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VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY
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the
hobbit PARK ROAD POST REWRITES 3D RULEBOOK WITH SGO MISTIKA A US STRALI T R A L IIAN AN AUSTRALIAN AU AUS B ROA ADCAS DCAST ING BROADCASTING BROA TING S U MMIT MMIT 2 013 SUMMIT SUM 20 2013 013 PREVIEW ISSN 1448-9554
ROUND-UP Channel-In-A-Box
Avoiding the Wireless Mic Spectrum Crunch
VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
Also see C+T in PDF at www.content-technology.com
Cover Story – The Hobbit in Post
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EDITOR’S WELCOME NEWS New CEOs for ASTRA and Broadcast
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CLASSIFIEDS AND EVENTS OFF AIR What Happened on Tour, Gets
Australia, Educational Streaming, Tricaster Rolls for Oz Day, Vale to Alex Chelleri
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TIME SHIFTER Don Bradman’s
TAKING STOCK Christie Acquiring VR Solutions, Sintec Buys StorerTV and Argo Systems, Opportunities in 2013, Product Distribution News
Printed Right Here! 28mm Record
FEATURES 16 20
ABS PREVIEW Exhibition Preview THIRD DIMENSION The Hobbit in 3D at 48FPS, Single Lens 3D DSLR, Active to Passive Conversion
POST-PRODUCTION Motion Link from Disc to Video-On-Demand, LTO Tape for The Wolverine, Digital Pulse Takes Off
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and Bond Uni, Scouthern Cross Expands with ARRI, New Lenses from Fujifilm and Canon
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Silver Trak Media Sphere, File-Based QC – Delivering Content with Confidence
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SPORTSCASTING IMT at NZ Air Show, Chapter 1 of The Glasgow Diaries, Ross at The Australian Open
RADIO DAB+ Technology Workshop in Bangkok, Playing the Field with 90elf, Warner Gets Service Award
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AUDIO Singtel Using Dolby Digital Plus
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NEWS OPERATIONS Sky News Moves to
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ACQUISITION Sony F65s, for Questacon
Mosart, ‘Moto Cross’ for Metro News, Ross and Crispin Partner
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for IPTV, Syntec Getss DD Ready, Stefan Kudelski Passes
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TRANSMISSION Vietnam Making Digital Switch, Channel-in-a-Box Roundup
CONNECTED MEDIA MediaCorp ‘Toggles’ OTT, Foxtel on the Go, TVNZ onDemand
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CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN: 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel: +61-(0)2-9211 8205 Fax: +61-(0)2-9211 8208 Mob: +61-(0)414-671-811 papers@broadcastpapers.com
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COVER & TOP OF PAGE IMAGE: GRAHAM McTAVISH as Dwalin, WILLIAM KIRCHER as Bifur, RICHARD ARMITAGE as Thorin Oakenshield, KEN STOTT as Balin, JAMES NESBITT as Bofur, and MARTIN FREEMAN (far right) as Bilbo Baggins in the fantasy adventure “THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY,” a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), released by Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM. Photo by James Fisher
SUB-EDITOR: Keith Ford PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lucy Salmon Tel: +61-(0)29211 8205 production@broadcastpapers.com DESIGN & LAYOUT: Wide Open Media Tel: +61-2-9690 2835 info@wideopenmedia.com.au PRINTING: DAI Rubicon, Singapore COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All material in Broadcastpapers’ Content+Technology Magazine is protected under
Australian Commonwealth Copyright Laws. No material may be reproduced in part or whole in any manner without prior consent of the Publisher and/or copyright holder. DISCLAIMER: Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for omissions or mistakes made within, claims made or information provided by advertisers.
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EDITOR’S WELCOME
Connecting the Dots By Phil Sandberg
THE EMERGENCE OF IP-enabled devices such as phones, tablets and smart TVs is cultivating a new media eco-system of connected media. It is an ecosystem that not only allows a greater selection of content at a time of one’s choosing, but also allows consumption of that same content across multiple devices, as well as the ability to consume and interact with that content across multiple screens. The launch of Foxtel Go in Australia and MediaCorp’s Toggle service in Singapore are great examples of this trend (see page 40). However, the idea of ‘connected entertainment’ is still a work in progress and one that will depend on a mix of available devices, standards, broadband rollout, content producers, manufacturer priorities and consumer adaptability. For example, Evan Manolis, Group Manager AV at Samsung Electronics Australia, told C+T last year that ‘Connected Entertainment links’ more than just audio and video content. “It’s health, it can be home monitoring, it can be in your backyard and bringing down a screen via your tablet, which then streams content from your capture TV service from your TV via the cloud onto your screen in the backyard,” he says. “It’s about those different pillars, and then looking at the devices that are together, smartphones, tablets, separate boxes, service gateways, video gateways, and then cloud, and then TV.” Sally O’Donoghue, Manager, iView and Internet Broadcasting with the ABC, agreed “If you were to go by a generic definition provided by Google, entertainment is something that provides enjoyment or amusement. But, I think that’s quite limiting in the term of connected space because it excludes things like entertainment, commerce, education, information, local services, and communication services.”
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The connected ecosystem will be just one of the areas under discussion at this year’s Australian Broadcast Summit (see page 16). As the industry throughout Australia and New Zealand continues to get to grips with the structural changes it is undergoing, events such as the ABS are crucial to learning lessons and sharing both experiences and expectations Content+Technology is proud to be associated with this marquis event and has the honour of helping to curate the ABS Technical Stream. We encourage you to attend.
HIGH FRAME RATES, EXPECTATIONS Our cover story this issue, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is certainly worthy of mention, not the least because of its groundbreaking approach to both production and workflow. Our world-first Park Road Post case study provides an illuminating glimpse into the what is likely the future of production, post and exhibition - or not if you don’t think it looks “film enough”. We say congrats Sir Peter on pushing those boundaries.
SNAKING ALONG THROUGH 2013 This being our first issue of C+T for 2013, we’d like to thank all those who have supported us during our first ten years. We view the magazine as a work in progress, as well as something to consume across the platform and time of your choosing. We welcome always your comments. Finally, whatever your choice of calendar/s, we wish you much happiness and prosperity for the New Year ahead.
Meanwhile, as a reality check, Paul Collie of Sony Network Services told us, “My view of connected entertainment is that it means nothing, it means nothing to a customer. It’s an industry term that we get lost in. We miss the customer in the discussion. I’ve never ever heard a customer talk about, ‘check out my connected TV’, it’s ‘hey I can get Facebook, I can get Twitter, I can get ABC’ or whatever it might be, but they don’t say check
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out my connected TV. I think it’s important for the industry not to get lost in ‘connected entertainment’, rather let’s get lost in what the customer wants to do.”
Thanks for reading Phil Sandberg Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com T: +61-(0)2-9211 8205
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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com
Tricaster Rolls for Australia Day THE GIO OZ DAY 10K is a wheelchair race around the streets of Sydney (Circular Quay, The Rocks & surrounds) held on Australia Day, January 26. Providing coverage of the event was On-Air Systems using Live-U cellular backpack units and road testing Newtek’s TriCaster 8000 live production and media publishing system. According to Managing Director Paul Dengate, “It worked like a charm, even survived two power losses during setup. All went pretty smoothly overall which is nice on a high-profile event.” The On-Air Systems rig for the event included: TriCaster 8000 in portable rack, and Control Surface / Screen cases 2x SDI cameras local to TriCaster 1x SDI camera 150m up the street on a BlackMagic Camera Converter pair (with tactical fibre) 1x SDI camera at the other end of the course via a LiveU LU60 2x SDI cameras on motorbikes with LiveU LU60s Portable LiveU receive servers incoming on 4G modems Outbound webstream on Telstra 4G modems The usual array of big screens, A/V, PA, comms etc Visit www.onair.com.au
EduTV for Tertiary Educators A NEW VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE tailored for the tertiary sector will offer a world of audiovisual content to Australian Universities and TAFEs, according to the collaborative partners behind the project, RMIT Publishing and EnhanceTV Direct. Under the banner of Informit EduTV, the service will digitally stream recorded television content while also offering sharing and storing functionalities. It makes integrating licensed multimedia content into the learning environment easy, safe and cost effective. With Informit EduTV, lecturers can use entire programs, or create short clips, and upload lesson plans, without the need for onsite storage or specialised equipment. Informit EduTV provides access to over 13,000 educational programs from wherever users are in Australia, and features an effective search function which includes searching for the spoken word. “This is an exciting and significant step for RMIT Publishing and Screenrights and we are delighted to be working closely with Screenrights to provide access to media resources and support the education aims of Australian Universities and Institutions,” said Rachel Holthouse, CEO of RMIT Training. Visit www.informit.com.au
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NEWS + PEOPLE
ASIA NEWS
INDIA AFFLE, an international smart-media company, has announced its partnership with the India Today Group to exclusively power all video and rich media advertising for the India Today Group through its recently launched rich media and video ad network – ‘Ripple’. As a part of this partnership the India Today Group would employ Affle’s ‘Ripple’ ad network to serve all video ads on its online properties and to serve video and rich media ads across India Today Group’s properties on the iPad/Tablet platforms. Visit www.affle.com
THAILAND IN A NEW SALE for Interra Systems, CTH Thailand (Cable Thai Holding Public Company Limited) has decided to use Baton as their primary File based QC solution. CTH, established in 2009, provides services for 100 Cable TV companies in Thailand with the main goal to receive and rebroadcast all high quality TV channels containing Sport, News, Entertainment, Movies, Documentaries etc. and deliver this programming to all regions in Thailand. Visit www.interrasystems.com
MALAYSIA NETIA HAS ANNOUNCED that Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) has upgraded its regional station in Ipoh to Radio-Assist 8.1. NETIA’s Radio-Assist family of digital audio software programs has been in use at RTM for more than a decade, and the Ipoh-based station worked with Broadcast Communications International (BCI) to transition to the latest software release and begin working with new features, including the Activity Watcher module. With its Radio-Assist 8.1 upgrade, RTM in Ipoh will gain a variety of added features. RadioAssist 8.1’s new audit module, also called Activity Watcher, enables administrators at RTM to trace and check all modifications made on the playlist and across the entire Radio Assist 8.1 system.
SINGAPORE QUICKPLAY MEDIA has announced continued global expansion with the addition of a new office in Singapore. The office will be managed by Tash Stamatelos, QuickPlay’s newly appointed Vice President of Sales for the Asia Pacific region. “There is a massive opportunity for QuickPlay’s cloud-based multiscreen services in Asia and we are excited to establish a home base for the region in Singapore,” said Wayne Purboo, President and CEO of QuickPlay Media. Visit www.quickplay.com
NEWS + PEOPLE
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KOREA HONG KONG VERIMATRIX has announced that Hong Kongbased PCCW Limited’s now TV is securing its over-the-top (OTT) video-on-demand (VoD) service with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) for Internet TV. now TV is Hong Kong’s largest quad-play pay-TV provider and has one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV. now TV leverages VCAS for Internet TV to provide revenue security for its now Video Express First, a pay-per-view movie on-demand service that offers subscribers access to the latest blockbuster movies in rich options of 3D, high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) formats, and now Video Express Unlimited, a subscription-based movie and drama on-demand service.
DECEMBER 31, 2012, saw the end of analogue TV broadcasting in South Korea with the final switchover to digital-only services. In 1997, South Korea became the second country globally, after the United States, to broadcast regular high definition services using the ATSC transmission standard. Some 15 years later, the Korea Communications Commission estimates more than 99.7% of the national television audience now have access to terrestrial digital TV broadcasts, however, information and government-funded receiver campaigns will continue until March.
Visit www.verimatrix.com
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
INDONESIA TVRI has chosen Etere MERP and MTX to manage its second channel. Television Republik Indonesia (TVRI) is a state-owned television station with national coverage. It is based in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and it has 22 regional stations. The MERP system manages Air Sales, Scheduling and Automation, an integration of all processes to save time and money. The software solution streamlines media operations and to manage the complete lifecycle of TVRI generating processes and sharing information between all departments.
SES AND O3B NETWORKS have announced that Digicel has contracted capacity on SES’ NSS-9 satellite and O3b’s Medium Earth Orbit fleet to provide high quality internet bandwidth for their cellular network in Papua New Guinea. Under the multi-year agreement, the fast growing mobile phone network provider will use the C-band capacity on the NSS-9 satellite at 183 degrees East and the O3bTrunk service to continue to deliver high-quality voice and high-speed mobile data services to its customers across Papua New Guinea. Visit www.ses.com and www.o3bnetworks.com
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NEW ZEALAND
THE MINISTER for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has issued directions to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to set the reserve price for 700 MHz spectrum at $1.36 per megahertz (MHz) per population. The Minister also issued an amending direction to increase the competition limits from 2×20 Mhz to 2×25 MHz for spectrum in the 700MHz band. The amended competition limits remain consistent with advice provided by the ACCC.
SKY NZ HAS SIGNED A DEAL with Jim Blackman, founder and chief executive of community broadcaster Triangle TV, giving access to bandwidth on SKY channel 89 which will be known as Face TV.
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“Under the agreement, we’re giving Triangle TV access to a channel on which they will screen their content,” says SKY TV spokesperson Kirsty Way. “The deal means they will also provide access to other regional broadcasters to show their programmes.”
NEWS + PEOPLE
AUSTRALIA
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NEWS + PEOPLE
Vale Alex Chelleri THE NEW YEAR brought with it the sad news that veteran industry personality Alex Chelleri had passed away after collapsing while hiking near his Discovery Bay residence on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. The Australian-born Chelleri had apparently fallen behind while hiking with his sons Nicholas, Thomas and Benjamin who found him lying on the track, with no apparent injuries. Alex was airlifted to hospital, but medical personnel were unable to resuscitate him. Alex was most recently employed by camera accessory manufacturer Tiffen as its North Asian Director. According to Tiffen International colleague, Brett Smith, “Having observed Alex and enjoyed his company over the last 18 years, since our first meeting in Seoul, he clearly took his skills and Asia knowledge in his stride, making his efforts look relatively easy. Having worked with Alex at Tiffen for the last 12 months, I saw first-hand how his congenial approach to business belied his diligence and determination. He was tough and savvy in any business situation. “Always the raconteur, his legendary tales
Campbell GM for Foxtel Victoria FOXTEL CHIEF EXECUTIVE, Richard Freudenstein, has announced the appointment of Peter Campbell as General Manager, Foxtel Victoria and Sport. In this role he will represent Foxtel to key stakeholders in the Victorian community, be an advocate for Victorian customers and act as a spokesperson for Foxtel for issues specific to Victoria and Sport. According to Richard Freudenstein, “Victoria is a vital market for Foxtel, with a large subscriber base and plenty of potential for growth. In his new role, Peter will be able to reflect the interests of Victorian subscribers at the Foxtel senior executive table.
NEWS + PEOPLE
“Peter’s strong ties with the AFL and his critical role in the creation of the Fox Footy Channel will be an excellent launch pad for his engagement with the broader community of Victoria.” In addition to raising Foxtel’s profile in Victoria, Mr Campbell will work with Foxtel’s advertising sales partner MCN to grow advertising revenue, promote publicity and promotion efforts to boost sales performance in the state, ensure that Foxtel systems and services work in the interests of Victorian customers and support sponsorship and corporate social responsibility activities in Victoria. Visit www.foxtel.com.au
became anticipated ice-breakers amongst the many races in the many countries Alex shared a taxi, booth, beer, wine or boardroom. I believe Alex is the character in quite a few of the tales of Stuart Lloyd in Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of the best-seller Hardship Posting. Like Lloyd’s stories, there was always the right balance of fact and fiction to protect the innocent in all Alex’s yarns. He has been my social lifesaver more times than I can count, and introduced me to countless folk who have since become lifelong friends. Every time I jump on a plane or arrive at a show, I will think of, and sadly miss, a great mate and colleague.” Throughout his career, proven leadership skills, along with that strong understanding of the Asian market, its culture and people saw Alex take on key regional positions with a number of high profile companies, including: President, Asia Pacific, Pebble Beach Systems UK; Director of Automation, APAC region, Snell; President, Asia Pacific, Pro-bel; Sales Manager, Asia, Quantel; Regional Sales Manager, Asia Pacific, Leitch Technology; Sales Director Asia Pacific, Accom; Regional Sales Manager, Asia Pacific, Scitex Digital Video; and Regional Sales
Maiden Appointed ASTRA CEO THE AUSTRALIAN SUBSCRIPTION Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) has appointed Andrew Maiden as Chief Executive Officer. Andrew will replace Petra Buchanan who will be stepping down from the role this year, after three years in the position. Andrew will join ASTRA after twelve years at Telstra in senior public policy and communications roles including Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, where he led corporate communications across the Telstra group. Prior to joining Telstra, Andrew was an advisor, press secretary and chief-ofstaff to state and federal political figures including the Minister for Finance and Administration, The Hon John Fahey AC. “I am excited to have the opportunity to lead ASTRA and represent an industry that employs more than 6,000 Australians and invests $667 million in Australian content each year,” Mr. Maiden said. Andrew will commence in March 2013 following the ASTRA Conference taking place on 14 March. As CEO, Andrew will join the ASTRA board reporting to chairman The Hon Steve Bracks AC. Visit www.astra.org.au
Director, APAC Post Production, Dynatech International. Before leaving Australia at the end of the 1980s, Alex held sales positions with Ampex and was a studio engineer at Amstrong Studio (formerly AAV Australia) where he was responsible for the day to day running of two major recording studios, three radio studios, and a sound to film studio under the management of Roger Savage. Alex held a degree in Electronics from RMIT University, along with a certificate in Broadcast Electronics, and was a member of the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE). As well as his three sons, he is survived by his partner Karen, his parents and a sister.
Broadcast Australia Appoints Hassell CEO BROADCAST AUSTRALIA HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of Jim Hassell as its new Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Mr Hassell is currently Head of Product Development and Industry Relations at NBN Co. Previously he was Chief Operating Officer at Broadcast Australia. Broadcast Australia Group’s Chairman, Gerry Moriarty, said, “Jim brings excellent industry knowledge and a strong customer focus to the role. He has more than 25 years experience in the Information Technology and Communications industry with much of his earlier career spent at IBM and then Sun Microsystems.” Mr Moriarty acknowledged the excellent contribution that Graeme Barclay had made to Broadcast Australia during more than a decade as CEO. Mr Moriarty said, “Graeme has been a strong leader and has successfully managed our broadcast transmission business, including the conversion of broadcast television services from analogue to digital and securing the contract with the Government to manage the clearance of the 700Mhz spectrum.” Jim Hassell will assume the role of Group CEO in March 2013. Visit www.broadcastaustralia.com.au
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Christie to Acquire APAC Integrator CHRISTIE DIGITAL SYSTEMS USA, Inc. has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire VR Solutions Pty. Ltd. (Australia) and VR Solutions (India) Private Limited, subject to completion of certain conditions. These acquisitions will provide Christie with subsidiaries and offices in Australia and India – markets that are witnessing increased demand for Christie’s products and solutions. After closing, Christie intends to rebrand both companies under the Christie name. “We’re excited by the potential of this acquisition,” said Jack Kline, president and chief operating officer, Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. “VR Solutions is a natural fit with Christie, having been a valued partner and integrator of Christie products for several years. The team at VR Solutions also brings a
wealth of expertise in design, sales and service of visual technology solutions to expanding markets for Christie.” The new Australian subsidiary of Christie will become the main sales and support entity in Australia and New Zealand and the new Indian subsidiary of Christie will be integrated with Christie’s existing Indian operations. “In becoming part of the Christie brand, it allows us the natural progression to further support our partners, expanding our presence to supply one of the world’s most respected projection product lines to Australia, New Zealand and India,” explains Michael Bosworth, president, VR Solutions. Lin Yu, vice president, Christie Asia Pacific, will oversee the new Christie operations. Visit www.christiedigital.com
SintecMedia Acquires Argo Systems and StorerTV SINTECMEDIA, a leading broadcast management software provider, announced the acquisition of Argo Systems, a provider of business solutions to the cable network and operators industry, and StorerTV, the top North American provider of media program and contract rights management software solutions for the television broadcast and cable industry. “SintecMedia’s acquisition of Argo Systems will further augment our local activities in the North American cable television and MSO markets,” stated SintecMedia CEO, Amotz Yarden. “Its team and suite of products have gained the respect of every television executive in the industry.” Argo Systems’ President, Doug Calahan, affirmed, “Merging with SintecMedia is a testament to our solutions’ strengths, opens new international
markets and spurs further growth in North America.” Yarden added, “The opportunity to acquire StorerTV, one of the industry’s most recognised names in the United States, bolsters SintecMedia’s North American presence. The acquisition enables us to extend our product line and effectively makes SintecMedia one of the most powerful vendors in the global media business solutions market.” StorerTV Chief Operating Officer, Jay Batista, stated, “Merging with SintecMedia will maintain the intellectual leadership that has been fundamental to our growth and success. We could not find a better partner to lead our technologies for the next 25 years.” Visit www.sintecmedia.com
KIT digital Sacks Auditors, Delists from NASDAQ VIDEO MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE and
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services company KIT digital, Inc. has announced it has dismissed Grant Thornton LLP as the Company’s independent auditor. The Company is in the process of engaging a new audit firm. As previously disclosed, KIT digital is undertaking a restatement of the Company’s historical financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011, each of the three quarters in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and each of the quarters ended March 31, 2012 and June 30, 2012. The restatement, once completed,
Tim Thorsteinson Rejoins Grass Valley as President and CEO
will be subject to audit by the Company’s independent public accounting firm. Additionally, the Company’s common stock was delisted from The NASDAQ Stock Market effective at the opening of business on December 21, 2012. The Company says the delisting is precipitated by its determination not to pay certain fees based on its current circumstances and outlook. The Company does not intend to request an appeal hearing regarding NASDAQ’s delisting determination. Visit www.kitd.com
GRASS VALLEY HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of Tim Thorsteinson as President and CEO, effective immediately. Tim has held numerous senior roles in the broadcast technology industry, including a previous stint as the President and CEO of Grass Valley, President of the Broadcast Communications division of Harris Corp., and President and CEO of Leitch. Most recently Tim was President and CEO of Enablence Technologies Inc. Having led the successful acquisition and carve out of Grass Valley from Technicolor two years ago, Alain Andreoli has stepped down and will leave the business at the end of January. “We are pleased to have Tim Thorsteinson join Grass Valley at this pivotal point in the company’s transformation. Tim’s in-depth industry knowledge and his proven track record of value creation will ensure Grass Valley’s continued success as an independent leader in the rapidly evolving broadcast infrastructure market,” said David Golob, partner at Francisco Partners and Chairman of the Board of Grass Valley. “I would also like to thank Alain for all of his contributions in helping to re-establish Grass Valley as an independent company.” “Grass Valley is uniquely positioned to help lead the broadcast industry into the multi-platform era and I am excited to be joining the team. I know first-hand of the rich history of technical innovation that our customers around the world have come to expect from Grass Valley and I intend to continue that tradition through our powerful product portfolio and best in class solutions,” said Thorsteinson. Visit www.grassvalley.com
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Opportunities in 2013 Media staff & strategy by Karl Jansson Regardless of whether your business is concentrating on technology savvy products to fuel an ambitious bottom line, this year the emphasis appears to be warming to the people side of the business. AS WE DISCUSSED in the last edition titled “What will influence us in 2013?”, it was becoming obvious that when the Broadcast community took the first steps into this year, those culture changes such as retention rates, competitive analysis, leadership development and integration were starting to emerge onto some company blueprints. Why? Well this year seems to favour a growth in the temporary employment market in Australia, so a shift to contract labour may be an option to provide the flexibility and level of skills needed to address your company’s commitments. In approximately 10% of the workforce, more and more talented individuals with sought-after skills are making a career choice to work on a flexible basis. As the trend for these individuals increases, which it appears to be doing at present, they could prove to be the key to providing companies with a strategic reserve of talent on an ongoing basis. In the last quarter of 2012, I researched and tested the Global market for pending hot spots as we approached 2013. I was looking for companies preparing for a potential shortage of talent, as well any market shifts due to technologies that could take key players into potentially new territories. It’s interesting to note that as a result, I received requests for assistance to ‘Search”, identify and prepare individuals for both permanent and contract positions within the Region, specifically APAC clients. It seems that around 40% of employers will be recruiting more professionals on a temporary or contract basis to address the Global talent scarcity. Having said that, I’ve pipelined and secured a number of watching briefs for clients who have a need to fill key engineering roles within the region, some permanent positions with others more contract. In terms of Australia, there is a definite shift emerging to contract talent over engaging their services full time. I believe this will swing back towards the end of this calendar year.
