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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 2 MARCH / APRIL 2014
MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY
www.content-technology.com
putting the bite on the business of news
PREVIEW
ACQUISITION
POST PRODUCTION
ISSN 1448-9554
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PERFECTING THE MEDIA EXPERIENCE Pervasive content, consumer mobility and multiple screens make video delivery a moving target. With video innovation outpacing the capabilities of hardware infrastructure, a software-based platform from Elemental can help media companies monetize early, distribute broadly and satisfy expanding customer expectations.
See us at NAB in booth SU2724 | April 7 - 10 | Las Vegas, NV Join us at our booth for a reception on Tuesday, April 8 from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Solving the future of video with software-defined video processing www.elementaltechnologies.com
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Also see C+T in PDF at www.content-technology.com
Cover Story – Putting the Bite on the Business End of News
36 REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 04 NEWS Foxtel Launches Presto, TekMark Takes on Pixel Power, Digital Rapids Expands with Gencom
59 CLASSIFIEDS AND EVENTS 60 INDUSTRY FOCUS 64 TIME SHIFTER War’s Final Score?
26 FEATURES 10 TAKING STOCK Acquisitions Galore, Is 2014 the year of the Entrepreneur?, SpotXchange Grows in APAC
18 NAB PREVIEW Convention Preview 26 ACQUISITION Adventist Media World’s
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First Feature, Fujinon Cabrio Zoom Lenses Make the Grade 8 Days a Week
30 SPORTSCASTING Videocraft Builds Workflow for Sochi, The Glasgow Diaries: Chapter 8, X-10 Ultra Motion from I-MOVIX
36 NEWS OPERATIONS Media Beach Puts the Bite on the Business of News, Network Ten Wakes Up with Sony
40 POST-PRODUCTION Cutting Edge Grades ‘Secrets and Lies’, Animal Logic Launches Three Divisions, Softimage No More
44 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD NFSA Opens New Facility, Front Porch Digital at India’s TV18
46 RADIO Nova Chooses Lawo, VidiGo Puts Social Media On Air, NETIA at NAB
50 AUDIO Trackdown Mixes It Up, TC Electronic Updates DB6, Avid Updates at NAMM
54 TRANSMISSION 2.3 Gbps From Huawei and Optus, Globecast Launches CNC TV, Aspera Labs Uses Intel DPDK
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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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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: Pegasus 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
NBEnvy of the World By Phil Sandberg THE SCENE IS THE RECEPTION AREA of a Nine Network affiliate broadcaster in the NSW city of Newcastle. The phone rings. The resolute receptionist answers the call …
Recently, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull was asked to update Parliament on the NBN’s wireless services in Western Australia. Referring to his Labor predecessor, Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister Turnbull said, “We have seen some very interesting examples of Conrovianism in the rollout of the NBN. We have seen the claim where thousands of premises have been passed with fibre, but where no connection could be made.
“Good Morning NBN. How may I help you?” “No, sorry, we’re not that NBN.” “No, we’ve been ‘rolled out’ for 50 years now. If you turn on your television, you will see we’re already in your area.” “No, I can’t help you with your modem. Have you tried turning it off and on again? I can give you the number for Telstra’s Manila call centre …” Nonsense? Well, of course it is. Except that come May when Hybrid Broadcast Broadband Television (HbbTV) services start rolling out throughout Australia, traditional free-to-air broadcasters may find themselves not only in the position of ISPs, but at the mercy of them. “Yes, hello Madam. Your catch-up and VOD service seems really slow? Oh, you’ve spoken to Telstra. Have you tried turning it off and on again? You have. Um, I’ll put you through to our IPTV help desk.” The Australian Government recently released the Broadband Availability and Quality Report which shows there are up to 1.6 million premises throughout Australia that have either no access to fixed broadband or very poor broadband connectivity, with peak median download speeds of less than 4.8 megabits per second.
“But with the NBN’s fixed wireless rollout in Western Australia, Conrovianism entered into a new surreal stage, hitherto unrecognised for its immenseness, its bizarre nature. There are 51 fixed wireless locations on the NBN plan around Perth … for which the NBN had no spectrum whatsoever. “Those towers, if built, could not transmit anything. What could they be used for? Were they perches for carrier pigeons to use?” Australia may not get the Rolls-Royce of broadband networks, but if it ends up being a Volvo, and it goes, then perhaps most users will be happy. Let us hope this Government sees its vision through to a practical conclusion. Meanwhile, see how you rate for access at www.communications.gov.au/ mybroadband
The NBN’s recent Strategic Review found that underserved areas can be upgraded on average two years sooner if they are prioritised in the rollout.
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The report compares broadband quality and availability to homes and businesses in over 78,000 local areas across Australia.
“I have mentioned the way in which the fixed rollout had been misleading. I have mentioned about the satellite — how a quarter of a million people were told that they were eligible for the satellite, where slots were purchased to cater for only 48,000 and now they can only get dial-up.
papers@broadcastpapers.com T: +61-(0)2-9211 8205
While Australia’s Liberal-National Coalition Government has been criticised for what is seen as a short-sighted, miserly approach to broadband roll out, it seems that the Labor Party’s vision really was big on grand vision, but short on detail.
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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com
The Curtain Goes Up on Presto PRESTO, AN ONLINE FOXTEL movie service, has officially launched. Presto offers a monthly pass to stream movies both live and on-demand. Presto has also confirmed an addition to its movie channels. Starting on the 10th of April, Foxtel Movies Disney will provide Presto subscribers with classic Disney titles, contemporary films, and Disney-Pixar box-office hits. Shaun James has been appointed as Director of Presto and VOD. Shaun is currently General Manager of Music Channels and Head of Digital for Foxtel Networks Australia. Foxtel CEO, Richard Freudenstein, said, “Presto is officially open for business. Our initial announcement that it was on the way created a big stir and we’re looking forward to sharing Presto’s library of recent favourites and classic hits with Australian movie lovers. Presto is a game-changing new way to experience great movies, when and where you want, for a price per week equivalent to what you’ll pay for just one standard iTunes movie rental. I’m delighted that Shaun James, who is such as strong member of the Foxtel team, has agreed to take on this role.” Visit http://presto.com.au
TekMark Australia Named Distributor for Pixel Power TEKMARK AUSTRALIA has announced the addition of Pixel Power to its portfolio of broadcast products. The company says the new distribution arrangement will enable it to better serve its customers with solutions in the areas of broadcast graphics, branding systems and playout solutions. Pixel Power’s integrated graphics solutions combine advanced graphics processing hardware with graphics software to meet the most demanding creative needs while interfacing readily to many leading third-party systems. Pixel Power solutions include: Clarity – HD/SD switchable graphics production systems; BrandMaster – master control switchers with integrated branding; LogoVision – dedicated channel branding systems; ChannelMaster – scalable channel playout solution; Pixel Factory – Clarity Graphics solution for file based workflow; and Pixel OnDemand – Pay-as-you-go, Clarity Graphics solution for file based workflow. Visit www.tekmark.com.au
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Inaugural Walkley Grants for Innovation in Journalism COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING, video crowdsourcing and mentoring for budding journalists in high schools are among the big ideas shortlisted for the inaugural Walkley Grants for Innovation in Journalism. The Walkley Foundation is proud to announce a shortlist of six projects which will go on to compete for $40,000 in seed funding for innovative media projects. A panel of four judges from Australia and the US, representing experience in media, entrepreneurialism and innovation, met to select their top contenders from 123 applications. The judges are James Kirby, Managing Editor of Eureka Report and a member of the Walkley Advisory Board; Ramin Marzbani, leading technology and financial services analyst; Aron Pilhofer, Associate Managing Editor of Digital Strategy at The New York Times; and Jacqui Park, Director of the Walkley Foundation. Visit http://walkleys.com/awards/innovation-grants/
Digital Rapids Strengthens AsiaPacific Presence with Gencom DIGITAL RAPIDS has announced the company has expanded its relationship with media technology supplier, Gencom Technology, to strengthen Digital Rapids’ sales and support presence throughout Australia, Asia, and Africa. Appointed as Digital Rapids’ Master Distributor for Australia and exclusive representative for Indonesia, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands, Gencom will also resell Digital Rapids solutions on a non-exclusive basis in New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Africa. Former Digital Rapids Regional Sales Manager, Neville Paterson, is joining Gencom to lead Digital Rapids sales and support activities. “We’re thrilled to be expanding our relationship with Gencom to bolster our Asia-Pacific presence and reinforce our commitment to this region,” said Clive Vickery, Managing Director, EMEA and Asia at Digital Rapids. “Gencom’s experienced team and geographic breadth greatly increase our coverage to address the growing opportunities in this region, while expanding our pre-sale and post-sale support capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our customers.” Visit www.digitalrapids.com
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NEWS + PEOPLE
Grass Valley Powers NZ Startup Broadcast Facility NZ LIVE, a start-up broadcast facility in Auckland, has selected an integrated, high-definition broadcast production solution from Grass Valley to outfit its new facility. NZ Live will focus on feed recording, production, post-production, and playout of live sports programming from all over New Zealand. Initially, NZ Live will produce all racing events throughout the country for the New Zealand Racing Board, but the facility is designed to cover all facets of broadcast workflows including OB operations and playout facilities. NZ Live expects to be on-air by late September 2014. “As a new broadcast facility in Auckland, it’s imperative that we have the most modern technologies in place so we can reach our target customers and service our clients in a timely and efficient manner, while providing plenty of scope for expansion,” said Ray Standidge, Director at NZ Live. At the heart of the new infrastructure is GV Stratus with Grass Valley K2 media servers and storage offering an expandable foundation for further applications and workflows. The system also includes LDX Flex and LDX Compact advanced imaging cameras, two Karrera Video Production Centre switchers – each with K-Frame, K2 Summit media servers, a 1024×512 Trinix NXT digital video routing switcher, a Jupiter routing control solution, CommandCenter broadcast system control software, and HD K2 SAN storage. Visit www.grassvalley.com
Fujifilm Sponsors Mudfest 2014 FUJIFILM AUSTRALIA was again the major sponsor for the 2014 Bunnamagoo Mudfest – Mudgee International Short Film Festival. Screening on the lawns of the Bunnamagoo Estate Wines Cellar Door, Mudfest attracts thousands of people to watch of some of the best short films from Australia and the world. Co-founder of Mudfest, Peter Scott, said, “Mudfest could not exist without the amazing support of our sponsors, and we are particularly pleased that Fujifilm is again sponsoring the Best Australian Film award with a prize of $1,500 worth of Fujifilm recording media products. Fujifilm’s support really is greatly appreciated and it truly demonstrates their ongoing commitment to the Australian film industry.” Fujifilm Australia General Manager Recording Media Products, Marc Van Agten, said, “Fujifilm is a proud supporter of Mudfest and the Australian film industry as a whole. Mudfest has proven itself to be a great event, and it’s important that companies like Fujifilm, along with our partners and fellow sponsors, Silver Trak, continue to support these excellent film festivals that showcase some of the world’s best filmmakers.”
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NBN Television Expands Mobile Newsgathering with Dejero DEJERO HAS ANNOUNCED Australia’s NBN Television has expanded its live electronic newsgathering (ENG) capabilities with the Dejero LIVE+ platform. Using the Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter, NBN Television news crews are able to transmit broadcast-quality, live video from the source of breaking news using cellular networks and Wi-Fi. “Previously, we had to hire a satellite truck and do a significant amount of advanced planning in order to put a live, remote feed on the air. Not only was it costly, but it meant we could not always respond quickly to breaking news,” said Stephen Bates, studio engineering supervisor, NBN Television. “Now, our mobile crews can respond instantly the moment we hear of a news situation — they just grab the small briefcase-sized Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter and a camcorder and go right to the scene.” NBN Television news crews will now be able to access news scenes previously impractical for a satellite or microwave truck, and then set up in minutes to begin transmitting live video feeds or record for later broadcast. These capabilities proved valuable during NBN Television’s recent coverage of a large brush fire in New South Wales. News crews were able to access remote fire locations and transmit a wide array of live and recorded video feeds that were integrated quickly into NBN Television’s news bulletins, as well as those of its affiliate network, the Nine Network.
NEWS + PEOPLE
“The Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter’s ease of use and rapid setup is a huge advantage to our news department, because it means we can deploy smaller and less technical crews in the field,” said Bates. “Back in master control, our engineers are able to use Dejero’s remote control capabilities to access the transmitter and adjust its settings to maintain bandwidth, leaving the camera crew free to concentrate on getting the story. It’s a very empowering tool for our on-location journalists.” Dejero LIVE+ is sold and supported in Australia by Sydney-based digital media specialist, Digistor, which was instrumental in supplying the solution to NBN Television, and can provide local demonstrations and information to organisations evaluating ENG options. Visit www.digistor.com.au and www.dejero.com
announce SMPTE15 will return to Moore Park (Fox Studios) in 2015. This is a symbolic migration, as it is the origin of SMPTE Australia.
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The move will create an opportunity not previously available at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre to include an outdoor area for the display of trucks, satellites, and other equipment. This display area will cover the link between the Royal Hall of Industries and the Hordern Pavilion. Other benefits include onsite filming facilities, large onsite theatres and cheaper parking.
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Gary Fitz-Roy, Managing Director of Expertise Events, said, “SMPTE Australia and Expertise Events committed, from the outset, to thoroughly explore, with an open mind, all the alternatives for 2015 including the Sydney Exhibition Centre. Now the centre is open, there is a lot to like, however it is not suitable for the SMPTE event largely due to the ambient light. The return to Moore Park with its onsite infrastructure opens the door to make SMPTE15 a memorable event.”
