TVBE April 2014 digital edition

Forum: Virtual Sets

www.tvbeurope.com

AApril 2014Europe’s Television Technology Business Magazine

War Horse in 4K live

— and other challenges beyond HDConversation with IABM’s Peter White

NAB Product Preview

By Holly Ashford

HARRIS BROADCAST, a portfolio company of The Gores Group, has used its MediaDay in New York Cityto unveil its future as newcompanies, ImagineCommunications and GatesAir.The company will cease tradingas Harris Broadcast.

Imagine Communications will be headquartered in Dallas,with Centers of Excellence inDenver, Toronto, Los Angeles,Tel Aviv and Beijing. The

company’s history of mediasoftware and networking has secured more than 3000customers spanning 185countries, with more than 3 million products deployed.

“The central theme behindour technology vision unveiledtoday is to enable our customers to begin migratingtowards software defined, IP-based, virtualised networksfor both intraplant andinterplant, without having to forklift their currentnetworks and make significant

new investments,” said Steve Reynolds, CTO atImagine Communications.“Imagine Communications isuniquely positioned to deliverthis transformation because of the breadth of ourtechnology, solutions andintellectual property.”

GatesAir has been pioneeringover-the-air TV and radiotransmission innovation for nearly 100 years, and will be headquartered inCincinnati, Ohio. From digitalmodulation to patent-pending

amplifier technology, GatesAiraims to deliver cost-, energy-and space-efficient solutionsand to hold a customer-firstfocus in re-architectingnetworks for the future.

“We are thrilled to bringback the positive marketheritage associated with the name Gates,” said RichRedmond, chief productofficer, GatesAir. “We gain the best of both worlds byempowering our expert teams,technology and customer base,while also gaining exclusivefocus and entrepreneurialautonomy to best serve theover-the-air radio andtelevision market.”www.gatesair.comwww.imaginecommunications.com

News & ContentsTVBEurope 3April 2014 www.tvbeurope.com

Blinkbox’s Michael Comish tospeak at Next TV Summit

Harris Broadcast becomes ImagineCommunications and GatesAir

MICHAEL COMISH has been announced as theHonoured Keynote speaker forTVBEurope’s Next TV Summit,and the Next TV DigitalInnovation Awards have beenadded to the programme.Michael Comish, group digitalofficer, Tesco, and founder andCEO, Blinkbox will speak at theconference at London’s BAFTAon 11 June.

Comish will discuss the risingcost of premium content, thegrowing subscriber base forvideo-on demand and the issuessurrounding the commissioningof original content.

The Next TV DigitalInnovation Awards have beenadded to London’s eventprogramme. Previous winners of the Next TV Innovation

Award include James Packer,president, worldwide televisionand digital distribution,Lionsgate; Albert Cheng, EVP,chief product officer, Disney/ABCTelevision; and Ted Sarandos,chief content officer, Netflix.

The summit will offer paneldiscussions and keynotepresentations with sessionscovering multiscreen versus pureOTT, the popularity of realityprogramming for online andOTT providers, plus much more.

Delegates can listen todiscussions on social media andhow technology is advancing thequality of TV, IPTV and the OTT viewer experience.There are networkingopportunities throughout theday during coffee breaks, lunch and at the eveningcocktail party.

Tickets are available at theNext TV website. www.nexttvsummitlondon.comMichael Comish founded VoD service Blinkbox in 2006

Contents

June’s top connected television event adds the head of Tesco’s video-on-demand to its line-up, writes Holly Ashford

1-9 News & AnalysisPeter White: Manufacturing the IABM futureGeorge Jarrett talked with IABMchief executive Peter White aboutwhere the industry stands in aconstantly moving landscape 6

10-22 Beyond HD: 4K ChallengesWar Horse charges in 4K liveAdrian Pennington goes behind thescenes of War Horse as the NationalTheatre production becomes thefirst event to be aired live to cinemas in 4K 10

Capturing the 4K storm4K wasn’t the only topic absorbingvisitors to BVE, but it was a keydiscussion point in many sessions.David Fox reports 19

23-34 The WorkflowGoing tapeless at Telewizja PolsatIn pay TV, the Polsat Group is thelargest provider in Poland. Reinhard E Wagner tours the broadcaster 23

35-39 Virtual Sets ForumThe reality of virtual setsVirtual set technology is growing evermore sophisticated. Philip Stevensposes questions to experts in the field 35

40-44 The WorkflowThe lifecycle of an assetKevin Shaw, BBC S&PP exploresthe most valuable thing the industrypossesses – its content 40

45-56 NAB Product PreviewThe second part of our pre-Showfeature, with NAB announcements bythe big players in the industry 45

58 News ReviewA round-up of this month’s mostinteresting stories from thebroadcast technology industry 58

News & Analysiswww.tvbeurope.com April 20144 TVBEurope

EDITORIALActing Editor Neal [email protected]

Editor, Special Projects Melanie [email protected]

Staff WriterHolly [email protected]

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USA Correspondent Carolyn GiardinaContributors Mike Clark, David Davies,Chris Forrester, David Fox, Mark Hill,Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Heather McLean, Bob Pank,Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens,Reinhard E WagnerDigital Content Manager Tim Frost

Office Manager Lianne Davey

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Managing Director Mark Burton

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WHILE TVBEUROPEexhaustively covers the launchesand announcements at thismonth’s NAB in Las Vegas (seeour NAB Product Preview andnext month’s NAB Wrap-up),we come to NAB this year witha few announcements andlaunches of our own.

First, we’re pleased toannounce that this monthTVBEurope is getting a newexecutive editor, JamesMcKeown (see this issue’sPeople On The Move for more).Additionally, we welcome backMelanie Dayasena-Lowe, whoreturns from maternity leave. As part of her new duties,Melanie will be spearheadingTVBEurope’s special projects —and there are a lot of specialprojects coming up in 2014.

After NAB, TVBEurope willbe gearing up for our BeyondHD Masters conference on 3 June. The event, held at theBAFTA theatre in London,resumes our annual discussion ofthe innovations and challengesin next generation image captureand delivery. After a keynoteaddress by Stephan Heimbecher,Sky Deutschland’s head ofinnovations and standards, eightdiscussion and keynote sessionswill cover every angle on thelatest capture issues. Sessiontitles include ‘The case for 4Kover IP’, ‘Ultra HD marketanalysis’, ‘The grammar andpresentation of Ultra-HD’,‘Next generation audio’, and adiscussion of the cutting edgebeyond the cutting edge with‘Ultra HD 2’.

The week following BeyondHD Masters, we run our Next

TV Summit London. Held on 11 June, also at BAFTA, andmodelled on New Bay Media’ssuccessful Next TV events in theUS last year, Next TV Londonwill be a day of discussion on allangles of the new TV ecosystem.

With Beyond HD looking atthe new frontier of contentcapture, Next TV looks at thenew frontier of content delivery.Topics for discussion will include monetising newplatforms, commissioningoriginal OTT content, effectiveuse of social media and theopportunities in multi-screenadvertising. Confirmed speakersinclude Edward Lee, VP

content acquisition at Roku, Jens Richter, CEO ofFremantleMedia, and AshleyMackenzie, CEO of digital rightsmanagement agency Base 79.

Our third conference, ITBroadcast Workflow, has beenhugely popular in past years,and, as production migratesincreasingly to cloud and IPsolutions, we expect this year tobe the biggest conference yet.ITBW takes place on 8 July.

Sponsorship packages for all three conferences are stillavailable. Contact sales managerBen Ewles ([email protected]) or salesexecutive Richard Carr

([email protected])for details.

With a new website and threemajor conferences on thehorizon, you’d thinkTVBEurope would be resting onits laurels. But we saw that thebroadcast community stilllacked a TV technology awardsevent that appropriatelyrepresented the scope andbreadth of the Europeanindustry, so we have stepped up,in partnership with New Bay’sTV Technology magazine, todeliver the TVBAwards, comingthis autumn.

The TVBAwards will honour the best of the best in European TV broadcast capture,workflow, and delivery. Staytuned for more TVBAwardsannouncements, includingvenue, award categories, andnomination procedures.

Finally, timed to coincidewith NAB, we have launchedour new website design. Thenew site is easier to navigate,the images are bigger andbetter, and the search functionsfar more friendly than in thesite’s previous incarnation.Most importantly, our contenthas been organised into newcategories. The new categoriesalso represent an expansion of TVBEurope’s contentoutlook generally. News,features, and opinion willappear across the areas ofCapture, Workflow, Delivery,Content and Business.

And finally, we have a newgeneral editorial email address,[email protected]. Wehope you’ll use it often to let usknow how we’re doing.

Neal Romanek,Acting Editor

TVBEurope expandsin 2014

QUANTEL HAS announcedthat it has acquired Snell, with the aim of creating “a major new force in theglobal broadcast and mediatechnology markets,”commented Quantel’s executivechairman and CEO, Ray Cross.The combined business hopesto offer customers a productrange to create, version anddeliver content across multipleplatforms. Quantel and Snell

have 16 offices around theglobe and combined revenuesof more than $170 million.

Paul Martin, MD of SnellTV Everywhere and RobertRowe, MD of Snell Live TV,will join the Quantel board.Snell sales director Tim Banks,and finance director PeterFredericks will also takeleading roles.

Snell’s outgoing CEO SimonDerry, commented: “I’m really

delighted that the Snell andQuantel businesses have cometogether to increase the scaleand scope for both. UnderRay’s leadership the combinedbusiness will be able to write anew and exciting chaptermoving forwards. I lookforward to supporting Rayduring the important period of transition.”

“Our product ranges areentirely complementary so theexcellent Snell and Quantelbrands and product rangeswill continue,” continuedCross. “We’ll be able to

combine the best in classtalent and technologies from Quantel and Snell tobring exciting new productsand solutions to market tohelp our customers transformtheir businesses. More localoffices across the world willenable us to build closerrelationships with ourcustomers and to offer evenbetter support.”

A new facility will be createdat the company headquartersin Newbury, UK.www.quantel.comwww.snell.com

Quantel acquires Snell

NAB is a time for announcements and launches. TVBEuropeis making a few of its own, explains Neal Romanek

FRONTED BY a famousindustry face that comes from atrade association past, the IABM(International Association ofBroadcast Manufacturers) has anannual membership churn of justunder 10%. About 75% ofIABM members come fromEurope and the USA, and beingan IBC partner has boosted itsreputation hugely.

IABM chief executive PeterWhite started with the IBC link.“Without it, our growth anddevelopment certainly wouldhave been slower. It has enabledus to develop into areas whichfrankly we would have takenlonger to develop, notably thetraining academy,” he said.

Looking back at a recentIABM industry trend survey hefocused on the financial healthof the manufacturing sector.

“There is a lot of confusionand uncertainty. Many companiesstruggled towards the back end of2013, although orders were on theincrease,” said White. “But there isquite a split between thecompanies that are doing well andthose doing badly.”

Sadly things have polarisedand we have a two-tier situationprobably created by banksrefusing to lend seed money.

“Absolutely. A lot of small tomedium enterprises are still notdoing very well (24% down onprofits), but if you look at thetop tier companies that have beenin the black for two years, they

are actually showing a profitgrowth of 8%,” said White.

Does this suggest that R&Dcommitments have taken a hit?

“No. They have beenmaintained at very high levels —15-16% of revenues for yearsnow — and it seems that needsto be the case to bring productsto market,” said White. “Profitsoverall have not been growing,but our industry just keeps onre-investing.

“There is a question whetherwe are over-engineering in somecases, and are deliveringproducts that are over-specifiedfor the marketplace,” he added.“With IT convergence and theprice of cameras coming downto almost prosumer levels, thequestion is can we afford tosustain this investment.”

Do not let our guard downThis software-driven era hasseen prices dive (just considerthe cost path of an Avid MediaComposer, for example). Hasthe IABM membership reflectedthe changes?

“Our last three years of influxhas been very much softwareand IP driven, and frankly if wedid not address the needs ofthose companies we wouldbecome irrelevant in the longterm,” said White.

In all the talk about IT, IP, 4K,Cloud, big data, file-baseddelivery, etc he is clear on oneaspect: “When you look at the

whole supply line in broadcastingyou have still got to have qualityimage capture and expertise inediting and delivery, and thosethings will never change.

“But if we ever let our guarddown and we just starttransferring files in the way wedo in an office — it will be adisaster,” he added.

Is he a fan of 4K (UHD TV)?“I think so. Unlike 3D it is not afalse dawn. It really is the nextstage up from HD, even if it takesa while to transmit it widely.

“As part of an infrastructureand certainly from our end-usersurvey it is definitely in thestrategy now,” he added. “Thereare a lot of things ahead of ithowever in terms of what peopleare going to spend their moneyon — namely HD roll out, multiplatform delivery, and MAM.”

Down the pecking orderThe IABM training academy hasdone wonderful work, and fournew courses reflect the interest inIP, data and file-based workflows.But it would surely need to bemuch bigger to satisfy nationalengineering requirements.

“We have spoken togovernment bodies (like Skillset)and there is a lot of prioritisationaround IT rather than broadcast,and there are a few universitiesthat have technical mediacourses,” said White. “Ourcourses are designed for twothings — to re-train broadcast

engineers and acquaint themwith the latest new mediatechnology, and prepare ITgraduates who do not knowmuch about broadcasting.

“In terms of what thegovernment is doing — franklyprecious little. We are on theboard of the ICT KTN, which isthe knowledge transfer network,and we are well down the peckinglist. The top players are telcosand IT bodies, and that is wherethe big money goes,” he added.“We do not get enoughrecognition. That is quite acontentious statement, but Ibelieve it to be true.”

The IABM does get grants forbursaries for its courses, butWhite says this is not reallysufficient given the demand fornew engineering talent.

“We have put a lot ofbroadcasters through ouracademy, as well as our ownmembers and suppliers. And it isdefinitely fulfilling a need,” hesaid. “Now we have gotcertification we want employersto recognise what a certifiedbroadcaster means in terms ofskills, attainment and knowledge.

This is not going to be done bygovernment funding.”

The IABM has a number oflinks to the standards settingbodies, particularly SMPTE andthe EBU. Are standardisationprocesses too slow to remove thehuge proprietary element thatbars interoperability around theindustry?

“I don’t think it takes too longnecessarily, but it’s probably tooslow if you are a broadcaster,”said White. “I can fullyunderstand it from the supplychain point of view though; youdo need some distinctiveadvantage, meaning aproprietary equipment. But thereis a new dawn, and we dounderstand as suppliers that wehave to work together more. Let’sdesign things that work togetherand the standards forinteroperability will come.”

He had one warning:“Suppliers need a certain amountof time for product life cycles.These are shorter and R&D is at an all time high, but if we keep changing standards soquickly it will put more suppliersout of business.”

Newswww.tvbeurope.com April 20146 TVBEurope

This software-driven era has seen prices dive (just considerthe cost path of an Avid Media Composer, for example).

Has the IABM membership reflected the changes?

Peter White: Manufacturingthe IABM futureThe IABM is the only international association that represents thebroadcast and media technology supply industry. George Jarretttalked with IABM chief executive Peter White about where theindustry stands in a constantly moving landscape

White: “If we ever letour guard down and wejust start transferringfiles in the way we do in an office — it will be a disaster”

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People on the movewww.tvbeurope.com April 20148 TVBEurope

By Melanie Dayasena-Lowe

Arqiva has hired a managing director ofsatellite, David Crawford. He will beresponsible for the day-to-daymanagement and strategic direction ofArqiva’s fast-growing satellite business,which includes sales and operations for arange of international broadcasters andOccasional Use content distribution frommajor international sports,entertainment and news events.Crawford takes the reins from BarrieWoolston who has been the interimmanaging director and will remaincommercial director for satellite.

ARRI Lighting Rental has announcedthat John Colleyhas joined the team in the

role of general manager, following theretirement of managing director TommyMoranat the end of 2013. Reporting toMartin Cayzer, CEO of ARRI’s global rentalbusiness, Colley will be responsible for theday-to-day running of the company, aswell as expanding its proven ability toservice all types of feature film, televisionand commercial productions in the UK andacross Europe. Moran will continueworking with ARRI Lighting Rental in thepost of consultant, supporting Colley withthe transition into his new role.

Audio-Technica has appointed AlexJann as UK product and training specialist,with particular responsibility for DJ and

recording-related products from Audio-Technica and Allen & Heath (distributed in the UK by Audio-Technica).

Everth Flores has been hired byHarmonic as senior director, globalaccounts and business development,

for EMEA. In his new role, Everth willdrive cable opportunities and channelsales within the region, with an emphasison increasing deployments ofHarmonic’s NSG Pro converged cableaccess platform.

Stedman joins Quantum as SVP, StorNext

TVBEUROPE HAS appointed James McKeown(pictured) as executive editor on the brand whileMelanie Dayasena-Lowe has returned to the editorialteam following her maternity leave. McKeown willlead the editorial team, which also includes actingeditor Neal Romanek and staff writer Holly Ashford.

As editor, special projects, Dayasena-Lowe willcontinue working on the day-to-day running of the magazine, website, newsletters and events. In addition, she will be focusing on spearheadingthe editorial content programme for the brand’s in-house events as well as working on the IBCContent Everywhere project.

“I’m delighted to return to TVBEurope at such an exciting time as we continue to develop newproducts, launch a brand new website and welcome

our new executive editorJames. Neal and Hollyhave done an amazingjob during my absenceand I’m looking forwardto working with them again as we move fromstrength to strength,” said Dayasena-Lowe.

McKeown, an award-winning editor with over 15 years journalistic experience, joins from LyceumPublishing, which specialises in the online gamingindustry. Starting this month after NAB, his rolewill be to lead editorial strategy and direction forTVBEurope and its increasing portfolio of online andevent platforms. Working closely with the existingteam, this will allow TVBEurope to explore new areasof content in an ever-changing broadcast landscape.

GEOFF STEDMAN has joinedQuantum Corp in a newly createdposition of senior vice president,StorNext solutions. “WithStorNext 5, we have theopportunity to help a larger set ofcustomers re-monetise orotherwise re-purpose their massivevolumes of content, and I’mexcited about Geoff comingonboard to drive this effort,” saidJon Gacek, president and CEO of Quantum. “He’ll be workingclosely with Alex Grossman toaccelerate our scale-out storagegrowth, building on the StorNext leadership positionwe’ve established in media &entertainment and intelligence aswell as the tight integration withour Lattus Object Storage systems

to go both deeper and wider in theuse cases we address.” Stedmanhas previously worked for Tintriand Harmonic, which he joined inconjunction with the company’sacquisition of Omneon.

John Colley,ARRI Lighting Rental

Alex Jann,Audio-Technica

Harris Broadcast has announcedthat Paula Bargery has joined thecompany as regional sales directorfor the UK, Ireland and South Africawhere she will be responsible for all sales activity and enhancingcustomer relationships across theseterritories. Bargery brings over 20years of experience in sales andbusiness development including hermost recent role as head of sales,EMEA at AmberFin, a post she heldfor four years.

Media Links Inc, a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of Media Global Links,specialising in broadcast andnetwork transport over IP solutions,has hired Tom Canavan aspresident. Canavan joins Media LinksInc. with over 25 years experienceand business leadership in the mediaand technology industries.

Richard Hayter-Gare has joinedthe sales team of Soho-based resellerand integrator root6. A salesprofessional with over 25 years’experience in the media andbroadcast sector, Hayter-Gare joinsfrom European RAID Arrays where heserved as sales and account manager.

SGO has appointed Peter Amiesas Training and Education mentor.He will play a major role in managingthe company’s training strategy ofMistika and Mamba FX softwaresolutions for the global educationsector. Before joining SGO, heworked at New Zealand’s Park RoadPost Production for six years.

