TVBE February 2015 digital edition

www.tvbeurope.com

February 2015Business, insight and intelligence for the broadcast media industry

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High dynamic range 4K in 2015 Vision mixers forum

THE CUMULUS EFFECT

Broadcasting in the cloud

TVBEurope 3February 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

We’re deep into awards season in the

world of fi lm and television, with the

Golden Globes having opened 2015’s

celebrations in January, and with the British

Academy Awards (BAFTA) and 87th staging

of the Oscars just around the corner as I sit to

commit this issue to the printing press.

You can see from the variety of excellence

being celebrated and nominated that 2014 was

a signifi cant period of success for the moving

image, and already, you can start to pick out

the potential nominees for our own TVBAwards

later this year. By then, we will have had a

majority of 2015’s innovations and achievements

to account for, and if this year is any

improvement on last, then our nominations

list will be one to look forward to.

The nominations for the 2015 TVBAwards will

offi cially launch during our new conference

initiative, TVBEurope Broadcast Week, at the end

of June. TVBEurope Broadcast Week replaces

our existing Beyond HD Masters and IT Broadcast

Workfl ow events, and will be made up of a

series of webinars, a roundtable event, and our

centrepiece one-day conference, Broadcast

2020. We’ve taken a great deal of time and

care in piecing together a new and improved

agenda that will go beyond the discussion stage

to bring tangible strategic insights and analysis of

the business landscape on the road to 2020.

Our sessions will offer detailed insights on the UHD

movement beyond resolution – monetisation, new

and existing standards, high dynamic range – as

well as cornering the latest real-world business

cases in the area of workfl ow and the impact of IP

and cloud technology on the production chain.

We will also look to the future connected world with

a dedicated ‘Broadcast 2020: visions of the future’

session that seeks to defi ne our industry’s place in

a hyper connected, networked society. We will be

confi rming a fi nal agenda shortly, but it you are

interested in being involved or have any questions

about any aspect of TVBEurope Broadcast Week,

then please feel free to get in touch.

This issue, we begin a two-part examination of

broadcast and the cloud, starting with an insight

into the adoption of cloud technology by media

entities in France, being led by Canal Plus. We

also look back on our executive ‘evolution of the

workfl ow’ roundtable event with root6, peer into

the discussion around high dynamic range, and

talk to two leading trade shows about their 2015

events: BVE and ISE.

There’s plenty to get stuck into this issue, and

I hope you enjoy the insights we’ve lovingly

created and assembled for your consumption.

Please feel free to contact me, as ever.

James McKeownExecutive Editor

A new week of events dedicated to establishing a fi ve-year roadmap

WelcomeEDITORIALExecutive Editor - James [email protected] - Melanie [email protected] Writer - Holly [email protected] Media, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 354 6002Contributors - Chris Forrester, David Fox, David Davies, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens, Catherine WrightHead of Digital - Tim FrostHuman Resources & Offi ce Manager - Lianne DaveyHead of Design - Jat GarchaEditorial Production Manager - Dawn Boultwood

Senior Production Executive - Alistair TaylorPublisher - Steve [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Sales Manager - Ben [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Account Manager - Richard [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Managing Director - Mark BurtonUS Sales - Michael MitchellBroadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY [email protected]+1 (631) 673 0072Japan and Korea Sales - Sho HariharaSales & Project, Yukari Media [email protected]+81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800CirculationNewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF, UK

Free [email protected] Tel +44 1580 883848

TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by NewBay Media, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN, England

NewBay Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association

© NewBay Media 2015. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. TVBEurope is mailed to qualifi ed persons residing on the European continent. Subscription is free.

Allow 8 weeks for new subscriptions and change of address delivery. Send subscription inquiries to: Subscription Dept, NewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 7BR, England. ISSN 1461-4197

Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA

Broadcast’s 2020 vision

In this issue4 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

Unsurprisingly, if you consider its inventive and innovative outlook when it comes to programming, Canal Plus seems to be leading the way on the adoption of cloud technology in France. Catherine Wright investigates

Roundtable26 2212-24 Workfl ow

Higher dynamic range, or extended dynamic range, has become a vexing subject and curve ball for revered institutions like the ITU, DVB, SMPTE and the EBU. George Jarrett gets the lowdown

34 Feature

44 TVBEverywhere

There was a time when a vision mixer (switcher) would perform little more than cut, mix and wipe. That more leisurely era is now long past, and the equipment is being asked to carry out more and more specialised functions. Philip Stevens moderates

46 Vision Mixers Forum

Interview10

David Davies speaks to ISE MD Mike Blackman about the show’s growing appeal to diff erent technology communities, including broadcast

We refl ect on our recent executive roundtable, in partnership with root6, that assessed the evolution of the workfl ow in a post production environment

31

Chris Forrester looks at how broadcasters are progressing with testing and producing 4K content as well as analysing the 4K prospects for 2015

4K: The programming stampede begins

Broadcast in the cloud

Flyaway kits have usually been reserved for diffi cult-to-access locations. But, as Philip Stevens discovers, the cost factor is now making such packages even more attractive.

Melanie Dayasena-Lowe speaks to Paolo Bazzola, CEO of ContentWise, ahead of the company’s recent customer project with Sky Italia

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Opinion and Analysis6 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

For decades, our industry has been driven

by new developments, most of which

came in a box. These boxes of tricks, for

the most part, worked very well: developed

and manufactured by very clever engineers

and, it must be said, marketeers. Because of

their ubiquity amongst multiple manufacturers,

these boxes could come in any colour you like,

so long as it was a box.

Over time, the boxes became smaller while

delivering the same or more functionality, their USP

being ‘save rack space’ for, of course, more boxes.

The reality today for those making, or soon

expecting to make the transition to an IP-based

infrastructure is that the clever boxes that ‘deliver

a solution’ are no longer a reason to be boxed in.

In fact, most boxes are no longer necessary at all.

Some in the industry understand that the

transition to IP/IT has already happened,

but many are still reluctant to abandon the

traditional box. When I hear someone say, “This

is our new IP-based future”, I think: “Oh. Really?

That’s so ten years ago.”

What seems odd to me is that some of the

world’s most experienced broadcasters are

often the most determined to resist change. For

example, instead of burying SDI, they just replace

the letters SDI with IP and market virtually the

same technology, or boxes that contain it, as a

‘straight line migration’ when it’s anything but.

Software defined networks (SDNs) are being

touted as the way forward for television. It’s now

possible to build highly dynamic networks for tens of

thousands of virtualised instances that enable you

to get the most out of the hardware you bought

for the shiny new data centre you built. It’s a great

technological advance and highly capable facility,

but the truth is, it’s a nuclear-powered flyswatter and

far more than most broadcasters would ever need.

Racks upon racks in row upon row of new boxes

are proudly displayed that can play out 30,000-

plus channels. Well, congratulations. You can now

run every channel in the world from your facility.

Everyone else can go home, eh? But ask yourself

how many virtualised networks you are actually

going to run from your data centre and you will

probably find that it’s nothing a couple of VLANs

couldn’t handle using switches that you have.

Of course, it doesn’t cost you anything, except

lots of money, to have those new capabilities

and I confess that if I bought new equipment

today I’d want to make sure it was SDN-capable,

but I wouldn’t look forward to the day I had to

explain to the boss why I needed it right now.

The term ‘software-defined television’

resonates because it sounds trendy alongside

software-defined…anything really: but what

does it actually mean to you?

Enterprise environmentFor me, we’re essentially talking about an enterprise

environment that you break down into a variety

of software functions, with television being just

one of those functions. Content and data goes in,

gets stored or transformed as necessary, and gets

pushed out again. That’s all there is to it, whether

you’re printing pages or ‘printing’ television. Even

Cinegy’s playout service (notice I said “service” not

“server”) is more like a printer that spools television to

air rather than a traditional video server approach.

You call up the service, give it a playout job and

it’s done and dealt with, whether you’re sitting in the

same room or half-way around the world. Where

the content is, and where you are, is irrelevant. All

you care about is what you define for the services

you want, not which cluster of boxes is going to

perform (or not perform) those services for you.

I realise that this is quite a departure from traditional

broadcast thinking where everything is boxed

and linked with a flow chart to show how it’s all

connected, but traditional thinking is what has so

many wringing their hands over business models,

dissipating revenues and their child’s university

savings fund. Far too many CTOs in the traditional

broadcast space are clinging to technical legacies

that may soon have them wondering where their

next meal will be coming from.

If they’re not careful, I’m guessing it’ll be

coming from a box.

By Jan Weigner, president and CTO, Cinegy

Don’t box yourself in

‘Even Cinegy’s playout service (notice I said “service” not “server”) is more like a printer

that spools television to air rather than a traditional video server approach’

Opinion and Analysis8 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

To stay competitive in the multiscreen era,

operators need to entice new customers

and retain existing users with additional

features in their pay-TV offerings. However,

added device and security disparity can prevent

the deployment of TV Everywhere services.

Whether operators choose to offer catch-up

TV, Video on Demand (VoD) or streaming to

complement the main TV service, they need to

address this fragmentation issue as each service

brings added complexity.

To deploy a seamless service across multiple

devices and applications, operators need

a solution that can adapt to all devices

and support a wide range of browsers,

operating systems, screen sizes and security

specifications. The service also has to handle

different interaction methods, such as

remotes, touchscreens, mouse and keyboard

combination or even joysticks. However, solving

this user experience (UX) and user interface (UI)

issue is only the tip of the iceberg.

While the UI plays a crucial role in ensuring

customer retention and increased subscriptions,

operators also need to handle rights negotiations

to gain the content industry’s trust to deliver

high quality video securely to any authorised

device. This leads to added security and rights

management issues. Television’s future will be

made up of a mix of traditional broadcast TV and

IP-delivered content. Increasingly, content owners

demand that all networks have to be secure,

even those used to share content within the home

or to access personal content stored on the home

PVR or a cloud server. As Wi-Fi, mobile over-the-air

and TV networks all require specific encryption

algorithms, technology solutions have to offer

support for popular Conditional Access (CA)

and Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems,

adding to the technical complexity.

Finally, operators rely on analytics to predict

customer viewing habits and preferences and

adapt their services to fit the consumer’s needs.

Standards help to solve the fragmentation issueStandards negate the need for operators to invest

in bespoke applications or adapt applications

from other platforms. Instead, they allow operators

to use ‘code once, deploy everywhere’ models,

reducing the testing phase and ensuring a

seamless experience on all devices. Standards

also facilitate interoperability and enable easier

sharing between multiple devices around the

home and beyond. This ability to have all devices

work in harmony with the main TV screen holds

the key to increasing loyalty and reducing churn.

Using a single standards-based browser

supporting HTML5 and responsive design

functionality can solve the UI/UX issue. This

combination provides operators with an efficient

platform on which to design a UX that can

dynamically adjust to any screen without

manual interaction.

The new DLNA CVP-2 guidelines are another

essential standard in the quest for fully secure

and interoperable in-home content distribution.

They allow device discovery and remote user

interfaces (RUIs), easing consumer adoption and

promoting the operator’s brand to unmanaged

devices without the rigmarole of writing a new

app for every screen.

Standardisation will be vital in driving TV

Everywhere, regardless of what form it takes.

However, as the cloud becomes a more

effective alternative to the home network,

consumers are starting to raise concerns

surrounding reliability, or quality of service (QoS).

To stand out, operators must provide consumers

with as much content as possible across a

multitude of devices. Although cloud TV seems

to be the best option for next generation TV

services, operators must address issues including

device fragmentation, content security and

consistent user experience before the cloud is

ready for prime time.

Vaulting the fragmentation hurdle to true TV Everywhere

By Joerg Eggink, global product director, ACCESS

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e

Launched in 2004, the annual ISE trade

show has gradually evolved to become a

‘must-visit’ event for the professional AV and

systems integration communities. Its growth in the

last few years has been phenomenal, with more

than 51,000 attending the show in 2014: a 15 per

cent increase on the previous year alone.

Steering the development of the show

throughout its history has been Integrated Systems

Events managing director, Mike Blackman.

On the eve of the 2015 event, he spoke to

TVBEurope about the evolving visitor base and

why ISE is becoming increasingly attractive to

broadcast manufacturers and customers.

In terms of the attendee mix, what has been the greatest single change witnessed in recent times?When we started ISE, most attendees were

channel-oriented. Now, increasingly, we get

more and more end-customers coming to the

show, particularly from the commercial sector.

The result is that we work very closely with

integrators and manufacturers to actually

speak to their customers or potential

customers, and encourage them to attend

the show. One way in which we do this is to

operate several hosted buyer programmes

to highlight customers who may not be able

to afford to attend the show, and then

sponsor them to come.

What are the main differences that attendees will observe between the 2014 and 2015 events?They will notice the continuing evolution of the

on-floor theatres that we started in 2014. The aim

with these is to give some real enhanced content

to the exhibition. I like to use the analogy of the

exhibition resembling a magazine. You might say

that the exhibits are like the advertising, and we

as the organiser need to deliver the editorial.

So, the objective with the on-floor theatres is to

deliver even more content free of charge.

Last year we had two of these spaces, but for 2015

we have three: Commercial Solutions, Residential

Solutions, and Unified Communications.

Why do you think we are now seeing increased representation from broadcast manufacturers?I think it’s really a natural evolution of the show

in terms of more exhibiting companies offering

complete solutions involving audio and video.

This makes ISE a natural fit for those visitors who

are seeking, for example, total studio solutions.