SO, WHAT ABOUT TALENTED INDIVIDUALS? Identifying and targeting individuals is in the most part, the most time consuming, but it’s necessary if you want to ensure that all of the selection criteria of the position have been met. Personally, I’ve been mapping a talent pool for over 15 years, and although it’s my job, it’s also my passion. As a result of constantly updating and expanding the reach of my regional and now global talent pool, I’m able to identify and speak with the best available and best fit professionals on the market, real time. Although most employers don’t have the time to manage a talent pool, they are more receptive to direct approaches. It’s not the most comprehensive method, and may be the most expensive if the culture, experience and skills are not a match.
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For others though, the “Boomerang” approach is frequently used when the economy improves or when a sizeable contract is secured. Some companies will focus on bringing back the very best former employees with a proven track record, to the point where boomerang hires could reach 15%.
were sourced individually. The web of course offers numerous job and social networking sites but in short they attract only those seeking work, be it either currently unemployed or employed but looking. It unfortunately doesn’t offer a ‘Search’ or a true headhunting function, which means that those who are not registered or not even looking are neglected. As there are hundreds of sites it’s impractical to register with all.
LEADERSHIP? THIS IS THE FIRST WAVE! This year we will start to see a bigger-picture trend for Australia’s future, and the reality that organisations are preparing for the first wave of executive change, as today’s baby boomers (49 years olds plus) handover leadership to Generation X leaders (early thirties to the baby boomers). They will in-turn employ Generation Y (20’s to 30’s) middle-managers to oversee the new workforce entrants – the i-generation. As Gen X and Gen Y take higher level management positions we’ll see those technologies that have incrementally advanced up to now, notch up in greater numbers, because of increased funding into R&D. I understand that significant software improvements will be seen as the tip of change this year followed by incredibly inspiring hardware into 2014.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES? As we see change in leadership, so too will be stability in the workforce. Generation X has come of age in an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates and a faltering economy. Generally speaking, they’re individualistic and flexible because they’ve evolved from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, and their work/life balance is more work to live rather than live to work. They will prove to be strong leaders, self-sufficient whilst embracing a hands-off management philosophy. However, they could be prone and more willing to change jobs to get ahead than previous generations. As a result of this, succession plans will also become an increasing part of the landscape from 2013! Although the year appears to taxi the tarmac in the first quarter, it has the markings to runway and take flight in the second to third quarters. This is a year of significant change, a year of opportunity, and one where markets shifts will be monitored more closely than ever before.
For others, a “Magnet Hire” is where an existing employee reaches out and attracts others to apply to a position. Risky by friendships!
Enjoy the flight!
The most difficult yet, but most rewarding are the “Lift outs”. This is where an entire team is lifted out from another company, and from that proven cohesive position, they are ready much sooner than if the team members
Karl Jansson owned and managed “J-Curve Broadcast Recruitment”. He has since merged his business within “Interlogic Placements” at North Sydney. Contact: karl@interlogic.com.au or 9922 2711 or 0408 274 413
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Kodak Completes US$527 Million Patent Transaction THE EMBATTLED Eastman Kodak Company has completed a transaction for the sale and licensing of its digital imaging patents for net proceeds of US$527 million. The transaction, which achieves one of Kodak’s key restructuring objectives, follows other recent major accomplishments that include final Court approval for the company’s interim and exit financing. The company says monetisation of IP assets further builds on its momentum toward emergence in mid-2013. A portion of the $527 million was paid by 12 intellectual property licensees organised by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation. Another portion was paid by Intellectual Ventures, which acquired a substantial majority of the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses, as well as previously existing licenses. “The licensing and sale of our digital imaging patents is another major milestone toward successful emergence,” said, Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We are
on track to emerge as a profitable, sustainable company.” The completion of the sale enables Kodak to repay a substantial amount of its initial DIP loan, satisfy a key condition for its newly approved financing facility, and position its core Commercial Imaging business for future growth and success. In addition to retaining rights to use the 1,100 digital imaging patents sold in the transaction, Kodak maintains ownership of about 9,600 patents, including many focused on its core business. The transaction includes an agreement to settle current patent-related litigation between the participants and Kodak, which avoids additional litigation costs and helps to ensure that management and the company’s resources focus on enhancing core operations. Visit www.kodak.com
miniHUB Lands in Australia & New Zealand NORWIA AS and Quinto Communications have entered into a partnership agreement for distribution of the miniHUB fibre optical video/ data system. Quinto will distribute and market the miniHUB system into Australia and New Zealand while providing support services. Tracey J W Ford, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Norwia, comments, “We are proud to be associated with the most respected and trusted broadcast vendor in the Australasian region. This will give the Norwia miniHUB system visibility to all broadcast and signal distribution entities under a trusted and respected distribution network of Quinto. I’m impressed by the professionalism of the personnel and can see why they retain and build on a very positive customer satisfaction factor and why customers keep returning for excellent service. We both see that the miniHUB fibre distribution system is ideal for
small to medium to large video/data signal distribution systems and brings lower cost of ownership for all users of the system. The system is easy to operate, while providing second generation thinking to the first generation products that are currently in the Australasian market place.” According to Tom Pavicic, CEO of Quinto Communications, “We have seen Norwia grow into a global design and manufacturing company whose innovative media products now offer broadcasters and telecommunications providers a new level of value and flexibility, so important in this very competitive world. Together, with several of our key Australian customers, we have tested their impressive miniHUB fibre system and all have been extremely impressed by Norwia’s design and construction quality.” Visit www.norwia.no
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Riedel Expands Australian Office RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS, one of the leading providers of real-time networks for video, audio and communications, has re-located to a new Australian office. As a result to the expanding markets in Australia and for ensuring a comprehensive service as well as a result of the expanding rental business in Australia, Riedel Australia is relocating to new premises. “The markets in Australia are developing extremely well. With the new office, we have the opportunity to maintain an even more
direct contact and service with our existing and new customers,” said Peter Cochrane, General Manager Riedel Australia. Riedel Australia currently has seven employees for providing sales, support and rental service for the Australian broadcast, event and installation markets. The new Riedel address is: Riedel Communications Australia Pty. Ltd., Unit 2/ 38 Morley Avenue, Rosebery NSW 2018. Phone +61 2 96691199
Engine Edges Eastwards AFTER 22 YEARS at its Artarmon premises, image solutions house, Engine, is moving across the bridge to Sydney’s East. Engine CEO, Calvin Gardiner, said, “Why? Because it’s simply time to move and we feel the best place for Engine to be, to grow and to prosper is closer to the heart of agency and productionland – Sydney’s East.” Engine’s new premises will be carefully fitted out to reflect the company’s position and direction for 2013 and beyond. Gardiner added, “We’re keeping the exact address to ourselves for now until the new space is complete but what I can say is that we are definitely crossing the harbour, the space will very much reflect Engine, our creative and service offerings and our future direction. It’s a challenging market out there and our philosophy is that in order to best serve our clients we have to change with the times so this move and our new direction means we can do exactly that.” Visit www.engine.net.au
ENCO Names PAT Oz Distributor ENCO SYSTEMS, a developer of audio playout and automation solutions, has announced Professional Audio Technology Pty Ltd (PAT) as its new exclusive distributor for Australia and New Zealand. Managing Director of PAT, Patrick Salloch, said, “ENCO is without a doubt the market leader within their chosen field. We have analysed their technology very carefully – just like any potential customer would – and we are highly impressed and excited about the potential their products provide to the Australian and New Zealand broadcast markets.” PAT sees products such as ENCO1 an ideal solution for customers who rely on a purely IP based system infrastructure within their station, while ENCO’s DAD in combination with a more traditional MADI infrastructure provides broadcasters with a multitude of delivery options within their plant or entire national network infrastructure. ENCO’s Director of International Sales, Ken Frommert, said, “We have been watching PAT for a while now and their success within the radio as well as the television market in Australia has not only impressed us, their involvement in projects where ENCO can add value simply makes sense. Both PAT’s and our plans for the future align perfectly and we are sure that our cooperation will provide Australian broadcasters not only with unparalleled system design possibilities, but also a multitude of world class hardware manufacturers to integrate ENCO into any radio or television station.” Visit www.proaudiotechnology.com.au
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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING SUMMIT 2013 PREVIEW
www.content-technology.com/standards
With over a decade of success behind it, the Australian Broadcasting Summit is back again as the leading industry forum for broadcasters in 2013. THE AUSTRALIAN Broadcasting Summit will bring together an exclusive
engagement and managing the digital revolution, this event has something
line-up of C-level only local and international speakers, presenting on the developments in television, radio, digital media convergence and consumer engagement in mass media overall. From topical issues such as connected TV, multi-platform broadcasting and digitising and monetising content to the more traditional broadcasting themes of measuring audiences, increasing
for everyone in the broadcasting sphere.
CONFERENCE DAY ONE – WEDNESDAY 27TH FEBRUARY 2013
RADIO STREAM
8:30
Registration and refreshments
1:50
9:00
Opening remarks from the Chair - Malcolm Long, Principal, Malcolm Long Associates
Opening Remarks from Chair - Steve Ahern, Managing Director, Ahern Media Training; Founder, radioinfo.com.au
1:55
Commercial Radio in 2013: defying the digital era and making radio more popular than ever
9:10
Content+Technology), 2013 will see the launch of two new streams: The Advertising Stream and 12 Break-out sessions.
Regulator’s Keynote Address Richard Bean, Deputy Chairman, ACMA
9:30
In addition to traditional TV, radio and technical streams (curated by
Government Address
Joan Warner, CEO, Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) 2:30
Gavin Parry, Executive Vice President Digital and Business Development, Asia and ANZ, Sony Music
Michelle Rowland, MP, Federal Member for Greenway 10:00 International Keynote - TV, multi-platform and the digital paradox Artie Bulgrin, Senior VP Research and Analytics, ESPN (USA)
3:00
11.20 International Address - Simplifying the delivery of online videos to any device
3:30
Afternoon Tea and Networking Kindly sponsored by Brightcove
4:10
Jeff Whatcott, Chief Marketing Officer, Brightcove (USA) 11.50 International Keynote - Convergence across the demographics: from kids to tweens, millennials to adults
Effectively measuring your audience and delivering on engagement Kate Dundas, Director Radio, ABC
10:50 Morning Tea and Networking Kindly sponsored by Brightcove
The digital transformation and its effects on radio broadcasting
International Keynote Case Study - Innovating to survive and thrive in a competitive market Clive Dickens, COO, Absolute Radio (UK)
5:10- 5:15 End of Streams. Networking Drinks
David Lynn, Viacom International Media Networks, (VIMN) (UK) 12:40 Networking Lunch & Exhibition viewing Kindly sponsored by Broadcast One 1:45
1:50
Opening Remarks from Chair – Malcolm Long, Principal, Malcolm Long Associates
1:55
Industry Keynote Julie Flynn, CEO, Free TV Australia Social TV: first screen slayer or saviour? Kurt Burnette, Chief Sales & Digital Officer, Seven West Media; James Hier, CSO, MEC Australia; Peter Pynta, Director, Neuro-Insight
3:00
1:50
Opening remarks from Chair - Phil Sandberg, Editor, Content & Technology
1:55
Exploring broadcasting and internet convergence
Delegates may move freely between streams
TV STREAM
2:30
TECHNICAL STREAM
Social TV and reporting across the platforms
Trevor Bird, GM Group Technical Services, Seven Media Group 2:30
Gerry Smith, CTO, Prime Media Group; Hugh James, Transmission Service Mgr SBS Corporation; Ian Gair, Principal Engineer, JedTech 3:00
Afternoon tea and Networking
ABS 2013 PREVIEW
Case Study - How Australia viewed The London 2012 Olympic Games: the new generation of viewing Steve Weaver, Network Research Director, Nine Network
4:40
International Address - Creating great consumer and customer experiences through innovation Paul Maher, CEO TV, MediaWorks (NZ)
5:10- 5:15 End of Streams. Networking Drinks
Afternoon Tea and Networking Kindly sponsored by Brightcove
4:10
Loudness in TV broadcasts: battling the noise Craig Mecak, QC Supervisor, Technical Evaluations, National Playout Centre, Nine Network
4:40
Kindly sponsored by Brightcove 4:10
Getting Mobile: Reaching audiences of scale via multiple screens Mark Dando, Head of Online & Mobile, ABC
3:30
Bruce Belsham, Head of Current Affairs, ABC 3:30
Panel Discussion - Debating the restack and effects on the traditional broadcaster
Second screen and the next phase of innovation for broadcasting workflows: asset management Graham Sharp, Senior VP & CMO, Grass Valley (USA)
5:10- 5:15 End of Streams. Networking Drinks
ADVERTISING AND AGENCY STREAM 1:50
Opening remarks from the Chair - Tim Burrowes, Founding Editor, Mumbrella and Editor–in-chief, Encore
1:55
Making Sense of the New TV Advertising Landscape: Models that work and why
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ABS 2013 PREVIEW 2:25
Panel discussion - The future of advertising in broadcasting
Ownership (TCO) for broadcasting transmission networks
3:05
Enhancing Consumer cross-platform engagement
Nils Ahrens, Regional Broadcast Manager AsiaPac, Rohde & Schwarz
3:30
Afternoon Tea and Networking
Breakout 3: HEVC: a game changer for Ultra HD and Multiscreen
Kindly sponsored by Brightcove
Arnaud Perrier, Vice President of Solutions, Envivio
4:10
Panel discussion case study: The Voice
Breakout 4: Content distribution models over the NBN
4:45
Self-regulation in the digital space and beyond
Landry Fevre, General Manager Media, NBN Co Steve Langdon, Manager IPTV & Video products, NBN Co
5:10- 5:15 End of streams. Networking Drinks Kindly sponsored by Envivio
11:45 Breakout session 1,2,3,4 repeated 12:15 Breakout session 1,2,3,4 repeated
CONFERENCE DAY TWO THURSDAY - 28TH FEBRUARY 2013
12:45 Networking Lunch
8:30
Registration and refreshments
1:45
9:00
Opening remarks from the Chair - Malcolm Long, Principal, Malcolm Long Associates
9:05
Multi-screen usage and social TV as the game changer of the future Kristin Carlos, Head of TV, Yahoo!7
9:35
ACCC Address
Marcus Arthur, Managing Director, Global Brands, BBC Worldwide 2:15
James Greet, CEO, Mindshare; Rick Ellis, Group MD, Telstra Media; Kim Dalton, Former Director TV, ABC and Chair, Freeview; Brett Savill, Strategy and Corporate Development Director, Broadcast Australia 10:40 Morning tea and networking 11:10 Break-out seminars 11:15 Breakout 1: Exploring strategies for monestising the new file based workflows
International Address - State of play in 2013: continuing to create meaningful content and derive revenue Peter Tortorici, CEO, Group M Entertainment (USA)
3:15
Afternoon Tea
3:45
Panel Discussion - Revolutions in content management and security: monetising broadcasting workflows Adam Scott, Director of Broadcast Operations, Foxtel; Niall Duffy, CEO, Mediasmiths; Jeff Whatcott, CMO, Brightcove (USA)
4:15
Examining the convergence of print and broadcast media in 2013 Jack Matthews, CEO Metro Media, Fairfax Media
4:45
The Audience is right: through the lens of the digital disruptor Hal Crawford, Editor-in-Chief, ninemsn
Niall Duffy, CEO, Mediasmiths Breakout 2: Energy Efficiency: how to reduce the Total Cost of
International Address - The evolution of connected TV platforms Graham Sharp, Senior VP & CMO, Grass Valley (USA)
2:45
Edward Willett, Commissioner, ACCC 10:05 Executives Panel Discussion - The Australian media landscape outlook
International Keynote - How to ensure you are not a dinosaur of the brand world.
5:15
Closing remarks from the Chair
ON AIR 24 Compact Broadcast Solution
N EXUS Digital Audio Network
SEE S EE U US SA AT TT THE HE A AUSTRALIAN USTRALIAN BROADCASTING SUMMIT SUMMIT 2013 2013 BROADCASTING
STAGETEC MEDIAGROUP AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD. email: australia@stagetec.com.au Phone: +61 2 8011 0500 www.stagetec.com.au
ABS 2013 PREVIEW
DISCOVER STAGETEC INNOVATIONS
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TECHNICAL STANDARDS www.content-technology.com/standards
Prototypes for White Space Broadband JAPAN’S NATIONAL INSTITUTE of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. and ISB Corporation have developed what they claim are the world’s first prototypes of base station (BS) and consumer premise equipment (CPE) based on the IEEE 802.22 standard operating in TV White Spaces (TVWS) (470 MHz – 710 MHz). The IEEE 802.22 Working Group has published the IEEE 802.22-2011 standard for TVWS broadband wireless access to regional areas where it is most needed and where the TV spectrum is least used. In particular, the IEEE
802.22 systems offer around 10 times the coverage of Wi-Fi and enable reliable backup broadband communications in an emergency. The NICT and Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. have developed prototype devices of BS and CPE verifying the physical layer (PHY) and the medium access control (MAC) layer design based on the IEEE 802.22 standard in the TVWS. The NICT, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. and ISB Corporation plan to work closely with WhiteSpace Alliance (WSA) to provide products for worldwide markets. Visit www2.nict.go.jp/wireless/smartlab/index.html
briefs SMART TV ALLIANCE EXPANDS The Smart TV Alliance has announced that six new manufacturers and solution providers have joined the Alliance to stimulate cross-platform Smart TV applications and services. New Smart TV Alliance members include manufacturers Panasonic, ABOX42, and TechniSat, and solution providers IBM and Specific Media. They join Alliance founders LG Electronics, TP Vision and Toshiba, as well as YuMe, Obigo and Qualcomm. Visit www.smarttv-alliance.org
OCTV SPECIFICATION
SMPTE ST 2022-6:2012 defines a uniform data
The Digital Media Project (DMP) has announced the development of the Open Connected TV (OCTV) specification, which has been designed to enable a broad market of products, content, services and applications. The source code is available to DMP members only.
mapping format that supports a wide variety
Visit http://octv.dmpf.org
SMPTE, VSF Unveil HBRMT Standards THE SOCIETY OF MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION ENGINEERS (SMPTE)
been specifically selected to perform well
and the Video Services Forum (VSF) have announced the latest two standards in a series that creates a standardised framework for the transport of video over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The documents, SMPTE ST 20225:2012 and SMPTE ST 2022-6:2012,are now available via the SMPTE digital library.
at speeds up to the Gb/s range and beyond.
SMPTE ST 2022-5:2012 defines a methodology that can be used to provide forward error correction for the recovery from network transmission errors. The methods used have
for high bit rate video signals that operate
of HD-SDI and 3G-SDI video signal formats. Using this standard, products from different manufacturers can, for the first time, send and receive high bit rate video signals that are being delivered over IP networks. Visit http://standards.smpte.org
High Efficiency Video Coding Reaches Final Draft THE MOTION PICTURE EXPERTS GROUP
of Recommendations in ITU-T.
(MPEG) has announced the completion of the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, which has been promoted to Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) status. The new MPEG HEVC standard reduces by half the bit rate needed to deliver high-quality video for a broad variety of applications. Developed jointly with the Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) of ITU-T WP 3/16, the HEVC standard will be formally referenced as ISO/IEC 23008-2 in ISO/IEC and as a new addition to the H series
The MPEG HEVC standard specifies three important profiles including the “Main Profile”, “Main 10 Profile”, and “Main Still Picture Profile”. Mass-market consumer video products that historically require only 8 bits of precision in their processing will be based primarily on the “Main Profile” while the “Main 10 Profile” will support up to 10 bits of processing precision for applications with higher quality demands.
AVnu Alliance, an industry forum that certifies Audio Video Bridging (AVB) products for interoperability, has added broadcast infrastructure equipment developer Axon Digital Design to its membership roster. In addition, Jan Eveleens, CEO of Axon, will serve as chairman of the newly-formed AVnu Alliance Pro Video Subgroup. Visit www.avnu.org
SET-TOP ENERGY SAVINGS The U.S. Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) have announced that 15 leading multichannel video providers and device manufacturers are launching a Set-Top Box Energy Conservation Agreement that will result in annual residential electricity savings of US$1.5 billion. Visit www.ce.org and www.ncta.com
TECHNICAL STANDARDS
Visit http://mpeg.chiariglione.org
AVNU ALLIANCE ADDS AXON
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DELIVERING THE PERSONALISED CONTENT EXPERIENCE
23–26 July 2013 SYDNEY EXHIBITION CENTRE DARLING HARBOUR
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THE 3RD DIMENSION Stereoscopic production & exhibition
Sponsored by
www.3d-day.tv
The Hobbit: Post’s Unexpected Journey Posting The Hobbit was an epic in itself, involving massive amounts of data and workflows which had never been done before. Dick Hobbs talked to the team at Park Road Post Production in Wellington, and to their key technology supplier SGO. “IT’S PETER’S CONSTANT DESIRE to push his story-telling forward that keeps us inspired down here.” That was how Tony Pratt, workflow architect at Park Road, summed up the long-term relationship with director Peter Jackson, a partnership that has developed to the point where he counts on the post house to find the latest technologies to deliver his vision. Park Road, of course, has had a long association with Jackson, and together they had developed smooth workflows for handling stereo 3D. So even when additional technical challenges were thrown into the mix the team was confident the technical ducks were lining up and they could handle it. The most talked about new technical challenge for The Hobbit was, of course, Jackson’s desire to work in high frame rate: 48 frames a second rather than 24. The creative impetus for this was strong: it gives a freedom to move the camera quickly when needed. This is most noticeable in the big battle sequences, where the camera dives and swoops to track the action without judder and – for me at least – absolutely no eye strain. I was just immersed in the action, rather than feeling like I was looking at a screen. Some purists complained about the HFR effect as not being “film-like”, but in a sense that was the point. The new technology exists to help tell stories better, and it should not be ignored just because it is different. Twice as many frames means twice as much data. Double that again because of course the film is shot in stereoscopic 3D. Storage is a problem, but throughput is a bigger one. At the time, there was no way of moving two streams of 48 frames a second in real time, let alone display them.
(L–R) Martin Freeman and director Peter Jackson on the set of the fantasy adventure “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), released by Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM. Photo by Todd Eyre
A second challenge was that Jackson was keen to retain all of the dynamic resolution produced by the Red Epic cameras so he wanted to keep the 16 bit raw data, giving the equivalent of 13.5 stops all the way in to the final grade. So the data architects had to find a way to capture, deliver to post, edit, grade and composite the 5k resolution, 16 bit per colour output, 48 frames a second output of the Red camera. Two cameras per rig. As many as 16 rigs on a big battle sequence. Sometimes as much as 12 terabytes a day. Continued next page
CLIPSTER Masters Middle-Earth
THE 3RD DIMENSION
PARK ROAD POST had been using the CLIPSTER DI workstation for many years for DCI mastering. For the 48 fps 3D version of The.Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey, DVS developed a high frame rate package, as well as additional parameters in CLIPSTER which allow precise JPEG2000 adjustment for DCP generation. The high frame rate of 48 fps eliminates critical image issues that are annoying to the eye such as shaking or judder caused by the lack of continuity between consecutive frames. As such, the results at 48 fps are much more realistic than at the standard rate of 24 fps, especially in 3D. Park Road’s aim was to offer an even more immersive experience for the cinema-goer. In parallel to the high frame rate, a higher bit rate was important to Park Road. The DCI standard limits the bit rate to 250 Mbit/s to prevent any projector failures in traditional 2D cinema. For this project, CLIPSTER exceeds this bit rate, thereby delivering high image quality, even at 48
fps. In discussion with various Integrated Media Block manufacturers, the projectors were upgraded to handle the new bit rate of up to 500 Mbit/s. As a high number of language versions are planned for several large New Zealand film projects, Park Road needed an extremely powerful feature set: CLIPSTER performed the calculation for this variety of versions within a short timeframe thanks to its DCI Mastering performance of 96 fps, achieving a time saving of multiple hours per encoding process. The specially developed CLIPSTER version introduces 3D subtitles which are also animated along the depth axis, leading to continual depthadjustment of the subtitles to the stereoscopic situation of the image. Ian Bidgood, Technical Director at Park Road, said, “DVS developed the CLIPSTER to be able to encode 48 fps 3D for DCI mastering, with the increase in bit rate and proprietary encoding hardware the quality and speed of the final output of JPEG2000 is unprecedented.” Visit www.parkroad.co.nz and www.dvs.de
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THE 3RD DIMENSION COMPELLING
it. And double it again. So we could stay in lock step with the shooting. Our infrastructure had just a little fat in it, so if for instance we needed to redeliver dailies for any reason we could do it without falling behind. In fact, because of the way we built the infrastructure, our turnaround for dailies was faster than most 2D features.”