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SMPTE15 Goes Back to the Future SMPTE AUSTRALIA SECTION, in conjunction with Expertise Events, has
Visit www.expertiseevents.com.au
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Auckland to Host Media Technology – Pacific Conference. MEDIA TECHNOLOGY will be held at the Pullman Hotel, Auckland, from July 30th to the 31st, and will feature presenters and exhibitors from all aspects of the media industry. The conference, themed around the concept of ‘Beyond Broadcasting’, will focus on the shape of media into the future. The event is designed to inform delegates on the latest media developments and applications including ITPV, HbbTV, VOD, multi-screen, social media and Smart TV. Presenters during the conference include representatives from government, television, on-line media, Telcos, ISP’s and the consumer industry, with a networking event at the end of the first day to allow a more local level of interaction. Attendees will include CEOs, CIOs, CTOs of broadcasters and new media operators from NZ and the Pacific. For further information contact Amery Carriere via amery@mediatechevents.com
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Phil Smith Joins Videocraft VIDEOCRAFT HAS APPOINTED industry veteran, Phil Smith, as its new Business Manager. Phil is particularly well known in the broadcast industry for his success around Australia in securing large projects and system sales from major broadcast and key account customers. Phil’s previous role was with Sony Australia, where for 24 years he held roles in sales, regional sales and dealer management, along with direct key account management. The appointment with Videocraft sees him assisting the company’s day to day senior management. Videocraft MD, Jeanette Taylor, said, “We’re delighted to have Phil join our team. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience from our industry and is a real asset for us and our customers.” Visit http://www.videocraft.com.au
Peter Amies Mentors for SGO SGO RECENTLY ANNOUNCED the appointment of Peter Amies as Training and Education Mentor. Peter will play a primary role in managing the company’s training strategy for Mistika and Mamba FX software solutions in the global education sector. With his strong technical background incorporating customer services, workflow coordination, and technology management for high-end post production, he brings a wealth of experience to the SGO table. Before joining SGO, Peter worked for New Zealand’s Park Road Post Production where he progressed in the company over a period of six years. Peter initially worked in Park Road’s film laboratory, and was quickly promoted to in-house post-production coordinator, managing workflow and delivery for a range of short-form and feature length projects through the laboratory, DI, and sound departments. Geoff Mills, SGO’s Director of Global Sales and Operations confirmed, “Peter Amies has joined SGO at an important juncture and we’re delighted to welcome him as a key member of our team. As SGO expands further, it’s imperative our educational strategy is in place as demand increases. Armed with an impressive portfolio, Peter will be an excellent asset with his relevant expertise and knowledge, and will predominantly focus on the technical development needs and post production skill-sets which are of enormous value in the industry. As SGO leads in cuttingedge innovation, Peter’s role to educate and mentor across educational institutions will be paramount, both now and in the future.” Contact Peter Amies for training solution enquiries at pamies@sgo.es
Clark Joins Magna Systems MAGNA SYSTEMS AND ENGINEERING has tied with digital media specialist, Jac Clark, in the position of Systems Digital Solutions Manager. Clark was previously with Klotz Digital where he was responsible for the UI and logistics behind the routing for major radio organisations including Austereo, the ABC, Macquarie Radio, and Foxtel where as an SI engineer he was responsible for in-depth channel branding solutions, software development and maintenance, as well as involvement in the company’s Broadband Content Management System. Clark’s most recent position was for web hosting provider, Ultra Serve, where he specialised in Linux and VMware deployment and configuration. As Digital Solutions Manager for Magna Systems, Clark will be focusing on growing the company’s Software as a Service (SAAS) products and support services. Visit http://www.magnasys.tv
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NEWS + PEOPLE
Huawei Australia Announces New CEO HUAWEI AUSTRALIA HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of new CEO James Zhao, with outgoing CEO Guo Fulin promoted to a regional role within Huawei. The appointment of Mr Zhao follows Huawei’s global practice of rotating senior executives through different markets to help them gain a breadth of management experience. “It is a great privilege to take on the CEO role in Australia, a market of great strategic focus for Huawei Technologies,” Mr Zhao said. “Huawei Australia has been a trailblazer for Huawei globally as the first country with a local Board of Directors, and I look forward to working with the local Board as we continue to grow our presence in the Australian market.” Huawei Australia Chairman John Lord said the local Board welcomed the arrival of the new CEO. “Huawei’s corporate structure is a great example of ‘Western governance with Chinese characteristics’, and one of Huawei’s great strengths is the
Telstra Makes Executive Changes TELSTRA HAS EXPANDED its executive committee appointing Mark Buckman as Group Managing Director, Media and Marketing, and Mike Wright as Group Managing Director, Networks. CEO David Thodey said Buckman and Wright would immediately join the senior executive group, which supports the CEO leadership team setting and achieving Telstra’s strategic goals. Mr Thodey said Media Group Executive Rick Ellis would leave Telstra following the completed majority sale of Sensis to Platinum Equity Group significantly reducing his portfolio. Buckman’s role will be expanded to encompass all of Telstra’s brand and digital media growth activities. Having joined Telstra in late 2010 as Chief Marketing Officer, he took extra responsibilities last year as Executive Director Digital Media and IPTV/Pay TV. Buckman will continue reporting to Telstra Retail Group Executive, Gordon Ballantyne. Wright, a 33-year veteran of the organisation, is recognised as a leading international network engineer and oversaw the creation of Telstra’s renowned 4G mobile network for its customers. Visit www.telstra.com
Brooke-Hunt to Lead Flying Bark
practice of rotating CEOs on fixed terms,” he said. “This allows for innovative ideas to flourish and brings fresh global experience to each local office. The local Board also would like to pass on our best wishes to outgoing CEO Guo Fulin, who has seen Huawei Australia more than triple in size during his tenure.” Mr Zhao first joined Huawei in 2000 as a radio engineer, later working as a sales manager in China. In 2004 Mr Zhao was appointed Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Huawei Indonesia, overseeing sales growth from US$30m to $1.5bn between 2004-2011. Most recently, Mr Zhao was appointed global account director for Bharti Airtel in 2011. Visit www.huawei.com.au
Billy Browne Joins Cutting Edge CUTTING EDGE HAS ANNOUNCED that highly respected editor Billy Browne has signed up with its new Melbourne studio. With 15 years in the cutting room, Billy has a knack for artistic storytelling, problemsolving and is much loved for his quirky creativity. Most recently he has been working with high calibre directors on a range of projects spanning all genres, from comedy to drama to Paul Goldman’s epic ‘Three Little Letters’ for Commbank. Billy is excited about a future with Cutting Edge, and sees an opportunity to really let his craft and creative thinking flourish. “With Cutting Edge’s support and caring nature, tied in with beautifully grand edit suites, I know I have found a home that my Directors - along with Agencies and Clients - will not want to leave. I feel really lucky to have a space like this to edit in.” John Fleming added that Billy will be able to cut across various disciplines. “Billy’s flexibility fits nicely with our mantra of finding the right solution for every project; this means he can also cut off-site.” Visit www.cuttingedge.com.au
STUDIO 100 HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of Tim Brooke-Hunt as advisor to the Board of Directors of Studio 100 Group and as President of the Board of Flying Bark Productions in Australia. In these roles, Tim will advise the group on its animation activities and will guide Flying Bark’s future development. He will work closely with Jim Ballantine, who remains General Manager and Executive Producer of Flying Bark’s TV and Feature Film projects.
NEWS + PEOPLE
Tim Brooke-Hunt is a veteran of children’s programming. For six years he was Head of Children’s Content for ABC TV and Controller of channels ABC3 and ABC4Kids. Tim gained experience in animation development, financing and production during his eight years as Executive Producer with Pacific Vision and Sticky Pictures, and nine years as Executive Producer and Director of Yoram Gross Studios (now Flying Bark Productions). Tim is also a founding Director of the Asian Animation Summit. Tim Brooke-Hunt said, “I am delighted to assist the Studio 100 Group in their ambitious plans in animation and to be associated once again with the studio at which I worked throughout the 1990s, and to guide the talented team at Flying Bark.” Visit www.flyingbark.com.au
Ross Video Names ANZ Sales Manager ROSS VIDEO HAS APPOINTED Amanda Leighton to the role of Regional Sales Manager ANZ. Leighton will manage Direct and Channel Sales for the Oceanic territories, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. Her first exposure to Ross Video came in 2007 representing Ross Video through Techtel, a distributor for the Australian market. During her tenure with Techtel, she also spearheaded the presales aspect of the business for ENPS, Orad, Cisco and eventually joined Ross Video in 2011. Amanda holds a strong technical, operational, and systems background on multiple broadcast platforms and looks forward to sharing the next generation of video production solutions with the market. She graduated from University of Western Sydney – Australia. Visit www.rossvideo.com
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TAKING STOCK Moves in the business of content + technology
Quantel Acquires Snell QUANTEL, DEVELOPER OF NEWS, sports and post-production systems, has acquired Snell, a provider of solutions for Live TV production and the creation, management and distribution of content. According to Quantel, a lack of overlap across the two companies’ product ranges means all the current Quantel and Snell products will continue, as will the Snell brand. “Paul Martin, Managing Director of the Snell TV Everywhere division and Robert Rowe, Managing Director of the Snell Live TV division will join the Quantel board to make sure it is business as usual for Snell customers,” said Ray Cross, Executive Chairman and CEO, Quantel. Tim Banks, Snell Sales Director and Peter Fredericks, Snell Finance Director are also taking leading roles in the new combined organisation. The combined company will have its headquarters in Newbury in the UK. According to Marketing Director Steve Owen, it will be “Business as usual for Snell and Quantel resellers.” Visit www.quantel.com/snel
Ross Video Acquires ADS ROSS VIDEO HAS ACQUIRED Automated Data Systems (ADS) of La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. ADS produces solutions for data delivery, automation and broadcast production requirements – its main product line being EZNews. EZNews is a newsroom editorial system used by television journalists to produce newscasts, and includes features like script writing, teleprompting and graphics automation. Ross will continue to support the EZNews product while offering clients the opportunity to move to Ross’ own Newsroom Computer System product, Inception. “EZNews is popular among colleges and universities training broadcast journalists for the industry – a very important long term customer base for Ross,” said David Ross, CEO, Ross Video. “We will also continue to support EZPrompt, a popular, low cost windows based teleprompting software system with over 6,000 customers.” Visit www.rossvideo.com
Harris Renamed as Units Split HARRIS BROADCAST has been split into separate companies – Imagine Communications, which will focus on file-based and IP-based solutions, and GatesAir, which will concentrate on radiofrequency and transmission solutions.
TAKING STOCK
At a gala event held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, it was announced that Imagine Communications will be headquartered in Dallas, with Centers of Excellence in Denver, Toronto, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv and Beijing, while GatesAir will be headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with its state-of-art manufacturing, supply chain and fulfillment center in Quincy, Illinois. The announcement follows the announcment in December 2013 that Harris Broadcast was to acquire Imagine Communications, a developer of OTT, mobile video and multi-screen TV Everywhere solutions. Investment company The Gores Group acquired Harris Broadcast itself in February 2013. Under the terms of the acquisition, the company was permitted to use the Harris name under licence for three years. However, new CEO Charlie Vogt, appointed in July 2013, favoured accelerating the establishment of a new identity for the company. Visit www.imaginecommunications.com and www.gatesair.com
www.content-technology.com/mediabusiness
Avid Delisted from NASDAQ AVID ANNOUNCED that as it had expected, it received a notification letter from NASDAQ on February 21, 2014 indicating that the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Hearings Panel had determined to delist the shares of the Company from The NASDAQ Stock Market and, accordingly, suspend trading in the Company’s shares effective at the open of business on Tuesday, February 25, 2014. Following the suspension of trading of the Company’s common stock on NASDAQ, the Company’s common shares will begin trading on the OTC Markets – OTC Pink Tier under the trading symbol AVID. The Company intends to complete the restatement and regain compliance with its SEC filing requirements as soon as practicable. The Company is targeting mid-2014 for completion of the restatement. Visit www.avid.com
Dolby to Acquire Doremi Labs DOLBY LABORATORIES, INC. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Doremi Labs, a provider of digital cinema video playback solutions., for US$92.5 million in cash plus an additional $20 million in contingent consideration that may be earned over a four-year period. “Dolby and Doremi Labs have complementary technology expertise and solutions,” said Kevin Yeaman, President and CEO, Dolby Laboratories. “Together we’ll be able to advance the pace of innovation and create the kind of cinematic experiences that drive movie attendance for our exhibitor partners.” “For more than 40 years, Dolby has provided innovative technology to the cinema exhibition industry, offering storytellers the tools and technology to express their visions in new ways,” said Camille Rizko, Founder and President, Doremi Labs. “But more importantly, Dolby shares our commitment to working closely with exhibitors to bring amazing experiences to moviegoers.” Visit www.dolby.com
Vislink Acquires Pebble Beach VISLINK PLC, provider of wireless communications products and services, has completed the acquisition of TV automation developer Pebble Beach Systems for a total consideration of £14.9 million, comprising £12.9 million payable in cash and £2.0 million represented by the issue of 4,700,904 new Vislink ordinary shares. Founded in 2000, and employing over 60 staff, Pebble Beach Systems is a leading developer and supplier of automation, ‘channel in a box’ and content management solutions for TV broadcasters, cable and satellite operators. The acquisition of Pebble Beach Systems will move Vislink into the provision of software solutions for playout with advanced software technology. The Company’s capabilities of offering broadcasters wireless communication systems for the capture of live TV coverage will be complemented with television automation and media management services for broadcast studios Visit www.vislink.com and www.pebble.tv
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Is 2014 your year as the Entrepreneur? Media staff & strategy by Karl Jansson 2014 APPEARS TO BE developing as the year of the entrepreneur and the prediction seems to be global. So if you are an individual who recently left an organisation and finding it challenging to say the least, this article may give some direction. Also, for those organisations finding it similarly difficult to survive and be profitable, this article may also be of interest. My best advice is to take from it what stimulates you and discard the rest, because to be honest, an entrepreneur needs to be actively creating their own destiny, because there are no blue prints to success, just a series of indicators you pick-up along the way.
WHY THE ENTREPRENEUR NOW, IN 2014? The time is apparently right according to a range of articles and surveys recently produced, as well commented and supported by some successful business people such as Warren Buffet and Richard Branson. They suggest that there will be advances in a number of key markets that will stimulate growth and therefore opportunities for the entrepreneur. From a number of surveys it appears that the three main sectors will be Technology, Food and Leisure, and it will be global. There are significant early indicators from surveys taken by SMEs who believe at a rate of 2:1 that they are going to experience a healthy forecast throughout 2014 into 2016. So, before you badge yourself with the title of ‘Entrepreneur”, best read on and tick off the following defined components.
SO WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS? They have some initial insight into the part of the market that is familiar to them, a place of passion where they can identify challenges that matter to people. Their energy is driven by solving problems and doing it not just for the money, but for the impact on their market sector, and personal gratification. Do you have a passion for something that can be commercialised?
BUSINESS COACH If you are unsure what to do next then seek out a business mentor, because they’re experienced in helping you see clearly what is needed to succeed. They’ll help hack through the emotive stuff in order that a set of directives are identified within a clearly defined action plan.
CO-FOUNDERS! If you have a co-founder within an idea, then it’s best to sort out early the responsibilities. People tend to ignore this because it’s emotive and touchy feely, but when you do ignore it, it almost always causes problems. Having the tough conversations around roles and equity before you begin creating a product or service won’t just prevent you from fights in the future, it’ll also help you develop your product and team at the same time in a sustainable way.
DON’T BE AN ISLAND! Test and bounce your ideas off others, because a more diverse audience will see your product differently to yourself. Work collaboratively with others interested in your idea and establish a no holds barred platform, so you receive honest and unbiased feedback, without any perceived negative consequence.