Provider of broadcast andproduction technology solutions andservices Tyrell has recruited AlexGalanosas UK support engineer.With over 13 years’ experience,Galanos started his career as an audioengineer and producer, and since thenhas developed his media productionskills with engineering support roles atvarious rental houses and resellersincluding Gearbox Sound & Vision andCVP, before joining Tyrell.

TVBEurope strengthensits editorial team

Geoff Stedman, Quantum Corp

Richard Hayter-Gare, root6

Everth Flores,Harmonic

THE 4K stage production of theNational Theatre’s War Horseclaimed a number of firsts when itaired on 27 February. Not onlywas it the first live-to-cinema 4Ktransmission, it was the firstcommercial run for the format inwhich cinema-goers at Chelsea’sCurzon paid to see the 180-minuteevent. It also necessitated theworld’s first high frame rate 4KDigital Cinema Package (DCP).

National Theatre Live (NTLive) broadcast War Horse fromthe New London Theatre toover 1000 cinemas worldwide —most of them live but with manyalso showing delayed ‘live’screenings. All but one of thosewas an HD broadcast, but thesignificance of the sole 4K TXpoints the way to the future.

Technical producer for NTLive, Creative BroadcastSolutions (CBS), together withNEP Visions, NT Live’s long-term OB partner, partnered withsatellite provider Links Broadcastand Sony to deliver the event,which is NT Live’s 36thstretching back to 2009.

“We regularly cover NT Liveproductions in HD but theNational Theatre thought that War Horse was such animportant show that it shouldideally be captured with largeformat cameras,” explains DavidO’Carroll, technical projectsmanager, NEP Visions. “Whatwas equally important wasmaintaining the HD workflow,since that feed was going to themajority of cinemas. We built a

4K layer into the flypack installedonsite, complemented by an audiotruck and a second truck forgraphics, subtitles and autocue.”

Six F55 CineAlta camerasequipped with Fujinon Cabrio

lenses fed 4K video intoBPU4000 fibre adapters whichgenerated 4K and HD signalssimultaneously. The BPUs arean essential piece of kit,allowing the F55s to be used asa system camera with rack andcontrol. The feeds were presentedat a Sony MVS-8000X switcher

as four HD 3G signal (quad 4K)to create the live mix.

NEP Visions were tasked withcreating three paths: a 4K mixwith graphics, an HD version of the same and another HD

path with subtitles. The mix feed was recorded on a SonyMasterDeck, for archive and thecreation of a 4K DCP masterthat will be distributed tocinemas. NEP Visions alsorecorded 4K ISOs onto twoadditional Sony MasterDecksfor later use.

The F55s were positioned in themiddle of the stalls (one on a jib,one remote controlled on a hothead) arrayed in an arc and shotmindful of a cinema audiencewatching on 15m screens.

As usual with NT Liveperformances, the stage director,broadcast director (in this case, Tim Van Someren) andproduction teams (including NTLive producer Emma Keith) gota chance to review footage shotduring a rehearsal to see if anytweaks to coverage were required.Digital Cinema lab Soho DigitalCinema (SDC) created a 4KDCP for them to view it projectedon a cinema screen.

“There were no significantgame-changing differences versusHD,” noted Chris Bretnall,technical producer for NT Liveat Creative Broadcast Solutions.

Links Broadcast provided thesatellite uplink and downlinkfacilities to enable the delivery ofthe 4K signal (and simultaneousHD signal) from the NewLondon Theatre into the CurzonCinema in Chelsea. Using foursynchronous Adtec EN-100encoders the incoming signal wascombined into a single transportstream in MPEG-4 via an AdtecDTA3050 multiplexor for onwardtransmission via a 1.5m antennaon Links’s 4K uplink vehicle.

“We made an initial test usinga truck on location to ensure wecould transmit a 4K signal andthen we did a glass-to-glass test atVisions taking the camera signal

into a 4K projector,” explainsLinks business developmentmanager Andy Tweedley.

The signal was then uplinkedon to SES Astra’s 3B satelliteusing 36Mhz of capacity in orderto achieve the maximum possiblevideo data rate within themodulated 4K transport stream.

Beyond HD: www.tvbeurope.com April 201410 TVBEurope

Adrian Pennington goes behind the scenes of War Horse as the National Theatreproduction becomes the first event to be aired live to cinemas in 4K

War Horse

charges into 4K live

War Horse was the firstlive-to-cinema 4K

transmission

“Many cinemas are capable of showing 4Kand we know a small number capable ofshowing it live” Chris Bretnall, Creative Broadcast Solutions

National Theatre Live broadcast War Horse from theNew London Theatre to over 1000 cinemas worldwide4K Challenges

“4K live to a projector hadnever been done before so we hadto do a lot of testing to get thesuitable video bitrate,” saysBretnall. “Typical HD relays that go to cinemas use approx 18-19Mbps within a 36Mhz carrier.Now we are getting over 100Mbpswithin the same bandwidth.”

The incoming signal wasdownlinked at the Curzon via a1.8M Links Broadcast receiveantenna which was fed intoAdtec RD70 receiver decodersand delivered to the projector.

Audiences will be able to viewthe performance recorded in UltraHD with a live feed encodedstandard Digital Cinema Initiatives(DCI) compliant DCP. In chargeof this were SDC who werepresented with a huge challenge.Currently 4K HFR is only aproposal in the recommendationsof the DCI, the governing bodythat sets digital cinema standards.

The Hobbit 3D films, forexample, were shown at 24p foreach ‘eye’, whereas War Horsewas able to shoot and screened as

a single eye 50p. To get there SDChad to devise a new workflow inorder to work with Sony’s latestSRMaster format. This includedingesting 4K 50p material fromSR-R1000 decks and encodingusing a new specially programmedbeta version of DVS Clipster.

SDC, Sony and NT Livesuccessfully tested a 4K DCPfrom Sony’s SRMaster, which iscurrently confirmed to work withSony’s SRX-R320 4K projectors.

“4K HFR is an incrediblespectacle to behold,” comments

Soho Digital Cinema managingdirector David Margolis. “If 8.5 million pixels weren’t enoughresolution, seeing them dance at50fps results in the smoothest,most immersive digital cinemacontent we’ve ever seen.”

In the UK, approximately 500 screens showed War Horse

live with many also showing adelayed version. In the US,around 300 screens took the livefeed and another 100 showeddelayed. Canada featured 100showings; Europe approx 80,and in the rest of the world,including Australia, Russia,Mexico, and Japan, there were80 delayed shows.

The technical set up was very similar to that of a livesports event. In fact, AndyHotten, Sony’s technical projectmanager, was in Turkey the

week before War Horseoverseeing a 4K production forTurkish satellite broadcasterDigiturk of a Galatasaray andBesiktas match in which fourF55s and two upconvertedHDcams were fed through aMVS-8000X and linked back toa hotel for a VIP screening.

“After War Horse we will have established a provenworkflow for 24p 4Kdistribution with an option forcinemas to take it to 50p 4K,”says Bretnall. “We know thatmany cinemas are capable ofshowing 4K and we know asmall number capable of showingit live with few additional highhurdles than for last the 35 NTLive productions.”www.creativebroadcastsolutions.comwww.nepinc.comwww.sony.co.uk

www.tvbeurope.com April 201412 TVBEurope

The technical set up wasvery similar to that of a

live sports event

“There were no significantgame-changingdifferences versus HD”

Chris Bretnall, Creative Broadcast Solutions

Beyond HD: 4K Challenges

THE TELEVISION industry iscurrently undergoing a ground-breaking transition to an all-digital world, where HD qualityis no longer a desirable featurebut a consumer expectation.

Broadcasters are looking totake another seismic step forwardin the evolution of televisionbroadcasting with the onset of4K Ultra High Definition (UHD)TV, which offers a new excitingdimension to the industry. Thereare a number of parallels that canbe drawn between the transitionfrom SD to HD, and now HD to4K UHDTV. In essence, we’reasking the same questions todayas we did in 1998 when the firstHDTVs went on sale. WhenHDTVs were first introduced,many consumers felt they wereimpractical and unsuitable for theliving room. There were alsoconcerns about the lack ofcontent available in a new format.

HDTV is now a relativelymature technology and largerscreens are commonplace.Viewers want high-qualitycontent to enable the optimumtelevision experience. Accordingto an Informa Telecoms & Mediareport from last year, theproportion of global TV

households watching HDprogramming is expected to growfrom under 14% at the end of 2012to almost 42% by the end of 2017.Although the process towardsmass deployment may be gradual,4K UHDTV is the next step inthe evolution of TV services.

The 4K UHDTV journeyEricsson was responsible for anumber of high profile 4KUHDTV landmarks last year,including multiple live trials ofthe technology alongside partnerssuch as Sky Sports, KT Skylifeand MEASAT. This culminatedwithin the world’s first live fullmulti-camera 4K UHDTV sportsproduction and delivery atIBC2013. Ericsson partneredalongside BT Media, Intelsat,Sony and Newtec to transmit thegame via satellite and fibre in‘true’ 4K UHDTV resolutionfrom London to Amsterdam. Thecombination of the higher spatialresolution (4x HDTV), 4:2:2 and10-bit color depth, and higherframe rates at 60fps delivered atruly stunning immersiveexperience for the viewers at theEricsson stand.

These live demonstrationsprove that TV service providers

can build the necessary 4Kecosystems and a library ofUHDTV content now, usingtoday’s delivery infrastructure.This is a testament to thetechnological developmentswithin the industry, proving thathigh-quality fast-moving imagescan be captured perfectly to offera truly immersive televisionexperience. Many of thesesuccessful trials were enabledthanks to our pioneering UltraHigh Definition TV encodingsystem, which we firstdemonstrated live at an EBUtechnical seminar in Genevaearly last year.

Our trials taught us how 4KUHDTV video compressedsignals certainly require 4:2:2chroma sampling and 10-bitdepth. This is necessary tomaintain the colour fidelitythrough the multiple encode/decode/re-encode stages andthrough multiple editing stages,while delivering truly astonishingresults to large consumers’ sets.

This year we expect to see thesefoundations consolidated upon aswe move closer towards thelaunch of the first commercial 4KUHDTV services. Although massdeployment is unlikely to take

place until 2015, we will see on-demand services for movie content(streaming and downloads)appear this year and this will driveconsiderable demand for theformat. Some services are alreadystarting to appear on the market;Netflix is now offering a numberof its key shows in 4K UHDTVvia its video streaming service.

Getting it to the viewerIn order to bring this content tothe end viewer, the broadcastermust first bring the content from the live event into theirproduction flow in a cost andbandwidth efficient manner. Tothis end the standardisation ofHigh Efficiency Video Encoding(HEVC) will be key to enabling4K UHDTV in the home. In the future we expect HEVC todeliver 4K UHDTV in the samebandwidth that is currentlyrequired to deliver HDTV.

TV service providers need tofind ways to make 4K UHDTV atruly compelling propositioncompared to HDTV. To achievethis standard, we expectbroadcasters to opt for a minimumof 60fps for live TV, as it offers thebest balance between cost andquality. Doubling the frame rate

incurs an approximate 10-30%increase in bitrate usages, muchlower in the compressed domainthan the 100% for uncompressedvideo sources. With 4K screensizes likely to be larger than HDdisplays, this refinement will takeon a new level of importance asany interlace artefacts or imagejudder would be overtly noticeablewith legacy interlace or low framerate technology.

4K UHDTV is not about thespatial resolution of a singleframe; it’s about enabling theconsumer to take advantage ofthe most realistic experience fromtheir video content. To deliverthis next-generation TVexperience, broadcasters will needto tune the whole media deliverychain, from the acquisition ofhigh-value, high quality and trulyimmersive live content to itsdelivery to the home.

TVBEurope 13April 2014 www.tvbeurope.com

When HDTVs were first introduced, many consumers felt they wereimpractical and unsuitable for the living room. There were alsoconcerns about the lack of content available in a new format

Murra: “In essence, we’re asking thesame questions today as we did in 1998when the first HDTVs went on sale”

Ericsson has been instrumental in pushing 4K through its growing pains. Fabio Murra,the company’s head of TV compression, portfolio marketing, sees 4K as the next step for TV

Fulfilling the 4K promise


THE STAGGEREDintroduction of Ultra HD 4Kproduction, distribution anddisplay equipment risksfragmenting the market, addingunnecessary cost and yet againending any chance of fielding asingle, worldwide televisionstandard. The issue is causingconcern among manymanufacturers.

“It feels to us that there’squite a scramble to create somekind of 4K service in terms ofdelivery,” says Nick Wright,CTO and co-founder ofbroadcast graphics systemsvendor Pixel Power.

“Because CE manufacturerscan make cheap 4K displays andconsumer grade cameras andoptics, the momentum isgathering. But the needs of thewider industry are not necessarilyrepresented by that sentiment;there’s an element of the tailwagging the dog. If the industry

doesn’t make a big enough stepbetween whatever comes next andthe HD we have now, consumerswon’t see a compelling differenceand won’t buy.”

Wright also believes there’s asignificant threat that ifstandardisation lags behind the

first 4K products then “the entireindustry ends up paying for thefragmentation that results for avery long time — just like the720p/1080i split all over again.”

He stresses: “We do think that4K has the potential to be verydisruptive if it’s not analysedproperly. The danger is thatpeople become fixated on thescreen resolution at the expenseof other important ideas.Nobody knows what 4K is yet:the standards aren’t agreed; wedon’t know what people aregoing to adopt; we don’t knowabout the codecs, frame rate oraudio. Are we missing anopportunity here to have a

single, worldwide televisionstandard again as this would bea major driver to reduce costsand perhaps more importantlyreduce any confusion that couldimpact on consumer take up?”

Consumer risksThe Digital TV Group (DTG)has also warned that thehaphazard introduction of 4KUltra HD TVs and servicesrisks confusing consumers andharming market adoption.

“The question is whether you can drip feed Ultra HD to consumers or whether youneed to make a step change intechnology?” says DTGtechnology director, SimonGauntlett. “Our view is that it’sbest to make a step change, asfrom SD to HD where there wasa clear leap up in resolution,colour, sound and performance.”

The problem is that there aredifferent views as to whatconstitutes Ultra HD amongcontent providers, broadcastersand TV set vendors.

For example, the first trancheof 4K content delivered to thehome by services such as Netflixwill be movies, which have a

standard frame rate of 24Hz.That is way below the thresholdconsidered necessary bybroadcasters before they launchUltra HD services. The BBC forexample wants to see 100-120Hz.

Alongside higher frame ratesthere is an increasing feeling thatUltra HD also requires greaterbrightness and colour to deliver a truly compelling viewingexperience. These elements areonly just being introduced to theproduction pipeline and cannot bedisplayed on existing UHD TV sets.

Even the latest UHD sets withupdated connection standardHDMI 2.0 sacrifice 10-bit for 8-bit colour to accommodatehigher frame rates.

“Opinion is divided onwhether the industry shouldwait for that step change,” saysGauntlett. “Manufacturers are keen to sell new TVs thatsupport some, though not allUHD specifications, andcontent providers don’t want to miss the boat.

“Resolution is only noticeableon large displays whereas higherframe rates and higher dynamicrange and wider colour range


While the prospect of a 4K future has invigorated a few sectors of the industry, behind theenthusiasm there is still caution, with many still recovering from 3D hangovers. Should weapproach 4K adoption more carefully? Adrian Pennington reports

Is the 4K scramblehurting the industry?

Wright: “There’s anelement of the tailwagging the dog”

“Nobody knows what 4K is yet: the standardsaren’t agreed; we don’t know what people aregoing to adopt; we don’t know about thecodecs, frame rate or audio” Nick Wright, Pixel Power


By Adrian Pennington

THE FREED sports analysissystem featured as part of ATPMedia’s coverage of the BNPParibas Open in Indian Wells inMarch used 22 mini-5K cameras.

Gearhouse Broadcastdeployed the system, devised byIsrael’s Replay Technologies, forthe first time at a tennis event.

The centre court at IndianWells was ringed with 22 locked-off SP20000 cameras made byDanish firm JAI. The cameras,in JAI’s Spark series, are morecommonly used in security,industrial and traffic monitoringenvironments. Built around a41mm diagonal CMOS sensorwith global shutter, each cameraoffers full frame 20megapixelresolution (5120x3840 pixels) at 30fps.

A built-in high dynamic range(HDR) mode (monochrome

only) lets users define two kneepoints to expand the dynamicrange of the camera in highcontrast situations.

Dual Mini Camera Linkconnectors in a two-cable ‘full’configuration provide thebandwidth necessary for high-speed, high-resolution output.

At Indian Wells, four 3Gsignals per camera – some 88signals in total – were fed byThinklogical fibre extendersinto 16 Access Tech servers atthe media control room whereFreeD software rendered a 360º matrix.

FreeD operators, inconjunction with the director,can decide on pre-set movesbased on pivotal positions,such as the baseline server,from which to zoom in and pan around, start or stop orfreeze the action or show slow motion.

Completed clips are ingestedvia HD-SDI into EVS machinesready for selection by thedirector (or editors compilingmatch highlights) at the end of agame or set. The latency of eachclip is about 15 seconds.

Gearhouse, which provides allthe facilities and crew to ATPMedia for the production of theATP Masters 1000 Series and theBarclays ATP World Tour Finals,says it is talking with broadcastersabout including the system as partof the picture package at futureGrand Slam tennis events.

The system may make anappearance at the season-endingBarclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London in November.www.gearhousebroadcast.comwww.replay-technologies.com

gives a noticeably better pictureon screens of any size. We seeUHD as being a step change inpicture quality no matter thescreen size.”

UHD ready?The issue is further complicatedby the initial launch of 4Kservices delivered over theinternet to select smart TVbrands, such as Samsung.

Netflix will launch aroundMay this year with services fromAmazon and M-Go to follow.They will rely on adaptivestreaming, which will vary thequality of the video dependingon bitrate into the home.

“Homes with high-speedbroadband will be capable ofshowing 4K resolution but thosewith less bandwidth won’t see thefull benefit of UHD,” saysGauntlett. “In which case is it

better to stream with highercolour and higher brightness atthe expense of the highestresolution? The picture qualitywill remain high even thoughresolution is lost.

“‘HD-ready’ was not a greatsuccess in terms of explaining toconsumers how to get HD,” headmits. “We need to find a way tomake a UHD logo signify adifferent experience, not a lowthreshold one.”

The DTG runs the UK UHDForum to thrash out such issues forstakeholders. Gauntlett added thatthey are considering whether theycan retrofit higher dynamic rangeand greater colour to the HDspecifications and to HD TV sets.

“This won’t necessarily impactsales of UHD TVs sinceoversampling in the 4K displayswill make HD content lookbetter,” he says.


The issue os further complicated by the initiallaunch of 4K services delivered over the internet

Gearhouse deploys 22 5Kmini-cams for tennis

Gauntlett: “We need to find a way to make a UHD logosignify a different experience, not a low threshold one”

Each JAI Sp20000 camera offers full frame 20 megapixel resolution at 30fps

The centre court at Indian Wells wasringed with 22 locked-off cameras


By David Fox

ANYONE CONSIDERINGinvesting in a 4K camera maywonder how they will get asufficient return on investment.However, there is a growingmarket for 4K material, andstock footage library Pond5 istaking advantage of it.

“We have many customersasking for 4K stock footage, butsaying: ‘We can’t find any’,” saidAndy Goetze, Pond5’s directorof business development.

Although the company’s 4K library was only officiallylaunched days before Christmas,Pond5 had already sold many4K files before it opened.Business, lifestyle and nature areparticularly popular. “To ourknowledge, it is currently thelargest 4K library,” with some23,000 clips, he added.

It is also offering RedcodeRaw (.r3d) files, with about 4800 clips currently.

Although there are lots ofstock image companies, withhuge libraries of photographs,Goetze insists that “the onlymarket that is already saturatedis the micro-stock market, but forvideo it is still the early days.”