An increasing number of smaller companies

in this space are offering streaming solutions,

and as narrowcasting becomes more relevant,

it becomes more appropriate for companies

offering those technologies to come to us.

From 2016, the show will run for four days rather than the current three. What do you think will be the impact of this change?There has been a lot of pressure over time to

extend the show, and for a long time we felt that

we did not require it. But the fact is that the show

has grown dramatically during recent years; for

example, on the final day last year, we had more

people than attended the entire show in 2008.

There were really only two options for dealing with

the growth of ISE. One was for companies to take

larger booths in order to deal with the demand, but

although that might be OK for the larger firms, a lot

of the middle-sized companies were already maxed

out in terms of personnel; so taking more space

would not have helped them. Not that adding

more space would necessarily have been an option

anyway; we are in a sell-out position this year.

Adding an extra day started to look like

an option when the operators of the RAI did

some juggling around with the schedules. We

approached exhibitors about the possibility and it

was clear that most of them wanted it.

Interview10 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

Now marking its 12th edition, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) continues to evolve beyond its professional AV visitor and attendee base. David Davies spoke to ISE managing director Mike Blackman about the show’s growing appeal to different technology communities, including broadcast

Broadcast in ISE’s sights

“An increasing number of smaller (broadcast) companies are offering streaming

solutions, and as narrowcasting becomes more and more relevant, it becomes more appropriate for companies that offer those

technologies to come to us”

Mike Blackman

Workflow12 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

Traditionally, mounting an outside broadcast

involved one truck or more turning up at

a location and forming the centre of the

production of a sporting or other event. And

while that still happens in most instances, the use

of portable kit – often packed in flight cases – is

increasing. Not only does this make running an

OB in and from a restricted space a practical

proposition, it also can meet the budget

constraints imposed by today’s broadcasters.

“Our Mobile Broadcast System, ‘MBS’ for

short, is HotCam’s solution to those demanding

multi-camera shoots where you need the

capabilities of an OB, but have neither the

money nor the space,” explains Trevor Hotz, chief

executive officer and co-founder of HotCam.

Dan Studley, HotCam’s technical director,

adds, “We have spent a long time custom

designing equipment to streamline the rigging

and operation of our flyaways. This design goes

from custom racking, that allows compact

packing and quick set-up times, to hardware

that offers switching and precision control for

our vision control.”

Studley says that IP technology is becoming

more and more essential in the OB world. “This

technology is making cable distances an issue

of the past as the desire to run systems further

and further away from locations grows. Running

systems on an IP infrastructure allows it to grow

and change very quickly and easily without re-

design or affecting other systems.”

Emulating bigger playersAnother company that has built Portable

Production Units (PPUs) is UK-based Procam.

“We’re experiencing a healthy demand in

Compact kitFlyaway kits have usually been reserved for difficult-to-access locations. But, as Philip Stevens discovers, the cost factor is now making such packages even more attractive

“The vast improvement in internet connectivity has meant that we can

create live OBs for web-streaming that have the same quality as television for a

much smaller budget” Nick Badham, Procam

the UK OB market,” states Nick Badham, head

of project management. “This buoyancy

has been driven by a desire to emulate OBs

produced by bigger channels like the BBC and

Channel 4 on productions with much smaller

budgets. To achieve this in a cost effective

way, we’ve built lightweight PPU flyaway

monitoring units using PSE-based equipment,

copperhead fibres and Sony F800 camcorders

that give the same vision control, audio and

communication facilities that you would see on

a big-budget OB.”

Badham says that the company is increasingly

getting requests for live web casting, especially

from big corporate brands. “The vast

improvement in internet connectivity has meant

that we can create live OBs for web-streaming

that have the same quality as television for a

much smaller budget.”

A recent success saw Procam live-stream a

product launch across a company’s internal

channels, incorporating phones-ins and

interactivity. “Over the next few years, we

expect to see well-known television programmes

combining their regular productions with live

web-streams, enabling them to offer more

exclusive content to their viewers.”

Versatile combinationsLondon-based Trickbox TV also designs and

builds PPUs which are essentially OB trucks

condensed into a flight case or cases. “We

usually design bespoke flyaways for clients and

would specify appropriate equipment on a

project/job basis,” states managing director,

Liam Laminman. “The key feature is that we can

provide broadcast facilities at any location and

supply exactly what the client wants, rather than

paying for a full truck of kit that isn’t required.”

In his view, the most popular equipment for

flyaways are Panasonic Vision mixers, Blackmagic

Design routers and Yamaha Audio mixers. “More

and more, we’re seeing multi-use equipment

coming to the market. Vision and sound mixers are

essentially also matrices and routers these days.”

Like others, Laminman sees the role of IP

as increasingly important. “IP offers many

advantages over traditional broadcast

TVBEurope 13

WorkflowSwiss production company Hit the Roof deployed an eight camera set-up, with a Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio Pro, recording in ProRes to capture the footage from the world archery championships

February 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

technologies because of lower cost, flexibility

and, ultimately, more accessibility. Sony is leading

in this field and demonstrated an end-to-end 4K

IP workflow at IBC this year.”

New marketsAccording to Claire Wilkie, managing director

of Wilkie TV, flyaway kits represent a new

generation of outside broadcasting that’s only

really cropped up in the last few years. “It opens

up an entirely new market for those who could

not justify a traditional OB – whether due to cost,

space or time, but who still want a broadcast-

quality multi-camera product. It allows more

content to be captured from more events, for

much better value. For instance, sports channels

could deploy fly-away solutions to the lower/

smaller sports leagues to gather additional

content on top of their traditional OB for the

major games.”

Wilkie’s technical manager, Ben Harper, adds

“The equipment that fits best into OB fly-away kits

tends to be the miniature, feature-filled products.

There just isn’t space in the rack for a 1U piece

of kit to simply convert a single channel of SDI to

fibre. The more interfaces, options and features

packed into every unit of space, allows us to

develop even more advanced fly-away kits in a

smaller and smaller footprint.”

Harper believes that one important development

has been disk-less recording. “There is no longer a

need for a rack of VTRs to capture each camera or

play out VTs. This can now all be achieved by a few

computers running multiple-channel capture cards.”

Shooting on targetHit The Roof, a Swiss video production

consultancy, has worked alongside the World

Archery Federation for six years. From the outset,

the aim was to produce content that would make

a great TV event. “We know that not every sport

has the budget of Formula One, so we work with

sporting bodies to build reliable flyaway kits for

live production that stand up to gruelling touring

schedules and produce high quality, engaging

footage,” explains director Cédric Roger.

While each flyaway kit is tailored for the

particular sport, Blackmagic Design’s routers,

monitoring and capture solutions play a central

role in the production workflow for all of the

kits. This includes the Blackmagic Design Smart

Videohub router, HyperDeck Studio Pro for

capture and Blackmagic SmartView for high

quality monitoring in the field.

“As well as being very compact and

affordable, the amount of features and ease of

use of products has meant that we can reduce

the manpower required to support these tours,

whilst maintaining a very credible and solid

broadcast quality product,” states Roger.

Hit the Roof deployed an eight camera

set-up shooting in HD, with a Blackmagic

HyperDeck Studio Pro, recording in ProRes to

capture archery footage. “The HyperDeck really

functions as the backbone of the kit, as the dual

SSD slots mean we can record continuously,

which is critical for a sport such as archery,

where there are lots of competitors shooting in

quick succession.”

Stuart Ashton, director, Blackmagic Design

EMEA, adds, “Our hardware is competitively

priced, feature rich and offers support for SD,

HD and UltraHD formats, while also being

compact enough for use in flyaway kits or

racks rooms. The ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio

4K, for example, which is 1 rack unit in height,

allows customers to work and master to Ultra HD

when used with our HyperDeck Studio Pro and

SmartView 4K preview monitors.”

Connectivity considerationsFlyaways are not, however, confined to ‘small’

events. Even at high-profile sports and using

portable cabins, the concept offers distinct

advantages. Mike Ransome, MD of Presteigne

Broadcast Hire, says the idea of its Pods is to

reduce rig time and offer a lightweight solution.

“Fibre connectivity is an obvious technology

that can help achieve this. For Formula One we

deployed a Riedel Mediornet solution which allows

us to not only transport a large number of signals on

fibre, but also to re-route them, convert them and

embed and de-embed various audio signals.”

Ransome agrees that IP encoding and

technology is beginning to offer solutions

for flyaways.

“Gradually, broadcasters are considering the

advantages of remote production, whereby the

amount of people and equipment on location

is reduced and replaced by a control room at

a broadcast centre that can switch to control a

different venue and a different sport. We have

deployed such systems for Canadian broadcasters

in the past using fibre connectivity, but IP

technology could enable this practice to become

more cost effective and provide more facilities

without increasing the required bandwidth.”


Vodafone’s launch of 4G in London’s Trafalgar Square was recorded by Wilkie TV

using its flyaway kit

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• Digital edition

(90,000 circulation)

• Guaranteed editorial

coverage for all advertisers

(opinion piece)

• Ten sends of BVE Daily

newsletter

New for BVE exhibitors and visitors in 2015, TVBEurope and TVTechnology are delighted to announce the launch of the offi cial BVE Daily and dedicated email newsletter.

UK SalesBen EwlesSales Manager+44 (0) 207 354 [email protected]

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THEBVEDAILYWWW.BVEXPO.COM

The Official Newspaper

BROADCAST & PRODUCTION: FROM CREATION TO CONSUMPTION

According to Ericsson, IBC2014 is

the first time the industry sees the

increased scope and capabilities

of Ericsson’s media business as

the company builds on its TV and

broadcast offering with the addition

of recently acquired Azuki Systems,

Microsoft Mediaroom and Red

Bee Media.

At its booth, Ericsson is

demonstrating how it is at the

centre of the convergence of media

and telecoms, which is driving

fundamental industry change.

Ericsson says that it will show

how it is ensuring the highest

quality and efficiency of video

delivery through its capability to

make every network video-centric

and enable TV service providers,

broadcasters and content

owners to leverage and deploy

inherently flexible and intelligent

unified platforms.

The company is also highlighting

how the Mediaroom integration is

allowing it to build what it says are

new and innovative technologies,

which are redefining the TV

viewing experience.

Visitors to Ericsson’s stand

can learn about the company’s

acquisition of Red Bee Media, as

well as see a presentation of its

Media Vision 2020. Described as

an illustration of the future of TV

over the next six years, it outlines

the necessary strategies required

to achieve success in the

networked society.

Building the TV Anywhere ecosystem

24th February 2015

Buzz is a new software accessory

for Pixel Power’s playout devices

designed to allow users to scan,

moderate and broadcast social

media interactions.

“To be able to take what your

audience is saying about you and

put it on screen quickly and safely

is a huge advantage. Buzz puts this

at anyone’s fingertips,” said Pixel

Power CEO, James Gilbert.

Buzz is designed to make it

easy to select tweets and other

comments by using an integration

approach and a simple user

interface. Multiple social media

feeds are consolidated, and

users can accept, format and

publish messages.

Ahead of its IBC launch, Buzz

was already being used by TV

Guide Network during live coverage

of the Big Brother house for

Big Brother After Dark.

Added Gilbert: “(Users) can

define a graphics template to

match the look of their show,

and quickly and simply pick

the right messages out of the

incoming feeds. Most important,

it is so simple to use that it

will be hard to put the wrong

content to air.”

Buzz around social mediaGilbert: “It is so simple to use”

Beach head: Ericsson technologies are

‘redefining the TV viewing experience’

EXAMPLEE

EEEXAMBuzz is a new software ac

for Pixel Power’s playo

design

moderate

media inte

“To b

aud

Buzz arou

The Global Broadcast, AV and Pro Audio Resource Library

The free and easy way to stay informed

Publisher: Steve Connolly [email protected] +44 (0)207 354 6000

Sales: Ben Ewles [email protected]+44 (0)207 354 6000

Campaign Manager: Warren [email protected]+44 (0)207 354 6000

Why join NewBay Connect?Stay informed with the latest industry white papers, analysis, web seminars and case studies that affect your business and your career.

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Formerly known as Belgrade Broadcasting

Corporation (RTB), the service comprised

both Radio Belgrade and Television

Belgrade (TVB). Radio broadcasts began in 1929,

followed by the first televised broadcast in 1958.

By 1970, Serbia as a whole could receive the

RTS signal and in 1991 all public broadcasters

began their merger into RTS. The Miloševic era

of the 1990s saw the break-up of Yugoslavia

and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars. These were

turbulent times for the broadcaster, and in 1992

Belgrade Broadcasting Corporation became

part of Serbian Broadcasting Corporation,

a centralised and closely monitored media

network designed to be a propaganda tool

for Miloševic. In April 1999, NATO intentionally

bombed the central studio of RTS, as part

of a plan to disrupt and degrade the state-

owned communications network. However,

in the subsequent years the broadcaster has

rebuilt its reputation, improved its programming

and taken part in a BBC World Service Trust

training programme intended, according to

the Corporation, “to realise the potential of RTS

to act as a catalyst for democratic change

by developing its professional capacity and

strengthening its public service values.”

During this time, RTS secured a prime position

in the country, with its evening news programmes

attracting an audience of 1.6 million. In the same

decade, RTS also made its first investment in

Avid technology; an investment it added to in

November of last year.