TAKING STOCK
RUSHING IS RISKY. Because of today’s technologies available to us we can now move faster in taking an idea to action in a shorter period of time. However, it can also mean that we tend to do these actions on our own, without fully testing and collating all the data we receive. Don’t be tempted to rush the process and complete it in record time on your own.
OUTSOURCING When so many services are available to ensure that communication is fluid, explore them all from a 24/7 answering service to dedicated phone numbers
“The French don’t have a word for ‘entrepreneur’.”
anywhere in the world that can be rented from Skype for just a few dollars a year. What better way to track customer feedback, team member and project status by the use of a dedicated phone or mobile number as well web page/s with related email addresses.
3D MOMENTUM As 3D printers become more common, small businesses will increasingly use them to create prototype models for clients, or to customise their offer. Ideal for prototyping, as you can make a model of something and talk about it…and make things for marketing, shop displays, to create things that are unique, things that people will pay attention to.”
R&D If you have exhausted your R&D costs you may be eligible to access the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive program that was developed to assist businesses recover some of the costs of undertaking R&D. The program is administered jointly by AusIndustry and the Tax Office. The R&D tax incentive provides a tax offset to eligible companies that engage in R&D activities. According to AusIndustry, companies engaged in R&D may be eligible for either: + a 45% refundable tax offset (equivalent to a 150% deduction) - for entities with an aggregated turnover of less than $20 million per annum, or + a 40% non-refundable tax offset (equivalent to a 133% deduction) - for all other entities. Eligibility begins with the structure that is conducting the R&D. The following are considered eligible entities: + an Australian resident company; or + a foreign company that: a. is a resident of a country with which Australia has a double tax agreement; and b. carries on R&D activities through a permanent establishment in Australia; or + a public trading trust with a corporate trustee. The above is just a broad brush approach, so hopefully it has been useful in the short term as a stimulus. Karl Jansson is MD of “BroadcastJobz.tv”, a new Global website for the broadcast and new media communities seeking work or employers seeking industry specific professionals. Contact: Karlj@BroadcastJobz.tv or Mbl: +61 (0)408 274 413
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TAKING STOCK
Akamai Buys Internet Security Company AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (NASDAQ: AKAM) has completed its acquisition of Prolexic Technologies, Inc., a privately held company based in Hollywood, Florida that provides cloud-based security solutions for protecting data centres and enterprise IP applications from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. On December 2, 2013, Akamai announced a definitive agreement between the parties pursuant to which Akamai would acquire all of the outstanding equity of Prolexic. The combination of the two companies’ technologies and teams creates a portfolio of security solutions designed to protect an enterprise’s Web and IP infrastructure against application-layer, network-layer and data centre attacks delivered via the Internet. “Cyber-attacks are on the rise all over the world, with many resulting in significant economic or reputational damage to enterprises, governments, and end-users,” said Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai. “With our acquisition of Prolexic now complete, we are excited to extend the value of our combined teams and offerings to online businesses across all industries. Our focus is to optimise and secure the ‘entire IP experience,’ Web or otherwise, and to provide an unparalleled layer of protection against the most sophisticated of attacks without sacrificing site or application performance.” On its February 5, 2014 earnings call, Akamai provided its outlook for the first quarter 2014, including revenue in the range of $426 to $442 million and non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $0.51 to $0.55, excluding any effect from the Prolexic acquisition. The Company expects that the Prolexic acquisition will result in additional revenue in the first quarter in the range of $7 to $8 million. Akamai further expects the acquisition to be dilutive to non-GAAP earnings per share by approximately $.01 per share during the quarter. Visit www.akamai.com
JAMES GILBERT, Co-Founder and CEO of Pixel Power, supplier of broadcast playout solutions with integrated graphics, has reported strong growth in the dynamic advertising sector across 2013 and into 2014. Major broadcasters are increasingly turning to the company and technology partner BG+C for dynamic ad deployment. These “lastminute” ads help drive revenues and increase viewer stickiness for advertiser and broadcaster alike.
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Dynamic advertising technology allows broadcasters and their media partners to sell dynamic slots to third-parties, where ads can automatically be updated at the last minute to take advantage of evolving scenarios. Typically this has been used for up-to-the-minute betting opportunities. Adverts based on other content – the latest snow reports to encourage holiday sales, for example – can of course take advantage of the same technology. Gilbert said, “Neilsen recently published a report that highlighted the ongoing power of TV advertising with 58 per cent of global advertising money spent on broadcast TV. Dynamic adverts help push the medium forwards, bringing the twin benefits of increased revenues and holding viewer’s attention. After an exciting 2013, we expect to see even more broadcasters realising the value of our solution developed with BG+C across 2014.”
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Pixel Power works with Stephen Mills of BG+C, a long-time third-party Pixel Power application developer. Its LiveAds software is integrated with Pixel Power’s Clarity graphics engine and LogoVision playout solutions. The system uses live data to build adverts dynamically from a combination of templates and real-time assets, and is designed to run 24/7, managing multiple channels and campaigns simultaneously.
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SpotXchange Grows in Asia Pacific
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SPOTXCHANGE, INC., the platform for video advertising, announced it has experienced strong growth in Asia Pacific in 2013, with the company expanding its headcount to cater to its growth. SpotXchange has also experienced a record demand for programmatic video advertising from Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.
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The success of SpotXchange’s video advertising platform has made Australia the number one market in Asia Pacific by revenue and billable impressions. In 2013, over 700 million impressions were traded in the region accounting for 85 percent of the company’s billable impressions in Asia Pacific. SpotXchange has set its sights on achieving one billion impressions in 2014. SpotXchange has also doubled the number of Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) it has partnered with in Australia from 5 to 11 in 2013.
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SpotXchange Asia Pacific Managing Director, Matt Von der Muhll said the demand for programmatic video advertising grew exponentially in Asia Pacific last year with Australia taking the lead in the market. Von der Muhll said, “The growth we have witnessed in Australia is based on the trust, transparency and deep relationships that SpotXchange has established in the programmatic video space. We continue to be the preferred platform that connects advertisers to premium publishers who are searching for the most comprehensive video advertising ecosystem to target their audiences.”
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SpotXchange bolstered its team to support its expansion in Asia Pacific with four new hires in 2013. Matt Schmidt was brought out from headquarters to lead Operations, Client Services Account Manager, Matt Steffenson and Publisher Relationship Manager, Daniel Rowlands, joined SpotXchange’s Sydney office. Sujen Selva, leads SpotXchange’s presence in Singapore as its Regional Manager for Asia.
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Chris Blok has also just been appointed as Director of Buyer Relations to harness and grow partnerships on the buyside including DSP’s and ATD’s. Chris brings experience to the team from previous roles with a DSP, Publisher and Client side. Von der Muhll added, “We are committed to supporting our customers throughout Asia Pacific and having the right people and infrastructure in place ensures SpotXchange users are getting the most value from working with us. Chris and Sujen’s experience in the industry will ensure we have the strongest team of video professionals in place to manage our expansion this year.” To support its expansion in Asia Pacific, SpotXchange has commenced recruitment for a further two new roles with the hiring of a Technical Account Manager and an International Account Coordinator currently in progress.
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According to Quantcast, SpotXchange’s global reach went from 86 million visitors in January 2013 to 291 million visitors in December 2013 and has recently taken out the No.1 position on Comscore rankings for January 2014. SpotXchange is the largest worldwide marketplace with video advertising inventory reaching over 330 million unique visitors in more than 200 countries every month.
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TECHNICAL STANDARDS www.content-technology.com/standards
Joint Task Force on File Formats, Interoperability THE LAUNCH OF THE Joint Task Force on File Formats and Media Interoperability has been announced by its sponsors, the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM), American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), and Association of National Advertisers (ANA). The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is participating as an observer. Bringing together manufacturers, broadcasters, advertisers, ad agencies, and industry organisations serving the professional media market, the Task Force has an ultimate goal to create greater efficiencies and cost savings for
exchange of file-based content. The group’s initial focus will be to gather and analyse requirements for a machine-generated and readable file interchange and delivery specification for the professional media industry. “We believe that, by improving the specification and exchange of professional media between organisations, we can enable new and more efficient file-based workflows,” said Clyde Smith, senior vice president of new technology, Fox Network and a member of the NABA technical committee that initiated creation of the joint task force. “The task force represents a diverse group of sponsor organisations with an extensive global reach, and together we will gather and analyse information not only about user requirements, but also about current standards and specifications.”
In one of its initial actions, the task force has published a survey designed to collect data on user requirements. Other task force activities will include the collection of data on existing products for transcode, transform, and file QC, and their ability to be driven by data from UML, XML, API, script, and other machine-to-machine communication mechanisms. In addition to analysing and publishing this data within a formal report, the task force will analyse the data in terms of current, planned, and unplanned standards activities and publish recommendations for future activities. Visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KSMQm qCRFi6i3EpNxqQWd1lIkyq7qg44ZHYYrZB1DC0/ viewform
MPEG Issues Call for Screen Content Coding IN MODERN APPLICATIONS, video and image content cannot be assumed to come only from cameras. Non-camera content and mixed-source content is increasingly prevalent, while designs for “generic” image and video compression technology have primarily focused on the coding of camera content. Non-camera content applications include screen/desktop sharing and collaboration, cloud computing and gaming, wirelessly connected displays, control rooms with high resolution display walls, virtual desktop infrastructure, tablets as secondary displays, PC over IP, ultra-thin client technology, etc. Mixed-content
sources that contain a mixture of cameracaptured video and images with rendered computer-generated graphics, text, animation, etc., are also increasingly prevalent. The state of the art of generic video coding technology, as found in the recently approved High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, has excellent compression capability for a very broad range of applications, and screen and mixed content was considered during its development process. However, since it was designed for “generic” use, such content was not the primary focus of its design.
the conclusion that significant further improvements in coding efficiency can be obtained by exploiting the characteristics of screen content. This has lead the standards group to issue a Call for Proposals (CfP) for developing possible future extensions of the HEVC standard. Companies and organizations are invited to submit proposals in response to this Call, which has been issued by MPEG jointly with the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG). Responses are expected to be submitted by early March, and will be evaluated during the 108 th MPEG meeting of 31 March – 4 April 2014.
Recent studies in MPEG have led to
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IEEE to Standardise Spectrum Occupancy Sensing IEEE HAS ANNOUNCED the formation of the
TECHNICAL STANDARDS
IEEE 802.22 Spectrum Occupancy Sensing (SOS) Study Group. SOS is a promising technology for optimizing the usage of radio frequency (RF) spectrum for wireless broadband services. “This new study group, under the guidance of the IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Networking Working Group, will explore the standardization of SOS technology,” said Dr. Apurva N. Mody, chair of the working group. “Standardisation could lead to the more efficient use of spectrum, especially in places where the information about the primary users is difficult to find. To better understand the standardisation requirements, the study group will explore ongoing research and the various challenges associated with the technology.”
Recently, the IEEE 802.22 working group completed and published the IEEE 802.22-2011 “Standard for Information technology – Local and metropolitan area networks – Specific requirements – Part 22: Cognitive Wireless RAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Policies and procedures for operation in the TV Bands”. Mody added, “The study group will use the IEEE 802.22 standard as a baseline for future SOS standards and efficient use of the technology. Administrations from all over the world are looking to improve the utilisation of the spectrum.” The standard focuses on cognitive radio-based wireless regional area networks (WRANs) that provide broadband access to global wide
regional areas and reliable, secure high-speed communications to underserved and unserved rural communities. As a result, IEEE 802.22 supports sensing, beaconing and database access to enable cognitive sharing. SOS is intended to bring the Spectrum Sensing Functions (SSF) and sensing-related messaging formats out of the current IEEE 802.22 standard to create a standalone system of external sensors dedicated to creating a spectrum occupancy survey. “For example, the locations and characteristics of the radiators are not well documented. Individual and collaborative spectrum sensing is one of the tools to complement the information contained in databases to create an accurate spectrum occupancy survey,” added Mody. Visit http://standards.ieee.org/
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2014 PREVIEW US FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to Address 2014 NAB Show US FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler will provide the “FCC Keynote” at the 2014 NAB Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, April 8, 9:00-10:00 a.m. The keynote is expected to provide insight into the Chairman’s views on broadcasting and what his expectations are on the regulatory front in the coming years. “Broadcasting has a lot at stake when it comes to actions taken by the FCC,” said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. “We look forward to hearing from Chairman Wheeler about his views on spectrum auctions, ownership regulation and any number of issues shaping our industry.” Tom Wheeler became the 31st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
on November 4, 2013. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. For over three decades, Wheeler has been involved with new telecommunications networks and services, experiencing the revolution in telecommunications as a policy expert, an advocate, and a businessman. As an entrepreneur, he started or helped start multiple companies offering innovative cable, wireless and video communications services. He is the only person to be selected to both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and The Wireless Hall of Fame. Visit www.nabshow.com
Amazon Web Services to Address Media Management in the Cloud MARK RAMBERG, GENERAL MANAGER,
GEORGE HOOVER, chief technology officer with global production services company NEP, will present a session at the 2014 NAB Show’s Broadcast Engineering Conference. The session, titled “The Future of Live Sports Production,” is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8, at 11 a.m., in room S227 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The presentation is part of the conference’s Next-Generation Sports Production and Delivery track.
Media and Entertainment, Amazon Web Services, will keynote the 2014 NAB Show Media Management in the Cloud Conference on Tuesday, April 8 in Las Vegas. NAB Show is the annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage and distribute entertainment across all platforms.
NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
Ramberg’s keynote will address how cloud services have enabled media and entertainment companies to address the challenges and complexity of offering consumers content anytime, anywhere, and on any device. He will also explore how cloud services can be leveraged to meet ever increasing infrastructure demands of upstream workflow scenarios, such as film production and broadcast. In addition, he will discuss insights and trends that will lead to increased efficiency and collapsing cost structures for the media industry. At Amazon Web Services (AWS), Ramberg’s team focuses on how the media industry can leverage the AWS cloud for media storage, processing and distribution. Ramberg has held various technical, business and leadership roles for both startup and Fortune 100 software companies. Throughout his career, he has used his passion for digital media technology to influence the media industry. The Media Management in the Cloud Conference is produced in partnership with
NEP’s CTO to Present ‘The Future of Live Sports Production’
the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California. Held April 8-9 and sponsored by Rackspace Hosting (platinum) and Aspera (silver), it will provide an overview of how cloud-based solutions positively impact each stage of content distribution, including production, delivery and storage. The program draws media professionals involved in content creation, software applications, film distribution, production and post-production. Visit www.nabshow.com
Hoover’s presentation will describe the latest technology breakthroughs and innovations in mobile broadcasting vehicle design such as full 1080p functionality, 100-percent fiber optic connectivity, ultra-high-capacity routers, fully digital recording workflows, and 16-channel embedded audio. The presentation will also examine the implications of I/P, or packetized video routing, in the live multicamera remote environment, as well as new materials and construction techniques that result in trucks that are roomier, stronger, and lighter. With a reputation for some of the industry’s highest production standards, producers working outside the studio are welcoming these innovations to help them take their picture and audio quality to new levels and boost their competitive advantage. Hoover is a four-time Emmy Award winner and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2011. He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
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NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
NAB Gives Leg-Up to Start-Ups the startups selected to participate in SPROCKIT 2014. These startup companies will collaborate with and present before influencers and decision-makers in media and entertainment at the 2014 NAB Show. Now in its second year, SPROCKIT, a yearround program, will invite up to 30 companies to participate. A committee of industry experts reviewed a competitive pool of companies and selected the participating startups based on their potential to influence the media, entertainment and technology markets. Over the next several weeks, NAB Show will unveil additional selected startups. The first 10 companies are: + AudioAir (www.audioair.com) creates captivating entertainment, advertising and engagement for patrons of establishments with TV screens allowing users to listen, watch and interact on their mobile device on or off premise. + Cognitive Networks (www.cognitivenetworks.
com) is a provider of real-time services that power Enhanced TV on Smart TVs, enabling viewers to receive increased engagement and interactions with TV content through their Smart TV. + ExciteM (www.excitem.tv), a self-serve platform enables broadcast stations to create custom interactive mobile and social experiences for their audiences in real-time. + http://theloop.com, a social marketplace website, allowing individuals and brands to showcase and deliver services, as well as monetize their online content. + www.mazdigital.com, a mobile publishing platform that empowers brands to create better user experiences by transforming their media properties into “mini” social networks. + Penthera (http://penthera.com) is a provider of intelligent portable video software solutions for TV networks and content distributors. + ShareRocket (www.sharerocket.com) is a social media ratings and audience solution that helps media companies and
SMPTE to Set the Standard at NAB WITH A FOCUS ON THE FUTURE of motion imaging and sound, the two-day 2014 NAB Show Technology Summit on Cinema (TSC), produced in partnership with SMPTE, will offer an in-depth global view of the current state and future of filmmaking innovation. Key topics will include 4K and beyond, 3D film conversion, the use of high frame rates, on-set workflows, distributed postproduction, laser projection, immersive sound, and next-generation cinema. TSC sessions begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, and Sunday, April 6. Each day will feature a series of six sessions that extend until 6 p.m.
NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
Ideal for the studio, shop, or truck, SMPTE has released the CamWhite pocket chart, a consistent and reliable neutral white reference with a sturdy laminated surface. Enabling users to white-balance cameras to a scene’s primary light source with precision, CamWhite charts are a versatile tool for improving the production value of images – saving both time and money in post. The standard CamWhite chart measures 6.3 inches by 3.75 inches, but larger formats are available. SMPTE will provide insight into the goals of the new Joint Task Force on File Formats and Media Interoperability, launched in February in cooperation with the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), and Association of
National Advertisers (ANA). Bringing together manufacturers, broadcasters, advertisers, ad agencies, and industry organisations serving the professional media market, the task force will gather and analyse requirements for a machinegenerated, machine-readable file interchange and delivery specification - including standardised and common structured metadata - for the professional media industry. More than 100 committees and other SMPTE groups work on myriad technical topics to create, approve, revise, and remove standards for the industry, and this work is summarised quarterly in an outcome report highlighting the most recent developments. During the 2014 NAB Show, the Society will make the latest of these reports, the March Standards Outcome Report, available to attendees. The report serves as a quick reference source for active participants in standards work, as an update for SMPTE members unable to attend the “block” meetings that document progress, and as a resource for both members and nonmembers who wish to learn more about SMPTE standards.
broadcasters quantify their social media equity, benchmark against peers and turn that social market intelligence into actionable insights to drive success. + Tomorrowish (www.tomorrowish.com) is a social media DVR that syncs and curates a live social media TV experience for viewers where they can participate in real-time conversations about a show whether it’s live or after it’s already aired. + Wayin (www.wayin.com) provides real-time intelligence into how viewers engage with TV programming and gives producers creative freedom to easily display social content within their own broadcast production workflow. + WebTuner (www.webtuner.tv) brings Broadband to television, and with its next generation hardware, innovative content guide, addressable and interactive advertising platform, it creates a unique consumer experience advancing industry growth and creativity. Visit http://sprockitglory.com
4K Zone Coming to the 2014 NAB Show INSIGHT MEDIA AND NAB SHOW have announced a partnership to produce the 4K Zone at the 2014 NAB Show in April. The 4K Zone will be located in the North Hall and consist of exhibits, special structured demo areas and a stage for educational presentations about the 4K/Ultra High Definition (UHD) supply chain. The 4K Zone will be open during regular Exhibit Hall hours on all four days of the Show (April 7-10, 2014). “At the 2013 NAB Show, 4K was the most widely-covered and talked-about technology trends of the show,” said NAB Executive Vice President, Conventions and Business Operations, Chris Brown. “I expect 2014 to be no different, which is why our partnership with Insight Media is particularly timely and relevant. The 4K Zone, with its exhibits and educational offering, is sure to be a popular destination for attendees.” There will be four key focus areas for the pavilion:
SMPTE is celebrating its centennial in 2016, and the Society has extended its Centennial Predictthe-Future Contest through the 2014 NAB Show’s Technology Summit on Cinema. Contest participants who correctly predict the state of television and cinema technology in 2016 will be recognised during the SMPTE Centennial event in 2016. Further details are available at www.smpte.org/100-years.
+ 4K Acquisition;
Visit www.smpte.org
Visit www.nabshow.com
+ 4K Transport; + 4K Edit and Post; and + 4K in the Home The 4K Zone will also present structured demos, featuring multiple companies presenting the same content under uniform presentation conditions and with common objectives.
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Choose the model that’s right for you With the same well-established workflow across the entire XDCAM family, the only choice you need to make is form factor. Choose the body style, sensor size and lens spec that meets the needs of your production. With a consistent workflow between models, your project can easily integrate footage from different cameras. The wide line up of XDCAM models ensures there is a model in the family that matches your needs. For more information, please email us at sonypro.anz@ap.sony.com
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NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
HuffPost Founding Editor at Disruptive Media Conference ROY SEKOFF, founding editor of The Huffington Post and president and co-creator of HuffPost Live, will give the keynote address at the 2014 NAB Show Disruptive Media Conference on Wednesday, April 9 in Las Vegas. NAB Show is the annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage and distribute entertainment across all platforms. Sekoff’s keynote will address how the rise of online video and viewers’ growing desire to engage with content is significantly impacting programming, distribution and advertising in media and entertainment. As president and co-creator, Sekoff oversees all aspects of development, production and programming of HuffPost Live. The network uses HuffPost stories, editors, reporters and bloggers
to live-stream eight hours of original live programming, five days a week, available online, on mobile devices and on-demand. Highlights are shown overnight and on weekends. Before helping to launch HuffPost and HuffPost Live, Sekoff was a writer and on-air correspondent for Michael Moore’s Emmywinning humorous newsmagazine “TV Nation.” His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The Village Voice and The London Times. Sekoff is a frequent guest on a wide-range of TV and radio shows, including MSNBC and Fox News. The Disruptive Media Conference, produced in partnership with Digital Media Wire, gathers professionals who oversee the digital and interactive divisions within their companies to explore developments in online video, mobile
AmberFin to Unveil New Version of iCR
and branded entertainment. Held April 9-10, the program covers the impact of disruptive media and more traditional OTT technologies on business models for distribution and consumer engagement. New programming partners, Parks Associates and Mobile World Congress, will curate sessions around “disruptors” in the mobile and broadband space.
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LiveU on the Move LIVEU (Booth SU8513), the developer of
AT NAB 2014, on booth SU8505, AmberFin, a leading developer of file-based media ingest, transcoding and quality control solutions for owners, broadcasters, sports organizations and post-production houses, will unveil version 10 of its iCR software. The new version will include support for new codecs and wrappers, new enterprise class-features, a new option for 2:3 adaptive cadence correction and enhancements to UQC, AmberFin’s Unified Quality Control platform.
NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
Designed to further facilitate the digitization and transformation of new and archived content in modern file-based workflows, iCR version 10 will feature more robust, resilient and enterprise-ready transcoding, more wrappers for broadcast workflows (QT ref), more codecs for streaming workflows (webM) and archive conversion workflows (SStP). iCR’s enterprise-class features enable the creation of transcode farms scalable to many nodes while ensuring faulttolerant operations. The iCR Transcode Farm Controller provides a single, reliable, redundant interface. Jobs managed by the controller continually manage the system architecture to achieve the levels of redundancy and throughput required by each individual application. This is designed to combine high throughput with advanced system functionality to deliver great picture and sound quality, while simultaneously generating cost savings through more versatile network licensing capabilities. Visitors to the AmberFin booth will also be able to see the all new iCR WebFace, an enterprise web-based transcoding interface that will allow users to manage their transcoding jobs from a browser.
Version 10 of iCR will also feature a new option for 2:3 Advanced Adaptive Cadence correction that will allow users to automatically correct broken 2:3 cadence, generating clean blend-free outputs. Version 10 of iCR also includes enhancements to UQC offering a better user experience on the UQC timeline and new function-specific plug-ins. AmberFin’s Unified Quality Control (UQC) represents a unique approach to file-based media quality control since it combines multiple tools for baseband checks during tape ingest, filebased QC after ingest, and overall operatorcontrolled QC, including annotation and mark-up. Now with a palette of ten different vendors and systems –including Interra Systems, Digimetrics, and Tektronix — UQC users are able to mix and match tools to create the optimum QC environment for their needs. New to the UQC ecosystem is Nexidia QC, a software tool that automates the verification of closed caption and video description, closed caption alignment, and language identification in broadcast and IP workflows. As part of the AmberFin Academy, visitors to the AmberFin booth will be able to attend a series of live educational presentations covering a variety of topics including: “How to make the best progressive pictures” “Enterprise transcoding – how to get great content without breaking the bank” “UQC – using standards, multiple tools and AmberFin to get the best QC ROI in the industry” Visit www.amberfin.com
portable live video acquisition, contribution and management solutions, will demonstrate its complete range of bonded 3G/4G uplink solutions for broadcast and online media. This includes LiveU’s new professional-grade LU500 backpack, weighing 1 kg, based on LiveU’s fourth-generation patented bonding algorithms and powered by LiveU’s multiprocessor video encoding engine. LiveU will be presenting LiveU Central, its central management system that allows full control and monitoring of the entire ecosystem and content via any browser-supported device. Also on show will be LiveU’s mobile application for smartphones and tablets, the LU-Smart with its handheld Smart Grip; LiveU’s Xtender external antenna solution for extreme scenarios; and hybrid solutions with microwave and satellite technologies. Visit www.liveu.tv
Photon Beard Goes Light Blonde for NAB PHOTON BEARD, the UK lighting solutions specialists for broadcast, film and video will officially launch “Platinum Blonde”, the company’s first HMI-focusable floodlight, at NAB 2014. Platinum Blonde is a highly energy-efficient 1200W HMI linear lamp, provided in open face format. It is ideal for any application where raw output is required. Because it only draws 1200W, Platinum Blonde can be powered from any domestic supply while also being highly suitable as a generator supply for mobile applications. Photon Beard will also feature a selection of lighting solutions from its complete range. Visit www.photonbeard.com
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Grass Valley Auckland Unit 3, 123 Manukau Road Epsom, New Zealand +64 9571 5910
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NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
Aframe Moves Production from Desktop to the Cloud AT NAB 2014, Aframe [Booth SL14209] will
New features include:
launch the next generation of its cloud video platform, Aframe 3.0, including a new desktop app offering automated media movement workflows, custom transcoding technology, an HTML5 player for precision control ahead of the edit and asset management features that save immense time and hassle in broadcast video production.
+ A desktop app with smart upload technology that enables Aframe users to save time and hassle in uploading and distributing files out. The app automatically detects the best connectivity settings before sending the clips to Aframe where it automatically transcodes them to a viewing copy. Users can then configure the app to automatically push the clips to other users’ desktops.
Aframe 3.0 makes news & sports as well as media & entertainment professionals more productive and helps them leverage existing on-premise assets more efficiently with the peace of mind that assets are fully under control and secure.
+ Automatic transcoding features including automatic transcoding to a house format or custom transcoding per clip that mean less effort spent transcoding everything to be used, and less expense on transcoding tools.
+ Expanded access controls and refined permission features that provide a “mission control” administrator view, enabling easier management across cost centres and more fluid asset management. With more adaptable user settings and granular permission structure, Aframe provides added peace of mind against potentially damaging incidents. + New HTML5 Player – faster, frame accurate and universally compatible for faster footage review even on smartphones and tablets that expedites the organisation of vast amounts of video. Visit www.aframe.com.
Highlights for NAB 2014 will include: Pixel Factory – Pixel Power’s new server-based implementation of its world-class graphics engine is intended to support today’s filebased operations. It is an ideal solution for adding extra graphics capability to support needs such as Quality Control, Web Delivery and post production, or to enhance program material and add graphics overlays for playout and streaming applications. Integrated Gallium workflow management provides the scheduling, asset management and workflow automation needed to optimally manage multiple rendering devices. Pixel OnDemand – a first-of-its-kind, softwareonly graphics solution that enables a media company to break free from traditional CAPEX infrastructure and its cycles of depreciation. Pixel OnDemand gives media companies the flexibility to pay for the rendering time they actually need rather than spend on unused capacity. Pixel OnDemand is provided as an easily deployed software package that runs on standard IT servers, making it perfect to meet the needs of nonlinear, store-and-play content
delivery operations such as IPTV channels, video on demand services, mobile content, news operations, and second screen viewing applications. Output is a pixel perfect match to that of Pixel Power hardware products. Gallium – Pixel Power’s highly integrated and scalable scheduling, asset management and automation system provides the intelligence to build a variety of playout solutions using Pixel Power output devices for file, IP or SDI domains. It’s ideal for playout facilities that need to implement automated control of the company’s transmission devices for graphics or a complete channel playout. ChannelMaster – Pixel Power’s complete integrated playout system is the only channel-in-a-box system backed by 25 years’ graphics know-how. ChannelMaster reduces the traditional playout signal path—storage, DVE, audio, subtitling, social media support, master control switcher for live feed and long-form video and graphics—to a single system that doesn’t cut corners when it comes to delivering a compelling look that appeals to audiences and advertisers. Newsroom – Pixel Power brings efficiency and optimisation to newsrooms by integrating graphics throughout the entire workflow, from
production through distribution. Graphics assets are accessible within any newsroom computer system and templates can easily be populated by staff or through automation, and can then be added to the rundown for playout. Data sources, from election data to crowd-sourced content via social media, are handled as an integral part of newsroom production, allowing for easy integration with news content and moderation. Operators have complete control over playout with Pixel Power Rundown Manager and Control Center making it easy to drive multiple Clarity or LogoVision graphics systems to air. Pixel Promo – Pixel Power’s fully automated branding and promotion software eliminates the hurdles and lowers the cost to delivering strong branding and dynamic, accurate promos to air. From pre-programmed thematic channels to fully live environments, Pixel Promo ensures brand overlays are consistently and properly delivered. Graphics templates for promos are populated automatically, moments before air, using a channel’s live schedule information. Live versioning and cross promotion is effortless across any number of channels with Pixel Promo. Visit www.pixelpower.com
NAB SHOW 2014 PREVIEW
At the 2014 NAB Show, along with offering a complete set of solutions for transporting video and Ethernet across fiber and optical networks, Artel’s DigiLink will also support HD-SDI, SD-
SDI, DVB-ASI over IP networks using industry standard SMPTE 2022 Encapsulation and Forward Error Correction. With its low latency and cost effectiveness, JPEG2000 is rapidly becoming the industry standard compression format for transporting HD-SDI over bandwidth-limited network infrastructures. At the 2014 NAB Show, Artel will demonstrate its cost-effective and easyto-deploy JPEG2000 compression solution for compressing HD-SDI into ASI.
