance
regime for DVB-T2 receivers.
Coverage will roll out regionally
in line with DSO rising to 60%
Tapeless and competitive: TVI journalists record commentary at their
desks on incoming feeds of live football matches — a journalist innovation
Broadcast Enterprise at
Televisão Independente
Richard Lindsay-Davies, Digital TV Group: “We know that there’s very
limited terrestrial spectrum available in many other countries and you
have to use that resource in the most efficient way”
in 2010 and to 98.5% when
switchover is completed in 2012.
In addition, the BBC has
made arrangements with Arqiva
to build a small network of five
additional transmitters which
will bring HD services to certain
key metropolitan areas ahead of
their planned switchover dates
[see Kevin Hilton’s related story,
page 10].
London will benefit from the
end of this year, with transmitters
for Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham and Leeds/Bradford due to
be on-air during spring 2010.
However receivers, whether integrated digital TVs or new STBs,
will not be available until the new
year as manufacturers have yet to
finalise their production plans.
“There will be a natural
replacing of established models
in the market with new DVB-T2
models which will make Freeview
HD a fairly natural transfer for
certain parts of the TV sector,”
says Lindsay-Davies.
ITV and Channel 4 caused a
flurry of overheated press speculation in May when they appeared
to delay or even pull out of the
project. According to Channel 4
at the time, “Launching HD on
Freeview or Freesat involves
significant additional cost and
Continued on page 11
Acquisition Special 1
Once again, TVBEurope is the only
broadcast publication to systematically
track new developments in the
acquisition sector. Part One of our
annual Acquisition Special coverage,
driven by David Fox, looks at
broadcast, digital cinema, high speed
and budget cameras — plus the camera
prompter sector. —Fergal Ringrose
Section starts page 28
The Workflow
By David Stewart
Portugal’s leading commercial
broadcaster TVI (Televisão
Independente, SA) is one of the
broadcasters that was set up in
the wave of deregulation that
swept across Europe in the 1990s.
Since then it has been acquired
by the Media Capital Group
which is now in turn owned by
Grupo Prisa, the leading media
group in the Iberian market. TVI
has gone from strength to
strength in its own marketplace,
becoming the leading commercial broadcaster and ratings winner in the country.
“To increase its efficiency, TVI
needed to move to the digital
world where tapeless workflows
and digital content distribution
are possible,” says Monica Cañete
Palomo, head of Quality and
Monica Cañete Palomo: “We needed
to move to tapeless and digital
content distribution”
Project Department. “The main
objective was to produce more
content with the same resources.”
Content is something that
TVI has become very good at
Continued on page 8
ONE Company. ONE Direction. The Future.
POWERING
ADVANC ED MEDIA WORKFLOWS
broadcast.harris.com
TVBE_FP
3/12/09
10:33
Page 1
TVBE_Dec P3-P4 news
9/12/09
14:34
Page 3
TVBEU R O PE N E W S & A N A LY S I S
Up to 25 matches at Fan Fests in seven cities, by Adrian Pennington
FIFA confirms 3D World Cup
Sports Broadcast
As exclusively revealed in our
TVBe (12.11.2009) newsletter,
FIFA and Sony are to capture key
matches of the 2010 World Cup
for 3D viewing at public events
globally. It has not yet been decided whether coverage will be live,
nor is the nature of its distribution finalised.
Sony acquired the rights to
show up to 25 matches in 3D at
‘Fan Fests’ in seven cities including Berlin, London, Mexico City,
Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Rome and
Sydney. A Blu-ray highlights
video of the tournament will be
produced and distributed by Sony
Pictures Entertainment.
FIFA’s ‘Fan Fests’ are official
public viewing events at international outdoor venues and were
first launched in 2006 as part
of the official programme of
the World Cup Germany. All
64 matches will be broadcast on
giant screens at the locations
At the recent ATP Tennis event in the London O2 Arena,
Sky twinned Sony HDC1500s with 3ality active rigs
(including at public locations
in the nine South African
host cities) but it is not clear
whether the 3D broadcasts
will also be projected. Another
possibility is for select audiences
to view 3D broadcasts over Sony
displays such as its 3D compatible Bravia LCD due for release
in 2010.
Equipment for the 3D production has to be finalised but it
likely to feature pairs of Sony
high definition cameras. Around
30 rigs will be needed for the
tournament with six-to-seven rigs
per game. At the recent ATP
Tennis event at the O2 Arena Sky
twinned Sony HDC1500s with
3ality active rigs.
From February Sony will ship
a compact HDC-P1 HD camera
designed to be paired on 3D rigs
although suitable for isolated
point of view shots.
Tournament host broadcaster
HBS is in pole position to produce the additional 3D coverage.
If it wins the contract it will
look to hone 3D techniques on
some of the remaining 210
matches of the French Ligue 1
season, for which it is the contracted broadcaster.
HBS has previously experimented with live 3D covering the
2008 IIHF World Championship
in Canada and, last April, the
Ligue 1 match between Olympique Lyon and Paris SaintGermain for cable network
Orange. Both were produced
in conjunction with UK production and equipment company
Can Communicate.
Sirius set for W1 Project DigiTAG warns on DTT dilution
Snell’s Sirius 800 Series largescale multiformat router will
provide core video routing for
the BBC within the newly redeveloped London Broadcasting
House. Dubbed the W1 Project,
the restoration and expansion of
the BBC’s central London home
will consolidate radio, news, and
world service into a single facility
in the heart of London. A system
of Sirius 800 Series routers has
been purchased through the public procurement process.
The routers are being integrated as part of the second
phase of the W1 project, which
includes the addition of a brandnew extension to Broadcasting
House. Designed to be in harmony with surrounding structures and to incorporate the
latest technology, this spacious
broadcast centre will contain
one of the largest live newsrooms in the world.
Snell routing systems allow
engineers to mix and match signals — 1.5Gbps and 3Gbps high
definition, standard definition,
and ASI on fibre and cable interfaces, as well as AES and MADI
audio — within the same frame
and to add cards as routing
demands grow. Expandable to
1152 x 1152, the Sirius 800 Series
router also features redundant
video and audio crosspoints, a
wealth of multiviewer outputs,
and extensive status indicators
and reporting.
A simple touch-screen interface provides quick access to a
range of status and diagnostics
information. All this information can be linked to Snell’s
MCM system, enabling remote
access to the same information,
or through the MCM rules
engine for automatic rerouting
of signals.
www.snellgroup.com.
By Fergal Ringrose
Digital terrestrial TV forum
DigiTAG has called on European
and national regulators to guarantee the future of broadcast services
on the digital terrestrial television
(DTT) platform. DigiTAG is concerned about a report prepared for
the European Commission which
has called on European Union
member states to make the frequencies 790-862MHz in the UHF
broadcasting band available for
non-broadcast services.
DigiTAG cautions that this
could potentially have severe
adverse consequences for TV
viewers throughout Europe. In
many countries, the frequencies
in question are currently in use
for the provision of broadcast television services. The migration of
these services to other frequencies
would require significant investments to rework frequency plans
to find alternative frequencies,
solve interference issues, and
modify transmission and reception equipment.
Testing is currently underway to
determine how badly affected the
millions of television sets and set-top
boxes currently in daily use in homes
would be by the introduction of
non-broadcast services in the UHF
band, and early results are causing
grave concerns, said DigiTAG.
DigiTAG has recently issued a
position paper on ‘The Digital
Dividend and the Future of
Digital Terrestrial Television’
which examines in detail the possible impact of allocating the
‘800MHz band’ to non-broadcast
services, the cost of migrating
existing services to new frequencies, and the significant interference problems which may result.
The Position Paper also provides
further information on the introduction of new broadcast services.
www.digitag.org
CONTENTS
1-12 News & Analysis
1 HD world first
The UK has become
the first in the world
to benefit from DTT
upgrades. Adrian
Pennington reports
6 Success for ITBW
How do you marry
business systems to
actual content
management? The first
IT Broadcast Workflow
conference provided
many answers, writes
Fergal Ringrose
10 Terrestrial HD
The BBC and contractor
Arqiva have
commenced installation
of DVB-T2 modulators.
Kevin Hilton looks at
the DTT roll-out
12 Freelance spirit
Self-starting citizen
journalists and the
brilliant deployment of
small cameras were the
stand-outs at the 2009
Rory Peck Awards.
By George Jarrett
14-27 The Workflow
14 World Cup work
Host broadcaster HBS
and technical partner
EVS are planning on
taking the 2010 World
Cup to new levels.
Analysis by
Adrian Pennington
18 ITN digitisation
ITN Source is digitising
its film archive, with
the help of Ascent
Media. Adrian
Pennington talks to
ITN’s Asha Oberoi
20 Upgrade anatomy
OB provider CTV has
recently upgraded one
unit to incorporate
new technology. Philip
Stevens investigates
22 Sky Italia value
Sky Italia has made a
key investment in new
robotics for news and
sports in Rome and
Milan. By David Stewart
24 Sony R&D
Fast iterations in
application space are the
only way to go: George
Jarrett analysis Sony
Europe’s R&D operation
26 Sailing lane
Sunset+Vine have taken
on the camerawork for
the white-knuckle ride of
the Extreme 40 Sailing
Series. Dave Robinson
joins the crew
28-38 Acquisition Special
Affordability is the key
to the new wave of
high definition
cameras on the market
— our starting point for
Acquisition Special
Part I. As in previous
years, TVBEurope is
the only industry
platform tracking
new developents in
the camera space
from a European
perspective. David Fox
leads our coverage
www.tvbeurope.com D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9
3
TVBE_Dec P3-P4 news
9/12/09
12:57
Page 4
TVBEU R O PE N E W S & A N A LYS I S
NEWS
IN BRIEF
Ki Pro for mtvU
The post production team for
mtvU’s Woodie Awards
employed ten AJA Ki Pro
portable digital disk recorders
as part of a tapeless live-event
workflow that streamlined the
editorial process. The awards
show was recorded on
November 18, 2009 at the
Roseland Ballroom in New York
City and aired on MTV
December 4, 2009. The mtvU
Woodie Awards show used Ki
Pros as a tapeless replacement
for recording all nine live camera
feeds in addition to the master
programme feed from MTV’s
own remote truck fleet. mtvU
post production manager
James Cohan, technology
manager Jim Will, and engineerin-charge Gaylon Halloway
architected a workflow where
each Ikegami HD camera that
was attached remotely to the
production truck fed a Ki Pro
unit. The Ki Pros’ ProRes
recording allowed mtvU’s
editorial staff to remain within
their existing Final Cut Pro
workflow. This capability gave
them direct access to the Apple
codec, enabling the show to
move immediately into post
production with footage from all
cameras and making the
programme master instantly
useable to editors back at MTV
— all without touching tape.
www.aja.com
Ficus at Televisa
Televisa has transformed its
operations by implementing
broadcast business process
management using the Ficus
BPM system from Tedial.
Televisa already operates the
Tedial MPM media asset
management and Tarsys
archival systems, and they
work together to deliver real
operational cost savings for
the group. With Ficus the
broadcaster can customise the
way information and content
flows through the enterprise
based on its commercial
requirements, not the
limitations of the technology.
Ficus, which at Televisa is being
used to manage and automate
the way that commercials are
booked, placed, transferred
and transmitted, as well as
controlling the production or
acquisition of programmes. It
allows the broadcaster to
establish rules by which all
processes are fully automated,
ensuring that every
commercial booking is handled
with equal skill and accuracy,
and every programme is
tracked from commission to
final transmission.
www.tedial.com
4
Sky looks to merge
3D sport and gaming
By Adrian Pennington
BSkyB is research and developing
technologies to turn live sports
broadcasts into 3D interactive
games. The project has been conceived as an extension of plans to
augment Sky Sports existing virtual graphics analysis tools for
the launch of its 3D channel.
“The merger of live 3D sports
broadcast with gaming is the next
level,” Darren Long, head of
Operations, Sky Sports at BSkyB
told TVBEurope. “One of my projects is investigating how to convert
2D HD information into 3D in as
much realism as possible. We’re taking player tracking data and information about head, leg and arm
movements for playback in 3D.
“The important thing is to see
how we can do better analysis of
live incidents,” he said. “Despite
the fact that football is regularly
covered with 20 or more cameras
there are still instances of play
which cause debate perhaps
because a camera hasn’t really
captured it in the best possible
way. What’s important for us is
to accurately show exactly what
has happened.
“We want to go beyond
Hawk-Eye and Piero [two current
sports analysis systems which extrapolate movement and positional
data into 3D] and see if we can
deliver a 360-degree virtual world
in as much 3D realism as possible. The real challenge is processing it fast enough.
“As a spin-off from that we’re
exploring applications such as
downloading the data to mobiles
or other devices for people to
view, interact or play a game with
the sequence.”
Sony has announced plans to
upgrade all PS3 consoles to be
capable of playing back a raft of
new 3D games during 2010.
Meanwhile BSkyB, whose Sky
Player VoD service is already
available on the Xbox, is expected
to be ported to a number of new
devices in the New Year beginning with Fetch TV and to
include the PS3.
Lumiere boosts Cypriot sound
By Fergal Ringrose
Multichannel
broadcaster
Lumiere TV has invested in Jünger
Audio’s Level Magic technology to
ensure that all of its transmitted
channels maintain the same audio
level and loudness. Launched in
1993 as the first Pay-TV channel in
Cyprus, the Lumiere TV Group
has subsequently expanded into a
number of TV-related areas.
Marios Anastasiou, technical
manager at LTV, said: “We were
looking for a way of improving
sound quality, loudness and levelling
across all of our channels without
adding audio delay in the SDI output
signal. Ease of use was an important
consideration and after researching
the market we chose Jünger Audio’s
B40 Digital Audio Toolbox units
because they were very easy to install
and equally easy to operate. We now
have three of them, which we use to
adjust sound levels or manipulate
audio channels during the ingest of
material to our video server from our
VTR machines.”
After its positive experience
with the B40 units, Lumiere TV
increased its investment in Jünger
Audio technology by acquiring
Adetomiwa Edun and Ellie Kendrick as Romeo and Juliet in the Globe
(photograph: John Haynes)
Theatre production by Dominic Dromgoole
Marios Anastasiou: “We wanted to
improve quality, loudness and level”
BTV cuts Shakespeare on Mistika
By Dick Hobbs
eight of the company’s B46 Level
Magic digital dynamics processors. These are also easy to operate
as users only have to input a small
number of settings.
Lumiere TV has also invested in
four Jünger Audio Mix4 units,
which are being used to insert live
commentary audio into SDI
embedded signals. With 4 stereo fullfeatured Channel Strips and SDI in
and out, these small mixers are suited for de-embedding audio from
raw material and mixing this with
speech and other sources, before
embedding the mix back to SDI.
www.junger-audio.com
People on the move
Digital Vision has
sales team in the
named
Michael
newly created posiFreudenthal as CEO,
tion of business
starting this month.
development director
Klas Åström, who has
EMEA. Prior to joinbeen instrumental in
ing Miranda Sewell
driving Digital Vision
was employed at Proforward over the
Bel, where he held
last 12 months, will
a variety of roles,
remain with the
including positions in
company as CFO.
project engineering,
Freudenthal recently Thayer Jester, Advanced
sales and network
held the position of Digital Services
management.
VP and COO at
A d v a n c e d
IQUBE. He was also CEO of mobile Digital Services, a global provider
technology group Mobyson, group of post production services, has
managing director of Letsbuyit.com, appointed Thayer Jester vice presCOO and VP of AcadeMedia and ident of Business Development
managing director and co-owner of and Marketing. Jester, formerly
Lighthouse Software.
the director of Sales for 2G
Roger Sewell has joined Digital Post, adds to the comMiranda Technology’s European pany’s executive team as it
Opus Arte made HD recordings of
three Shakespeare plays from the season at London’s Globe Theatre this
year, for theatrical, television, DVD
and Blu-ray release. Using outside
broadcast facilities from Bow Tie
Television, the productions were
managed by BTV which is now completing the post, using SGO Mistika.
The Globe aims to recreate as
closely as possible the theatre
experience as it would have been in
Shakespeare’s day, 400 years ago.
The theatre has no roof and minimal artificial lighting is used, so
one of the biggest challenges in
post is in matching pictures from
different days to produce a coherent final result.
In charge of post production is
Ross Copeland, Mistika artist at
BTV in Brighton. “The Globe
recordings were a unique challenge,
being live performances filmed at
different times of the day in the open
air venue. Mistika’s realtime grading
toolset managed the 3,000+ shots
per film effortlessly, enabling me to
get the look the directors wanted.”
The SGO Mistika at BTV is
housed in a grading theatre with a
DCI-compliant projector, allowing
Copeland to edit and grade in context for the proposed theatrical
release of the three plays.
continues its growth and expanRed Bee Media has appointed
sion in the US and abroad.
Steve Plunkett as director of
MobiTV, a provider of man- Customer Innovation. He will
aged TV and video content over focus on the development of new
mobile and broadband networks, commercial solutions and services
has appointed Jan Olin to the role that extend Red Bee Media’s
of managing director for Europe. propositions for any company
Before joining MobiTV, Olin was wanting to engage their audience
director of Business Development through video media.
at Yahoo! Europe where he was
Tiffen
International
has
responsible for distribution of expanded its sales operations with
Yahoo! mobile services, via major the appointment of Kevan Parker
operators and handas
international
set manufacturers in
sales manager. Based
the region.
at the company’s
At Pebble Beach
European headquarSystems, Alison Pavitt
ters in Bicester he
has recently joined as
is responsible for
marketing manager:
sales of Tiffen’s propreviously she was on
fessional products
the senior managethroughout Europe.
ment team at Aston
Parker’s previous
Broadcast Systems
sales
positions
where she worked in
include Schneider
sales and marketing Michael Freudenthal,
Optics and IDX
for a number of years. Digital Vision
Technology.
TVBE_FP
25/11/09
10:37
Page 1
New DeckLink HD Extreme has Dual Link 4:4:4/4:2:2
SDI, HDMI and analog connections in SD, HD and 2K!
Advanced 3 Gb/s SDI Technology
The new DeckLink HD Extreme is the world’s
most advanced capture card! With a huge
range of video and audio connections plus
a hardware down converter, and Dual Link
4:4:4/4:2:2 3 Gb/s SDI, advanced editing
systems for Microsoft Windows™ and Apple Mac OS X™ are
now even more affordable!
With exciting new 3 Gb/s SDI connections,
DeckLink HD Extreme allows twice the SDI data
rate of normal HD-SDI, while also connecting
to all your HD-SDI and SD-SDI equipment.
Use 3 Gb/s SDI for 2K and edit your latest feature film using
real time 2048 x 1556 2K resolution capture and playback!
Connect to any Deck, Camera or Monitor
Microsoft Windows™ or Apple Mac OS X™
DeckLink HD Extreme is the only capture card that features
Dual Link 3 Gb/s SDI, HDMI, component analog, NTSC, PAL
and S-Video for capture and playback in SD, HD or 2K. Also
included is 2 ch XLR AES/EBU audio and 2 ch balanced XLR
analog audio. Connect to HDCAM SR, HDCAM, Digital
Betacam, Betacam SP, HDV cameras, big-screen TVs and more.
DeckLink HD Extreme is fully compatible with Apple Final Cut
Pro™, Adobe Premiere Pro™, Adobe After Effects™, Adobe
Photoshop™, Fusion™ and any DirectShow™ or QuickTime™
based software. DeckLink HD Extreme instantly switches
between feature film resolution 2K, 1080HD, 720HD, NTSC
and PAL for worldwide compatibility.
Hardware Down Conversion
If you’ve ever wanted to monitor in both HD and SD while
you work, then you’ll love the built in high quality down
converter. Use the Dual Link SDI outputs as a simultaneous
HD and SD output, or you can switch back to Dual Link 4:4:4
when working in the highest quality RGB workflows. Select
between letterbox, anamorphic 16:9 and even center cut 4:3
down conversion styles!
*SRP is Exclusive of VAT.