RTS’s head of TV technology, Nenad

Cukalovic, explains, “The volume of media

assets we’re handling has increased fourfold

over the past 12 months, accelerating the need

for us to streamline our operational efficiencies

RTS kept the ruin of its former production facility as a memorial after its

bombing during the Yugoslav Wars

Workflow

In November 2013, Avid announced its continued expansion into Eastern Europe, with Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), the country’s public broadcaster, significantly adding to its investment in Avid’s broadcast solutions. Holly Ashford visited RTS in Belgrade to discover how history has shaped the broadcaster, and how the recent investment will help realise its future plans

RTS: A catalyst for change

Nenad Cukalovic, head of TV technology at RTS

and rethink how we handle, store and access

our media content.” Cukalovic has worked at

RTS since 1997, so has extensive experience

and a deep understanding of the workflow and

processes at the broadcaster. Starting out as an

engineer in the maintenance team, Cukalovic

later became head of the department. He

then worked as the leading engineer for IT-

based production systems, head of system

engineering and finally assumed his current

position, as executive director of TV technology.

During this time he led the implementation of

the NRCS and digital news production systems

at RTS. The broadcaster’s original Grass Valley

systems were replaced over ten years ago with

Avid infrastructure which included the iNews

newsroom computer system, and Interplay PAM

ISIS 5000 post production system.

“iNews was integrated with the previous Digital

News Production system from Grass Valley,”

Cukalovic explains, and although the post system

“is not directly connected to the new system, we

got a lot of experience from using it.” This was

utilised for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008

and for the University Games in Belgrade in 2009.

Keeping the good, changing the badBefore the installation, RTS conducted internal

research into “how news people do their job,

and about what the tech could do for us,

to do the same job. We wanted to work the

same way as always, just with new tools,” said

Cukalovic. The new Avid workflow was designed

to help RTS handle increased amounts of media

and efficiently capture and manage content,

streamlining collaboration across regional sites

and speed up delivery of content to its TV,

radio and internet outlets. The investment

comprised an Avid Interplay Production asset

management system, Avid Interplay Central

for remote working, Avid AirSpeed 5000 ingest

servers, and an Avid Pro Tools HDX mixing and

editing system. The new solutions allowed

RTS to improve its workflow, but not make

changes so dramatic as to interrupt already

solid working practices.

“We succeeded in getting a flexible system

so we can keep our workflow as it is,” said

Cukalovic. “The system we’ve got is flexible

enough to keep our good habits and to

manage and improve and change our bad

habits.” Avid was keen to finish the project by

the new year, which involved completing the

installation in parallel with training RTS staff.

However, Cukalovic says “the installation went

smoothly, we had almost no issues. For the user

preparation we had all training conducted

and completed on time. Then we had internal

repetition of all training for a huge number of

users for the next three months.”

There are further plans for enhancing

workflows at the broadcaster, thanks to the

Avid investment: RTS has 23 regional sites

across Serbia, which frequently send stories

to the Belgrade HQ.

“At the moment we are in talks to network

those regional sites and for that we will have

great possibilities, thanks to Avid technology.”

High def and beyondThings have come a long way since RTS’s

turbulent past, but Cukalovic admits there is

still room for improvement. “We are in a period

of transition from standard def to high def and

beyond,” he says. The broadcaster launched an

HD channel in 2009, though Cukalovic admits

there is currently “no separated production for

HD”, and since launch “unfortunately there has

not been so much progress since then.”

Serbia’s digital switchover is scheduled for this

year, in a project that will cost an estimated

€30.7 million, according to a UK Trade and

Investment statement. Cukalovic comments:

“I hope that the switchover to digital terrestrial

transmission will push us to make further steps in

developing the HD market in Serbia.”

Among the buildings at RTS’s Belgrade facility

is the now-skeletal structure targeted by NATO,

unchanged since the bombing over a decade ago.

This remains a firm reminder of the country’s past, yet

also presents a stark contrast to Cukalovic’s forward

thinking and the possibilities and developments at

the broadcaster in the future.


“The system we’ve got is flexible enough to keep our good habits and to manage and

improve and change our bad habits” Nenad Cukalovic, RTS

One of the TV studios producing RTS news formats

Avid iNews at work at RTS control room

When Paul Julius Reuter developed a

prototype information service in 1849

using carrier pigeons and telegraph

technology, he probably had little idea of the

transformations which would take place within the

newsgathering industry over the next century and a

half. The agency which bears his name was formed

in 1851, and today just about every major news

outlet in the world subscribes to the Reuters service.

Its position is due to its willingness to embrace

new techniques and innovative technology in

order to gather and distribute news on a global

scale. And in keeping with that policy, mid-

January saw the simultaneous launch of Reuters

TV in the United Kingdom and the

United States.

So, what makes Reuters TV

different from the plethora

of other news distribution

channels?

The personal touch“No other service in the world

offers a curated, personalised

news show of the length a viewer

wants that is simultaneously on-

demand and up-to-date,” reveals

managing director, Isaac Showman.

“We do not operate a traditional television

channel, and that means we are not obliged to

follow a legacy network or pay-TV distributor. That

has enabled us to develop a platform specifically

for the consumer.”

The advertising-supported digital service

provides subscribers (who pay a monthly fee via

iTunes) with personalised news content that has

been created exclusively for the new Reuters TV

platform. “Our service doesn’t assemble original

content into a package of standard length and a

set composition,” explains Showman. “Rather, our

editors produce segments that will be assembled

via an algorithm which allows each ‘broadcast’ to

be customised to a subscriber’s location, preferred

length and interests.”

To begin with, subscribers simply choose the items

they wish to watch from the menu and over time

the system builds a profile about their interests.

Once that profile is created, relevant news stories

are offered via the connected devices. “We’ll be

covering all categories of news, from politics to

pop culture!” states Showman. “We’re a global

news service, but viewers in the US and UK will get

national news tailored to their region.”

Subscribers to Reuters TV enjoy, what

Showman describes as, an “uncluttered”

experience, with single commercials that play in

between stories, and generally low advertising

levels. To achieve the best for all parties, the

company has been in conversations with media

agencies and their clients.

Breaking with traditionShowman believes that there has been an

incredible pace of change within television as a

whole, but which hasn’t manifested itself fully within

the news sector. “TV news has historically been

centred on the concepts of a mass linear bulletin

and breaking news. As our lives have changed,

this format has remained fixed even though we’re

less likely to be at home at 9pm and frequently

hear about breaking news via things like mobile

notifications and social networks. Reuters TV is our

response to these shifts in consumption. Within the

service we’re offering an individually personalised

news show that is of the length our viewers choose,

as well as unintermediated live feeds of global

news events as they happen.”

With the new concept in mind, does Showman

anticipate the demise of existing 24-hour news

channels such as CNN, Sky News or Al Jazeera?

“Not at all! Those channels, and others, are all

doing remarkable work in the markets they serve


Personalising the newsNews outlets abound in many areas of the world. Philip Stevens talks to the managing director of one of the latest offerings: Reuters TV

Isaac Showman: “As an industry, we also recognise

the need to respond to shifts in consumption”

Reuters TV will create exclusive and personalised news content for delivery to connected devices


Workflow

and are great partners of ours. However, I think it’s

fair to say that, as an industry, we also recognise

the need to respond to shifts in consumption.

Reuters TV is our response, and I hope it will

encourage others to innovate as well. Doing

this helps us keep the costs down for all these

broadcasters who buy content from us.”

Target audienceThe new service is being aimed at a group

of consumers that Reuters designate as the

‘Realists’. According to Showman, these are

affluent, educated and interested in global

events and demographically represented in

their 30s and 40s. “These are consumers who

are connected, perhaps they were born before

the internet, but today they live their lives via

online devices, book taxis on Uber and reserve

restaurants via OpenTable and we hope, watch

news via Reuters TV.”

He continues, “Although we’re not quite aiming

Reuters TV at millennials I would disagree with

the view that is held in some quarters that

younger consumers aren’t interested in news.

Formats may need to change, but just look at

the remarkable work that BuzzFeed and Vice are

doing with that segment!”

Global facilitiesOperationally, the main editorial teams are split

between New York and London, with dedicated

production facilities in those two locations, plus

Washington and Hong Kong. Although there

is a core editorial, production, technology,

sales, marketing and product teams that are

dedicated to Reuters TV, most of the reporting

will come from the 2,000 plus journalists who work

for the agency in over 200 global bureaux.

“We are also utilising the dozens of studios that we

operate around the world. They can be used for live

feeds or studio discussion type programming.”

Showman reveals that editing – utilising both

Avid and Final Cut Pro – will generally be carried

out at the production centres, although on-

location facilities can be used, if necessary.

Delivery of all content to the production centres

will be via Internet Protocol (IP) technology.

“We use Amazon Cloud Front for data

storage and distribution,” confirms Showman.

He concludes, “We believe the scarcity of

‘real journalism,’ meaning news content with

an authentic voice and original reporting, has

created an environment in which consumers

are willing to pay for premium content that

can be trusted.

“We’re offering an individually personalised news show that is of the length our viewers choose, as well as

unintermediated live feeds of global news events as they happen”

Isaac Showman, Reuters

22 TVBEurope

London’s Soho Hotel was the venue for

this executive roundtable event, held in

early December, which sought to address

the evolution of the media value chain in post

production, and how various entities are using

current systems in a fi le-based environment.

Alongside Rupert Watson and Graham

McGuinness from root6 and Patrick Nelson and

Mark Bainbridge from Avid were representatives

from a diverse cross section of the post production

sector. They were Paul Clennell, CTO of dock10;

Rhys Llewellyn from NBC; Damien Frost of

All3Media; David Klafkowski and Adam Peat from

The Farm; Taig McNab, from 3sixtymedia; Alistair

Jessop, of Vubiquity; Duncan Weston of Splice TV;

Richard Moss from Gorilla; and Dominic Bassett

from Ravensbourne.

Rupert Watson opened with a presentation that

explained how post production workfl ows have

traditionally progressed, but which have now

been replaced with a much more integrated

approach through platforms such as Avid

Everywhere. The transition from fi lm and tape to

fi le-based systems has allowed material to be

better used in order to create opportunities for

easy archiving, re-using and retrieval. In turn, this

has led to increased chances for monetisation of

the assets. And these opportunities, Watson

pointed out, could be both within and without (for

example, YouTube, Netfl ix, Amazon, Twitter feeds

and so on) the traditional broadcast medium by

utilising both production asset and media asset

management systems. In short, the idea was to

maximise the potential of each asset.

Overcoming barriers to changeRhys Llewellyn mentioned that as of about 12

months ago, NBC Universal had been acquiring and

delivering all content on tape, and his challenge

was to migrate 36 channels from that traditional set

up to a digital environment. As is often the case,

there was some resistance to change, but once the

advantages of fi le-based working were discovered

(for instance, the ease of locating content)

Evolution of the workfl ow

in association with

Philip Stevens reports on an executive TVBEurope roundtable, in association with root6, which looked at the changing media value chain in a post production environment

www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

Philip Stevens leads the discussion at TVBEurope’s

executive roundtable

Roundtable participants (left to right): Adam Peat, David Klafkowski, Richard Moss, Graham McGuinness, Rupert Watson. Foreground: Rhys Llewellyn

Taig McNab“The main points from today

looked at the training required for edit staff and freelancers

along with the backend media management support side of things, and also how a facility is able to make

the leap from investing a signifi cant amount of money on this infrastructure and getting a return

on that investment.”

personnel readily accepted the new working

practices. In fact, this ready location of content was

a recurring theme of the afternoon.

David Klafkowski observed that there are changes

to skillsets in order to make the system work. Library

duties may have become easier, but now media

management operations have increased. It was also

found that, in some cases, library operations had

evolved into media management procedures. In

other instances, with MCR operations becoming less

complex, staff members in that area have been

redeployed into different activities.

Improved effi ciencyRichard Moss from Gorilla said that with all the

advances in workfl ows that have been made

possible, the goal is now to increase productivity

and effi ciency. He felt that if working time can be

reduced on a production then, obviously, there is a

cost saving. If the production team can go into the

edit with all the management functions in place, then

it stands the facility in good stead when it comes to

bidding for follow-on programmes or a next series.

But whether these solutions are production or

post production tools from a cost perspective

was a question that remained unanswered. It

seemed to depend both on the client and the

type of production involved.

Training talkThere was a lively discussion about how to educate

those not involved directly with post production

about the merits of systems such as Avid

Everywhere. Instruction is clearly needed about the

wide-reaching activities for such a fi le-based

structure. It was agreed that it was down to each

facility house or broadcaster to tailor such training

to the specifi c needs of the production in question.

Bassett from Ravensbourne revealed that the

training facility was looking at moving into the

Interplay world because it is recognised that

students needed increased familiarity with the

technology. That, he said, would make them more

attractive potential employees of the companies

sitting around the table at this event. When

questioned about the role of teaching creativity

over the technology of post production, Bassett

confi rmed that it was essential that students leaving

teaching facilities should be of immediate benefi t

to employers, and therefore needed a good

grounding in the technology. Teaching creativity,

he emphasised, was very diffi cult.

One person who had implemented a successful

training programme was Paul Clennell from dock10.

He explained that his company’s recently acquired


in association with

2015 will see TVBEurope attend and cover

more of the key events on the broadcast

media industry calendar. Following the

successful redesign of TVBEurope, we

have developed a more comprehensive

list of features for each issue over the

coming year, and will be launching a

dedicated section covering the latest developments in OTT, multiscreen, and TV Everywhere: TVBEverywhere. Our

Opinion and Analysis and Features

sections will deliver the big stories every month; Workflow will continue our bedrock coverage of UHD, 4K, IT/

IP infrastructures, and pre and post

production insights; and our Business section will provide a regualr analysis of the marketplace, and all of the key

M&A activity. Our Audio for Broadcast

coverage will now be present in every issue and major sports/live broadcast events will be reported on throughout

the year.