New York-based Pond5 wasformed seven years ago tospecialise in video clips (and isclaimed to be the largest selectionof royalty-free video on the web,having doubled in size over thepast year). It has since added

other media, includingphotographs. It now has morethan 150,000 customers, includingmany European broadcasters.

Goetze advises potentialcontributors not to look at what isselling. “Shoot what you love, then

you will be successful. I have talkedto several hundred contributorsand that is what they tell me.”

Contributors get 50% of anypurchase price (more than othermajor libraries) and it givesartists the freedom to set theirown prices, so they can aim foreither the traditionally pricedstock footage or micro-stockmarkets (or both).

“We already have 2.3 millionvideo clips on site, mainly sellingto post houses and broadcasters,but also to tiny companies andfreelancers,” he said.

It accepts content thatoriginates from high-qualitycameras, such as DSLRs,professional cameras, prosumercameras, 3CCD consumercameras, the iPhone4s and above(at full quality), and wearable

cameras such as GoPro orContour. It will make exceptionsfor unique content, but only rarely.

It has also started sellingaudio files (music and soundeffects), with about 600,000 files now available. It has alsoexpanded into illustrations, 3D models and customisableAfter Effects templates (ofwhich there are about 5500).

“If clients have special needs,and don’t have the resources toinvest in content research, we cannow offer research services, incentral Europe at least,” he added.

Pond5 has also introduced afree plugin for Adobe PremierePro, so that editors have instantaccess to its online stock videocollection, audio and effects,from within the non-lineareditor (CC or CS6 versions).

The plugin allows editors toeasily import watermarked comps

into a project, edit and add effects,and then - with a single button -automate the entire process ofpurchasing, downloading, andreplacing low-res previews withhigh resolution files.www.pond5.com


Goetze: “To our knowledge, (Pond5)is currently the largest 4K library”

Pond5 splashes intothe 4K stock market

“Shoot what you love, thenyou will be successful. I have talked to severalhundred contributors andthat is what they tell me”

Andy Goetze, Pond5



Uncompressed 4K may give you the best possible colour and image resolution,but it also requires you to use some of the most expensive cameras, massiveamounts of incredibly fast storage, and requires uncommonly big budgets

BROADCASTERS MAY notwant to move to Ultra HD anytime soon, but 4K was certainlythe number one topic at thisyear’s BVE conference, withmany standing-room onlysessions (such as ‘Taking thefear out of 4K’), as creativeswonder if they should move tothe higher resolution formatnow or wait for it to becomemore established.

“There is every reason forshooting 4K, for future sales. Ifyou’re a producer and you’re notshooting at 4K, you’re an idiot— unless you are shooting really cheap, trashy stuff that is going to get thrown away,”cinematographer Geoff Boyletold a session, ‘The end-to-end4K workflow — what does itmean for production, post andbroadcast processes?’.

“If you have personal value inwhat you are shooting, thenshoot it in 4K, post in 4K andshare it in 4K, or at least storethe EDLs and rushes so you cango back and re-generate it in4K,” because you don’t want “to make something that is notsaleable,” he added.

“If you’re shooting now forTV, you should be thinkingwhether in years to come you’llwant to re-master that andbroadcast it in 4K,” saidWilliam Isaac, chief engineer,Glassworks, which has facilitiesin London, Barcelona andAmsterdam (where itsinfrastructure has been built for4K). However, he sees “noimmediate need to do a job inpost at 4K.”

DoP and cinematographer,Alister Chapman, who did aseparate session, ‘Shooting 4K in extreme conditions with the Sony F5 and FS700’,shoots 4K “because it looksreally, really good and it futureproofs my content, because Ishoot a lot of stock footage.”He was an early adopter ofHD, and video that he shot 10 years ago in HD is stillmaking him a good income.Also, there aren’t many peopleshooting hurricanes andtornadoes in 4K, so it helpsdifferentiate his footagefurther. His clients includeNational Geographic, BBCNatural History and Discovery.

“4K doesn’t need to wait forbroadcasters before it will catchon, because of downloads andhigher quality displays,” and “bystarting at 4K, you get very nicelooking HD pictures,” he added.Chapman specialises in shootingsevere and extreme weather,such as hurricanes, tornadoesand the Northern Lights, as wellas commercials and drama.

“If you’re doing high-enddrama, or even reasonable-budget drama, and you thinkyou’re going to have a future sale,if you don’t future-proof yourselfyou haven’t got a future sale,”said Boyle, who has shot movies,commercials and TV series usingalmost every 4K camera. “Onlyif you think your work is rubbishshould you shoot it at anythingother than 4K.”

Consultant and editing trainerLarry Jordan pointed out that atNAB 2013 people were sayingthe same of 3D: “‘If we don’tshoot 3D our future ascinematographers is over’,” butnow “we have got to shoot4K or we have doomedourselves to financialextinction.”

However,Boyleresponded thatlast year, 10 of the top 20 grossingmoviesWERE 3D, aswere each ofthe biggestgrossing moviesfor each of thelast five years.

But, there is verylittle outlet for 3D on TV,replied Jordan, although hesees “a lot of sense in acquiringin 4K, but it’s really important tounderstand that not all 4K iscreated equal. If you’re shootingthe equivalent of AVCHD in 4K,you’re better off shooting highframe rate 2K, because you’regoing to get a much betterpicture, because the compressionof AVCHD is so severe.”

Boyle admitted that hisapproach is aspirational. “It isimpossible for most people. Iaccept that, and I agree totallyabout ‘don’t shoot bad 4K, shootbetter 2K’. Shoot the best youcan, but always aspire to doing

the ultimate.Even if you have to make somecompromises, don’t start off witha compromised viewpoint.”

The only Raw formats thatare totally uncompressed areCanon and ARRI. ARRI isn’t4K, but the rest of the cameraworks so well that Boyle doesn’tcare - “4K is only part of whatmakes the image, and the colourresponse and the latitude of thatcamera is so good, I will happilyforego any resolution.”

At BVE, Boyle had projectedmaterial shot with 2.8K Raw(ARRI) and 6K, “and nobody in

the audience could tell whichwas which.” In cinemas,people are too far from the screen. “Only the frontrow might be able to see4K — any further back,they can’t.”

For him, 4K is a TVmedium. “The big screen in

the home you get close to,”where there should be enough

resolution that you can’t see the pixels.

It’s just more…The amount of storage requiredfor 4K is a big worry for many,but as Boyle said: “It’s just moredata. If you are used to workingwith a HD workflow, then 4K isexactly the same. It’s just more.”Storage prices have droppedconsiderably. Boyle bought 8TBrecently for a 4K show, for just£200. “The amount of data, andthe cost of storage, is notnecessarily an issue,” he said.

He is obsessive aboutshooting “as uncompressed aspossible, because...I want asmuch to manipulate in post as possible.”

However, shooting Rawmeans “you have to get theworkflow right”, and “it willvary from shoot to shoot,” saidBoyle. But, you needn’t handlevast amounts of data in post ifyou move to an intermediateformat, such as DNxHD orProRes, for editing at a lowerbitrate. It will only be atconform and finishing thatyou’ll need to go back to theRaw video.

Jordan felt that Boyle glossedover the storage requirements of uncompressed 4K. “It is somuch data that if you don’t havean infrastructure and bandwidthto move this gigantic file aroundyour post facility, you’re goingto have wonderful images you can’t edit because yourbandwidth isn’t there.” Installingthe right infrastructure andstorage will be a significant cost,he warned.

“It’s not just about storageand bandwidth,” added Isaac,“it’s also about processingpower and rendering.”Glassworks does a lot of 3DCGI work, and rendering a 4K frame takes four timeslonger, and as that part of the process usually happensnear the end of a production,they are under considerablepressure for time already, so ithas to be taken in to accountduring planning.

“Simply shooting a 4K imagebecause you can misses a lot of issues,” added Jordan.Uncompressed may give you the best colour and imageresolution, but “it also requiresyou to use some of the mostexpensive cameras, someincredibly fast storage, massiveamounts of storage, andrequires working on budgets towhich Geoff has becomeaccustomed.” Boyle agreed witheverything, “except the last bit.”

Choosing cameras“What camera and codec youshoot on “has direct implicationsfor post,” added Jordan.

“When you are working with 4K, it affects your entiresystem,” he said, so you need to pick the right camera, theright storage, and sufficientbandwidth to connect it, theright editing software and

4K wasn’t the only topic absorbing visitors to London’s recent BVE expo, but it was a key discussion point in many conference sessions, and one of the most passionately debated ones. David Fox reports

Capturing the 4K storm

“There is everyreason for shooting4K, for future sales.If you’re a producer

and you’re notshooting at 4K,you’re an idiot”

Geoff Boyle, cinematographer

Chapman: 4K Raw can be “verymanageable, and it really isn’tthat expensive to do”



format, and have to figure out what distribution format touse. It is possible to shoot 4Kon a GoPro, but it will be at15fps, and highly compressed(MPEG-4).

“A producer will say: ‘I ownthis 4K camera, therefore thismust be the best camera toshoot this project, because Idon’t have any money.’ So, postis confronted with dealing witha highly compressed format with a producer who doesn’thave any money to buy storage,”he added.

Chapman often shootsmaterial that could benewsworthy, such as tornadoes,so he particularly likes theF5/F55’s ability to shoot bothRaw 4K and HD XDCAM 4:2:2 compressed at the sametime, giving an ideal format fornews use without having to doany conversion.

“These are very challengingconditions to shoot in, withhigh winds, rain, dust and dirt. I don’t have time to changelenses, so can’t use primes.” He often uses a Tamron 18-270mm EF-mount zoom lens(the camera can also take abroadcast B4 mount, PL-mountor Nikon mount), which isoptically stabilised. As the stillscameras that it is designed foruse higher resolution sensorsthan 4K, such lenses are verysuitable for 4K use.

“There is a little bit of acompromise, but sometimes youhave to make a compromise toget a clip,” he explained.

A tornado may last for only a very short time, “so you haveminutes, sometimes evenseconds, to get a shot. To get thebest shots, you need to be infront of the tornado, as behindit there is rain and you won’t see anything. So, you haven’tlong before you have to move off to the next location,” unlessyou want to be caught up in it.He uses the EI mode on thecamera to shoot flat and thatcreates the look in post.

He had the budget to buy the F55, but as it only recordscompressed 4K on board, hewould still have had to buySony’s external 4K Raw recorder(as Raw is so important to him),which would have been beyondhis budget. Therefore, he boughtthe F5 and Raw recorderinstead. “The F5 really does99% of what the F55 does. It’s avery capable camera,” he said.

The cameras can shoot 4K atup to 60fps, or 2K at up to240fps with the Raw recorder(180fps otherwise).

Data managementWith more data to deal with,managing that data can be moredemanding, but isn’t somethingto be feared, even on a budget,said Boyle.

He did a five-day shoot on aCanon C500, recording 4K Rawto a Convergent Design Geminirecorder, resulting in 1TB ofrushes per day, with everythingdouble backed up. Each night hetranscoded everything throughhis laptop into DNxHD 36 usinglookup tables in Blackmagic’s

Resolve. The next morning ashuttle drive was ready to go tothe editor. “A data managementguy, who was an assistant editorwho had never done the jobbefore, was backing up on site allthe time, copying all the files weused to multiple hard drives.” Healso produced QuickTimes andH.264 files for the website. “Itwas mega low budget.” Aftergetting the EDL from the Avideditor, “we used a 27-inch iMac running Resolve to auto-assemble it, and I graded it onthat. I then fed it into my Delllaptop to put titles and syncaudio in Premiere, and renderedout DPX files, which I put intoDCP Builder to make a CinemaDCP 4K release master,” heexplained. “If I can do that, anypost house can do it.”

A few days before BVE,Chapman was shooting in SouthAfrica, using the Sony FS700(recording to the ConvergentDesign Odyssey recorder),editing the 4K Raw files on hislaptop in the hotel and airportusing Premiere CC and Resolveon his way back to show them at

the Expo. The Sony 4K Rawfiles, which are compressed, takeup 500GB per hour. “It is verymanageable, and it really isn’tthat expensive to do,” he said. If he is delivering in HD, he can re-frame and stabilise theshots first, without losing any resolution.

Last year, Boyle shot UHD3D tests for Sky, to see if it waspossible to shoot to a normalproduction schedule. It was.“The only issue was the amountof data [eight times HD]. Itswamped them completely,” he admitted.

“We need to make sure thatour system for editing 4K is fast enough, big enough anddeep enough to support it,” said Jordan.

“For very heavy CG jobs,with lots of compositing, youwant uncompressed formats,”said Isaac, but a lot of workGlassworks has done recentlyhas been with ProRes, “andDoPs are very happy to work with that format,” which can also be part of itsDPX workflow.

Jordan: “When you areworking with 4K, it affects

your entire system”Double financial backingfor TVbeat TVbeat, a London start-up thatprovides realtime televisionratings, has secured $2millionfunding. UK-based Episode 1 and Czech-based Credo Ventureshave backed the firm to developits realtime TV analytics stream.With the funds, the companyhopes to expand its presence in new markets and furtherdevelop its platform. Its analyticcapability covers pay TVplatforms including cable,satellite, VoD and OTT,as well as IPTV.

Having piloted its services tobroadcasters, advertisers and payTV platforms in Slovenia, Croatiaand Serbia, TVbeat founderRobert Farazin plans furtherexpansion in Europe this year. Of the recently-secured funding,Farazin commented: “We arethrilled to see Episode 1 and CredoVentures recognising the hugepotential that our platform offersthe media industry.”www.tvbeat.com

Globecast delivers London Live Globecast has been selected as thecontent delivery service providerfor London Live, a new TV channeldedicated to London scheduled tolaunch on 31 March 2014.Globecast will provide turnkeyconnectivity for London Live,including satellite capacity anduplink, for UK subscribers of theSky DTH satellite service. London Live is London’s firstdedicated 24/7 TV entertainmentchannel, offering Londoners thelatest in arts, news, current affairs,sports, and events. London Live is owned by ESTV, which won the London television franchiseauction in February 2013. The channel will be available on Freeview 8, YouView 8, Sky 117 and Virgin 159 as well as being available in non-lineardigital formats. www.globecast.com

NEWS IN BRIEF


New BBC iPlayerThe BBC has released a new versionof the iPlayer for the web and for TV.BBC iPlayer mobile and tablet appswill also be updated within months.The new iPlayer has better multiscreenintegration and also features aCollections function, which groupsprogrammes by series, season, eventor theme. The Playback page hasbeen updated too with an improvedrecommendation engine and on-the-fly Favourites addition.

Prime Focus to acquire DAXPrime Focus Technologies, thetechnology subsidiary of PrimeFocus has signed a definitiveagreement to acquire DAX, aprovider of cloud-based productionworkflow and media assetmanagement applications, for abase consideration of $9.1 million.PFT through its US subsidiary willacquire all the assets of DAX for anupfront payment with balancepayable over three years.The acquisition gives PFTownership of DAX’s patentedtechnology and products includingthe Digital Dailies solution.

NEWS IN BRIEF Boyle shot a commercial onfour Alexas, mostly usingProRes, except for specific shotsthat they knew would be heavilycomposited, which wererecorded externally using 10-bitDPX, “making sure we did theright thing for each section ofthe job.”

“You need to make the most ofthe available media you have got,so you’re not wasting time, storageand processing,” added Isaac.

However, Boyle would preferto work from the original filesfor grading and finishing,“because we don’t know how farwe are going to want to pushthem. There is always moreavailable on a Raw format,depending on the camera, thanyou are going to get out of aDPX,” which is an old format,created more than 15 years agoby Kodak to deal with the needsof that time, when camerasdidn’t have the dynamic rangesome do now.

Processing power“We can edit 4K on a Mac Mini.The computer is not the relevantissue,” said Jordan, even if it will

take longer to render. “Whichmeans that most of us areobsessing about the wrong partof the computer. You don’t needa 12-core Mac Pro.”

Adobe and Apple havealready “reached the upper limitof what they can get out ofCPU power, and areoffloading all the rendering,and their I/O functions,to the graphics card,”he said. “If you putyour money into thedual GPU, you’lldiscover that thesystem flies.”

Also buy asmuch RAM aspossible - 16GB forsmall projects, 32GBfor anything larger (aMac Pro supports64GB), and get faststorage. “A hard disk goes120MBps; uncompressed 4Kis about 500-520MBps for asingle stream, so you need aRAID with at least six drives,”he said. And USB 3.0 isn’t fast enough, so you needeSATA, Thunderbolt 1 orThunderbolt 2.

“The things that take the mosttime are debayering images,rendering, graphics processingand encoding at the end of thejob, which do need considerableprocessing power,” added Isaac.

Long-term planningFor archive, Boyle feels that“LTO 6 is the sensible way togo.” Unfortunately, addedJordan, LTO 6 “prices are

artificially high,” at $6,000 to$10,000 per system, making it “a stretch” for many smallercompanies or individuals, andthe industry needs an entry-levelsystem around $3,000. He hopes to see one or two newentrants into the market at NAB with LTO systems in that

price bracket.LTO tapes can last 25-30 years, but as each

new generation of LTO machines isintroduced, there is acontinual need tocopy tapes onto thelatest version, soJordan advises usersto budget for having

to upgrade and copyevery five years.Boyle sees any of the

current archive options asshort term. “Maybe if you

really care about what you’vegot, you transfer to filmseparations, and maybe it willstill be here in 100 years.”www.gboyle.co.ukwww.glassworks.co.ukwww.larryjordan.bizwww.xdcam-user.com


“4K doesn’t need to wait for

broadcasters beforeit will catch on,

because ofdownloads andhigher quality

displays” Alister Chapman, cinematographer


The WorkflowTVBEurope 23April 2014 www.tvbeurope.com

BACK IN 2008 TVBEuropereported on the installation of the new News OperationCentre at Telewizja Polsat. The Polish broadcaster providesa comprehensive multimediaoffering with services thatinclude DTH, mobile television,broadband Internet inHSPA/HSPA+ and LTE andmobile telephony services. Thetotal amount of pay digitaltelevision subscribers (as of 30 June, 2013) is well over 3.5million and broadband Internetservice users approach 200,000.

In total, the Polsat Groupoffers 130 Polish languagetelevision channels, includinggeneral entertainment, sports, music, lifestyle,news/information, children’s,education and movies. Theyoffer all of Poland’s mainterrestrial channels, includingPOLSAT, TVP1, TVP2, TVNand TV4.

In addition, subscribers haveaccess to 37 HD channels as well as VoD/PPV, Catch-up TV,Multiroom, plus TV Mobilnaservice (based on DVB-T andlaunched in June 2012) withaccess to 20 encrypted channels(eight television and 12 radiochannels) and to all DTTchannels, through variousdevices (including smartphones,tablets and laptops). Twobusiness segments producerevenue streams with distinct

characteristics: TV broadcastingadvertising revenue and retailsubscription and related revenue

In the broadcasting andtelevision production segmentIT systems are managingadvertising airtime, programmebroadcasting and relationshipswith the advertising customers.If any of the IT systems fail, itcould affect the operating of thewhole business. Loss or failureto maintain the historicalreputation of Cyfrowy Polsatand TV Polsat and the value of all brands would adverselyaffect the business. Naturally, agreat deal of attention is paid to reliability.

New investments into the IT infrastructure and TVproduction workflows wereinitiated which resulted in theswitch-off of analogue services,the migration from SD to HDstandard technology and theintroduction of tapelessproduction workflows.

At the end of July 2013, theswitch-off of analoguebroadcasting of all Polsatchannels took place, ending thedouble cost of broadcastingPolsat’s main channels in bothanalogue and digital. Currentlyover 30% of all viewers arereceiving Polsat via DVB-T,which makes this distributionmethod very valuable for thebroadcaster although it is stillSD only.