“When we knew that The Hobbit was coming along, and Peter was on board, we had a busy NAB,” recalled Phil Oatley, Park Road’s head of technology. This was April 2010, and they needed to find a solution that would be able to keep up with this massive data flow. Once principal shooting started there would be little chance to catch up, so the system had to work at full speed from day one.
FINISHING
“We were doing some aggressive testing with all the usual post suspects,” according to Oatley. “Then, on the last day, we saw the most compelling demonstration we had ever had from a manufacturer.”
With all the complications of high frame rate 3D, does this mean that the whole post production process becomes slower? According to SGO’s Moreno, not necessarily.
The demonstration was with Spanish company SGO. Its Mistika finishing system was already well developed and had a strong if not huge following. By this time it was being seen as the best tool for finishing stereo 3D and it was this which attracted the Park Road team to look at it. But Oatley added “we were utterly astounded by the rate at which SGO develop their platform”.
“We worked with Park Road to design a system that delivered realtime performance, even at 48fps in 3D,” he said. “Some traditional platforms find realtime performance demanding in 2D 24fps, and when you are working on 5k 3D HFR full dynamic range media there is nowhere to hide – you cannot cheat on an effect!”
Following the NAB conversation, SGO took a Mistika to Wellington, with product specialist Nicholas Recagno, for a week of intensive HFR 3D testing. “It worked pretty flawlessly, to be honest,” said Oatley. “During that week we more or less formed the bones of the workflow.”
During the design of the workflow, Park Road decided they wanted to investigate performing the final colour grade in Mistika, too. While Mistika had always had colour correction functionality, the SGO team took this as a driver to develop both more sophisticated control and a new user interface.
That workflow starts on set, with some heavy-duty data wrangling. Park Road built trolleys they called “barbecues”, containing three Mac Pros, 64TB of storage, high end networking, and an LTO drive. This allowed the data team to perform the critical QC pass on the data in real time during ingest. Camera magazines were checked, transferred and returned as quickly as possible, with suspect magazines immediately quarantined for further investigation.
“We worked closely with Dave Hollingsworth [supervising colourist on The Hobbit] and his team at Park Road,” Moreno explained. “An important part of what they said they needed was already on our roadmap, but they pushed us in the right direction. The new colour grading toolset inspired by The Hobbit is now part of our standard product.”
Left eye and right eye data went down separate paths, allowing for the alltime failsafe of one eye being regenerated from the other should data get corrupted. All data was mirrored on site and written to multiple LTO-5 backups. One of the advantages of the small city of Wellington is that the studio is just a short distance from Park Road. The barbecues included their own self-contained fibre and very fast networking. It meant that they could transparently attach to the Park Road network and directly transfer verified camera magazine data extremely quickly. On location the fibre was replaced by duplicate LTO-5 tapes hand carried by trusted production runners.
EDITORIAL Once in Park Road’s asset management platform, virtually every creative task was handled by SGO Mistikas. The Mistika is a sophisticated finishing system, based on clever software running on standard hardware. The typical Mistika configuration is an HP Z820 computer with an NVidia Quadro GPU. For The Hobbit, SGO worked with DVS on a 48fps video I/O board. The first task was to derive an editorial version. This pass applied corrections to the 3D geometry where required, and a colour grade, to create an offline copy from the raw 5k data, as an Avid MXF. In general the editorial version was just the dominant eye in 2D, but where 3D was required it was delivered in side-by-side format to make it completely transparent to HD infrastructure. This allowed the offline editors to work on standard Avids using HD televisions as monitors, even if they needed to see 3D.
Deliverables were as much a challenge as any other part of the project. Nine different formats were required, covering 2D, 3D, 48fps, 24fps and film, with 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos soundtracks, and six different home entertainment formats. All versions were exported in a single pass from the master Mistika files, with all versions of each reel created in around an hour. Quality control on each version was hugely rigorous, with different QC rooms looking at the left eye, the right eye and the stereo, on the grounds that three people will not blink at the same time. Signed off outputs were delivered by Aspera from Wellington to Los Angeles, as well as sending a physical backup hand carried by a member of the team. “When we got involved in this project, it became clear just how complex it was going to be, with lots of departments involved and huge numbers of assets,” said Moreno. “There was no product in existence which could sit in the workflow spanning all these requirements.” I asked the Park Road team about where the problems and panics lay in the project. “It was pretty boring for war stories,” admitted Oatley. “Nothing much went really wrong, thanks in no small part to SGO. “We were seeking a relationship with a technology partner, and we found that SGO shares a philosophy with us,” he concluded. “What we demanded, and they delivered, was phenomenal.” Visit www.parkroad.co.nz and www.sgo.es
The workflow also produced single eye MXF and MOV files as dailies for those who did not have to judge stereo. For department heads and leads files were delivered to iPads for quick checks on set. “There were a lot of iPads out there,” Oatley recalled. “They were all super-secured, of course, but it was a great way to get selected dailies out to lead crew in every department.”
“It is only when you get into the workflow that you realise some of the complications,” said SGO’s technical director Javier Moreno. “The offline created a 24fps EDL. When it came to conforming the online then all the live action and VFX were in 48fps, so you have to be able to support both frame rates on the timeline.” “Park Road always builds in a huge degree of resilience, and redundancy, into our systems,” says Oatley. “We ask at production meetings what sort of shooting ratio Peter is planning, then double
Gollum, performed by ANDY SERKIS in the fantasy adventure “THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY,” a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), released by Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
THE 3RD DIMENSION
As well as the dailies, the asset management programme had to package files for Weta Digital, the sister company responsible for developing the visual effects. Like every other part of the workflow, tracking the metadata was critical. With the number of clips, effects layers and renders building by the thousands every day, knowing where everything was and the state of progress was critical.
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Mistika: Dwarfing the Competition While in London to attend a special 3D 48fps screening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Phil Sandberg caught up with SGO Director of Global Sales and Operation, Geoff Mills, to talk all things Mistika. C+T: Can you talk about the extent of the Mistika installation at Park Road Post? GM: Park Road came to see us maybe two and a half years ago with regard to having a tool for stereo correction, geometry correction at which time we had really one of the best systems if not the best system out there for doing that task and they really loved what they saw, just for stereo correction. So, they asked to get a system down in New Zealand to evaluate and when they had that system there in the summer they realised actually that they could do a lot more it. In fact, they could do a complete DI pipeline with Mistika and, of course, we didn’t know about The Hobbit at that time so the discussion was incredibly exciting but actually it became even more exciting when we realised actually what they were thinking of and so what we started off then was a very, very close relationship with them to take what we already had which was some pretty cool technology, but then take it onto another level with a view that it was going to be high frame rate sort of workflow and real time high frame rate workflow. So that introduced a lot of challenges because some of that technology wasn’t there and not just from us but from other parts of the sort of the supply chain and we were lucky enough to be able to provide systems that were used on set right the way through to the rushes sort of pipeline and then ultimately through into the final cut and the deliverables. They’ve got in excess of 30 workstations working down in Park Road on this project and the great thing is also they are using Mistika for other projects, not just The Hobbit. It’s their now DI system throughout the whole facility. So we are very proud of it. C+T: Of the 30 systems, the on-set systems, are they being used as almost instant review? GM: Initially they were used for sort of like as a laptop version for doing the colour. So that colour was set on set with Andrew (Lesnie, cinematographer) and then the metadata was fed through into Park Road.
C+T: So, what type of feedback ended up in refinements to the system? IGM: t was a whole raft of different things. Handling metadata is obviously a very important part of this process. So there was lots of development work into the metadata handling but it was right across the board. They wanted developments in that. They wanted developments with the colour grading. I mean the colour grading tool now at Mistika is arguably one of the best colour correctors in the market and a lot of that has come out of the developments we’ve done for this project which we are very, very proud of. So, we are pleased that a project like this helps to move development along and sort of enhance a great product even further and actually, Mistika really has become the product it has because of our customers, not necessarily because of just what we do, from the feedback we get from all our customers around the world actually.. C+T: How much cooperation did you have with other providers in the chain? GM: Well, I think if you take, for example, DVS have the Atomix IO card, they need to do the high frame rate stuff, even Christie to do the projection, we actually sent a Mistika to Christie to help with their development for 48 frames. So, it’s all those sort of things that have to sort of come together but we were lucky because the core technology of the Mistika could handle the high frame rate. It’s just the high frame rate didn’t really exist in the way that it now does. Of course, we are not just talking about 48, we are talking about 60 and actually beyond and Mistika could do that. So that’s why we were in a very, very nice place because we were already leading innovation, leading technology and it’s proven. C+T: Aside from Wellington, what is your Asia Pacific footprint like? GM: We’ve got a lot of traction in Australia, which is absolutely fantastic. Obviously, at the moment we are working on The Great Gatsby. I mean there are obviously challenges in there but it’s ongoing to be a great movie and we are seeing quite a lot of stuff going on in Australia which is great but the same through the whole Asia region. China is a very, very important market for us to do very, very well, there is obviously a huge amount of 3D production going on in China but we are seeing Thailand, a lot of interest, Korea, a lot of interest as well. India is a big market for us and we are looking at what we can do in Japan because that’s unknown territory for us at the moment so we are going to see what we can do in Japan, for sure.
So, then as the sort of material was fed into Park Road for processing they would do the geometry, then the colour loop was already there and they could process it very, very fast and if you think about the volumes of data that they were producing, they were able to review those the following morning at full resolution, corrected, colour graded at high frame rate which was really quite incredible for rushes pipeline and in some cases they were even looking at that sort of material at the end of that same day. It was so efficient. So they created an incredibly sophisticated sort of pipeline using sort of our technology.
THE 3RD DIMENSION
We obviously had things like a database sitting over the top of that as well which was managing all that data at the same time but, yes, very, very integrated and we were very much involved from a R&D perspective in that pipeline. So yeah, we’ve got some very cool technology in Mistika but we enhanced that further for this project and the great thing is, all of our customers benefit from that technology too. It isn’t locked into just that one project. It’s become part of Mistika as a product.
The Hobbit
Offline Editing + Workflow + Avids REVISIT OUR FEATURE Scan the code or visit: www.content-technology.com/postproduction
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THE 3RD DIMENSION
Samsung DSLR with “One-Lens” 3D System THIS YEAR’S CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW (CES) in Las Vegas saw Samsung Electronics announce the launch of the NX300, along with the new NX 45mm F1.8 2D/3D lens, a “one-lens” 3D system capable of capturing both still images and full HD movies in 3D. The NX300 features a 20.3 Megapixel APS-CMOS sensor, wide ISO range (ISO100-25600) and a Hybrid Auto Focus (AF) system, 1/6000 sec shutter speed and 9fps continuous shooting mode. The NX300’s 84mm (3.31”) AMOLED screen enables reviewing of images, while a hybrid touch screen and 5-way manual key interface is simple and intuitive to use. The tilt display makes it easier to take high and low angle shots. The camera also features Samsung’s in-house developed DRIMe IV imaging engine, designed to enable better colour reproduction and greater noise reduction, as well as support for full 1080p HD video capture in both 2D and 3D (when combined with Samsung’s new 45mm 2D/3D lens).
The camera’s stills functionality includes a Smart Mode allowing users can choose from 14 different settings, such as Creative Shot, Landscape, Light Trace or Action Freeze which will automatically adjust parameters such as aperture and shutter speed in order to obtain the best shot possible for the desired situation. The NX300 also includes i-Depth, an easy and simple way to adjust the depth of an image using the NX Series’ unique i-Function system which enables users to modify camera parameters using the lens itself, adjusting the image without ever having to move off target. The NX300’s Wi-Fi connectivity of SMART CAMERA allows users to share photos instantly and securely between their camera and smartphone (or tablet). To connect a smartphone to the camera, users simply need to download the Samsung SMART CAMERA App., which is available for both Android and iOS based application markets, onto their smartphone or tablet
3D Split-Image Converter DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS PROVIDER Gefen showed its new 3D Split-Image Converter at CES. The converter enables users to view 3D content from any HDMI source, such as a Blu-ray, using any 3D-enabled projector equipped with two DVI inputs (A/B) and splitimage capability. The resulting 3D images can be viewed using passive, polarised 3D glasses. The 3D Split Image Converter can also deliver 3D video when its two DVI outputs are connected to two stacked projectors at the same time. Imagery can be configured as left eye/right eye or as identical 2D signals, depending on your preference. 3D content can be viewed using standard, polarised 3D glasses. “In both cases, the 3D Split-Image Converter will also extract digital audio from the HDMI source and deliver it as a separate optical audio output to feed an audio amplifier and increase your sound, making it great for home theaters,” said Hagai Gefen, president, Gefen. Increased brightness adjustments on the 3D Split Image Converter enable a high quality picture. High definition resolutions up to 1080p full HD are supported. The 3D Split-Image Converter works with all hi-def video sources capable of producing 3DTV content including Blu-rays, set-top boxes and gaming consoles. It offers control through front panel buttons, IR remote or RS-232 interface. Visit www.gefen.com
and follow the steps to create a secure connection with the camera. The NX300 will be able to detect and auto-connect to the smartphone wirelessly whenever any of the SMART CAMERA features are activated. These include AutoShare; which automatically sends every high-quality photos to your smart phone for safe keeping, and Mobile Link; which allows users to select and transfer images or album from the camera directly to a smartphone. The SMART CAMERA App. also features a Remote Viewfinder function for the NX300. The NX300’s enhanced Wi-Fi connectivity also lets users share images with friends and family directly from the camera via social networking sites using the cameras one-touch DIRECT LINK hot key. Alternatively, images can be automatically backed up or stored in the cloud through AllShare Play ensuring they are always safe and easily accessible. Visit www.samsung.com.
Active to Passive and 2D to 3D Conversion CES 2013 saw Stream TV Networks debut its proprietary Ultra-D 2160p technology which features the Ultra-D 2160p powered display, delivering glasses-free 3D. The technology also incorporates the new Ultra-D2160p SeeCube real-time conversion set top box, which provides 2D to 3D-withoutglasses and 3D-with-glasses to 3D-without-glasses content conversion in resolutions up to 2160p. At CES, Stream TV debuted 31.5-inch and 60-inch Ultra-D 2160p displays for the consumer market with Ultra-D glasses-free 3D content demos showcasing movies, sports, animation, digital signage and video game applications. “Response to the literally breakthrough, scalable 3D viewing experience made possible with our new Ultra-D 2160p technology, which until now, has only been shown in private road show meetings, has been incredible,” said Stream TV Networks CEO, Mathu Rajan. “We are excited about the first public showing and are ready to help usher in the next evolution in television.” Stream TV Networks first announced it had developed an algorithm, which boosts existing content to deliver heightened resolution to between 1080p and 2160p, at the IFA Trade Show in Berlin in August 2012. The Ultra-D 2160p technology integrates a proprietary hardware optical system to a 4K display allowing greater clarity and resolution. Ultra-D 2160p uses the disparity between images to produce a higher resolution output than the source. This allows for glasses-free 3D without any viewing angles, distortion or other restrictions using the Ultra-D 2160p 4K display. Consumers can use any type of source content and convert it into customized 3D without glasses – Cable and Satellite TV Channels, Blu-ray, Xbox, iTunes, Apple TV, Google TV, YouTube, Netflix and other feeds. Visit www.ultra-d.com
THE 3RD DIMENSION
The Samsung 45mm 2D/3D lens (sold separately) is said to be the world’s first one-lens 3D system for a consumer camera. Capable of capturing both still pictures and full 1080p HD video, the Samsung NX300 and 45mm 2D/3D lens kit have become the only compact system camera supporting both 3D still and 3D movie.
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ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition
Questacon Buys Sony F65 4K Camera Solution RECENTLY QUESTACON, The National Science and Technology Centre, purchased a Sony F65 4K digital cinematography camera solution to help create and distribute high end content via its media production and distribution centre. The purchase was made through Sony Content Creation Dealer Lemac and the sale process taken care of by Lemac’s Business Development Manager Stuart Pointon, who explained, “A tender was issued through AUS Tender for the supply of a 4K digital camera. It was an interesting tender as we believed the only credible camera that could be presented was the Sony F65 and as we had purchased several F65s and knew a lot about them, we decided to submit an offer.” Questacon had developed a fully functional in-house media production and distribution system and wanted to augment this system with the capability to distribute high-resolution video for remote viewing. Their requirements were very precise and called for a high-resolution, minimum 4K, camera, playback facility, training and maintenance. In addition the camera had to be compatible with Final Cut Pro, After Effects and QuickTime Pro, have HDSDI outputs and SSD memory. The playback system was required to be compatible with and play back all media recorded by the high-resolution camera and needed to operate independently of the camera. Finally, Questacon required the provision of comprehensive training and support for the initial implementation period and ongoing support and operator training post implementation. Sony Senior Product Marketing Manager – Content Creation, Nick Buchner, said, “Sony worked very closely with Lemac to ensure the offer met the tender requirements. During the tender process Questacon also wanted to know about the best lenses, tripods and production kits for the F65. It was a very comprehensive tender process and Questacon were particularly professional throughout.” When the evaluation process was complete Questacon assessed that the proposal met their needs and as a result, purchased a Sony F65 digital camera, SR-R4 Recorder, SR-PC4 Transfer Unit and SR Memory.
Buchner added, “Once the tender had been won Sony and Lemac supplied a complete working system along with comprehensive technical knowledge and knowhow about the F65 and data handling. Post purchase we have also been proactive in ensuring Questacon’s F65 camera and systems are up to date with the latest software and hardware revisions. Questacon’s decision to equip themselves with the industry’s only true 4K solution now also offers them possibilities for even higher resolution capture via the F65’s unique 8K sensor.” Questacon Digital Communications Officer Multimedia Production, Alex Chapman, said, “We use the F65 to shoot content for our 4K Christie Micro Tile Wall at Questacon and also to shoot and produce very high quality material for various government departments and external stakeholders. We found their onsite training valuable as it included explanations of the different post options available for 4K and RAW such as DaVinci Resolve, Smoke and others.” Visit http://pro.sony.com.au
Bond University Chooses Sony F65 Digital Cameras AS PART OF THE STRATEGIC expansion of their digital acquisition workflow, Bond University recently purchased two of Sony’s flagship F65 CineAlta Premium 4K cameras as the key digital acquisition component for its Bachelor of Film and Television degree course. Bond University’s decision to choose Sony’s F65 solution began at a recent Sony customer event organised by Wayne Newton, Account Manager Video Production Sales for Sony premium dealer Videopro in Queensland. Newton said, “We put on an event to showcase all the latest Sony gear over the course of a day that included go karting, presentations and relationship building. The day was a great success and one of the things that came out of it was how interested Bond University were in a high-end digital acquisition camera and workflow.”
ACQUISITION
With Bond University already boasting 16mm and 35mm cameras and an established film workflow, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences had been considering their next move into high-end digital cinema acquisition for some time. According to the Director of Film and Television, Associate Professor Dr. Michael Sergi, the assessment process was fairly advanced when the discussions with Videopro and Sony began.
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Having extensively researched all the digital camera options on the market Dr. Sergi and Technology and TV Studio Manager, Daniel Murphy, asked for full testing of Sony’s F65 camera at the University’s Film and Television facilities. In addition to Wayne Newton from Videopro, Sony’s
two Sydney-based Senior Product Marketing Managers for Content Creation, Nick Buchner and Anthony Kable, also travelled to Bond to provide the demonstration. Daniel Murphy explained, “We really put the F65 through its paces. The features and functionality were excellent, its simplicity was surprising, but we wanted particular clarity on how we would handle all the data and how this would work in a student environment. Sony’s digital workflow has been very well thought through and the F65 combined astonishing visual clarity with the kind of advanced features you expect to find on a true high-end digital motion picture camera.” Bond University’s package includes two F65 cameras, SR 4 recorders, control panels, viewfinders, an external deck, a system of rails, matte boxes, filters, Zeiss Compact Prime Lenses and custom-made alloy cases. Dr. Sergi stated that, “Teaching Fellow Mic Collis ACS teaches the Bachelor of Film and Television course alongside a number of fellow ACS DoPs, so the standard of cinematography at Bond is extremely high. We also wanted the cameras delivered as quickly as possible so we could showcase them at our annual Bond University Film and Television Awards (BUFTA), the short film competition for aspiring filmmakers from Years 11 and 12 across Australia.” Visit http://pro.sony.com.au
ACQUISITION
ACQUISITION
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ACQUISITION
Southern Cross Cameras Expands ARRI Arsenal SYDNEY-BASED FILM AND DIGITAL
my first ARRI ALEXA A-EV in 2012 and went
camera rental house, Southern Cross Cameras, recently expanded its ARRI range of equipment with two ALEXA cameras, ARRI Master Prime and Ultra Prime lenses, and a wide range of accessories.
on to purchase the newest version of this
Owner/director Anthony Pawley often quotes quality and service as the two factors that underpin his success and, having been a camera assistant and focus puller in the film industry for over 15 years, his choice of equipment is based on hands-on experience. He says, “When 35mm cameras were the main choice for rentals there were really only two heavy hitters who made them well – ARRI and Panavision. Once the digital movement came rushing through the door ARRI’s answer was the ALEXA which blew its competition out of the water on sheer quality alone. I bought
amazing camera, the ALEXA PLUS 4:3, shortly thereafter due to the increasing demand in the market for cameras with a 4:3 sensor that can use anamorphic lenses. The ALEXA PLUS 4:3 has both and with the SUP 7.0 software update it can also record 4:3 on ProRes which is another big plus.” In addition to its 4:3 Super 35 sensor, Southern Cross Cameras’ ALEXA PLUS 4:3 also features the ability to switch from 16:9 sensor mode to 4:3 sensor mode, and includes builtin licenses for high speed shooting, DNxHD recording and anamorphic de-squeeze. Visit www.southerncrosscameras.com and www.arri.com.au
Southern Cross Cameras owner/director Anthony Pawley with ARRI Australia’s Stefan Sedlmeier.
Videocraft Cool with Coldplay Webcast RECENTLY COLDPLAY WERE SCHEDULED to play an intimate VIP gig for 2DayFM Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) at Sydney’s Trackdown Studios and Craig Borg, SCA’s Technical Production Manager called Videocraft to help with the video side of the production. Borg outlined SCA’s requirements for the production which included multi-camera coverage for the live web stream through SCA’s website plus a very quick turnaround into edit for news packages.
streams in full HD on our storage system ready to edit within moments. In fact four of the streams were instantly available and the remaining two were available a few minutes later.”
With the speed and high profile of the gig Liell and Borg agreed that an EVS-based solution was the only one available to them that would take care of all the production’s tight requirements.
Directing the band’s coverage at the gig was Jakub Jacko who added, “We treated it as we would any broadcast event for which I have fairly exacting standards and Videocraft delivered a very professional result and a very capable team.”