For all advertising and sponsorship opportunities, contact the sales team:

Europe Ben Ewles: +44 (0) 20 7354 6000,

[email protected], or Richard Carr: +44 (0) 20 7354 6000, [email protected],

USA Mike Mitchell +1 631 673 0072,

[email protected]

EDITORIAL PLANNER 2015

Issue Date Exhibitions/ Events Coverage FeatureAudio for

BroadcastSports/Live broadcast

March

• CABSAT focus

• NAB Preview

• System integrators forum

• NAB product preview

• Loudness

control

April• BVE 2015

• NAB 2015 show issue

• Beyond HD: 4K and UHD challenges

• Virtual sets forum

• UHD audio

May

• NAB review

• TVBE conference review

• Satellite TV focus

• Audio for broadcast special

• Sound mixers forum

• Sound

mixers forum

• 2015 UK election

June

• Angacom focus

• TV Connect insights

• OTT multiscreen

• Acquisition focus: lighting for TV

• Audio &

outside

broadcast

• Summer of sport OB focus

July• Channel in a box forum

• Broadcast 2020: visions of the future

August

• IBC preview • Broadcast graphics forum

• IBC product preview

• Mics/

monitors/

consoles

• Wimbledon 2015

September• IBC show issue • Quality control forum

• IBC show issue: product showcase

October• Audio for broadcast special

• IP technology forum

• Broadcast

audio feature

November• TVBAwards • Acquisition focus: all encompassing

• Transcoding forum

• Rugby World Cup 2015

December• Media Asset Management forum

• Archiving and storage roundtable

Dominic Bassett“Our priority is to bring our toolset into a more reasonable position so that our students can more actively join companies in this sector with less friction. Conversations like we’re

having today have to massively infl uence and direct where we are coming from, and I don’t think that has been the case historically. We’re looking to turn the corner on that.”

MAM interface is being reconfi gured to enable it to

become a dock10 portal. He revealed one

interesting non-broadcast application being

employed by the Professional Game Match

Offi cials Limited (PGMOL). On match days there

are referees in the dock10 facility watching the

incoming football match feeds and scrutinising

decisions made by the offi cials. He reports that with

very little training they are able to clip-up the

appropriate sections and distribute them to offi cials

around the country for comment.

Remote applicationsThe immediacy of evolved workfl ow systems,

which allow for close collaboration between

writers, producers and others in various parts of

the world, was considered of key importance by

all members of the discussion, as was the ability to

shoot in the fi eld in remote locations and then

upload material to the system back at base.

Moving across to the question of storage and

retrieval, it was agreed that the ability to have a

central ‘box’ where metadata could be created

or consumed is a distinct advantage. No matter

whether a user is logging in from an iPad or

another device, the facility provided by

platforms to search for a specifi c piece of

content was considered a major plus point.

In one case study, it was revealed that ITV

installed a system to enable better delivery of

fi nished programmes from edit suites in Media

City, Salford, to programme executives in offi ces

in Leeds. Here, the executive can watch the

programme that has been sent to his laptop and

then make notes that become part of the

metadata fi le. The reviewed copy with

comments can then be returned to the edit suite

for any required action. In order to make this

operation as easy as possible, a certain amount

of customisation was required of the interface –

in this case, Interplay – but this didn’t prove

to be a problem.

Another exercise discussed centred on a

decision of the fi nancial offi cer of a production

company to reduce fl oor space at the facility.

This was achieved by allowing promo producers

to work from home, yet still access the system in

order to generate rough cuts, write scripts and

produce guide voice-overs before going along

to the facility. The model has proved very

successful, due to the amount of power that is

available through the extremely stable system.

All in oneAs far as future developments are concerned, it

was suggested that interfaces would need to

cope with the increased use of cloud-based

editing. Once that was achieved, it was

suggested, by at least one participant, that they

would see little that would touch systems such as

Interplay for the control and manipulation of

media for the foreseeable future. These systems

were seen as close to a one-stop-shop as could

be achieved, and a fundamental step in the

continued evolution of the workfl ow.

24 TVBEurope

in association with

A lighter moment during the day of discussion, left to right: Taig McNab, Paul Clennell, Dominic Bassett

Richard Moss“I was very encouraged by the fact we could have an open conversation, without any preconceptions, from which we could get an honest point of view. It was extremely

useful from a technology perspective, but it was also good to get other people’s viewpoints, workfl ows and priorities: from the broadcasters to the post houses to the large production companies on the

distribution side. It’s great to have those people around the table.”

Paul Clennell“It’s interesting to hear how everyone is meeting the challenges that their

increasingly savvy clients are demanding of the technology and the functionality. We were able to explore how people are delivering those and how we can come up with creative solutions

to meet those challenges as the technology moves on so rapidly.”

Ever since Canal Plus launched its pay-TV

service in 1984, the broadcaster has been

airing compelling and edgy content, a far

cry from the standard fare viewers had come

to expect from the more established terrestrial

networks. It nurtured a whole generation of

talented newcomers who have since become

established film directors and actors. Its flagship

programme, Les Guignols, a sort of French Spitting

Image, is still on air today and remains a terrific

crowd pleaser without losing any of its razor sharp

wit. Over the years, the satcaster has morphed

into a giant broadcasting entity by gaul standards

and a serious player on the international stage. In

addition to a wide number of pay-TV channels, it

owns a couple of free digital terrestrial channels

(D8 and D17), and numerous subsidiaries in Europe,

including, on the production and theatrical side,

StudioCanal UK. To this day, Canal Plus is virtually

the only gaul broadcaster able to sell its drama

series to UK television channels: Channel 4 has

aired The Returned (Les Revenants) to much

critical acclaim and audience satisfaction and

Sky Atlantic has co-produced and aired The

Tunnel, with Stephen Dillane, who just won an

Emmy award for his part

as an English detective

working hand in hand with a

humourless but pretty French

colleague, a part played by

gaul actress Clémence Poesy.

The group is busy

celebrating its thirtieth

birthday, aware that some

momentous challenges lie

ahead. While one of the

main ones is most certainly

competing with a bunch

of new OTT casters, such

as Netflix or Amazon, on

its home patch, just as

crucial is the move from a traditional broadcast

environment to a completely different IT-led

culture. As Canal Plus’ broadcast chief technical

officer Ralph Atlan explains: “Around three years

ago, we took the strategic decision to shift from

a hardware-based broadcasting system to a

software dominated environment. Not only

because it made sense for budgetary reasons

but also, and mainly, because we are now a

big media group and switching from one to the

other enables us to gain a huge amount of time.

One of the main advantages of cloud solutions is

that they can handle a much bigger volume of

data and that they are easily scalable.” A new

generation of technological engineer, with strong

IT and software skills has been recruited to deal

with this major cultural and technical shift.

Data protectionCanal Plus first started using cloud technology

where it made sense, for instance when it

unexpectedly needed to store a big volume

of data. And for the time being, solutions have

been put in place where data security is not

so much of an issue.

“As part of our thirtieth birthday celebrations, we

broadcast a new episode of one of our most

popular series, the shortcom Bref, which is no

longer on air but which has a huge fan base on

the internet. We asked our audience to interact

with the content, to select their own characters

and create their own versions on the internet,

by pasting together bits of their own favourite

episodes that we made available on a huge

online archive. We then merged parts of the new

episode with the content produced by the fans.

That generated a huge amount of video material

that we had to store, stream and integrate. We

found that Microsoft Azure’s solution was the

right one to use in that particular context and we

were pretty satisfied with the result. The package

managed to absorb a huge peak in traffic

and usage, we found it really delivered what

we wanted on that level,” Atlan describes. He

admits that data protection is a key requirement

because so much of it is confidential, starting

with subscriber information but especially new

programmes that have not been aired yet and

any form of exclusive content.

“We will tend to opt for cloud solutions when

dealing with programmes that have already

been broadcast and which are well-known by the

public. They are of a much less sensitive nature

than new exclusive content that our subscribers

have not seen yet, for instance. Security is one

Ralph Atlan: “Security is one of the aspects we are

currently looking at very closely with a different

number of providers”

Feature26 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

Canal Plus vies for the cloud

Canal Plus is leading the way on the adoption of cloud-based technology in France. As it celebrates its thirtieth birthday, the broadcasting group is more than ever ahead of the game. Catherine Wright reports

“One of the main advantages of cloud solutions is that they can handle a much bigger volume of data and that they are

easily scalable” Ralph Atlan, Canal Plus

of the aspects we are currently looking at very

closely with a different number of providers.”

Another cloud solution Canal Plus has opted for

is Amazon’s Elastic Transcoder software package.

“It is very useful when you need to convert a big

volume of data into a wide number of formats.

Say as an example that you would want to air an

episode of Friends on a channel, for instance D8,

but the programme is not in the right format: as it

is something that happens occasionally but not

on a too regular basis, you don’t want to use your

hardware servers for that as they are already used

for other crucial jobs. And you certainly don’t

want to acquire expensive new servers just for that

sort of occasional use. That’s where the Amazon

software comes in,” he explains.

Pay as you useLike Microsoft’s cloud solution, Amazon’s Elastic

Transcoder, which as a package goes hand in

hand with Amazon’s S3 storage solution and its

Cloudfront content delivery option, is sold on

a ‘pay as you use’ basis. In other words, you

pay for the number of minutes of

video you need to convert and

also for the resolution you want to

achieve. As Amazon puts it: “You

pay based on the length of the

output, in minutes, of the media

you are transcoding. For example,

if your video’s transcoded output

is 30 minutes in duration, you will

pay for 30 minutes of transcoding.

Similarly, if you create a 20-minute video clip from

a 30-minute input file, you will pay for 20 minutes

of transcoding. With Amazon Elastic Transcoder,

there are no minimum transcoding volumes,

monthly commitments, or long term contracts.”

Sounds great, but as Atlan points out, what seems

like a cost effective system can fast become an

expensive headache, if the broadcaster is not

extremely organised. “You need to decide exactly

what you want to store on the cloud, before you

buy the system. If you haven’t done that work

before acquiring the software, you will find yourself

sticking all sorts of things on it that don’t need to be

there, and paying a huge bill for it all in the end.

Another problem is to keep track of what you have

on the cloud, because you don’t always know

where things are in that type of environment. Some

solutions are better at doing that than others.”

Leading the wayUnsurprisingly, if you consider its inventive and

innovative outlook when it comes to programming,

Canal Plus seems to be leading the way on the

adoption of cloud technology in France. The other

main broadcasters appear more cautious and will

hardly admit to using it at all. When contacted by

TVBEurope, France’s largest broadcasting entity,

TF1’s only one comment was: “We have started

using cloud solutions but in a very limited way.”

According to Aframe’s CEO, David Peto,

contrary to other broadcasters across Europe,

French outfits have shown little interest in his

company’s solutions. “Of course, it could be

that they are put off by the English language.

As we are a small company, we are not yet

able to answer questions or queries in French.

But according to my marketing people, if you

exclude our core markets that are North

America and the UK, only 3 per cent of all

traffic comes from France. We have more

enquiries from Italy, where the language barrier

is the same as in France.”

Canal Plus series The Returned was broadcast on Channel 4 to much critical acclaim


Feature

Bref is no longer on air but has a huge fan base on the internet


Why broadcasters should have their head in the cloud

One of the most signifi cant technology

trends in recent years has been the

emergence of ‘cloud computing’,

a somewhat ambiguous term that typically

means renting computing resources or services

from a third party.

The promise of the cloud is indeed very

compelling. Rather than invest in your own

small fi xed capacity technology estate with all

the environmental and operational overhead

that entails, simply buy what you need, when

you need it, from one of the large global cloud

providers such as Microsoft or Amazon and

piggyback on the multi-billion dollar investments

they are making instead.

A number of enterprises, large and small,

are doing just that: migrating their IT services

or building new ‘cloud native’ application

environments on these public platforms. But what

about broadcasting? Aren’t we different, with

our real-time synchronous video feeds, huge fi les,

highly deterministic processing needs and high

value content? Yes and no.

Before delving into the specifi cs of which

broadcast and media services make sense for

the cloud, it is probably useful to clarify some

terminology and defi nitions. The ‘cloud’ can mean

different things to different people and because

it is a term currently in vogue, it is being slapped

on to all sorts of services (new and old) with wild

abandon. Here are some useful tests that can be

used to assess the ‘cloudiness’ of a service.

Can you pay as you go? One of the key commercial benefi ts of cloud

delivered services is the ability to pay for the

service based on usage and with little or no

upfront investment. If a service does not at

least offer a basic pay as you use commercial

structure, then its cloud credentials are

somewhat dubious.

Can you drive it yourself? Renting a car is a very different proposition to

hiring a cab even though the basic needs they

serve are the same. In a cloud delivered service

you should typically have the option of driving

your needs directly from the platform, should you

choose to do so. A good test is whether you can

access and interact with a fl exible set of APIs and

self-serve. A well-defi ned cloud service should be

highly programmable.

Does it provide signifi cant scaling capabilities? One of the reasons for going to a third party for a

service or infrastructure is that they can provide

better scaling than you could build yourself.