Artel will be showcasing DigiLink’s innovative integrated signal routing capabilities. The ability to route video and Ethernet signals simply, reliably, and in real time within the DigiLink chassis eliminates the need for external video routers and Ethernet switches. By routing the media in its native format, as DigiLink does, operators not only eliminate unnecessary cost and complexities, but can also enhance reliability and quality of service. Visit www.artel.com
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Artel Streamlines Media Transport AT THE 2014 NAB SHOW, Artel Video Systems will demonstrate its comprehensive solution for transporting broadcast-quality media across fiber, IP networks, and optical backbones using the DigiLink media transport platform. DigiLink is compact, flexible, and simple to install and support.
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Adventist Media World First Feature Film Production TELL THE WORLD is an independent Australian feature staking a claim as the first movie to fully utilise Adobe creative software in production and postproduction. Set in 19th Century America and shot on location in Canada, the movie tells the true story of a diverse group of people whose lives intertwine as they wrestle with biblical prophesies that point to the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. Working closely with creative technology supplier Future Reality, Sydneybased production company Adventist Media Network was wrestling with camera and software options just weeks before shooting. “We spent a lot of time looking at and analysing what was going to work most effectively for us in our production and post-production workflows,” explained Adventist Media’s artistic director and Tell The World director, Kyle Portbury. “We had to choose the camera system first and only made our final decision four weeks out from production. We did a lot of camera tests and looked at RED and the ARRI ALEXA M camera – we even looked at film as an option. But in the end we went with the ARRI ALEXA plus because we wanted to shoot with anamorphic lenses in a 2:40 aspect ratio.” Having sorted out its camera requirements Adventist Media then only had three weeks until the shoot began to lock in its software solutions. “We actually had two decisions to make – what were we going to use on the Tell The World feature and what to use across all our suites moving forward on future projects. We needed a solution that would grow and develop with our needs,” said first assistant editor Katie Dose. “Up till then we had been using Final Cut Pro 7 and already had Premiere on one machine for testing along with Final Cut Pro X and Avid’s Media Composer.” “Premiere was a winner by a long shot as it had a lot more pluses than other platforms for our specific in-house requirements,” Dose added. “We already used many of the Adobe applications, utilising AfterEffects, Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator heavily. “Our only hesitation was that Adobe Premiere was a totally new platform for us and for the industry. We could see all the benefits but it still meant taking a big leap using it first up on a large feature project. There are almost no real world examples of workflow from production through post on a project this size exclusively cutting in Premiere,” said Dose. Future Reality also supplied a Netstor NA333TB portable RAID storage system running a LTO 5 tape backup matched to a Retina MacBook Pro. Gemini data recorders for the ALEXA cameras were supplied with the camera rental to complete the on-set data acquisition, storage and editing toolset.
ON LOCATION WORKFLOW During production in Canada the team worked closely with the camera department and cinematographer Peter Moss ACS ASC to develop and utilise customised colour LUTs (Look Up Tables) to ensure the desired look of the images was maintained across the shoot. ARRIRAW data from the Gemini drives and Log C data from the SxS cards was copied to a workstation by on set data wrangler Erik Greensmith who applied
the LUTs and produced 1080 proxies using DaVinci Resolve with the colour already burnt in for Dose to use assembling the dailies. “I was doing daily assembly edits using Premiere and backing up all the files to two sets of LTO tapes,” said Dose. “Premiere also has a good interface for entering metadata, which was very useful because good metadata is key to digital productions. I spent a fair bit of time entering data for scenes such as coverage and the script supervisors associated logging notes. On top of this I would sync sound to picture directly within Premiere.” The ability to review dailies with complete colour and ‘look’ information proved to be a major advantage to the project’s bottom line and added to the director and DP’s ability to track visual story elements. “Having all this capability gave us greater efficiency and peace of mind,” Portbury stated. “We made a fairly sizeable investment to take all this on location but it was completely justified given the costs involved in additional photography. If you have to reshoot anything due to data loss, too little coverage or lighting issues that gets costly, especially when it means setting a large film production back in motion after principle photography has wrapped. From a storytelling perspective it was invaluable having the colour and metadata information readily available in dailies.”
POST-PRODUCTION “A number of the feature film editors we interviewed to edit Tell The World couldn’t understand why we were not using Avid,” explained Dose. “It’s interesting because it is almost like a cultural mind shift is required to use Adobe for a movie because Avid is the industry standard – the hurdle is not ‘can it do the job’, its going to be getting people to give it a try. Our editor Bin Li, while initially reluctant, has found the transition relatively painless.” The majority of visual effects required on Tell The World will be handled inhouse by Adventist Media using the suite of Adobe software. Matte paintings, digital skylines and most of the compositing will be handled by staff artists using AfterEffects, PhotoShop and other third party applications such as Cinema 4D, with colour timing (DI) taking place in LA. “Tell The World is set in the mid-1800’s and I wanted to capture as much as I could in-camera, shooting practical sets on location. But some elements are simply not possible and we did shoot several vfx heavy scenes,” said Portbury. “One of those required two RED EPIC cameras with spherical lenses in addition to our two ALEXA plus packages. We did some tests and talked to our outside vfx house, finally deciding 5K would give us the best result for those specific elements and digital set extensions. Premiere’s ability to playback RED footage directly in the time line without converting made our experience on set that day just that little bit more relaxed. “We only had the two RED cameras for 1 day and you don’t have time on set to wait for files to convert so a sequence can be rough cut to make sure you have enough coverage. This capability in Premiere gave us the tools we needed on set to make our ambitious call sheet for that day.” Visit www.future.com.au
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Fujinon Cabrio Zoom Lenses Make the Grade 8 Days a Week “There are three words that sum up my use of Fujinon Cabrio zoom lenses perfectly – quality, speed and time”, says 8 Days a Week owner Borće Damćevski who, in his role as a respected DOP, is well known for his extensive work shooting promos and TVCs for high profile brands including L’Oreal, Nestle, Ford, Nissan, Disney Australia, X-Factor and My Kitchen Rules amongst others. Here he reflects on how he has integrated Fujinon Cabrio lenses in his work. TIME, THESE DAYS, is very much of the essence. So whenever you can save some it’s always very welcomed. I shoot the majority of my work on the ARRI ALEXA, Sony PMW-F55 and Phantom high-speed cameras. With these cameras I can accommodate most production demands. I also have a wide range of lenses that include a set of master primes, a set of CP Tilt Focus lenses, Zeiss 15.5-45 LWZ and two Fujinon Cabrios – the 19-90mm and 85300mm. Pre-production meetings have always been important but are now essential. It’s in these meetings that we can work out which cameras and lenses are best suited for the production. The ARRI ALEXA is now a mainstream highend camera which, combined with the Cabrio zoom lenses, becomes very versatile and time saving kit. Not all shoots have the luxury of time and larger budgets that enable the use of high-end prime lenses. I’ve also found the combination of an ALEXA and a Cabrio lens is particularly good not just for promos and TVCs that tend to be time poor, but especially for Steadicam work where the 19-90mm covers pretty much most focal lengths needed, bearing in mind you very rarely go beyond 90mm on a Steadicam. This makes the 19-90mm Cabrio my “go to” lens for Steadicam work.
primes when required for shallow depth of field or a specific look, provided the budget allows. The Sony PMW-F55 is a great value for money camera. On most shoots with the F55 the standard lens I use is the Cabrio 19-90mm. I also take the 85-300mm but most of the time the 19-90mm is all that is needed. Recently I shot a series of three minute children’s drama stories for Disney with my F55 / Cabrio combo which was perfect. We had to move quickly because we were working with children and a schedule that didn’t give us the luxury of time to use prime lenses. For anyone that has worked with children that are delivering dialogue you will understand the importance of using a zoom to get the different shot sizes instantly without the interruption of a lens change while the child has the dialogue in their head. The Cabrio lenses performed flawlessly giving us a great image with variable focal length and lots of flexibility. The servo motors, especially on the 1990mm, makes it so easy to throw either camera on my shoulder and off I go (it also
makes handheld simple, the way it should be) without the need for follow focus controls or handlebars and again saving time. As we all know saving time is saving money. The equipment that is available to us these days has enabled us to shoot a high end look but with the speed of an ENG production, which in itself can become frustrating because we all know it takes more than just an efficient camera and lens to give you the quality that everyone is after. There lays our challenge. The Cabrio lenses allow us to tackle that challenge with more confidence. I always like to offer the directors I work with more than one option. Saving time allows me to shoot more footage thus gives more options to work with in the edit. By using Cabrios with my ALEXA, F55 or any other camera they allow me to offer more. I quite often use the Cabrios and primes side by side. Let’s say I shoot a mid-shot at 40mm on the Cabrio at T2.9, to match that depth of field I will use an 18mm Master Prime for the wide shot at T1.3. This allows a consistent depth of field in the sequence of shots when edited together, thus achieving a smoother transition of shots in a scene. This is where it is important to pick the right lens for the shot. The market has changed and we’ve all seen that in the past few years; I would never say a Cabrio zoom lens would replace a prime lens but in many situations, they cater to a need in the market. There is now very much the need to work at a faster pace but still achieve the high-end results. With the Fujinon Cabrio lenses we now have the tools that were not available to us in the past to achieve those results at that pace. With their high optical quality, the speed with which they allow you to shoot and the time they save you, they’re very hard to beat. Visit www.fujifilm.com.au
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Recently I shot the My Kitchen Rules promo using two ALEXAs and both Cabrio lenses (1990mm and 85-300mm). This way I could get the mid-shots and the super tight shots at the same time. It was a big promo that involved over 80 extras on exterior locations so we needed to shoot quickly to save time with limited daylight. There was no time to keep changing lenses and the Cabrios, yet again, stepped up. I’ve worked with a lot of lenses in a lot of situations. I’ve even tested under the same lighting conditions at the same aperture and focal lengths and I’ve found that the Cabrios are the best match to the Zeiss Master Primes. It needs to be noted here that my Master Primes (T1.3) are my pride and joy, but aren’t always the right choice for every shoot. This means I use a Cabrio for speed and use
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AMIRA – ARRI’s Crown Princess
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Aimed at drama, documentary and news, ARRI’s new AMIRA camera looks set to repeat the successes of its sibling, the ALEXA. Phil Sandberg spoke to ARRI Australia MD, Stefan Sedlmeier about the new release. C+T: AMIRA is going to hit the market soon. It’s basically three configurations isn’t it? SS: AMIRA when it is translated means princess. This camera is now launched in addition to the Alexa. Most important, the Alexa is not discontinued, the Alexa is still to be further refined. There is version 10 software upgrade package coming up around NAB, which gives other features. Version 9 was released a while ago accommodating the Alexa DNxHD 350 444 support for shooting native Avid MXF codec and other features. There are three models for the AMIRA. The Entry Level, it is like the standard camera, then there is the Advanced Set and the Premium Set. Basically, it is done similar to the Alexa. They are stripped down a little bit when you go for a Standard Set or the Advanced Set to reduce the price, and you can always upgrade them later on by just installing a software licence. Installing it later on or upgrading to a higher classification is about 10% more expensive rather than buying it outright, but nevertheless sometimes there are features which you may not need, or maybe need later, or maybe only need if you ever sell the camera to another guy and then he will do the upgrade. The AMIRA is really a good complement, it is a slightly different price range. It is significantly less expensive than the Alexa, nevertheless it is similar in image quality. The sensor is the same technology and image quality like the Alexa, so they use the same CMOS sensor, the AMIRA is a pure 16:9 camera, but can also output 2K ProRes codec. So any kind of flavour of ProRes, 1920 or 2048, interlaced or progressive at frame rates up to 200 frames, but it is a pure 16:9 camera, so no option for anamorphic lenses. There are a choice of four lens mounts, PL mount, traditional or with LDS interface for Lens Data System, Canon DSLR EF mount and the B4 mount - B4 for 2/3 inch lenses. The target market is clearly TV drama, documentary and news and out there they have lots of 2/3 inch cameras which use B4 mount lenses and therefore the AMIRA has an interchangeable mount to accommodate these lenses. The base model will only do 100 frames a second, and if you say I am only shooting real time I don’t need high speed, then you can save money. But, it is basically a complete modular system so you can upgrade it later on.
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Then there are certain accessory bundles on their way, which is a suggestion of storage cards. The AMIRA records on CFast 2.0 ARRI Australia MD, Stefan Sedlmeier. storage cards. There is the choice of a 60GB and a 120GB card. We also supply card readers.
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C+T: What sort of shooting time does that give you? SS: It is the same resolution, the same colour depth, the same bit rate like Alexa, so the recording capacity of a 60GB card should be similar to the 64GB SxS card, which is about 40 minutes. The 120GB card is expected to hold twice the amount of footage, so about 80 minutes or more than 1 hour. C+T: Can you see broadcasters taking an interest in the camera? SS: Yes, definitely for studio applications and also for news - ENG. First, because of the recording media we use, because it is latest generation CFast 2.0 card, secondly because of the image quality and the flexibility and versatility in terms of frame rate, but also the image quality in terms of exposure range, negligible image noise and natural representation of skin tones. C+T: Are there outputs on the AMIRA for live applications? SS: The AMIRA has HD outputs so it can go live to air. You don’t need to record on the camera. The camera can hook up directly to a routing switcher in the studio or feed live screens. The camera can output 3G HD-SDI so it can run whatever is complying to – 4:4:4, up to 30 frames, or 4:2:2 up to 60 frames, whatever carries 3G HD-SDI, up to a control switcher and router. So, in a news environment, you can use this as a live to air camera for news, for supervised and non-supervised and remote-operated use on robotics. This is definitely possible and that was also possible with the Alexa. There is also a broadcast version of the Alexa camera where you don’t have a recording module but you hook up the camera via a SMPTE fibre optic interface to the studio environment. This is also possible for live to air and studio applications. C+T: When can we expect to see AMIRA locally?