DeckLink HD Extreme
€775
*
Learn more today at www.blackmagic-design.com
TVBE Dec P6 flannel
9/12/09
11:54
Page 6
TVBEUROPE
Europe’s television technology business magazine
EDITORIAL
Editor Fergal Ringrose
[email protected]
Media House, South County Business Park,
Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland
+3531 294 7783 Fax: +3531 294 7799
Editorial Consultant George Jarrett
Associate Editor David Fox
United States Correspondent
Ken Kerschbaumer
Contributors Mike Clark, David Davies,
Richard Dean, Chris Forrester, Carolyn Giardina,
Jonathan Higgins, Mark Hill, Dick Hobbs,
John Ive, Farah Jifri, Ian McMurray,
Ken Kerschbaumer, Heather McLean,
Bob Pank, Adrian Pennington, Nick Radlo,
Neal Romanek, Philip Stevens, Andy Stout,
Reinhard E Wagner
Digital Content Manager Tim Frost
Publisher Joe Hosken
ART & PRODUCTION
Group Production Editor Dawn Boultwood
Production Executive Phil Taylor
SALES
Group Sales Manager Steve Grice
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7921 8307
UBM Ltd, Ludgate House,
245 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 9UR
Business Development Manager Alex Hall
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7921 8305
US SALES
Michael Mitchell
Broadcast Media International, PO Box 44,
Greenlawn, New York, NY 11740
[email protected]
+1 (631) 673 3199 Fax: +1 (631) 673 0072
JAPAN AND KOREA SALES
Sho Harihara
Sales & Project, Yukari Media Incorporated
[email protected]
+81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800
CIRCULATION
UBM Information Ltd, Sovereign Park,
Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 9EF, UK
Free subscriptions
www.subscription.co.uk/cc/tvbe/mag1
Controlled circulation +44 (0)1858 435361
Fax for all journals +44 (0)1858 434958
Printing by Headley Brothers, The Invicta Press,
Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH
© United Busienss Media Ltd 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or
any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior
written consent of the publisher. TVB Europe is mailed to qualified persons
residing on the European continent. Subscription rates £64/€96/$120.
Allow 8 weeks for new subscriptions and change of address delivery.
Send subscription inquiries to: Subscription Dept, United Business Media Ltd,
Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 7BR, England.
ISSN 1461-4197
6
How do you marry business systems to management of the actual content?
ITBW dynamic is here to stay
Conference Analysis
By Fergal Ringrose
TVBEurope’s first IT Broadcast Workflow
conference in London early December was an
outstanding success with approximately 150
delegates and 22 sponsor companies attending.
It was standing room only for the first
session at the Royal College of Physicians
venue (apologies again to late-arriving delegates!), as we set off on our journey into filebased broadcast operation.
I would like to use this platform to again
thank our end-user speakers, in order of
appearance, for their time and considerable
effort: Darren Breeze, director of Broadcast
Engineering, Discovery Communications;
Jake Robbins, technical director, Television
Versioning & Translation; Sebastien Valere,
operations and marketing director, L’Equipe
24/24; James Elliott, Multimedia IT business
manager, The Press Association; Egon M Conference Chairman Jeremy Bancroft introduces the day’s proceedings
Verharen, director engineering, Nederlandse
Publieke Omroep; John Morgan, senior manager Broadcast IT, don’t understand each other! This is the driving dynamic. And it
Turner Broadcasting System; Israel Esteban, technical manager, may sound like a very peculiar thing to say, given the series of
Unitecnic (SI for Gol TV Barcelona); Ricki Berg, technical end-user success stories we heard in London — operations that
manager, SBS Broadcasting Networks; Shane Tucker, Technical have navigated paths through the complexity encountered
Architect, Channel 4 and Ian Wimsett, senior technologist, Red when moving from traditional operations into an IT-based
Bee Media.
approach to the working integration of production, scheduling,
I must also thank all our ITBW sponsors, for making this MAM, business, promotions, transmission, marketing, new
event possible: AmberFin, building4media, Dalet Digital Media media, legal etc. etc.
Systems, Digital Rapids, EVS, Harris Broadcast, IBC, Isilon
Systems, MediaGeniX, Netia, Oasys, Pebble Beach Systems, How did they tackle that inherent complexity?
Pharos, Publitronic, Quantum, S4M, ScheduALL, Snell, Softel,
How did they guarantee time/frame accuracy
Technicolor, Telestream and Vivesta.
Full coverage and analysis of the case studies, QAs and com- and live delivery, whilst avoiding the little egg
ment from the floor will follow from our writing team of Richard
Dean and David Fox in January issue, along with comprehensive timer on the screen?
photography from James Cumpsty. For now, let’s briefly look at
some reasons why this event was such a success.
How did they tackle that inherent complexity? How did they
Firstly, the one-day event was focused not on the recession, nor guarantee time/frame accuracy and live delivery, whilst avoiding
the global economy, nor the state of the electronic media ad the little egg timer on the screen while waiting, IT style, for sysmarket, nor even the technology. It was all about the work: how tems to catch up? That’s what people wanted to know.
people work in broadcasting, as we move into tapeless and fileI am very grateful to Vivesta consultant Penny Westlake for
based operations across the enterprise.
dropping me a line with some thoughts after the conference.
To that end we focused exclusively on user-case studies. A day Penny has encapsulated, far better than I can, some of the conof users talking about what they do — rather than vendor-driven tinuing dichotomies exposed by the ITBW event:
panels or vested-interest consultants. Here we must really thank ‘1. There is still a huge divide between broadcast business systems
the vendors who understood that dynamic and worked with us to and ‘production’ systems. I have long wondered exactly why there
secure high level operational managers from broadcasting organ- is this division between the traffic/scheduling/rights management
isations around Europe for our agenda.
areas and the management of the actual content. Once again, we
After the event, some people said to me ‘Oh well done, you saw a ‘frame’ being put around what is considered to be a broadpicked a hot topic there’. Well, the simple reason it’s a hot topic is cast workflow, which is perhaps too small to cover media organibecause as we move inexorably into IT-based enterprises — all of sation needs going forward.
us — the fact remains that IT people and broadcast people still ‘2. Almost all the end-user organisations who presented had written software in-house to cover at least some of the workflow areas.
I question whether this is because they cannot find what they need
in the marketplace, or whether is it because it is simply too difficult
for them to define what they want to a third party. Or is it that they
are still not engaging with broadcast vendors at the consultative
level you would routinely find in the broader IT industry?
‘3. Broadcast organisations do still consider themselves ‘different
and special’, but I’m not sure why. In fact, I usually draw a parallel with the car industry here. Compared to the Ford/
GM/Volkswagen/Toyota’s of this world, we in broadcast are
similar to Morgan cars, or on a good day, maybe an Aston
Martin. We are IT, albeit a specialist interest sub-group.
‘4. To borrow an old joke, Q: “Can you show me the way to
an integrated broadcast workflow?” A: “Well I wouldn’t start
from here!”.’
Yes indeed. But where would you start from? There is no common approach. This is why both broadcasters and suppliers (our
audience was a mixture of both) were keen to attend our first IT
Broadcast Workflow conference — and will remain a key driver
for us in planning print, digital and face-to-face events for this
Ian Wimsett, Red Bee Media, takes us through C4’s outsourced playout marketplace in 2010.
TVBE_FP
29/5/09
15:52
Page 1
9/12/09
11:45
Page 8
NEWS
IN BRIEF
East Jutland Vector
TV2 East Jutland in Denmark has
purchased the VectorBox
solution to manage the playout
automation at Channel East
Jutland. TV2 East Jutland is one
among eight regional TV stations
referring to TV2 Denmark.
In addition to supplying TV2
Denmark with live regional news
programmes, TV2 East Jutland
also runs the new community
channel, called Channel East
Jutland. A community channel
where local public TV-stations,
selected by the Danish Radio- and
TV-committee, are authorised to
create and air programmes. “Our
new DVB-T Community Channel
was going on-air the 1st of
November and we had a very
short time frame to acquire a
solution to automate the
broadcast of our programmes. We
quickly narrowed it down to two
systems that could do the job and
our choice fell on VectorBox,” said
Jesper Brandenborg, CFO, TV2
East Jutland.
www.vector3.tv
New Videohub Design
Blackmagic Design has
announced a new update for all its
Videohub SDI routers. The new
Videohub 4.2 software update
features a new updated design,
new multipage view, more
equipment icons, and a software
development kit to let any
developer write custom software
for Videohub routers. The new
software update also introduces a
new multipage view where users
can swap whole pages of buttons
for 550 sources and 110
destinations. The new Multipage
feature makes it easier to have
many more buttons for sources
and destinations. The new
buttons view now has more icon
types to represent common post
production equipment. Another
common request from
developers, system integrators
and broadcasters has been to
allow custom programming for all
Videohub routers.
www.blackmagic-design.com
8
Broadcast Enterprise at
Televisão Independente
Continued from page 1
producing, basing its broadcasting strategy on three main genres:
news, reality, and Portugueselanguage drama, especially soaps.
“TVI has invested significantly in
Portuguese drama and launched
several highly successful soap
operas,” explains Cañete. “Our
Portuguese drama has exclusively
been produced by NBP, a production company owned by
Media Capital Group. The success of TVI’s Portuguese soaps is
based on the station’s strength in
developing content, which leverages the good relationship with,
and performance of, NBP.
“We also decided to develop a
more competitive news service,
based on a completely new studio
set, a new overall image and more
modern-looking on-air graphics.
The anchor portfolio was also
rebuilt, combining new and experienced people. The result was the
recognition by the general public
of our news service as the most
dynamic and credible in Portugal.”
TVI’s goals in installing a new
tapeless system were threefold,
according to Cañete. “First, we
wanted to maximise productivity,” she says. “Alongside this we
wanted to optimise our resources
and also to be able to move into
new business opportunities. We
were looking for a powerful and
flexible system with scalability to
grow as needed.” All these criteria led it to Quantel after a rigorous assessment that looked at all
the available solutions. “The other
options were not suited for our
high demand business needs.”
For a start, Quantel newsroom systems are fully integrated
with a large number of products
from the industry’s automation
manufacturers, with Omnibus
integration in particular being
critical for the company. Also,
Quantel’s ISA (Integrated Server
Architecture) allows browse and
full quality material to be locked
together under a single database,
and furthermore treats material
as if it was on a single server no
matter how many Enterprise sQ
servers are joined together to
make a national broadcaster
sized system. This enables such
Common user interface: TVI can assign different editing power and capabilities to different parts of the workflow
features as low-resolution editing
and, of course, means that the
Enterprise sQ servers can effortlessly handle mixed resolutions,
an important consideration given
the transition to HD under way
across the world’s broadcasters.
On the user side of the equation, to be able to deploy the
same user interface across all the
editing platforms was a major
consideration. This means that
TVI can assign different editing
power and capabilities to different
parts of the workflow — which in
practice works out as sQ View for
archive and assistants, sQ Cut for
the majority of the journalist
workstations, and the more comprehensive sQ Edit for the special
needs of some areas such as
sports and economics. Crucially
though, the common user interface means that all users can
switch between all machines and
find the same, familiar interface
in front of them.
The software is popular too.
The TVI journalists, for example,
record commentary at their desks
on incoming feeds of live football
matches. “That was their innovation,” says Cañete. “After they
began to work with the system
they liked it a lot and began to
use it in different ways to solve
the problems that they had.
Perhaps there was some initial
reluctance on their part, but now
we have the problem that too
many people want to use it.”
Scalability and the ability to grow
and adapt to future needs and
requirements was important to
the company too, and lastly there
is what Cañete refers to as the
“proven power” of FrameMagic.
FrameMagic is unique to
Quantel. Unlike conventional
servers, Quantel’s Enterprise sQ
server treats every frame in the
store as an entity in its own right,
rather than as part of a larger file.
This means that when an edit is
made between two clips of video,
it is just held as an instruction set
in the Enterprise sQ server to read
the selected frames from each clip
out of the store in the new edit
order. Even if the source clips are
deleted, the edit can still be played;
because FrameMagic looks after
every frame as an individual, only
the unused frames are actually
removed from the store.
“Thanks
to
Quantel’s
FrameMagic technology we can
simultaneously use the same raw
footage along our editing chain
without losing time or valuable
server space,” Cañete says.
Workflow structure
So how does all this translate into
a structured workflow at TVI?
“In the Newsroom Area, journalists edit their own clips for news
with sQ Cut and sQ Edit,” says
Cañete. “In the Gallery Area,
meanwhile, assistants undertake
several important tasks — they
use sQ View to edit clips and
‘paint’ with video loops to add to
our live reports, they playout
clips from the Quantel servers
using the Omnibus automation,
and they play the clips, loops and
still stores from the sQ with sQ
Play (Quantel’s integrated playout management technology).
“In the Nonlinear Editing Area
our craft editors undertake two
kinds of tasks. For news they edit
the headlines using media from the
servers, and the main news using
server-based media together with
locally generated material from
VTRs, and for production they use
the same material to put together
magazine programmes. In both
cases, they use the graphics clips
composed with the gQ, which we
rely on to produce the entire
graphic output for our daily news
programmes, and they import files
from other formats using the i/o
menu. We also have a Post
Production Area which mainly
edits the magazine programming,
an Archive Area which uses sQ
View to assemble themed selections of images for the journalists,
and a Graphics Area, which uses
many different compositing and
3D tools, all of which are channelled into the gQ.”
Of crucial importance as well is
the Technical Area, the final element in the production chain,
which checks the clips for operational or technical problems before
going to air. It also supervises and
checks that the overall system is
functioning properly from a dedicated monitoring room.
Unsurprisingly given the pace
of its success, TVI has no intention
of resting on its laurels any time
soon. Chief concern for Cañete at
the moment is the project to
launch a 24-hour news channel,
TVI24. “To that end we have several goals,” says Cañete. “We want
to migrate to the next software
version; we want to expand the
system for the new channel; we
want to be able to produce more
content very fast and flexibly while
maintaining the quality we are
synonymous with; we want to be
able to share this content with the
other systems in our facilities from
a whole range of manufacturers;
we want to implement a networkbased subtitle system; and we
want, of course, to maintain reliability while all that is undertaken.”
TVBE_FP
25/11/09
10:41
Page 1
calling all content
creators
create opportunities
The Arab world has an estimated 300 million people looking for quality
content. twofour54, based in Abu Dhabi, is the region’s premier centre
for Arabic content creation in the media and entertainment sector across
media platforms including television, radio, film, publishing, online, mobile,
music, gaming and animation and we can help you reach them.
Create
skills
twofour54 tadreeb is developing and enhancing the
skills of media professionals enabling them to deliver
immediate success to their business.
Create
ideas
twofour54 ibtikar provides media and entertainment
industry funding and support for start-up and early
stage businesses and individuals with creative ideas
for Arabic content and a passion for success.
Create
content
twofour54 intaj leads the Arab world with fully
equipped HD production studios, the latest
post-production technologies, media management,
digital archiving, playout and uplink services.
Working in partnership with some of the world’s major content creation
companies, twofour54 provides your business with the right opportunities
to grow in the Arab world.
ÀQGXVMRLQXVFUHDWHZLWKXV
GHVWLQDWLRQ$EX'KDEL
WZRIRXUFRP
2 4 54 MasterBrand_TVB_Europe_335x245.indd 1
11/15/09 1:37:59 PM
9/12/09
11:46
Page 10
BBC and contractor Arqiva commence installation of T2 modulators. Kevin Hilton reports
Bringing high definition to terrestrial TV
TX Analysis
This month the BBC and its
transmitter contractor Arqiva
begin the installation of T2
modulators at the Winter Hill
and Crystal Palace transmitters,
which cover Manchester and
London respectively and form
part of a push to bring DTT
HD to approximately 50% of
the UK in time for the World
Cup in June 2010. The project
has three strands: an advance
network, including Leeds,
Birmingham,
Cardiff
and
Glasgow as well as London and
Manchester, the overall Digital
Switch-Over (DSO) and a retrofit programme for the 7% of the
UK that has already moved over
from analogue.
Graham Plumb, the acting
controller of BBC Distribution,
says the general plan was for the
installation of DVB-T2 equipment to follow the DSO “as
much as possible”. This had to be
altered in special cases, such as
the metropolitan areas that are
not due to have analogue
switched off until towards the
end of the DSO in just over two
years time. “The emphasis had to
be on the five early sites, including Crystal Palace,” he explains.
“That is a major transmitter and
we didn’t think it should wait for
HD until it is switched over in
early 2012, which is why we
launched on 2 December.”
A main transmitter like the
one at Crystal Palace in south
London distributes six digital
multiplexes. The sixth multiplex
in almost all cases is being
upgraded by the BBC to deliver
DVB-T2 signals for full digital
HD on the terrestrial platform.
Because Crystal Palace and
other primary sites, Winter
Hill, Pontop Pike (Newcastle
and Tyneside), Emley Moor
(Leeds/Bradford) and Black Hill
(Glasgow and central Scotland),
have not gone through the DSO a
seventh, temporary low power
10
BBC Research & Development’s Julian Mitchell and Martin Thorp, pictured
carrying out tests on the transmitter at Guildford in Surrey (pic courtesy BBC)
multiplex will be activated using
a stand-alone modulator.
The final installation will
feature a DVB-T2 modulator
integrated into the existing
transmission equipment, not a
separate unit. Steve Holebrook,
managing director of terrestrial
broadcast at Arqiva, says that
when this equipment becomes
available it will be installed and
the swap made to a sixth multiplex based on T2 technology.
“Development is going well at
these early stages,” he comments.
“We’re still finalising contracts
with manufacturers — there are
three to four parties we are in
discussion with — but they will
be the same as those we are dealing with for the DSO.”
Plumb describes the upgrade
process as “largely a drop and
replace solution for the multiplex”, with no changes to the
mast or antenna. “It’s a very simple
procedure at the small stations,”
he explains. “The module is a 1U
rack unit and we just have to pull
out the existing one and install
the new modulator. It’s not that
easy at the very big transmitters.
There’s more need for fault
reporting there, so we need to
replace some equipment to allow
for that.”
Holebrook confirms the difference in complexity between
different sizes of transmitter site:
“A high power transmitter like
Winter Hill is a very different
proposition to a small relay station that serves small rural communities. At somewhere like that
the installation could take only a
couple of hours but Winter Hill
or Emley Moor might take a
couple of weeks. All installation
work is being carried out by
teams from Arqiva and the
company’s regular transmission
sub-contractors.”
trial,” Plumb recalls, “and the
response was that five to six HD
channels on DTT would be
attractive. So the offering is going
to be 30 to 40 SD channels with
five HD services.”
BBC HD is available on
Freesat, Virgin Media and Sky+
HD but the key to wider distribution of the technology will be
DTT. The current Freeview platform, based on the original
DVB specification, does not
have enough capacity to cope
with HD transmissions alongside the multiple SD channels
already carried. T2 was developed as a second generation
version and won approval from
the DVB Steering Board in June
2008. ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) recognised DVB-T2 as an
official standard as recently as
this September.
Like its forerunner, DVB-T2 is
based on OFDM (orthogonal
frequency division multiplex)
modulation, offering multiple
sub-carriers and modes for flexibility and stability. A new feature
is Rotated Constellations, which
gives extra signal strength for
‘difficult channels’. Despite these
HIgh demands of HD
The BBC has been preparing for
the DSO for the last three or so
years, with the requirement for
HD on Freeview hovering in the
background. Tests were held in
2006, although these were not
based on DVB-T2. “There was a
panel of homes involved in the
Graham Plumb: “We decided it was
easier for the BBC to manage a
project like this”
improvements doubts have been
cast on the ability of DVB-T2 to
cope with the high demands of
carrying HD pictures on DTT.
Plumb admits that putting HD
on DTT has been “a challenge”
but says “we’ve just been able to
squeeze it all in”.
“It” includes the main HD
services for the BBC, ITV,
Channel 4 and S4C in Wales,
which might eventually be joined
by Channel 5. UK regulator
Ofcom awarded a provisional
HD licence to C5 in June and set
31 December as the deadline for
the broadcaster to resolve “certain key criteria”. The high def
pictures are accompanied by 5.1,
audio description and HD subtitles, all of which can be handled
by the new breed of Freeview
receiver due on the market next
year. These will also have broadband connectivity for other interactive features.