This removes the traditional risks associated with

dimensioning a private fi xed capacity estate that

will almost always be either under-utilised (and

therefore wasteful) some of the time, or over-

utilised (and therefore unable to meet business

demands) during peak usage periods. Rapid up-

and down-scaling support should be considered

essential in a cloud service.

None of the above are useful indicators for

the quality of such a service of course: price,

performance, utility, fl exibility and security are

key additional metrics to be considered, but they

at least help qualify the use of the term ‘cloud’.

Going back to the original question then, what

role does the cloud play in broadcasting? Potentially,

a signifi cant one. The suitability of the cloud as an

operating environment depends upon the nature

of the broadcast service and its current technology

options. Media services, a critical component of

any broadcast operation, is a workload that is

increasingly suited to deployment in the cloud.

Media services include the many tasks involved

in receiving media assets, verifying their source,

‘Cloud is ready for media processing; it just needs to be used correctly’

By Steve Plunkett, chief technology offi cer at Red Bee Media

structure and quality, transforming them in some

way and delivering them to a destination such as

a publishing endpoint, storage location or other

downstream entity.

This process has traditionally been tied to

physical assets, such as tapes, disks or lines, and

involved signifi cant human effort in doing so.

As the industry migrates from tapes to fi les, the

potential for much greater levels of machine

driven automation emerges. This is where the

cloud becomes interesting.

A fi le-based media services workfl ow will

typically involve receiving large fi les from a

variety of sources, often at unpredictable times

and in uneven volumes. The operations to be

performed on those fi les also vary, from customer

to customer and fi le to fi le. This is a work pattern

that is particularly suited to a highly scalable,

highly fl exible, programmable infrastructure: all

characteristics of cloud-based environments.

So far, so good. But these fi les are not just

large, they are of high value and they contain

professional video and audio encoded

and packaged in a variety of specialised

formats. They may also need to be processed

at different levels of urgency: some require fast

range of specialised applications and services to

be integrated into the cloud.

Variable pricing: media asset processing tasks will

have different temporal, qualitative and commercial

constraints. Simple universal service levels are

not going to meet the varying demands of the

broadcast industry so the cloud provider should offer

differentiated services with variable pricing.

Finally, the effort required to integrate with and

operate a cloud-based media infrastructure must

be minimal. Provisioning, integrating and driving

traditional media workflows has too often been

a time consuming and expensive exercise. As we

embrace the cloud, we must ensure that we’re not

simply swapping infrastructure providers but building

modern, intuitive and flexible cloud native application

architectures and APIs to service our needs.

In summary, cloud is ready for media

processing; it just needs to be used correctly.

Linear publishing and the cloudThe next stage of the traditional broadcasting

chain is publishing and more specifically linear

publishing. This is where the transmission-ready

asset is processed and delivered to the viewer.

So is the cloud ready to help here?

To try to answer this question, it’s necessary to frame

it correctly (no pun intended). Broadcast publishing,

aka playout, in this context includes all of the

components that process the already prepared

asset and deliver it to a transmission network for

broadcast: adding graphics, logos, mixing audio

tracks, inserting subtitles and closed captions,

sequencing programme segments and so on.

Traditionally, this is the domain of specialised

hardware devices interconnected with baseband

video over dedicated physical interfaces such as

SDI. None of those characteristics lend themselves

to the software-centric, virtualised, IP-connected

world of the cloud. But there are significant

changes underway in this part of the broadcast

chain. Standards bodies such as the IEEE and SMPTE

have developed specifications that aim to address

the needs of professional video transport over

Ethernet and IP networks (IEEE 802.1 AVB and SMPTE

2022-6 respectively) and these are beginning to

appear in products.

The dedicated hardware devices that process

video and audio in the playout chain are also

evolving towards software implementations that, at

least in theory, could run on standard hardware and

so potentially run on the hypervisors that underpin

the cloud. But just because we might be able to

build broadcast publishing systems using virtually

hosted applications, interconnected via IP networks,

why would we want to? There are many reasons

why this is a good idea and a full explanation

requires more space than this entry allows, so let’s just

focus on one: software-centric broadcast publishing

can take advantage of the cloud as a flexible and

cost effective operating environment.

At least that’s the theory. And in theory, theory

and practice are the same, but in practice

they are not. A key requirement for linear

broadcasting is deterministic behaviour, the

certainty that a frame of video will be processed

in a very short and predictable timeframe along

with associated synchronised elements such

as the audio stream. The cloud, with its shared

resource model, emerged like the internet as a

best effort service. High performance, yes; highly

scalable, yes; highly flexible, absolutely; but strictly

deterministic, sometimes.

In summary, the components of a broadcast

publishing chain are evolving towards a model

where they could be deployed in a cloud setting

and the public cloud environments are also offering

more deterministic performance than previously.

Both seem to be on a path of convergence and

this is a good thing. The true broadcast cloud seems

to be on the horizon, but its distance is not yet clear.

Broadcasters, and those that serve them, need to

have their heads in the cloud.


Feature

turnaround while others require the lowest

available price. A media services cloud must

address all of these needs and more,

as summarised here:

Deterministic: media content may be

destined for live transmission against a fixed

schedule. The media cloud must be able to

provide SLAs to ensure that some content

is processed within a very specific time

window. Best effort performance may simply

not be acceptable.

Secure: media assets are often of high

commercial value and the media cloud must

adequately protect against unauthorised

access and distribution. This requires strong

access controls, auditability and strong

encryption and key management.

Professional video support: the functionality

required to support broadcast video material

is significantly more sophisticated than that

required for web delivered video. The codecs

and containers are different, and more variable.

The tasks to be performed such as metadata

validation, flash pattern analysis, standards

conversion, loudness measurement/correction,

complex transcoding and so on require a wide


Feature

Hot on the heels of January’s CES show

in Las Vegas, it is now clear that the

production community is also getting

something of a 4K ‘fever’ as they look to tap into

strong demand from broadcasters. In truth, the

‘broadcasting’ term is more accurately described

as ‘narrowcasting’ if it is just the likes of Netfl ix and

Amazon who are now serving this market.

But CES saw a number of 4K transmission

announcements made, not least by the likes of

DirecTV in the US, which launched a dedicated

4K satellite (DirecTV-14) in December. Phil Goswitz,

DirecTV’s SVP, space and communications, says:

“DirecTV will use this new technology to create

the most advanced broadcast available; live,

linear 4K Ultra HD services that at this moment do

not even exist. 4K Ultra HD technology is a brand

new technology and many have doubts and

indecision about it, but not at DirecTV.”

Those doubts and indecisions are fast evaporating.

Strategy Analytics’ latest ConsumerMetrics survey,

conducted during November 2014, said the

percentage of US respondents who are aware of

the term ‘Ultra HD’ rose from 39 per cent in January

2014 to 57 per cent in November 2014. The holiday

promotion season, and CES talk, will only have

improved those percentages. Other operators

such as cable giant Comcast’s commitment to

4K will further boost recognition.

4K on the Sky agendaSky Deutschland is considered to be the most

aggressive European broadcaster as far as UHD

is concerned. Sky Germany carried out another

major 4K football test just before Christmas. Gary

Davey, Sky Germany’s EVP of programming, happily

admits that the broadcaster will be “very active”

in 4K. “We have not picked a launch date yet, but

we will defi nitely be in the 4K business because we

see it as a natural evolution of delivery for very high

quality content. We now know enough about it,

and understand the scale of the problems so that

we see it as a manageable transition.”

Sky Germany, along with Sky Italia, now falls

under the direct control of Sky UK and its CEO

Jeremy Darroch is delivering a keynote address

at MIPtv in Cannes on 13 April, and perhaps an

announcement might emerge.

Indeed, Sky is already producing 4K content. It

is backing Atlantic Productions and a subsidiary

Colossus Productions. Between the two entities

they have produced shows such as Conquest of

the Skies, Galapagos 3D and a number of other

David Attenborough-fronted programmes in 4K.

Ruth Sessions, COO at Atlantic, remarks: “From our

viewpoint we are telling stories for multiple platforms

and not just television. The reason we have been

working in 4K for quite a long time is because we

are in a multi-platform world where we will shoot for

TV, and for IMAX screens, so we have always been

hungry for higher resolution. I am also old enough to

remember when we were talking about the shift to

HD. I have a sense of déjà-vu.”

4K in actionRed Bull Media House is not a name one

immediately thinks of in terms of 4K production,

but almost all of their ‘action’ programming

is shot in 4K. Bernhard Hafenscher from Red

Bull Media House stresses that they were early

adopters of HDTV and are following the same

pattern in Ultra-HD. “It is just the next step for us,”

he explains. “The consumer wants quality. We

want people to be part of our events, and with

the sports that we cover. Some of our events

include sports that happen really fast, so the

detail is important. 4K is like being there.”

Red Bull is producing shows such as The Cave

Connection in 4K, and a number of ‘extreme

sports’ documentaries covering skiing, mountain-

bike competitions, and of course the compelling

4K in 2015 The programming stampede begins!

“The consumer wants quality. We want people to be part of our events, and with the

sports that we cover. Some of our events include sports that happen really fast, so the

detail is important. 4K is like being there” Bernhard Hafenscher, Red Bull Media House

Japan, an image captured in the world’s fi rst 4K telecast from the International Space Station

Chris Forrester looks at how broadcasters are progressing with testing and producing 4K content, and analyses the 4K prospects for 2015

Pict

ure c

redi

t: [c

] JA

XA/N

HK


skydiving events as well as covering cars and

competition flying. That 4K output from Red Bull

includes their Terra Mater Factual Studios, and

outstanding programming such as The Mona

Lisa Mystery which, thanks to 4K, exposes some

fresh thinking on the famous painting. France

Televisions is playing a key role in the 4EVER

Consortium. Eric Scherer, France Televisions’

director of Future Media, says: “This is the first

time ever that the TV industry has a double-risk

on 4K. We suffer the risk of being beaten by the

new barbarians. Netflix, Amazon and YouTube

are threats to us, but the other threat is the kids

filming everything in 4K on GoPro cameras.

At France Televisions we decided to test a lot

of things. We are proud to be the first French

broadcaster to test and try many different things

in 4K. I want to be clear, that we are on a

‘test and learn’ exercise, and are not producing

yet. But we have done a lot of shooting, in the

Royal Chapel at Versailles for a beautiful concert

which was also done with a new type of audio

capture. We also used the Roland Garros tennis

tournament last summer, and sent the signals

out on satellite, DTT and over IP with new live

encoders. We have also worked with LG for

the IFA exhibition in Berlin.

“At the end of 2014 we will have a push

VoD technology under test. We expect our

first ‘broadcasts’ to be IP, and then satellite.

We are not ready just yet to start conventional

[terrestrial] broadcasts in 4K.”

Those tests happened and included live

basketball and a Transmusicales music festival

from Rennes, each of which went well.

Germany’s Kropac Media on a 4K shoot in Arizona


Feature

Japan’s NexTV consortium will enhance the current

4K test transmissions in March 2015, and Japan’s

NHK public broadcaster is promising two or three

UHD channels will be on air in 2016, and in time for

the Rio Olympics. The BBC is also producing in 4K.

Besides its 4K tests at events such as Wimbledon,

the BBC’s Natural History Unit is extremely active in

4K. Vanessa Berlowitz, already with Frozen Planet

under her belt, is now exec producing One Planet

for the NHU in 4K (“and 5K and 6K and I’d love to

be shooting in 8K!”) and that this was the only way

to future-proof its archive.

4K Channels/Services on air, (or promised for 2015)

Korea KBS, MBC, SBS, EBS Trials May 2013Korea KBS, MBC, SBS, EBS Demo channel March 2014 Korea’s SkyLife DTH Sky-UHD launched 2 June 2014Japan’s NexTV Forum Tests June 2014Netflix Streaming April 2014Sth Korea’s Pandora Streaming August 2014Japan’s NTT Plala Live 27 October 2014DirecTV ‘pre-loaded’ Live 14 November 2014DirecTV DTH “Early 2015”M-Go (Los Angeles only) November 2014WAIKU (Germany and France) 1 December 2014Comcast December 2014Sky Deutschland Test 20 December 2014Amazon Prime Instant December 2014WAIKU (Spain, etc) January 2015MTS (Russia) Tests December 2014Fransat (France) December 2014Japan’s SkyPerfect/JSAT March 2015Russia’s TriColor TV March 2015India’s Videocon d2h Promised 2015India’s TataSky Promised 2015

Data: Inside Satellite TV

“This is the first time ever that the TV industry has a double-risk on 4K. We suffer the risk of being beaten by the new barbarians. Netflix, Amazon and YouTube are threats to us, but the other threat is the kids filming everything

in 4K on GoPro cameras”Eric Scherer, France Televisions

Higher dynamic range, or extended

dynamic range, has become a vexing

subject and curve ball for revered

institutions like the ITU, DVB, SMPTE and the EBU

for the fundamental reason that consumers are

owed much more than the better resolution

offered by phase 1 UHDTV displays.

To ascertain what the key issues are, we first

sought a post production viewpoint from Steve

Owen, marketing director at Quantel. He said: “We

welcome HDR: it will make a visible difference to

the consumer viewing experience in the future. For

the present, as far as post goes, we can already

handle HDR 16-bit images. What’s needed to bring

those great pictures to the viewer is a complete

distribution and delivery ecosystem based on open

standards to which everyone can subscribe.”