ACQUISITION
SS: The first camera model we expect by mid to end of April with our demo cameras and we had a workshop in Australia in November where the business unit manager was here with a prototype camera. We want to do an event in New Zealand with the New Zealand Cinematographers Society, so we will also give them more access, because a lot of requests we have are from New Zealand and also New Zealand has quite a large number of Alexa cameras now. The new ARRI AMIRA.
Visit www.arri.com.au
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Callan Green Picks ARRI Alura Lenses for 4K Sony TVC ONE OF SYDNEY’S BUSIEST DOPS, Callan Green ACS, recently chose to use ARRI Alura zoom lenses to shoot the latest Sony Bravia 4K TV commercial. Of the four lenses in the Alura Zoom range (a technical collaboration between ARRI and Fujinon), Green chose the 45-250mm T 2.6 and 15.5-45mm T 2.8 lenses to best suit his requirements. Suitable for both film and digital cameras, the Alura zoom lenses are colour matched not just to each other, but also to ARRI prime lenses, giving high contrast and high resolution for sharp, punchy images. Green said, “I use the wide zoom for Steadicam work and tracking vehicles and whenever the schedule simply won’t allow changing lenses frequently. The long zoom is perfect for helicopter work or any time I need a long lens size that is not covered by my primes.” Recently Green has been shooting music videos, TVCs and short films with his Alura zooms, with the most recent TVC in Sydney for the new Sony Bravia 4K TV where he was particularly impressed with the quality of the lenses. Green explained, “We shot both in studios and outdoors. The images for a Sony Bravia 4K TV had to be extremely sharp. Sony had sent out a tech guy from Japan who’s sole job was to magnify each shot off the data file at 10x magnification to make sure the images I was giving them was sharp enough. Again, the Alura zooms stood up really well, even wide open they were excellent.” “I also recently shot a music video in Miami for James Blunt recently where I used my short Alura zoom handheld in a car as we had no time to change lenses. The Alura, as always, performed brilliantly. As lenses go the Alura zooms look fantastic, they are extremely high quality and fast too.”
The Alura range consists of two production zooms, two lightweight zooms and two extenders and covers a focal length range of 15.5mm to 500mm. The lightweight zooms pack a high level of optical sophistication into compact housings, offering the perfect solution for fast-moving productions, Steadicam and handheld work, smaller cameras and action shots. Callan Green ACS concluded, “Whether I’m shooting music videos, short films or TVCs my Alura zooms always deliver. They are great lenses and the level of quality for the price is unmatched. Those factors combined with the service and support I get from Stefan Sedlmeier and the ARRI Australia team makes the whole package a very attractive one.” Visit www.arri.com.au
Blue Zoo TV Series Shot with Sony PMWs BLUE ZOO HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS, “the ultimate marine wildlife adventure documentary series” and when chatting with the DOP, Dean Cropp from the show’s production company Air Pig Productions, it’s not hard to see why. The show, shot entirely with Sony PMW-200 and PMW300 cameras, is a 13-part observational documentary that follows eight young Australian and Irish marine animal enthusiasts aged 14-16 as they embark on an intense 6-week training mission to become dolphin and seal experts and have the adventure of a lifetime. Cropp explained, “Blue Zoo was a very unique production and as such our choice of equipment, particularly the cameras we were going to use, was crucial. We did a lot of research into different cameras with different sized sensors and when all were assessed we decided on the Sony PMW-200 and PMW-300 as the best choices for a variety of reasons, in particular the ability to shoot progressive or interlaced along with a bunch of frame rate and bit rate options right up to 50Mbps with a 4:2:2 colour space.”
cameras that Cropp describes as his “main doco A and B cameras”. Whilst similar in some respects to the PMW-200 there were several reason for the use of both cameras. Cropp explained, “The viewfinder on the PMW-300 is just brilliant or kick ass as we would say! It really made a huge difference as we could see what we were shooting and the sharpness of the colours in great detail especially out in bright sunlight. The viewfinder is that good it also acted as a monitor and gave us a great idea of exactly what was being shot. Also, the fact that you can interchange lenses on this camera is a massive bonus. For Blue Zoo we used a Fujinon wide angle lens and the results were excellent. The PMW-300 is also great to use in a helicopter or road vehicles because of its optical stabiliser capability. Detailed colour controls meant we could get the bright, exciting and vibrant look I wanted for Blue Zoo straight from the camera or shoot a flatter curve giving us the most options during the grading process.
He added, “The PMW-200 is very intuitive and easy to use. On several occasions I handed it over to a shooter who hadn’t used one before and they were up and running in less than ten minutes.”
“The PMW-300s were the work horses that worked extremely hard every day following the rookies around and documenting everything they did. Our rookies were pretty unpredictable and we had to be ready to shoot at a minute’s notice. This included in helicopters, on boats, islands and underwater. We had two PMW-300s working in tandem alongside our PMW-200s to make sure we didn’t miss a thing. Each camera would cross shoot the other for one on ones and group shots of the marine experts and rookies before being sent off to shoot individual activities.”
Working alongside the Sony PMW-200 were the show’s PMW-300
Visit http://pro.sony.com.au
Blue Zoo was a series that had a hectic production schedule with Cropp and his crew often multi-tasking the various roles that were required each day. With that in mind Cropp found the versatility of the PMW-200 much to his advantage.
ACQUISITION
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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide
www.content-technology.com/sportscasting
Videocraft Builds Unique Workflow for Sochi 2014 A MAJOR PART OF NETWORK TEN’S Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics coverage was supported by a cutting edge high-speed media workflow designed and installed by Videocraft. Videocraft Sales Director, James Taylor, explained, “Videocraft built a complete end to end workflow for Network Ten that enabled them to record, log, edit and playout every frame of the Winter Olympics. Our engineering team, led by Nick Maclean, designed, built and tested the system back in our Melbourne HQ before it was deployed at Ten and then provided full onsite support throughout the entire games. We also added additional facilities to Ten’s Melbourne studios that included building a master control room and supplying additional cameras.” The master control room ensured all incoming feeds from Sochi were correctly managed and had fully redundant signal paths. Part of the
overall media solution also involved a large scale EVS solution. Taylor continued, “We installed a very large EVS network to record thousands of hours of footage and also create low res proxies of all the frames. This enabled anyone from Ten to view, log and send the footage across to our Avid Media Composer system. The Media Composer was in turn linked to an Isis 7500 and Interplay Media Asset Management system allowing all the feeds from Russia to be seamlessly turned around for broadcast from Ten’s Melbourne studios.” Videocraft’s end-to-end media solution also included EVS IP Director and IP Browse stations throughout the network enabling all of Ten’s Olympic team the opportunity to view and manage any footage from their desktop PCs. Taylor added, “Ten came to us for a solution as they needed a system that would be powerful, flexible, reliable and efficient. Due to our
long-standing relationship with the network we understood their requirements and high standards and hence suggested the EVS IP Director IP Browse solution. Critically, we also included Australia’s first deployment of EVS’ new 10 gigabit capability that ensured no data bottlenecks and incredibly fast data transfers.” The large scale EVS IP Browse solution was key to the efficiency of Videocraft’s system design according to Taylor who concluded, “It was a very intelligent system. The large scale deployment of IP Browse was unique in Australia and not only allowed anyone at Ten to view the footage, but also make edits and shot lists then send to the on-air guys for immediate broadcast. In effect we created a window into Ten’s Sochi media network. If an event happened at Sochi it would always be recorded and could be used in a variety of ways.” Visit www.videocraft.com.au
Riedel Provides Massive Communications Network at Sochi RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS’ MediorNet fibrebased network supported the transport of HD video and audio signals, data, and Riedel Artist intercom signals throughout the 2014 Winter Games. A Riedel Mass Cast deployment including 14 transmitters and thousands of receivers and earpieces provided support during the opening and closing ceremonies. During the games, Riedel’s modular MediorNet and MediorNet Compact systems were deployed in double-redundant rings to serve as a fibre backbone for audio and HD video, data, and intercom signal transport within the stadium and several other venues that feed back to the
International Broadcast Center (IBC). Eighteen Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom mainframes and an array of headsets and beltpacks supported communications at competition sites. Within the Fisht Stadium, the MediorNet infrastructure supported wired and wireless Ethernet distribution to enable both a local Wi-Fi network and facilitate programming, coordination, and execution of program elements during the ceremonies. Supplied and coordinated by Riedel, the installation featured 90 discreet radio channels and includes more than 1,300 radios and 1,000 headsets. Visit www.riedel.net
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The Glasgow Diaries: Chapter 8 By David Bowers March, 2014: Well, I blinked and another month has slipped past. Our Host Broadcaster team’s current focus is the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) build, with construction well underway. From the edge of the Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) car park I can see how quickly 248 mounting pads are being installed across a huge section of it; just as quickly that portion will revert to its permanent state once the Games conclude. THESE PADS WILL FORM the foundations of the IBC, which will offer just under 3000 sqm of space for rights holder broadcasters (RHBs) and the Host Broadcaster technical team. In addition to providing working space for more than 500 broadcast professionals from all over the world, who will report on the Games and bring stories back to their home countries, as many as 200 members of the Host Broadcast team will also be rostered to work at the IBC at any one time during the Games period. Today’s excitement centres around the 100-tonne crane which arrived on-site yesterday, and 62 modular cabins starting to roll in on 40-foot semi-trailers. Watching the activity I can’t help but think of an old John Wayne movie where they circle the wagons to fend off the enemy, though in our case of course the invading armies will be friendly. The modular IBC concept was part of the SVGTV original bid and it has proven very successful in design and implementation. I can see the concept being used for future large scale events. The scalability of the IBC building has also allowed the engineering team to accommodate late requests and fine tune any cable management, power and mechanical services, which in turn allow us to cater for all the RHBs’ needs. The former car park is morphing into a mini-city in its own right and completely independent of the surrounding sporting venues that have emerged over the past two years.
SPORTSCASTING
This means Games spectators, officials, athletes and broadcast professionals alike can go about their activities securely and with minimal disruption to traffic flows. We are all set for communications fibre, utilities and our 11KV power feeders to be laid, having last month completed ground radar surveys to map out and verify ground loads and to scope out trenches for service conduits. The 2-megawatt power transformer is due today, and so the Host Broadcast team look something
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like a Village People cover band, dressed in our five-point safety kit: hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, high-vis vests and steel-cap boots!
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Next to install are the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, the chillers being especially critical for our technical areas, and the electrical overlay followed by lighting and fire alarm systems. Then our fibre roll-out and we are good to go. IBC manager Joost Davidson has been overseeing the works and design for the past six months and within three weeks this independent facility will be up and running, ready to greet the sea-containers of equipment designed and pre-built at Global Television in Sydney.
The mounting pads that will form the foundations of the Glasgow International Broadcasting Centre.
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Once installed here, the IBC with its studios, control rooms, monitors, switching centre and ancillary facilities will spring to life.
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Just to the right of the IBC entrance space has been cleared for the satellite ‘farm’, where dozens of uplink dishes will form part of the transition path. While we can distribute signals to satellite directly from Glasgow, we can also redistribute them out of London, providing both extra capacity and redundancy in the event it’s needed. Next door are the Clyde Auditorium and new SSE Hydro, which between them will host Gymnastics, Boxing, Judo, Netball, Wrestling, Weightlifting and Powerlifting and rounding out a very busy precinct.
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Setting down, powering up!
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The design team arrived from Sydney on March 17th for final review. We are at the Revision 4, or final drawings release stage, which means we have met the last design milestone on our critical path. Concurrent with the build phase we’ll go into testing and finally the operational phase. 21 weeks to go!
David Bowers is head of engineering and technical operations for SVGTV, which holds the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Host Broadcast contract.
Jo Glasgow IBC manager Joost Davidson.
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SPORTSCASTING
Telestrator Now with “Posed Players” REAL TIME 3D BROADCAST graphics developer RT Software has launched a new “Posed Players” feature for its tOG-Sports telestration solution.
pose to be selected quickly. If it is required to match the real video more precisely the operator can then fine tune each joint with rotations in each axis.
Using Posed Players, the tOG-Sports operator can freeze at any point of sporting action and create 3-D posed models of the players to replicate the real camera view in a virtual stadium. It is then just a simple click to zoom to a different Point of View from any angle. This makes it perfect for explaining tactical plays or to review contentious decisions, perhaps from the referee or linesman’s view.
“What sets tOG-Sports Posed Players apart from other systems is how quick and easy it is to create a realistic and closely matched Posed Player scene” says Mike Fredriksen, Commercial Director of RT Software. “Our tOG-Sports customers tell us that if they can’t get something to air quickly, then the impact is lost. It is also perfect for studio shows - we are rendering this live so presenters can use this interactively with a touchscreen or tablet while on air.”
Fast turnaround is achieved through use of a database handling the player’s attributes such as kit, physical build and skin tone, even boot colour. The choice of base pose can be taken from a series of animations, such as walking or running to allow a close approximation of the real player
Posed Players is included in the newly released version 4.6 of tOG-Sports Pro, with upgrades available for existing customers. Visit www.rtsw.co.uk
New Camera Tracking System from Shotoku SHOTOKU BROADCAST SYSTEMS, a developer of manual and robotic camera support, and virtual reality tracking, is introducing in joint cooperation with ncam, a manufacturer that enables virtual production through real-time camera tracking, the new ncam Camera Tracking System at this year’s 2014 NAB Show (Booth C8731). The ncam Camera Tracking System features a multi-sensing bar that is unobtrusively mounted on the studio camera and provides real-time data to its associated tracking server. ncam provides complete 8-axis 3D position information via industry standard protocols compatible with any VR/AR graphics system. It is suitable for a wide range of applications both indoor and outdoor, with mounted or even hand-held as well as Steadicam cameras. As part of its range of VR camera tracking solutions, the company is also showcasing its advanced TK-53VR crane, which features mechanical stability, control precision and tracking sensitivity offering all-round performance for any VR or AR production.
Freeze Frame of Live Action.
Rendered Posed Players from different POV.
Visit www.shotoku.co.uk
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X10 Ultra Motion from I-MOVIX DEBUTING AT NAB 2014, I-MOVIX will showcase its new line of products based on X10 ultra slow motion technology. The new product line emphasises modular configurability to suit any Vision Research Phantom camera, and any configuration can be customised to meet performance and budget targets across a wide range of production scenarios. The entire X10 product range has been optimised for upgradeability to allow for evolving production requirements and upcoming generations of cameras.