BBC
Research
and
Development worked on implementing DVB-T2 for Freeview
and its efforts were recognised
this year with a RTS Under the
Bonnet Award. The R&D T2
project team was led by senior
research engineer Nick Wells and
included Julian Mitchell and
Martin Thorp, who are pictured
carrying out tests on the transmitter at Guildford in Surrey.
Invariably the BBC been
among the first broadcaster to
adopt new technologies and is
leading the field with DVB-T2.
Plumb says there were a “variety
of factors” that led to this, including a commitment to working on
spectrum efficiency. “There was
a debate about how to deliver to
the HD platform and reorganise
services to the multiplex,” he
explains. “In the end we decided it
was easier for the BBC to manage
a project like this.”
Steve Holebrook at Arqiva
says the aim is to achieve 50%
coverage of the UK “as quick as
possible”, with Graham Plumb
adding that by rolling out to all
transmitters in the network the
current 95.8% reach of DVB
DTT. Both organisations say
care is being taken to keep any
disruption to transmissions to a
minimum during the installation
project. “We’re doing as much in
the background as possible not
to affect viewers or to minimise
the outage,” Holebrook states.
HD is increasing its reach in
the UK and will have doubtless
boosted Freeview in general but
the lure of the 2010 World Cup
in high def will be irresistible, at
least in England. The Scots, Irish
and the Welsh might find HD
pictures of their rivals in South
Africa too much to bear.
9/12/09
11:46
Page 11
World first for
DVB-T2 HD
would not increase revenues. In
the current economic situation
our number one priority is to protect our content budget so any
new launches will have to be
weighed up very carefully.”
This turned out to be nothing
more than posturing as negotiations with the BBC for carriage
over its multiplex continued. The
reorganisation of the Freeview
muxes effectively meant both ITV
and C4 having to give away an
existing Freeview channel for
which they pay no carriage fees, in
order to free up capacity allocated
for HD on Mux B.
ITV and C4 are required to
pay a quarter of the carriage fees
for one of the HD slots on that
multiplex but needed to weigh up
whether the loss of advertising
revenue from an existing channel
which reaches 18 million Freeview
households justified reaching the
initially far more limited number
of Freeview HD receivers.
The BBC and ITV together
with UTV, STV and Channel TV,
Channel 4, S4C and Five have all
been awarded channel slots on the
Freeview HD service with BBC
HD and ITV HD live from
launch, C4 shortly afterwards and
Five to follow next year.
Ofcom is holding in reserve an
option to allocate a fifth HD slot
following rollout. “All the mathematical models and simulations
suggest that coverage will be fine
therefore Ofcom has set a quite
aggressive mode of 36Mbps,” says
Lindsay-Davies. “If coverage is
impacted then we could revert to
40Mbps which will enable a slightly
wider coverage but deny a fifth
slot. We may see an additional
mux move to T2 at some point and
launch additional HD channels.”
In accordance with its renewed
policy of syndicating iPlayer to
multiple platforms and devices
the BBC has launched iPlayer on
Freesat with a planned launch on
Freeview HD next year, “ideally
to coincide with consumer promotion of Freeview HD,” says
Lindsay-Davies.
“That is separate to the DTG’s
work on specifications for the connected TV environment (relevant
to Canvas and HBBtv). Delivering
iPlayer to Freeview HD is an evolutionary step whereas connected
TV’s are a much bigger stepchange providing for the wider
global availability of streamed
services like YouTube. It’s unlikely
Freeview HD will ever be able to
view those.”
Following the UK’s lead, other
European countries (notably Italy
which has already begun tests) are
researching the possibility of integrating the DVB-T2 model into
their own infrastructures.
“The biggest lesson for us was
to ensure we got the industry to
agree to a single standard which
also gives manufacturers the best
start to get to market,” he advises.
“We know that there’s very limited
terrestrial spectrum available in
many other countries and you
have to use that resource in the
most efficient way. The system we
chose was critical. Had we not
moved to T2 we would not have
met the demands of the [DTG-led]
HD for All campaign that called
“There is clear, demonstrable proof that viewers
want high definition and that HD provides a
halo for demand of related SD channels”
— Emma Scott, managing director, Freesat
for one HD slot per PSB. There
was no other choice but T2.”
Freeview and Freesat have both
got some way to go to catch up with
BSkyB. With over 30 HD channels it
signed up more than a million households to its HD TV service successfully pushiung the technology combined with its Sky+ PVR. BSkyB has
more than 5 million customers using
Sky+, while Freeview has about
1.5 million with its Freeview+ PVR
set-top boxes. Some 17.6 million
HD-ready sets have been sold in the
UK in nearly 9 million households.
Freesat MD Emma Scott, who
presides over 600,000 Freesat households says HD services are proven in
value. “There is clear, demonstrable
proof that viewers want HD and
that HD provides a halo for demand
of related SD channels.”
11
TVBE Dec P12 N&A
9/12/09
11:56
Page 12
George Jarrett reports on the 2009 Rory Peck Awards
The essence of the freelance spirit
Camera Freelance
Self-starting citizen journalism and
the brilliant deployment of small
cameras to retrieve stunning stories
from cruel environments were the
stand out features of the 2009 Rory
Peck Awards. None of the nine
finalists over three categories were
British journalists, but Channel 4
won five credits as broadcaster and
stood out as the savviest commissioner of grief-related content.
This Sony Professional sponsored festival of freelance newsgathering attracted 56 entries from
over 20 countries, and once again
the audience were reminded how
limited a freelancer’s life expectancy can be. Somalia, Gaza, Burma,
Afghanistan, Iran and Zimbabwe
are but a few of the places where
the readiness to die when chasing a
story might well be tested.
Event host Zeinab Badawi set a
positive mood. “This is a unique
event, honouring and celebrating
freelancers. Imagine news stories
without pictures,” she said. “The
trust is rewarding the essence of the
freelance spirit. The judges looked
for initiative, enterprise, integrity,
and how the story was funded.”
Threats of torture
The Rory Peck Award for features
highlighted the plight of children
in Afghanistan, The Congo, and
Burma. Mehran Bozorgnia, an
Iranian based in Germany, produced the images for Afghan Life
Crumbles Despite Foreign Aid, shot
seven years after NATO entered
the country.
His skill had been getting to
know Afghan villagers over time.
They allowed him to record a
heartbroken father selling a son
(the going rate being $1500) so he
could feed his other children in the
coming winter. Bozorgnia also
penetrated a gang of kidnappers.
Irishman David Niblock
entered
Congo’s
Forgotten
Children, which features a Catholic
orphanage where a number of
the children are the results of
rape. In describing how continuous conflict and the death of
three million fellow nationals
have scarred the orphans,
Niblock was able to show the
children as people not as victims.
The winning entry came from
the brave young Burmese duo Z
and T, who linked to the outside
world via the under cover support
group Democratic Voice of Burma
(DVB). Orphans of Burma’s
Cyclone was shot secretly due to
threats of torture and imprisonment if caught. It features
orphaned children that survived
Cyclone Nargis, and shows six and
ten year olds acting as surrogate
parents and showing the bones of
their lost relatives.
Z & T visited the same group of
children over 10 months, always
risking arrest. The judging citation
said, “Despite all the dangers, they
created a film narrative.” A DVB
representative collected the award
for Z & T, and hit the audience
with another cyclone of sorts: T
had been arrested during the summer, and he is now facing the
prospect of 10-14 years in jail.
Constant Taliban attacks
The Rory Peck Award for News
proved again that freelance reporting is required in every corner of
the globe, shellfire regardless.
Palestinian Mahmoud El Ajrami
made the final with the self-funded
story Beth Lahia School.
Ajrami has been shot and
injured several times in his 13year career as a journalist, and
this time he was on hand to
record the panic and distress
caused by white phosphorous
shells hitting a Gaza school. He
also captured the ultimate ‘money shot’ – an Israeli tank shell
being fired along an alleyway,
seemingly straight at him.
Joost van der Valk receives his Sony Professional Impact Award from
Sony’s Olivier Bovis for his film Saving Africa’s Witch Children
Irishman John D McHugh’s
entry Combat Outpost was shot over
four weeks at a dangerous and
almost marooned US army position
in Afghanistan. This is under constant attack by the Taliban, and the
only way in and out is via helicopter.
The judges were won over by
the skilful use of small cameras
and the relationship McHugh
developed with the soldiers, who
come up with stunning honesty
about the Taliban gaining ground.
The category winner was the
Russian freelancer Kazbek Basayev
for South Ossetia War. In an astonishing shot mix of dead bodies,
troop and tank movements, confused and displaced old ladies,
unwatched boxing on TV, and burning villages, Basayev told the story of
the Russian and Georgian conflict
from the South Ossetian side. He
reached the local capital Tskhinivali
with the first wave of troops, and
this effort won a citation for brave
endeavour, and being on the button
in terms of news journalism.
Camera or Kalashnikov?
The Sony Professional Impact
Award pitched an American duo, a
Somali, and a Dutchman against
A SANE approach to audio networking
Network Protocol
By David Fox
At IBC Optocore introduced a new
digital audio networking protocol that
it claims will bring significant cost
savings to broadcasters. Its SANE
(Synchronous Audio Network plus
Ethernet) uses a ring network topology to offer the first fully synchronous Cat 5 network for streaming
uninterrupted media in realtime.
Most manufacturers already
offer asynchronous Ethernet networks taking Ethernet as the transport and putting audio on top. “We
take a synchronous audio network,
12
Marc Brunke: “SANE overcomes
asynchronous transport problems
faced by Ethernet-based networks”
for guaranteed audio delivery, and
then build an Ethernet layer on
top of it. It means we can provide
lower latencies than anyone else
and provide Word Clock distribution with better performance than
anyone else,” claimed Martin
Barbour, systems engineer.
“Because the platform has been
developed with hardware from
the ground up, we’ve been able to
reduce our end user costs drastically, and by linking our Cat 5
technology with our fibre-optic
technology, we can now provide
massively scalable networks.”
The system has evolved from the
German company’s flexible AD/DA
each other. Jon Alpert and
Matthew O’Neil, the winners of 15
Emmy awards, made the final with
China’s Unnatural Disaster: the
Tears of Sichuan Province. This
story looks at the devastating aftermath of the 2008 earthquake in
central China. The quake killed
70,000, many of them school kids
trapped under collapsed, poorly
structured buildings. The reporters
followed a large group of grieving
parents as they come to terms with
their loss and challenge local officials over the poor standards of
construction, In one scene an agitated local official falls to his knees
and begs the parents to halt a
protest march.
The Somali writer Jamal
Osman’s entry was the brilliant
piece of investigative journalism
World Food Programme, which he
shot in Somalia and Kenya. It
was Osman’s own initiative. He
followed the food aid chain in
Somalia and found mafia type corruption. He exposed a scandal that
the UN undertook to investigate,
but at one point Osman thought
about taking a Kalashnikov to
the supply thieves living the high
life in hotels in Kenya. Even for
X6R and V3R converters launched
earlier this year; these offer split
AES-EBU ports, sample rate conversion up to 192kHz, and five different card options, with Optocore
ports (for fibre), SANE ports (Cat 5/
RJ45) and X6R-TP/V3R-TP (Cat 5
twisted pair alternatives).
For broadcast SANE’s advantages include: synchronous and
redundant transport of audio and
Ethernet; 64 channels of digital
audio with 24 nodes per network;
very low latency (41.6μs), <50ps
jitter Word Clock distribution, and
100m distance from point to point.
“By separating the audio from
the control, SANE overcomes the
asynchronous transport problems
faced by Ethernet-based networks,”
explained Optocore’s founder and
SANE’s inventor, Marc Brunke.
a Somali native this was a dangerous assignment.
The category winner was Joost
van der Valk for the C4 Dispatches
strand production Saving Africa’s
Witch Children. The unforgettable
element of the clip seen was a jolly
giant wielding a machete, and
threatening a five-year old girl.
Van der Valk travelled to a poor
part of Nigeria, where small children are often branded as witches
to excuse the ills of society. His
film followed the work of Gary
Foxcroft, who has devoted huge
efforts to saving such children from
the threats of torture, starvation
and murder.
The citation praised it as a
powerful and gripping film, adding
that the camerawork does not get
in the way of telling a difficult and
harrowing story.
Joost van der Valk’s story had
already won a BAFTA and an
International Emmy. And he had
been back to Nigeria for a followup. Looking back at the machete
man, he recalled: “I was shitting
bricks, but we were there with quite
a few people.
“The film was very well watched
on C4, and there is a big Nigerian
community in London. They reacted with dismay and outrage, and in
consequence the Nigerian government adopted the children’s rights
act, making it illegal to brand children as witches. Some people were
arrested,” he added.
The Martin Adler Prize, gifted
to a freelancer or freelancers who
play a vital part in telling a story,
including all support people like
fixers, went to the three Gazabased freelancers Talal Abu
Rahma, Raed Athemneh, and
Ashraf Mashharawi.
The Rory Peck Trust awarded
over 100 charitable grants in the
last year, helping freelancers directly or their families if death or
injury hit the breadwinner.
Looking back on a landmark
awards night, trust director Tina
Carr said: “From Russia to Burma
and Nigeria, the winners show the
global nature of the freelance community and reinforce how important it is to protect their work,
which often takes place in difficult
or hazardous situations.”
“In the early days Cat 5 was quite
a poor transmission line due to electrical principles, and we didn’t like
all the drawbacks of Ethernet —
designing a system around Ethernet
was never professional enough. Only
recently have chipsets for error-free
transmission become available, so we
could finally implement a professional network on Cat 5,” he said.
“It means that you can build
more distributed and advanced systems at a fraction of the previous cost
— this is especially true when harsh
environment cabling is required. The
new devices decrease cost per node of
an Optocore network significantly —
not only for building projects.
However, large building projects benefit in particular as they usually
require a lot of nodes.”
www.optocore.com
TVBE_FP 29/6/09 10:45 Page 1
#25504 TVB Europe Bob K ad:Layout 26/06/2009 09:52 Page 1
www.aja.com
“On every shoot, AJA helps me deliver
the highest quality.”
Bob Kertesz
Chief Technical Partner, BlueScreen LLC.
With a 30-year reputation for quality, Bob Kertesz
relies on AJA at the heart of his workflow.
As Chief Technical Partner at BlueScreen LLC., Kertesz specializes in
high-end compositing of live images. In fast-paced environments his
array of AJA converters and the FS1 ensure he can meet whatever
format and equipment challenges he faces. “A client shows up with an
HD tape for an SD project? No problem,” he explains. “He wants to
integrate 720p footage into a 1080i show? No problem. He brings a
camera with only component outputs and I need digital? No problem.”
HD/SD Audio/Video Frame Synchronizer and Converter
• SD/HD up/down conversion
• SD/SD aspect ratio conversion
• HD/HD cross conversion (720p/1080i)
• Dual HD/SD SDI Inputs and Outputs
• Component Analog HD/SD Input and Output
• Closed Caption Support
F S 1 .
B e c a u s e
i t
For a recent series of promotional spots for NBC’s Amercian Gladiators,
Kertesz created on-set pre-visualization compositing taking a feed from
a Vision Research Phantom HD Camera. “Because of the tight
turnaround time, and the talent involved, it was essential that we were
working with equipment that was reliable and fast. The camera didn’t
genlock, so we had to have an on-set solution to feed its footage into
the HD Ultimatte 11. The FS1 was essential for that purpose.”
Find out more about AJA products at - www.aja.com
m a t t e r s .
TVBE Dec P14-27 Workflow
9/12/09
12:14
Page 14
TVBEU R O PE T H E W O R K F L O W
World Cup workflow
Host Broadcast Services and technical partner EVS are currently planning on taking the broadcast of the 2010 World Cup
South Africa to new levels with extensive new editorial, mobile and 3D production platforms, reports Adrian Pennington
World Cup fever will reach its
crescendo next June when an
accumulated audience of over 26
billion is expected to tune in to the
64 matches of South Africa 2010
(the same TV audience figures
incidentally as for Germany 06).
That’s no small degree of pressure for the production team
tasked with delivering the live
broadcasts. HBS, the Swiss-based
subsidiary of Infront Sports &
Media, is the exclusive producer
and distributor of images for the
competition. It has a history of
innovating host broadcast production, from the first ‘multi-feed’
services to the transition to tapeless recording and archiving in
HD. The most significant developments next year will be dedicated
near-live streaming of every game
to mobile handsets and a stereoscopic project.
Once a cost and an obligation
which fell on the shoulders of the
national broadcaster in the host
country, the host operation of
global sporting events has become
a specialised and profitable business. The more complex the operation, the more important it is to
hire in experience.
French Ligue 1: François Charles Bideaux, FIFA World Cup director (1998, 2002, 2006 & 2010), directing from the OB van
“We start as soon as the bid
winner for the event is announced
by completing a detailed analysis
of the country, its communications
infrastructure and the requirements of the client [FIFA TV],”
explains HBS CEO Francis Tellier,
Logging of all content on IPDirector will take place in the IBC
“We are the architects. We don’t build anything
but we design and manage everything from
OB contracts to cabling and signage at the
IBC” — Francis Tellier
who was the managing director of
TVRS 98, host broadcaster of the
France 98 World Cup. “We are the
architects. We don’t build anything
but we design and manage everything from OB contracts to cabling
and signage at the IBC. Everything
has to come in time. That’s vital to
the success of the operation and
something not easily done if a
sports body or host country were
to arrange to deliver the broadcast
on their own.”
Although it had first produced
non-match content in 2002 HBS is
markedly expanding its role away
from pure technical matchday
production for 2010. “In 2006 a
lot of rights-holders requested
reports from training grounds and
hotel by the big teams like Brazil,
Germany or Italy. Now, we cover
all 24 teams during training and
press conferences… the complete
stay in South Africa,” says Tellier.
Rights-holders are only obliged to
pay the technical costs but no
additional licensing fee.
“The reason for this offer is
that South Africa is a huge country, three times bigger than
Germany. So it’s important to
offer this service,” he says.
For 2010 each team (32) will
receive a dedicated three-person
ENG crew with another eight
ENG teams gathering local
colour, features and fan-related
activity throughout the country.
Equipped with Panasonic P2
camcorders they will send rough
cut edits and rushes to the IBC,
daily. In total, about 20 to 25
hours of DVCPROHD content
will be produced every day.
That amounts to 800-1,000
hours of content on top of the
2,000 hours of pre, actual and
post match coverage — an HD
quota topping 3,000 hours and all
stored on a mammoth Media
Server at the IBC.
As with previous events, HBS
has collaborated with EVS to provide extensive instant tapeless
technology and support services.
Housed in the Johannesburg IBC,
the Media Server is an integrated
cluster of 50 EVS XT2 production
servers which will manage the
ingest and the exchange of all content offering the HBS production
team as well as broadcasters 24/7
access to all the recorded media,
including the director’s cut, multiple camera angles, ISO camera,
and a best clip compilation.
During each match, eleven HD
XT[2] servers will record nine different feeds including the broadcast and clean international feeds,
two team feeds and two player
cams plus a tactical camera (overhead on a zip wire), clips compilation and one for mobile distribution.
The production of two simultaneous matches at the beginning of
the competition means that the
system has to support ingest of 2 x 9
feeds simultaneously.
In order to increase the availability of multi-camera angles to
the production teams located in
the IBC, additional IPDirector
browsing stations (IPBrowser)
have been added to allow unseen
camera angles browsing and
reviewing right after each match.
The IPBrowser located in the
IBC will be connected to the
IPDirector database located in the
OB truck at the venues through an
Ethernet line. Operators in the IBC
will be able the review each clip as
Total picture
monitoring solutions
In the world of LCD picture monitoring things may not
live up to their promise. The metrics of LCD performance
can be a blur and even monitors from the global brands may not always
meet your expectations. Oxygen DCT is one of the world’s leading LCD monitor specialists with over 100 models and
provide solutions, not just products. From simple edit monitoring to engineering monitors, Grade 1 reference monitors and unique
turn-key gallery monitor stacks, we objectively advise and deliver, in abundance.