SCA’s Vision Production Manager Craig Borg explained, “We had five streams of HD video from five Sony HDC-1500 cameras plus a programme stream that had to be captured onto the EVS XS server, then pushed off via an EVS IP Director onto our on-site Avid Media Composer system in record time; and I’m delighted to say that it was. At the end of a 40-minute set we had all six
The Videocraft production also featured the company’s Videocraft FlyPack which is based around the Panasonic AV-HS450 vision switcher and Videocraft also purpose built a TD station using Sony OLED monitoring and provided onsite technical assistance for the entire gig. Visit www.videocraft.com.au
ACQUISITION
“That was the first thing we had to make sure was airtight,” says Videocraft NSW State Manager Andy Liell. “The gig was live to air so it was clear we needed traditional OB-type redundancies in place. Then SCA needed a sixty second news
cut and a tidied up programme cut to be put up on their website within minutes of the event finishing. There was only one way to achieve this and that was to use an EVS-based solution.”
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DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY AT ITS
F’ING BEST
F65
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Whether you Rent or Buy, the Sony range of F-series cameras brings you a choice of digital cinematography tools to suit your budget. Familiar features across the series include exceptional exposure latitude, dynamic range and an array of recording options from 4K RAW to MPEG2 HD that HQDEOH HIÂżFLHQW ÂżOH EDVHG ZRUNĂ€RZV IRU \RXU production.
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FujiFilm Unveils Two New Lenses FUJIFILM’S OPTICAL DEVICES DIVISION is introducing two new high-performance FUJINON lenses: the PL 85-300 lightweight zoom lens (model ZK3.5×85) and the XA99x8.4BESM ultra-wide field production lens. The PL 85-300, a PL Mount zoom lens in the Premier PL digital cinematography family, capitalises on the popularity and success of its predecessor, the PL19-90mm Compact zoom (Model ZK4.7×19). The new XA99x8.4 is a box style HD lens, ideal for producing live sports and entertainment events. While the PL 85-300 is similar in size and weight as the PL 19-90, its longer lens makes it ideal for shooting documentaries, nature and wildlife, and car commercials, among other demanding production scenarios. The PL 85-300 offers a focal length of 85-220mm at T2.9 and 300mm at T4.0, with 200-degree focus rotation.
long-distance HD shots. High-resolution 16-bit encoders are standard, making it suitable to virtual, robotic, and digital signage, among other applications. FUJINON’s exclusive GO-Technology improves image resolution and chromatic aberrations at all focal lengths. This 2/3-inch telephoto field lens employs the latest High Transmittance Electron Beam Coating (HT-EBC) resulting in richer colours and greatly improved blue response and transmittance. HT-EBC coupled with FUJINON’s exclusive Aspheric Technology reduce ghost and flare and increase light transmission. A proprietary anti-fogging design minimises lens fogging and reduces downtime due to moisture. Visit www.fujifilm.com.au
Designed using the latest optical simulation technology, the PL 85-300 compact zoom not only offers exceptional optical performance in the centre of the image but in the corners of the frame as well. Like the highly acclaimed PL 19-90 compact zoom, the PL 85-300 is equipped with the same features including flange focal distance adjustment, a MOD of 1.2m, a macro function for objects as close as 97mm (3.8-inches), and covers a 31.5mm sensor size. The digital servo’s 16-bit encoding assures operators that all lens data output – such as the position of the zoom, iris, and focus – is extremely accurate and the lens supports Lens Data System (LDS) and /i metadata formats. Like the PL 19-90 Compact zoom, the new PL 85-300 features an exclusive detachable servo drive unit, making it suitable for use as a standard PL lens or as an ENG-style lens. And the PL 85-300 can be controlled using cinema industry standard wireless controllers as well as existing FUJINON wired and wireless units.
The PL 85-300 lightweight zoom lens
Meanwhile, the new XA99x8.4 ultra-wide field production lens offers a zoom range of 99x, a focal length of 8.4 to 832mm, and MOD of 2.9m. The XA99x is f1.7 to 341mm and f4.2 at 832mm. Like other lenses in this product line, the XA99x8.4 offers FUJINON’s DIGI POWER digital controls (featuring F number limit), Quick Zoom, two-shot presets, a 2X extender, and other precision digital functions increasing production flexibility. The XA99x8.4 features a newly developed patented image stabilisation technology for rock-steady performance, which is especially critical for
The XA99x8.4BESM ultra-wide field production lens.
Blackmagic Updates Cinema Camera BLACKMAGIC DESIGN has announced a new software update version 1.2 for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera which adds new features including time lapse recording, aperture indicator when using compatible EF lenses, as well as ExFAT formatting for SSD disks. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera has now been certified by Intel for capture and playback with Thunderbolt computer hardware operating under Windows. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 1.2 software update is available to download now free of charge from the Blackmagic Design Website. The new time-lapse recording feature allows customers to capture timelapse video in CinemaDNG RAW 2.5K, Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD. Customers have an extremely wide selection of capture rates with this new time lapse recording feature as they can select from every second frame all the way up to one frame per 10 minutes.
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The addition of the new aperture indicator on the status strip and SDI output overlay for EF compatible lenses allows customers to easily check F stop settings on the LCD display screen.
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With the addition of Windows for Thunderbolt, users with certified Thunderbolt hardware will now be able to use a wide range of Windows based software as well as Blackmagic Design’s UltraScope and Media Express software over Thunderbolt with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Support for Windows formatted ExFAT SSD disk adds flexibility for customers to use either HFS+ or ExFAT formats. ExFAT is a Windows based operating file
system that features state of the art technology, including large sized disk and file support, wide compatibility and high performance. In addition, Mac OS X also supports ExFAT disks, so ExFAT formatted disks can be plugged into both Windows and Mac OS X machines without any third party software required. Simply insert the formatted disk and the camera will automatically detect format, ready for recording. Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes a super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, large 2.5K sensor, a built in SSD recorder that has the bandwidth to capture open standard CinemaDNG RAW, ProRes and DNxHD files, a built in capacitive touch screen LCD for direct metadata entry, standard jack audio connections, built in high-speed Thunderbolt connection, 3 Gb/s SDI output, a refrigerated sensor for low noise, and has a choice of two models for either EF or Micro Four Thirds compatible lenses. Blackmagic Cinema Camera has been designed as a companion to Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer NLE software. Unlike other cameras, which require the use of custom video file formats that are not compatible with popular NLE software, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes no custom video file formats, and every file type included is open standard. It records into CinemaDNG format for RAW files, ProRes and DNxHD for HD resolution files compatible with Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
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Redrock Micro Launches Enhanced Support Rigs
Portable 20x HD Zoom Lens CANON HAS INTRODUCED the KJ20x8.2B KRSD 20x portable HD zoom lens, which is designed to support the new generation of professional 2/3-inch HD acquisition systems. The KJ20x8.2B KRSD is suitable for wedding videography, corporate and educational production, and broadcast ENG. The newest model in Canon’s costeffective HDgc Series of portable HD lenses, the KJ20x8.2B KRSD provides sharp, clear optical performance and operator-convenience features designed to rival those of “packaged lens” systems.
REDROCK MICRO, a provider of professional-grade cinema accessories, has announced the immediate availability of enhanced camera support rigs that improve performance, comfort and reliability for camera operators. Among these upgrades are the microShoulderPad with FieldTech, toolless microBalance QR counterweights, and improved hand grips. The new improvements now come standard on all Redrock rigs, and are available as upgrades to existing customers. The completely redesigned camera shoulder pad improves comfort and balance, critical requirements for long shooting days. The new microShoulderPad uses super-tough Cordura and breathable 3D mesh, and is filled with soft free-forming microPoly beads that actively adapt to each shoulder’s shape and slope. The microShoulderPad promotes proper alignment and better stability with this balanced pressure distribution, and ensures a new level of comfort and support. Building on Redrock’s microBalance weights, the newly designed microBalance QR rig counterweight speeds rig balance and stability with one-of-a-kind features.
Features of the Canon KJ20x8.2B KRSD include its 8.2mm wide-angle of view, 20x zoom range, and distortion-free peripheral brightness and peripheral resolution from intermediate zoom to telephoto. Weighing only 2.75 lbs. (1.25 kg), the KJ20x8.2B KRSD also features Canon Advanced Drive Unit technology for fast 1.0 second zooms, quiet operation, and other enhanced shooting capabilities. The lens has minimised axial and lateral chromatic aberrations, coma aberrations, and geometric distortion. Chromatic aberration is suppressed across the entire lens surface, enabling sharp images with minimal distortion at any object distance. An optimal balance of resolution and contrast in peripheral areas of the image enables users to achieve crisp, clear pictures. Unique Canon optical materials and multilayer optical coatings used for the KJ20x8.2B KRSD effectively attenuate optical artifacts such as ghosting, flare, and veiling glare that might be stimulated by strong light sources (for example, sun in daytime and car headlights at night time). The KJ20x8.2B KRSD exhibits a high MTF (modulation transfer function) at picture centre and features a focal length of 8.2-164 mm. Various companies have introduced portable HD cameras with lensaberration correction functions. The KJ20x8.2B KRSD portable HD zoom lens is fitted with a camera-communication interface to support these separate aberration correction functions.
Weights can be added or removed just by pushing a button, and without any tools. Multiple weights can be added or removed at once. Battery mounting patterns on each weight enable brick batteries (such as Anton Bauer, Switronix, Sony, etc.) to be attached directly to the microBalance QR, making the battery mount quick release as well. microBalance QR can be set up horizontally or vertically, and can be adjusted for left-right balance in the vertical setup, a capability unique to Redrock. Redrock’s rig hand grips have also been updated with improved design and features. The new diamond pattern reduces potential for moisture build-up while the soft rubber surface keeps things comfortable. The added doublelock on each grip end offers an additional option for adding mounting points or rig extensions. A popular use of this feature is attaching the microRemote fingerwheel to the grip when grips are inverted, such as on the ManCam rig. Visit http://redrockmicro.com
HYDREMOTE.COM HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of its HydRemote Remote Cable System. This product allows the waterproof connection of hundreds of remote controllers to GoPro HD Hero and Hero2 cameras. This system allows photographers to start recording video or photographs with the shutter release on their wired or wireless controllers, including crowd favourites like Pocket Wizards. According to photographer and HydRemote’s creator, Ethan Janson, “This new system leaves the GoPro powered off until triggered, thus extending battery life by many hours or even days. Now you are only restricted by the battery life in your remote or receiver.” The camera must be in “One Button Mode” for this system to work properly. Optional waterproof functionality requires modification to an existing GoPro housing BacPac door. Visit www.hydremote.com
The new KJ20x8.2B KRSD portable HD zoom lens also features Canon’s improved Advanced Drive Unit technology. This includes Shuttle Shot, a Canon-exclusive technology that enhances production capabilities. At the touch of a button, Shuttle Shot allows the operator to rapidly zoom back and forth between any two positions. Shuttle Shot can be used to zoom to the telephoto position to check focus and almost instantly return to the original position, or users can “shuttle” between any two zoom-positions at any time. The KJ20x8.2B KRSD’s zoom can travel end-to-end in as little as 1.0 second, an improvement over the speed of previous models. The KJ20x8.2B KRSD Advanced Drive Unit also features an ergonomically re-designed, tilted shape for user comfort, convenience, and balance. The operator’s tactile connection with the lens is enhanced by a ribbed surface on the bottom of the Drive Unit to ensure a firmer grip and better overall operational control. A new grip support allows users to firmly grasp the drive Unit without inadvertently pressing on the VTR or Shuttle Shot buttons. Visit www.canon.com/bctv/
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Remote Control of GoPro Cameras – Underwater
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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide
IMT Soars to New Heights at New Zealand Air Show
www.content-technology.com/sportscasting
IBM and the Australian Open Mark 20 Years IBM (NYSE: IBM) HAS ANNOUNCED new technologies that have enhanced the Australian Open experience for fans, players and coaches. Marking 20 years of technology innovation at the Australian Open, predictive cloud provisioning technology was used in production at the Australian Open 2013, the first Grand Slam to deploy the solution. IBM also combined sophisticated analytics software and natural language processing to gauge positive, negative and neutral opinions shared across hundreds of thousands of social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, news sites, blogs and videos. IBM’s real-time data analytics software examined the tournament schedule of play, tennis player popularity, historical data logs and volume of social media conversations and predicted the data demands from fans viewing the Australian Open website. Based on the demand forecast, IBM’s predictive cloud provisioning technology automatically assigns the appropriate level of computing power required ahead of time. IBM’s analysis of the Australian Open 2013 action extended from the courts to the social media arena, looking at the topics that get fans talking online and which players become the social media champions. IBM also provided the technology for the Social Leaderboard on the Australian Open website that will follow the most popular players and the percentage of positive and negative social sentiment from fans.
INTEGRATED MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC (IMT) has teamed up with Quinto Communications to support daredevil Yves “Jetman” Rossy as he performed his breathtaking flying acts to open this year’s New Zealand International Air Show. IMT’s RF Central microLite HD digital transmitter was on board Jetman’s jet-engine powered wing to help the aviation trailblazer transmit highquality live HD video of his flight to receive sites below and for live broadcast feed to New Zealand Channel 3 News. This enabled tens of thousands of fans to view his flight up close and personal on displays positioned on the ground. Thanks to IMT’s microLite video transmission capabilities, those attending the air show were able to view his flight, which was captured by two GoPro cameras mounted on the jet pack’s wing tips. “We’ve been working with IMT for several years due to the quality and reliability of its products,” says Tom Pavicic, chief executive officer at Quinto Communications. “IMT’s cutting edge technology is what attracts our customers to the company again and again, and we are happy to be the provider of choice in the region.”
SPORTSCASTING
The microLite transmitter provides high-quality, full-HD video directly to ground-based receive equipment. The RF Central microLite HD is an ultra-compact MPEG-4 COFDM digital transmitter designed for the nextgeneration of compact cameras featuring full HD/SDI capabilities. The antenna on Rossy’s wing is a blade antenna from Haigh Farr, recently acquired by the Vitec Group.
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“We are excited that Yves Rossy continues to use IMT’s technology to transmit live HD video to his spectators on the ground, as it is a testament to the engineering and quality of our products,” says Integrated Microwave Technologies Divisional Chief Executive Stephen Shpock. “The ease of use of the RF Central microLite transmitter enables Rossy and his team to set up an RF video solution with confidence.” Visit www.quinto.com.au and www.imt-broadcast.com
“With analytics we can help predict when demand is expected to spike, such as when a crowd favourite goes on court to compete. Predicting the australianopen.com demand from fans ahead of time and automatically provisioning capacity, means we have a highly efficient solution that ensures our interactive tournament website is available for all our fans even during the peaks of our busiest periods,” said Samir Mahir, CIO, Tennis Australia. Visit www.ibm.com/australianopen
ESPN Networks Renamed as FOX SPORTS FOLLOWING NEWS CORPORATION’S successful acquisition of ESPN’s partnership interest in ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) in November last year, all ESPN networks have been renamed as FOX SPORTS networks. The name change was effected across multiple platforms including television, broadband, mobile and online in Singapore, and in various countries across Asia on January 28. In Singapore, the changes included: ESPN to FOX SPORTS, the flagship sports channel, available on SingTel mio TV Ch 114 and StarHub TV Ch 208 ESPN HD to FOX SPORTS PLUS (HD), the high-definition channel, available on SingTel mio TV Ch 117 and StarHub TV Ch 210 ESPNEWS to FOX SPORTS NEWS, the 24-7 sports news channel, available on SingTel mio TV Ch 116 and StarHub TV Ch 207 ESPN PLAYER to FOX SPORTS PLAY, the LIVE and on-demand broadband network In addition to a variety of content from international sports competitions, the broadcaster has said it will continue building upon the recently launched ‘Friday Night Basketball’ featuring the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). “It is exciting to be launching in Asia the leading brand that has changed the sports experience for fans across the world,” said Peter Hutton, Senior Vice President, Sports, FOX International Channels. Visit www.foxsportsasia.com
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The Glasgow Diaries: Chapter 1 By David Bowers FORMER MAGNA GROUP CEO and Nine Network Australia executive David Bowers has just landed in Glasgow for his new role as head of engineering and technical operations for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Host Broadcaster contract. HE JOINS THE TEAM AT SVGTV – the joint venture between Australia’s Global Television and UK-based Sunset+ Vine, which was appointed as the Glasgow 2014 Host Broadcaster in July of last year. In the first of a series of reports for Content + Technology, Bowers outlines the massive project’s mission, critical path and his first day on the ground in Glasgow. Destination Glasgow > Glasgow International Airport, 1130 GMT, February 1, 2013, direct from Sydney via Dubai thanks to Emirates. Stepping off the plane, it’s a bracing 3 degrees C. The crisp Scottish air is an instant wake-up call after 24 hours in a metal tube and very different to the ‘balmy’ summer weather I have left behind in Sydney. This is my second trip to Glasgow since the London Olympics and the available daylight hours have reduced significantly as we move into the Northern Hemisphere winter and begin phase two of one of Scotland’s largest-ever projects. My role is to oversee the planning, design, engineering and installation for the Host Broadcaster sport venues and International Broadcast Centre (IBC) requirements for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
SPORTSCASTING
Delivery of Host Broadcaster services is based on a 121-week project schedule spanning June, 2012 through September, 2014 in five main stages: Start-up, Planning, Operational, Gamestime and Pack-up.
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Not surprisingly, given the magnitude of the task, phase one began as soon as the Host Broadcaster commenced on the project in July of last year. Led by project director Andrew Quinn, our small team is growing steadily as we move along the critical path. Andrew has been involved with the Host Broadcaster contract since the bid’s inception and brings a wealth of experience from previous international events, including Delhi 2010 and Melbourne 2006. My Australian winter wardrobe is no defence against the Glasgow winter temperatures and first item on the agenda is to purchase a thick coat. Andrew directs me where to go: having arrived from Sydney with his in family late December, he’s had time to acclimatise, get the lay of the land, sample the local hospitality and celebrate Hogmanay*. From the shops it’s a brisk 500 metre walk to the project office, which is located in the centre of town and close to the Organising Committee’s administration office and all the major amenities (i.e., pubs). A winter’s day in no way chills the vibrant energy or – especially after Sydney’s scorching summer – extraordinarily green urban environment as I look to the south over Glasgow Green. The colour is a fitting backdrop for the extensive development underway, not just towards Glasgow 2014 but the city’s growing importance as a cultural centre and ‘happening’ place for the
Dating back to the 15th century, Glasgow Green is the city’s oldest park.
thousands of people who work, play and live here. In addition to the anticipated halo effect of a successful Games, the Host Broadcaster will create another positive legacy: at least 120 graduates from Scotland will work with us during the Games, deepening the local pool of capable television technical people and creating a stronger future employment path for them. It’s a series of quick, hello-how-was-your-flights and then I’m at my desk, setting up my laptop and getting ready to work. Far from an unceremonious welcome, I’ve met the dozen-strong team already and the last 26 hours aside am fully up to speed thanks to daily Skype calls and constant emails between Sydney and Glasgow. I’d also had a quick tour in November to survey the local venues, get to know my new colleagues and also meet many of the key Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee functional area managers – important, especially as the Host Broadcaster contract is the largest the Organisers will award. Everyone is in good spirits after Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations and eager to get on with it. We are currently beginning project phase two – the venue overlay planning stage, which involves fine-tuning the compound layouts and establishing access, power and security requirements: normal big event matters that are essential to get right from the start.
Chilling Out – Andrew Quinn and David Bowers on the wintery streets of Glasgow.
SPORTSCASTING
Meanwhile, another group is working on transport logistics, security and the like. There will be hundreds of millions of Pounds of broadcast gear deployed, and 1000+ broadcast professionals working from the IBC and venues during the Games, which will run from 23 July – 3 August, 2014. We need to protect not just property but people, and ensure they can do their jobs safely and without any issues. As Host Broadcaster, over 11 days of competition, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, we’ll provide high definition coverage from 19 venues encompassing 26 different sporting disciplines. In addition, 22 Para Sport medal events will take place – more than any Commonwealth Games to date. The Host Broadcaster is also responsible for the IBC, which is the hub for all Games broadcasting activity, handling incoming television pictures and sound from the venues and distributing that footage to international television and radio rights holders’ home countries. The IBC will also manage outgoing worldwide transmissions from rights holding broadcasters working at the IBC and Games venues. Liaison with rights holding broadcasters is a key focus in the coming months ahead of the first world broadcasters’ meeting. We are identifying their needs with a view to locking down commitments by August. Many of the larger broadcasters are well advanced in planning and others are just beginning. Each will nominate how many square meters of IBC space is needed, how they would like to customise their space and what broadcast services are required to facilitate their coverage of the Games. Discussions with rights holding broadcasters reinforce the overall project goals which the Organising Committee have set and which guide every aspect of the Host Broadcaster project. Aside from the obvious KPIs to play a lead role in delivering a successful Commonwealth Games and to meet all key dates, milestones and deliverables on time and within budget, the Organising Committee have charged us to help deliver their mission, vision and values. That includes increasing the participation of rights holder broadcasters to maximise the reach of the ‘People’s Games’ and to also showcase our collaborative business model as a template for future Games. At the end of a busy first day sleep is far from my mind, and we are all abuzz with the job ahead, so Andrew, Caroline Ramsay (head of broadcast venue management), Ian Hirst (head of production) and I head off to the nearby Molly Malone’s Bar to continue our discussions over a wee pint. * Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner.
Snell at the Centre of HKJC’s HD Operations SNELL HAS ANNOUNCED that the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), one of the world’s largest horse racing organisations, has chosen Snell Kahuna 360 multi-format SD/ HD production switchers as part of a major, multi-phase upgrade of its broadcasting centre to support HD operations. The HKJC, which produces a total of 9,600 hours of TV programming every year, selected the Kahuna 360 switchers to replace an array of aging vision mixers. After an evaluation and procurement process, Kahuna 360 scored highest in technology and price/performance, as well as its ability to provide multi-format inputs and outputs for both SD and HD. Another critical factor in the HKJC’s selection of Kahuna 360 was its resilience and ability to auto-fallback with no visible interruption in service — a major consideration for live racing coverage that is watched by millions of viewers. Also, the system’s ease of use and effortlessness customisation are important in the HKJC’s compact production environment.
as value — and we know we can depend on Snell’s first-rate support organisation.”
“With such a busy programming and production schedule, reliable and state-ofthe-art production switchers are a critical element in the HKJC broadcast environment. Kahuna 360 is truly an all-in-one solution, with the scalability we need to evolve our operation into the future,” said Mrs. Oonagh Chan, head of broadcasting services for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. “As a longtime user of Snell switching, conversion, and playout equipment, we are keen to acquire solutions that offer high quality and reliability as well
One mainframe serves as the field program mixer to produce a clean TV feed from over 40 HD cameras plus playout sources during the live race coverage. The other Kahuna 360 is the master program mixer, combining the clean feed output with playout and bilingual data superimpositions to deliver the program feed in both Chinese and English for the ATV Home Channel.
In phase one of the switcher upgrade, two Kahuna 360 4 M/E mainframes were integrated with HKJC’s existing multi-viewer and TSL tally control systems. Since each Kahuna 360 mainframe can support two or more control panels, four separate programs are produced simultaneously.
Visit www.snellgroup.com
ABU Seeks New Head of Sport THE ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCASTING UNION (ABU) is on the hunt for a new Director for its Sports Department. “Sport is dear to the hearts of most of our members,” says ABU Secretary-General Dr Javad Mottaghi. “The ABU plays a crucial role in representing the interests of our members and the new Director ABU Sports will need to bring important qualities to the job.” The successful candidate will take over one of the ABU’s key departments, coordinating sports issues for the Union’s more than 230 members across the Asia-Pacific, especially arranging broadcasting rights and coverage of major regional and global events such as the Olympics, the Football World Cup and the Asian Games. The new Director ABU Sports will be responsible for all of the ABU’s activities related to sports, including acquisition of media rights and sports coverage, working under the Secretary-General at the ABU
Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur. They will run the day-to-day activities of the department, manage its staff and assist the SecretaryGeneral in developing the strategy of the Union in the world of sports. Dr Mottaghi says he is looking for someone with a minimum 15 years experience in sports programming and sports coverage and at least five years in sports management. “They will also need experience in negotiating financial deals and sporting rights, especially at the international level,” he says. “And, of course, they must have a thorough knowledge of, and a genuine interest in, a wide range of sports and major sporting events.” There is more information on the job and how to apply on the ABU website. Applications close on 31 March 2013. Visit www.abu.org.my
SPORTSCASTING
Host Broadcaster staff, along with a number of consultants, are working on production and technical details for the broadcast infrastructure and coverage, as well as spectrum planning for both traditional two-way radio communications and microwave for the specialty RF cameras to be deployed at various venues.