The people who kicked the ball on from here

were David Wood, chair of the DVB commercial

UHD group; Hans Hoffmann, EBU T&I head of

media fundamentals and production technology;

Yvonne Thomas EBU project manager for future

television, UHD and 3D systems: and, Spencer

Stephens, CTO at Sony Pictures Entertainment. This

is the world of high peak luminance, more bits per

sample, and the demise of the gamma curve.

Identifying the technical gapsFor the major steps in terms of HDR we have to

look to ongoing ITU and DVB meetings. The ITU

test plan has been a big deal, and necessary

recommendations should result very soon. The

SMPTE metadata and eco groups related to 4K

were meeting at the precise time Hans Hoffmann

and Yvonne Thomas came to talk.

“What we would like to see is that the system

analysis for the end-to-end chain is continuing

and that we can clearly identify the areas

where we have technical gaps,” said Hoffmann.

“This will be where standards have to be

developed to achieve interoperability. For a

dynamic range system we must have

the certainty of full interoperability so that not

only proprietary systems are implemented in

the market.”

The ambition is an environment where various

manufacturers can place their products. What

are the key gaps?

“This concerns the compression and the

metadata, which is delivered throughout

the production chain to playout, and is then

understood and integrated correctly by consumer

displays,” said Hoffmann. “We still don’t know

how the consumer display of the future is going

to interface with HDR, and what the parameters

used in terms of peak luminance as well as the

OETF electronic transfer function will be.

“Put precisely, the gaps and unknowns are

metadata interpretation, the capabilities of

interfaces, the electro optical transfer function,

and peak luminance.”

Thomas added: “For the peak luminance we

will have to listen to Brussels in terms of power

regulations. The introduction of HDR and HFR will

probably happen step by step, like they have

done with the first step of resolution at 4K. They

will not be implemented at once.”

The iffy prospect of boosting HDTV with HDR did

get raised at IBC. “That is a very complex issue.

You cannot say broadcasters should do HDR over

HDTV, because again the question will be for

what type of display,” said Hoffmann.

Around an economical and business issue

comes the awkward question of what is required

in terms of bandwidth to bring a perceptively

better image to the home.

“Whether the consumer is equipped with a 4K

HDR display or an HDR HDTV display, when you

analyse all these complex questions in terms of:

what is feasible; whether it is more than resolution,

and what that brings versus transmitting an HDR

signal to the home; it’s highly likely you will find that

in most cases, HDR is giving you more value for the

money you need to invest in an increased bitrate

transmission,” said Hoffmann.

“You also need to recognise that the transmission

or distribution of signals to the home is not only

via linear means: by DTT, satellite or cable. To

a large extent it will be non-linear, and I could

imagine that OTT providers are going to have an

opportunity to provide an enhanced dynamic


HDR under the spotlight

George Jarrett investigates the key issues surrounding the hot topic of higher dynamic range

David Wood, who won the Lifetime Achievement award at last year’s TVBAwards, had anticipated that HDR would be part of UHD DVB Phase 2, but had worrying news

“We still don’t know how the consumer display of the future is going to interface

with HDR, and what the parameters used in terms of peak luminance as well as the

OETF electronic transfer function will be” Hans Hoffman, EBU

Feature

range signal in consultation with certain display

vendors sooner than broadcasters have it for their

general transmission to a variety of receivers. So it is

a relatively complex topic,” he added.

Hoffmann believes the Digital Europe decision

to back 8-bit was a compromise. He said: “They

will have had their reasons, but the EBU point

of view is clear. The optimal minimum is 10-bit

and eventually the market will also decide that

the higher bitrate is required otherwise they

cannot handle HDR.

“The EBU is also interested in better pixels, not

only in the number of pixels. The market in the

consumer domain is more pixels and it gives

them the chance to focus on resolution. The

EBU though, together with many friends from the

studios and private operators, believes that we

need better pixels,” he added.

“We have the notions of HDR as well as

higher frame rates and perhaps even higher

peak luminance in the TV displays of the future.”

Thomas added: “We always have to consider

when we handle the signal and apply the curve

to it, whatever curve it may be in the future,

that we need to leave some headroom.


Feature

“We welcome HDR: it will make a visible difference to the consumer viewing

experience in the future” Steve Owen, Quantel


Feature36 TVBEurope

“The ITU issued a revision of BT.2020 in June last

year (ITU-R BT.2020-1, titled Parameter Values

for UHDDTV Systems for Production and

International Programme Exchange). There was

a heavy discussion around adding new higher

frame rates (i.e. 100 Hz and 120/1.001 Hz) and the

Rapporteurs group RG-24 on HDR was looking into

the various HDR proposals and how to define the

terminology,” she added.

Will high peak luminance fall foul of the EU?David Wood, chair of the DVB’s commercial

UHDTV group, had anticipated that HDR

would be part of UHD DVB Phase 2, but

had worrying news.

“Amidst all the talk about screens with high

peak luminance, more bits per sample, and the

OETF transfer function it still may be,” he said.

“However, the consumer electronics

manufacturers (Digital Europe) are worried

that proposed EU legislation, currently being

discussed to constrain domestic energy usage,

would limit the peak luminance of displays, and

thus limit what could be done in HDR.

“One of the options for Phase 2 would be

backwards compatibility with Phase 1, so

any display bought now would still get a

decent image, even if not as good as the Phase

2 viewer,” he added. “We are currently looking

at what the implications would be: some EBU

members believe that by including backwards

compatibility we will load up the cost of Phase 2

for countries that will never

use Phase 1.” The insistence by some companies

on both 8-bit and 10-bit specs was for HEVC 1080

decoding misinterpretation.

“The EBU argued that having a 10-bit decoder

alone was sufficient and more efficient, since

it would always also handle 8-bit/s. But there

are two specifications now for DVB HEVC

1080: that’s the way it is,” said Wood. “I don’t

believe anyone is arguing for an 8-bit spec for

HEVC UHD-1. Production will always use larger

bit depths of course, to improve the signal

occupancy of the broadcast signal.”

The key issue for the DVB now is the choice

of HDR system for Phase 2, and there are

several proposals.

“We await the results of comparative tests

planned in the ITU-R (a group led by Andy

Quested of the BBC),” said Wood. “The MPEG

group will issue a call for HDR proposals next

summer. This looks a long time away. If the Blu-ray

Disc Association announces what HDR system

they will use next summer, it is difficult to predict

what will happen here.”

The sound system to use with UHD-1 is another

key issue. “The MPEG-H has made an evaluation

and choice and hopes to have a specification

for an Advanced Sound System in the next few

months,” said Wood.

“However, colleagues in the DVB project tell

me that there may be a number of options with

the MPEG-H system, and DVB will still have a

job to do to decide which to actually use for

broadcasting,” he concluded.

Summarising the 8-bit situation from

Brussels, Marc Soignet’s office stated: “Digital

Europe’s UHD logo requirements are minimum

requirements to ensure interoperability between

display devices and source devices. 8-bit is

the baseline to achieve this interoperability.

We are not directly discussing with display or

chip set vendors since most of them are not in

our membership. This trade-off is then only a

consensus among our CE manufacturers, which

are best aware of technology roadmaps.”

The big issue is delivery to consumersSpencer Stephens first identified what all the

technical fuss is about:

“It’s important to realise that high dynamic

range doesn’t just mean the picture is brighter. It’s

about the contrast ratio (increasing the brightness

Hans Hoffmann believes the Digital Europe decision to back 8-bit was a compromise

The topic of whether to go with UHD-1 or wait for UHD-2 was discussed at the IBC2014 Conference in a session produced in association with SMPTE

“I don’t believe anyone is arguing for an 8-bit spec for HEVC UHD-1”

David Wood, DVB commercial UHD group

of the highlights without elevating the blacks) and

more accurate colour reproduction at higher

luminance levels because the primaries don’t clip,

making bright colours become white.

“Delivery to the consumer is certainly the

biggest open issue. The master that comes out

of production can be a proprietary format but

the ecosystem itself requires interoperability,”

he added. “What is needed is a way of carrying

metadata that describes the way the content

was mastered allowing it to be displayed in the

best possible way.”

The speed at which it will be deployed is an

interesting question. “A closed streaming service

with a service-specific app on the end device

is obviously at an advantage for time to market.

The app can report to the service the

capabilities of the device and the appropriate

format streamed. Delivery that relies on

published standards, like over the air, is

inherently going to take longer to get up and

running,” said Stephens.

The notion of adding extended dynamic

range to existing HD services might attract some

channel owners if they can afford it as a holding

move while 4K completes its full capabilities.

“HDR is obviously independent of resolution.

We link HDR to UHD because UHD is largely green

field and the additional resolution eliminates

legacy HD devices,” said Stephens. “However,

producing HDR content is a function of how it

was shot: on film, on the current generation of

digital cinema cameras with CMOS sensors, and

how the post was done. If the camera RAW is

available it is always possible to go back to that

and re-master from there.

“Transmitting HDR HD becomes a matter of the

standards used because it will be received by

devices that don’t know what HDR is,” he added.

“A key question is that if you are going to deliver

HDR, how do you continue to give the consumer

the best experience if they have a device that

doesn’t understand HDR?”

The SMPTE work on the metadata pertaining

to HDR and the eco chain (mentioned

previously) should benefit Cinema 4K as much

as it would TV 4K.

“The same problem exists in digital cinema

as with HDR in the consumer market: how

do you make sure the picture consumers

see is optimal? With digital cinema it is possible

to deliver an HDR or standard dynamic

range DCP depending on the projector, but

it complicates the supply chain. Clearly, this

is simplified if there is a standard available,”

said Stephens.

“For our industry, the majority of content,

motion pictures and episodic TV, is shot at

24fps; 48fps and 60fps may be used for some

motion pictures, but the choice of frame rates

is usually a creative choice,” he added.

“Content shot at 60fps looks different from

24fps, and many regard 60fps as less

‘cinematic’. I talked to someone from a

European broadcaster about 48fps high

frame rate, and he pointed out they call

that low frame rate!”

TVBEurope 37Febuary 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Feature

“A key question is that if you are going to deliver HDR, how do you continue to give the consumer the best experience

if they have a device that doesn’t understand HDR?”

Spencer Stephens, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Consumers are owed much more than the better resolution offered by phase 1 UHDTV displays

Interview38 TVBEurope

We constantly hear about the challenges faced

by the operators and suppliers in the industry in

this stage of its development, but the evolving

marketplace must have a significant impact

on your business strategy. What are the main

challenges that you face as a key industry event

in terms of preparation for both the conference

and exhibition sides of the show?

Every industry event faces challenges. Some

are more specific than others but the fact that

broadcasting, as we know it, is now embracing

and dovetailing with parts of the telecoms and

IT sectors means we have to extend our reach

further to satisfy the demands of visitors. At the

same time, industries closer to home, such as

advertising, are increasingly aligning themselves

with content creation. You only have to look

at the burgeoning developments in branded

content and advertiser-funded programming,

not to mention product placement.

To bring all these parties on board we are

working closely with expert partners and

This issue, we bring you the concluding part of our interview with Alison Willis, portfolio director for i2i Events Group’s environment and broadcasting division, where we learn what delegates can expect from BVE 2015

Event horizon


Alison Willis

respected organisations that can help BVE to

reflect the change in the make-up of what we

used to call TV.

What differences can we expect from the content of this year’s seminars, and which ones do you think are likely to grab people’s attention? BVE is recognised as a great learning and

networking event, and this will be reflected in the

composition of this year’s show. So, you’ll see more

panel discussions and chances to talk with peers

and learn from masters of their craft. One

example is the new training hub that we are

launching. This will sit within the BBC Academy’s

Skills and Networking Zone.

4K will be prominent, especially on the

acquisition side, but also in terms of problem

solving. There are parts of the broadcast chain

that are not quite mature enough for mainstream

broadcasting. BVE will be a good place

to learn more.

Of the other sessions, I think the Raindance Film

Festival’s Interactive workshop, ‘Producing your

indie film-kit’ will be a real hit. As will the panel

session ‘Commissioning Drama: What’s important

to know in 2015?’ There is a drama production

boom in the UK at the minute so this will be

essential viewing.

On the technology side I would expect

‘Asset Management: Crucial steps to take in

ensuring your content becomes the asset’ to

gather a significant crowd as storage and asset

management are big news right now.

Sessions on big data, such as ‘Demystifying

IT in broadcasting: is cloud, big data and open

source the solution?’, and loudness, ‘How

broadcasters should go about implementing

loudness recommendation EBU R128 for

programmes’, will be popular too.

I’m also very excited about the speakers we

have assembled. Vasha Wallace, senior vice

president of global acquisitions and development

at Freemantle Media, the company behind Idols,

The X Factor, Got Talent and other formats, is

a really interesting one. She is a big name and

should prove to be a big draw.

Likewise, Peter Robertson is one of the UK’s

leading camera/steadicam operators. He has

more than 20 years’ experience in feature film,

TV production: including Pirates of the

Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Edge of Tomorrow

and Anna Karenina.

Bruno Mahe, head of technology at

Illumination Mac Guff, the film company

responsible for films including Despicable Me, The

Lorax and Minions, will be presenting a keynote

presentation in the 4K Theatre discussing how the

rise of 4K will influence the animation space.

And David Gibbs, director of digital media

at Sky Sports, will discuss the role of the second

screen in maximising engagement across live

sporting events, looking at the role of apps and

whether personalisation is the way forward for

multi-platform sporting experiences.

What else is new for 2015? There are lots of new things this year but the

ones that stand out for me are: Raindance:

Live! Ammunition!, a pitching competition for

filmmakers; the Skills and Networking Zone, which

includes masterclasses from the renowned

BBC Academy; and even more cinematic 4K

experience in our 4K Theatre.