Call us today or visit www.oxygendct.com for more information. Tel: +44 8707 4 62062 Email: [email protected]
14
TVBE_FP
25/11/09
10:40
Page 1
Rethink automatic loudness control
Excessive loudness variation is probably the most common viewer complaint, and
it’s now something you can eliminate entirely. Our Automatic Loudness Control for
our Densité interfaces is designed to address all typical loudness problems, including
audio jumps between programs and commercials. To ensure effective loudness control
without adversely impacting program content, we’ve incorporated
the latest proven technologies from our partners, Linear Acoustic
and Jünger Audio. It’s time to rethink what’s possible.
AUTOM ATIC
LOUDNESS
Rethink what’s possible
CONTROL
w ww.miranda.com/loudness
Adv09-ALC-TVB.indd 1
10/19/09 3:31:20 PM
9/12/09
12:08
Page 16
World Cup
workflow
well as their related (unseen) camera angles. The operator will be
able to transfer the hires clip back
to the IBC for the preparation of
their news cut and edits.
Live slow-motion
and virtual offside
The number of cameras used per
match has doubled within 10
years. Tellier has budgeted 29-32
per match in South Africa, five to
six more than for Germany. In
addition to standard cameras,
HBS will operate a series of
Super-and Ultra Motion cameras.
Spread among the OB vans are
150 MulticamLSMs used for all
live slow-motion, super-motion
and ultra-motion replays. The
super-motion support 3x speeds
(SD or HD) under control of
Multicam[LSM] software. EVS is
also used for all replay actions of
ultra-motion camera sequences
managing up to 1,000fps. Any
feed recorded on one server can be
reviewed, clipped and played out
from any other enabling HBS
LSM operators to create on-thefly highlights, closing sequences
or clips to illustrate interesting
actions to be then transferred
to the IBC. EVS IPDirector software will manage ingest, browsing
and highlights editing and
content management.
The LSM machines generate
upwards of 1,500 clips per match
and only a fraction of these are
used on the main match coverage.
Normally some of the ‘unseen’
angles are fed during the half-time
interval and after the full-time
whistle, but often this material
arrives too late to be included in
the live studio programming. The
Clips Compilation feed gives
access to these ‘unseen’ clips, by
streaming all the best quality slowmotion angles to the Media Server.
130 XT[2] servers in the fleet of
40 OB trucks are either controlled
by one of the MulticamLSM systems or the IPDirector. On matchday all live OB servers will be
ganged together by dual media
sharing network (a XNET[2]
network based on high bandwidth
SDTI, and standard Gigabit
Ethernet), allowing operators and
production teams to share content
and control media.
As with Germany 06, Grass
Valley is the main OB kit provider.
“We hire in all the kit and GV
have made that option available
whereas Sony — who did not bid
— did not,” says Tellier.
For the first time HBS is to
introduce virtual offside line
graphics to the international feed.
This graphic overlay will be managed using EPSIO, a new EVS
product that allows LSM operators to manually trigger the offside line with the jog wheel of the
LSM remote.
Francis Tellier (left, HBS) and Pierre l’Hoest (EVS) shake hands on 10 years of continued collaboration at IBC
2009 in Amsterdam: Planning between the two organisations for World Cup 2010 is already well advanced
by HBS teams, using EVS
IPDirector. The ENG edits and
related metadata will be automatically sent onto a secured
web server in proxy MPEG-4
H264. Rights holders located
abroad can browse all the edited
content remotely using keywords and descriptive metadata
to facilitate search. Selected
media can be ordered as high
“Since 50% of a match is viewed from camera
one, the wide high pitch shot looks dreadful
on mobile — the players look like ants” —
Francis Tellier, Host Broadcast Services
According to EVS Epsio is
able to instantly and automatically recognise the playing field
during actions and virtually draw
the offside line along the borders
of the playing field. This onesecond operation is selectable with
just one button.
All content recorded on the
IBC Media Server will be logged
resolution files in standard or
high definition.
The transfer operation will be
automatically managed using the
SmartJog system linked to the
EVS database and media server.
In order to increase the availability of ENG cuts to rights
holders, HBS is instituting a web
server and browser solution
Gator aids knowledge retention
MAM Engine
By David Fox
IPV’s new Teragator — trailed at
NAB and launched at IBC — is a
relational metadata aggregation
and management engine that
should help broadcasters keep
better track of their content. It is
claimed to “improve workflow
and drive cost-efficiencies” by
making it easier to find and
browse the clips you need.
“Teragator is a database aggregation tool that enables the user to
get an overview of multiple different data sets independent of
schema and view it in an intuitive
and unique way,” said Piers
Godden, international sales manager. “It enables browsing of, and
making connections with, media
that you possibly wouldn’t know
you have.”
Metadata that describes a single source can exist in multiple
formats — plain text, an XML file
or a relational database record,
and be distributed across numer-
modeled on one already operated by HBS for the Ligue1 soccer
production in France.
Mobile live feed
A variety of mobile packages will
be made available for the tournament (team specific, live or
recorded highlights for example)
with a dedicated team assigned to
its production.
“Since 50% of a match is
viewed from camera one, the wide
high pitch shot looks dreadful on
mobile — the players look like
ants,” says Tellier. Following
almost two years of mobile TV
coverage of France’s Ligue, HBS
will provide a dedicated camera
and camera-op whose images will
be automatically substituted for
the main camera feed in order to
provide closer shots and action
that offer better visibility on
mobile devices.
The mobile feed produced at
the venue will be ingested into the
media server with live streaming
ous physical locations and business systems. Teragator allows the
user to aggregate these disparate
elements — extracting the semantic content from the aggregation.
Semantically enhanced data can
then be accessed anywhere within
the organisation, allowing users
to browse the results and integrating workflows.
It uses RDF (a resource
description framework) and
Triples (subject, object and predicate) that can find relationships
on an Apple XSAN allowing an
FCP editor to edit or construct
team specific presentation and
voice-over. The feeds are then
handed to Ericsson, provider of
the mobile network infrastructure.
Production costs for 2010 will
be more than the £75 million of
2006 but slightly less than the £90
million of Japan/Korea 2002
which needed two IBC’s and coverage of 20 venues. “Although we
are covering 10 venues in South
Africa we are making more content available than ever before,”
says Tellier.
Construction of the IBC
begins in January with HBS
gearing up from a 40 person to
1,000+ staffed group for the
finals. Although his focus is on
June, Tellier also has half an eye
on Brazil 2014, “which will present its own set of challenges —
not least are the synergies we
have to think about relating to
the Olympics hosted there two
years later.”
between content even where the
methods of entering it differ from
library to library. It also looks at
the provenance of the media (especially for web content). “It takes
the context of the information and
provides a relationship based on it,
giving a visual context to the metadata,” he explained. For example,
because it can distinguish relationships within the data, it would
automatically find “Tiger Woods”
associated with golf as “T Woods”
or “Woods, Tiger”.
It sits on top of existing
archive systems and can be used
with any hierarchical storage system. Based on open standards, it
can access external content
sources and place them in the
same uniform view for browse
and search.
“Within the broadcast environment, there is a utopian view
of central asset management, but
the reality is that news people
don’t talk to sport people, and
there are a whole lot of data
sources, such as XML or Word
docs, that need to be accessed too.
Teragator can look at everything
for information.”
www.ipv.com
16
TVBE_FP
29/5/09
15:57
Page 1
the results couldn’t be
any clearer
We do a wide range of productions – news,
sports, corporate, reality and more – in HD. After
comparing the 19x7.3 to competitive lenses,
we went with Angenieux. Not only is it the most
cost effective lens in this class, it's a convenient
size and can focus down to .6m for
close-up interviews.
Rick Smosky
Director of Photography
Rick Smosky Inc.
As a smaller company with international
clients, we need maximum versatility, value
and performance. We depend on the Angenieux
19x7.3 lens for convenient features like variable
zoom control and double extender for golf
coverage. We've been rewarded with honors
and with satisfied clients, so we're sticking
with Angenieux.
Paul Piasecki
Director of Photography
Ko-mar Video Productions
The only lenses we use in our HD studios are
Angenieux. We've used Angenieux lenses for
over 20 years on major projects like Jazz Fest
as well as nationally aired shows. Angenieux is
very responsive – they've sent critical items to
us overnight when needed – and their image
quality is the best.
Larry Allen
Engineering Section Manager
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
images
+33(0)4 77 90 78 99 • www.angenieux.com
9/12/09
13:07
Page 18
NEWS
IN BRIEF
ITN Source digitises its film archive
MHz opens order book
Archive division turns to Ascent for outsourcing
Megahertz (MHz) says it will
close its 2009 calendar year
with a solid order book for its
2010 systems integration
business. Recent orders
including those from Boomerang
TV and Aerial Camera Systems
(ACS) will strengthen MHz’s
position as the New Year
progresses. Most recently MHz
has delivered a number of trucks
including a DSNG truck for BBC
Scotland, a links truck for ITN,
refurbishment of DSNG trucks
for GlobeCast and BT — and
earlier this year it shipped an
innovative satellite vehicle based
on a Humvee H3 model to
Telemedia in South Africa.
Furthermore 2009 saw MHz
build two of SIS LIVE’s nextgeneration HD production
trailers that were used to cover
the BBC Sport’s HD coverage of
The Championships at
Wimbledon last summer. Work is
currently underway at MHz’s Ely
facility on the latest SIS LIVE
semi-trailer, OB1, which is claimed
to be the largest HD OB trailer to
be commissioned in the UK.
www.megahertz.co.uk
STN port for MYtv
MYtv has selected STN as
teleport partner to launch its new
Direct to Home (DTH) platform
for the Ukrainian market and
have confirmed a multi-year
agreement. This project was of
great interest to other teleports
worldwide and STN was recently
proud to annouce the sucessful
launch of its first package of 80
channels currently using two
platforms on the Thor 3 Satellite
located a 1° west, with planned
move to recently launched
Thor-6 by the end of 2009. This
orbital location hosts an
attractive video neighborhood
serving Central and Eastern
Europe. MYtv provides
subscribers with a host of world
renowned channels and many
more. giving all-year round
entertainment from sports to
childrens programming.
www.stn.eu
By Adrian Pennington
An electronic form
Seeking an outsource provider
with distribution network, post
facilities and a UK base, Oberoi’s
team arrived at Ascent Media.
“We needed to physically transport the reels out of Gray’s Inn
Road but we couldn’t put business on hold while digitisation
was carried out,” she says. “We
wanted to digitise and at the same
time continue to deliver orders on
a daily basis.”
According to Ascent Technical Director Adrian Bull, “ITN
Source required a response to the
question of how to mobilise a
film archive which is typically
quite unwieldy and expensive to
deal with. We needed to transfer
this material in as automated a
way as possible into an electronic
form so ITN Source could then
apply descriptive and technical
metadata and make it available
for online sale.”
Bull’s idea was to scan the reels
using the Flashscan8 digital film-
Asha Oberoi: “Content is five or six times more likely to be used if digitised”
Asset Management
ITN Source, the archive division
of ITN, is the organisation’s
greatest asset representing the
clips sales libraries of ITV,
Reuters,
ANI,
Australia’s
Channel 9, Fox News and Fox
Movietone as well as ITN’s own
footage, in a stockpile massing a
million hours. However much of
it lies under-utilised in its original
tape or film format. Over the past
three years 25,000 hours of ITN’s
own material has been scanned
in-house but the division recently
embarked on a scheme to speed
up the process.
“The core of our business is
the platform ITV Source.com for
searching, fulfilling orders or
marketing internationally and we
needed to get more material
available on the site,” explains
ITN Source Content Director
Asha Oberoi. “Content is five or
six times more likely to be used
if digitised, instead of sitting on
the shelf. Making more of it
available online underpins our
commercial strategy.”
A year ago Oberoi instituted
an action plan which earmarked
40,000 hours dating between 1955
to 1985 of predominantly filmed
footage, with some one inch tape,
for outsourced digitising. Some
of the material, which includes
reels of the Vietnam War and The
Beatles, suffers from vinegar syndrome where heat or humidity
breaks down the cellulose and
acetic acid of the negative, making digitisation imperative.
“The first to transfer will be
the oldest material,” says Oberoi.
“This project is as much about
preserving our assets and disaster
recovery as it is monetising it.”
Another incentive was to augment and build ITN Source’s
“The only thing I’m interested in at the transfer
stage is the integrity of the film handling
process. All the creative processing is done in
the file-based world after the first pass” —
Adrian Bull, Ascent Media
international business. With sales
to foreign markets from its offices
in Tokyo, LA, Johannesburg,
Berlin and Sydney growing rapidly,
“you need to be able to demonstrate the archive wherever you
are,” Oberoi says.
A third reason was that ITN’s
own digital asset management
system, built with Sony in 2006 to
support ITN’s news production
for ITV and C4 news, was beginning to buckle under the strain.
“It was designed to ingest 2025 hours of ITN and Reuters
feeds and programming daily
and for news teams to browse
and retrieve footage — not to
“Solutions in Audio & Video”
The new PT0700R ‘Client Terminal’
provides a 2nd independent display
and control of the host PT0760M
via DVI Link
NEW
Features
• 1, 2 or 4 channel HD/SD Waveform
Monitor & Vectorscope on single display
• HD/SD Audio De-embedding
• DVI/VGA & Audio Outputs for Monitoring
• Dolby E/Digital
• 5.1 Surround Sound Metering
• Audio Metering of 16 channels
• User upgradeable entry level PT0710M available
Email: [email protected] • Web: www.dk-technologies.com • Tel: +45 44 85 02 55 • Fax: +45 44 85 02 50 | DK-Technologies A/S, Marielundvej 37D, Herlev DK-2730, Denmark.
18
digitise by the bucketload,” says
Oberoi. “We could see that download speeds were affected and
there were concerns about disaster recovery.”
Adrian Bull: “Clearly there’s a
pressure to look to HD delivery since
they get a potentially higher value”
scanner from German developer
MWA. Rather than transfer the
entire back catalogue in highresolution up front, which Oberoi
describes as “cost-prohibitive”,
proxies of the whole archive will be
created for the web with full versions completed as orders come in.
The flashscan8’s optical system is based on a high energy
multi-colour LED array which
delivers a stable long life light
source and exposes the film image
to a 3CCD camera head. The signal processing allows black, white
and gamma correction, as well as
negative scanning.
9/12/09
12:09
Page 19
“You can run multiple
machines with a reduced number
of operators which is something
you can’t do with a conventional
telecine,” says Bull. “The only
thing I’m interested in at the
transfer stage is the integrity of
the film handling process. All the
creative processing such as
adjusting for brightness and contrast, is done in the file-based
world after the first pass.”
The worst reels affected with
vinegar syndrome are being digitised to the master file format of
30Mpbs IMX. The bulk will be
Flashscanned as a low res proxy
and stored at Ascent Media. A
million microfiche cards with
typewritten notes are also being
scanned and added to the proxies
to aid online search. ITN Source’s
shot listers will contribute
metadata including updated
copyright information.
“The nature of the content
will determine whether we perform an HD transfer,” says
Bull. “Clearly there’s a pressure
from ITN Source to look to HD
delivery since they get a potentially higher value from HD and a
film-based archive lends itself to
such a transfer.”
The 1-inch tape is being digitised through a Golden Gate
Snell & Wilcox decoder to create
SD MPEG-2 file masters. Once a
clip is ordered Ascent will create
a high-resolution version for
distribution from its Viia asset
management system into the
back-end of the ITN Source website or issue directly to the client.
“It is our strategy to have multiple asset management systems
driving content onto the website,”
explains Oberoi. “ITN Source
aggregates editorial video content
but the cost is too high for us to
digitise all our partner archives so
we are working with those that
have their own digital strategy
and hooking their MAMs into
ITN Source.”
The first proxies are expected
to be viewable online in April.
The project is expected to increase
order levels of film from 40-50%.
A further 20-30,000 hours of
mainly Beta SP footage dating
from1985 to 2006 is likely to form
the next part of the project.
Platinum choice for
Elettronica Industriale
By Fergal Ringrose
Elettronica Industriale has upgraded its master control suite with
Harris Platinum, claimed to be
the world’s first embedded audioprocessing router. Elettronica
Industriale, as the network operator of Italian media company
Mediaset Group, is in charge of the
central switching of all of Mediaset
Group’s contribution signals.
The Platinum router can
demultiplex (demux) incoming
audio signals and then multiplex
(mux) any audio signal within the
router on a video output. This
installation represents the largest
implementation to date of the
Platinum mux/demux technology.
The upgraded master control
room at Elettronica Industriale is
built around five Platinum routers.
The central router features a
512x512 configuration. It is populated 400x400 with de-embedders
on every input and embedders on
every output, along with 32x32
mono analog audio. Since
mux/demux capabilities exist within Platinum, the router can process
and route both discrete and
embedded audio — all within the
same frame. In 32RU of space,
the new system at Elettronica
Industriale replaces approximately
230 RU worth of equipment and
runs at about 30% of the power
needed by the previous system.
Rounding out the installation are
other broadcast solutions from the
Harris portfolio, including 6800+
core-processing modules, the
Videotek TVM series of test and
measurement equipment, and
IconLogo branding products.
“This project is an excellent
example of how Harris combines
tremendous signal-processing power with a small footprint,” said
Richard Scott, vice president of
Europe, the Middle East and Africa
operations, Harris Broadcast
Communications. “Moving the
mux/demux capability internal to
the frame not only saves a great deal
of rack space, but also reduces total
system power requirements. That,
in turn, reduces energy and operational costs for our customers.”
www.harris.com.
19
9/12/09
12:10
Page 20
The anatomy of an upgrade
Outside Broadcast provider CTV has recently upgraded one
unit to incorporate new technology. Philip Stevens looks at
how the refurbishment was planned and completed
OB Refurb
Over the past few months, Phase 2
of a planned refurbishment has
been carried out on CTV’s eight
year old OB4 truck to make it fully
HD compatible and Dolby 5.1
compliant. The plan also involved
looking forward to a future upgrade
to 1080p 3G operation. This work
was carried out by Neil Wilson
Enterprises — whose owner is no
stranger to this particular truck.
“Neil Wilson was previously
CTV’s chief engineer and, since
setting up on his own, we’ve used
him exclusively as our project
engineer on all our major new
builds and large refurbishments,”
explains Hamish Greig, technical
director CTV OBs. “As a company
we have a large and specialist engineering workforce, however those
personnel are often busy with our
wide range of productions. With
that in mind, it’s a benefit having
Neil available to bring our conceptual and engineering designs to
fruition. His ongoing relationship
with CTV means we can achieve a
lot with the minimum time spent
on discussions.”
CTV’s brief included not only
upgrades to HD and 5.1 specifications but also the provision of a
vehicle makeover and the increase
of air conditioning capability. In
all, the refurbishment was carried
out over a two-year period.
“The upgrade was done in two
phases to minimise the time that
the truck was out of commission,” states Neil Wilson. “The
first phase involved installing the
routers and carrying out the general refurbishment of the vehicle
which included replacement of
the air-conditioning plant. Phase
Two involved replacement of the
OB4 underwent a carefully planned two-phase makeover,
all designed to minimise time out of commission from the field
existing analogue audio mixing
console with a digital 5.1 console
from Calrec Audio and consequent upgrade of all the related
signal paths and monitoring from
analogue to digital.”
He goes on to explain that a
decision was made to adopt
unbalanced coax cabling for the
AES audio to simplify integration
with Dolby encoders and
decoders and improve reliability.
It was a simple matter to specify
an unbalanced backplane for the
Sirius router.
When it came to router equipment, Wilson opted for Snell
(Pro-Bel) as the supplier. “It was
decided to replace the existing
router mainframes with Cygnus
video and Sirius audio routers,
while retaining the installed control panels by a simple software
upgrade to the Aurora controller.”