Going tapeless atTelewizja PolsatIn 1992, Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak launched Poland’s first free-to-air commercialsatellite TV channel, Polsat. Today, in pay TV the Polsat Group is the largest provider in Poland.After a visit in 2008, Reinhard E Wagner toured the broadcaster again

Polsat is Poland’s second biggest TV channel

Polsat’s tapeless playout and production system design was brainstormed by a groupwhich included the IT TV team, programmers and software engineers, editors, archivepersonnel, journalists, the QC department, traffic and even advertising staff

Team effort: (l. to r.) Bartosz Paprocki, assistant manager TV technology,Andrzej Szymanski, head of IT TV; Adam Brodziak, director of technology, andT. Artur Cichowicz, director of TV investment

Going tapelessAdam Brodziak, director ofPolsat’s technology division,spoke about Polsat’s move totapeless production:

“The quality of the productsand services we offer depends onthe services and the quality ofthird party infrastructure, servicesand related functions,” says AdamBrodziak. “If these third partieson whom we rely do not meet ourperformance standards or providetechnically flawed products orservices, the quality of ourproducts and services as well asour reputation may be harmed.”

The company’s decision todepend again on well-knowproducts and services makes sense:After the successful integration ofa news production system basedon Avid technology back in 2008,the design and planning group atTV Polsat chose to use an Avidsolution again.

“Why should we use somethingelse, when we know what we canget” explains Brodziak. “We knewAvid’s strong and weak points butafter a long period of cooperationwe knew how to solve thedifficulties.”

The tapeless playout andproduction system design wasbrainstormed by a group whichincluded the IT TV team,programmers and softwareengineers, operators, editors,archive personnel, journalists, QCdepartment, traffic and evenadvertising staff. The idea behindit was that all needs should betaken into consideration beforegoing into deep planning. Thefinal design that went into thetender took another six months tobe completed. In September 2011,the contract with Avid was signedand the final planning andprogramming phase of the systemstarted with Avid and Warsaw-based systems integrator Adtv.

Phase one was the high-leveldesign with the preparation of alldocuments, which took anotherthree months, followed by phasetwo, a six-month period ofgenerating the detailed

specifications. “The core was theInterplay MAM system fromAvid, but with the specific needsfrom Polsat, it became adedicated almost proprietarysolution, created by engineersfrom Avid, our own people andAdtv”, explains Brodziak.

Andrzej Szymanski, head ofPolsat’s IT TV department, adds:“The existing Interplay PAMsystems needed to be upgradedto the latest software version tomake it interoperable with thenew MAM solution beingimplemented with the currentproject. This was covered by theexisting service level agreementwith the manufacturer andtherefore not a big problem.”

Broadcasting andtelevision productionTV Polsat has been doing HDproduction and playout since2007. In its progress toward HD,the studios for sports and showproduction together with allinfrastructures have beenmigrated and refurbishedconcurrently. This was finalisedin December 2012. To supportthis, the construction of theproduction system wasconducted in stages, so that inturns all of the introduced andgenerated functionalities havebeen made available to users. Theaim of the project was to build atapeless playout and productionsystem based on a digital archive.

New MAM systemPolsat’s production systemsincorporate central disk storage,station-wide media assetmanagement and a deep archive.This required the integration ofthe central storage with theplayout system, the Provysscheduling and the Aveco Astraautomation systems to implementa new workflow for the playout.

The playout platform is basedon GVG K2 video servers,managed by the Aveco Astraautomation system thatcooperates with Provys TrafficManagement software. Afterimporting playlists from Provys,Astra checks the playlist andplayout servers in search ofrequested materials. If there areno materials found on theplayout servers, the ingest serverand MAM central storage arechecked depending on theinformation about the origin ofthe files contained in theplaylists. If there is material onan ingest server or on the MAMstorage, then the transfer to theplayout servers is initiated. Ifthere is no material in the system,then the decision about itsingesting or tape playing is made.

Many functional groups(playout servers, automation andscheduling systems) within theproduction chain had to beintegrated with the InterplayMAM platform. The Provysscheduling system creates variousactions, which trigger otherfunctional groups. The MAMsystem executes the rundownsaccording to this schedule, basedon defined user interactions andworkflows, and provides theinterfacing or integration layerbetween all functional groups.

To support such a tapelessinfrastructure together with afile-based workflow, materialfrom the tape archive needs tobe ingested. Such an integratedarchive can collaborate withparticular production computersystems which are connected to a computer and mediabackbone network (fibre, single and multi-mode GigE,HD-SDI) that is able to transfer

traffic generated by theimplemented workflows.

In 2009, a digital archive wasimplemented for newsproduction system that is basedon Avid Interplay and SGLFlashNet media managementsoftware. This archive, based onEMC2 CX-4 120C disk array,StorageTek SL500 tape library,SGL FlashNet and AvidInterplay management software,is a logical extension of the ISISproduction disk space. Thecapacity of the tape library isabout 230TB that equals 18,400hours of DV25 4:2:0 material.

Organising the archiveThe station’s digital archive isorganised on two levels. The firstlevel provides the central storagefor archived versions of proxyand high-resolution materialsused in current production. Thecentral disk array is also used asan integration platform between

the different production areas.The second level is called thedeep archive (SGL Flashnet),that provides the HSMfunctionality, which is required tocontrol a tape library (IBM taperobot with LTO drives) and

interfaces with the MAMsolution by an integrationpackage of Interplay. Forarchived assets a high level ofdata safety is achieved undercontrol of the HSM byduplicating file assets within the


The core of the new post production system is an Avid ISIS shared disk arrayand Interplay media management platform

Servers:7 x Isis chassis, total capacity 224TB4 x System Director3 x Interplay Engine4 x Interplay Media Indexer4 x Interplay Transcoder2 x Interplay Transfer Manager 19 x Airspeed2 x iNews

Workstations:117 x VideoClient (MediaComposerAdrenaline/Mojo SDI, Assist)2 x Protools (audio processing)1 x DS (compositing workstation)

Network infrastructure:2 x CiscoNexus7000 7 x CiscoCatalyst49485 x CiscoCatalyst3750

Polsat’s new postproduction configuration

The Workflowwww.tvbeurope.com April 201426 TVBEurope

tape library on different tape groups.Within the archiving solution differentlevels of cataloguing of archive objectsare performed accordingly to thepredefined subjects, such as: sports,culture, politics, music, communicationdisasters, etc. An automatic QC processconfirms internal standards andacceptance procedures.

The nearline archive is directlyattached to an Interplay MAM onlinestorage solution providing fast access toassets that are in use or used frequently.To offer powerful query functions,metadata fields within Interplay MAMhelp to identify assets and also helpschedule their transfer to the deeparchive. This can also be initiated as a‘direct move to the deep archive’ or as a‘copy for safety reasons’. The capacity ofthis storage is roughly 80TB.

The browse storage attached toInterplay MAM contains the browse-/proxy or low- res versions (MPEG-4/H.264 at 800kbps) of all material (withoptional watermarking), that has beenregistered and created during any ingest.Authorised users can browse the assetacross the Polsat network and can generatesimple EDL’s. Because of the fact that theresolution as well as the bitrate has a directimpact on the amount of required browsestorage, its capacity was designed to beabout 60TB (130,000 hours of material at1Mbps) for the beginning.

There are also specified productionareas interconnected by a computernetwork. The data and material exchangeare difficult, because in each of the areasdifferent formats and compressionschemes are used. The formats andcompressions used within the productionareas adapt to the requirements executedby Vantage and Carbon Codertranscoding servers.

The core element of the postproduction system is an Avid ISIS shareddisk array and the Interplay mediamanagement platform. All MediaComposer editing workstations (NLE)are equipped with Adrenaline and MojoSDI external accelerators.

FulfillmentChoosing an Avid solution again was not just a question of confidence but also depended on reliability and stabilityof an existing installation in the newsproduction being used for over five years already. In developing a tapelessproduction infrastructure, the IT

department had to fulfill all necessaryrequirements, such as the bidirectionaltransport of HD signals over the networkas well as supporting streams of up to50Mbps bandwidth HD files.

“The project was so special because ithas not been software off the shelf — itwas created at the facilities and needed alot of programming and adaptation tosupport all legacy interfaces anddatabases”, explains Brodziak. “It washard work for both sides: the vendortogether with the manufacturers as wellas for the IT engineers in charge of the project.”

Although the tapeless system has beenin operation since mid 2013, there are stillsome elements which are not being fullyused. The concurrent 300 licenses showthe amount of possible users andapplications. It is not a question oftraining more operators, but ofunderstanding and exploiting the newexpanded capabilities of the system. Thecurrent goal is to optimise the system andto train the users to make best use of it.

The currently used workspace storageprovides a total of 2.5PB for about110,000 programme units which is filledby three parallel ingest paths in 24/7/365mode (daily 155TB, monthly 465TB and yearly 558TB) as well as by growingfiles import.

Solving problemsIn adopting the system, there were someearly difficulties with the interoperabilitybetween the MAM and PAM systems,caused by the interfaces and the MXFwrappers. In addition, there have beenproblems with formats, with informationabout the aspect ratio getting lost afterimporting material into the archive. While retrieving the material from thearchive, it was displayed in the wrongformat. The information had been lost atthe MPI software component.

The Polsat engineers sat together andproposed a solution, which then wasimplemented by the programmers fromAvid into specific subfolders containingthe correct information. Such trouble-shooting can be compared with open-heart surgery where any mistake cancause the death of the system.Sometimes such ‘problems’ can lead to a delay of the final acceptance of thewhole package. But in November 2013,with all problems addressed, Polsat’stapeless infrastructure went into full operation.

One of Polsat’splayout studios

JANUARY SAW the launch of the TVN Biznes i Swiat(Business and The World)channel from the broadcaster’scomplex in Warsaw. Seen ascomplementing the flagshipTVN24 news channel, the outlet’sprogramming includes the latestbreaking news from the Polish and foreign markets, reporting ofinternational affairs, as well asexpert analyses and commentaries.

“When our first news channel,TVN24, was launched 13 yearsago, numerous media expertsclaimed this an entirely pointlessidea,” explains Adam Pieczynski,TVN’s management board

member in charge of news andcurrent affairs and editor-in-chiefTVN24 and TVN24 Biznes i Swiat. “TVN 24 is now the most watched news channel inPoland. TVN24 Business andThe World is a logicaldevelopment direction, and I’msure it will be popular with thosewho want to be best informed.”

The new channel meant thatthe original business studio hadto be upgraded and completelyredesigned — an operationoverseen by Jarosław Kielmel,

TVN24’s technical director.“The timing for the upgrade was challenging. We started theplanning work in October andthe studio had to be ready onChristmas Eve. That scheduleallowed us a few days to makesure everything worked wellbefore the launch. In effect, the design, ordering andinstallation phases blended into one.”

He continues, “Continuingour policy of keeping as manyoperations as possible in-house,

our own team was responsiblefor designing the new studio andimplementing the upgrades.”

Switching the pictures“When it came to choosing avision mixer, we selected thenewest Kahuna 360 switcher,”explains Kielmel. “Our new set-updoes not involve having traditionalprogramme directors controllingthe output. We have a visionswitcher operator who works inclose co-operation with thejournalist who is responsible forthe on-air production.”

He goes on, “Snell enabled the Kahuna to work in 4K so that it could feed our new Barcovideowall without the need of aseparate controller. We are usingHD sources plus output from theVizrt system installed on a PC withdual head graphics card to providesome stunning images on the wall.”

Another backdrop is providedby a 103in TH-103PF12UPanasonic plasma screen givingfull HD resolution with

1920x1080 pixels and providing a contrast ratio of 40,000:1.

Sharp seamless LED displaysprovide a third source of imageson background screens.

Lighting for the new studio isprovided by ARRI L-Series L7Clamps. These provide continuouscolour temperature, tint and hueadjustments from 2800K to10,000K, between full plus orminus green and RGBW colours.

Displaying the data“For any business channel,providing the most up to dateinformation is vital. Our tickersystem is now generating multipleelements, plus we have a live datastream from Reuters feedingdirectly into the Vizrt graphicsstructure. This provides all kindsof realtime — or slightly delayed— financial data to generate ondemand template graphs, charts,and so,” states Kielmel.www.arri.comwww.barco.comwww.panasonic.comwww.sharp-world.comwww.snellgroup.comwww.sony.comwww.vintenradamec.comwww.vizrt.com

Doing the business in Poland Philip Stevensfollows up his trip to Warsaw last yearwith a look at thenew business channelset up by TVN

The enhanced studio, with the newsroomin the background, measures 300sqm

Colourful graphics and the use of video displays are integral parts of the new business channel studio at TVN24


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ITALY’S RADIOTELEVISIONEItaliana (RAI) is about tolaunch the latest step in thedigitisation of its massivearchive of film and televisionmaterial. Recorded on a varietyof media since the 1950’s, andmore or less equally dividedbetween radio and television,the archive represents about amillion hours of transmission.The project aims to help preventthe material’s deterioration andto make the resulting digitalcontent available as a resourcefor further transmission, forpublic use and for eventualpublication and sale off-line.

The company has run a seriesof tests to identify the mostsuitable modus operandi andtechnology for proceeding withthe digitisation process of itsarchives. Giorgio Balocco, ofRAI’s Teche archive directoratein Turin, along with colleaguesfrom the broadcaster’s leading-edge Research Centre (also inTurin), is a member of theproject’s technical team.

“RAI has participated foryears in initiatives and activity forthe conservation of audiovisualmaterial, acquiring valuableexperience in this sector,” Baloccosays. “As well as the work it hascarried out in recent years in-house, RAI has also played a keyrole in European projects such asthe Presto “family” of projects by the three largest Europeanbroadcast archives: BBC, RAIand France’s INA (InstitutNational de l’Audiovisuel). Inparticular, Presto, PrestoSpace —in which we were responsible forthe metadata aspects — andPrestoPrime — in which RAI’sTurin Research Centre withengineer Laurent Boch wasresponsible for technicalcoordination. RAI now hassufficient know-how, as far ashardware, software and processesare concerned, to carry out thedigitisation of an ample range ofmedia in-house and some of oursystems have in fact already beenoperating for several years. Oneof those about to take off is thatinvolving our large importantfilm archives.”

The prototype system used tocarry out preliminary study andresearch included DeBrieTechnologies’ ‘Memory’

telecine/film-scanner, but the finalsystems for the actual digitisationwill be purchased after a call for tenders, based on RAI’srequirements, which the team hasfine-tuned in this test phase. Thescanners will be chosen from ahigher category of machines(such as Debrie’s Film TransferSD & HD 16/35 or the SondorAltra Mk3), and purchased alongwith the rest of the configurationfollowing the call for tenders.

Balocco continues, “There areapproximately 340,000 films to be digitised — a total ofapproximately 28,000 hours, the

oldest of which date back to thefifties. The majority of the filmcontent is newsreel footage anddocumentaries. About 90% is on16mm film, the rest almost all35mm. The Rome films will bedigitised in the RAI’s Salarioarchive premises on the EternalCity’s Via Salaria, where they arecurrently stored. Almost all therest of this important material isin RAI’s Milan facilities, whereour sports archive is located.”

The majority of the archivefootage covers a period runningfrom the fifties through to 1985, sothe content is an important part of

recent Italian history. It is thereforeextremely important for it to besafely preserved and archived forfuture consultation. The enormousstock of films in storage has beencarefully examined to enable RAIto decide in what order theyshould be digitised.

For the preparatory work, thetechnicians working upstream ofthe actual digitisation work at filmrewinding and inspection tables tocheck the physical condition ofthe material. The content is notactually viewed, just wound fromone reel to another. At this stage,as well as inspecting the conditionof the actual film and cleaning it if necessary, splices are checkedand re-splicing work carried outwhere required.

If RAI’s AV technicians(those involved in thedigitisation work will be fromRAI’s production division)decide at this point that the filmis in a particularly critical state,it is put aside for a more carefulin-depth restoration process byexternal specialist companies.

Balocco continues, “If the films’content has to be viewed, flat-bed

Italian history

The archive digitisation test phase was carried out using a DeBrie Technologies Memory telecine

RAI has run a series of tests to identify the most suitable modus operandiand technology for proceeding with the digitisation of its archives

Italian state broadcaster RAI is ready to embark upon the digitisation of its archive, which totals over a million hours of transmission. Mike Clark reports

editing units are used, which aresimilar to the rewinding andinspection tables, but have headsand lamps or LEDs that enable the film’s video and audio to bechecked in detail, as well as makingcertain that the reels’ content isinteresting and correctly edited. For this stage in the work cycle, weare currently using Prevost andIntercine machines which werecarefully overhauled before beingbrought back into service.”

The reel of film is then mountedon the film scanner and, after theunit has been appropriately set, theprocess begins. The film scannerfeeds out a digital HD SDIsignal, which is fed to a serverwith an acquisition card thatrecords the signal and createsMXF (Material ExchangeFormat) files. Although notinvolved in the actual digitisationprocess, the test line also featuredSONY IMX VTR units, used tocompare the output format.

As well as for the actual filmscanners used on the project,there will also be a call fortenders among specialistsuppliers for all the hardware andsoftware involved in the ITaspects of the digitisation work,such as servers, storage, LTO-6libraries and work stations.

Balocco concludes, “Followingthe tender and the purchase ofall the equipment to be used onthe definitive digitisation line,work should be completed in five or six years.”


‘MEDIA-MESHING’ — actionsthat in some way relate to whatviewers are watching on TV —is practiced by around a quarterof the UK population. Thesurvey that produced thatstatistic suggests the figure risesto 44% for young people. Thesame study showed that 11% usesocial networks while watchingtelevision, while 3% interactdirectly with programmes viaapps. Significantly, secondscreen has produced some prettyspectacular successes as amarketing tool. However,studies reveal there are still somein the broadcast industry whodo not really understand thisnew level of viewing experience,and the technology is notsomething that can be ignored.

Guido Dukker, founder andpartner at Webrangers, anAmsterdam-based cross mediaagency explains, “The secondscreen market is developingquickly, and provides broadcastersand producers with access to new revenue. I believe it is nowpossible to provide viewers withexciting cross media campaigns

that are funded through digitaladvertising solutions.”

Dukker explains how hecreates a second screen campaign.“We watch a test episode of theprogramme, but then look at itfrom the audience perspective.That means researching just whois the audience, which personascan be defined, what makes orbreaks the programme for thesepeople? This is so importantbecause people use different waysto interact while watching.”

Then engagement factors ofthe programme are considered.

Does the format include aninvitation to engage? Iscommenting, liking or voting anaction which contributes to theviewing experience? Next,financing. Does it come from theproduction budget, or does thesecond screen finance itself?

“We decide on the goals —extra viewers, better ratings,money, enhanced experience.Then, should we make a website,app, Facebook page, YouTubechannel, mash-up, or somethingelse? We present producers witha set of designs to bring it alive.

Often, there is a lack ofawareness of the potential of theweb and behaviour of theiraudience, and ways you can makemoney on the internet.”

Smart thinkingBut does the second screenimpact on ‘traditional’ viewinghabits? “It is clear that audiences’attention is no longer fully on themain screen,” maintains PeterCowley, CEO Spirit DigitalMedia. “In some cases, thesecond screen is now the TV asaudiences focus most attentionon digital activities.”

With that in mind, will smartTVs be used for both first andsecond screen viewing? “Itdepends on the mode of theviewer. If they are in a sharedviewing environment, the smartTV will be augmented by otherscreens, so as not to disturb themain screen activity. If theviewer is on his or her own, Ican see the possibility that thesmart TV can provide extracontent and so replace thesecond physical screen. Myprediction is that mobile and

Second natureSecond screens are a natural part of life for an increasing number of viewers and hasproduced successes as a marketing tool. Following our Second Screen Forum in February,Philip Stevens goes deeper into how second screen technologies are being employed

Guido Dukker, founder and partner,Webrangers

Peter Cowley, CEO, Spirit Digital Media

tablets will provide most of thesecond screen usage.”