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SPORTSCASTING
Ross Helps Mediatec Screen the Tennis By Keith Ford Anyone who has visited Melbourne Park to watch the Australian Open will be familiar with the video screens that feature prominently throughout the venue and inside the large arenas. The company that handles these screens for Tennis Australia is Mediatec Group. AT THE 2013 Australian Open, Mediatec was using a solution made up of predominantly Ross Video gear, including Carbonite 2M switchers, NK Series routers, openGear Frames and Cards and the XPression graphics system, purchased though Techtel.
Carbonite 2M switchers were among the purchases made by Mediatec, who now own 4 Systems among their rental stock, and is used to control the feeds going to the video screens. Updates and aftermarket support have also been a large part of what has impressed Mediatec.
“Two years ago the production level stepped up for us in terms of what we wanted to do at the Australian Open, and what the Australian Open wanted us to do,” explained Owen Davison of Mediatec. “When we looked at Ross Video and their range of routers, Open Gear frames, switchers and various other products, they were by far the most complete solution that wasn’t aimed at purely broadcasters. As an event video company we sit in that niche between Broadcast and high end AV Companies, so we need to provide a broadcast looking solution at a fraction of the broadcast budgets. Ross has a lot of products that suit our position in this market.”
“When we first got the Ross Carbonite switchers it was a pretty basic setup interface, limited multi-view views and other features, everything had to be configured with the LED display at the top. But over the last two years Ross kept releasing software updates, so now a lot of the configuration stuff you can do via a dashboard interface, there are a whole selection of multiview looks and numerous other improvements,” said Davison. “Honestly, at first I thought it was going to be difficult with the Carbonite, but it’s actually pretty simple. There’s not layer upon layer of deep menus to get to stuff, it’s pretty well laid out.”
The screens were also changed for the 2013 tournament, with the external 16:9 displays being made wider to incorporate additional information in a single screen, a change from previous years that saw two separate screens used for video and score updates. The new look displays still contain a 16:9 feed of video feed, which is keyed over the XPression graphics by Carbonite. All internal arena screens stayed the 16:9 ratio for this year and have there own control rooms using Carbonite and graphic systems. “The reasons we bought XPression was firstly because it can communicate easily with the switcher. All the graphic overlays and keys and everything can be run off the mixer, so we don’t necessarily have to have a dedicated graphics operator, as well as usability and of course budget,” concluded Davison. Visit www.rossvideo.com and www.techtel.com.au
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Highlights include Video Frame Synchronization for each channel; RGB Color Correction & Proc Amp for all video channels; Up to 2 channels Up/Down/Cross Format & AR Conversion; Embedding and de-embedding for 8 video channels; Integrated Sample Rate Converters; Two 5.1 to stereo Downmixer per Embedder; Variable audio delay of up to 320 ms for each mono channel; Variable video delay of up to 8 frames for each channel; Time Code Insertion, Test Pattern Generator and Video ID Generator per video output; QuadSplit-Monitoring; Multi-Format Video Output
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Freedom of XPression at The Australian Open By Keith Ford When watching the Australian Open on television it is easy to overlook the enormity of the event, despite it dominating the airwaves every January. What viewers see is hardly the full picture; with 128 players competing in both the Men’s and Women’s draw it is impossible to show them all. And that’s just the singles. THERE IS, HOWEVER, another segment that misses out on broadcast attention, but has been finding an audience online in recent years. The qualifying rounds also consist of 128 starting players in with only 16 making it through to the main draw, battling through 3 rounds of intense competition that goes largely unnoticed. During the 2013 Australian Open Qualifying, Stuart Brightwell was tasked with handling the graphics for the live YouTube stream of the event. In order to complete this he set up and operated a Ross XPression, a platform he had never used before. “I found the XPression extremely easy to get up to speed on for someone who had never used it before. As someone who spends most of their time using competitor’s products I was prepared for quite a steep learning curve, yet that simply wasn’t the case,” explained Brightwell. The XPression 3D HD Character Generator &
Motion Graphics System from Ross Video is designed to be as accessible to new operators as possible, while also creating a high power solution. XPression goes beyond 2D and 3D text, offering real-time 3D rendering, import of 3D models, adding animation, lighting, texture mapping, reflection mapping and more. “A limitation I faced was that I would only have one short afternoon session to set it up and become familiar with it’s operation before it was required on air a few days later. I was able to download a copy of the manual from Ross’ support site and read it from cover to cover a couple of times before actually using it in the flesh,” said Brightwell. “This helped me get up-to-speed with the interface and workflow although I was surprised how intuitive the interface layout was for a first-time user. Certainly not intimidating to take your first steps with this CG as everything is cleanly laid out.”
While tennis scoring is not overly complicated, manually changing the details is tedious and slow, prompting Brightwell to write a scoring app in Python, feeding the data through the XPression’s Datalinq server. “The morning of the first broadcast was also the first chance I had to check my new scoring app (running on a linux laptop) would actually work as I’d hoped,” Brightwell added. “After tweaking some network settings I had a connection and it all just worked from then on. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to set this up in such a short period of time given I’d never touched an XPression before.” “I am already looking forward to the next time I get my hands on another XPression so I can spend some more time exploring the extensive 3D capabilities it offers,” concluded Brightwell. Visit www.rossvideo.com
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NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations
Sky News Moves to Mosart MOSART MEDIALAB has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC) is equipping its Sky News National, Sky News Business, Sky News Weather, and Sky News New Zealand control rooms with Mosart newscast automation. The sizeable deployment of Mosart software includes the installation of four systems, three for Sydney, Australia and the fourth for Auckland, New Zealand. All four of the Sky News production control rooms are located in Sydney, with links to studio centres in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Auckland for remote production. “We pride ourselves on adopting new technologies that allow us to provide an unrivalled service to more Australians and New Zealanders,” said Australian News Channel CEO, Angelos Frangopoulos. “When it came time to invest in new studio infrastructure, we looked at all available newscast automation systems, and only one appeared to us to provide the flexibility, quality, and engineering robustness that works in a full scale 24-hour news environment.” Mosart automation is designed to meet the requirements of up-to-the-minute live news, sports, weather, talk shows, and bulletins. The system accepts inputs from leading newsroom
The Mosart automation system and all broadcast equipment located in Sydney will be accessible to New Zealand editorial staff — 2,151 km away — through a local Mosart user interface. As a result, all four Sky News channels can collaborate more efficiently in delivering a consistent, high-quality 24-hour news product. Exemplifying responsiveness to the fastchanging news environment, Sky News was quick to launch its platform for coverage of Australia’s 2013 Federal Election, with a live broadcast of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s announcement of a September 14 election date. The Sky News team in Canberra immediately swung into action with Political Editor David Speers and Political Reporter Ashleigh Gillon
Angelos Frangopoulos, CEO, Australian News Channel.
beginning rolling in-depth analysis with a who’s who of political commentators including Graham Richardson, Chris Kenny and Simon Banks. Within hours there was live reaction from Opposition leader Tony Abbott, Greens’ leader Christine Milne, Independent MPs Tony Windsor, Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott, Peter Anderson from ACCI and Alex Malley from CPA Australia. Sky News says its commitment to Election 2013 will be non-stop between now and September 14 with some of Australia’s leading political programs. Visit www.mosart.no and www.skynews.com.au
Briefs
TAKING A DETOUR around Jakarta’s traffic
FRENCH INTERNATIONAL NEWS CHANNEL
90,000 subscribers (Mobile TV subscribers).
FRANCE 24 has concluded a series of distribution agreements, allowing the channel to strengthen its worldwide distribution.
In Thailand, FRANCE 24 is now available on major IPTV operator ME TV. FRANCE 24 English version is now available 24/7 in the basic offer, while the French version will be available “à-la-carte”.
Magna Systems and Engineering Indonesia Sales Manager, Awan Setiawan, said, “Metro TV is a news broadcaster with many live events, interviews and on-site production requirements all of which require considerable satellite uplink bandwidth and satellite uplink mobile equipment or the use of an SNG van.”
NEWS OPERATIONS
The ANC installation of Mosart enables the production of multiple services for multiple channels out of multiple Mosart control rooms. While Sky News, Australia and the Sky News Business and Sky News Weather channels will be produced entirely out of Sydney facilities, news production for New Zealand will be managed by editorial staff based in New Zealand.
It’s a ‘Moto Cross’ for Indonesia’s Metro TV News congestion, Indonesian 24-hour news channel Metro TV has launched a fleet of motorcycle newsgathering teams employing several TVUPack TM8100 3G/4G mobile broadcasting backpacks from Magna Systems and Engineering.
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computer systems and works with broadcast systems and devices to give operators efficient control, as well as the time and flexibility they need to add the human touch to their broadcasts.
Setiawan continued, “Metro TV specifically wanted a lightweight live reporting tool to help deliver footage to their news studio. They particularly liked the TVUPack’s 3G/4G newsgathering and recording capabilities, hot swappable battery system, video quality, flexibility in operation and the fact that it is light enough to be carried whilst riding a motor cycle.” Visit www.magnasys.tv
In Australia, FRANCE 24 has partnered with SBS, allowing its English version to be broadcast at 3pm on SBS ONE. This 30-minute news segment is also available on the Australian network’s website. In Myanmar, FRANCE 24 English version has just launched on the new IPTV network Skynet (channel 45), allowing the channel to be available to 50,000 subscribers across the country. Thanks to an agreement with Telkom Vision, FRANCE 24 English version, is now available 24/7 in Indonesia on the operator’s cable, IPTV and DTH offers. FRANCE 24 is now accessible to an additional 100,000 subscribers in major Indonesian cities. FRANCE 24 has extended its agreement with SINGTEL allowing its English version to be available on the operator mobile offer to
Visit www.france24.com
BLOOMBERG TELEVISION has partnered with the Idea Group, a Jakarta-based media and strategic communication holding company, to launch Bloomberg TV Indonesia in 2013. Presented in the local language Bahasa Indonesia, Bloomberg TV Indonesia will broadcast Bloomberg’s news, alongside locallyproduced content. Bloomberg TV Indonesia will also partner with existing broadcast entities and air on Free to Air, Pay TV, internet and mobile platforms. Visit www.bloomberg.com/tv
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NEWS OPERATIONS
Australian Govt Invests in ABC News future THANKS TO A ‘ONE-OFF’ GRANT from the Federal Government, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will enhance its reporting with a range of initiatives across its News Operations that it says will better meet audience needs.
“Over the past 12 months, we have focussed on further building an efficient and agile news operation, by introducing new ways of commissioning and producing content for all platforms and all audiences” said ABC News Director, Kate Torney. “The provision of additional funding is a welcome opportunity to build on this recent work.”
The moves follow the ABC’s news gathering review which repositions the organisation for the challenges of convergence. This process continues with the appointment of key senior personnel to deliver news content across ABC radio, television and digital platforms.
ABC’s Managing Director Mark Scott said: “I am delighted that we will recruit more journalists to deliver more in-depth quality reporting on the stories and issues that matter to all Australians. The ABC’s News team will focus on increasing the ABC’s original local content, acknowledging that, in a fragmented market, audiences want information from a trusted independent source that is available to all sections of the community,” Mr Scott said.
The Australian Government will invest AUD$10 million to enable the Corporation to: recruit specialist reporters establish fact checking and investigative research units place more cameras and video links into regional Australia This investment is designed to result in the recruitment of more journalists and increase the ABC’s ability to deliver stronger coverage of local issues and better represent regional Australia. The ABC says more specialist reporters will lead to more investigative work, more analysis and an enhanced news service for audiences.
The Government broadcaster recently launched ABC News 24: live on YouTube. The move sees the live stream (already available on the ABC News website) become available in parallel within YouTube – which means, by extension, the live stream can now be embedded and watched within Facebook and Twitter.
into a status update or tweet (the link is bit.ly/ abcnewsnow). The embedding tool is not for use by commercial parties, and is only available to Australian users. ABC News 24 can push out updates from its Facebook and Twitter pages with live video attached – the live video content now accompanies the update that points to it. Visitors to ABC News’ flagship YouTube channel have immediate access to live video alongside highlights from ABC News’ broad range of coverage and programs on demand. The ability to ‘dynamic link’ in the future – allows one link to point to live coverage as it happens, and then point to structured news reporting as video on-demand after the fact. Visit http://abc.net.au/news YouTube and http://youtube.com/NewsOnABC
Anyone in Australia can now embed the live ABC News 24 stream on their Facebook or Twitter presence, sharing live events and breaking news coverage as they happen by putting the live link
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Australian LiveU users now have the benefit of adding one or more 4G Modems to their LiveU Video Backpack. This added bandwidth further strengthens the industry leading connection resilience and maintains the high video quality required from demanding broadcasters.
International Event Flexibility: LiveU lets you connect to any available LiveU server in the world Australian LiveU users have streamed live, high quality video from places like Indonesia, Rome, Madrid, Hawaii, Canada and Israel directly into their existing servers. No satellite or fibre required Sending content the other way, multiple broadcasters from France and India utilised LiveU to cover the Rugby World Cup and recent Test Cricket Series. While broadcasters from the USA and New Zealand have all used LiveU for Australian based event coverage
Australia Day 2012
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NEWS OPERATIONS
ROSS VIDEO HAS PARTNERED with Crispin Corporation to implement a full news workflow designed to satisfy the requirements for a customer account. The integration of products between Crispin and Ross Video allow both companies to achieve together what they could not have offered separately. The integration consists of Crispin’s NewsCat Media Asset Management System with Ross’ OverDrive Automated Production Control System and BlackStorm Playout Servers. “Having a solution for every customer requirement is impossible to predict,” said Todd Robinson, Marketing Product Manager, Video Servers, Ross Video. “However, having a partner company to rely on to fill in the gaps is key to successful solutions.” “Working with partners like Crispin and the BlackStorm team to create an end-to-end solution for the customer has been a pleasure,” said Allan Pepper, Marketing Product Manager, Technical, OverDrive, Ross Video. “The final integration provides complete transparency between the
Real-Time Chroma Keyer
systems involved when coding server clips in the newsroom and has received great feedback from the customer.” Crispin’s NewsCat Media Asset Management System allows editors, producers, and directors the ability to submit edited content to the Ross’ BlackStorm Playout Servers using a copy of the rundown. It creates low resolution proxies of the material upon submission so newsroom users can confirm the video has been successfully submitted and is correctly assigned to the right story where it can be sent live to air with OverDrive. “One of the primary goals of most news operations is to become fully digital. This demands sophisticated technology and tools to manage the file-based workflows. The combination of Crispin and Ross technologies delivers that end-to-end solution news organisations demand,” said Rodney Mood, Chief Operating Officer, Crispin Corporation. Visit www.crispincorp.com and www.rossvideo.com
Tieline Adds OPUS Coding to Newsgathering TIELINE HAS ADDED the OPUS coding algorithm to its Report-IT newsgathering application, as well as Tieline Genie and Merlin IP audio codecs. Tieline is the first major IP audio codec manufacturer to release OPUS and make it available to customers.
CRYSTAL VISION’S SAFIRE 3 is a realtime chroma keyer suitable for all live virtual productions from studio to sport. The enhanced chroma keying uses a sophisticated algorithm, giving excellent results with minimal sensitivity to camera noise. New key processing features include blacks, whites and greys reject for realistic shadows and a solid key, edge shaping to eliminate hard outlines, key noise reduction through the application of various filters and two-dimensional compensation for uneven illumination of the backdrop. Working with 3Gb/s, HD and SD sources, Safire 3 makes it easy to generate a realistic chroma key by using up to 12 points on the backdrop as well as four points on the Foreground object to automatically set up the optimised processing. It includes Foreground colour correction and Background video adjustments to help create a natural-looking composite picture as well as up to ten frames of video delay adjustment for offsetting the delay caused by the graphics generators. Visit www.crystalvision.tv
OPUS incorporates technology from the well-known SILK and CELT codecs to create a low latency speech and audio codec. It is a variable bit-rate algorithm ideal for live broadcast situations because of its capacity to deliver high quality, real-time Audio over IP (AoIP) at low bit-rates. “Following the recent addition of OPUS to the EBU 3326 interoperability standard for Audio Contribution over IP, a number of large European broadcasters requested Tieline integrate OPUS into Tieline’s codec products,” said Charlie Gawley, VP Sales APAC & EMEA. Tieline has integrated OPUS into the Report-IT application and optimised it to deliver high quality speech at bit-rates from 14.4Kbps up to 64Kbps over Wi-Fi and cellular wireless networks. In Genie and Merlin IP audio codecs the algorithm is optimised for more complex audio signals such as music at higher bit-rates. OPUS is available now in the Report-IT Lite application, Report-IT Live and Report-IT Enterprise from the iTunes App Store. Visit www.tieline.com
Lotus Communication Releases Instant Translation Phone LOTUS COMMUNICATION LIMITED has released a telephone service called Instant Translation Phone, ITP for short. The service is currently available on an IP phone supplied by the Company. However, users can also download VoIP mobile app, INAtalk, to use the free beta version of ITP. Through the service, you can communicate confidently with someone who doesn’t speak your language. You only need to speak in your language and your colleague at the other end will hear you in their language. Lotus are currently doing a beta test version for INAtalk users. Users are required to fill in the ITP beta registration form online, and will then receive instructions via SMS and email. Visit www.inatalk.com
Improving the Uplink HILTRON HAS ANNOUNCED two major additions to its product range: the HMAM-IOT advanced satellite antenna mount and the HCS4 satellite communication controller. The two products complement Hiltron’s HMCS D-SNG satellite-link monitor and control system. Based on Hiltron’s HMAM motorised antenna mount, the HMAM-IOT incorporates inclinedorbit tracking. To conserve guidance propellant, older satellites are allowed to drift from their nominal target position during their main service life. Operators therefore offer greatly reduced transponder capacity pricing. The HMAM-IOT’s advanced tracking capabilities enable the antenna to follow these variations in position. It is the ideal solution for cost-efficient uplinks on inclined-orbit satellites. Meanwhile, the Hiltron Control System version 4 (HCS4) is a highly versatile controller with a wide range of applications in satellite communication. It allows easy switchover between main and backup devices such as downconverters, high-power amplifiers, waveguide switching systems, MPEG digital video broadcast encoders/ modulators and integrated receiver/decoders. The HCS4 can also be used to power, control and monitor optical-fibre transceivers. Lastly, Hiltron’s HMCS is a software-based compact monitor and control system which enables the digital satellite newsgathering truck staff to operate a complete satellite link and achieve fast lineup. Integral auto-pointing capabilities allow a satellite feed between two ground locations to be established quickly and easily. Visit www.hiltron.de
NEWS OPERATIONS
Ross and Crispin Partner to Implement News Workflow
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CONNECTED MEDIA MediaCorp ‘Toggles’ OTT TV With many consumers becoming increasingly time-poor, the idea of being able to not only watch VOD and catch-up programming, but also watch the same content across different platforms and interact with other viewers via social networks shines by comparison to ‘appointment TV’. ACKNOWLEDGING THIS TREND, Singapore broadcaster MediaCorp has launched Toggle, an over-the- top IP service which offers entertainment, information and news to viewers online, on smart phones, tablets and smart TV, making content-viewing an uninterrupted and engaging experience. Toggle viewers can choose to buy content on an a la carte basis, without having to subscribe to a basic bundle of programmes beforehand. Secondly, to ensure easy access, its over-the-top delivery allows viewers to access Toggle’s content via any internet service provider. Lastly, unlike other video services that only offer video on demand (VOD), Toggle also offers linear channels so viewers can still enjoy a lean-back experience of its content. Toggle will also offer local content free of charge to registered users, subject to rights availability. Such content will include programmes from the Free-to-air channels (for example Channel 8, Channel 5, Suria, Vasantham) in the form of Catch-up, as well as the linear streaming of Channel NewsAsia. By mid-2013, Toggle plans to offer local content to Singaporeans residing overseas. “Consumers are increasingly using connected devices both as companion devices and as second screens, and so we made a strategic decision to make Toggle not only a direct way for them to watch MediaCorp content anytime and anywhere, but also a gateway to a brand new TV experience,” said Philip Koh, Managing Director, Convergent Media Division, MediaCorp. “Toggle offers this experience by allowing you to choose the content you want, plus where and how you want to consume it. It is that personal. “This means Toggle’s content goes where you go, allowing you to switch from watching on your PC to your mobile phone when you leave home. And with the wide range of content offered, from different channels and movies to original productions, viewers will have a lot to keep them toggling.”
TVINCI CODE!
CONNECTED MEDIA
Pay-OTT Platform provider Tvinci was selected by MediaCorp Toggle. The deployment is Tvinci’s first in the Asia Pacific market as it looks towards expansion in the region.
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“We’re happy to have Toggle powered by Tvinci’s OTT 2.0 backend,” said MediaCorp’s Philip Koh, “and confident in the way that our users’ devices and content are managed and delivered. Tvinci’s team demonstrated great technical acumen through the quality and speed at which Toggle has been developed and launched.” Toggle content is rights protected across iOS, Android and Windows devices using Tvinci’s multi-DRM capabilities: supporting Microsoft PlayReady and Google’s Widevine DRM simultaneously, depending on the device. Tvinci also allows Toggle users to rate, share and interact around TV shows, with
Twitter and Facebook integrated into the service from the backend level to the interface. “Toggle is the perfect example of a leading media company setting the standard in its local market,” said Ofer Shayo, CEO of Tvinci. “The amount of content consumed via connected devices is increasing steadily every month. Leading operators and media companies such as MediaCorp understand the need to introduce an OTT offering in order to meet viewers’ need to access content on any of their devices, whilst also enjoying an immersive social experience. We are excited to have launched Toggle with MediaCorp as our first project in the pan-Asian region, and we are looking forward to deploying our platform in other territories in 2013.” According to Ido Wiesenberg, co-founder of Tvinci, the Toggle platform will allow users to register in a conventional manner or via submission of their Facebook login details. After selecting a subscription package, the next step is to register the devices through which they wish to access the service. When the consumer selects a piece of content, the system will check for both a valid subscription and whether the device is registered and then allow viewing. “Once you get the right ‘licence’ for the content you can stream it and you can play it,” says Wiesenberg. “Now assuming that you watch 20 minutes and then you want to continue with another device, you can just go, for example, to the connected TV and it will then ask you would you like to continue from this point or you want to start from scratch.” The Tvinci platform manages the ‘hand over’ of content between devices taking into account different versions of the content files being encoded for those different devices as well as differences in the DRM systems applied to those files. To the consumer, the transition is seamless. Streaming for the service is undertaken via Akamai while the encoding of content is being done in-house by MediaCorp. For the user interfaces, the web portal is hosted by Tvinci while the interfaces for various mobile devices are downloaded from respective manufacturers’ app stores. Visit www.toggle.sg and www.tvinci.com
CONNECTED MEDIA
Foxtel on the Go with iPad FOLLOWING THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF a LONDON 2012 Olympic Games App for Australian pay TV operator Foxtel, multi-platform video specialist Switch Media has gone on to develop and integrate the new Foxtel Go service for iPad. The Foxtel Go App allows residential Foxtel customers to watch over 20 Foxtel live channels and hundreds of catch up TV hours on up to two iPads, as part of their Foxtel subscription. Foxtel’s Executive Director of Product, Jim Rudder, said, “Foxtel Go is one of the many new innovative products we have in place for Foxtel customers and it has been incredibly well received since launch. The App uses the same system infrastructure and architecture Switch Media developed for the Foxtel LONDON 2012 Olympic Games App. Switch’s Video Content Management System (VCMS) engine is at the heart of the service and integrates well with our existing broadcast and customer management systems.” Many of the innovations from the Foxtel LONDON 2012 Olympic Games App were included when developing the new Foxtel Go App. Foxtel saw the popularity of the 8 channel viewing mosaic on the LONDON 2012 Olympic Games App and that people often used this mosaic as a live program guide, toggling between channels whilst watching the coverage on their televisions. With that in mind, Foxtel and Switch Media developed functionality as part of the ‘Show Guide’ and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) within Foxtel Go.