Alongside its HD-SDI capabilities, the Cygnus video router is 3G
HD-SDI-ASI, allowing all formats
to pass through the unit. On the
audio side, the 192 x 192 Sirius 256
AES/EBU audio router allows
both Analogue and AES audio to
be fitted and cross-routed.
“Both routers have proved
their reliability and offer expansion to meet all the OB’s future
needs,’ declares Malcolm Butler,
Snell’s UK key account manager. “The routers are controlled
using Snell’s Aurora controller
and panels.”
The business spectrum
Wilson adds that the Snell units
offered some specific benefits
that couldn’t be overlooked.
These include high density crosspoint hardware packed into the
small physical size that is
required in an OB environment,
simple configuration, and fast
online editing software.
In Wilson’s view this editing
feature is sadly lacking in some
competitor products. “This is very
important in today’s OB production needs where editing of the
database on a job-by-job basis is
common and must be done while
on-air and without any disruption
to the router live operation.”
He also maintains that the
ease of future expansion to 3G
influenced the choice. “We did
look at one other supplier, but
decided its products couldn’t
meet the specification. Not only
that, the Snell equipment enables
CTV to revert back to SD operation very easily when job requirements demand.”
Another major upgrade
involved the IT units employed in
OB4. In fact, the whole network
20
Router in situ: OB4 was refurbished to meet the demands of HD and Dolby
5.1 The new router equipment was installed by Neil Wilson Enterprises
infrastructure was replaced and
gigabit Ethernet installed for
file-based transfer and editing
requirements. This centred on
new CAT6 cabling, Ethernet
switches, and KVM switching
infrastructure.
“This involved the integration
of HD video servers from EVS
and editing from Apple Final
Cut Pro,” reports Wilson. “Also
included were shot logging and
“And that commitment calls for
engineering to the highest level.
However, we do have a large market share of the LE business and
ensure our trucks cater to an
equally high level for all strands
of our business spectrum.”
OB4’s workload is well filled
for a good part of next year, but
how does Greig view the general
state of the outside broadcast
market? “The last year has been
“The last year has been difficult for everyone
worldwide. A great many people have been trying
to recover large investments in technology
against numerous cancelled and reduced facilities
productions” — Hamish Greig, CTV
file management, and an archiving solution from EVS.”
CTV took the opportunity to
equip OB4 with Sony HDC-1500
cameras and CCUs from the
company’s existing stock of units.
The vision mixer had already
been upgraded two years previously and was, therefore, already
HD capable.
As well as an engineering
facelift, the 16.5m truck was refurbished by Spectra Specialised
Engineering & Coachbuilding and
given new floors, carpets and
hardwood ceiling. There was also
a replacement of the air conditioning plant in order to increase
cooling capacity.
In November, the truck was on
a boat to Dubai to cover Middle
Eastern Golf tournaments over
the winter period. It will arrive
back in the UK in the spring,
where it will form the backbone
of a major CTV commitment.
“OB4 will now become the lead
truck in servicing our Sky cricket
contract,” states Hamish Greig.
difficult for everyone worldwide. A
great many people have been trying to recover large investments in
technology against numerous
cancelled and reduced facilities
productions. I see the next six to 12
months as being equally challenging with confidence, hopefully,
returning to the production sector
during the following year. That
should have the effect of restoring
jobs to previous levels, with the
resultant knock on effect to our
OB business.”
He concludes, “The biggest
challenges in the OB market for
today are getting a balance
between new technology and
investment levels, while staying
and growing as a leading facilities
provider. The changes we have
made to our existing vehicle make
us feel as though we have a new
truck to enable us to maintain a
position as a leading provider of
HD OB facilities.”
www.ctvob.co.uk
www.nwetp.co.uk
www.snellgroup.com
TVBE_FP
12/10/09
10:00
Page 1
/ƚ͛ƐĞĂƐǇƚŽďĞĞŶƟĐĞĚďǇƚŚĞĂůůƵƌŝŶŐŐŽŽĚůŽŽŬƐŽĨƚŚĞEŝĂŐĂƌĂΠϳϱϬϬʹƚŚĞŶĞǁĞƐƚ,
ƐƚƌĞĂŵŝŶŐƐŽůƵƟŽŶĨƌŽŵsŝĞǁĂƐƚ͘KŶƚŚĞŽƵƚƐŝĚĞ͕ŝƚƐƐůĞĞŬ͕ŝŶŶŽǀĂƟǀĞĚĞƐŝŐŶĂŶĚ
ƌĞƐƉŽŶƐŝǀĞƚŽƵĐŚͲĐŽŶƚƌŽůŝŶƚĞƌĨĂĐĞǁŝůůĞǆĐŝƚĞǇŽƵ͘/ƚƐďƌŝůůŝĂŶƚŚŝŐŚͲƌĞƐŽůƵƟŽŶ,ĚŝƐƉůĂǇ
ǁŝůůĚĂǌǌůĞǇŽƵ͘ƵƚŽŶƚŚĞŝŶƐŝĚĞ͕ŝƚ͛ƐĂďĞĂƐƚ͘
dŚĞEŝĂŐĂƌĂϳϱϬϬĚĞǀŽƵƌƐǇŽƵƌ,ǀŝĚĞŽĂŶĚĞĂƐŝůǇƚƌĂŶƐĨŽƌŵƐŝƚŝŶƚŽŚŝŐŚͲƋƵĂůŝƚǇ
ƐƚƌĞĂŵƐĨŽƌĚĞůŝǀĞƌǇƚŽ/WĂŶĚŵŽďŝůĞŶĞƚǁŽƌŬƐ͘/ƚƐƉŽǁĞƌĨƵůǀŝĚĞŽƉƌĞͲƉƌŽĐĞƐƐŝŶŐ
ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƐƐƚƌĞĂŵůŝŶĞĂŶĚƐŝŵƉůŝĨǇǇŽƵƌǁŽƌŬŇŽǁ͘/ŶǀĞƌƐĞƚĞůĞĐŝŶĞ͕ĐůŽƐĞĚĐĂƉƟŽŶ
ĞǆƚƌĂĐƟŽŶĂŶĚƌĞŶĚĞƌŝŶŐ͕ĚĞͲŝŶƚĞƌůĂĐŝŶŐ͕ƐĐĂůŝŶŐ͕ĐƌŽƉƉŝŶŐĂŶĚďŝƚŵĂƉŽǀĞƌůĂǇĂƌĞũƵƐƚ
ĂĨĞǁŽĨŝƚƐƐƚĂŶĚĂƌĚĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƐ͘
zŽƵĐĂŶƐǁŝƚĐŚŽŶͲƚŚĞͲŇǇďĞƚǁĞĞŶ,Žƌ^ǀŝĚĞŽ͕ĂŶĚǁŝƚŚsŝĞǁĂƐƚ͛Ɛ^ŝŵƵů^ƚƌĞĂŵΠ
ƚĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐǇ͕ǇŽƵ͛ǀĞŐŽƚƚŚĞƉŽǁĞƌƚŽƐƚƌĞĂŵƐŝŵƵůƚĂŶĞŽƵƐůǇŝŶŵƵůƟƉůĞĨŽƌŵĂƚƐ͕ďŝƚƌĂƚĞƐ
ĂŶĚƌĞƐŽůƵƟŽŶƐĨƌŽŵĂƐŝŶŐůĞ^/ǀŝĚĞŽƐŽƵƌĐĞ͘
dŚĞEŝĂŐĂƌĂϳϱϬϬĨƌŽŵsŝĞǁĂƐƚ͘ĞĂƵƚǇŽŶƚŚĞŽƵƚƐŝĚĞ͙ĂďĞĂƐƚŽŶƚŚĞŝŶƐŝĚĞ͘
^ƉĞĂŬǁŝƚŚŽŶĞŽĨŽƵƌƐƚƌĞĂŵŝŶŐĞǆƉĞƌƚƐƚŽĚĂǇĂƚ 800-540-4119͕ŽƌǀŝƐŝƚƵƐŽŶƚŚĞ
Web at viewcast.com/tvbƚŽůĞĂƌŶŵŽƌĞ͘
h^ϴϬϬ͘ϱϰϬ͘ϰϭϭϵͮƵƌŽƉĞ͕DŝĚĚůĞĂƐƚ͕ĨƌŝĐĂнϰϰϭϮϱϲϯϰϱϲϭϬ
©2009 ViewCast Corporation. All rights reserved. Osprey®, Niagara®, and Niagara SCX® (and design)™ are registered trademarks of ViewCast Corporation,
:3ODQR3DUNZD\6XLWH3ODQR7;3URGXFWVSHFL¿FDWLRQVVXEMHFWWRFKDQJHZLWKRXWQRWLFH
9/12/09
13:10
Page 22
New robotics for news and sports in Rome and Milan
Sky Italia adds production value
Studio Production
By David Stewart
News and sport are the two genres most commonly used to create character for a broadcaster — the programming in which strong
brand identities can be built. Each depends
on a lot of live content, often reacting to the
unexpected, and working under a great deal
of pressure.
Part of generating that character,
though, will come from the production values employed. Audiences are likely to get
bored if the presentation itself just uses one
or two locked-off cameras. They have grown
accustomed to a dynamic, varied production
style, and will vote with their remotes if a
broadcaster does not deliver.
Sky Italia recognised this and, with both
dedicated news (Sky TG24) and sport (Sky
Sports 24) channels, has invested in robotic
camera systems from Vinten Radamec to
achieve high production values while keeping operational expenditure under control.
Sky Sport 24 is a sports news channel.
What makes it a challenge is that around 19
hours a day are live, all produced in HD.
“Much of this programming comes from the
channel’s production studio in Milan,” says
Paul Vickerage, head of studios for Sky Italia.
“During the long live broadcasting day the
studio has multiple set-ups, and requirements
range from one or two presenters to a number
of guests discussing the action. So the camera
operations have to be very flexible.”
The solution, proposed by Italian distributor TAV, was to install five robotic camera heads alongside three manual cameras.
“The manual cameras are only operated
when we really need to,” Vickerage explains.
“The robotic system can support sophisticated programming on its own.”
Camera positions are defined in advance
and recalled from a touchscreen user interface or direct from the newsroom system.
Where necessary shots can be trimmed live,
using a simple joystick on the control panel.
The digital lens servos are linked into the system to control the focus and zoom positions.
So far this is a classic robotic camera
installation, although 19 hours a day is certainly an unusual workload. What makes
the Sky Sport 24 installation particularly
interesting is that, while the main studio is
in Milan, there is a second studio associated with the channel, in Rome nearly 600km
away. This studio is regularly used for interviews and contributions in association with
the Milan studio. It made sense, then, to
Both Sky TG24 (pictured) Sky Sports 24 channels have invested in robotic camera
systems from Vinten Radamec
Gallery for Studio B, set to be particularly important
in major news events such as national elections
Manage the Tapeless Future!
Archive P2, SxS, SDHC, Compact Flash etc. with
use the same robotic camera heads and
control system.
“The Rome studio has its own self-contained Vinten Radamec system with three
robotic heads so it can operate standalone,”
says Vickerage. “But what really makes it
work for us is that we can control it live from
Milan. We have a Sky Italia VPN service and
the control connectivity is routed through
that, which means it is secure, reliable and
very low cost, but it is also fast enough to
give us realtime control of cameras in Rome
from Milan.”
Again, this delivers real operational efficiencies, with a sophisticated three camera
studio, capable of multiple set-ups, controlled completely remotely. As well as releasing operators to work on other tasks, it means
that the programme has a consistent production style because it is all under the control of a single director.
Second studio
ProxSys MA-10 only 4900,-€
www.focusinfo-emea.com
22
With the success of the sport system so clear,
Sky Italia’s news channel also uses the same
robotic system for its main studio in Rome.
Again, for the big productions there is the
chance to use manually operated cameras as
well as the four robotic heads.
The whole news production system at
TG24 is largely automated, with the newsroom computer talking to the production
and playout automation system that, in turn,
talks to the Vinten Radamec controller.
Camera moves are embedded in the playlist
and recalled automatically as each news
bulletin proceeds.
Because this is such an important part of
the benefit of camera robotics, Vinten
Radamec has an open protocol to allow
other systems to interact with its controller.
This interface specification is completely
bi-directional, allowing the automation to
control the cameras or the controller to drive
the robotics. Full interfaces have already been
developed in conjunction with many of the
leading automation vendors.
“For TG24 we have now opened a second
studio using Vinten Radamec robotics, also
in Rome but in a different building in the
city,” says Vickerage. “The primary reason
for this is that the second studio gives us a
high degree of resilience for the 24-hour
news service: should there be a problem in
the main production centre, operations can
be quickly moved to the new studio.”
But the new studio, known as Studio B,
is more than just a backup operation. It
forms an integral part of TG24’s transmissions, and is set to be particularly important
in major news events such as national elections. Both sets of robotics can be controlled from a single controller, allowing the
two sites to work together as a single virtual
studio, giving seamless broadcasting not
just because of the common control systems
but because there are no hitches or delays in
handing over from one director and production team to the other.
Studio B is a first for the Sky group in that
the robotic system uses moving pedestals: the
recently ordered FP188 pedestals with
FH100 heads. This means that the studio can
offer the same production values but with
just three automated cameras.
The targeting system for motorised
pedestals is unobtrusive, using just a small
L-shaped black marker on the floor. This
means that there is no impact on the set
design and no need to provide clear sight
lines to more elaborate target systems.
Simple though it is, it still provides a very
high degree of precision in X/Y moves that,
together with the latest anti-collision logic
in the controlling software, makes for safe
and foolproof operation.
TVBE_FP
12/10/09
14:15
Page 1
9/12/09
12:10
Page 24
3D is top of the list for Sony’s European R&D effort
Fast iterations in application
space are the only way to go
R&D Focus
By George Jarrett
As open house events go, the recent tour of
Sony’s R&D projects in the areas of
Stereoscopic 3D, sport analysis, tape-less
workflow, and signage was instructive in
terms of changing the culture and focus of
developing new technology, and interpreting new application techniques in partnership with customers. The most impressive
example there is the PSP application
Arsenal Match Day Plus.
Fronting the effort to show how
research drives commercial momentum
within Sony globally were head of the
Professional Division Naomi Climer and
R&D director Morgan David, and it was
Climer who identified stereoscopic 3D as
the most exciting new frontier.
“There are 7,000 3D capable screens
already, a 30 times increase in two years,”
in application space are the only way to go.
We have sped up large-scale semi conductor development, although throwing more
people at this will not necessarily make it
quicker to achieve.
“We need to keep bench marking ourselves. We can use partners and do things
quicker, or adopt practices,” he added. “In
terms of our mission, we are not the type
of R&D team to invent the next laser. We
exist to add value based on cost and need.”
The R&D group’s new trick is to engage
with customers with fantastic ideas and
ambitions — like Sky for its graphics system and Arsenal for the PSP project — and
David is happy to admit, “It’s the customer’s good idea,” that brings the best out
of his development team.
“The current focus of the R&D team is
in the areas of 3D content creation, sport
analysis technology, video codec development, image processing development.
XDCAM software, media storage, forensic
marking, high-end, file-based workflow
and web services,” he added.
Technical issues for live 3D
Naomi Climer: “Next summer we will launch Stereoscopic 3D sets”
she said. “It is very easy now to get into a
3D movie. It’s just an explosion, and next
summer we will be launching Stereoscopic
3D sets.”
David confirmed that Sony’s support
for S3D is assured, referencing corporation
boss Sir Howard Stringer’s supportive
speech during the Berlin Funkausstellung.
He said: “This time, after digital cinema
roll out, 3D is a default option. This time,
the whole consumer picture has changed.
“One challenge that people have not
talked enough about however is live 3D
content. It adds artistic, technical and
General manager John Stone fronts Sony’s
development team for 3D production applications. His brief is the creation of comfortable, live coverage 3D content. It must not
cause eyestrain or headaches, or carry the
burden of any ‘fix it in post’ requirements.
“We are in a 3D boom,” he said. “There
were 5,435 3D projector installations as of
August 2009. Major 3D movies are in production. And the viewing technology is in the home.
“The next step is the provision of services. How do we use the HD frame structure, or arrive at longer-term standards?
We need live 3D,” he added.
Principal engineer Jonathan Thorpe
talked about good and bad 3D, starting
with explanations of parallax as positive
and negative.
Producers will need to know that vertical parallax, causing eye tilt and discomfort, can be caused by bad camera set up.
He talked about the issue of keystone
distortion, and then concentrated on the
tricky art of zoom tracking, which is
important to following the action in sports
“You cannot jump. You need to cut to roughly similar scenes.
In live 3D you have to one, avoid vertical parallax, and two,
accurately track zoom shots” — Jonathan Thorpe
economical challenges,” he added. “We
are working on techniques that make live
3D a reality.”
Sony’s modern R&D intentions have
their origins in the launch of Sony
Broadcast in 1974, and the use of profits
from the U-Matic format to fund a
European R&D base in 1979. To emphasise the stunning changes in media since the
days of Howard Steele, Morgan chose a D1
tape offering 76 minutes of once up on time
top quality and the 8 x 8 32Gig media for
Sony’s EX product — credit card from folded laptop in terms of physical shrinkage.
“Europe is such a good place to be for
R&D. This is a very pragmatic operation
that we have here,” he stressed.
There were two things he highlighted.
First were the high quality codecs that
Sony pumps out, and which make it, “Very
good at critically analysing picture quality.”
Second was the industry effort behind the
MXF standard.
“This took five years to establish, but
MXF has driven so much. Essentially it is
the glue that allows you to bring various
components together,”he said. “Fast iterations
24
like football and rugby. Beware slightly different frame sizes.
Next Thorpe covered poor colour matching and poor focusing, and he also raised the
problems associated with having one
viewfinder. He returned to horizontal parallax, explaining that when excessive the eyes
need to ‘toe out’ to accommodate the image.
“The big issue is that if you get it only
right enough for the small screen and then
run the same content on a big screen, any
issues get amplified,” he said.
Breaking the frame — moving the front
of the screen and breaking the 3D illusion
because the information is unbalanced — is
resolved with a floating window. Live action
producers will also have to watch where they
park their on-screen graphics, the unwanted
result being negative parallax.
“Handing off between cuts — between
scenes with objects behind or in front of the
screen — will cause headaches if you do it too
often,” said Thorpe. “In features they use handing off to give a smooth transition over 1-12
frames, but in live content it is very different.
9/12/09
12:11
Page 25
Arqiva prepares for SDO with Christie upgrade
By Fergal Ringrose
Coinciding with the move towards
Digital Switch Over (DSO), which
is due for completion in 2012,
Arqiva needed to increase the
Freeview network monitoring
facilities at its Feltham Media
Centre. Arqiva is one of the founding members of Freeview and currently owns the licences for two of
the three commercial multiplexes.
The switch-over has been in
development since 2006. First Arqiva
was awarded a long-term contract
with BBC to build its high-power
digital terrestrial TV network, including the replacement of the BBC’s analogue TV network and current lowpower DTT network (which provides
its Freeview digital TV service to
viewers via their existing aerials).
This was followed by a similar agreement with SDN Ltd and ITV.
But in order to keep pace with
the all-digital world, the master
control room facilities needed
updating. According to Feltham
Broadcast Operations Manager
Andrew O’Dell, the last upgrade
had been carried out some years
before. “By mid 2008 it was clear
that we needed some more monitoring walls — but now finally we
have new desking and a brand new
wall to monitor the new activity.”
In fact Arqiva was able to
power up a new Christie monitor
wall in January this year, having
requisitioned a wing of the MCR
previously functioning as a transmission suite. This fulfills the
requirement for a 24/7 mission critical, fully redundant system.
Three super-slim 67” RPMSPD132U rear projection modules
were selected following the evaluation. The Christie system provides
the latest in SXGA+ single-chip
display technology, and O’Dell
noted immediately the stark contrast between the new system —
with its high contrast ratio, superior brightness, colour calibration
and cross-prism enhancement —
than some of the older technology
walls working alongside in
the MCR.