Where does BVE sit in relation to the rest of i2i’s portfolio of events: you cover a variety of sectors and marketplaces, but where would you say it is in the hierarchy? i2i organises a large number of market leading

events and, as you would expect, each is

given high priority within the business. We pride

ourselves on the quality of our exhibitions and

conferences and our efforts to constantly

improve and develop BVE mirror that.

In fact, BVE has been given additional focus this

year as it is very much a growing show in the i2i

portfolio and has huge potential. The 2015 show has

250-plus exhibitors including 35 brand new ones and

over 90 per cent of the floorspace has already been

sold. We are very pleased with how it has gone but

we can always do better and will strive to do so.

Finally, what sort of progress do you think we’ll see in the marketplace in 2015? I think we will see four key trends: more suppliers

entering the broadcast market from IT and telecoms;

more brands becoming buyers of broadcast

equipment; a slow but gradual shift to 4K/UHD with

more UK consumers buying 4K-ready televisions and

broadcasters taking the plunge with services; and

more viewing of content (both live and on demand)

via the internet on either smart TVs, smart set-top

boxes or mobile devices. Exciting times.

Interview

One touch accessWohler will be exhibiting the AMP2-E16V monitor at

BVE 2015. It enables one-touch access to uniquely

robust functionality including simultaneous multiformat

monitoring, program selection, instant stereo downmix,

loudness monitoring, internal channel mixing including SDI

re-embedding, and audio delays. In addition to providing

a top-quality audio system, the monitor offers numerous

ways to view meters, video, and Dolby or SMPTE 2020

metadata. Dolby Zoom, Dolby E line position, and CRC

error monitoring are standard. The monitor supports 32

system configuration presets and can self-configure based

on signal inputs. Audio processor card options simplify

configuration for multiple SDI, AES I/O, and analogue I/O

signals with connections to external surround systems.

Stand: L01

Speaking of communication Attention on the Riedel stand at BVE will be focused on

three new products. For starters, the Tango TNG-200 is

Riedel’s first network-based platform supporting RAVENNA/

AES67 and AVB standards. The unit is equipped with a

high-resolution, full-colour TFT display and is app-

based to facilitate a myriad of uses. Next, the RSP-2318

Smartpanel includes three high-resolution, multi-touch

TFT displays, stereo audio, multilingual character set and

18 keys in just 1RU. Finally, the STX-200 professional

broadcast-grade interface brings any Skype user into

the professional broadcast environment. Licensed

by Microsoft, STX-200 is a single-box solution that

delivers contributions from reporters and viewers into

live programming: while avoiding problems such as

consumer PCs running common Skype clients, external

scan and HDMI-to-SDI converters, or audio dropouts and

menu pop-ups on the live feed.

Stand: F24

Flexible ArrayHi Tech Systems is exhibiting for the first time at BVE

and will unveil its new generation of production control

systems at the show. Array is the latest generation

of video server control systems that also integrates

routers, character generators and switchers into a highly

customisable range of software applications and

hardware panels. It allows a control surface to be

‘built’ to suit a particular workflow or operator’s

requirements using modular control panels and a

suite of software applications.

“Array brings multiple control functions that would

normally be controlled by multiple keyboards and panels

into one clear user interface thus saving desk space

and improving operator efficiency,” said MD Tom Favell.

Stand: G30

BVE news in brief


“4K will be prominent, especially on the acquisition side, but also in terms of

problem solving” Alison Willis, i2i Events Group

Conferences: April 11–16, 2015 • Exhibits: April 13–16Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada USA Join Us! #NABShow

NABShow.com

Over-the-top services are feeding changes in virtually every aspect of television today, from programming and advertising strategies to deployment and the viewer experience.

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NAB Show® is the place to fuel your desires — from building relationships with players emerging on the scene to seeing all of the technologies enabling OTT services to understanding how to capitalize on the evolving demands of today’s content consumer.

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EXHIBITS-ONLYPASS CODE

DZ12

Now Co-located:

Much of the latest news regarding

broadcast technology is about IP

connectivity and running operations

on common, off-the-shelf computer technology.

Yet most broadcasters already have a huge

investment in traditional video infrastructure and

need to continue using it throughout its lifespan.

Equally important, broadcast engineers and

operators are extremely skilled and competent

in using their traditional platforms. Will changing

the core technology change the way they work?

How will this change impact their productivity

and the quality of work? These are really

important questions.

Technology advances have accelerated

the prospect of handling all content – real-

time streams as well as packaged fi les – over

an IP network. With the considerable support

of the IT industry, we have now found a way

to take the internet’s ‘best effort’ approach

to getting a message through – and we have

imposed on it the sort of time constraints and

broad bandwidth that we need to handle

professional-quality signals, even at critical points

like contribution circuits and playout. Why is

that important? Because it means we can use

standard, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) IT

hardware for many of the functions performed

in the broadcast network. We will still need

targeted, specifi c software to deliver the unique

functionality we demand, but much of the

special-purpose hardware used today will

phase out over time.

Ultimately the benefi ts are all economical.

COTS hardware is generally less expensive initially

and benefi ts from Moore’s Law cost reductions.

We can work it harder because it is simply a

platform on which to run software, not a device

with only one purpose which has to stand idle

until you want to do that specifi c thing. For

example, blade servers can run multiple instances

of software applications simultaneously, shifting

priorities dynamically and faster than an operator

could even notice the need.

We will no longer need expensive rack space,

fl oor space, power, and cooling for all of these

lightly-used bits of equipment. Once we reach

the point where we can implement everything in

software, we become much more effi cient.


TVBEverywhere

Glenn LeBrun, vice president of product marketing, Imagine Communications, reviews what benefi ts IP technology brings and how broadcasters can make the transition, taking advantage of those benefi ts without risking the skills and investments already in place

‘Ultimately, the benefi ts are all economical. COTS hardware is generally less expensive

initially and benefi ts from Moore’s Law cost reductions. We can work it harder because

it is simply a platform on which to run software, not a device with only one purpose which has to stand idle until you want to do

that specifi c thing’

Striking the balance Managing the transition to IP

At Imagine

Communications, we talk

a lot about implementing

‘software-defined

networking’ principles

into the broadcast

network. Not only are the

processes run in software,

but the way that those

processes are interlinked

is also in software. That

means our overall

infrastructure becomes

extremely flexible and

responsive to new

business and technical

challenges.

A counter-argument to

an all-software broadcast

network is that a lot of

legacy equipment is

already installed and well

within its working life. In

addition, operators and

engineers know how

to use that equipment,

and there is a natural

concern that the new

architecture will require

new workflows.

These are important

points, and Imagine

Communications is

very aware of these

considerations. That is

why we are actively

promoting a managed

transition – a transition

at the pace that suits the

operational needs of

our customers.

Baseband

connectivity and

traditional broadcast

hardware will be around for a long time, so

the transition will take a number of years. This

transition assumes that media companies

will implement a hybrid infrastructure. In

fact, most broadcast networks are already

hybrid, integrating IP and baseband signals in

various forms today, such as using IP signals in

contribution or distribution, as well as in video

servers. The next evolution of the broadcast

network is simply the succeeding step of this

transition, migrating some or all of the baseband

signal transport, management, and processing

to IP. To enable this transition, Imagine

Communications has continued to upgrade

and update its product lines by commonly

integrating baseband and IP functionality,

thereby allowing customers to make an easy

transition to IP.

Hybrid futureAs an example, take a typical requirement

in a broadcast centre: sending a signal from

one part of the facility to another. Today, a

router control panel will send an instruction to

a physical broadcast device, like an Imagine

Communications Platinum router. However, in the

hybrid future, the signals

in the facility will be

routed in two different

ways: baseband video

signals through the

Platinum router, and IP

video signals through

a 10 gigabit Ethernet

switch from an IT switch

vendor like Cisco or

Arista. Operators know

that the best way to be

sure that the signal has

been routed is to press

a button on a control

panel and see it light up.

So in the hybrid network,

this simple workflow

operation should remain

in place, irrespective of

whether the routing is

over IP or baseband.

One of Imagine’s first

product launches

in this field was a

Software-Defined

Interface that provides

an orchestration

layer. This is essentially

a toolkit to enable

hybrid infrastructures

– a mix of IP and

broadband – to work

seamlessly together, yet

still maintain today’s

workflow processes. The

operator should not

need to know what is

happening behind that

button push. They only

need to know that the

signal will appear where

it is required.How fast

will the hybrid transition

take place? The important point is that every single

broadcaster and facility is different. Their operations

and requirements are different, and their technical

infrastructures are different, so their transitions will

be individually developed to suit their own needs.

Perhaps the best piece of advice to

broadcasters of all kinds is to find a technology

partner that understands the positive potential

of transitioning to IP-centric operations and

who can work with you to develop your own

transition plan, at your own pace, and work in

conjunction with your current capital investments

in baseband technology.

‘The next evolution of the broadcast network is simply the succeeding step of this transition, migrating some or all of the baseband signal transport, management,

and processing to IP’

TVBEverywhere42 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

TVBEverywhere44 TVBEurope

In its first time working with Sky, ContentWise

was chosen by Sky Italia to power its

personalised recommendations for Sky Online,

the recently launched online video service.

The new service fits in with Sky’s strategy to go

multi-platform and multi-channel, explains Paolo

Bozzola, CEO of ContentWise.

The ContentWise solution enables Sky Italia to

offer subscribers of its Sky Online service an intuitive,

personalised experience that combines discovery,

content recommendations and viewing. Bozzola

explains that the service is “targeted to digital

natives, typically younger people using the web,

and targeted to non-Sky customers such as people

that don’t have the pay-TV subscription and for

people who are not able to install a satellite dish.”

The core delivery platform is the web but it can

also be deployed on connected TVs, PCs, tablets

and game consoles (PlayStation and Xbox).

Bozzola says the platform, which has been

deployed as part of a systems integration project

managed by Ericsson, is designed using modern

looks and ways to present content. “This is where

we play a role. ContentWise offers the ability to

personalise the user experience in video services

for both linear TV and on demand. We do this

by applying big data learning techniques to

understand the taste and habits of each single

user and this allows us to dynamically personalise

the user experience and interface.”

Sky Online provides subscribers with access to

a broad content catalogue, including movies,

sports and TV series. The entire offering will be

available online to create an enhanced viewer

experience accessible from any device.

“Creating amazing entertainment experiences

always means putting the customer first,” says

Pier Paolo Tamma, CIO, Sky Italia. “As viewers

demand more relevance and convenience in

the content they consume, our goal is to make

sure they can enjoy moving effortlessly across

discovery patterns. Selecting ContentWise’s

solution makes this vision a reality.”

The ContentWise platform offers Sky Italia

complete management of Sky Online through

use of its powerful multi-device content

publishing tool, which enables content curators

to deliver targeted video recommendations.

It also offers advanced interactive analytics,

providing insights such as recommendations

effectiveness and user engagement, giving

Sky Italia more visibility and control over the

user discovery process.

The ContentWise discovery solution enables

broadcasters and pay-TV operators to deliver

highly personalised TV recommendations that

combine multiple sources of data (e.g. linear TV

consumption, VoD, DVR, web, tablets, mobile,

social media, etc) and optimise monetisation of

their licensed digital assets.

A must haveSo why has personalisation become so important

nowadays? Bozzola explains: “As far as I know

there is not a single new video service which is

launched without deep levels of personalisation.

The reason it is a hot topic for us in the market is

because it is considered to be something you

cannot ‘not’ have. The best of breed [Netflix, Hulu]

all rely a lot on personalised selection of content.”

He also identifies that personalisation creates

real tangible benefits for users. “If it’s done properly,

personalisation makes the task of selecting content

actually something pleasant. We don’t believe we

should take the pleasure of selecting content away

The ContentWise platform offers Sky Italia complete management of Sky Online

Melanie Dayasena-Lowe speaks to Paolo Bozzola, CEO of ContentWise, ahead of the announcement about its recent customer project with Sky Italia

“We want to control every single title that ends up in front of the eyeballs of users in

a service like Sky Online even including search being personalised”

Paolo Bozzola, ContentWise

A Wise take on personalisation

www.tvbeurope.com Febuary 2015

from users. We don’t preach that we have a smart

algorithm making the right choices for users. Our

design goal is to provide relevant options.”

Silent profilingDescribing how personalisation works, Bozzola

says setting up a profile is a prerequisite. “We are

able to concurrently apply several techniques

for people profiling. The most relevant is to do it

silently. We don’t ask for any explicit action from

users. When they subscribe to something, a profile

is automatically built for them. If it’s on a personal

device, the single person is automatically identified.

If it’s on a shared device, by default we build a

shared profile for the household. When people

consume content, we keep track of the relevant

action and silently build our internal image of the

user’s profile or household profile.”

For the Sky Italia deployment in particular,

the broadcaster was looking for additional

functionalities for its service. For example,

ContentWise is able to leverage the silent

information coming from social networks. So if

you like a TV show or movie on Facebook, this

information can be used to silently build your

profile. Other functions that Sky Italia appreciated

was that in the user experience design there are

several places where personalisation adds value.

“We claim we have the widest coverage of use

cases when it comes to the [user interface] UI

design and how to apply personalisation to the UI

design in the market.”

Sky Italia put a lot of emphasis in the deployment

across several devices. “The challenge today is to

keep the user experience and editorial choices

aligned across devices,” comments Bozzola.