StreamZ Live adaptive streaming encoders and the Digital Rapids Broadcast Manager multi-encoder management system to power the new Foxtel Go App.
In addition to building the Foxtel Go App, Switch Media’s VCMS engine manages the workflow live and catch-up video content on Foxtel Go.
“We’re excited that Foxtel has chosen our solutions to power their innovative Foxtel Go App,” said Neville Paterson, Sales Manager, Asia Pacific at Digital Rapids. “Our encoding and streaming solutions deliver exceptional quality and performance for service providers expanding their reach to new platforms ranging from game consoles to mobile devices.”
Foxtel Go uses adaptive bitrate streaming to adjust resolution based on download speeds available, and can be used over a 3G/4G network or WiFi. Digital Rapids was chosen by Foxtel to provide encoding and streaming solutions to underpin its new video initiatives. Foxtel has purchased
The Digital Rapids encoders and management software are being used to provide IP streams for Foxtel on Xbox 360, Foxtel on Connected TV, and the Foxtel Go App. They were also used to provide IP streams for the hugely successful Foxtel LONDON 2012 Olympic Games App.
Visit www.switch.tv, www.digitalrapids.com and www.foxtel.com.au
TVNZ Teams with Brightcove for onDemand App BRIGHTCOVE (NASDAQ: BCOV), a global provider of cloud content services, announced that TVNZ, New Zealand’s national broadcaster, will launch a new TVNZ onDemand catch-up TV app for Apple iOS and Google Android devices using the Brightcove App Cloud mobile app platform. With App Cloud, TVNZ will be able to deliver rich, long-form advertising-supported content experiences to viewers across devices, while also ensuring its content is protected with digital rights management (DRM) technology. “Like many broadcasters, we have had to redefine the way we deliver video to devices to ensure we are reaching our full audience with secure, high quality content experiences,” said Tom Cotter, general manager of digital media at TVNZ. “By partnering with Brightcove, we are able to expand the success of our onDemand desktop viewing experiences to smartphones and tablets with a completely cloud-based and DRM-supported platform. Now we’re able to deploy world-class video experiences across new devices to consumers at a cost that makes sense for our organisation and our market.”
With App Cloud, TVNZ will be able to quickly build and roll out a native app for Apple iOS and Google Android devices. App Cloud’s hybrid app development model enables TVNZ to provide the best user experience and functionality by fusing HTML5 and native code, providing maximum crossplatform leverage and taking advantage of the power and performance of native features at the same time. Visit www.brightcove.com
CONNECTED MEDIA
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with TVNZ and to help open the door to a new kind of content experience for TVNZ’s mobile consumers,” said Chris Johnston, director of digital media solutions at Brightcove. “By taking advantage of our cloud-based platform and App Cloud’s hybrid app development model, TVNZ is able to securely offer its content portfolio on smartphones and tablets and mirror the rich diverse experience TVNZ onDemand provides on the desktop.”
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POST PRODUCTION
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Motionlink – the Bridge from Discs to Downloads 14 years ago Grant Salinger established Motionlink, now Australia’s premier digital media specialists producing the entire gamut of digital content deliverables from disc to Video On Demand. AFTER WORKING IN THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY in Perth, London and Sydney for a number of years, Grant Salinger became enamoured with a revolutionary new media platform – the digital video disc. The selfconfessed computer nerd saw the DVD as the “ultimate joining” of TV and IT on a computer disc. After establishing Motionlink in 1999, Salinger left a full time position at Sky News to set up his DVD authoring business from a small room in his suburban Sydney home. “It was a tiny room where I set it up with two computers,” says Salinger. “I started with a lease of $33,000 of equipment and $10,000 cash, literally. So, not much to work with.” Two children, a room overflowing with cables and prompting from Mrs Salinger, saw Grant move operations to Sydney’s Crows Nest. Successive growth and relocations have seen the company remain in Crows Nest where it has occupied its current premises for some seven years. With a business based on DVD and Blu-ray mastering, Motionlink’s high volume facilities are able to master up to 80 or more discs per month. “Over the years we have grown from basically doing just DVDs to being the first in the Southern Hemisphere producing Blu-rays,” says Salinger. “Now, I think, we are probably one of the most well-equipped.” The company’s arsenal includes six standard definition Scenarist Pro suites and two fully equipped BD (Blu-ray disc) suites right from two Cinevision encoders. The suites are equipped with BD-J and 3D. “Nearly three years ago we decided to hit D-Cinema. We weren’t the first, but when we did it, we did it properly. We got the DVS Clipster, which is world renowned as one of the best encoders, mastering units out there. So we now do a lot of DCP encoding. Movies, commercials, trailers, you name it. “Probably the biggest thing over the last couple of years now and especially in the last 12 months is video-on-demand (VOD). We do encoding for all of the VOD companies. The preparation of files, delivery of master files and just recently, we have signed a partner agreement with Juice Productions in Toronto. They have got every iTunes badge out there.” For the uninitiated, Apple requires mastering facilities to have different “badge registrations” to undertake encoding for different deliverables – for movies, for television, for short music videos, for concerts, and the new iTunes extras which enables interactivity not unlike a Blu-Ray disc, but in a downloaded file.
POST PRODUCTION
“No one in Australia, at this stage, has got that,” says Salinger. “Through our partnership, we can do all of those sorts of things. Downloads up until now have been, you click on a file and it plays. It might have chapters where you can skip backwards and forwards. Now, you can have different languages. You can have subtitles on it and you can have extras, deleted scenes, all the usual things that people pay for on a disc.” To facilitate its international workflow, the company recently installed a 100Mbit fibre connection, which involved digging up 25m of footpath. “It has given us the flexibility now of moving massive files around,” says Salinger. “So, we can move whole movie files and pro-res files to other facilities around the world - especially to our partners in Toronto. We can download material from a lot of suppliers now where we don’t need to
Motionlink founder Grant Salinger, “We embrace technology here.”
receive tapes.” While there is the occasional job involving ‘localisation’ of material authored overseas, the bulk of Motion Link’s client work is generated inhouse from start to finish. “We do the encoding, the menu design, and the interactivity,” says Salinger. “Each client has specific ways they want discs to work. That is one thing about DVD and Blu-ray there is no right and wrong way. It’s the way the client wants it. It’s quite an interesting world out there and some of the clients have some strange functionalities, but it works for them so we do everything they want. “It’s now developed with the cinema, so we are now getting masters earlier, creating the DCPs for the cinema from one master, Blu-ray, DVD and VOD. So, the clients are able to come to us now and right through until video-ondemand with iTunes with our new partnership, we can do everything.” With the number of platforms and formats to deliver to increasing over the years, Motion Link has sought to improve efficiencies through automation and the installation of high speed internal networks. “A lot of the processes where we used to have to go to a separate machine, stand there and work it out, run the settings, go back, we have automated now. A lot of the processes now can be done from any machine in the building. You can go to a file, click on it and you will come out with a great list of functions from audio, to AC3 encoding, to retiming, transcoding, frame rate conversion, up conversion, down conversion. “We have made it so a lot of those processes happen in the background just with a right click. So the functionality of the place; it happens without too much of the front end seeing it all.” The company’s internal network is a mixture of CAT6 Ethernet with the fibre network running on the Metasan, plus 100MB fibre coming into the building.” Much of the company’s server infrastructure has been supplied by Eureka Pacific, whose offices are conveniently located downstairs from Motion Link. “We have a lot of Eureka Pacific drives,” says Salinger. “The GB Labs Space; which is basically a plug in and play system, works extremely well. We’ve got the two high speed Rorke Auroras at 48TB each which are capable of compressed 4K work in Real-time. We have got some Promise enterprise RAIDs there. They are the main RAIDs at the moment.” Visit www.motionlink.com.au
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POST PRODUCTION
Sponsored by
Adventist Media Ramps Up Storage FUTURE REALITY has helped the Adventist Media Network (AMN) step up to enterprise class, scalable storage with the installation of EMC Isilon NL400 hardware. As the media arm for the Seventh Day Adventist Organisation in the APAC region, AMN produces two 30 minute shows for local pay and free-toair channels as well as numerous corporate communication pieces. The increasing data volumes for regular programs and a move into feature films was the final trigger for a storage upgrade. Based in Wahroonga, Sydney, the AMN facility includes two studios, five FinalCut Pro seats and an audio post-production suite. The all-digital workflow originates with data captured using Sony PMW-EX 1, PMW-EX 3 and PDW-700 cameras. The expanded storage will also allow AMN to migrate its design creatives from stand-alone disks to the security of Isilon nodes. “Our data volumes had become so big that tape backups had become unworkable and we needed a greater level of robustness without the cost of going to a full high-end tape back-up system,” said Kalvin Dever, Business Services. “Future Reality recommended an EMC Isilon system would suit our needs and during the selection process we were able to take advantage of the newly updated Isilon NL400 platform to affordably double our original storage plans.“ The installation of a cluster of three Isilon NL400 nodes now provides 120TB of near-primary storage performance at near-tape storage costs. “The Isilon system provides a greater level of flexibility and reliability compared to other types of storage we looked at, which means we need to have a massive hardware failure before we are completely offline,” explained Dever. “Isilon’s ease of scalability was also very attractive to us. We have a couple of up-coming projects where we may need to scale storage for a period of
(l-r) Kalvin Dever, business services manager, and editor David Flemming in an Adventist Media Network suite powered by the newly updated Isilon NL400 storage platform.
time so the flexibility of being able to easily add in another Isilon node when needed is very important. “Last year’s major project had up to 90 different deliverables so we needed a system which gave us reliability and redundancy for the primary storage. We could not afford to have down time while data was recovered from backups. We migrated 16TB of existing storage to the Isilon system. The timing was perfect from my perspective as we would not have been able take on more work with our previous system as backups where failing and we almost lost a significant amount of data. We have had no hardware failures with the Isilon and its all ticking along nicely.” AMN’s next major project is a multi-million dollar drama which will likely be filmed in Europe and complete post-production at the Wahroonga studios. Visit www.future.com.au
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POST PRODUCTION
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Ph: (02) 9280-233343
POST PRODUCTION
Sponsored by
EFILM Sydney Manages The Wolverine with Fujifilm LTO Tape Wolverine contract for data management and dailies production we went to work customising our proven workflow to the client’s production needs and incorporating industry best practice methods for data workflow and data security - this included the option to archive to LTO-5 onset. Fujifilm LTO-5 tapes have a proven track record with us here at EFILM Sydney and our partners internationally as we have been using Fujifilm LTO-5 tapes since their release with superb results, so they were the ideal choice for this project.”
STATE OF THE ART post production facility Deluxe Sydney recently completed Hugh Jackman’s The Wolverine undertaking data management and dailies production. A significant part of this project involved using Fujifilm LTO tape for archive, storage and secure data management. Deluxe EFILM’s Sydney Onset Data Manager Simon Alberry explained, “LTO is a prerequisite for the major Hollywood studios and bond agents for the archiving of camera raw data during production. Once we were awarded The
EFILM Internationally has developed utilities to manage the archive database and facilitate efficient post-production management of metadata and selective restoration for projects industry-wide. Their highly successful processes include following well-proven workflows, selecting the best professional media products available and having excellent relationships with suppliers. Alberry continued, “On The Wolverine we established a data volume and shoot ratio based on the runtime hour per camera in RAW. With this established, the volumes dictated to some extent the need for 24 hour a day archival and verification routines. These data workflows have proven themselves well during the shooting period with robust systems in place to
Digital Pulse Collaborates on In-Flight Videos for Aircalin
POST PRODUCTION
collaborated on the production of three animated in-flight videos for New Caledonia’s flagship airline Aircalin. Digital Pulse was commissioned for the project by Interact, a global in-flight entertainment company dedicated to creative programming and custom productions.
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The three in-flight videos cover the airline’s safety procedures, showcase Aircalin’s new businessclass facilities and demonstrate use of the inflight entertainment system.
The Wolverine project ran for just over 18 weeks and when complete meant that EFILM Sydney had taken care of all the movie’s onset data management, dailies production, archiving, mastering and full dailies deliverables to editorial and production departments including streaming, tape and data. Simon Alberry concluded, “Fujifilm supplied all our LTO-5 tapes for The Wolverine along with solid technical advice and sales support. Marc Van Agten, Simon Murphy and the entire Fujifilm team’s post-sales support is excellent.” Fujifilm recently launched the first LTO-6 data cartridge in Australia and New Zealand. The new LTO-6 tape has a capacity of up to 6.25TB compressed, a transfer rate of up to 400MB/ second and applies Fujifilm’s unique Barium Ferrite magnetic particles. Visit www.fujifilm.com.au
Blackmagic Design Releases DaVinci Resolve 9.1 BLACKMAGIC DESIGN has announced a major release of DaVinci Resolve 9.1, the latest update to the colour correction tool. DaVinci Resolve 9.1 enables customers to use Resolve with Apple’s Macbook Retina technology. Retina based notebooks have quickly become one of the most popular tools in the post production world, and with 9.1, DaVinci Resolve will be able to run on the 15” Retina MacBook Pro at the best image quality setting.
AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION COMPANY Digital Pulse has
“Digital Pulse’s brief was to work with us on a series of instructional videos and a safety illustration card for the airline’s A330 retrofitted aircraft, featuring new lie-flat Business Class seats and Panasonic entertainment systems throughout the cabins,” said Michaela Bolzan, Interact’s Creative Director. “Digital Pulse designed and brought to life a range of engaging animated characters full of colour and warmth and helped us deliver vibrant products that thrilled our client. The result is a testament to Digital Pulse’s animation capabilities.”
guarantee data parity and integrity. Fujifilm LTO stock is the best on the market was the fastest available to write, restore and verify the over 3TB of data expected per day. Fortunately for us Fujifilm has a very effective supply system that ensures we were never left short of stock. We have a long term relationship with Fujifilm because they consistently deliver high quality products, sales service and post sales service.”
“Creating the 15 minutes of 3D animation content was an exciting exercise for our team of amazing animators,” said Digital Pulse Managing Director Brett Heil. “They worked tirelessly and proved that our 3D animation capabilities backed by our technology enables us to deliver animation of this duration and quality.
DaVinci Resolve 9.1 also features support in XML for FCP X Audition, a popular feature in FCP X which provides the ability to stack and scroll through multiple shots in a single location in a timeline. Improvements in mixed frame rate XML integration will allow better workflows between Resolve, FCP X and Final Cut Pro 7 projects. DaVinci Resolve 9.1 also supports improvements for Avid AAF, Sony XAVC and AVC-Intra files and a number of audio and performance improvements.
“Everyone at Digital Pulse loved working with the Aircalin brand’s hibiscus logo and gorgeous bright colours. Working to inject the New Caledonian people’s warm spirit into the animated productions was also a lot of fun. We’re proud to have produced a set of videos which are sure to be widely enjoyed,” said Mr Heil.
Resolve now includes a CinemaDNG Input Device Transform (IDT) for grading RAW images in full ACES workflows.
Visit www.digitalpulse.com.au
Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
DaVinci Resolve 9.1 can also now be used with the DeckLink 4K Extreme, Blackmagic Design’s newest addition to the DeckLink family of PCI Express capture cards.
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM
Silver Trak Launches ‘Media Sphere’ Cloud Solution DIGITISATION, duplication and authoring company Silver Trak Digital has launched Media Sphere, an end-to-end digital workflow solution designed to encompass all aspects of digitising, transcoding, technical assessment QC and digital distribution workflows. As Silver Trak Digital MD, Christian Christiansen, explains, “Media Sphere brings together all of Silver Trak Digital’s technologies and workflows in one simple, cloud-based solution. Media Sphere provides the complete solution for anyone handling assets in the broadcast, production or post production industries and critically takes care of every service required from ingest to final delivery including the ongoing storage of assets. While assets are stored on our secure server they can be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world and able to be put through to any number of processes including editing, restoration, colour correction, eCinema, iTunes, QC, authoring and duplication at any time.” Silver Trak Digital Technical Manager, Rod
Capon, adds, “Media Sphere is a single point resource which means you don’t have to go to multiple suppliers or service providers any more. Media Sphere is also connected through high-speed fibre to enable the movement of data faster than ever before. The servers we use are safe, secure and have a high level of redundancy so there’s no need to store assets anywhere else. In fact, we actively encourage our clients to let us store their assets and access them whenever they require.” Media Sphere is a system and format agnostic solution enabling it to work and be integrated easily within any customer’s existing workflow. Silver Trak Digital also recently became the first facility in Australia to add the Snell FileFlow solution to its existing Alchemist PhC HD system. This addition enables Silver Trak’s broadcast video conversion services to incorporate fast streamlined workflows for the file-to-file conversion of file-based broadcast quality video content. Visit www.silvertrak.com.au
Magna Boosts SBS TV Tape Library AUSTRALIA’S SBS TV recently expanded and upgraded its tape library with the help of Magna Systems and Engineering. In order to allow more through-put which would, in turn, more efficiently move content in and out of the SBS TV archive, the broadcaster made the decision to upgrade its Sony Petasite drive from LTO-4 to LTO-5. Magna Systems Technical Sales Engineer, Dave Alderton, explained, “We have looked after the SBS archive for Harris, the original SI, for the last three years. For this upgrade we added three new Front Porch Digital DIVAgrid Actors to SBS’ main archive site and three additional DIVAgrid Actors to their DR site. We also upgraded the media interface to the LTO drives.” Now within the SBS TV tape library the network of interconnected, distributed DIVAgrid Actors scale incrementally delivering higher performance, connectivity and improved reliability. In addition, each of the DIVAgrid Actors is built on a DIVArchive high bandwidth content movement engine platform and ensures RAID protected storage. Visit www.magnasys.tv
FATS Digital Expands Archiving and MAM Services Australian mastering, storage, broadcast video duplication, and technical services company, FATS Digital, has expanded its digital archiving facilities with Front Porch Digital’s DIVArchive CSM and the complementary DIVAdirector 5 media asset management (MAM) system. “We have complete confidence in Front Porch Digital’s CSM and MAM systems as being superior and flexible,” said FATS Digital Director Robert
Angell. “DIVAdirector 5 has many users worldwide, and a strong commitment by Front Porch Digital to continue developing it in the future means FATS’ customers will reap the benefits.” DIVAdirector allows FATS customers to view low-res proxies over the Internet and then order the high-res content to be delivered on drives, videotape, or electronically in a multitude of file formats. Once assets are digitally ingested, FATS can transcode the original high-res file to deliver
different file formats to different customers purchasing the same footage or program. “FATS provides its customers with extremely competitive archival and data management systems, and the latest offerings will be offered at very competitive rates so that customers who want to move from a tape-based system to a filebased system will be able to do so economically and securely,” Angell added. Visit http://fpdigital.com
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM
FRONT PORCH DIGITAL has announced that
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CONNECTED MEDIA
File-based QC – Delivering Content with Confidence By Bibhas Kumar Samanta, Product Specialist, Interra Systems
QC for analogue or baseband content was straightforward. The number of checks was limited to a few, such as Signal level and Colour Gamut. Deploying and configuring the WFM, Oscilloscope, or just reviewing the content on SDI play-out took care of most of the content quality. WITH NEW FILE BASED WORKFLOWS, there is still inertia about QC of digital content. As long as a digital file plays in test systems, it is generally accepted as ready for play-out or distribution. However, an experienced broadcaster or service provider may expect digital assets to meet three main criteria: Asset is free from video and audio quality error Asset plays out in a play-out server or teleport correctly and is not rejected by it Asset meets the regulatory compliance that is mandatory in the distribution geography
CONNECTED MEDIA
File-based workflows enable much more flexibility to transform and transfer media content. The flexibility comes with the emergence of many digital media standards, ease of editing, ease of content localisation for diverse regions, and ease of multiplatform delivery. On the flip side, the flexibility also increases the potential for introducing content quality issues, such as Blockiness, Video Dropout, Pixelation, Freeze, etc. It is relatively easy to detect these perceivable issues in a few hours of content using manual QC. However, with large volume of multi-format content, detecting issues, logging and reporting defects is a difficult process. In addition, handling multiple closed captions, detecting clipping, and checking mute/loudness in 8-16 channel audio is almost impossible.
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With the advances in automated filebased QC solutions, most quality issues in content can be automatically detected at the exact time code with detailed description of violations and with options to view thumbnails, audio/video timeline, and content layout. Enterprise class QC solutions not only accurately detect content quality issues, they offer advanced reporting mechanism that make content analysis very efficient. QC operators and managers can add comments, ignore errors, play the clips from original video, and even output video to SDI monitor so as to simulate the broadcast environment. Moreover, with the automated QC, broadcast and play-out can ensure that all the content providers meet the facilityspecific checks for content quality.
While the quality of the video and audio actually translates to better QoE for target customers, the play-out server or teleport operators are usually least bothered about video/audio quality. They are more concerned with conformance issues, which include non-compliance to codec standards, time code problems, closed caption or ancillary data issues, and violation of play-out specifications. The play-out formats and specification can vary widely between vendors. For VOD, IPTV and terrestrial broadcasting, Transport streams can have multiple programs, audio (usually in multi-language), closed caption, and other data. Here, the important QC check is not only make sure that the Transport stream has the correct video and audio formats depending on play-out specification, but also that elementary videos meet the conformance standards. Conformance to standards cannot be confirmed by just playing the video in a video player. Most video players may not be able to detect missing/corrupted macroblocks and other non-conformance issues. Maximum bit rate is an important check for Transport play-out to make sure that set top boxes are not affected by buffer overflow causing disruption of video decoding at the customer end. Other checks include, average bit rate, percentage of NULL packets, PCR inaccuracy, program count, and audio PID to language mapping. Play-out services may also require compliances to CableLab, ARIB standards, or TR101290 checks. MXF based workflow is probably the most common as a majority of the popular broadcasting formats such as IMX, XDCAM HD, and AVC-Intra are based on MXF. By design MXF can contain large metadata at the container level. This metadata can be extracted, updated, and used by third party tools. In addition, a lot of time code related data, such as start time code, duration, system time code is also stored at the container level. Violations in MXF files include invalid KLV data, missing or jump in time code, corrupt macroblocks in elementary video, and incorrect header/footer partitions. To add to that, different specification of MXF such as RDD9 for XDCAM HD, AS02/AS03/AS11 compliance, or Digital Cinema Package (DCP)
compliance are often a must for acceptable delivery of MXF based content. Closed Caption standards and methods can vary widely depending on the geography. While ANZ has adopted OP42 and OP47 as the standard, the caption data can be in other formats such as Divicom 608, SCTE-20, inside WSS or as part of DVB Subtitles or Teletext. For closed caption, the major challenge is not only to ensure that the correct subtitle language is embedded, but to make sure that the subtitle is in the specified line number and that there is no dropout or invalid caption data in the content. Meeting regulatory compliance in a particular region is also very critical for broadcasters. Some of the common regulatory compliances include Loudness standards (EBU R128, ITU BS1770, US CALM), SMPTE-2052 for closed caption, and checks for Photo Epileptic Video. With their obvious advantages in enhancing QC efficiency, file-based QC is an important component of workflows in broadcast and cable delivery. Accuracy of error detection, coverage of formats and checks, enterprise scalability, ease of integration with infrastructure technology, verification efficiency, and proactive customer support from the QC vendor are some of the factors that will help ensure that file-based QC is at the top of the mind when broadcast and playout ‘think’ content quality. Interra’s Baton is an enterprise class, file-based QC solution that has been adopted by leading broadcasters, post production, telemedia, and satellite companies worldwide for its comprehensive quality checks, enterprise scalability, and verification efficiency. Visit www.interrasystems.com
RADIO The original broadcast media
www.content-technology.com/radio
DAB+ Workshop and Transmission Demonstration for Bangkok NATIONAL BROADCASTING and
Natee Sukonrat the Chairman of the NBTC and Vice Chair of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand, bringing a delegation to Sydney in August 2012 for technical, policy and broadcaster meetings with key DAB+ digital radio stakeholders. While in Sydney the Colonel expressed interest in a workshop being organised in Thailand and trials going on air in 2013.
Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) of Thailand is the host organisation of the DAB+ Technology Workshop and Transmission Demonstration, to be held 1-3 March in Bangkok. NBTC and International Telecommunications Union (Asia Pacific) are joint organisers. WorldDMB, in collaboration with Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), will present at the workshop and are planning to conduct the transmission demonstration, similar to the Jakarta demonstration in October 2012. WorldDMB project office staff, Joan Warner, CEO of CRA and WorldDMB Asia Pacific Committee Chairperson have had several meetings with the Thai regulator to discuss digital radio.
Workshop presentations will include a DAB+ International Update, the Business Case Study for DAB+ – structure and regulatory considerations, network planning, DAB+ content generation, coverage planning and implementation. Following the Thai Workshop, an overview will be presented along with other developments in the DAB+ platform at the WorldDMB Workshop
These meetings were followed by Colonel Dr
Colonel Dr Natee Sukonrat, Chairman of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.
at the ABU’s Digital Broadcasting Symposium on Tuesday 5 March 4-5.30pm in Kuala Lumpur. Visit www.nbtc.go.th and www.commercialradio.com.au
Playing the Field with 90elf By Keith Ford 90ELF is a German internet radio station which launched in August of 2008. The station is dedicated to providing free commentary of every match from Germany’s national soccer league, the Bundesliga. At the 2012 National Radio Conference in Sydney, Christoph Kruse, CEO of REGIOCAST DIGITAL, the company behind 90elf, spoke about the development of the station and how they overcame the highly segmented German radio market to bring 90elf to life. “Radio is very successful in terms of listening figures, almost 80% of all Germans are listening to radio every day. We’ve got a time spent
listening of over four hours a day, but the German radio market is not normal,” explains Kruse. “Here is why: there is no national German radio market because we’ve got 16 different federal states in Germany. So we’ve got 16 different radio markets in Germany, 16 different media authorities, some legal issues and so on.” Due to the unique and difficult situation of radio broadcasting in Germany, there were no national stations and no stations dedicated to sport. REGIOCAST decided that a national radio station transmitted over IP could work and, due to the lack of sports radio in Germany, felt that a dedicated soccer station would fill a gap in the market.
“When we started to develop the station we looked at our competitors. We’ve got Sky, which is a pay TV station. But you won’t find any live sports, live soccer commentary, in the free to air media. There is one that comes from the ARD, the public broadcaster, which is called BundesligaKonferenz, but they have only very, very limited games and you can just listen to like 10 minutes and then they switch on the music and then another 10 minutes. So there is no whole 90 minutes of commentary,” Kruse said. “So this was the background of when we started 90elf and so we combined the need for soccer coverage in Germany with a new field of digital media: digital radio. We believed in a very, very strong national brand. There is just one brand. No FM brands where we have to cope with the
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RADIO
WorldDMB Service Award for Joan Warner LATE LAST YEAR saw Joan Warner, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Radio Australia, Chairperson of the WorldDMB Asia Pacific Committee and WorldDMB Steering Board member, awarded the WorldDMB 2012 Award for Outstanding Service. According to a WorldDMB statement, “In receiving this award, Joan Warner has been recognised as a change agent who has made a significant contribution to the development of digital radio broadcasting in the AsiaPacific region and globally.” Today, Australia has a thriving digital radio broadcasting industry with all the major commercial networks and stations airing a variety of stations on digital radio along with national public broadcasters ABC and SBS stations. Over a million DAB+ receivers have been sold and over 1.3 million people tune into a DAB+ device each week. Visit www.worlddab.org and www.commercialradio.com.au
media authorities, so it’s just one national brand via IP radio.” Broadcasting over 700 live games every year across the first and second Bundesliga divisions, the DFB Cup, the Champion’s League and the Europa League, 90elf has put itself at the forefront of listeners’ minds. Listeners also have the option of using a browser or listening through smartphone apps, including iOS, Android, and the recently added Windows Phone app. “At the moment we gain 1.6 million listeners a week and, I think it was in April where we had 2 million listeners per week for 90elf which, for a digital only station in Germany, is very, very, very high compared to all the others doing some music streams,” added Kruse. In August 2011, just three years after launching as an internet only radio station, DAB+ launched nationally in Germany and 90elf utilised the new broadcasting system to cross into a more traditional form of radio. 90elf is essentially working in the opposite direction to legacy broadcasters, demonstrating that, despite the fears of radio broadcasters everywhere, internet radio is not a replacement for conventional radio, rather another stream that can be utilised to reach the largest possible audience. “We were very innovative at that point in the IP world so we had to be innovative in the DAB+ world as well and we talked a lot to the device manufacturers and to the automotive industry about what could be done and then we came up with a cool feature. It’s called dynamic configuration. If you are a soccer lover then you want to hear every single live game, and if you are in the IP world you can easily do that. For us as a broadcaster, we just can add another stream, but it’s not possible in the DAB+ world because you’ve got just one capacity you can use,” explains Kruse. ”We went to all the other stations and they said we really need to get this thing done, we really need a very cool and a better feature within the DAB+ world and they gave us a little bit of their bandwidth just for that 90 minutes when there were live games on. If there is just one live game on we can use our own capacities, but then if there are more games on we reduce the capacity of all the others and we put in the additional games. So if you have your own DAB+ receiver it says this is 90elf, but when it comes to the live game mode it makes a sound and then you can see all the other different live games which are on at that moment, which is a very, very cool feature.”
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AUDIO Digital soundwaves
SingTel Brings Dolby Digital Plus to IPTV DOLBY LABORATORIES HAS ANNOUNCED that Singapore telco SingTel will use Dolby Digital Plus technology to deliver cinema-quality surround sound on Mio TV, its IPTV platform. SingTel is broadcasting in Dolby Digital Plus to enhance the audio quality of premium content such as Star Chinese Movies HD, Fox Action Movies HD, and National Geographic Channel HD. “mio TV aims to provide the very best home entertainment experience for our audience,” said Goh Seow Eng, Managing Director, Television, SingTel Digital Life. “The combination of high-definition video and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound for high-definition content helps capture the excitement of the moment to make viewers feel as though they are living the experience.” Dolby Digital Plus has already been included in broadcast standards around the world for HDTV services. It supports up to 7.1 channels of discrete audio for terrestrial television, IPTV, cable, and direct broadcast satellite. Visit www.dolby.com
MPEG Calls for Proposals on 3D Audio Coding AT ITS RECENT 103RD MEETING, the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) issued a Call for Proposals (CfP) on MPEG-H 3D Audio Coding (ISO/ IEC 23008-3). MPEG-H 3D Audio is envisaged to provide a highly immersive audio experience by the rendering of a realistic and compelling 3D audio scene. Key functional areas that are addressed for 3D Audio include a compact and bit-efficient representation of multi-channel audio content having a true three-dimensional sound scene, and the ability to flexibly render this content to an arbitrary number and configuration of loudspeakers. As a specific operating point, 3D Audio will support the coding and compression of 22.2 channel audio programs, in which the loudspeakers surround the listener in both horizontal and vertical directions. As many consumers will not have access to a full 22.2 loudspeaker setup, another key capability of MPEG-H 3D Audio will be to flexibly render the audio program to a fewer number of loudspeakers, while maintaining the same sense of envelopment. Visit http://mpeg.chiariglione.org
7.1 FIREWIRE to HDMI Audio Converter NEW ZEALAND-BASED Arvus Group has released a 7.1 HDMI digital audio converter, the FIRE-2H. The FIRE-2H converts the eight channels of FIREWIRE (400/800) digital audio output from any Apple device to 7.1 HDMI.
AUDIO
“Because of our work in Digital Cinema with Hypacoustic, we worked very closely with many post production houses,” says Arvus Founder, Matthew Simmons. “We discovered that there was a niche requirement for a direct interface of 7.1 FIREWIRE to domestic Home Theatre equipment. Arvus Group also manufactures 8-channel AES/EBU to HDMI (AES-2H) and HDMI to AES/EBU (HDMI-2A) converters. Visit http://arvusgroup.co.nz
www.content-technology.com/audio
AES Tackles File Exchange, Surround Mics THE AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY has published AES31-2-2012, a standard covering network and file transfer of audio, including audio-file transfer and exchange, and a file format for transferring digital audio data between systems of different type and manufacture. The Broadcast Wave Format is a file format for audio data. It can be used for the seamless exchange of audio material between different broadcast environments and equipment based on different computer platforms. As well as the audio data, a BWF file (BWFF) contains the minimum information - or metadata - that is considered necessary for all broadcast applications. The Broadcast Wave Format is based on the Microsoft WAVE audio file format. This specification adds a “Broadcast Audio Extension” chunk to the basic WAVE format. This revision of AES31-2-2006 incorporates the content of Amendment 1 (2008) that specifies an optional Extended Broadcast Wave Format (BWF-E) file format, designed to be a compatible extension of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) for audio file sizes larger than a conventional Wave file. It extends the maximum size capabilities of the RIFF/WAVE format by increasing its address space to 64 bits where necessary. This revision additionally packages a set of machine-readable loudness metadata into the BWF file. This is compatible with EBU v2 broadcast wave files. Meanwhile, the AES has also published AES65-2012, a standard for connectors for surround microphones. An increasing number of surround sound microphones are becoming available, however, there has been no common standard for the connectors between microphone and recording device. It is expected that a standard connection will create a basis for smaller and lighter recording devices. This standard specifies a connector type and contact assignment for microphones having up to six balanced analogue output channels, as used in surround sound applications. It includes specifications for marking and identification for the audio channels. It includes recommendations for cable type and detailed wiring. It is expected that other applications will also use this connection. Visit www.aes.org/standards
John Barry Takes on Sound Devices JOHN BARRY SALES HAS ANNOUNCED they have been appointed the exclusive distributor for Sound Devices in Australia and New Zealand, effective January 2013. “We are really excited to commence this new phase of our partnership,” stated John Barry’s General Manager Andrew Neilson. “We have been working with Sound Devices since the release of their first product, the MP-1 back in 1999, and have formed fantastic relationships with their team over the years.” Georgina Gelai, Audio specialist at John Barry agrees,“The new 664 recorder/mixer and the PIX series are a couple of the most sought after audio/video products currently on the market. They have become highly popular due to their build quality, extensive feature set and ease of use. Sound Devices product has always proved to be relevant to the market needs & highly reliable.” Sound Devices, LLC designs and manufactures portable audio mixers, digital audio recorders, and digital video recorders and related equipment. Visit www.johnbarry.com.au and www.sounddevices.com
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Stefan Kudelski, Inventor of Nagra Recorder Passes Away at 84 STEFAN KUDELSKI, the inventor of the first portable professional recorder, the renowned “Nagra”, passed away on 26th January 2013 leaving behind a technological legacy which has touched those working in the radio, motion picture, television and security industries. Founder of the Kudelski Group in 1951, Stefan Kudelski led the company until 1991, when his son André succeeded as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Stefan Kudelski was a member of the Board of Directors of Kudelski SA until 2006, and since then served as its Honorary Chairman. An exceptional inventor and a pioneer, Stefan Kudelski revolutionised the world of sound recording by developing a range of world-renowned recorders. In 1983, he entered the hall of fame of motion picture and television by receiving the John Grierson International Gold Medal, joining luminaries of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers that include Louis Lumière, Thomas Edison, Lee de Forest, George Eastman, Walt Disney, Samuel Warner, Léon Gaumont, Ray Dolby and Vladimir Zworkyin. In the course of his career, he was awarded numerous distinctions among which are Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1965, 1977, 1978 and 1990, two Emmy Awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1984 and 1986. He was also Doctor Honoris Causa from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) since 1986. “Stefan Kudelski was one of those personalities who contributed to the international reputation of Switzerland. Anyone who knew him could only be impressed by his sharpness, his incredible culture, his curiosity and his permanent sense of humour. Stefan Kudelski was more than a brilliant inventor; he was a man of values, a fine mind that will live on with us for a long time,” declared Claude Smadja, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kudelski SA. “With the loss of Stefan Kudelski, our Group will miss its founder and the inventor of the Nagra recorder. Stefan Kudelski defined our Group. The values he stood for form the foundation of our company and its reputation today across the five continents. Among those values, the determination to demonstrate that technological challenges described as impossible are always successfully achieved by teams that know no boundaries,” said André Kudelski.
Nine Network Installs Riedel for Studio Comms NINE TECHNOLOGY, the engineering team with Australia’s Nine Network, has installed Riedel’s Acrobat wireless system in two major network locations. Riedel’s Acrobat system has proven itself on the road and in performance venues throughout the country, but this is the first installation into an Australian fixed broadcast facility. The Acrobat system operates on 1.9 GHz; well out of the already crowded UHF and 2.4 GHz bands. Nine Technology used Acrobat to replace their 25kHz UHF radios, which were traditionally used in news studios for on-air communication. The new Acrobat system interfaces seamlessly with the existing intercom matrices, and the roaming belt packs maintain the coverage of the legacy UHF system. The digital system also allows for any belt pack to listen to two simultaneous channels (from a selection of eighteen) at any time, and a single base station can handle up to eighteen packs. The communication is also quite clear, whilst remaining easy-to-use; a must for operators in a busy environment. Another advantage over UHF systems is the full-duplex communications, allowing users to continue listening whilst talking. Visit www.riedel.net
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AUDIO
AD/DA/DD Converter NTP TECHNOLOGY’S DAD AX32 mastering-quality audio AD/ DA converter is housed in a compact 2 rack-unit chassis and allows large multi-microphone arrays to be accommodated without the need to transport a second processor. Some 32 microphone feeds can be connected back to the control room along a single Cat 5 cable. A large control screen on the front panel of the AX32 interacts with four adjacent pushbuttons to provide control. Remote operation can be achieved from an Ethernet-connected PC. The AX32’s audio via IP Ethernet capabilities allow master recordings to be networked from one studio to another or across a large building complex. The Ethernet IP audio interface handles up to 512 channels and uses robust Audinate Dante technology. AES/EBU and MADI inputs and outputs, plus a GbE IP interface are provided for use with a Dante Virtual Soundcard. The AX32 is designed to integrate closely with Avid’s ProTools|HDX
multitrack capture/editing/mixing system. A versatile interface structure allows the AX32’s processors to be assigned to any digital interface or patched between the interfaces on a channel-to-channel basis. Compatible with all standard sampling rates up to 384 kilohertz, the AX32 allows production of master-quality Digital eXtreme Definition (DXD) and Direct Stream Digital (DSD) audio data formats as well as the 44.1 to 192 kilohertz formats commonly used for audio editing and distribution. Visit www.ntp.dk
Monitor, Mix, Meter Multiple MADI WOHLER TECHNOLOGIES’ AMP1-MADIe is an in-rack portable MADI audio monitor with Ethernet control and configuration. The AMP1-MADIe can be connected in series with a 56- or 64-channel MADI stream for audible monitoring of any eight selected MADI channels at once, including individual monitored channel volume adjustments and muting. By providing unique functionality equivalent to a MADI audio “hot mic” mixer, the AMP1-MADIe simplifies rapid setup, selection, and monitoring of MADI signals in fast-paced live-to-air production environments. The AMP1-MADIe provides a clear, LED-backlit LCD display that shows simultaneous metering and monitoring of any eight user-selected
channels, with instant access to eight stored configurations of any eight channels for easy navigation among all 64 channels in an optical or digital MADI stream. An Ethernet connection and a free software GUI support fast configuration of AMP1-MADIe units distributed across a MADI network and let users control multiple units from a single PC workstation. The AMP1-MADIe is packaged in a compact, 4-inch deep, 1-RU chassis with level meters, master volume, and channel volume, offering quick muting of selected channels as well as menu access, which can be enabled or disabled via external software control. Visit www.wohler.com
DirectOut Technologies®
32 MIC PRE-AMPS WITH MADI INTERFACE AND 32 LINE OUTPUTS
NEW D.O.TEC® ANDIAMO.MC
AUDIO
This is a 32 channel microphone amplifier with MADI interface and 32 line outputs. Sophisticated design and a high level of integration form a compact sized cabinet in only 2 RUs. The device can be operated locally or via remote control. Supported remote methods are USB, ‘MIDI over MADI’ and ‘Serial over MADI’. The input sensitivity ranges from mic level (- 55 dBu) to line level (+ 30 dBu) - phantom power and a 30 dB PAD are switchable.
Exclusively & proudly sold in Australia by
Call 02 9476 1272; www.proaudiotechnology.com.au
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DK Expands Audio & Loudness Meter Family DK-TECHNOLOGIES HAS ANNOUNCED the availability of its DK3 meter and added the DK4 meter to its DK METER family. Like DK3, DK4 offers deembedding of SDI 3G input channels. Additionally, DK4 includes three AES as well as two analogue inputs. Building on the DK METER Loudness and Audio toolbox, DK4 adds FFT Spectrum analysis, Screen Grabber and the classic MSD Meter Landscape View as standard features. DK-Technologies has also introduced an integrated set-up Wizard. With this quick set-up guide, engineers can get to grips with DK’s metering technology in a matter of minutes. With the addition of DK4, broadcasters and post-production engineers can now monitor everything from compliant Loudness Measurements and True Peak readouts, through to detailed Spectrum Analysis. In common with the other meters in DK-Technologies range, the DK4 is compliant with all known loudness recommendations including; EBU R128, BCAP, ATSC A/85, ARIB, ABC, AGCOM 219 & ITU BS1770-2. Alongside StarFish, Vectorscope and Moving Coil Emulations, new software features also include ‘Eye Width’ Instant SDI signal quality read out. Visit www.dk-technologies.com
Field Production Microphones
SHURE HAS ADDED to its family of broadcast products with the FP series of cost effective field production wireless systems. The family, compatible with the Shure SLX family, consists of four (4) members: FP1 – Field production bodypack with no display and minimal characteristics to allow the body pack to be used on camera with little to no distraction. FP2 – Field production handheld, again designed to have minimal on camera impact. The handheld’s are supplied with either the classic SM58 or the new omnidirectional VP68 head. FP3 – The plug-on transmitter is based on the UR3, featuring the same chassis, user viewed only LEDs for both audio and battery and direct gain control on the unit. FP5 – Diversity portable receiver is a single channel portable receiver compatible with the FP series or SLX transmitters. The FP5 is supplied with a camera Shoe Mount, a TA4-F to XLR-3 and a TA4-F to mini jack. Visit www.jands.com.au
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Syntec Gets DD Ready By Keith Ford
As the era of analogue television winds down and Australia becomes a solely digital free-to-air TV country, industries beyond just broadcasters will be affected by the restack of spectrum that will follow. One area that will be affected is that of wireless microphones. To help ease the process, Syntec has created a website, ddready.com.au, that explains how wireless microphone users will be affected. “ONE OF THE BIGGEST THINGS we’ve faced over the last 12 months is a single item that has two different edges on it. It’s the overall issue of the digital dividend and what’s happening with frequency allocation in Australia, where the Government is going, what does it mean? What will the frequencies be? How will it affect people? and a dozen other questions hovering around that particular area,” explained Wayne Farran, Sales and Marketing Manager at Syntec. “And I say it’s a two sided issue because it’s amazing that there is very little information out there and people really don’t understand it and there is a large amount of people out there that haven’t even heard of the digital dividend. “So I suppose over the last several months we’ve been contacted by customers and users sort of asking us questions about the digital dividend and it sort of became a repetitious conversation over the phone one time after another and I suppose every time you would be on a phone call to somebody they would always ask you an additional question which was always like, ‘interesting no one’s ever asked us that before so let’s go and find some information and get back to you.’ “So we started to find that we were becoming an information service for, not just Sennheiser people, but also other people that generally reached out to us that recognised us as a brand and as a wireless provider and had gone to some other companies and got no great information, but then came to us.” This is where the ddready.com.au website comes in. Instead of answering questions as they come in, the site strives to coalesce a range of disparate sources into a single resource, providing users with all the relevant information. The site goes through and explains exactly what people have to know and gives the most up-to-date information it can, while constantly being refined as new details emerge. An important feature as the digital TV blocks have not yet been allocated to a geographical area. Wireless microphones and in ear monitor systems currently utilise the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) spectrum band between 694MHz and 820MHz, but when analogue transmissions cease at the end of 2013, the spectrum will be rearranged to make use of the digital dividend, the space that is no longer being used by broadcasters. This process is known as the restack.
“We’ve got people like Universities who use thousands upon thousands of wireless systems. Some of them are great, they are auditing what they’ve got, they are looking at the spectrum, trying to look at what they can use where, what they need to replace. Others are still buying stuff that is going to be out of frequency in six months and they don’t care. So there is a sliding scale of how proactive people are about this.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the only concern that comes along with the frequency change. As the frequency range is also the same as that being used by digital TV services, and it is illegal to use the same frequency as a broadcaster, users need to know exactly what frequency the TV services in their area use. That by itself could be a problem, but with the propensity of services from different regions to cross over, the amount of spectrum that is available for use can be cut down dramatically. “What they are doing is giving a block of spectrum for the broadcasters because everything has moved to digital, they can pack a lot more in, but what you have is dependant on where you are and what you are doing,” explains Chris Smith, National Sales Manager Professional Products at Syntec. “If I’m at Cronulla I’m going to get Sydney and in the right conditions I can also get everything that’s coming up from Wollongong, which are in different bands because they want to keep them separated, and then I might get some infill from the Eastern Suburbs which, again, is a different band. So instead of having one chunk taken out, I’ve now got three chunks taken out so my usable space becomes less and less and less.” As the geographic areas have not yet been allocated for specific frequencies, picking the correct equipment could be difficult, particularly for freelancers that move between areas. Different equipment could be necessary depending on which areas it will be used in. The forthcoming mobile site from Syntec will be particularly useful for this purpose, as it will aim to provide up-to-date information on which frequencies can be used in a particular area. This can be achieved based on a smartphone’s location services or through manual input of location information. Visit http://ddready.com.au
During the restack, the results of which will take effect on January 1, 2015, wireless microphones and in ear monitor systems will be moved to the 520MHz to 694Mhz band. This is also the band that digital TV signals will be using. The main issue that arises from the migration to a new frequency band, and one that many are unaware of, is that most equipment that is currently being sold and used will not be capable of utilising the 520-694MHz band. As it is expected that operating within the Digital Dividend frequencies (694-820MHz) will be made illegal, this is obviously a serious problem.
AUDIO
Anyone buying audio equipment, particularly if they want to get anything close to long-term use out of it, should be looking into whether or not the products they are considering will work under future conditions. “There are a lot of switched on uses out there. We’ve been talking about this for probably about 12 to 18 months with our dealership and end users,” said Farran.
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Vietnam TV to Make Digital Switch by 2020
Adelaide, Tasmania Count Down to Switchover ON APRIL 2, 2013, analogue TV signals will be switched off across the South Australian capital of Adelaide and free-to-air TV will be broadcast in digital only. With less than two months before the switchover, the latest digital tracker survey shows 90 per cent of households across the Adelaide region have already converted to digital TV. A week after the Adelaide switchover, April 9, 2013, analogue TV signals will be switched off across areas of Tasmania and free-to-air TV will be broadcast in digital only. The digital tracker survey shows that 91 per cent of households across the state have already converted to digital TV. By December 10 this year, analogue TV signals across every area of Australia will have been permanently switched off. Throughout the year, the digital switchover programme includes: Brisbane (28 May 2013) Regional and Remote Western Australia (25 June 2013)
Mr. Le Nam Thang, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, said the digitalisation scheme also aims to gradually expand digital terrestrial television coverage to serve the economic development , culture, society, and offer a variety of high-quality TV services (such as HDTV, 3DTV, etc.). Specific objectives of the digital terrestrial television project include: By 2015 to ensure 80% of households with television sets across the country to view digital television by different methods, and that digital terrestrial TV serves up to 60% of the population. By 2020, ensure that 100% of households with television sets across the country view digital television by different methods, and that digital terrestrial television coverage takes in up to 80% of the population.