Designed for 24/7 operational
reliability, with dual long life high
pressure Mercury lamps, the displays, driven by third party
(Miranda KaleidoX) multi-image
processor, are at the centre of a
fully redundant system.
www.christiedigital.com
Fast iterations in
application space
“You cannot jump. You need
to cut to roughly similar scenes. In
live 3D you have to one, avoid vertical parallax, and two, accurately
track zoom shots,” he added.
Sony is cute to the coming
demand for 2D to 3D conversion,
which Thorpe summarised as,
“3D is equal to 2D, plus depth
map and occlusion data.”
This R&D team has created stadium geometry as a depth map. It is
heavily into 2D to 3D synthesis and
the artificial generation of 3D views
using Sony’s Tri-Sight camera system.
Rob Porter explained how TriSight works. He said: “The cameras
cover the whole pitch, and they are
left locked off. We use a Cell station
— with four HDSI in/outs — and
merge for widescreen. Once done,
we can zoom.
“In its own right it is interesting; to create 3D, we synthesise
the left eye view with pixel offsets.
The offsets are based on distance,
so we create a depth matt,” he
added. “We will add the 3D effect
on the players themselves, now in
the same plane as the pitch. We
use a tracking technology to create the offset for the players.”
25
9/12/09
12:11
Page 26
Sunset+Vine take on camerawork at white-knuckle yachting competition
Sailing in the fast lane
OB Production
By Dave Robinson
First conceived by Dame Ellen
MacArthur’s and business partner Mark
Turner’s OC Events, the Extreme 40
Sailing Series is now in its third year and
growing in stature and support every year.
The idea behind the competition is
simple: bring world-class sailors together
(Olympic medallists and transglobal
yachtspeople, such as Shirley Robertson,
Franck Cammas and Loick Peyron
[umlaut on the i]) and have them skipper
£280,000 40-foot (12m) carbon-hulled
catamarans in nail-biting races near the
shoreline, within the public’s incredulous
gaze. Then, shift that event to a variety of
familiar yachting locations around
Europe, such as Venice, Cowes and
Almeria in Spain, over a number of
months. Effectively then, deliver a sport
— which is generally viewed only through
a TV/film camera lens — to the mass audience. It’s like the F1 circuit, only wetter.
When TVBEurope visited the Kiel,
Germany leg of Extreme 40 there were
nine backers sponsoring 10 boats, including Ecover, iShares (the headline sponsor),
BT and the Sultan of Oman (who bagged
two vessels).
elevate your camera
not your budget
London’s Orbital Sound have been working alongside OC Events to deliver radio
comms for the skippers/ crew/judges/TV
crews/organisers, and PA equipment for the
quayside and VIP marquee, for the last two
years. That kit now includes Motorola
GP340 radios in plastic pouches, d&b E8
compact loudspeakers, a Yamaha LS9-16
desk, wireless Shure beta 58 mics and UR2
beltpacks for the commentators, plus all the
cabling and accessories.
Tim Allen is a producer/director, working for Sunset+Vine APP, producing news
content for TV and online content for the
race’s website.
“Nothing’s live — but it can be,” says
Allen. The onsite set-up affords him live
access to CNN, or a newsdesk, or whoever
requires content. As well as the event
itself, Allen tries to present topical news
stories where relevant. So, when the UK’s
Michael Perham became the youngest
sailor to circumnavigate the globe solo
during one of the Extreme 40 races, Allen
arranged for round-the-world sailor and
racing skipper to congratulate him. “That
story got interest from newsdesks globally,”
say Allen – as, of course, a transglobal sailing story should.
stabilising lens, to counter the jostling and
banging of the waves. Plus there’s a helicopter for overhead shots.
“Everyone’s on VHF radio. There’s a
cameraman on the crane, three fixed
onboard cameras, a helmet camera on
whichever skipper is doing well, plus some
onboard cameramen…” Allen says there
are 11 people in his team, but with any one
race we there are nine cameras. “That’s a
lot of content,” he emphasises. “It’s not a
fixed arena so you can’t predict what may
or may not happen . So you’ve got to throw
everything at it then take out the bits when
you’re editing.”
Allen’s team are shooting on DVCAM,
“a fairly old format but it works for us.
With those, we’re shooting with a 40X
lens. We have a J-13 lens. We use the
Schwem in the helicopter too. We have a
Polecam that we place in one of the chase
RIBcraft (Rigid Inflatable Boat) — that’s
an HDCAM on a long windsurfing pole,
and the operator has a little monitor
around his neck. He can get above the
sailors, right up to the boat, down to the
waterline… so we get a really different
perspective, we try to get angles that you
Tim Allen: “We film 90% plus of the sailing
events around the world, so this is basically
our arena”
APP arena
Televator Elevating Pedestals deliver
extreme value. Their lightweight and
compact folding floor dollies and studio
kits have a small footprint making
them easy to maneuver – even in the
tightest spaces. Televator is also fully
compatible with Telemetrics’ TeleGlide
Camera Track Systems for
smooth on-air moves
on virtually any studio
floor surface. Televator
– only from Telemetrics.
telemetricsinc.com • [email protected] • 201-848-9818
26
Sunset+Vine APP are a sports production
company based in London. APP is a
satellite operation from the main company,
specialising in sailing events (and originally
acquired by Sunset+Vine two years ago).
“We film 90% plus of the sailing events
around the world, so this is basically our
arena,” says Allen.
So what’s the main goal for the production company?
“A lot of the boats have major sponsorship and they want to get exposure for
being part of the event. So we are the vehicle to get the Ecovers and the Holmantros
of the world, the brands, out there.
“In 15 years of doing this, we have
[gathered] 10-15 cameramen who can do
this niche filming. It’s knowing how to film,
having the inside track on the sailors, and
doing it in a way that looks as good as possible.” On the water S+V use a Schwem
wouldn’t normally necessarily see [with
sailing coverage].”
In addition to this there are onboard
cameras, loaded with HD memory cards,
fixed first thing in the morning in positions
the viewer wouldn’t usually get to experience.
“We get some lovely pictures from those.”
One of the hardest tasks is relaying the
tension of being in the race, says Allen.
“Audio is a huge factor in that, capturing
the noises of the boats, the winching, the
cracking of the ropes… to a newcomer it
sounds like something’s broken but it’s
actually just a normal noise. And in the
final edit, that’s an important point.”
Is there any additional audio capture?
“No, it’s just coming off the cameras.”
Though: “…we might cheat a bit of noise
when we haven’t captured it.”
All the cameras, when in use, are sealed in
off-the-shelf housings. “The hardest thing is
9/12/09
12:11
Page 27
the condensation in the housings,
you can’t interrupt the skippers
between races [to wipe them].” The
cameramen in the chase boats have
their equipment in ‘Eskys’, only
removing them when they need the
shot, then slinging the camera back
in the Esky. “You can be out in anything from flat water to 15-foot
swells, so it can get quite wet.”
Are there any other big challenges?
“The worrying aspect is having a camera operator
on board and he gets flipped, because these boats
move very quickly. So making sure that they are
safe is a challenge” — Tim Allen
“The capsizing element is great
— great for us, I mean! — but it’s
getting the shot when they go over.”
The previous day was much talked
about, as the Ecover boat was
caught in a squall and capsized,
leaving one of the crew members,
Belgian Bruno Dubois, requiring
stitches in his head — 31cm worth,
in fact. “Yesterday was exceptional
because it happened between races,
so we didn’t record it. At one event
last year at Cowes, at least four
boats flipped over, which is great for
us, we want to see the action.
“The worrying aspect is having
a camera operator on board and
he gets flipped, because these
boats move very quickly. So mak-
ing sure that they are safe, and in
a safe environment, is a challenge.
But they all have the safety kit on
them and a lot of them are exsailors so they know their way
around a boat, plus they understand the racing aspect, so they
know what to film.”
Ultimately, Allen says: “It’s all
about telling the story of the race
— and capturing the excitement!”
Element Technica Quasar 3D rig on
‘Larger than life in 3D’, featuring
Dave Matthews Band, which is due
out this month
Quasar 3D rigs
are now in use
Element Technica, whose series of
3D rigs are designed to precisely
position a pair of cameras to
achieve realistic stereoscopic digital video for broadcast and cinema, is now delivering the first new
Quasar 3D rigs to owner/operators and camera rental houses.
The Quasar is designed to accommodate full-size digital cinema
cameras like the Sony F23 and
F35, Red One, Panavision
Genesis, as well as full-body and
box-type digital broadcast cameras like the Sony F950 and 1500,
Philips LDK and others.
Prior to introduction of the
Technica 3D Rigs, 3D production
typically used heavy and complicated equipment requiring specialised
tools and a dedicated crew, which
made it practical for only an elite few.
The Technica 3D Series is designed
to overcome these stumbling blocks
by providing smartly engineered 3D
systems that are lighter weight and
less costly — bringing 3D acquisition down to the simplicity of traditional 2D production.
Technica 3D Rigs require only
a set of Allen wrenches and a mirror gauge for complete camera/lens
installation and precise alignment,
which can be completed in less
than 15 minutes as opposed to the
hours required with other professional 3D systems.
“We decided on the Technica
rigs for a number of reasons,”
said Robert Keslow, CEO of Los
Angeles rental house Keslow
Camera, “the most important
being the outstanding quality of
work that Element produces and
their willingness to listen and
adapt to what DPs, assistants and
stereographers want or need. The
decision to go with Element
Technica was an easy one for me
to make.”
www.technica3D.com
27
TVBE Dec P28-38 Acquisition
9/12/09
12:19
Page 28
TVBEU R O PE A C Q U I S I T I O N S P E C I A L PA R T I
Acquisition Special Part I
Affordability is key to the new wave of high definition broadcast cameras on the market — our starting point for
Acquisition Special Part I. As in previous years, TVBEurope is the only industry platform tracking new developments
in the camera space, of specific relevance to the European broadcasting marketplaace. By David Fox
Broadcast Cameras
Grass Valley’s LDK 3000 is the
first mainstream system camera
using a CMOS sensor. Not only
does it make HD more affordable
than using comparable CCDs, but
Grass Valley believes that CMOS
is the way forward because it also
has the potential to produce very
high dynamic range images. The
sensors are the same Xensium
imagers that were developed by
Grass Valley in conjunction with
Thomson Silicon Systems for its
Infinity camcorders.
More than 100 LDK 3000s
have been delivered so far, for
applications ranging from small
studios to outside broadcast. Due
to its lower pricing, Grass Valley is
also targeting production facilities
that are under pressure to migrate
from SD to HD and need to
replace a lot of cameras.
28
Another new format: Haruka Go, major account
director, HDAVS, demonstrates the new DataCam
Europe and Japan have a new
rival in the broadcast HD camcorder
market, with the new DataCam
E2HD HDC-680MP from China’s
HDAVS. The high-spec, shoulder-
mounted model records I-frame
4:2:2 MPEG-2 at 100Mbps, and is
part of a line up of production
equipment that includes an editor.
The system is also compatible with
MXF, Avid’s DNxHD editing format, and can also record MPEG-2
IBP at 25-80Mbps, 4:2:0 SD.
It uses a new storage medium,
E2, which can be either solid state
for reliability or hard disk for
economy and size. Or both, as it
can record to two of either drive in
mirror mode, for security, or
sequentially, for extra long recording sessions (five hours in HD with
a 320GB disk). The drives fit into
a unique tilt-out mechanism, and
are hot-swappable with recording
moving to the other drive. They
can then be edited from directly.
2/3-inch
It
uses
three
2.3megapixel IT CCDs made by
Panasonic, with 14-bit A/D conversion, and has eight digital audio
inputs and three analogue audio
inputs, recording to four audio
channels. It also features: eight seconds pre-recording; anti-shock
mounts so that the E2 drives continue recording despite vibration;
40W power consumption during
recording (36W standby); S/N ratio
higher than 60dB; and skin tone
correction/contour softening.
It was shown for the first time
outside Asia at IBC, where visitors
particularly liked its handling of
skin tones. It should cost about
$40,000 – although HDAVS has no
European distributor yet.
On the dock
Hitachi’s dockable HD1000 range
can be fitted different backs,
including a P2 recorder, and now
a new digital triax system. It uses
a Hitachi patented 10-bit codec
based on H.264. “It’s a very low
delay codec – under 14ms, and
has a transmission rate of
170mbps. It’s perfectly scalable
for existing triax infrastructure,
but the picture quality is equal to
fibre,” claimed sales engineer,
Jussi Simonen. It can also use
coax cable if necessary.
9/12/09
12:19
Page 29
The range also gains a new
720p camera head, the SKHD1000-S4, which uses new high
dynamic range 2/3-inch CCD sensors (previously the HD1000 had
been 1080i only). It also has two
built-in motorised Optical Filter
Wheels with five settings (5xND,
5CC). “Now the customer has the
choice between two types of heads
and several types of backs. If you
are an OB van company, for example, you can be broadcasting with
fibre and can quickly go to P2 for
recording or go wireless.”
There is also a new CCU providing a choice of fibre or digital
triax/coax transmission with a
cross-converter to make 720p out
of 1080i or 1080i out of 720p, as
well as embedded digital audio in
the HD-SDI outputs. The CCU
can accept a front-mounted control panel and uses a full 4RU-high
19-inch rack mount and blank
panel since the unit is only half a
rack wide. For users with both SD
and HD control rooms, the CCU
accepts dual controls, provides
both SD & HD formats and its
control system is network-ready
via an RJ45 port. User serial data
when used with a robotic pan/tilt
head can also be transported to
and from the camera head via the
RS232C port (optional RS-422
port ) on the CCU.
A new large lens adapter, SA1000, allows the use of heavy, large
magnification optics and there is a
newly designed SU-1000 Master
Setup unit with wide touch-screen
LCD Display. Two Joystick
Remote control units, RU-1200JY
and RU-1500JY, also with touchscreen LCD and Ethernet capability are now available.
For many years, Hitachi’s Zseries dockable cameras were a
mainstay of budget standard definition studios. This concept has
now been replicated for the HD era
with the new Z-HD5000 series,
which saves costs by offering a CCU
with fewer features, and has a lower
duced a fibre optics transmission
system, FE-C10/FE-B10, for the
GFCAM, to allow it to be used for
both studio and EFP applications.
JVC demonstrated a realtime
4k camera for live broadcast use at
IBC. The KY-F4000 was shooting
60p images, which were shown on
JVC’s new 56-inch 4K LCD panel.
The compact camera uses a single
1.25-inch CMOS sensor with
3840x2160 pixels — four times the
resolution of full HD.
It has HD-SDI Dual Link (four
channels of 10-bit 4:2:2) and DVI
Single Link (four channels of 8-bit
“Now the customer has the choice between two
types of heads and several types of backs. If you
are an OB van company you can broadcast with
fibre and quickly go to P2 for recording or go
wireless” – Jussi Simonen, Hitachi
specification than the HD1000, but
it retains the flexibility of separate
camera heads and backs. The initial
model will have a fibre back, but
Hitachi hopes to offer the same four
options as it does with the HD1000
range by IBC2010.
Ikegami has extended its HD
studio camera family with the CCU890T camera-control unit for triax
connectivity and the CCU-890M
camera-control unit for triax and
fibre connections. It has also intro-
4:4:4). The prototype camera also
has genlock input, and HD-SDI
1080 (60i/59.94i), an RGB Bayer
colour filter, and used a Nikon
F-mount lens.
The camera head is fairly compact, weighs 3kg, and the CCU can
be separated from the camera head
by about 100m. Those 4k cameras
that are currently available, such as
the Red One and Arri, are primarily
used for digital cinematography
and don’t require live signal output.
Z-series reborn: Jussi Simonen
shows off Hitachi’s new Z-HD5000
JVC already ships a 4k projector,
the DLA-SH4K. The KY-F4000
should be available in 2010.
New studio system for P2
Panasonic has introduced a new
camcorder studio system for many
of its P2 HD and DVCPRO HD
camcorders, including the new AGHPX300, which it claims will offer
users “a flexible, low cost”alternative
for HD studio production. It offers
high-quality digital signal transmission at up to 100m, full remote
camera control and a range of professional features. The studio system
is also compatible with the AGHPX500,AJ-HPX2000,AJ-HPX3000,
VariCam 2700, VariCam 3700, AJHDX400 and AJ-HDX900.
The AG-BS300 base station connects with the AG-CA300G camera
adapter with two BNC cables allowing transmission of HD digital
images, return images, tally, mic and
genlock signals, as well as powering
the camcorders (up to 70W). The base
station features two HD/SD-SDI outputs and a composite video output.
The lightweight camera adapter
mounts on the back of the camera,
and an optional battery plate allows
the use of Anton/Bauer, IDX or
other batteries if local power is preferred. The AG-EC4G extension
control unit provides remote control of the base station and can also
be attached directly the camera. It
can operate from up to 50m.
The AG-YA500G viewfinder
interface box enables display of return
video in the ENG viewfinder.
Supported viewfinders include the
AJ-CVF100G, AJ-HVF21G, AJVF20WB and the AJ-VF15B models.
Panasonic is also upgrading the software on its HPX3000 and HPX2100
camcorders to add 25Mbps recording
and will simplify the recording process
by making the multiple clips created
by start and stop recording available
as just one clip. The software will be
available as a free download.
Sony’s affordable system
At NAB, Sony announced two
new systems camera for small to
medium sized studios, the HSC300 and cheaper HXC-100. Both
29
IE/OTO/PSN/TVBE Page Template
30/10/09
16:49
Page 1
Exhibit at IBC2010
Raise your profile,
move into new markets,
develop distribution channels
and generate sales leads
••
•
•
•
45,000+ attendees from over 130 countries
1300+ of the industry’s leading companies
76% of visitors at senior decision making level
Specialist Mobile, Digital Signage and IPTV zones
Leading event for professionals involved in the
creation, management and delivery of
entertainment and electronic media content
the content
creation
management
delivery
experience
•
• [email protected]
World renowned conference with over 300 global
leaders presenting their views on the future
direction of this industry sector
To exhibit at IBC2010 contact the Exhibition Team at:
Conference 9 - 13 September
Exhibition 10 - 14 September
RAI Amsterdam
be sure to be part of IBC2010, keep tabs at...
www.ibc.org
IBC Fifth Floor International Press Centre 76 Shoe Lane London EC4A 3JB UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7832 4100 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7832 4130
Email: [email protected]
9/12/09
12:20
Page 31
Making a noise?
Not with Photon Beard!
Solid-state XDCAM EX grows up
Get a free 1kW IgbT
"Silent" inline dimmer
with every 3 or 4 head tungsten kit
Offer excludes 2kW kits as that would blow up the
dimmer and make a noise! It is only available for
220/240V kits currently. Offer valid until end 2009.
Cannot to be used in conjunction with any other offer.
We have a large range of portable ENG tungsten lighting kits – from two
to four heads – featuring 200W to 2kW heads, complete with stands,
plugs and lamps in soft and hard cases.
Need more than 1 dimmer for your kit? Get a second or third with
10% discount when ordered with your kit.
We have recently introduced new 3-head PhotonSpot Tungsten Fresnel
650W kits in soft and hard cases. Custom kits can be made to order.
Simply tell us your requirements.
A 4 x 2.3kw IgbT Silent dimmer pack is also avaiable for use with
larger luminaires.
N
N
EW
High definition
broadcast cameras
NEW
EW
“There’s no doubt that the PMW-350
will appeal to many users who want to
migrate to HD and memory from tapebased DVCAM. It’s an exciting addition
and along with Sony’s Professional Discbased XDCAM HD422 family represents
our strongest ever tapeless line-up,” said
Bill Drummond, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Sony Europe
Sony’s new SxS-1 memory card joins
its existing SxS PRO media to give users
The lower power of images: The new 15-Watt a lower cost option. The 32GB SxS-1 will
PMW-350 attracts interest at Sony’s
still have a high data transfer speed
recent London event
(800Mbps), but is only rated at a lifetime
of five years (in daily use), compared to
By David Fox
ten years for the SxS PRO. A life left indiAt its Power of Images roadshow Sony
cation will be displayed in the viewfinder
has added a new shoulder-mounted camof Sony’s new camcorders.
corder to its XDCAM EX range, and
Another new option is the MEADintroduced lower cost media. The PMWMS01 adaptor for use with Sony’s
350 records on to SxS cards and has three
Memory Stick Pro HG Duo HX media.