Beyond that, will secondscreens promote ‘live’ — ratherthan on demand or time shifted— viewing? “Broadcasters areincreasingly keen on ‘live events’that keep viewers to theirschedules, and create a ‘realtime’social buzz by trending on Twitterand social chatter. The investmentin ‘synchronised’ second screenapps helps this objective. It offerspotential advertisers two chancesof getting the attention, andmaybe the engagement, of the viewer.”

Building on success“A second screen campaign isalways built on the success of thefirst screen content or brand,”maintains Kieran Bresnan,managing director EMEA ofMassive Interactive, a leader inplatform software and design formultiscreen TV everywhereentertainment. “Once you havethat then you can start to buildthe campaign — be it voting onlive TV, gaming odds, behind thescenes or bonus content. Yourfirst screen will then form thebasis of the campaign to promotethe second screen — tied in with abit of smart PR!”

Bresnan says that where abroadcaster transmits a show withmillions of viewers, it will beeasier to convert them to secondscreen adopters. “For example, atthe Winter Olympics the BBCused second screen technology forviewers to enjoy every element of

The WorkflowTVBEurope 33AApril 2014 www.tvbeurope.com

the Games. However, they haveused their first screen — bothBBC1 and BBC2 — to market theapp and drive awareness.”

But which comes first, the appor the content?

“We are the creator of the appsfor the content owners,” explainsBresnan. “Whilst we are heavilyinvolved in strategy, ultimately weare asked to develop the apparound the content, but alwayswith the user experience in mind.”

He reports there have been anumber of content owners whopossess a great platform andtechnology roadmap, but with lowaudience and engagement levelsdue to poor content. “Converselywe have met content owners withamazing material, but offering apoor or bug-filled user experience,which is only available on one or two devices that no onewatches. The goal is to have bothengaging content available on agreat delivery platform with afantastic user experience thateveryone watches.”

Synchronising is keyAnother company heavily involvedwith making the technology workis Netherlands-headquartered,Civolution. “We provide anextensive portfolio of digitalsolutions for media interaction —that is TV-synchronisedexperiences for cross-screenapplications and smart devices,media intelligence and mediaprotection,” explains AndyNobbs, chief marketing officer.

Both audio watermarking andfingerprinting are key ACR(Automatic Content Recognition)technologies used for cross-screen

synchronisation. In its simplestdefinition, ACR technology givesa device such as a tablet,smartphone, or smart TV theability to become ‘content-aware’and ‘know’ what is being watchedor heard. By being content-aware,

the connected device can make useof the broadband connection toretrieve related material.

Synching the campaignsWe’ve seen that many viewers usesecond screens, but do broadcasters

need to do more to educate in theuse of the technology?

“Maybe, but not hugely,” statesLindsey Clay, chief executive,Thinkbox, the marketing body forcommercial television in the UK.“It is a pretty intuitive activity

anyway and the broadcasters aredoing well, alerting viewers tosecond screen opportunities andencouraging them to get involved.There are also warm-up ads forthings like Shazam, letting viewersknow to get ready for an

Andy Nobbs, chief marketing officer, Civolution

Lindsey Clay, chief executive, Thinkbox

More info? NAB C4937

MEDIORNET

2.0

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11% of people use social networks while watching television,while 3% interact directly with programmes via apps

The Workflowwww.tvbeurope.com AApril 201434 TVBEurope

upcoming Shazamable ad.Thinkbox has used this techniqueitself with its Harvey and RabbitTV campaign.”

In 2012, ITV launched its AdSync format, which allows viewersto interact via a second screenwith a brand and to explore moreabout the advertisers’ products orservices. One highly successfulsecond screen campaign involvedsupermarket retailer, ASDA. Here,users were invited to build theirown snowman, with an array ofbuttons, hats, scarves and nosesfrom which to choose. When theirsnowman was complete, userswere asked to share their creationon social media and enter acompetition for a chance to win a£500 shop. The creative achievedengagement rates of over 54%,with 20% clicking through toASDA’s site. Over 36,000snowmen were created and 14% ofthese creations were shared onsocial media.

The fashion factor“We started thinking aboutsecond screen in mid 2012,”explains Stephen Grant, directorof online of Ireland’s TV3

Group and head of ShowPal.“TV was generating a significantamount of online action, but thatactivity was going to thirdparties, such as Twitter, Googleand IMDb. We, as a broadcaster,wanted to repatriate this onlineactivity within a controlledenvironment. This led us topartnering with app developmentcompany, Axonista, and jointlydeveloping ShowPal whichlaunched in October 2013.”

This app uses ACR todetermine the point in the

broadcast being viewed. It thensends pre-created links forcomplementary information tothe second screen — synched towhat’s being broadcast. It alsohas a Twitter plug-in pre-populated with the #hashtag for the show and a flexibleHTML5 space for polls, quizzes,and so on.

Grant says that TV3 sawShowPal as a way to developdeeper relationships with itsviewers, and keep them engagedwith content. “As a commercialbroadcaster, we also saw it as anopportunity to link what washappening on-screen — bothwithin and outside of ad breaks— to advertisers, making it easierfor viewers to act on what theysaw on screen.”

And there have been somenotable successes. Online retailerLittlewoods is the sponsor of X Factor on TV3, and what thejudges are wearing is a biginfluencer of fashion trends.During the programme,Littlewoods’ staff identify whatNicole Scherzinger is wearing andlocate a similar outfit on theretailer’s website. The details are

communicated to the ShowPalteam who drop a tag into the appthat reads ‘Want to get Nicole’slook? — click here’.

“Our viewers love this as they want to get Nicole’s ‘look’— and Littlewoods is deepeningits sponsorship and drivingimmediate sales from what’shappening on screen,” states Grant.

That’s today, but what aboutthe future? Grant states, “We areconstantly working to improvethe viewers’ second screen

experience with ShowPal. TV3 islooking to work with otherbroadcasters and offeringShowPal as a second screensolution. We are also buildingtwo-screen show formats usingthe ShowPal platform and we areexploring bespoke advertiser-specific variants.”www.civolution.comwww.massiveInteractive.comwww.spiritdigital.co.ukwww.thinkbox.tvwww.tv3.iewww.webrangers.nl

TV3 have begun building two-screen show formats using the ShowPal app

Stephen Grant, director of online, TV3 Group and head of ShowPal

Cajic: When you first face it,virtual reality is a prettycomplicated thing. So our biggestchallenge is to train the new peoplein this field to fully understand thetechnology and to feel comfortableusing it in their studio setup. Our biggest challenge inmanufacturing and designing theequipment is to eliminate thislearning process and makeeverything plug and play. I wouldsay that we are half-way there.

Churruca: In the early days thebiggest challenge was to achieverealtime performance. Now, with the latest advances inworkstations and GPUtechnology, the challenge is moreon the creative side — to be ableto replicate reality in a realisticmanner. This means technologymust help the designers’ work,providing tools that facilitatetheir work, allowing them toconcentrate on creation.

Dalgoutte: As VR and ARbecome more prevalent, it’sbecoming more challenging toproduce a system that is easy to

Stjepan Cajic, StypeGrip

ForumVirtual Sets


The realityof virtual sets

A man stands alone on a cramped stage, butonscreen he’s perched atop a disintegrating

iceberg, explaining climate change. Virtual settechnology is growing ever more sophisticated,

Philip Stevens poses questions to experts from some of the top

companies in the field

VIRTUAL SET technologyhas been around for sometime, but it is an arena that is ever-developing. And asthe systems improve and the ability to render sceneswith increased realismimprove virtual reality inbroadcast is becoming more commonplace.

This month we’ve broughttogether a number ofparticipants from differentsides of the virtual reality andaugemented reality business toexplore, among other topics,the challenges facing suppliers,the potential of 4K broadcastsand the use of ‘augmentedreality studios’.

Our panel comprises (inalphabetical order) Ali Ahmadi,senior product manager,Litepanels; Ofir Benovici, VPmarketing at Orad; StjepanCajic, CEO StypeGrip: EllenCamloh, senior directorworldwide product marketingat NewTek; Miguel Churruca,marketing director, Brainstorm;Phillip Dalgoutte, productmanager, Vinten Radamec;James Eddershaw, salesdirector Shotoku UK; LukeHarrison, product manager,RT Software; Gerhard Lang,chief engineering officer, Vizrt;Robert Pancake, owner andlead designer, virtual-studio-set.com.

What do you see as the biggestchallenge facing the suppliers ofvirtual reality services?

install and configure. Lenses, forexample, need to be configuredspecifically to each manufacturer’sspecification, which can be timeand labour intensive. The sameflexibility is needed whenintegrating with AR/VRproviders, as there are subtledifferences between systems. Thismeans every installation isdifferent so it’s imperative to workclosely with providers and systemintegrators in each instance.

Eddershaw: Overcoming oldpre-conceptions of VR assomething from the mid-1990swith super-computers! Today’sVR solutions are very different— they’re considerably simplerto implement, and can be usedmore subtly withoutoverwhelming the creativeprocess or getting in the way oftraditional production values.

Harrison: Finding designersthat understand realtime remainsa challenge. While there is a glut of skilled 3D designers in theindustry, they do not always haveenough experience of realtimedelivery. But perhaps the biggestchallenge is moving tophotorealism, which is still beyondmany VR systems — despite themassive increase in rendercapabilities over the last five yearsor so. Sets rendered in post forfilm, or even games can lookfantastic, but maintaining this atframe rate is still a challenge.

Benovici: In many ways, virtualproduction has transformed inrecent years from a tool which, insome cases, was perceived as agimmick, to a day-to-dayproduction device. Its ROI hasalways been unbeatable, you cansimply produce so many moreshows in the same physical space,but there was always the issue ofhow ‘real’ it looks on air. Withthe improvement of computingpower, we are now able togenerate sets that the averageuser at home can’t tell are virtual.We invested a lot of effort increating tools that enhance thelevel of photorealism. A goodexample is our depth of fieldshader that imitates the depth offield effect of a camera zoomingin on talent in a real

environment. Another example isa rich library of material shadersthat helps designers create setswith realistic materials like glass,metal, wood and so on. Yetanother good example is castingrealtime shadows of virtualobjects — which again elevatethe level of photo realism. Theother focus area is to integratethe virtual studio into thestandard workflow environment.For example integrating it intoNRCS systems and thus allowingthe journalists to control theeditorial content of the virtualstudio background. Lastly, weare investing major effort in

integrating all the virtual studioelements together, allowing a fullblown virtual studio productionto be run by a single operator —without compromising theproduction quality.

Camloh: Immersion ratherthan superimposition is what hasmost significantly propelledrealism, coupled with broadertool access for virtual studiosthat don’t have the budget forhighly specialised VR systems.The introduction of 360°photorealistic virtual sets,known as Holographic LiveSets,into the TriCaster multi-cameraproduction system helps breakdown those barriers. People canuse a device as simple as theirsmartphone to capture apanoramic vista of a location.They import it into Virtual SetEditor, and the presenter thenappears in that 360°environment, transported into aseamless, immersive virtualscene. Or artists can use aprevalent 3D platform likeLightWave to model props,

rooms, or even worlds, all withphotoreal materials, surfaces andtextures, and import the modelas a set. In either case, it puts thetools into the hands of creativeand technical people who don’thave enormous budgets.

Churruca: Apart from thecontinuous increase in processingpower and image quality, possiblyone of the most significantdevelopments was theintroduction of EasySet 3D, thatstarted the segment of real 3Dtrackless, cost-effective and easy-to-use virtual set solutions. Thisproduct made VR technologyaccessible to a wider range of

medium and smaller broadcasters,who saw the opening of a newrange of possibilities thatpreviously had only beenachievable by large stations.

Eddershaw: Probably thesingle most significantdevelopment would be thewidespread availability ofaffordable, powerful, PC-basedgraphics processing computers.This has greatly reduced thecapital investment and technicalcomplexity of VR production.In terms of tracking, it would be

the continuing development ofhigh-precision, simple to useencoder tracking systems forheads, pedestals and cranes.

Harrison: The advent of GPUprocessing has greatly increasedthe ability to provide moresophisticated keying, renderingand tracking. In the applicationof sports VR, the moresophisticated keying allows ourtOG Sports system to respondin realtime to the lightingenvironment, while image-basedtracking recognises cameramovement. Both are crucial toprovide a realistic result forvirtual advertising. The move to


ForumVirtual Sets

James Eddershaw, Shotoku UK Luke Harrison, RT Software

What has beenthe mostsignificantdevelopmentin virtualproductiontechnology inrecent years?

Stype Grips data-encoded crane gave movement to Fox Sports’ Australian Football virtual sets

Ellen Camloh, NewTek

“Finding designers that understandrealtime remains a challenge. While there isa glut of skilled 3D designers in the industry,they do not always have enough experienceof realtime delivery” Luke Harrison, RT Software


ForumVirtual SetsThe combination of live and virtual material can seem

complex, but it can end up achieving more realistic scenes,optimising designers’ time and even reduce costs

floating point framebuffersallows set rendering to provide10- or even 12-bit resolution.This, combined with a fullshader-based pipeline, paves theway to a fully photo realistic set.

Lang: The increase in asystem’s capabilities; graphicscard, processor, keying, etc, ismaking it possible to produce acomplete show out of one box.This opens the doors to smallerorganisations being able to dovirtual productions.

Pancake: I think the mostsignificant development in thevirtual studio and chroma keyvideo production space has beenthe reduction in overall cost forcamera technology. The qualityof DSLR video cameras andmore traditional HD videocameras has made green screenvideo production so much easierthan in the past. This has in turnled to an overall increase in theamount of post production andvirtual set/virtual studio videoproductions. The secondsignificant development has to bethe internet as a video contentdelivery system. Ten years ago,many viewers were still struggling

with a slow dial up connection.Even five years ago, few viewershad the ability to watch videocontent streamed from theinternet to their television. Today,many viewers have high-speedconnections which allow them tostream HD content directly totheir TVs, tablets and computers.

Benovici: It is yet to be seen. TheOrad solution is already 4Kenabled, so we are set for such achange. I do believe, however,that it will take some time untilwe start seeing 4K productioncoming up.

Churruca: When 4K iswidespread at home, this will mean

the quality requirements of theprogrammes will be much higherthan today. It also means theprocessing power of the hardwareinvolved in production shouldincrease as a consequence.Therefore, hardware solutionsmust cope with these newrequirements, at the same time thatmore attention to detail, realism of the scenes, composition,graphics and background sceneswill be required than is often thecase today.

Dalgoutte: 4K file sizes arehuge, so storing and processingthem is a challenge at themoment in the UK, as isbroadcast distribution. From ourperspective the challenge lies inreporting where exactly thecamera is pointing. With 4K youneed to report that position inmore granular detail because atthat fine resolution it’s distractingto see the VR image jumping byeven just a few pixels at a time.This means higher resolutiontracking is essential.

Lang: Going 4K will bringback the same problems thatwere present with introducingHD. On one hand, you will have

an increase of overall imagequality, but on the other thesystems will have a decrease inpower. This will result in havingto step back in the amount ofdetails and functionality ofthe sets. There will also have tobe a step back in the number of sources — live, clips, streams,etc — contributing to the finalcomposition.

Pancake: The introduction of4K camera and productioncapability will have some

impacts on our business in thenear future. As UHD and 4Ktelevisions become moreavailable, viewers will seek morecontent created and delivered athigher resolutions. Once thishappens, editors will need assets,motion graphics and animatedvirtual backgrounds created anddeveloped for this higherresolution. The backgroundsand animations will need tohold up to the additional detailenabled by the increased

Ofir Benovici, Orad Robert Pancake, Virtual Studio Set

Will a move to4K make anymajor changeto thetechnology?If so, how?

resolutions. Additionally, videoediting software and workstations will need to beupgraded to handle theadditional processing requiredby the increased videoresolutions and productions.

Ahmadi: One of the corerequirements of a virtualenvironment is the completelyeven distribution of light, eventhe corners of the green screenare rounded to prevent shadows.Energy efficient LED fixturesfrom Litepanels provide softand even distribution of light.Cool-running LEDs also emit a fraction of the heat produced

by tungsten fixtures and havebuilt-in dimmers. Because lessHVAC is required to cool thestudio, LED lights can be used in smaller spaces, makingVR more affordable for newmarket applications.

Lang: The new efficientlighting has opened more doors mainly because theyproduce very little heat. Roomswith lower ceilings and less air are still able to handlelengthy productions withoutany time constraints. Addingmore lights to reduce uneven lit areas is not a problemanymore, either.

Benovici: Yes, we definitely seethat trend, implemented in twoways — having augmentedreality elements added to a realstudio, as well as having a ‘hybridstudio’ — part of which is realand part of the background isgreen/ blue and used for virtualplacement in the background.

Cajic: I would agree.Augmented reality is where I seethe biggest use of VR. It’s a lotmore natural than a virtualstudio in that it does not try todeceive the viewer, but just offerssome meaningful addition to thereal picture. It helps the viewerunderstand the complex data byadding stunning effects to it. Inthe end, this does not affect ourparticular technology in any waysince it’s the same principle as avirtual studio.

Churruca: Broadcasters affecttechnology as they evolve theway they produce television.Sometimes, when a newtechnology arrives, users want tomake the most out of it, but astime goes by they tend tooptimise its usage. In the case ofVR, the combination of live and

virtual material can seemcomplex, but it can end upachieving more realistic scenes,optimising designers’ time andeven reduce costs.

Eddershaw: This is probablythe most significant difference inthe use of VR today comparedwith earlier eras. From a trackingperspective it is generally nodifferent, however, when virtualobjects are placed very close toreal objects it does make lens

calibration and trackingaccuracy even more critical asdifferences in motion can bemore easily seen. Simply byfollowing some basic guidelineson the placement and design ofAR objects within real sets theseeffects can be easily mitigated.

Harrison: Yes absolutely,particularly for sportsproduction. From a render pointof view, there is little difference. A more significant issue is theaccuracy of tracking andsophistication of keying. VRdrift is less noticeable in a fullvirtual set because there arefewer real world references, butwith AR inaccuracies becomemore obvious. So things such as lens modelling andsynchronisation are crucial.Keying for AR is important, too. Mixing background andforeground keying is desirableand combining this with‘dynamic depth’ keying allows amuch better sense of interaction.

Benovici: Virtual studio is amature technology — it hasbeen around for 20 years, so itwill probably be more of anevolution and not a revolution.There is a growing tendency todecorate sets with video wallsand screens, and in many waysthis could be seen as theevolution of the virtual studio.Also, put the chroma key andblue boxes to one side andreplace them with content fed tothe video wall that serves as thebackground of the studio.

Cajic: The object trackingsystems are slowly emerging. Thisshould be the next thing thatcould open up more possibilitiesinto the VR environment,especially in sports analysis.

Camloh: We think our visionof more-accessible creative toolson more common platforms isthe trend for the future. What’smore, the economics won’t beout of reach for people toincorporate more VR-typesegments into their programmes.How powerful a brand can be orthe amount of creativity itspeople have doesn’t alwayscorrelate with the size of itsbudget, so NewTek will continuewith its mission of enabling even


ForumVirtual Sets

What is thenext majordevelopmenton the VRfront?

Lighting iskey to goodVR. Havechanges tomore energyefficientsystems madea difference to the way VRsystems areused?

Miguel Churruca, Brainstorm

Gerhard Lang, Vizrt

Is there an increasing use of‘augmented reality studios’ — amix of virtual and live? And howdoes that affect you?

those organisations with modestfinances to express both.

Churruca: In terms ofsoftware technology, I believethe next step is to go beyond thetrackless/tracking dichotomy,and provide 3D tools that allowan even more advancedintegration between real imagesor characters with the syntheticenvironments.

Dalgoutte: Commercialbroadcasters will increasinglyuse both VR and AR to driverevenues through productplacement. It is already beingused in sporting events —changing the boards during agame or according to region.This will become more prevalentin regular programming with theinsertion of virtual objects orchanging branding of productsand so on.