“At NAB 2014 we are bringing the latest in X10 ultra motion technology – now in a new modular product range that allows broadcasters to build the ideal system for any kind of sports broadcast application,” said Laurent Renard, CEO at I-MOVIX. I-MOVIX is a leader in extreme slow motion for sports broadcast (from 75 to over 5,000 FPS). The company’s products provide true ultra-slow motion systems, fully integrated for broadcast use, offering the combination of very high
frame rates and instant replay, or continuous streaming. Visit www.i-movix.com
SPORTSCASTING
Orad Releases MVP 3.3 ORAD HAS RELEASED the newest version of its Emmy Award-Winning MVP, offering greater performance and richer enhancement capabilities. Amongst the new features are Run by Run (RBR) where only the desired player continues to move while the others in the frame are frozen in place. Also available with MVP 3.3 is the new and improved iFly enhancement with smooth camera movements and fast clip creation, allowing object tracking arrows and players’ highlights while virtually flying from one camera to another. Other new graphic capabilities include; 3D marker, multi marker, 3D counters, spins/rounds
counters, 3D offside including a virtual offside wall, boxing dedicated graphics, and more. Enhancement clips helps the talent to better tell the story and therefore fast turnaround of a clip is a key factor for successful production. With MVP 3.3’s new clip preparation wizard, enhancements such as iFly, Run by Run, and Eraser can be quickly prepared. Players can be quickly erased/ frozen/highlighted on the video feed. MVP’s 3D tracked telestrator tool can be used in a studio environment enabling the commentator to control the video and draw graphics on screen or on field. The touch telestrator application’s new design is integrated with Orad’s PlayMaker sport
replay server, enabling the user to go directly to a specific video location by merely tapping on its thumbnail. Using MVP 3.3 dual output capabilities, one output is sent to the device that the presenter is interacting with, which shows the complete interactive scene; the second output shows a cut-out section enlarged to full screen, so that user-interface elements are not shown. Other new features include new external tools, such as video server control, video format configurations, video grabber tester, and more.
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NEWS OPERATIONS
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Media Beach Puts the Bite on the Business of News By Phil Sandberg
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Australia’s Seven West Media, in conjunction with US developer VideoShip Enterprises, has launched Media Beach, an online portal designed to challenge the traditional news agency model of Reuters, AFP and the like, as well as encourage the wider dissemination of news content from the Asia Pacific to the rest of the world. ANNOUNCED BY SEVEN WEST MEDIA’S GM of News and Public Affairs, David Porter, at this year’s Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union symposium in Kuala Lumpur, Media Beach will allow: + Broadcasters and freelancers to upload video and other content to make it available for sale via auction, etc., across different territories; + Customers to purchase that content via credit card or PayPal; + Broadcast organisations to use the platform as an “internal” contribution network. Users can manage a private network of logins around a cloud storage solution, for easy upload and download from members and nonmembers alike; + Automatic transcoding of incoming files ready for HD/SDI playout as needed; + The management of user generated content from non-professional sources; and + Near-live upload of content from phones and tablets via an app for Android and iOS. Media Beach users will also have access to graphical weather content from NZ-based MetraWeather. This will include dynamic, ready-to-play weather flights and news clips, specific to the user’s location from expert
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Media Beach’s Colin Grimes (left) and David Porter.
meteorologists and technologists. Other content partners are expected to be announced in the future. According to David Porter, the Seven Network has found that the demand for news content has exploded over the last six to seven years with its news output growing by around 60 percent. “There are a number of key drivers,” he says. “Firstly, news content is very cost efficient. Once you have got your cost base in place, to produce an extra hour of news is actually quite cheap compared to sports rights and programming. It is also very fresh which is important because the programmers are having more and more difficulty with the big US studio shows like Revenge and The Black List - mainly because a lot of them are being downloaded earlier and viewed. “The programmers are finding it harder and harder to control their schedules. So, they are looking to news to provide content which people might not have seen before, they want to watch it now, they don’t want to watch it later on their PVR, and they want to see local and good international news. “The other driver of this massive growth is online, in that news drives online traffic. That is certainly the experience of our online partner, Yahoo. They are very keen to get more and more news content that they can put online on Yahoo and bring in traffic to then monetise the other parts of their site.” According to Porter, the problem for news producers is that while demand for news content has increased, in most cases there has not been a corresponding increase in resources or staffing. “We are controlled very tightly as a cost centre and there is a lot of pressure on us to produce news very efficiently,” he says. “We think we have the right amount of staff to cover Australia, but what we really want is better access to news internationally.
NEWS OPERATIONS
“That market is generally controlled by the big agencies you would be aware of, who generally charge quite large amounts to subscribe and what we have been thinking is why can’t we exchange news with fellow members of the ABU, but also internationally, and just buy the news that we want. “After all, we have all moved to a platform of file-based workflow. A news story is really just like any other file. There is no reason why we can’t share it on a story by story basis as we have it. So we have been working with Videoship who, in turn, work closely with the big US networks on this sort of technology and we have come up with Media Beach.
The Media Beach contributor UI allowing users to designate price and rights for their content.
“Media Beach is the first true platform for broadcasters to exchange content. That content can be stories or even live streams. There is a lot of interest in all of our regions at the moment, in South East Asia, because we have big
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NEWS OPERATIONS
Network Ten Wakes Up with Sony SET IN THE STUNNING SURROUNDS of Sydney’s northern beaches, Network Ten’s breakfast show Wake Up broadcasts live every morning from Manly’s Surf City. To take care of the show’s acquisition requirements the network took delivery of multiple Sony HDC-1700 studio cameras for use in their newly-built remote studio at Queenscliff Beach, the picturesque site from where the programme is broadcast. Network Ten Chief Technology Officer Jason Tuendemann explained, “We bought Sony’s HDC-1700 studio cameras for our Brisbane news studio and the new Sydney-based Wake Up breakfast show – it was a major purchase. All of the cameras were also fitted with the OLED viewfinders.” As part of the Wake Up project Network Ten also became the first Australian broadcaster to purchase the new range of Sony DWX digital wireless audio systems for field use with their XDCAM cameras on the breakfast show and in their Melbourne studio. The purchase was one Ten’s Network Communications Manager, Glenn Carrick, saw as a major advantage for the broadcaster. “We were very impressed with the DWX’s innovative features and high performance,” said Carrick. “Sony’s analogue wireless systems have always served us well, but DWX is a major leap forward for both studio and ENG use.”
Jason Tuendemann continued, “The HDC-1700 cameras meet all the required specs for Australian broadcasting. The cameras provide excellent picture performance at a very cost effective price whilst maintaining compatibility with the proven HDC accessories such as OLED viewfinders, control panels and large lens adaptors. The new DWX digital wireless systems also provide outstanding audio quality and a host of powerful control features allowing camera operators to easily work with the systems, as they integrate very well with XDCAM cameras. “The new studio for the Wake Up show is located at a remote location at Queenscliff Beach near Manly, approximately 10km from Network Ten’s main Sydney facility at Pyrmont. These sites were linked with fibre optic connection to transmit signals back to the main control area. By making use of the Ethernet control available on the HDC systems, the operators are able to remotely control the cameras from the main site – thereby minimising the number of technical staff that are required at the remote studio. This means that staff can operate systems on the breakfast show and then also work on the following Pyrmontbased morning show that starts immediately
after, with no travel time required. “The feature set of the HDC-1700 systems was exactly what was required while not adding additional features that were not needed for this project. With established CCU and RCPs in existing studios, integration of the new camera chain control was minimised and as operators were extremely familiar with Sony studio cameras, there was no additional training required.” Network TEN also uses Sony MVS switchers, OLED and LCD monitors and XDCAM camcorders to produce and broadcast the Wake Up breakfast show. Wake Up is on Network TEN at 6.30am weekdays. Visit www.sony.com.au or, for New Zealand, visit www.sony.co.nz
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Carbonite has become the Mid-Size Production Switcher of choice for many producers thanks to its amazing capabilities and ease of use. We have now added new unique features - MiniMEs™ and MultiScreen™.
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NEWS OPERATIONS
Mid-Sized Production Switchers
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NEWS OPERATIONS Continued from Page 36 picture stories, we have got emerging economies, upcoming elections, so there is a lot of interest, but we had trouble getting news out of our region, due to the limited number of upload facilities. This is the first real platform for us to exchange news on a story by story basis and get news out to the rest of the world.” Seven West Media’s partner in the venture, VideoShip, was established in 2004 by veterans of the data broadcast and cable industries. The company builds enterprise video workflow and distribution systems and has offices in Ottawa and Dublin, as well as a Network Operations Centre situated in Atlanta. Videoship’s clients list includes NBC, Telemundo, CBS, Raycom Media, CNN, and Comcast. Comcast uses a Videoship-developed ad delivery platform which handles over 60 percent of all ad spot delivery in the US.
redundancy, additional hubs in India and in Europe will be rolled out over the next year. In terms of workflow, contributors to the platform log in and go to either “The Market” to make their footage publicly available, or “The Video Centre” if the organisation they are working for is using the Media Beach platform as a content distribution network. Files are uploaded via Videoship’s accelerated file transfer technology. Along with video upload, other types of files can be associated with the footage, including images, audio, text documents, and even software. If the footage is made publicly available on the Market by a freelancer, for example, the contributor then determines the conditions of its distribution, including regional availability, specific members, continents, etc.
According to Colin Grimes, Director of Business Development with Videoship, the technology backend behind Media Beach has borrowed from systems the company has built with larger networks in North America.
During the process, the contributor would also enter in their name, and an expiry date when they wish the story to be removed from the system. Each member is allocated 1Tb of storage. Stories that reach their expiry date are automatically deleted from the member’s storage allowance.
“We tried to incorporate as many features as we could into Media Beach to facilitate any sort of operations with broadcasters,” he says, “as well as smaller operators, global networks, freelancers, production houses. It’s a multi-tiered, scalable solution for anyone in the media industry.
While entering the cost and uploading the story, the contributor also has the option to designate that story as an auctionable item. They can put it on auction, enter the amount of time they want their auction to be open for, in hours, and even run different auctions of the same content for different regions.
“The features that we have included are designed to make this more than just a website where people can throw content on and try to buy it off each other, of which there are many websites like that right now in the world.
Once the video upload is complete, a series of stills are generated - one for every three seconds of video. The contributor selects and image and this becomes a “poster” advertising their story. The interface then creates a distribution list of their story, and the story is placed on the Marketplace as being available to everybody.
“By focusing on video and incorporating our technology, because of its scalability, this is something that people can use. It is a platform that has enough cutting edge technology and features to be appealing to a very large international network, or national network, but also you can have a smaller, easier to use, scaled down version for local networks, and then very basic emailing and video transfer accounts to members who just want to contribute content. “That would be your streamers, freelancers who aren’t going to purchase anything. They don’t need big complicated content delivery network with transferring capabilities. All they want to do is put up their video as soon as they can and have their account set up to receive funds every time a video is sold.” Some of the features incorporated in the Media Beach platform include modified TCP IP-based acceleration designed to prevent a network being bogged down in the way a traditional TCP IP transfer would. “An analogy I use,” says Grimes, “is it’s a lane of data being pushed in and waiting for a response for it to continue. It’s slower because it’s one lane of information being sent. Well, Videoship has come up with the way to turn that into multi-lane highway. So, it is fast and it optimises bandwidth regardless of location or device, desktop being used.”
WORKFLOW Media Beach currently has data hubs in Singapore and in North America. For
Potential buyers can browse the Marketplace to find stories, or be alerted through an email which allows them to preview the video directly from the email. Previews are available in various resolutions. The Media Beach platform will accept and transcode most media formats. “We use top of the line transcoders in our transcoder farm,” says Grimes. “Most or all popular media formats are accepted. On top of transcoding and technical capabilities, we have included a couple of other ways of receiving content, for general content aggregation, that we found to be really sought after, to include as many content acquisition methods as possible under one platform. “We also offer hosted upload pages for each member where non-members can upload video into the member’s Video Centre and internal network. This could be for temporary uploaders who are from outback locations or can’t log into their account for whatever reason, or if they want to put something out to transfer some content and want to receive some video from as many people as possible, so User Generated Content. “There’s also a mobile app that has been designed to get mobile video to the newsroom as quickly as possible in a high quality format. We didn’t go down the route of trying to send live video from the mobile using systems like LiveU. Instead, we have designed it so files upload from your mobile device as you are recording, as the file is being created, and finishes shortly after it is done, and it is very quickly available in the newsroom on the video news server.” According to Seven’s David Porter, “Our friends at Videoship have developed a fabulous platform. You can bring down content into your workflow, into your right codec, and with accelerated file transfer maximise your bandwidth, so that if news is happening now you can get it now and not wait for the file to download over minutes and hours. It comes as quickly as your broadband connection can offer.
NEWS OPERATIONS
“With the system you can create your own content delivery network, within your own business, so that if you have multiple locations you can put servers around your different locations and move content around very quickly without relying on a video network supplied by a third party. To be able to move content around within your network very cheaply is a massive advantage. “We think that there will be a net demand for content from this region overseas. We get a lot of interest from Europe and North America, for content for our region. We think that [APAC news organisations] will all be net sellers to those regions. So, the more we can work together there is a mutual benefit to us developing a large volume of content that we can not only trade amongst ourselves, but sell to overseas and create new revenue streams.” Purchasing a story.
Visit www.mediabeach.com
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Cutting Edge Provides Weighty Grade for ‘Secrets and Lies’
Animal Logic Announces Launch of Three Divisions ANIMAL LOGIC CEO, Zareh Nalbandian, has announced the launch of three divisions, which will operate under the Animal Logic group of companies. The group structure will consist of separate Animation and Visual FX (VFX) studios, and Animal Logic Entertainment, a feature film development arm that would focus on developing a slate of animation, hybrid and VFX driven films for the company. Nalbandian confirmed the company would be bringing together its Animal Logic and Fuel VFX teams effective from March 1st. “The newly consolidated division will trade as Animal Logic VFX, incorporating the wealth of talent and technology under one roof, further strengthening its ongoing commitment to the Australian and international VFX industry,” he said. The Animal Logic VFX team will include Executive Producers, Jason Bath and Luke Hetherington and VFX Supervisors, Andy Brown, Paul Butterworth, Kirsty Millar, Dave Morley and Will Reichelt who will continue to drive all aspects of the VFX business for the company. “The VFX landscape has changed dramatically over the last 2 years, and the consolidation of our teams, technology and facilities means that we can continue to remain competitive in an ever-changing VFX global market. With the Animal Logic VFX brand we’re bringing together two strong companies under an internationally respected banner,” says Animal Logic VFX Executive Producer, Jason Bath. Animal Logic Animation will continue to focus on creative, visual and technical excellence in animation. Its team will include CEO/Producer, Zareh Nalbandian; Head of Animation, Rob Coleman; and Co-Producers, Amber Naismith and Ingrid Johnston.