2/3-inch Exmor 1920x1080 CMOS senThese are available in capacities from
sors. It can also record standard defini4GB upwards, this media can be used for
tion pictures, via a DVCAM option.
security, alongside SxS, or by itself for
It is lightweight for a shoulder-mount
cost savings.
camera, at 3.2kg, and has very low power
Current XDCAM EX models, the
consumption (15W — about 60% less than
PMW-EX1 and PMW-EX3 camcorders
Sony’s HDW-700), and can also be used in a
and PMW-EX30 record deck, will also be
studio configuration, having timecode in/out,
compatible with the new SxS-1 and MEADgenlock in, and HD-SDI and HDMI out.
MS01 with Memory Stick, through a softThe camcorder will be available in two
ware upgrade available in early 2010.
versions (in January): the PMW-350L bodyAdditionally, users will be able to use
only model (£14,900) and PMW-350K with
the new PXU-MS240 mobile storage unit
lens (£16,600). The 16x Fujinon lens offers:
to transfer data from SxS PRO memory
independent focus, zoom and iris rings; auto
cards to the unit for backup or off-load of
focus mode; manual focus assist and a focal
video clips. The unit stores content on a
length of 8mm to 128mm (equivalent to
removable hard disk drive that can store
31.5 to 503mm on a 35mm lens).
up to 240GB.
EW
4 x 2.3kW Silent dimmer
N
include 2/3-inch CCD image sensors and digital triax transmission to offer customers “an
affordable HD studio camera system”. Both
are 720p/50-1080i/50 switchable.
Features include a Focus Assist function
to make it easier to spot which part of the
image is in focus using markers and indicators in the viewfinder. This has been proved
popular with European sports broadcasters,
such as GTHP (Groupement Technique des
Racecourses Parisians) that shoot rapidly
moving subjects. The HSC-300 is also fully
compatible with Sony’s large lens adaptors
and can be configured as part of a multicamera set-up with any number of Sony
cameras, control units and remote control
panels. The HSC-300 offers longer cable
runs (up to 1200m with 11m triax, compared
to 800m with the HXC-100). It also has a
twin, motorised filter wheel, while the HXC100 has a single manual wheel.
So far, the HSC-300 and HXC-100 cameras have sold over 1,000 units worldwide,
including 50 HXC-100 purchased by
Gearhouse for the event specialist video
company, XL Video. Sony has updated its
flagship HDC cameras for studio and live
production applications, to make them
3Gbps 1080p/50 or 60 capable. Designated
the R Series, it combines its second-generation 1080p/50 or 60 imager with a new DSP
LSI designed for enhanced digital signal
processing and more comprehensive focusing capabilities.
Studio too: Panasonic’s HPX300
is now ready for studio use
See website for details of our extensive range.
“We’ve taken some benefits from the F23
digital cinematography camera and applied
them to the HDC range. As a result, the
improved CCD sensors will offer you an
extra 2dB signal to noise ratio,” explained
Neil Thomson, product manager for system
cameras, Sony UK. They also have new
chromatic aberration compensation function and some changes to the colour filtering. The new Focus Assist Function allows
users to obtain focus more reliably.
www.grassvalley.com
www.hdavs.cn
www.hitachi-keu.com
www.ikegami.de
www.jvcpro.eu
www.panasonic-broadcast.com
www.sonybiz.net
www.photonbeard.com
Unit K3, Cherry Court Way, Stanbridge Road,
Leighton Buzzard,Bedfordshire, LU7 4UH, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)1525 850911 Fax: +44 (0)1525 850922
[email protected]
31
9/12/09
12:20
Page 32
NEWS
IN BRIEF
Vutrix to Paris
M6, one of France’s premier
broadcast stations, recently
completed the installation of a
major new studio in central
Paris complete with a full array
of Vutrix quad and multiple
displays for the main monitor
wall. The station, currently
holder of the record for highest
audience for a single
programme uses the studio
daily for a range of news, topical
magazine and documentary
programmes and has the
capability to produce up to
three different productions on a
single day using eight HD
cameras. M6 selected Vutrix
26-inch quad displays for the
main monitor wall, together
with 17” single and quad and
6.4” triple monitors for use in
other strategic locations within
the studio.
www.vutrix.com
EVS file exchange
Following recent announcements
of native support by EVS servers
of the DVCPRO HD and
DVCPRO50 codecs, EVS now
delivers file exchange capabilities
for Panasonic SD and HD codecs
that expand the integration of
EVS servers with Avid’s
broadcast solutions — for greater
workflow flexibility. Integrated
workflows between EVS XS and
XT[2] servers controlled by
MulticamLSM, IPDirector, or the
new Insio, as well as Avid systems
like ISIS and Interplay were
recently demonstrated at the
EVS booth during IBC. Serge
Comes, media product manager
at EVS said, “With our recent
integration of DVCPRO HD codec
natively supported by our XT[2]
and XS servers, we are aiming to
maximise the workflow
integration with Avid systems.
Although EVS already natively
supports the Avid DNxHD codec,
the integration with Panasonic
codecs provides more flexibility
in terms of file exchanges
between EVS and Avid broadcast
and post-production ssystems.”
www.es.tvv
32
Hi-motion innovation from I-Movix, P+S, Vision Research and Weisscam
The quest for RAW speed
High speed cams
By David Fox
I-Movix has introduced three new
high-speed cameras this year. Its
SprintCam V3 HD features frame
rates of 500 to 1,000fps with
instant replay. It “brings the outstanding usability and quality benefits of the SprintCam platform to
customers requiring a specifically
HD-native system,” said Laurent
Renard, CEO of I-Movix. “The
outstanding image quality produced, combined with complete
ease-of-use, means V3 HD is a
superb answer for slow-motion
requirements in sports broadcasting, commercials production,
documentaries, and movies.”
The system comprises a highspeed HD 1920x1080 single
CMOS sensor camera, an operational control panel, a slow
motion remote, and the camera
control unit (outputting HD-SDI
1080i), and can work with an EVS
LSM server for sequence storage,
or with any SDI recorder
Its SprintCam Basic is an
entry-level slow-motion system
with frame rates of 500 to 2,000fps
with instant replay in SD resolution. It doesn’t have the full
broadcast integration of the
SprintCam Live and SprintCam
HD systems, but it does promise
good light-sensitivity, a userfriendly interface, and out-of-thebox operation with no requirement for special training.
The I-Movix SprintCam Live
V2.1 can capture from 500 to
10,000fps for instant replay at SD
resolutions (there are three versions – up to 1,000fps, 3,000fps
and 10,000fps). This latest update
boasts improved image quality,
new user-friendly remote controls
that enable fine-tuned settings,
and a slow-motion remote with a
new cueing system that allows a
quick and easy selection of the
sequence to replay.
I-Movix has traditionally worked
with Fujinon for its lenses, but its
Time added on: The I-Movix SprintCam V3 HD in its natural habitat
SprintCam Live V2.1 and SprintCam
V3 HD are now also certified for use
with the Canon Digisuper86IIxs
(XJ86x9.3B IEII-D) for sports and
live events broadcasting.
Faster than a
speeding bullet
Vision Research’s new Phantom
v710 is “the world’s fastest
CMOS-based digital camera,
with a maximum recording speed
of 1.4 million fps” thanks to its
throughput of more than seven
gigapixels-per-second, allowing it
to record at 7,530fps at its maximum resolution of 1280x800. It
only reaches its top frame rate at
much reduced resolutions, but for
broadcast it would probably be
used at 720p, where its top speed
is 8,360fps.
Its Dual HD-SDI output is useful for broadcast users, who can
simultaneously feed replays to the
OB truck while still viewing and
capturing new footage. The colour
version of the CMOS sensor is rated at ISO 1,600, while a monochrome version is ISO 6,400.
For higher definition use, the
new Phantom v640, four-
Gold standard: Vision Research
has updated its best-selling
HD high-speed camera
megapixel digital high speed camera, boasts six gigapixel-per-second throughput, plus recording
speeds of greater than 1,400fps at
its full-resolution of 2,560x1,600,
with less resolution up to its maximum frame rate of 300,000fps.
At 1,920x1,080 it can range from
10fps to over 2,700fps.
The new CMOS sensor design
significantly boosts its sensitivity
by using micro lenses for each
pixel. It is available with either a
colour (ISO 1,000) or monochrome
(ISO 4,000) CMOS sensor,supporting
both an 8-bit pixel depth, for
longer record times and smaller
file sizes, and 12-bit pixel depth,
for extra detail and clarity. It also
features
Extreme
Dynamic
Range, which allows users to capture two different exposures within a single frame.
With its internal shutter mechanism, users can perform a session-specific black reference
(remotely) without having to
physically cover the lens. Without
this calibration colours can alter
and images be poorly exposed as
the sensor’s pixels drift from one
exposure to the next.
It comes with 8GB, 16GB or
32GB of RAM, and can record to
Vision Research’s CineMag hotswappable memory magazine
(128GB, 256GB or 512GB),
which can directly record up to
250fps (490fps in HD) sequences
for long record times. The
onboard memory allows higher
speed recording, with later transfer to the CineMag. The v640
includes Dual HD SDI output.
At the budget end, the
Phantom v310 has a top speed of
3,400fps at its highest resolution
(1280x800), but can record at
speeds up to 500,000fps at
much lower resolutions. It uses
a proprietary, wide aspect
CMOS sensor (compared to SD
SprintCams, which use a square
1024x1024 sensor) that is
available in colour or monochrome, with good light sensitivity and exposure times as short
as one microsecond.
The entry-level Phantom v210
has the same megapixel resolution
as the v710, but two gigapixelper-second throughput for a
maximum frame rate of over
2,000fps at full resolution, up to
300,000fps at lower resolutions. It
has twin HD-SDI outputs,
It has also updated its
Phantom HD to the HD Gold,
which features a digital cinema
optimised CMOS imaging sensor,
new firmware and software It
“was developed using direct feedback from existing Phantom HD
users and incorporates new technologies which boosts performance and makes it easier and more
efficient to use,” said Kamran
Firooz, VP and general manager
of Vision Research.
It shoots 555fps at its maximum resolution of 2048x2048,
more than 1,000fps at 1920x
1080, and at least 1,500fps at
1280x720. Users can adjust the
frame rate in increments of one
frame per second in HD resolution. It offers 35mm field-of-view
and depth-of-field at both HD
and 2k resolutions. More than
100 Phantom HD cameras have
been sold, and these will be
9/12/09
12:20
Page 33
upgradeable with new hardware,
including the new CMOS chip
and new cooling technology.
Trigger happy
The portable, battery-powered
Phantom Miro has been updated
to the new Miro eX-Series: three
models, the 640x480 eX1 and
eX2, and the 800x600 eX4,
which can record up to 1,200fps
at full resolution, and to
more than 100,000fps overall,
plus exposure times as low as
1/500,000 second.
All controls are accessed via
the Miro eX’s 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD, so it doesn’t need a
computer, including basic editing functions. The eX2 and eX4
also have a built-in, ImageBased Auto-Trigger, which
starts recording as soon as
motion is detected within a specific point in the frame. Prices
start from $10,000.
The Weisscam HS-2 highspeed camera can shoot at up to
1,500fpa in 2k, 2000fps in 1080p,
or up to 4000fps in 720p, using
a full-size Super35 CMOS
Sensor with a global shutter, and
record uncompressed.
Users can shoot in HD or
RAW modes, or both. The HD
stream offers YCbCr in 4:2:2 or
4:4:4, and users can choose
between linear standard curves
like ITU-R 709 or a log curve for
a higher contrast range within
the HD-SDI image. The RAW
stream is a 12-bit uncompressed
Weisscam RAW file and offers
the freedom to debayer in post. It
has a fast boot-up time that
makes it ready to shoot in less
than seven seconds.
For recording, the add-on
DigiMag DM-2 is an uncompressed, compact HD-SDI single
and dual link recorder, which can
also work with other digital cinema
cameras such as the Arriflex D21,
Sony F35, Grass Valley Viper,
Phantom HD or standard HDTV
cameras (like Sony’s F900). The
external Weisscam DeBayerBox
can do real-time debayering of
the stored RAW data on the
DM-2, outputting a standard
HD YCbCr.
The camera was developed by
Weisscam and P+S Technik. Its
PL lens mount accepts 35mm
lenses like Cooke S4s, but the
Interchangeable Mount System
from P+S Technik means users
could attach almost any lens.
“The fact that the camera
doesn’t need a computer on the
set anymore quite simplifies
working with it. The operator is
able to check every adjustment
concerning the camera and the
recorder with the HU-2
HandUnit.” explained Stefan
Weiss, DoP and developer. The
optional HU-2 can fully control
the camera and image processing and can be connected by
cable or wireless.
www.i-movix.com
www.pstechnik.de
www.visionresearch.com
www.weisscam.com
New control options:
The C2-7300 series dual
channel video and audio
processors from TV One
are now available with a
choice of front panels, providing a wider variety of control options to the user. A 48-button CORIO EXP front panel designed expressly for handling live event
situations is available and also a new programmable 12-button front panel ideally suited for applications where custom or restricted access to functions is
required. The 48-button front panel is provided with the C2-7310 version. These buttons plus the multi-way navigation control and integrated LCD bring all the
control needed for quick and easy access right to the front panel. he 12-button front panel is supplied with C2-7300 version and has a large rotary dial, ten
programmable buttons and a shift key for customisation. Removable key caps allow the user to re-label programmed buttons as necessary.
www.tvone.eu
Picture the Future
Visit BVE 2010, the event for everyone in
production, post and delivery
Get to grips with ground-breaking technologies and services from
over 240 exhibitors
Talk to the experts and learn new skills at Europe’s
biggest seminar & masterclass programme
Endorsed by:
Make valuable new contacts and network with your peers
Plus, there are brand new features dedicated to audio, 3DTV, digital
cinematography, DSLR cameras, tapeless infrastructures and streaming.
Media Sponsor:
Register for FREE entry at www.broadcastvideoexpo.co.uk
33
9/12/09
12:21
Page 34
One for the future: The SRW-9000 at Sony’s Power of Images event in London
New developments in the digital cinematography sector
A camcorder for life
Digital Cinema
By David Fox
Sony has unveiled a new
HDCAM SR camcorder that it
says is the most future proof camera it has ever made. The new
SRW-9000 is Sony’s answer to
the Arri Alexa (TVBEurope,
November, page 18) and the Red
Epic. It is a modular design that
can have 2/3-inch or 35mm sensors, and record on to tape or (by
2011) new solid-state media.
“It’s the camcorder for the
future, with the media of the
future. It’s the camcorder for life,”
said Olivier Bovis, Sony’s general
manager, product marketing.
“The F900 has lasted 10 years
and we want the 9000 to last as
long.” Buyers’ return on investment was a key factor in its
design, and Sony wanted its first
one-piece SR camcorder “to be as
affordable as possible”, so it costs
7% less than the F900 (at about
€50,000), “which is astonishing,
because this product is amazing,”
enthused Bovis.
To make it a practical proposition for restricted drama and documentary budgets, Sony also
needed to make HDCAM SR
media cheaper, so SR tape prices
will be cut by 40%. The SRW-9000
will also be able to act as the baby
brother of the F35, because a
35mm migration path (late 2010)
will allow owners to swap out the
initial 1920x1080 2/3-inch 3-CCD
block for a 35mm (single CCD)
block. The digital signal processor
will remain the same. “This is the
first time we’ve created such a
modular system,” he said.
Bovis believes the camera will
be “a good natural history camcorder, as it can have the high
frame rates and long lenses made
possible by 2/3-inch, and it can be
used for top-end drama with the
35mm block.” By 2011, users will
also be able to upgrade the SRW9000 further, by replacing the tape
recorder with a solid-state drive.
This will be able to take new SR
memory cards, but where its SxS
cards have a maximum throughput of 880Mbps, the SR media
will be able to record in excess of
5Gbps, allowing one to record
eight streams of HD (or one of
4k) — although whether it will
record eight streams will depend
on how Sony builds the recorder.
Sony hopes to be able to offer
a 1TB card, which could record
six hours of SR quality, but there
will probably be lower capacity
cards too, depending on the price
point. It will also be the first nonlinear media that is RAID 5 protected, which is an important consideration for insurance companies on movie productions, and
will be able to record up to 240fps,
1080p 3D and 4k. It will, however, require a new card reader as it
won’t fit an Express Card slot
(unlike SxS).
The SRW-9000 has been
designed to be very heat efficient,
enabling it to use a very slow
New applications and solutions for the demanding and changing
Broadcast world – fixed and mobile microwave links, wireless
camera systems, cellular receive city centre networks, satellite
uplinks and IP data transfer.
Professional broadcast equipment and support services for news, sports and
Outside Broadcast. Quick set up, effective operations and superb performance
for 24 hour live news, sensational sports and creative camera work.
Secure Communications from Vislink.
UK: +44 1923 474060
34
Middle East: +971 4886 5226
Singapore: +65 6248 4676
USA: +1 978 671 5700
www.vislink.com
speed fan for cooling, so it should
be quieter than even the F900R.
It is available now, with the first
units in Europe being delivered to
TopTeks and Band Pro.
“The advent of a mid-range
priced camcorder with a 2/3-inch
chip and variable frame rate at
full resolution [1-60fps] has been
requested by our clients for many
years and this kit can do exactly
what they want,” said Top-Teks
Sales Director and Co-Owner,
Mike Thomas. It also “important
and reassuring that there is a
future proofed path to 35mm and
to solid state.
“Achieving the right weight
and power consumption to operate handheld was always a concern of our customers. With a
physical size equivalent to the
HDW-F900 weighing approximately 6.5kg with a battery, Sony
has managed the trick of packing
nearly all the performance of an
F23 while adding greater flexibility to location work,” he added.
An Epic production
The new Red Epic 5k camera
should start being delivered to its
first buyers soon, although Stage
One customers will get what is
essentially a prototype shipped as
separate components as the parts
are ready. They will be beta
testers. “It will be somewhat of a
pain,” admitted Jim Jannard,
Red’s founder.
Stage One is only open to
existing Red customers. They
won’t be able to trade in their Red
One cameras and will pay $28,000
for the Epic X S-35, including
camera head, PL mount, a
viewfinder, Redmote, one Compact
Flash module, a module adaptor,
Pro I/O module, Pro Battery
module, two batteries and a
travel charger. Stage One users
will also be able to upgrade their
Red One with the new
Mysterium-X sensor for $4,500
and get it first.
Further delivery dates are
uncertain (as they typically are
with Red). “Things will be
released when we are finished, and
finished properly,” Jannard told
members of Red’s user forum.
Once full production starts, in
early 2010, existing Red One owners can buy them for S19,500, with
a slightly lower spec package than
Stage One. Sometime later, a
trade-in programme for the Red
One will enable them to buy an
Epic for $10,500.
Eventually, presumably when
all the existing Red owners have
received their purchases, anyone
will be able to buy an Epic X S-35
at $28,000, for the 2.72kg camera
head only, although a full camera,
with all the necessary components will cost a lot more, depending on what sort of configuration
is needed.
The almost 35mm (30mmx
15mm) CMOS Mysterium-X sensor will capture 1-100fps at 5k,
1-125fps at 4k, 1-120fps at Quad
HD, 1-160fps at 3k, 1-250fps at
2k, and 1-60fps at 1080p (scaled
9/12/09
12:21
Page 35
from full frame). It promises
increased dynamic range, reduced
noise, time lapse, frame ramping,
ISO 200-8000.
“The images coming out of the
new Mysterium-X sensor have
exceeded expectations. The flexibility of the modular system has
surprised all of us. The system is
significantly better now than
when it was first announced,”
added Jannard.