Eddershaw: Camera trackingsystems are evolving all the timewith the focus on precision andabsolute positioning accuracy.We have partnered with nCam, acompany well established in thefilm world with their advancedtracking systems for CG pre-visualisation. Our deep

understanding of the technicaland practical demands of liveVR/AR broadcasts and nCam’sinnovative technical solutionwill make a very excitingcombination in this marketplace, and I believe will open upVR production opportunities toan even wider customer base.

Harrison: Almost certainlyimage tracking, both forcameras and objects. Image-based camera tracking, witheither the aid of targets in thecamera’s field of view orexisting set features — the

AR case — negates the need for sensors on the camera.Whilst such systems currentlyexist, none are yet completely100% reliable.

Lang: 4K, of course, is on the forefront of everyone’s mind right now, but beyond that I think the introduction of new keying technologies will be a major factor. We haveseen some very promisingdevelopment in keyingtechnology which does notrequire an evenly lit uniformcolour background. This will

open the doors even further foranyone to begin creating theirvirtual productions.

Pancake: I think the nextmajor development in thevirtual news studio will be thedevelopment of more affordablerealtime 3D virtual spaces andcamera hardware that works inconjunction with software toplace a user in an interactivevirtual environment. Currently,the hardware necessary forpulling off a realtime virtualstudio is cost prohibitive formost small to medium sized

video productions. But, I see this price falling in the near termallowing a wider variety ofvideo producers to takeadvantage of this technology in their productions.www.brainstorm.eswww.litepanels.comwww.newtek.comwww.orad.tvwww.rtsw.co.ukwww.shotoku.co.ukwww.stypegrip.comwww.vintenradamec.comwww.virtual-studio-set.comwww.vizrt.com


ForumVirtual Sets

Phillip Dalgoutte, Vinten Radamec Orad’s ProSet solution features a library of shaders, including depth of field

THE WORD ‘asset’ — or ‘assetmanagement’ — is now used so often that we could be forgiven for forgettingwhat it means.

The Oxford English Dictionary says thatan asset is ‘a thing of use or value’, and formost media businesses their content is theirlifeblood. So it makes sense to treatcontent as a critical asset, and ensure thatit’s safeguarded and available as necessary.

When discussing asset management,people often talk about monetisingcontent in the future, and this is certainly important.

But the value can also be realised in adifferent way. At BBC Studios and PostProduction Digital Media Services werecently conserved the archive content ofrenowned dance company Rambert by

digitising it. Their collection — on VHStapes — is the company’s cultural history.If they wanted to revive one of theirballets, the choreography was onlyavailable as a video recording, so theyneeded continuing access to their archive.

With VHS players rapidly dying out, it was becoming harder for the company to watch the recordings. Rambert’smotivation to digitise its archive was, then, not to monetise it, but to conserve it for future generations of dancers andchoreographers. They’ve also made itaccessible, free of charge, to the public, soit serves to improve public awareness andextend their marketing reach.

The critical point to remember is that, ifan archive is on tape, you have to addressthis issue now. Every time a tape is played it

is being worn, reducing its quality the nexttime it is played: tape has a very finite life.And, of course, it’s increasingly difficult tofind players for the many tape formats we’veseen over the 60-year life of video recording.

The solution is digitisation, but on itsown that is not enough. It may seemsimple to go to the local computer store,buy a couple of USB disk drives, write thecontent to them and put them on the shelf.But that’s not a good long-term idea formedia. That sort of disk drive is designedto last no more than a few years inreasonably constant use. Leaving them onthe shelf means they’ll almost certainly failthe first time you go back to them, so yourmedia assets still have no protection.

ProtectionSo the first consideration must be toprotect the assets into the future. Thatmeans making copies and then continuallychecking the integrity of the data. Whether

the archive is stored on spinning disks ordata tape, and whatever form the archivestorage takes, you need to be continuallyaware that the data is securely stored and can be retrieved when required.

Because of this need for continualchecking, unless your archive is so vast you can sustain your own dedicated team it makes sense to hand the task to anorganisation that has the resources tocontinually monitor the integrity of yourdata. They’ll operate securely redundantstorage, usually in multiple locations, and willhave archive management software which iscontinually running checksum calculationson the data across the sites to spot errors andrewrite files before they become a problem.

VisibilityThe archive may exist to raise revenues orprotect a cultural heritage; it may be opento all or just a small group of researchers.Whatever the requirement, the content willneed to be accessed by some people, so it isvital that the archive is visible.

First, there must be good metadata tohelp the researcher find the right contentquickly and accurately. A search whichbrings up hundreds of possibilities is asuseless as one which delivers nothing. Eacharchive will be different and therefore havea different metadata schema.


The lifecycle of an assetKevin Shaw, lead technologist at BBC Studios andPost Production Digital Media Services, explores themost valuable thing the industry possesses — its content

Renowned London dance company Rambertrestored its deteriorating VHS archive and hasnow made it available to the public

BBC S&PP won a FOCAL Award for remastering Sir David Attenborough’s Life on Earth and Trials of Life

Kevin Shaw, BBC S&PP

Normally the database will belinked to a browse server, so youcan view the selected material, and maybe even perform simplefunctions like clipping orassembly editing, withoutrecovering the full resolutionfiles from the archive.

For some archives only a verysmall closed user group shouldbe allowed to access the content;for others it could be opened up to a larger group or evenpotentially everybody. It dependson the nature of the content andthe way you hope to realise itsvalue. But the big difference tothe tape and indeed the simplefiles on disk approach is that thefull resolution master file isalways copied when needed,which avoids loss or damageduring use. An asset is mostvulnerable precisely at the time itis most valuable!

RestorationAnother central question is howmuch restoration should becarried out before committingcontent to a managed archive.

Restoration tools — automaticand manual — are alreadyextremely capable. We recentlywon a FOCAL Award forremastering two landmark SirDavid Attenborough naturedocumentary series, Life on Earth(1979) and Trials of Life (1990),and although the 16mm film wasmore than 20 years old, it nowlooks like it was shot yesterday.

16mm film, well restored, is aperfect match for high definitiontelevision. That means that if youperform a full restoration today,you can then regard the archive asthe definitive version for the future.

Making the contentimmediately available to its targetmarket of users is a good way to determine priorities forrestoration. Market demand forcontent will demonstrate what ispopular, and user comments onquality will underline what workis required. Together they willhelp you set up a targetedprogramme of work. For someorganisations, unlocking the valueof the archive content is sufficientto pay for the cost of the archive.

PreservationIn conclusion, there are a lot oforganisations who have audio-visual material which should bepreserved because it will havevalue, in some way, in the future.Along with the obviousbroadcasters and productioncompanies, these organisationsrange from sports federations tocharities (we have recentlyundertaken the management ofOxfam’s archive, for instance).

The chances are that thecontent will exist across a broadrange of formats. This willinclude film, and at BBC Studiosand Post Production DigitalMedia Services we maintain oneof the last functional Rank

Cintel Mk III telecines withgates for obscure gauges like9.5mm, as well as the regular 8,16 and 35mm.

But much more pressing isvideo and audio tape, which isdegrading faster than film and is

significantly damaged by thewear of each play. Again, we havea remarkable collection ofmachines to get the best out ofthose tapes, and a team ofengineers who can service ourVTRs and customise the

hardware to create bespokepreservation workflows.

The critical message, though, isthat you cannot put off this task:preservation has to be considerednow or the content will degenerateand may be lost forever.


16mm film, well restored, is a perfect match for high definitiontelevision. If you perform a full restoration today, you canregard the archive as the definitive version for the future

Preparing for the kick-off

Philip Stevens continueshis preview of the

World Cup by talking to key

players in the coverage


BRAZIL 2014 will be the fourthFIFA World Cup for HostBroadcast Services (HBS) andthe fifth for Francis Tellier, CEOof HBS Group of companies. In1998, he was head of operationsat TVRS’98 in France, but thatwas the last World Cup wherethe host broadcasting operationwas handled by a local hostbroadcaster. As such, Tellier wasdirector general of the last HostBroadcaster of an era — and withhis appointment to HBS in 1999,he was the first of a new one.

Why was the change soimportant? Tellier explains:“The principle of reciprocityhad reached its limits andpeople in the know realised thatHost Broadcasting — with itsmany facets, such as dealing

with Rights Holders, contractingwith Federations and so on —had to be managed differently.

That was 15 years ago and what a mind-boggling revolutionwe have witnessed in the

world of high definitionbroadcast and new media overthat period!”

“Today HBS is FIFA’sdedicated broadcaster. And‘dedicated’ means the teamslive every working day andsleep every night invariablydreaming of FIFA deliverablessomewhere around the world,”states Tellier.

He says that FIFA is a verydemanding employer andreceives only the best. “Ourmilestones include, the Multi-Feed concept implemented in 2002, full HD with theextraordinary Media Server —FIFA MAX — in 2006, 25matches in 3D in 2010 and newstate-of-the-art multimediaservices in 2014.”

Planning takes timeTwo-to-four years before theimplementation of a broadcastoperation, HBS does an in-depth audit of all the conditionsand resources of the hostcountry. “No two host countriesare alike,” states Tellier. “Forexample, there are 11,000kmbetween venues in Brazil, whileonly 3000km were involved totour all sites in South Africa in 2010.”

Having said that, the 2014FIFA World Cup ProductionPlan is largely based on thehighly successful South Africa tournament coverage.However, several upgrades willbe implemented, includingincreasing the number of match cameras from 29 to 34,

Live 4K was trialled at the Confederations Cup in 2013 in readiness for the World Cup in Brazil beginning in June

providing one additional ClipsCompilation Channel to theMulti-Feeds, and a new fullyedited 26 minute programme —the FIFA Preview Show.

Tellier continues, “An eventsuch as the FIFA World Cup isthe ideal platform to deliver anincreased package of multimediacontent. For the first time usersand viewers will be able tochoose their own perspective ofthe event. With an interactivecamera plan, fans watching thegames on their screens will beable to select and review multipleangles at a given moment.”

“One of HBS’ attributes is the ability to make key industrysuppliers work together to offerinnovative products, under totalreliability. This has led to long-lasting partnerships, a goodexample being the arrangementwith EVS. Such agreementswork well with Sony, a long-standing official FIFA Partner.”

Showcasing the dramaMark Grinyer, head of sportsbusiness development, 4K & 3Dlive sports, Sony Professional,explains what the relationship

involves. “As HBS’s deliverypartner for the 2014tournament, Sony is responsiblefor the provision of all venueservices, including systemsintegrations, equipment andstaff. Together with our ownstrategic partners, we will beresponsible for delivering everysingle minute of live matchfootage from the tournament, asthe theatre of football unfolds.It’s a huge coup to have beenonce again selected by HBS toprovide venue services for the2014 tournament.”

He states that the plans callfor capturing the final in 4K.“Having delivered some of theworld’s most high-profile events,including the ConfederationsCup, where live 4K was trialled,we believe its use for the World Cup represents a majormilestone in the future of sportsproduction. We’re confidentsports fans will be wowed by the most immersive viewingexperience of the World Cup todate, and we look forward toworking with FIFA, HBS andour partners to bring the thrillof the game to them.”

Grinyer believes that thestrong working relationship thathas been built with HBS overthe years, and Sony’s experienceof sports production technology,will be showcased in full inBrazil. “Collectively we willpush new boundaries for livesports production.”

Recording the FIFAtournamentIn May 2013, EVS BroadcastEquipment was appointed toprovide technology solutions forlive production, centralisedbroadcast media server and file-based media sharing systems,and new multimedia distributioninfrastructure in Brazil.

“All twelve venues will beequipped with sixteen XT3 multi-format servers for replays,highlight editing, graphicinsertion, clipping and contentmanagement,” reveals LucDoneux, executive vice presidentof the company’s sports division.“We’ve also added some new features for this globaltournament, includingimplementing the advanced multi-angles production tool, as


All 12 venues will be equipped with 16 XT3 multi-formatservers for replays, highlight editing, graphic insertion,clipping and content management” — Luc Doneux, EVS

Tellier: “The teams live every working day and sleep every night invariablydreaming of FIFA deliverables somewhere around the world”

Grinyer: “Collectively we will push new boundaries for live sports production”

well as extensive multi-mediacontent distribution infrastructure.”

EVS’ new LSMConnect,MultiReview, and C-Cast agenttools lie at the heart of the liveproduction workflow along withXT3 live production servers. A combination of EVS XT3servers and the IPDirectorproduction asset managementsuite drive all the ‘emotion’highlights packages, while thecompilation of all the best clipswill be managed using the newMultiReview solutions.

Within the IBC, more than100 EVS IPDirector suites willbe used to manage live incomingfeeds and access to the FIFAMedia Asset Exchange (FIFAMAX) server containing matchfeeds, clips, highlights, cityprofiles and other relevant data.In all 12 XT3 will handle 4500hours of storage that will beaccommodated, based on EVSXStore SAN. The IPDirectorsuites will also be utilised for thelive logging of events. Access isprovided for the multilateralproduction team for furtherediting and programming as wellas to Media Rights Licensees(MRLs) to browse, access anddownload the content.

Electronic News Gathering(ENG) operations at the variousvenues will be facilitated based

on 32 EVS Xedio Dispatcher forrough cut editing, logging andtransfer from local ingest pointsto the IBC.

The EBIF (Extended BasicInternational Feed) room withinthe IBC will be based on XT3servers, LSM Remote and newConnect platform, IPEdit for realtime timeline editing and EPSIO FX for on airgraphic insertions.

Thirty six Adobe Premierestations, along with the EVSIPLink plugin panel will be used to create final edits ofWorld Cup updates, promos,behind the scenes footage andmultimedia packages. All thestations have direct access toIPDirector database containingall ingested clips. “The completeset-up will enable FIFA andRights Holders to produce many

hours of added-value contentfor their global audiences,”declares Doneux.

For the first time, HBS will be providing new mediadistribution capabilities tobroadcasters. This process relieson EVS’ C-Cast multimediadistribution platform. C-Casttechnology will connect the liveproduction infrastructures to acentral cloud-based platform,aggregating live streams, multi-angle clips, stats, and socialnetwork feeds. These will bedistributed to affiliatebroadcasters to offer extendedmultimedia consumption totheir viewers, as a second screenapplication. Two of thosebroadcasters are HRT fromCroatia and ZDF in Germany.

Croatian coverage“We started planning for our coverage in Brazil in early February, this year,” states Drago Cosic fromHRT (Hrvatska radiotelevizija,the Croatian public servicebroadcaster). Cosic is HRT’s head of project for the event and a reporter with 30 years’experience in live sportsbroadcasts.

He continues, “HRT will nothave its own studio in Brazil, butour presenters will be workingfrom our main broadcastingcentre in Zagreb. However, we will have a permanentlink from the Croatiannational football teamcamp to ensure the verylatest news is availablefor the many footballfans in Croatia.”Although the presenterswill be working from theZagreb studio, HRTwill take a team of24 to Brazil.

IgorMedic,deputy

spokesperson for HRT, picks upthe story: “During the livebroadcasts we will utilise twoENGs for the matches in whichthe Croatian team plays. Weplan to have one camera on topof the stadium, while the otherwill be near the changing roomarea so that interviews can bearranged.” HRT will deploy anon-site OB truck to combine the international feed withHRT’s own ENG output. “We

will be using all the feeds thatthe host broadcaster is offering,and then using Avid Composer for editing,” says Medic.“Although there are no plans for web streaming back toCroatia, stories and video clipswill be uploaded with theshortest possible delay so thatfans at home can catch up onthe action.”

The German angleGerman public-servicebroadcasters ARD and ZDFwill broadcast the World Cup

in full for the first timesince 1998.

“We started with our planning in May 2012,” statesDieter Gruschwitz,head of ZDF sportsdepartment. “Between

the two broadcasters, wewill have around 450

staff working inBrazil. We

will also besharingfacilities,

including a studio in Rio at the Copacabana.”

Gruschwitz says thebroadcasters will employ theirown technical equipmentinstalled at the IBC and at thematches involving the Germanteam. “We plan to use betweenthree and five cameras inunilateral flash positions or inthe mix zone,” he adds.

When it comes topersonalising further the

coverage, ZDF will utilise bothpool fed ISOs and ClipsCompilation Channel content— both provided by HBS. TheCompilation Channel givesMRLs access to angles whichare not part of the main matchfeed — and are available in nearrealtime. All editing will becarried out at the broadcaster’sunit at the IBC using Avid andEVS systems.

So, what does Gruschwitz seeas the main challenges inmeeting the broadcastingrequirements for the upcomingevent? “Certainly, the logistics is a major consideration. Thedistances involved are great, and there are the customsprocedures involving thetemporary import of a greatdeal of technical equipment tobe taken into account. Andsomething of which we have tobe very aware in these days, ofcourse, is the overall cost ofmounting such an operation.Nevertheless, we look forwardto a great tournament!”www.evs.tvwww.hbs.tvwww.hrt.hrwww.pro.sony.euwww.zdf.de


“We’re confident sports fanswill be wowed by the mostimmersive viewingexperience of the World Cupto date” Mark Grinyer, Sony Professional

Gruschwitz: “Something of which wehave to be very aware in these days,of course, is the overall cost ofmounting such an operation”

Cosic: “HRT will not have its ownstudio in Brazil, but our presenterswill be working from our mainbroadcasting centre in Zagreb”

Doneux: “We’ve added some new features for this global tournament,including implementing the advanced multi-angles production tool”

A LOT has happened sincelast year’s NAB. We’veseen 4K break free of thequestion of “how” andmove resolutely into therealms of “when” and“why”. Linear TV and on-demand have gone towar like gargantuas from Pacific Rim. Andincreasing migration to ITworkflows means theslow-to-change broadcastindustry is entering thesame frantic rate ofchange as the consumerelectronics market.

What’s on the horizonfor next year is anyone’sguess. The only thing weseem to know for sureabout the TV industry is

that the final product iscontent on a screen. Butthe journey it takes to getto that screen and howthe consumer interacts

with it is wide, wide open.The next year promises tobe unpredictable, but veryexciting, and I’m countingon the discussions wehave together at NAB to give us some insightand direction.

TVBEurope will be onthe ground with a crackteam of journos, includingHolly Ashford, RussellGrute, David Kirk, Ian McMurray, and Adrian Pennington.They’ll be roaming theshow floors, covering all

the releases, conferences,and announcements, andyou can read their reportsin our May issue NABWrap-up.

Here we bring you PartTwo of our NAB ProductPreview, a survey of NAB announcements bythe big players in theindustry. Along with Part One in last month’sissue, we hope it will bemore than enough to get you started on yourNAB journey.

Neal Romanek

The measure of changeNAB:

Cinegy in NAB giveaway CinegyCINEGY IS offering the first1000 visitors to its booth at NABa free Cinegy Player License.

Cinegy Player is a new tool for broadcast professionalsworking with high-end videoformats. Cinegy Player includesnative support for mostbroadcast industry standardvideo codecs within MOV andMXF containers.

Now included is support fordecoding and displaying VANCand Parental Rating values fromSMPTE 436M tracks, as well asdecoding and display of line 608and 708 closed captions.

Cinegy is exhibiting 4K IP-based broadcast solutions.Automation, playout and CGsolutions include Cinegy Air PRO,Cinegy Studio PRO and CinegyType. The company’s media asset management and archivesolutions Cinegy Archive andCinegy Desktop are also on show. www.cinegy.comSSL11116

Camera CorpsCAMERA CORPS has chosenNAB 2014 as the launch venue foran advance in robotic cameratechnology. Developed from theQ-Ball, the new Q3 incorporatesdouble the zoom power, a higherspecification camera and anexpanded feature set. It iscompatible with multiple serialdata formats including IP plusCamera Corps’ audio-based data system.

Using an integral 3GBps slip-ring, Q3 can perform anunlimited number of 360° lateralrotations. Pan and tilt speed are adjustable from 360° in 90 minutes to 90° per second.