Darwin (30 July 2013) Sydney (3 Dec 2013); and Melbourne and Remote Central and Eastern Australia (10 Dec 2013)
Visit www.digitalready.gov.au
TVNZ to Close Teletext Service THE TELETEXT MAGAZINE SERVICE operated by Television New Zealand (TVNZ) for nearly 30 years will close on April 2, 2013 – its time brought to an end, says the broadcaster, by obsolete teletext technology and the widespread use of the internet as a superior alternative. However, television captioning – a service available through Teletext and used extensively by the hearing impaired community – will continue unchanged. The Teletext service began in 1984, originally to help New Zealand’s deaf community get improved access to news and information. Funds raised in the 1981 Telethon helped pay to get it started. Over the last few years, the information services carried on the Teletext magazine have been overshadowed by the explosion of information available on the internet. The service will continue to run until April 2. In the meantime, users will be offered detail on how to find alternative sources for the information carried on each of the Teletext pages. Visit www.tvnz.co.nz
VIETNAM’S PRIME MINISTER has signed off on a nationwide analogue to digital migration plan which will see the country’s television stations broadcasting completely in digital by 2020.
Under the scheme approved by the Prime Minister, the DVB-T2 terrestrial digital TV standard was selected. The Vietnamese Government plans to subsidise poor households to enable them to purchase terrestrial digital TV receivers.
Datavideo Mobile Studio G.D.B. INTERNATIONAL has announced the arrival in Australia of the new Datavideo MS-2800, 8 channel mobile SD/HD Video Studio. It is available in two versions, the MS-2800A and the MS-2800B. These new studios utilise the brand new SE-2800 SD/HD switcher and feature up to 8 x SD or HD inputs (expandable to 12), both HD and SD outputs, multi-channel preview and SDI-embedded audio. The mobile studios are configured complete with in-built video monitoring, full talk-back systems and HD hard-disc recorders. Both systems include a power distribution centre which enables the whole system to be powered with one AC connection. The MS-2800 Series Mobile Studios accept input from PAL or NTSC and support simultaneous SD and HD signals. A flexible combinations of input sources may also be used from SD/HD-SDI, HDMI and CV. Visit www.gdbint.com.au
Evertz Products are now Sold, Integrated and Supported by Studiotech Australia. We are providing first class, cost efficient services and products to the industry. Whether you need a turnkey integration or simply “just a box”, we are there... Try us....You won’t regret it!
AUSTRALIA Pty Ltd
“Your new option in Technology” EVERTZ COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE MEDIA MANAGEMENT AUTOMATION MONITORING INGEST AND STORAGE PLAYOUT
STUDIOTECH AUSTRALIA UNIT 18 / 7 SEFTON ROAD THORNLEIGH NSW 2120 Phone: +61 2 8911 5020 Fax: +61 2 8088 7803
info@studiotechau.com www.studiotechau.com
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Perth (16 April 2013)
www.content-technology.com/transmission
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Product Round-Up: Channel-In-A-Box While far from a one-size fits all solution, the channel-in-a-box category of playout platforms has been an enabler for start-ups and traditional broadcasters alike. WHETHER YOUR GOAL is an inexpensive launch into the content delivery world or equally inexpensive additional channels to your existing service, Channel-in-a-Box platforms offer the potential of getting new services to air with speed and within a budget. While CiaB solutions issue lend themselves very well to simplistic and thematic channels that do not have complex branding requirements, require little or no regionalisation at playout and are unreactive (i.e little live content and the schedules are known well in advance), one criticism is that they are too limited to meet the requirements of major broadcasters with complex workflows. Be that as it may, CiaB platforms have not only had an impact on the traditional broadcast market, but opened up new markets as well. Here, without fear, favour, a ratings or recommendations system – and far from exhaustive – is our “in no particular order” round-up of some of the CiaB options currently available.
ITX FROM MIRANDA Developed under the auspices of the former OmniBus company before its acquisition by Miranda, the iTX integrated playout platform has been a trailblazer for the category and currently has more than 1000 channels operating on-air. The IP-based architecture of iTX makes it easily scalable, providing enormous flexibility to add new channels, facilities or services. An integrated, end-toend workflow streamlines all the core playout processes, including ingest, content management, transmission control, interfacing to traffic, archiving, and monitoring. Features include: Easily mix formats in a single workflow; Flexible audio handling; Advanced graphics options featuring Miranda’s Vertigo and Adobe After Effects; Hybrid, live-playout capabilities using iTX Master Control; Fully integrated with traffic systems using any method, including BXF; and Dramatically reduces power consumption, space requirements and time required to deploy new channels. Visit www.miranda.com
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ICE FROM SNELL
Snell’s ICE channel-in-box solution.
VERSIO FROM HARRIS Harris Versio is a channel-in-a-box design for broadcasters that combines baseband video, channel branding and automated workflow capabilities in an easy-to-deploy, software-based, single-rack-unit (RU) solution. Versio is designed to reduce the cost and time to launch broadcast, cable and other TV channels and services while offering simple integration with production, traffic and billing, scheduling, asset management, content playout and master control functions — taking advantage of existing facility workflows. The initial release compresses multiple single-channel workflows into the 1RU platform, incorporating Harris video server, channel branding and graphics, and optional on-board automation components. Flexible softwarebased configurations range from single-channel launches — independently or within an existing system — to multi-channel distribution, expansion and disaster recovery systems. Visit www.broadcast.harris.com
CHANNELPORT FROM HARMONIC The ChannelPort integrated channel playout device for Spectrum media server systems combines channel branding and master control switching with clip playout. Recent enhancements to the system include new capabilities and advanced onboard features that further simplify channel playout. The addition of DVE functionality enables more sophisticated, high-end graphics presentations, while support for AVC-Intra playout aids in accelerating the productionto-playout workflow. The system’s dynamic subtitle insertion capability supports just-in-time playout of multilingual content. Traffic-driven onboard playout control with automatic media fetch facilitates remote “lights-out” operation without the need for legacy automation software.
Currently in version 3.0, Snell’s ICE Channel-in-a-Box includes integrated 3D and 2D graphics and CG functionality with timeline editing control and the ability to populate fields automatically with graphics from Morpheus automation schedule events, as well as from external data sources such as RSS feeds and Web-based news and weather services.
Because ChannelPort modules fit seamlessly into existing Spectrum media server systems and can be added incrementally at a very competitive price, broadcasters can extend their channel lineups quickly.
To complement ICE’s HD and SD simulcast capabilities, as well as the system’s ability to provide a clean output, Snell added a delay server that enables users to record the output of a channel for delayed play-out services. Audio features include multiple audio voiceovers, full Dolby E processing within the system as well as mono/stereo audio shuffling and audio clip playout.
STINGRAY FROM PEBBLE BEACH SYSTEMS
The system also features integration with the Quantum StorNext File System and StorNext Q-series disk arrays, enabling up to 10 ICE units to share 36TB of storage. High-performance SAN technology allows content ingested on any ICE to be available for playout instantly on any of the other ICE units, providing flexibility for multi-channel environments.
Visit www.harmonicinc.com
Stingray is a standalone solution optimised for playout or ingest, and is suitable for any system from one to over 50 channels. Stingray’s full client server architecture enables multi-channel control from a single operator position, with visibility of multiple timelines for efficient channel management. It is available in two dedicated configurations, optimised for either playout or ingest applications, and systems are scalable.
ICE also manages all of the processes required to prepare pictures, sound, and ancillary data for frame-accurate, secure, high-quality SD/HD playout.
Pebble Beach Systems also offers Dolphin which is designed to deliver automated, frame-accurate multi-channel channel playout and ingest capability, and operate as a standalone system under its Marina or Neptune control platforms, or as part of a complex mixed network of equipment and functionality.
Visit www.snellgroup.com/ice
Visit www.pebble.tv
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Skyline Launches DataMiner 7.5 SKYLINE COMMUNICATIONS, a leader in end-to-end multi-vendor network management solutions for the IPTV, HFC broadband, broadcast and satellite industry, has announced the launch of DataMiner 7.5. Amongst the enhancements, DataMiner 7.5 will bring its users a new, usercentric approach on notifications, an enhanced service management layer, the introduction of DataMiner Applications that will empower out-of-the-box solutions for a wealth of popular products and technologies, new add-ons for the correlation engine, a complete suite of mobile applications, and much more. “As you roam between work stations and mobile devices, DataMiner 7.5 will offer you a seamless experience. In other words, whatever mobile device you are working with, you will be able to monitor any active device in your operational system, irrespective what vendor it is from. And even control those devices, view performance graphs, manage alerts and much more. Apple, Microsoft, Google or Research in Motion, we have you fully covered for any of the mobile phones or tablets you use,” commented Ben Vandenberghe, Sales & Marketing Director at Skyline Communications. DataMiner Applications is an entirely new framework within the DataMiner network management system, which will enable designing out-of-the-box product- or technology-specific applications. These DataMiner Applications will be designed by Subject Matter Expert teams, composed by both Skyline’s DataMiner experts and product experts from various vendors.
We focused on what a channel needs. Not on the box. We created ICE.
Also, the DataMiner Service Management gets a complete overhaul in DataMiner 7.5, with a large number of advanced new capabilities. DataMiner Service Management is responsible for the run-time aggregation and translation of device information into service-oriented information. The technology is used to manage a wide variety of services in IPTV, satellite, broadcast and HFC broadband environments. It enables operators to instantly see the impact of infrastructure incidents on a service level, and to take the appropriate actions to safeguard their revenues. Visit www.skyline.be
Video Routing, Switching and Conversion THE C3-340 FROM TV ONE is a firmware based platform. Sixteen AV universal module slots are available and TV One’s CORIO matrix automatically recognises the modules inserted as an input or output module. There is no dedicated input or output slots when using 2-Channel DVI-U or 3G-SDI modules. It can be configured with up to 64 x 64 input/output 3G-SDI/DVI-U connection combinations. This flexibility allows end user configurations to be based on their own needs instead of the router forcing a certain setup and limited configuration.
All the functions can be controlled via serial connection via RS232/422/485, USB or IP. Windows software is provided. A front panel LCD option makes direct setup easy and third party controllers permit a wide choice of control options. The unit is housed in a standard 4RU rackmount case and features an optional redundant hot swappable internal PSU and power inlet. The CORIO matrix includes Digital Flicker Elimination circuitry and high 4:4:4 full bandwidth sampling rate ensures crisp, clear images, while full bandwidth chroma sampling ensures faithfully reproduced, high resolution colours. Pixel Level Motion Adaptive Diagonal Interpolation and Noise Reduction ensures high quality de-interlacing of PAL, NTSC and 1080i signals. Visit www.tvone.co.uk
ICE is the only channel-in-a-box designed from the point of view of the channel rather than the box. Delivering robust, scalable and affordable operation whether you have one or 100+ channels. Advanced 3D Graphics Multi-channel Audio Q Closed Captioning & Subtitles
Format and Aspect Conversion Wide Range of File Formats Q Automated Quality Control Q Integrated Delay Server
Q
Q
Q
Q
snellgroup.com/ICE snel llgroup.ccom/I
Routing & Multiviewers Modular Infrastructure Conversion & Restoration Live Production Automation & Media Management Control & Monitoring
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The CORIO matrix also provides Up, Down and Cross conversion between a variety of analogue and digital video formats through 3G-SDI. The modules selected determine what format will be accommodated and the matrix size. Signal parameters of the incoming video may be adjusted. All settings are stored in non-volatile memory and are retained even when power is switched off.
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Fibre-Optic-Based Video and Audio Transport AT THE 2013 NAB SHOW, MultiDyne will showcase its range of fibreoptic-based video and audio transport solutions designed specifically for pro A/V and broadcast applications. New to NAB Show this year are MultiDyne’s powerful HD-18000 CWDM multiplexer, FS-18000 Fiber-Saver, and 4K-4000 fibre-optic transport solutions, all of which are now shipping. MultiDyne’s HD-18000 CWDM multiplexing system enables users to transport up to 18 HD-SDI signals per singlemode fibre, making it the industry’s most powerful and economical HD-trunking solution. Portable and easy to use, the platform is perfect for transmitting multiple high-bandwidth signals in harsh operating environments and can support emerging 4K applications, providing users with the capability to transport up to four 4K signals with one fibre. Designed for OB, fixed facility link, cross-campus network, and centralised control room applications, the system optimises transmission anywhere signals need to be trunked. At the 2013 NAB Show, visitors to MultiDyne will get a first peek at the new FS-18000 Fiber-Saver, a CWDM remapper/multiplexer that transports up to 18 digital optical or SDI signals over a single fibre, simplifying the transport of additional signals in remote locations where there is an insufficient amount of available fibres. Using the FS-18000 Fiber-Saver, a user can input any digital optical signal, with a data rate of up to 4.25Gb/sec. Also on display at the 2013 NAB Show will be MultiDyne’s new 4K-4000 fibre-optic transport system. Designed to address the tremendous data requirements involved with delivering 4K digital television, the 4K-4000 enables users to transport a 4K signal over one singlemode fibre. Visit www.multidyne.com
Harris Routes Video, Audio & Data HARRIS BROADCAST says it has raised the bar it previously set for multi-format signal routing with the introduction of the Platinum IP3 router — a router designed to accommodate a “triple path” of separate video, audio and data paths within the same frame. The Platinum IP3 can also scale to multi-frame configurations for very large broadcast and media operations using a common architecture, simplifying installations and eliminating costs associated with external components and complex cabling. The intelligent architecture maximises on-air security, with a pioneering approach to audio, video and multiviewer signal protection based on redundant crosspoints and integrated routing designs. The Platinum IP3 delivers high-quality, multi-format signal routing up to 576 x 1024 in a single 28RU frame. It can scale to at least 2048x2048 in multi-frame configurations without external distribution amplifiers or combiners, reducing costs and labour. The design eliminates the need to take stations off the air while scaling into multiple frame systems. As with other Platinum routers, the Platinum IP3 accommodates multiviewers, frame synchronisers, advanced I/O options and audio mux/demux capabilities within the frame for a space- and energysaving integrated solution. Systems integrators benefit from a solution that is easy to configure and customise based on end user requirements. A highly intuitive controller supports effortless setup and simplifies communications management between the router and other connected components. Visit www.harrisbroadcast.com.
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Lumina Broadcast Systems are proud to represent these world leaders in broadcast equipment
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Lumina Broadcast Systems Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 1693 Lane Cove NSW 1595 Phone: +61 2 8668 4432 Fax: +61 2 8572 5285 Email: sales@luminabsa.com Web: www.luminabsa.com
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CLASSIFIEDS BroadcastAsia2013 Set to Return
BROADCASTASIA is set to return this year to showcase the latest technologies and trends for the entire communications ecosystem. To be held at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore from 18 – 21 June, the 2013 edition of the show will bring together experts and exhibitors from around the world to showcase and share the latest technology developments and insights. INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES, EXPERIENCING CONTENT
what’s on MARCH
APRIL
ABU DIGITAL BROADCAST SYMPOSIUM March 05-08 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.abu.org.my
VIBA - VIETNAM INT’L BROADCAST & AV SHOW 2013 April 4-7 Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam www.vibashow.com
ASTRA 2013 CONFERENCE March 14 Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Darling Harbour, Sydney www.astra.org.au FILMART 18 Feb – 02 March Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre www.hkfilmart.com/filmart/ index.htm CHINA CONTENT BROADCASTING NETWORK (CCBN) 21-23 March China International Exhibition Center (CIEC) Beijing, China www.ccbn.tv
Advertiser Index
NABSHOW 2013 April 6-11 Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, USA www.nabshow.com CONNECT 2013 April 9-11 Karachi Expo Centre Pakistan www.connectit.com.pk IBC LONDON TECHNOLOGY BOOSTER April 24-25 Dexter House No. 2 Royal Mint Court London, UK www.ibc.org
Gencom Technology Pty Ltd ....13 Harmonic Inc. (Omneon Video Networks) ........ 3
ARRI Australia ............................. IBC
Harris Corporation-Broadcast
Blackmagic Design ........................ 5 Broadcast Asia ..............................47 CMI Music & Audio ......................48
The exhibitors will showcase the latest key technologies, including: Future TV (OTT / Cloud Broadcasting); Multi-Screen Streaming; DVB-T2; Satellite/ Terrestrial/Cable Broadcasting; Production and Post-Production Software; and many more at the four-day event. To complete the entire broadcasting and film ecosystem, ProfessionalAudioTechnology2013 will see professional audio companies showcasing the latest audio products and services for the broadcasting and film ecosystem.
CONFERENCES TO EXPECT AT BROADCASTASIA2013 As Asia’s film and TV industry continues to flourish, the BroadcastAsia2013 International Conference, themed “Enhancing User Experience, Monetising Content”, will highlight critical issues faced by the broadcast industry. Focused on the shift in consumer demand for next-generation services, this conference will also feature nine specialised business and technology tracks including a series of sessions covering the hottest topics. The Creative Content Production Conference, back for its fourth successful year, is themed “Producing and Distributing Successful Content in Asia”. The conference will address the challenge of producing appealing and high-quality content for global audiences. Numerous industry stalwarts will provide their insights on the future of the industry at the two-day conference. Visit www.broadcast-asia.com
AJA ...................................................11 Atomise ..........................................22
With the rise of Smart TVs and the blurring of the boundaries between TV and social networks, consumers will be watching TV within social networks and vice versa, impacting the way they engage with TV. BroadcastAsia2013 will be addressing this latest phenomenon with showcases from leading industry bigwigs, as well as up-to-date conference topics.
Communications...................... OBC Interra Systems ............................45 IRT Electronics Pty Ltd................18
Digital Rapids ...............................41
Jands Pty Ltd .................................37
Fuji Film ...................................60-62
Lemac .....................................IFC, 25
Lumina Broadcast Systems Australia .........................................58
Quinto Communications ............. 9
Magna Systems & Engineering ....................................................15, 26
Salzbrenner Stagetec .................17
NABSHOW......................................63
Snell ................................................57
OB Group........................................59
Storm FX .........................................42
On-Air Systems Australia ...35, 38
Studiotech Australia ...................55
Powermedia ..................................43
Syntec International ... 49, 51, 53
Professional Audio Technology ....................................................34, 52
Techtel Pty Ltd ................................ 4
Riedel Communications ............31 SMPTE .............................................19
Videocraft ......................................27
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DVB WORLD 2013 March 11-13 Melia Madrid Princesa Hotel Madrid, Spain www.dvbworld.org
BroadcastAsia2013 will feature groundbreaking technologies and products that keep pace with the evolving technology trends for the industry. The Cinematography/Film/Production Zone will return this year to provide visitors with updates on featured technologies such as Animation and Video Effects, Motion and Film Production, Camera, Lenses and Tripods and beyond.
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Us eC od eP A0 6
It’s all about ME, and how the Mobile Experience is energizing the transformation of Media & Entertainment. Second screens enhance film and television with interactive content and applications — adding a new dimension to the art of storytelling and reshaping opportunities for viewer engagement. Meeting Expectations to deliver fresh programming that thrives in Multiple Environments will depend on how well you integrate new players, strategies and technologies into your development plan. NAB Show® is a Marketplace Energized…where the ideas fueling the future of filmmaking are revealed as creative masters, network and studio executives connect, collaborate and refine their craft. Give yourself something to smile about. Register today!
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CONFERENCES April 6 –11, 2013 / EXHIBITS April 8 –11 Las Vegas Convention Center / Las Vegas, Nevada USA
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TIME shifter Bradman’s 28mm Record For those in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s been another long hot summer of cricket (the occasional wash-out not withstanding). TO COINCIDE WITH this most holy of observance seasons, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia released ‘The Australians in Toronto’, a rare 1932 film featuring cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman in action in Canada. The 13-minute black and white silent documentary shows Bradman during a privately organised tour, playing matches against Canadian teams in June-July 1932. This visit to Toronto was part of a 51-match North American cricketing adventure organised by 46-year-old former Australian Test leg spinner Arthur Mailey. “The NFSA is delighted to share this film – made at a time when the ‘spirit of cricket’ was as important as the result – with cricket lovers around the globe,” said NFSA Curator Simon Smith. Though not officially sanctioned by the governing body of Australian cricket, Mailey put together a diverse team comprising past and present Australian first class cricketers, several lower level grade players and a medical support officer. The Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation would agree to be the major tour sponsor under one proviso – the team had to include one Donald George Bradman, known in all parts of the British Empire for his phenomenal batting exploits. Recently married to childhood sweetheart Jessie Menzies in late April 1932, Bradman was initially not too keen on this four-month overseas commitment, but agreed to the request on several conditions – most importantly, that his new bride be included in the touring party. As overseas travel was a luxury afforded to select few, particularly given the effects of the Great Depression, the opportunity was too good to pass up. This ‘Goodwill Tour’, as it became known, would ostensibly be the Bradmans’ honeymoon – a working holiday while seeing the sights of Canada and the United States. The visit of Bradman to Canadian shores was treated with much fanfare and anticipation by the local newspapers. The Ontario Motion Picture Bureau (OMPB), a provincial government-run film production company, sent its cameras to document the event. The resulting film was The Australians in Toronto, filmed only months before the start of the next Ashes Test series battle, the infamous ‘Bodyline’ tour. While much moving image exists of Bradman, his entire Test Match career was played in only two countries – Australia and England. The Australians in Toronto is believed to be one of only two known surviving films of the sport’s greatest batsman in action, playing somewhere other than in Australia or the British Isles.
TIME SHIFTER
According to the NFSA’s Simon Smith, The Australians in Toronto exists in Canada thanks to a surviving print produced on the rarely found 28mm safety film stock. Though originally shot on 35mm, the film originals were believed destroyed in 1937 when the OMPB 35mm collection was melted down by its new Montreal owners to retrieve the silver inherent in nitrate film. Salvation for the OMPB 28mm collection, earmarked for destruction, however arrived in the form of Father Joseph Gravelle, a priest from Northern Ontario who acquired the collection – possibly as many as 3000 reels – to show to his local Roman Catholic parishioners. The films were then stored in his barn, left to the mercy of the elements for 25 years. In 1967, this 28mm collection was discovered and returned to Toronto by a private production
company, with the intention to exploit the films as a stockshot library. In 1972 the newly formed National Film Archives of Canada (today known as the incorporated Library and Archives Canada) purchased the surviving collection of 600 titles (the majority French Pathé in origin). Pathé France introduced 28mm film in late 1911 and, soon after, the format found its way into the North American market. As a safe diacetate film stock alternative to highly flammable 35mm nitrate film, 28mm became a popular film format for the non-theatrical market. The introduction of the cheaper 16mm film stock in 1922 would however ensure the days of 28mm were numbered, particularly with the flexibility 16mm machinery offered for conversion to accommodate sound films, an option not available to 28mm projectors. By the time of completion of The Australians in Toronto, 28mm film stock had nearly disappeared, ceasing production in 1934. Films in this format are even more uncommon in Australia, the NFSA holding less than 100 reels of 28mm in its vast moving image collection, the majority French in origin. Though 28mm cameras and projectors were available in Australia circa 1914 for some years, only a handful of reels filmed in Australia survive in our collection. The local government-operated Ontario Motion Picture Bureau produced newsreels such as The Australians In Toronto for the non-theatrical market. Canadian author David Clandfield notes specifically that the Bureau’s output was ‘designed to engage in “educational work for farmers, school children, factory workers and other classes”’. The non-flammable 28mm film format was thus safe in the hands of part-time projectionists working at schools, churches and film societies. Given cricket’s popularity in Canada by 1932 was a shadow of its 1867 status as the then fledgling nation’s official national sport, it’s likely that few people even at the time would have been exposed to this production. The OMPB, riddled with financial inefficiencies, a glut of poorly paid complacent staff and now utterly irrelevant in its silent film production techniques, would be dissolved by a newly elected local government in October 1934. The Australians in Toronto is presented by the NFSA, with the support of Library and Archives Canada. The film can be seen on the NFSA YouTube channel. Visit http://nfsa.gov.au and http://www.youtube.com/user/nfsaaust?feature=watch
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