In addition to its work with Sky Italia, last year

ContentWise won several other prestigious

customer projects including working with

maxdome, Germany’s VoD service. So what has

been fuelling the company’s recent growth?

Bozzola attributes it to subscription VoD and OTT

services. “As companies deploy more and more

of these solutions we found our sweet spot.

I think we have an edge when it comes to

these types of services.”

He adds: “We define ourselves as a [user

experience] UX engine. Our aim is to control the

overall user experience. We want to control every

single title that ends up in front of the eyeballs of

users in a service like Sky Online, even including

search being personalised.”


TVBEverywhere

Paolo Bozzola: “The challenge today is to keep the user experience and editorial choices aligned across devices”

Carter: From a customer perspective, one of the

biggest challenges many faced was the move

from SD to HD broadcasting and infrastructures.

It required a major investment and a complete

replacement of virtually every element of

the production workfl ow. As the heart of that

workfl ow, production switchers were naturally a

key consideration. To help the transition to HD at

users’ own pace, we developed FormatFusion,

which enabled broadcasters and facilities initially

to replace just the switcher with a new HD capable

one, while still seamlessly supporting SD sources.

This meant that they didn’t have to take the cost

hit for the whole production system in one go.

FormatFusion enabled them to upgrade cameras,

graphics, servers and so on, as and when budgets,

needs and replacement cycles dictated. Over

the last ten years, we have also seen audiences

fragmenting, with broadcasters now needing to

support progressive devices for online, mobile and

tablet alongside traditional broadcast channels.

FormatFusion, developed into FormatFusion3,

has also played a key role in enabling this for

both progressive and interlaced devices. All

Snell switchers support all these formats (even

smaller 1 M/E models), frame accurately and with

appropriate treatments for each platform.

Cross: Video is arguably the most compelling form

of communication there has ever been. It’s not just

the advent of the internet and the fact that video

screens are now everywhere that makes this true,

people are consuming more video content than

ever and have become far more aware of what

46 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com February 2015

At the cutting (and mixing) edge

This month’s Forum delves into the world of vision mixers. Philip Stevens moderates the discussions between several industry experts

There was a time when a vision mixer (switcher) would perform little more than cut, mix and wipe. That more leisurely era is now long past, and the equipment is being asked to carry out more and more specialised functions. So, what are the innovations? Does size really matter? And what of future developments? To tackle those topics we have (in alphabetical order) John Carter, senior product manager, Snell; Dr Andrew Cross, president and chief technology offi cer for NewTek; Valentijn Diemel, marketing manager, Datavideo; Greg Huttie, director of performance switchers, Grass Valley; Andy Newham, Ross Video’s business development manager EMEA (switchers and openTruck); and Norbert Paquet, strategic marketing manager for live production, Sony Europe.

Vision Mixers Forum

Vision mixers have come a long way in the past ten years or so — what do you think has been the greatest innovation?

Andrew Cross, NewTek

Andy Newham, Ross Video

makes it look good and what doesn’t. The key has

been allowing producers to create more highly

compelling content quicker, and for less. What

we’ve pioneered is the ability for a single person or

a small team to produce a highly compelling show.

We’ve done that by taking what used to be an

entire TV station and integrated it into a single box

you can take with you.

Diemel: The ease of use of vision mixers is the

greatest innovation of the last ten years. If you look

at vision mixers from ten years ago, you needed to

be some kind of rocket scientist to work with them.

If you look at our latest vision mixer, you intuitively

see and feel how it works, even if you have only

basic knowledge of video mixing.

Newham: For me the greatest innovations would

have to be in the area of integration, where

multiple production components are brought

together under the control of the vision mixer

within a single harmonised user interface that

improves effi ciency and cost. At Ross Video,

we are continually working to improve the level

of integration and the overall user experience

through our unique DashBoard interface that

allows users to quickly build unique, tailored

custom panels that make multiple, and

seemingly complex operations simple and

easy to use.

Paquet: In the last ten years we’ve seen a sharp

rise in capabilities within the switcher market and

more powerful signal processing as a result. Sony

is renowned for quality and reliability despite

the increase in processing power: both crucial

factors because vision mixers are the beating

heart of live production, and equipment failure

is not an option. Format evolutions have been a

core consideration for switchers, and Sony has

supported the transition from SD to HD, and now

to 4K, as well as 3G.

Cross: It has always been part of the NewTek

DNA to work very closely with customers,

helping fi nd new ways to create video and

inventive ways to allow the equipment to

make that easier and more affordable. When


Vision Mixers Forum

“The ease of use of vision mixers is the greatest innovation of the last ten years”

Valentijn Diemel, Datavideo

Greg Huttie, Grass Valley

John Carter, Snell

Has the introduction of 4K infl uenced your manufacturing criteria for mixers?

doing that, however, we try to take a step

back and understand the bigger problems of

the industry. Fifteen years ago, if we’d gone

down a predictable path we would have built

a traditional vision mixer: but we didn’t. We

innovated and did things differently and, as a

result, we’ve helped form the way production is

done today. We think TriCaster, 3Play and now

TalkShow are direct outcomes of that focus.

We’re excited by 4K and it is no doubt a trend in

the industry. But the basic problems that video

producers are trying to solve (creating more

affordable content that looks great and to do

it faster) are more fundamental than just the

resolution of the video itself.

Huttie: The 4K/UHD switcher capabilities from

Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, are a direct spin-off

from our development team’s work done for the

release of the K-Frame video engine and the

customer feedback that inspired its processing of

true 1080p 3G. Over the past four years, we have

supported customer experiments and production

of live stereo 3D and now next-generation

4K/UHD productions without any change

in hardware or software. By utilising already

understandable and established tools, operators

have provided valuable feedback to hone those

production requirements. We will continue to

work in parallel with our customers to meet the

needs of the broadcast environment now

and in the future.

Newham: Ross has been at the forefront of

vision mixer technology for the past 40 years

and is actively promoting the development of

4K technology. This has been a key deliverable

for the development of both Carbonite and

Acuity. Both of those products are now proven in

live 4K productions internationally. As part of this

ongoing development however, we must ensure

that 4K is produced in a way that is effi cient both

technologically and economically. There are

many challenges to be faced with 4K in terms

of its application and the up/down conversion

with regular HD. Both Carbonite and Acuity

have been built as compact, high performing

solutions that are easily expanded and capable

of providing the fl exibility necessary to make 4K a

viable solution in today’s market. With processing

engines built using the latest FPGAs, Carbonite

and Acuity both offer signifi cant room for

growth and enable additional innovation to be

integrated as 4K and production development

evolves for the future.

Paquet: Our current switcher range already

supports 4K production, thanks to the 3G-SDI

capability and high processing power of the

MVS-X Series. These capabilities are, in turn,

supported by our fl exible panel architecture

which we introduced many years ago. We

will continue to enhance this aspect of our

offering with our new ICP-X7000 panel which

will be available in early 2015. 4K does require

additional resources, so we have developed

4K software for maximising the use of switcher

resources and give operators additional freedom

to be creative. However, what is always at the

heart of our design is the robustness, the high

quality processing, including 4K up-conversion

with very low delay, and, of course, user-

friendly operations. We’ve been supporting

4K live productions since 2013 at events such

as the Confederations Cup and Wimbledon

Championships, and then most recently the

World Cup in Brazil, to name but a few.

Carter: The trend towards bigger panels,

particularly in a live environment is, I think, a

result of wanting to be able to cover every

eventuality that may arise (the differing needs

of different event types) and providing

one-button access to more features in live

situations. But, of course, ever bigger panels eat

up more precious real estate and can become

unwieldy in some instances, particularly in a live

situation, so we’ve also looked at this

from the other end and come up with the

Maverik confi gurable surface. Its modular

architecture allows complete fl exibility in

design and enables the panel to be

reconfi gured on a production by production

basis. Judging by the success Maverik is already

gaining in the market, both live event and

studio, I think we’ve struck a real chord with

the users and facilities.

Diemel: Well, generally speaking the vision

mixers became big, power hungry, computer

based machines. Our mobile studios though,

became smaller and lighter, and portable.

We developed a line of fully integrated mobile

studios that include an up-to-12 channel vision

mixer. These compact, but very tough boxes

weigh in at only 9kg, and include a 17-inch

multiviewer, an eight-channel intercom and a

vision mixer, all running on a 12v power supply.

Huttie: The Kayenne with K-Frame is our

largest panel and is a modular control surface

designed from our own experience, and that

of the broadcasters and vision mixers. It delivers

powerful, creative functionality with an intuitive

user interface that greatly simplifi es workfl ows.

The menu system provides simplifi ed navigation

so that no menu view is more than two

levels deep. Each menu is assisted by

favourites, history and semi-transparent

pull-down quick links.


Vision Mixers Forum

“We’ve been supporting 4K live productions since 2013 at events such as the Confederations Cup and Wimbledon

Championships, and then most recently the World Cup in Brazil, to name but a few”

Norbert Paquet, Sony

The physical size of vision mixers has, generally speaking, become bigger — what have you done to make their operation, especially in a live environment, easier?

Carter: Hailed by many as the fi nest electric guitar

ever built, the Gibson Les Paul was not actually

designed by Les Paul, a world-renowned guitar

player back in the 50s, but in consultation with him

by Gibson Luthiers to meet his playing needs. My

point is that if you combine grand engineering skills

with great understanding of your users’ needs, you

get the best result. Our engineers all have extensive

frontline experience supporting and listening to our

users’, directors’ and technical managers’ needs

at the sharp end of broadcasting. And, of course,

freelancers play an important role too, so you need

to be catering for their needs, as well. I think the

Snell approach delivers the best of all worlds.

Cross: What you’re saying is fundamentally true.

The answer is not that the engineers creating

these products should be video producers, but to

make sure the engineers understand the problems

producers encounter. The closer you get the

engineer to the actual problem, the better off you

are. Indeed, getting our engineers to actually sit right

alongside the people who are using our products to

help propose and design workfl ows is fundamental

to what we do. The fact that video producers are

not software engineers, and that software engineers

are not video producers is a good thing. That allows

companies like ours to enable the smartest people

who create groundbreaking tools to understand

how they need to be used.

Newham: This is an area where we at Ross think

of ourselves as the exception to this general

rule! Within the Ross team we have a number of

professional vision mixer operators. Even the CEO,

David Ross, has been known to switch live sports

shows in his spare time; using, of course, the latest

mixer technology from Ross Video. Ross Mobile

Productions is now in full operation in North

America providing mobile production services

from the ground-breaking new openTruck

initiative from Ross Video. With so many vision

mixer specialists and operators involved in the

design of each new vision mixer, the ‘craft’ of

the technology is extremely well represented in-

house. This is how Ross has been able to produce

vision mixer interfaces that are both intuitive to

use and ergonomically precise.

Diemel: We’re working on smaller, lighter and

less power-consuming vision mixers. In this way

our products can be even more portable or used

on batteries instead of being dependant to a

230v socket. We’re also working on making our

products even simpler to use, so that students

or beginning professional producers can easily

work with them. Our products are often used in

schools, places of worship or small events, so it’s

necessary to make them simple to use.

Huttie: I think that the focus could be a control

system that allows the separation of the design of

the on-air look and the real-time ability of the mixer,

director and producer to tell the story of a live

event without any restrictions in the timing of their

actions. In technological terms, this will mean even

more understanding of the phases of production

and the ability to invent the next set of controls and

surfaces to support them.

Newham: Certainly the advent of IP technology

cannot be ignored, although the industry does

not seem ready for that particular quantum leap

just yet. Furthermore, as 4K becomes reality, there

will be a need to move away from the current

‘quad link’ formats, where four times the resources

of HD are used, and progress towards a single

and unifi ed 4K format. We are still some distance

away from that, but the supply of that format will

surely be driven by the demand of the consumer

at home in their desire for 4K content and 4K live

coverage. Whatever new technology we ourselves

come up with, whether that is internal IP routing,

4K, 8K or even 12K, we must ensure that it is effi cient

enough to be delivered in a means that is both

desirable and affordable to the viewers at home.

Paquet: Vision mixers will continue to evolve,

especially within the IP space. Sony is leading the

market with the development of the Network Media

Interface which is due to be released at the end of

2015. As far as operations are concerned, we have

already introduced our new panels and continue

to listen carefully to our customers to enhance their

operations. I fi rmly believe the biggest changes will

be seen in operations. For markets and applications,

where non-specialist operators usually work, we’ve

introduced touchscreen-based operations with

the Anycast Touch that make it very simple to

insert logos, titling, graphics and so on. The intuitive

UI means that you don’t need to worry about

resources, and can focus on what you want to

achieve. The Anycast Touch is an all-in-one switcher

providing video and audio mixing, live streaming,

video recording, and video playback. This solution

brings the capabilities of a full live production within

reach of a very small team, perhaps even one

person, and is something that will see increasing

interest in 2015 and beyond.

Norbert Paquet, Sony

Valentijn Diemel, Datavideo Sony


Vision Mixers Forum

“As 4K becomes reality, there will be a need to move away from the current

‘quad link’ formats, where four times the resources of HD are used, and progress

towards a single and unifi ed 4K format” Andy Newham, Ross Video

What is your prediction for future developments involving vision mixers?

There is often a lament that vision switchers are designed by engineers who never have to use the equipment in a ‘real’ situation. How do you respond?

TVBE February 2015 digital edition

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Transcript of TVBE February 2015 digital edition