Each module is individually
upgradeable, and the camera will
record both stills and video to
Compact Flash, 1.8-inch solidstate drive, Red Drive or Red Ram,
using the Redcode 250 codec.
Further versions of Epic and
the lower-cost Scarlet system are in
development, although the capabilities of Scarlet are being improved
(and its prices will be higher).
Stock replacement
A 16mm film camera could
becomes the perfect digital capture device. P+S Technik and Lux
Media Plan have developed a new
digital film magazine that will
turn an old Arriflex 16SR 16mm
film camera (up to an SRIII) into
a digital camera. It includes an
N16-size 16:9 sensor and will
record lossless compressed RAW
HD and 2k to HDD or SDD
removable drives. It records up to
30fps in 2k initially, although
75fps recording is planned, and
should be available early 2010 for
under €35,000.
The camera works just as usual,
without any film stock, as the
16digitalMag has been designed to
be as similar as possible to working
with a film magazine, particularly
important as the SR16 is so well
liked by film crews. Any changes are
non destructive and completely
reversible. This means that cameras
and accessories keep their value, but
the postproduction process is dramatically simplified. All Camera
functions remain untouched.
The power supply of the
16digitalMag is performed by the
camera itself. External power supplies are not necessary for the
magazine. An HD-SDI output
will be available for video assist.
P+S Technik will manufacture the
housing, while LMP Lux Media
Plan is handling the manufacture
of electronic components.
The latest hybrid camera: Film and digital in one old Arri 16SR
Epic explosion: How some of the various Red modules fit together
One of the most interesting
launches at IBC2008 was the
Ikonoskop A-cam dII, a tiny
2/3-inch digital cinema camera
recording RAW HD to solid-state
cards. However, it is only recently
that a camera was shipped to the
first buyer — and it was a prototype.
Prototype 2.1 was delivered to
Australian cinematographer, Nick
Paton (ACS), who has been shooting some test footage, and loves its
small size. “I can’t believe I can carry an uncompressed 1080p camera,
memory cards, batteries, zoom,
9mm prime and filters in a backpack,” he said. “The camera’s fundamentals are strong, with a low
noise sensor recording uncompressed images all in a great form
factor. There is a shopping list of
improvements already in the works
so I can’t wait to see where the final
product might take us all.”
The A-cam dII uses a Kodak
CCD, and its 80GB memory cartridge will record 15 minutes of
video, audio and metadata. It
should run at up to 60fps (which
the sensor supports), but is currently working only up to 25fps.
F800’s dramatic entrance
The PDW-F800 is the Sony’s latest to its 50Mbps XDCAM
HD422 range, and is particularly
interesting for drama production
as it can shoot at 24p and be overand undercranked. It can also
record in 1080i and 720p and in
New high-def OB van for Ukraine
OB installation
By Fergal Ringrose
A new 16-camera HDTV OB van
has been added to the technical
potential of the Ukrainian company Poverkhnost. The main task
of the new system is to facilitate
high quality sports broadcasts
and live streaming of public
events. Sony Professional Solutions took on the role of systems
integrator for the project.
Poverkhnost’s new HDTV OB
Van fully meets the challenge of
various older formats (MPEG
IMX, DVCAM and 4:2:0 HD)
An image inverter feature enables
the camera to be used with cinema
lens adaptors, and gamma settings
include HyperGamma and userselectable gamma curves. A focus
assist bar-graph display is visible on
the camera’s viewfinder, and users
can record proxy data to USB
removable media to make transferring data easier and faster.
It also has auto tracing white
balance, output markers such as
safety, aspect, and centre on the
HD-SDI output, slow shutter,
interval recording, picture cache
recording (up to 30 seconds), disc
exchange cache and shock-less gain
control. Option boards are available to enable pool-feed operation.
It can also be used with an
upcoming Wi-Fi module (that will
also work with the F700), which will
allow broadcasters or productions
to send planning metadata to the
camera, and also allow the camera
to send a live feed to a mobile phone
or laptop, for shot logging and metadata addition on location. The metadata then stays with the disc.
www.ikonoskop.com
www.luxmediaplan.de
www.pstechnik.de
www.red.com
www.sonybiz.net
sports broadcasting, in particular
UEFA Champions League and
European League, for which
Poverkhnost holds the rights in
Ukraine. When not filming the
Ukrainian UEFA matches, the
OB van will be available for lease
in the wider European market.
“We believe that our high calibre
technology, as well as our top-flight
production specialists can add considerable value in the European
market,” said Ruslan Zagoruiko,
deputy chairman of Poverkhnost.
“When leasing our van, lower
Ukrainian production costs will of
course be passed on directly to the
customer — which should make it a
very cost effective choice.”
[email protected]
35
9/12/09
14:55
Page 36
More AVCHD choice for budget camcorders
Low Budget Cams
The prototype NXCAM revealed
by Sony last month is essentially a
remodelling of its HVR-Z5E with
a new recording system. This
replaces the Z5’s HDV tape drive
and add-on Compact Flash card
recorder with two Memory Stick
slots and an add-on solid-state
drive, recording 24Mbps AVCHD.
It is intended to be first of a new,
low-cost solid-state line-up, with
the first cameras shipping sometime in the first half of 2010.
AVCHD (which uses an
MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Long-GoP
codec), is widely used in consumer
camcorders (almost always at
lower bitrates) and is supported
natively by some nonlinear edit
systems (such as Edius, Vegas and
Premiere), but not yet by Apple
and Avid, where transcoding is
necessary — which will probably
diminish its appeal to many broadcasters initially.
It will cost about the same price
as the Z5, and will address one
problem professionals have with
AVCHD, its AC3 audio codec.
Although this will still be included,
the NXCAM will also add twochannel linear PCM audio to be
meet broadcast expectations.
The optional 128GB Flash
memory drive will be especially
appealing to anyone shooting
observational documentaries or to
wedding videographers, who need
long recording times, as it will store
up to 11 hours at maximum quality (and will cost less than €1,000).
Sony’s Drummond shows off the NXCAM prototype
at the recent Power of Images event in London
Users will be able to record on to it
and the Memory Sticks at the same
time. Memory Sticks currently
come in sizes up to 32GB (costing
less than a quarter of the price of
Sony’s new lower-priced SxS-1
cards) and the NXCAM will automatically record on the second one
once the first is full.
The camera includes a GPS
receiver for the first time on a professional Sony camcorder, recording the metadata in the AVCHD
stream. This could be useful for
future applications, whether offering a map-driven interface to
Now in its 6th year
online video, for retrieving
archives, or for researchers shooting a recce. It will also have HDSDI output for the first time on a
compact Sony camcorder.
Panasonic’s latest low-cost professional camcorder is the AGHMC41E, which records AVCHD to
SD memory cards. It is being offered
with a copy of Edius Neo 2 editing
software (until March) for €2,470.
“This camcorder demonstrates Panasonic’s commitment
to making tapeless technology as
accessible as possible to the
broadest cross-section of profes-
sional users and our bundled software offering effectively lowers
the cost of entry even further. For
a minimum outlay, users can now
experience the many workflow
benefits that recording directly to
SD and SDHC cards bring,” said
Nela Pertl, market intelligence
manager at Panasonic Broadcast
and IT Systems.
The AG-HMC41E can record
up to 180 minutes of HD at
1920x1080 on a 32GB SDHC
card at 24Mbps. It has: three 1/4.1inch progressive MOS sensors
with a total of 3.05 million pixels;
a 12x Leica zoom lens; weighs less
than 1kg; and captures still images
at 10.6 megapixels. It includes
various focus-assist functions,
such as facial recognition and
touch-type auto-focusing, as well
as professional functions, such as
waveform monitoring. Accessories
include a removable grip and an
optional removable XLR microphone adaptor.
An easy workflow is one of the
key attractions of JVC’s lightweight, shoulder-mounted GYHM700 camcorder and its tiny
GY-HM100. Both can record
Final Cut Pro-compatible .MOV
(QuickTime) files direct to cheap
SDHC cards (or Sony XDCAM
EX-compatible .MP4 files for
other NLEs). The GY-HM700 can
also record to SxS cards using an
optional drive (while simultaneously recording to the SD card).
The HM700, which started
shipping in March, gained the
more flexible recording as part of
a recent upgrade, which also gave
G T
5
R V
82 65
E
8
co a V OW ’s
un tte E T
tr nd NT H
ie e
s es
in fr
20 om
09
“The Global Meeting Place for Hybrid & IPTV”
Georges Penalver, Senior Executive Vice President,
Group Strategy & Development, Orange/France Telecom
Delivering Next Generation Multiplatform TV
160 speakers including 101 content & service providers from 30 countries!
23-25 March, Olympia, London
RICHARD HALTON,
Director, Project Canvas, BBC
STEPHEN NUTALL,
Group Commercial Director
& Board Member, Sky
FRÉDÉRIC TAPISSIER,
Technology studies and industry
partnerships, TF1, & President of Technical
Committee of France HD Forum, & Founder
Member, HbbTV
GEORGES PENALVER,
Senior Executive Vice President, Strategy
and Development, Member of the Board,
France Telecom
IPTV
World
Series
Awards
2010
Annual gala
evening at
the Royal
Garden Hotel,
London
www.iptv-forum.com
Incorporating the
FREE
EXH
IBITION
In orde
r to qua
FREE e
lify for
pass xhibition
registees, please
r
www.ip online at
tv-forum
.com
Diamond
sponsor
Platinum sponsors
Badge and
Lanyard Sponsor
Lead Stream sponsor
Wifi access sponsor
Booking hotline:
+44 (0)20 7017 5506 or
DIETER ENGEL,
Senior Vice President,
Product Development Media Services,
Deutsche Telekom
RICHARD YOUNG,
Head of Business Development,
BT Vision
ALEX GREEN,
Executive Director, Online, Virgin Media
PIERRE JEAN SEBERT,
CEO, SeeSaw
Gold sponsors
visit www.iptv-forum.com
it a more powerful built-in DNR,
producing higher picture quality.
Both cameras record full
1920x1080 at up to 35Mbps, as well
as 720p (19/35Mbps) and 1080i
(25Mbps HDV) in SP mode. At
35Mbps, two 32GB SD cards can
record for up to six hours, while the
cost per minute is about the same as
tape, making it economical enough
to be used for archiving. The
HM700 has three 1/3-inch CCDs, a
14x Canon lens (interchangeable),
and HD-SDI output. The HM100
has three 1/4-inch CCDs, a fixed
Fujinon 10:1 zoom, manual controls, and HDMI output.
Sony’s new PMW-EX1R, a
revised version of the EX1, adds a
number of features requested by
users, including: an HDMI output;
a higher-resolution viewfinder; an
improved LCD screen; one-push
Auto Iris; an improved hand grip;
one-click S&Q mode (Slow and
Quick); an image inversion option
(if working with 35mm lens adaptors); and up to 15 second picture
cache recording.
The EX1R has also been
upgraded by downgrading — having added standard definition to its
recording options. This is because
“a lot of people on the market were
asking for it,”particularly in Eastern
Europe, the Middle East and Africa,
explained Olivier Bovis, general
manager product marketing.
Indeed, Sony recently launched
its first SD-only model in a long
time, recording to tape. The new
DSR-PD175P is essentially a direct
replacement for the popular PD170.
“From wedding and event
videography, through to corporate
TV production and right up to
broadcast documentary production and newsgathering, the DSRPD175P is the perfect tool for SD
production,”
claimed
Bill
Drummond, senior product marketing manager, Sony Europe.
“There is continuing demand for
high quality DVCAM production
tools in many of our markets and
the DSR-PD175P has been developed specifically to respond to
these important customers’ needs.”
The PD170 was renowned for
its low-light capability (1 lux), but
its successor isn’t quite as effective
in the dark, although it isn’t far off
it at 1.5 lux. It does have the
advantage of being 16:9 native and
uses three of the same 1/3-inch
Exmor ClearVid CMOS sensors
found in the Z5.
The camera has a fixed 20x
Sony G lens, three ND filters and
independent focus, zoom and iris
rings. It also has an improved high
resolution LCD panel and
viewfinder. To aid migration from
the PD170, the PD175 also uses L
series batteries, removing the need
to buy new battery systems (unlike
most of Sony’s HDV cameras).
www.jvcpro.eu
www.panasonic-broadcast.com
www.sonybiz.net
36
TVBE_FP
8/12/09
12:00
Page 1
9/12/09
12:22
Page 38
AD
INDEX
13
AJA www.aja.com
29
Anton Bauer
Prompters LED to bright future
www.antonbauer.com
5
Blackmagic
www.blackmagic-design.com
3
Bridge Technologies
www.bridgetech.tv
24
Broadcast Microwave
Services
www.broadcast-microwaveservices.com
22
Como www.focusinfo-emea.com
23
CVP www.creativevideo.co.uk
32
Dektec www.dektec.com
2
Digital Rapids
www.digital-rapids.com
18
DK Technologies
www.dk-technologies.com
38
DVS www.dvs.de
39
Evertz www.evertz.com
28
Glensound
www.glensound.com.uk
1
Harris www.broadcast.harris.com
7
Ikegami www.ikegami.de
36
Informa www.informa.com
34
Link Research
www.linkres.co.uk
15
Miranda www.miranda.com
27
Nevion www.nevion.com
37
Newtec www.newtec.eu
25
Omneon www.omneon.com
14
OxygenDCT www.oxygendct.com
31
Photon Beard
www.photonbeard.com
10,16,
Playbox
40
www.playbox.tv
20
Prompter People
www.prompterpeople.com
11
Publitronic www.publitronic.com
19
Snell Group www.snellgroup.com
26
Telemetrics
www.telemetricsinc.com
17
Thales Angenieux
www.angenieux.com
8
Tiger
www.tiger-technology.com
35
TV One www.tvone.co.uk
9
TwoFour54
www.twofour54.com
33
VCM Events
www.broadcastvideoexpo.co.uk
21
Viewcast www.viewcast.com
Show time: Portaprompt’s 24-inch
display makes its motor show debut
Camera Prompters
There are two main trends in
prompter design: a move to lowerpower LED back lighting; and, in tune
with the broadcast industry generally,
models that are smaller, lighter and
cheaper. David Fox reports
Power consumption and the environment are becoming important
considerations for broadcasters, and
yesterday’s potentially mercury contaminated Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tube prompters required a lot
of power, especially on start up —
where they also needed some
minutes to reach full brightness.
However, LEDs cause no power
spikes and even the brightest units
use about half the power.
The light spread is also better
and blacks are blacker. “The contrast level is absolutely fantastic.
Presenters find them easier to read
and it causes less fatigue,” said
Autoscript’s MD Brian Larter,
who has moved his complete range
to LED displays. Although the
bright, TFT-Plus flat screens are
more costly to manufacture,
Autoscript has taken a hit on its
margins to offer them at the same
price as CCFLs. However, the older technology will still be available
for customers who want to match
new units to old (as LEDs can look
a bit odd next to CCFLS).
Portaprompt is also now offering LED versions of all of its existing displays, but not the newly
launched ultra bright 24-inch display, as a suitable LED panel
wasn’t available in that size
(although 24-inch LED displays
are available, they weren’t bright
enough to cope with the light loss
caused by a mirror while still being
able to compete with the ambient
brightness of studio lights. However, for some other sizes, such as
the 15-inch display, the LED and
CCFL units have the same brightness (1,500 nits).
The 24-inch display is “ideal for
large studios,” said Jim Keating,
international sales director. “Our
previous biggest was 20-inches.” Its
first buyer was a German production company, which bought two,
and used it initially at the
Frankfurt Motor Show.
It does offer standard brightness panels, which are about half
as bright as its ultra bright models,
at lower prices, as well as the
Quasar CCFL and LED units.
LED sizes available include: 9-, 10,
15-, 17-, 20- and 24-inch, all of
which run on 12 volts DC and give
36% longer battery life on location.
“LEDs bring a whole wealth of
different improvements, not just new
features, but added reliability as they
can cope with being knocked about,
and you get perfect coverage of
light,”explained Larter. He has wanted to move to LEDs for some time,
but when Autoscript first considered
them, three years ago, suitable
screens weren’t available. Now its
complete range is LED driven (5.6-,
8-, 13-, 15-, 17- and 19-inch displays).
The units will also last a lot longer.
“LEDs have eight times the life span
of CCFLs. The output of CCFLs
diminishes over time and they need
replacing. LEDs produce very little
heat and that’s a big factor in component failure. There are still fans to regulate heat, but they only come on if it
is in a hot studio or outside in the
sun.” Autoscript’s LED TFT-Plus is
purpose-built in-house rather than
using a computer display and
includes an illuminated control panel
for easy visibility in a dark studio.
There’s an app for that…
Autocue’s new Starter Series is an
entry-level product aimed at users
that previously couldn’t afford it. It
comes in 7-inch, 10-inch and 17inch versions and is taking on the
likes of Prompter People head on,
with prices below £1,000.
The units can be floor standing,
or fitted below or above the lens,
but for location use the most interesting system is also the cheapest.
The iPhone Prompter, designed for
freelance cameramen, costs just
£599, and is similar to the 7-inch
Starter pack, but with an adapter
plate for an iPhone instead of
using Autocue’s display. It comes
with a pop up, fully adjustable
hood, and a tripod mounting system, and weighs 1.1kg (but you
need your own iPhone)
It uses software available from
the iPhone App Store, although
not written by Autocue, but CEO
Frank Hyman promises that it will
have its own Autocue App in the
near future. Autocue has also
to a prompter as they move freely
about the set.
Prompter People’s new Flex 11
prompter is the latest in its budget line.
“The Flex 11 is targeted at the education market, where there are strict
limits on prices,” explained company
president, Mark Ditmanson. The
4.5kg unit will cost €999. Unlike its
ProLine prompters, the mirror is fixed
instead of adjustable. “It’s very simple. 45º is fine for most people, and it
all folds up easily for transport.”
Autoscript has introduced a presenter foot control that is claimed to
be the only one specifically designed
for the purpose. The new MFC-1
Magno Foot Control uses magnetic,
frictionless technology for easier
control and increased longevity.
Budget constraints: Ditmanson with the new Flex
launched Mac software for its other
Autocue systems, “because this
market is 30 to 40% Mac based.”
Autoscript’s new Miniscript
portable on-camera TFT monitor,
has all the standard connectors of
its larger prompter displays, but
the 5.6-inch LED panel weighs
only 455g, so that it won’t be a burden to move about on location or
in the studio.
It includes connections for
composite BNC and Hirose power
inputs, and was developed with
veteran British camera supervisor
Phil Piotrowsky, who wanted
something more compatible with
the increasing use of hand-held
cameras for live and studio-based
entertainment productions. Being
able to fit a lightweight prompter
to portable cameras provides a
safety net for on-air presenters,
who appreciate being able to refer
“One of the biggest problems
with foot controls is the springs. We
wanted to design a foot control that
didn’t have a torsional spring [which
weakens during repeated pushing].
In the end we found a BMW accelerator which is digital and uses a
compression spring,” making it
more accurate, more responsive and
more robust, said Larter.
“It’s got to be reliable to be used
24 hours a day in newsrooms, so we
do sometimes over-engineer things.
We also designed it to be used by
presenters standing up, which took
a lot of work to get the angle right,
trialling it with various channels.
Some rival products are the wrong
angle for standing up and presenters can get cramp,” he explained.
www.autocue-qtv.com
www.autoscript.tv
www.portaprompt.co.uk
www.prompterpeople.eu
VENICE
the DVS multi-channel
video server
DVS – passion for perfection
38
www.dvs.de
TVBE_FP
25/11/09
10:39
Page 1
TVBE_FP
3/12/09
15:28
Page 1

December 2009

Transcription

Similar documents

24 News

COBRACAM PRO

TrueLook - Construction Cameras

Preventing the spread of infectious diseases

6 Channel HD and 8 Analog Audio Recording

ximea mq022

Configuraciones de cámara HD para ganar latitud ENG

Remotec Andros TM F6

The control room of Deutsche Welle