“The original Q-Ballrevolutionised the use of roboticcameras in applications such assports and reality shows,” statedCamera Corps’ founder andmanaging director Laurie Frost.“Q3 feeds can be intercut seamlessly

with the output from broadcastcameras. Each Q3 head incorporatesa high-precision pan/tilt/zoom/focus mechanism in a compactunit which can be mounted at anyheight, indoors or outdoors, andoperated under full remote controlfrom an adjacent desk or half-wayround the world. Over a hundredQ3 heads can be operated from asingle joystick panel.”www.vitecvideocom.comC6025

Double zoom for Q3 The new Q3 from Camera Corps


AB One goes liveThales AngénieuxTHALES ANGÉNIEUX and Binocle 3Dhave been working together to developstereoscopic 3D projects new rigs, lensesand correction tools. Their AB One systemaims to make stereoscopic 3D productionmore accessible and to reduce operationalcosts, particularly in the area of live events.

The companies have collaborated toproduce the brand AB Live.

The partners’ main aim is to offer aversatile solution with tailor-made support,adaptable to a range of projects. The systemhas been designed to work for live operationwith a fibre adapter link to operations withstandard metadata connections. It also

features an OCP Operating Control Panel,enabling control of several rigs, as well as atool analyser with automatic corrections.The team aims to make this a competitor to2D, by supporting its customers and usersin running 3D shooting at a limited cost.www.angenieux.comCC7419

EyeheightAT NAB, Eyeheight is introducingLEGAL-8, a new addition to its range of video and audio legalisers. Developedfrom the LEGAL-6, the LEGAL-8incorporates extended audio capabilitiesincluding eight loudness level controlchannels configured as four AES stereo pairs.

The LEGAL-8 provides automaticrealtime control of perceptual loudnessand true peak level using multi-channelloudness and true-peak computations.This is coupled with industry standardand proprietary correction algorithms.

The LEGAL-8 incorporates six usermemories plus common presets. Videolegalisation features include automaticluma overshoot and undershoot

suppression together with luma andchroma gain, black level adjustment, huerotation, adjustable clipping levels andsoft-clipping-knee levels. An ‘out-of-gamut’ indication feed displays overshoot

or undershoot severity and shows the userwhere on the picture any signal correctionis being performed.www.eyeheight.comC9511

LEGAL-8 launch

PanasonicPANASONIC IS debuting its new Varicam 35camera that shoots 4K raw, as well as its third-generation VariCam, the VariCam HS. The companyis also presenting the next generation of P2solid-state recording media, the expressP2 card.

Designed to accommodate 4K image capture,the expressP2 card offers transfer speeds of upto 2.4Gbps, meaning an hour of 4K footage canbe transferred within around 10 minutes.

The Varicam 35 incorporates a newly-developed super 35mm MOS image sensorand complements the company’s current AVC-ULTRA family of video codecs.

The VariCam HS 2/3 type camera head dockswith the AVC-ULTRA recording module, toprovide the functionality and ergonomics of aconventional production camera/recorder.

Also making an appearance at NAB is the recentlylaunched AV-HS6000, a 2M/E switcher and theAJ-PX270, the company’s first P2 HD handheldcamera recorder with AVC-ULTRA recording.www.panasonic.netC3607

4K outlook at NAB

Eyeheight’s new LEGAL-8 video and audio legaliser

For tickets & table reservation:contact Sara Mather –[email protected]

+44 (0)20 7354 6001

For sponsorship opportunities:contact Ian Graham – [email protected]

+44 (0)20 7354 6000

www.installawards.com

We y

Buy your EARLY BIRDtickets NOW from

www.installawards.comEach ticket includes pre-dinner drinks reception, entry to the awards,

a three-course meal, entry to after-party and more.

A variety of sponsorship opportunities are available now.For more details, please contact Ian Graham


Panasonic’s HD handheldcamera recorder, AJ-PX270

i-YunoI-YUNO IS demonstrating itssubscription-based captiontechnology CaptionCast, at NAB. Users are able to install theCaptionCast server in theirtransmission facility and i-Yunocreates frame accurate captionson the cloud for automatic service

at $4/min. The user uploads proxy video to the cloud, andonce the operator’s TV channel(s)air the specific content, theCaptionCast servers listen for the ‘audio fingerprints’ from theSDI signal, pulls the matchingcaptions and delivers them to thescreen automatically.

“The cloud service and all ofour captioning products havebeen very popular across Asiaand we’re now bringing it toNorth American broadcasters,”said David Lee, CEO of i-YunoMedia Group Americas.

Also being introduced by i-Yuno for the first time to

broadcasters at NAB is thecompany’s CaptionCrowdcaption service platform;Subtitle/Caption Recut subtitlingand captioning technology andiMediaTrans Cloud subtitling andcaptioning cloud service.www.iyunomg.comNN6421

Captions on the cloud

PrimestreamAT THE 2014 NAB Show,Primestream is debuting FORKv4.6, its media asset managementand production automationsoftware platform featuringmodules and third-partyintegrations. The WorkflowManager modules allows users todesign, control, and automateproduction processes that spanmultiple departments withintheir organisation.

Primestream also introducesFORK Xchange Suite 3.0, anupgrade to the web and iOSapplication that provides accessto content on FORK Production

servers. Singleand multi-siteproductionoperations canaccess their mediafrom anywhere tomanage, create,and triggervarious FORKautomations.Xchange 3.0 alsofeatures aredesigned iPadinterface forApple iOS 7.

Archive Bridge, a new modulefor the FORK Production Suite,is also being unveiled. Archive

FORK for NAB

BradleyBRADLEY ENGINEERING is showinga set of newly-developed camera headsand accessories for unobtrusive andremote controlled filming at NAB thisyear. The highlights on show includeBradley’s enhanced Camball 3, aminiature rotating camera head whichnow offers 30x optical zoom; threeminiature high resolution cameraheads with 4 MegaPixel imaging andimproved low light performance.

The company is also introducing anew precision controlled camera headfor remote camera control. The XM or Extended Motion, is fully motioncontrollable, controlled by a joystick,computer, and by pre-programming.The XM offers 14 – 16-bit joystickcontrol, when it is operated withBradley’s Multi Function Controller,which gives improved control at verylow speeds. The XM camera head issimilar in design to the U4, U5 andU6 models, and comes in two variants, a double-sided camera head or asingle-sided L-shaped camera head.www.bradeng.comC11130

Bridge provides integrationsbetween archival solutions andthe FORK media asset

management platform.www.primestream.comSL10216

Remotecontrolled filming

Primestream’s FORKProduction Suite v4.6

allows edit-while-capture


HarmonicHARMONIC IS demonstrating a series of solutions that aims to optimise the production anddelivery of video services. The company is unveiling newsolutions and feature setsincluding ATSC 3.0-ready Electraand Spectrum product line.Harmonic is also hosting a live4K Ultra HD 2160p60demonstration.

The ATSC 3.0-ready Electrauniversal multifunction,multiformat encoding platformfeaturing high density audioencoding capabilities, is ondisplay, as is a primarydistribution solution built on the Harmonic DMS videodistribution management systemand a new ProView IRD.

Harmonic presents itsmultiscreen ad insertion solution,which leverages the ProMediafamily and ProStream with ACEbroadcast and multiscreentranscoder and integrates withadvertising partners.

“During the 2014 NAB Show,the products and solutionsdemonstrated at our booth will

highlight the operationalefficiencies, cost savings, andamazing video quality thatoperators can achieve byleveraging an integrated solution

from Harmonic,” said PeterAlexander, chief marketing officerat Harmonic.www.harmonicinc.comSSU1210


Live 4K Ultra HD demo hits NAB

SonySONY IS building on its BeyondDefinition vision by showcasinga series of 4K solutions as wellas recent developments aroundIP Live production.

Developed to provide videoproduction environments for live productions, realtimeIP production technologyintegrates IP networktechnology and HD-SDI. Itenables video, audio, referencesignals and control data to betransmitted between devicesusing a single network cable.

Sony is also showing a rangeof 4K products, systems andsolutions for content creators.These include the possibilities ofHD to 4K migration and HDproduction as well as 4K liveproduction workflows usingSony’s 4K camera systems.

Other 4K solutions on showinclude 4K Multiview and 4Kscreen blending. The former is a4K viewing system that displaysfour times as much informationas HD, allowing informationfrom multiple sources to appeartogether in high quality.

Ci, Sony’s Media CloudServices is on display with anumber of enhancementsincluding Team Workspace.www.pro.sony.euC11001

Beyond Definitionfor 4K and IP

HarmonicSpectrum

Boxx TVBOXX TV has added an SDIloop to its Meridian zero delaytransmitter which allows it tosupport two monitors. TheMeridian will now provide a liveimage to the camera operator’smonitor, as well as a live feed tothe director of production’smonitor on set. Boxx TV isdemonstrating the new Meridianwith its SDI loop at NAB.

Boxx TV’s portable receivernow has dual SDI and compositeconnections and the company’sbroadcast receiver offers the samedual SDI out and compositeconnections plus a componentconnection and an LCD monitor.

Camera operator and foundingdirector of Boxx TV Scott Walkerexplained: “It’s essential for

Steadicam operators to have aninstant view, to give them a feelfor the video they are getting, and we’ve added this to thesystem after requests from ourcustomers. This is what theyideally need for all live TV showsand sports events.”www.boxx.tvCC10108


Nugen AudioNUGEN AUDIO is showcasingits complete line of solutions forloudness compliance, at NAB.The new MultiMonitor softwarefor loudness and true-peakmonitoring is also being unveiledat the Show.

The company’s LoudnessToolkit features VisLM: VisualLoudness Metering Plug-In; ISL:

Inter-Sample True-Peak Limiter;and LM-Correct: Stand-AloneLoudness Tool.

Making its first NAB Showappearance, MultiMonitor offersup to 16 individual loudness and true-peak meters in mono,stereo, and 5.1 formats for up to96 individual audio channels.

NUGEN Audio has alsolaunched a new MXF file-

handling option for LMB thatallows direct analysis of audiowithin the MXF container. Theoption introduces native MXFaudio-handling that enables LMBto perform automated analysisand correction of audio in anMXF container while preservingall other data within the file. www.nugenaudio.comC561

MultiMonitor makes NAB debut

SDI loop enhancement for Meridian

Dejero“AT DEJERO, we continue topush the boundaries of bondedwireless technology to offer our customers the industry’smost innovative solutions fortransmitting high-quality livevideo,” commented Brian Cram,CEO, Dejero.

At this year’s Show, Dejerois demonstrating its bondedcellular technology, usingavailable wired and wirelessnetworks to transmit high-quality video for a wide range ofapplications including electronicnewsgathering (ENG). TheDejero LIVE+ Platform offers

capabilities for improving theability of broadcasters to deliverprimary and supplemental livevideo feeds from the field.

Featured products on displayat the Show include the DejeroLIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter; theLIVE+ Mobile App, enablingusers to send bonded live orrecorded video from their iOS or Android mobile devices; theLIVE+ VSET; and the Dejero +Nucomm Connect Livetransmitter, a next-generationcamera-mounted bonded cellularand microwave system.

In addition, the companywill highlight its LIVE+

Broadcast Server, a 2-channel,3-U rack-mounted server thatreceives realtime genlockedvideo from multiple LIVE+systems, and the LIVE+

Portal, an online interface for managing and routingLIVE+ products.www.dejero.comN1110

Pushing boundaries

SGOSGO’S NEW strap line ‘BeautifullyCreative Technology’ is intended to sum up the ethos behind thecompany’s development drive toprovide creative artists withempowering facilities. At NAB thecompany is showing additions toits range of Mistika postproduction systems and MambaFX compositing software.

SGO’s new Mistika range is basedon Mistika Post, Mistika Optima and Mistika Ultima in version 8.0.Features include a spatial keyer withthe ability to allow grading selectionsor keying mattes to be derived fromCGI object metadata. Other features in version 8.0 include a node-basedcompositing interface, support forCanon’s MRF, Sony’s XAVC,enhanced AAF support and ProRes4:4:4 file formats.

“We are not hesitant to embracechange in new ways in the bestinterests of the industry that wepassionately serve,” said MiguelAngel Doncel, CEO of SGO.www.sgo.esSL9021

SiliconCoreSILICONCORE IS launching itsCommon Cathode driven LED displayat the NAB Show. The company isalso showcasing the MagnoliaP1.5mm, a high resolution LEDdisplay for broadcast applications.

“SiliconCore has revolutionised theLED display industry by developinga new way to drive the LEDs usingthe Common Cathode mode, which isa much more efficient design than inprevious products,” said Eric Li, CEOof SiliconCore. “Our displays offerbrilliant resolutions, super fast refreshrate of over 2000Hz and viewingangles that enable them to performeven with extreme off axis camerashots. This makes them perfect forbroadcast applications. It also ensuresthat power is not lost to heat, thereby

reducing power consumption andincreasing the lifespan of the display,resulting in a market leading lower

total cost of ownership.”www.silicon-core.comSL14805

‘Beautifully CreativeTechnology’

Dejero will demo video transmission over wireless networks

LED displays light up NAB

NUGEN Audio’s ISL 5.1 True-Peak Limiter

Boxx TV’sMeridian

transmitter

SiliconCore’s LED display

OradORAD HI-TEC Systems isunveiling 4Designer andRenderEngine7, the nextgeneration of its realtime graphics

authoring software. 4Designeroffers new capabilities that aim tostreamline the graphics creationworkflow, and a new user interfaceand features.

4Designer and RenderEngine7are native 64-bit applications with new workspace layouts thatsupport high resolution/multi-monitor desktop displays.4Designer is geared towards

realtime on-air graphics creationfrom SD, through HD, UltraHDand large scale video walls.

New preview features include amulti-camera local preview whichgives artists working cameras for

designing complex graphics, andallows virtual studio designers torealise all the camera angles used ina production without requiring aconnection to the virtual studio.SSL6319


8th 4

IT Broadcast Workflow (ITBW) is Europe’s premier event charting the development and adaptation of file-based operations in European broadcasting organisations. ITBW is now in its sixth year and promises to deliver a wide range of innovative case study practices.

Enhance workflow efficiencyReduce operational costs. Networking Opportunities

ITBW 2014 will once again take place at the prestigious BAFTA in central London on Tuesday July 8th.

Following the success of the revised format last year, networking drinks in the evening will follow the day’s extensive case study programme.

To register or for further information visit:

www.broadcastworkflow.com

For more information on delegate bookings contact:Sara Mather +44 (0) 20 7354 [email protected]

If you are interested in sponsorship and speaking opportunities contact: Ben Ewles +44 (0) 20 7354 [email protected] Connolly +44 (0) 20 7354 [email protected]

Richard Carr +44 (0) 20 7354 [email protected]

Platinum Sponsor

PREVIOUS ATTENDEES INCLUDED:UTV, BBC, HBO, Channel 4, ESPN, TV2 Norway, DELL, GSTQ Consulting, Yleis Radio, ITV, Encompass, ARTE, Associated Press, Broadcast Center Europe, Broadcast Innovation, BVE, Canal Sur, Canal+, Council of the European Union, Channel 4, Deluxe Laboratories, Discovery Communications Europe, Disney Channels, eMotion Systems, Formula One Management, Global Broadcast Summit, IABM, IBC, IMD Media, IMS Ltd, ITN Source, IveTech, Kleinhofen, Lime Pictures, MTV Networks North, NBC Universal, NRK Norway, Production Village Ltd, ProTV, Reuters Television, Radio Suisse International, root6, Sanoma Entertainment Finland, SBS Broadcasting Networks, Screen Digest, Siemens, Sound Network, TATA Consultancy, Technology and Production Center Zurich, The Audio Suite, TV4 Group Sweden, TVI, TVM Ireland, RTE, Cologne Broadcasting centre, DPP, News International , TFO, UEFA

emotion S Y S T E M S

Gold Sponsor

Follow us on Twitter @ITBworkflowSilver Sponsor

A TVBEurope event

A unique conference for European broadcasters

Supporters

by booking the

incredible early bird rate

SAVE nearly 50%

£65plus VAT

4Designer streamlines graphics

Front Porch Digital“AT THE 2014 NAB Show,we’ll demonstrate how ourLYNX cloud content storagemanagement system hasevolved to keep up with theever-changing industry,”commented Michael Knaish,president and CEO, FrontPorch Digital.

LYNXdr, Front PorchDigital’s private-cloud hosted disaster recovery andbusiness continuity service,ensures file safety and zerodowntime. As part of anoverall media assetmanagement solution,LYNXdr aims to controlcosts as users pay only forwhat they use when they useit. Also, by consolidatingoperations, media organisationscan cut capital and operatingexpenses to reduce overhead.

LYNXdr offers a secureoff-site backup capability by ingesting and managingcontent electronically orfrom datatape to keystrategic regional cloudlocations. Additionally, thereis no cost increase as thetechnology evolves, which,the company claims, meansusers can realise even morevalue from their assets.

Kniash added: “The buzzaround ‘the cloud’ hasprompted us to make sure ourcloud offering continues toadvance further and further.We will also demonstrate thelatest updates across our fullproduct line. Visitors willclearly see how Front PorchDigital can make the cloudwork for their operations.”www.fpdigital.comSU4302; SU4405

Cloud evolution

Front Porch Digital demos its LYNXdr cloud service

VOD, OTT, IPTVare expanding broadcast content beyond the TV

Broadcasters’ Solutions to Growth of TV Anywhere, VOD, OTT, & IPTV Content Reaching Broader Audiences in an Evolving Multiplatform Ecosystem

Second Screen & Connected TV: Changing Viewer Habits New Products to Deliver TV Content to Gaming & New Video Device Platforms

WHO SHOULD ATTENDCommissioning Editors, Technology Suppliers, Analysts, Digital and New Media Companies, Ad Agencies, Brands, Venture Capitalists, Media and Entertainment Executives, Film & TV Producers, Cable Operators, Broadcasters, Content Buyers, Content App Developers, Talent Agencies, International Content Distributors, Consumer Electronics Companies, Social Media Business Development Executives

For sponsorship information contact:Steve Connolly: +44 (0) 207 354 6000 , [email protected] Ewles: +44 (0) 207 354 6000, [email protected] Carr: +44 (0) 207 354 6000 , [email protected] Hillelson: + 1 917 281 4730, [email protected]

For speaking opportunities, contact Arthur Schweitzer: +1 212 203 6273 , [email protected]

For ticket enquiries contact:Sara Mather: +44 (0) 20 7354 6001, [email protected]

In Partnership With Supported By

Next TV’s formidable line-up of speakers will include:

EARLY BIRD RATE £149+vat

For further details contact:[email protected]

For the full agenda and to book tickets, visit www.nexttvsummitlondon.com

Ashwin NavinCEO of Samba TV, and founder of BitTorrent,

the largest file-sharing network in the world

Edward Lee VP content acquisition

at streaming video powerhouse Roku

Mary Ann HalfordManaging Director,

media and entertainment,

at FTI Consulting

Jens RichterFormer managing director of Red Arrow International

and CEO of Fremantle Media

Patrice SlupowskiVP digital innovation and communities at Orange

Ashley MacKenzieFounder and CEO of leading digital rights management

agency Base79

Michael ComishGroup Digital Officer, Tesco,

Founder, CEO, Blinkbox


MillerMILLER CAMERA Supportcelebrates its 60thanniversary at NAB. Thecompany is releasing new,limited edition LP 54tripods, built by hand as they were when firstintroduced, from remainingcomponents left after thelast production run of theLight Professional (LP).

A family-foundedcompany, by 1958 Millerwas exporting the MillerFluid Head worldwide,including the first fluid headtripod to Hollywood. Thecompany also beganmanufacturing polishedwooden tripods. With therelease of the first portablevideo camera in the mid 1970s, Millertransitioned from a company focusedon the manufacturing of film fluidheads and tripods into one specialisingin products for ENG. Miller has sincesupplied many broadcast networksaround the world with its Arrow system

and, more recently, its Skyline system.Miller’s systems are currently used bymore than 265 television networks,including the BBC, CBC Canada, CCTVChina, NBC USA, and ABC Australia.www.millertripods.comC9520

NAB marks Miller’s 60th

Switch to Vantage

TelestreamTELESTREAM ISdemonstrating four new productsat NAB; three products based on the Vantage file-based videotranscoding and workflowautomation platform and a newdesktop application, Switch.

The complete family ofVantage transcoding andworkflow products, includingnew HEVC/x265 encoding, 4Ksupport and Lightspeed K20GPU-acceleration are on displayat the show.

TrafficManager aims tostreamline ingest and managecommercial and syndicatedcontent. It automates the ingestof local, regional and nationalspots, processes and delivers themedia to ad-insertion or on-airservers, automates loudnesscorrection, format conversion,

and decision-making based uponmedia attributes.

Also available on the Vantageplatform, Post Producer is a newcontent production and assemblyproduct that addresses the issueof repetitive rendering ofdifferent versions of media.

Switch is a new multiformatplayer that allows users to play,inspect and correct their media. It supports high-quality playbackfor MOV, MP4, MKV, MXF,GXF, MPS, MTS and more.www.telestream.netSL390

Pixel PowerAT ITS 26th consecutive NAB, Pixel Power isdemonstrating highlights fromacross its range.

Pixel Factory is intended tosupport file-based operations.It can be used as a solution for adding extra graphicscapability to support qualitycontrol, web delivery and postproduction, or to enhanceprogramme material and addgraphics overlays for playoutand streaming applications.

Pixel OnDemand aims to givecompanies the flexibility to payfor the rendering time theyactually need rather than spendon unused capacity, and runs onstandard IT servers.

Gallium provides theintelligence to build a variety of playout solutions using PixelPower output devices for file, IP or SDI domains.

The ChannelMasterintegrated playout systemreduces the traditional playoutsignal path to a single system.

Newsroom allows users toinsert graphics throughout the entire workflow, fromproduction through distributionand, finally, Pixel Promo is afully automated branding andpromotion software tool thataims to lower the cost ofdelivering branding anddynamic, accurate promos to air.www.pixelpower.comN2034

Next-gen graphics workflows

Pixel Power’s Pixel OnDemand

‘Classic’ limited edition LP 54 tripods

Telestream’s Post Producer, shown at NAB

MSEMATTHEW STUDIOSEquipment is unveiling itsMINIVATOR II in Las Vegas atNAB. The MINIVATOR II is thestronger and taller version of theMINIVATOR stand.

MINIVATOR II features adouble cable mechanism that willkeep both risers travelling at equalproportions with each of thehandle, allowing for steadymovement of any lighting fixtureattached. The addition of ‘combo’dual-purpose top castings allowsfor use of both Junior pin andBaby receiver fixtures.

MINNIVATOR II reaches amaximum height of 361cm, a

load height of 140cm, with amaximum load of 36.4kg,weights 21.8kg and covers afootprint of 150cm.

“MINIVATOR II is the perfectcomplement for these and othershots,” said Robert Kulesh, VP sales and marketing, MSE. “We’vebeefed up the payload of theMINIVATOR II from 60 to 80pounds and added to the maximumheight without sacrificing strength,safety or stability.”

MSE’s MINIVATOR IIaccessory package includes aRocky Mountain leg andoptional 4-inch casters.www.msegrip.comC5437MINIVATOR II stand

Digital RapidsDIGITAL RAPIDS is bringingits complete range of mediatransformation and workflowsolutions to the 2014 NAB Show.

Highlights include the StreamZLive 4000EX, for live and linearmultiscreen applications fromIPTV and OTT headends to liveevent streaming. The newStreamZ Live 4000EXmultiscreen encoder builds on theStreamZ Live family withincreased performance, fault-tolerant redundancy andexpanded control capabilities.Also on show is the StreamZ Live8000EX integrated multiscreenand broadcast live encoder.

Digital Rapids is showcasingrecently-released extensions to itsTranscode Manager 2 poweredby Kayak.

Kayak Media Processorsbring the media transformationand workflow capabilities of Digital Rapids’ Kayakplatform to the cloud, enablingMicrosoft Windows AzureMedia Services users to build cloud-based mediaprocessing applications and

services that scale with their business.

Finally, the latest version ofthe software for the company’sStreamZHD multi-format,ingest and encoding system isbeing showcased.www.digitalrapids.comSL5625

Digital Rapids Transcode Manager 2, powered by Kayak

Media transformation

MINIVATOR II emerges


Enhancing the viewing experienceThomson VideoAT NAB Thomson Video Networks is focusing on deliveringworld-class video quality on any screen, the company claims.

Thomson is demonstrating several solutions thataims to enhance the viewer experience and maximiseavailable bandwidth and video quality. These include thecompany’s Ultra HD playout solution powered by HEVCcompression; premium broadcast video compressionsystems with the enhanced version of Thomson VideoNetworks’ XMS Network Management System; newfixed and mobile contribution solutions; and an HEVCsolution for live and file-based delivery.

Visitors can see the North American debut ofThomson Video Networks’ own HEVC technology,powered by the ViBE VS7000 HEVC encoder andSapphire MPEG stream server.

Also at the Show is the company’s TimePlannerapplication, new DVB-S/S2/DSNG satellitemodulator board, and demonstrations of bothrealtime and offline HEVC encoding on the ViBEVS7000 platform, using MPEG-DASH packaging,to tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs.www.thomson-networks.comSU2610

A host of solutions at Vitec VideocomVitec Videocom VISITORS TO Vitec Videocom’sstand at NAB can see a number ofproducts from different companies,as well as hear from guest speakers.

Anton Bauer is introducing a new generation of digital batteriesat NAB, and unveiling a new line of chargers.

Autoscript’s E.P.I.C all-in-oneprompter display and on-air talentmonitor is being shown, andLitepanels is showcasing the Sola 9 LED Fresnel, for daylightbalanced illumination and the Inca 9 LED Fresnel for tungsten balanced illumination.

Sachtler’s newly launched ENG75/2D HD tripod is on display andVinten is using this year’s Show tohighlight the Vector range of headsfor broadcast applications.

Vinten Radamec claims itsAbsolute Positioning System (APS)navigation system is going to takecentre stage at this year’s NAB, andthe company is introducing thelatest addition to its range of nextgeneration fluid heads, the FH-200.www.vitecvideocom.comC6025

Launches, demos andenhancements BarnfindBARNFIND IS launching several newproducts at NAB. These include BarnMinifor point-to-point digital extension and itsnew ASI to IP converter card and opticalhousing. It will also show upgrades toexisting products and hold demonstrationsof established products including theBarnOne signal transport system.

The BarnMini-01 provides 2xBNCRX7TX and 1xSFP (MSA standard or3rd party SFP), while the BarnMini-02comes with 2xSFP and is optimal forconverting multimode to single modefibre, and single mode to multimode fibre.

Barnfind’s new ASI to IP converter cardconverts 4xASI signals into 1xIP streamand will be available in the BarnOneBTF1-09 special frame. A new range ofoptical housing for CWDM, DWDM,optical splitters and optical change oversare also on display.

With business partner Village Island,Barnfind will feature transmission tests for4K 60p 10bits 4:2:2 base band signal overa single fibre using a single-frameBarnfind multi-format media converter oneither side of the optical link. www.barnfind.noN1307

Thomson Video Networksdemos HEVC encoding

WHO SHOULD ATTENDDirectors of Technology, Heads of Production at independent production companies, Directors of equipment rental or hire, Heads of Outside Broadcasts, Production Managers, Senior Directors, Heads of Cameras, Chief Engineers, Programme Operations Managers, Stereographers, Producers, Directors of Broadcasting, Studio Directors, Technical Consultants, Research Engineers

WHY ATTEND?Discover the media eco-chain for ultra-HD Hear from the world standardisation leaders Case studies from high-profile production trials Find out the future for 3D TV in Europe Tech insights into frame rates, codecs, formats Meet the key market influencers and vendors Network with technology & production colleagues Know what the Beyond HD roadmap looks like

PREVIOUS ATTENDEES INCLUDEOrange, ITV, Sony Pictures, Arqiva, 20th Century Fox, Telenor, Panavision Europe, BBC, S4C, Discovery Networks Europe, Sky, Pro TV, Siemens, MTV International, Dolby, EDU, Digital TV Group, Deluxe, Cambridge Research Systems Ltd, BKSTS, Bath University, Atlantic Productions, Finnish Broadcasting Co.,Fountain Studios, France Telecom/Orange Labs

To book your tickets visit: www.beyondhdmasters.comor call Sara Mather +44 (0) 20 7354 6001For details on sponsorship opportunities, please contact:

Date: Tuesday, June 3rd 2014 Venue: BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London

A TVBEurope event

Follow us on Twitter @BeyondHDMasters

Gold Sponsors

John IveDirector of business

development and technology for the

IABM

Stephan HeimbecherHead of innovations

and standards at Sky Deutschland

David WoodChairman of the World Broadcasting Unions Technical Committ ee,

Consultant, Technology and

Innovation at European Broadcasting Union

Simon Gauntlett Technology Director

of the DTG

Richard MillsChief Technical Officer

at ONSIGHT

Andy QuestedHead of Technology for

HD and UHD, BBC

Formidable line-up of speakers will include:

Ben Ewles on +44 (0)207 354 6000 or

[email protected]

Steve Connolly on +44 (0)207 354 6000 or

[email protected]

Richard Carr on +44 (0)207 354 6000 or

[email protected]

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VizrtAT NAB Vizrt is showing its new Viz Virtual Studio, as well asenhancements to its broadcastgraphics newsroom workflow and VizOne media asset management system.

Viz Virtual Studio aims toenhancebroadcasts through immersive graphicsand interactive capabilities. The Studioprovides 2D and 3D virtual sets, easy set-upand design and a new Defocus Shader thatemulates the focus effects of optical lenses.

Vizrt’s workflow for newsroombroadcast graphics gives journalistscontrol of graphic content and the abilityto play those graphics in realtime live toair. The system includes interactivegraphics for the studio and data-drivengraphics for elections and social TV. Theworkflow encompasses Viz Trio charactergenerator, Viz Content Pilot template-driven graphics and video management,and Viz One for media managementand multiplatform publishing.

Viz One is a toolset for themanagement and delivery of mediaassets to any platform. The enhancedversion allows broadcasters to makeedits to video and graphics from within their native newsroom systemuntil the moment content is sent live to air. Built around extensive APIs, the system can be adapted toindividual workflows.www.vizrt.comSL2419

Immersive graphics


Studio TechnologiesSTUDIO TECHNOLOGIES isintroducing its Live-Link Miniremote camera interface system at NAB 2014. The new cameraextender system offers a choice oftwo 1RU truck units and a compactcamera unit that weights 1.6 kg.

The Live-Link Mini offers oneSDI path in each direction,supporting a range of SD-, HD-,and 3G video signals. The systemfeatures integrated party-line and4-wire intercom support, line-level

‘dry’ and powered ‘wet’ talentcueing and is fully compatiblewith SMPTE standards. Thecamera-end unit features anintegrated battery mount, whichallows for the use of a broadcast-standard rechargeable battery.

The Live-Link Mini joins thefamily of Live-Link systems,which includes the original Live-Link, Live-Link Jr. and the readyfor 4k Live-Link 07X systems.www.studio-tech.comC11149

BHV BroadcastBHV BROADCAST is showingits Video Ghost series at NAB.Video Ghost allows the user torun power and serial digitalvideo over a single coaxial cable.It now offers cable lengthperformance up to 200m fromthe camera or monitor and amaximum power output of 65W.Multi-layer protection circuitryprevents inadvertent damagecaused by misconnection.

On show for the first time israck-mounted Ghost Rack,offering four channels of VideoGhost power over coax in a

2RUx19-inch rack case withintegral power supply and frontpanel monitoring.

Julian Hiorns, BHVBroadcast’s managing director,said of Video Ghost:“Operational benefits includeportability and rapid deployment— important features for mobileproductions and difficultlocations where monitoring isrequired, and the flexibility tosend or receive video signals andDC power wherever andwhenever the need arises.”www.bhvbroadcast.comC3841

Ghost expands

Live-Link Mini gets NAB debut

Ensemble DesignsAT NAB Ensemble Designs willbe introducing its MultiviewerMagic 2.0, delivering an offlinemode for creating screen layouts,alarms for ensuring signalintegrity, fast authoring tools witheye dropper and paste functions,closed caption support, andcountdown clocks. Also new areindependent Edit and Controlmodes, which aim to give the userprecise control for specific jobs.

“The staff setting up andconfiguring a Multiviewer havevery different needs from the day-to-day operators,” said MondaeHott, director of sales for

Ensemble Designs. “Engineersand installers are configuring thehardware, setting up alarms andcreating screen layouts. Segmentproducers, floor directors and QCstaff need to see a lot of differentsources and look at signal quality.We’ve addressed those two typesof workflows in MultiviewerMagic 2.0.”

The Avenue MV82 is an eightinput/two output multiviewer, andeight sources can be displayed onone screen, or split into two quadsplits. The MV164 is a 16input/four output multiviewer. www.ensembledesigns.comN2524

Ensemble works the magic

VirtualSet

ScheduALLPROVIDER OF EnterpriseResource Management (ERM) software for media and transmission, ScheduALLis showcasing its bookingplatform, ScheduALLConnector at the 2014 NAB Show. ScheduALLConnector gives customers of transmission providers the tools to book their own bandwidth.

ScheduALL Connector is adirect link for the OccasionalUse (OU) business to itscustomers. The tool provides acentralised view of a globalresource network for both theprovider and the customer.

“Connector is going to turn alot of heads at NAB,” said RickLegow, president at ScheduALL.“We are giving our clients thecapability to connect directlywith their customers for instant

access to resource booking. It vastly improves the way our clients do business with their customers.”

ScheduALL Connector unitesScheduALL systems across alltypes of media and broadcastenterprises, giving realtimeavailability and access to self-provisioning consumers of theirproviders’ resource inventories.www.scheduall.comSU3021

Connector turns heads

ShotokuAT NAB Shotoku is showingenhancements to its manualcamera support range with thenew carbon fibre tripod systemand pan and tilt solutions. It isalso unveiling its new ncamcamera tracking system.

Shotoku’s new two-stageTTH1502C carbon fibre tripodweighs 5.9kg, features a150mm bowl base and standsover 1615mm tall at itsmaximum height.

The SX300 features a 40kgpayload and wide-balancecapability, and supports an arrayof cameras, lenses and accessories.

The SG900 manual pan and tilt head is suited to OB and studio production withteleprompters or box type lenses,supports 90kg, and featuressingle knob balance adjustment.The unit incorporates theVISCAM ultimate fluid drag

system to controlsmooth pan and tilt movementand REULAUXperfect balancesystem.

The ncamcamera trackingsystem features amulti-sensing barmounted on thestudio camera that providesrealtime data to its associatedtracking server.

The company isalso showcasing itsadvanced TK-53VR crane and itsentire range ofcontrol systemswill be available fordemonstration.www.shotoku.tvC8731

ncam is on track

The SX300 fluid head, new from Shotoku

Studio Technologies’ Live-Link Mini adds to Live-Link systems family

Space Season in lift-offwith Prime FocusPrime Focus was selected byArrow Media to complete postwork on two documentaries forChannel 4’s Live From SpaceSeason (pictured above). PrimeFocus’s finishing team also postproduced multiple VTs for livetransmissions from NationalGeographic and Channel 4. Theinteractive TV event featuredastronauts Rick Mastracchioand Koichi Wakata conducting atour of the International SpaceStation, showcasing experimentsfrom the floating laboratory.

Tim Waller graded the VTs anddocumentaries in Baselight. Wallercommented: “I came to work atPrime Focus for the level ofquality work that comes throughthe doors so it is utterly thrilling to work on such an outstandingprogramme. When I graded MoonI was challenged with stylising anout of this world environment andnow I am actually grading real lifespace footage.”www.primefocusgroup.com

The Voice live finals atElstree with BBC S&PP BBC Studios and PostProduction (BBC S&PP) isproviding full productiongallery facilities for the live finals of The Voice.

Broadcasting live at Elstree,The Voice (pictured above right)

will take over the Studios’George Lucas Stage 1, and makeuse of a purpose-built gallery.With direct access onto Stage 1,the production, sound andlighting galleries are equippedwith high definition technology.www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com

Sequence Post completesChannel 5 dramaSequence Post has completedthe end-to-end post of the 10-part crime drama, Suspects,created and produced byNewman Street, part ofFremantleMedia UK forChannel 5.

Suspects is the first originaldrama for Channel 5 in several years, and aims to take a different approach byhaving the actors improvisedialogue and using filmingtechniques and a directorialapproach usually associatedwith factual programming.

Sequence Post was contractedto provide the entire postsolution, with post productionsupervisor Ben Foakes usingDaVinci Resolve as the ingestand transcode platform.

Foakes oversaw the finishingprocess at Sequence Post’scentral London boutique bycolourist William HW Read.www.sequence-post.co.uk

News Reviewwww.tvbeurope.com April 201458 TVBEurope

By Holly Ashford

Lipsync gets Starred Up: LipSync has provided equity investment and full post services on the award-winning film Starred Up. The Sigma Films production opened in the UK last month and tells thestory of a troubled teen who meets his father in prison.

Starred Up was graded on Baselight by colourist Adam Inglis at LipSync, and was the third film he hadgraded for director David Mackenzie. “The range of colour and light within the original material gave us alot of storytelling and mood possibilities,” commented Inglis. “This prison is a place of sensory overloadand I like to think that rather than just looking real, it feels real too.”

The sound mix was created on an AMS-Neve DFC console by Robert Farr, LipSync’s re-recording mixer. He explains: “The film was shot in a real prison, and David [Mackenzie] wanted to usethe original recording as far as possible to capture the real sounds of the building. It was a very challenging and rewarding project to work on.”www.lipsyncpost.com

BroaMan extends routing matrix for Frenchparliament: BroaMan has completed the second phaseof its communication infrastructure project for French TVnetwork La Chaîne Parlementaire.

This has seen the extension of the system to furtherlocations and creation of a centralised routing system byredeploying old devices with further interfaces from BroaMan.

BroaMan has delivered a Route66 as the centralised routerand two MUX22 units, with a third supplied later.

“Route66 is configured to combine five satellites —integrating the older V3R-FX- INTERCOM-SDI units withthe new MUX22 devices. Every channel that appears onthe satellite is available in Route66 and can be routed toany of the outputs,” said BroaMan application engineer,Maciek Janiszewski.

Both the V3R-FX-INTERCOM-SDI and MUX22 devices areequipped with the Clear-Com board, offering four 4-wireintercom ports each, while a X6R-FX-INTERCOM provideslocal audio and intercom I/O in the central location. www.broaman.com

Baselight gets Under the Skin of Scarlett Johansson film: Dirty Looks, the Londoncolour grading studio specialising in Baselight grading for independent movies, carried out thefinish of Under the Skin — the latest movie from director Jonathan Glazer, starring ScarlettJohansson. Visual effects were completed by Dirty Looks’ creative partner, One of Us.

As effects developed, they were regularly conformed and worked on in a 2K gradingenvironment. Dirty Looks’ Tom Balkwill explained: “Combining technical resources allowed aquick turnaround between creative departments and helped us deliver what this film needed,not only quickly but to the highest standards — the efficient workflow from VFX, aided by the Baselight integration, meant quality never had to be compromised.”

The film was shot in Glasgow and rural Scotland on the ARRI ALEXA and the small cinema-quality digital camera, one-cam.www.filmlight.ltd.uk

TVBE April 2014 digital edition

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Transcript of TVBE April 2014 digital edition