NEW PARANOIA FUELLED PSYCHOLOGICAL/COP DRAMA Secrets and Lies, via production company Hoodlum, has made its much anticipated debut on Network Ten this week. With a gritty British drama style, it explores what happens when a house painter discovers a murdered boy when out for his morning run through the bush. The feel is dank and oppressive; the story is seductive and unpredictable. And, according to Director Kate Dennis, a part of achieving the tempestuous nature of the series was the work done in the grade by Cutting Edge. “Cutting Edge really understood what we were trying to achieve on Secrets and Lies,” said Kate. “The grade was superbly crafted and it helped capture the sense of narrowing destiny and mania that we were after,” she said.
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DOP Robert Humphreys ACS, worked closely with Cutting Edge colourist Justin McDonald to set the mood in the grade early in the piece.
In late 2013 the company established its Animal Logic Entertainment office in Los Angeles. Its team includes Producers, Zareh Nalbandian and Jason Lust, and Executives, Jonathan Hludzinski and Felicity Staunton, focused on developing an eclectic slate of feature films in collaboration with leading studios, directors, writers and producers. Nalbandian said, “It’s a really exciting time for our amazingly talented team at Animal Logic. Their continued commitment to innovation, and technical and creative excellence underpins the company¹s success. We are all proud to play an important part in an Australian creative industry that is really proving itself on an international stage.” Visit www.animallogic.com
Autodesk to Discontinue Softimage FIVE YEARS after it acquired the Softimage brand and 3D animation
“We wanted the grade to be edgy and dark, and we wanted the audience to feel the heat of a deep Queensland summer. Given it was shot in the middle of winter, I certainly appreciated Cutting Edge’s efforts and collaborative approach,” said Bob. “Secrets and Lies is outstanding local content; I’m very proud of the industry in Brisbane for what they have achieved here.”
assets from Avid for around US$35 million, Autodesk has announced that the upcoming 2015 release will be the last one for Autodesk Softimage.
Justin said that one of the challenges was making a wet winter look like a hot and sweaty summer. The interiors had to be dark and dank, and the light coming in the windows needed to be hot.
In a statement on its website, Autodesk said, “We understand that you will now need time to re-evaluate your production capabilities. To help you, we are offering Autodesk Subscription customers special no cost options to migrate to either Autodesk Maya or Autodesk 3ds Max while continuing to use Softimage in production. These options will be available until Feb 1, 2016. Upgrade paths are also available for customers who are not on Subscription.”
Justin said, “A highlight for me was the work we put in on making Ben (Martin Henderson) always appear ‘sweaty’ and under a constant state of stress. His skin was affected by multiple keys and windows to bring out the sweat in his face.” Visit www.cuttingedge.com.au
The 2015 release is expected to ship on April 14, 2014. Autodesk will continue to offer product support until Apr 30, 2016. The company says it will also provide any necessary hot-fixes and service packs to all customers, at no cost, until Apr 30, 2016.
Visit www.autodesk.com
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Ingest Software for Bluefish444 Video Cards BLUEFISH444, manufacturer of uncompressed 4K/2K/HD/SD SDI video cards, has introduced Fluid INGESTORE & Fluid DNxHD INGESTORE for multichannel HD/SD SDI ingest for use with Epoch and Create video cards running on Windows.
+ Upgrade to Fluid DNxHD INGESTORE anytime.
Using only an SDI video cable, INGESTORE enables workstation computers to capture uncompressed and AVID compatible DNxHD media with minimum operator intervention. Using the embedded time-code data in SDI, Fluid INGESTORE can automatically trigger the start and stop of captures at predefined segments, or by using auto-record mode generate new media files for each new take based on time-code interruptions.
Users can capture multiple streams of HD/SD SDI into AVID compliant OPATOM DNxHD media files as well as uncompressed 4:2:2 8/10 bit video files.
Fluid INGESTORE harnesses the power of all Bluefish444 video cards. Using the flagship Epoch | 4K Supernova and its 4 HD/SD SDI connections will enable INGESTORE systems to capture multiple simultaneous streams of HD/ SD SDI into uncompressed 4:2:2 8/10 bit files. Uncompressed QuickTime and AVI files can be used for archive, edit, encoding or analysis. Key Features:
+ 3 recording modes: auto record, in/out point record, crash record. + Intelligent clip generation on time code breaks + In/Out capture based on time code (no RS422 required) + Simultaneous recording and NLE operation via Adobe Premiere and Avid Media Composer + Independent video modes and frequencies per channel + Uncompressed 4:2:2 8/10 bit QuickTime and AVI formats + Real-time live desktop preview of all available inputs + Meta-data support + Online/Offline clip bin
Meanwhile, Fluid DNxHD INGESTORE builds on the advanced features of Fluid INGESTORE and enables users to capture AVID compatible DNxHD files in addition to uncompressed video.
New codecs will be available in future software upgrades. Visit www.bluefish444.com.
SGO’s Mamba FX Now Available on Linux SGO HAS TAKEN another development step forward with the release of its Linux version of Mamba FX. With the ability to already run under Microsoft Windows, Mamba FX is now available on Linux for all 64-bit distributions on PC hardware of various configurations. SGO’s CEO, Miguel Angel Doncel, says, “SGO’s innovative development reflects our passionate commitment in delivering the best to all compositors. To be able run Mamba FX on various platforms such as Linux really benefits our users. Many customers informed us that they needed to be able to operate Mamba FX on Linux for affordability and seamless flexibility. Mamba FX for Linux now delivers this.” Mamba FX is SGO’s compositing software, launched at IBC 2013, and displays an intuitive node-based graphic interface delivering an integral visual effects suite with unlimited compositing layers and effects.
Visit www.sgo.es
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V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max
Given the V-RAY treatment. “Level10” by Toni Bratincevic.
CHAOS GROUP’S V-Ray
DFT, A LEADING PROVIDER of high-end film and digital post
3.0 for 3ds Max includes significant optimisations to the ray tracing core, Brute Force GI, Progressive Path Tracing, Reflections, Refractions and more are running up to 5x faster; while the new Progressive Production Renderer brings a new era of fast set-ups and quick iterations.
production solutions that preserve, manage, and deliver high quality images, is announcing the global launch of its new state-of-the-art, SCANITY HDR film scanner at NAB 2014. As well as the SCANITY HDR scanner, DFT will be showcasing its concept “Wet-gate” solution.
V-Ray 3.0’s new interface comes in three UI modes (Basic, Advanced, and Expert) which can be selected to match an artist’s preference. The new V-Ray toolbar includes Quick Settings with dropdowns for production-ready presets for common uses like Archviz Exterior, Archviz Interior, and VFX. Settings for Quality and Shading Rate can be fine-tuned with easy-to-use sliders.
V-Ray 3.0 offers improved Subsurface Scattering (SSS) including options for object-based and ray traced illumination, faster hair rendering speeds (up to 15x), view-dependent tessellation that automatically smoothes hair curves, and a dedicated Skin Shader with layered reflections. Now with UDIM and UVTILE support, it’s even easier to move MARI and Autodesk Mudbox assets into V-Ray. Visit www.v-ray.com
Forbidden Technologies Update FORscene NAB 2014 will see Forbidden Technologies showcasing enhancements to FORscene, including an iOS version of the product. The company is also showing integration deltatre’s Magma graphic system.
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New Enhancements to FORscene include the addition of highresolution proxy; edit interface upgrades, including the Record Timeline Patch Panel and improvements to trimming, audio editing, and publishing tools; increased account and user customisation for saving keysets and interface layouts; half speed playback capability for improved logging and transcription; new site manager interface with increased management tools; cloud upgrade to support new file formats; and server Lite improvements for remote news workflows. A new iOS version of FORscene will enable users to log, edit, and publish from FORscene on any iOS device with an internet connection — making FORscene among the most accessible professional postproduction services available. The latest FORscene integration with the Magma graphic system from deltatre will also be on show at the booth. Visit www.forscene.co.uk
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DFT Launching SCANITY HDR
Answering the needs of its customers, DFT is launching its new HDR film scanner, which excels in the uncompromising ability to handle a range of difficult and historically-aged film issues. SCANITY HDR facilitates the ingest of difficult dense black and white materials at real-time speeds using DFT‘s new proprietary, patented tripleexposure technology. This has the advantage over traditional scanners because the triple exposure is executed once, in real-time 2K or up to 15 fps in 4K, which means that instead of slowing down the speed stays consistent. SCANITY HDR will be shown at NAB in its pre-production guise, highlighting its new cosmetic black look finish and detailing, with the production model shipping later in the summer. The production scanner will show an LED array embedded behind the front door surface to highlight the active and current status of the scanner mode – Play, Stop and Record. SCANITY HDR will come with the additional option of the new Wet-gate solution. In this machine variant the deck plate will be pre-prepared for the required pipes and Wetgate interconnections allowing users to add this proprietary DFT technology if and when desired. DFT will also be showcasing PHANTOM II, its new software transfer engine solution developed for existing SPIRIT users. This hybrid software development takes elements from both DFT’s Flexxity and Bones playout tools to produce a simple yet effective alternative to the current Bones solution. Its aim is to provide up-to-date Spirit HD, 2K and 4K users with a new, easy to operate and cut down data transfer engine for ingesting and managing SPIRIT data transfers. This allows existing Bones users to migrate their SPIRIT data transfers via this new software engine. Visit www.dft-film.com
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Lightworks 11.5 for Linux and Windows EDITSHARE HAS RELEASED Lightworks 11.5, its cross-platform editing software, which now includes some major changes to the Pro and Free versions. The new release features some major updates to the user interface, which greatly improve the editing experience, a smarter right-click menu populated with your favourite pre-sets and FX plus greater control for playback. And now, thanks to new background tasks, editors can continue to work whilst importing, rendering and even exporting. Completing the line-up of major new features is the inclusion of AJA hardware support, allowing Lightworks to recognise the AJA ioXT or Kona cards on the Windows and, soon to be released, Mac OS X platform. Lightworks was used to edit Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street – demonstrating the results users can achieve with Lightworks’ editing engine. Version 11.5 is available to download on both Windows and Linux. The new free version now allows users to import all professional and consumer video formats natively on its timeline, offering the exact same editing functionality as the professional version. However, the professional version gives editors a far wider choice of output formats, while the free version is restricted to web publication, YouTube and Facebook being good examples. Visit http://editshare.com and www.lwks.com
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Thinkbox Announces Krakatoa for MAXON CINEMA 4D THINKBOX SOFTWARE HAS ACQUIRED code to bring its particle renderer, Krakatoa, into MAXON’s CINEMA 4D modelling and animation software. Initial efforts to link the plug-in with CINEMA 4D were led by Ugly Kids artist Daniel Hennies, who collaborated with a developer to program a bridge to the stand-alone version of Krakatoa (SR). Leveraging the C++ API of Krakatoa SR, Hennies and a small team were able to fully integrate the particle renderer with CINEMA 4D and first demoed the technology at SIGGRAPH 2013. “I was really motivated to incorporate Krakatoa into my workflow since the majority of my projects involve creating fluids, particles and high quality renders, which are time and memory intensive in CINEMA 4D,” explained Hennies. ”I didn’t want to switch creative applications so I took matters into my own hands. Krakatoa renders blazingly fast in CINEMA 4D and handles particles in a way that wasn’t possible before. The plug-in was fun to develop and I’m eager to see it grow with the expertise and support of Thinkbox.” “It is great news that Thinkbox and Daniel Hennies are enabling Krakatoa for CINEMA 4D; we’ve had multiple requests for Krakatoa. This bridge is a huge win for our users and I am looking forward to great artwork rendered with Krakatoa C4D,” noted Oliver Meiseberg, Product Manager CINEMA 4D, MAXON Computer. “We’re super excited about bringing Krakatoa to CINEMA 4D and are thankful that Daniel has done the heavy lifting on integration,” said Chris Bond, founder, Thinkbox Software. ”We’re always on the look out for ways our solutions can better serve artists; extending support to additional software packages is just one of the many enhancements up our sleeve.” Visit www.thinkboxsoftware.com
The Foundry Launches NUKE 8 SOFTWARE DEVELOPER THE FOUNDRY has released the new version of its node based compositor, NUKE. NUKE 8 includes countless exciting features and updates for artists working across multiple industries. Hugo Guerra, Head of NUKE at The Mill, comments, “This update of NUKE cements it as the most powerful compositor in the market today. It doesn’t matter if you are making a film, a commercial, a TV show, game cinematics or creating an art installation, you will never be disappointed with its unique scalability and raw versatility.”
Tweak RV-SDI Delivers 4K Output with AJA and NVIDIA TWEAK SOFTWARE HAS ANNOUNCED support for AJA Video’s KONA 3G, T-TAP and Io XT, and NVIDIA’s GPUDirect for Video in RV-SDI, the advanced playback, review and image manipulation software for screening rooms and theatres. RV-SDI’s capabilities for playback, review and collaboration include support for hundreds of media formats, all standard SDI output resolutions, completely GPU-based image processing, advanced colour management and support for Windows, Mac and Linux. When combined with an AJA KONA 3G and an NVIDIA Quadro GPU, RVSDI enables 4K video output along with a range of digital cinema and video formats. RV-SDI’s universal media engine can mix multiple media types on a single timeline including different file formats, resolutions, bit depths, and colour spaces. RV-SDI delivers the benefits of a floating point, linear colour workflow with GPU-accelerated support for CDL, LUTs and shaders, and the ability to build custom colour pipelines. The new release of RV-SDI supports DCI 4K, UHD 4K, DCI 2K, HD, and more formats. It supports stereo dual stream playback, and interactivity that is demanded by top studios, VFX facilities, networks and post production houses for colour critical review and approval. “KONA 3G and Tweak’s RV-SDI together deliver a very robust and costeffective 4K and stereo output solution for screening rooms,” said Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “RV-SDI is unique in that along with a full range of support across multiple DCI and video formats, you can do real-time image processing on the GPU and hand it off for SDI output seamlessly.” “RV-SDI takes advantage of NVIDIA’s GPU Direct for Video exactly the way we intended, enabling low-latency video output from our GPUs for immediate viewing a range of resolutions on any SDI display,” said Andrew Page, Product Manager, Professional Video, NVIDIA. “RV-SDI has become a trusted solution for review and approval in the pressure cooker environment of high end VFX and animation production. We are pushing the limits of AJA SDI hardware and NVIDIA’s Quadro cards to combine SDI output of 4K, 10-bit stereo, and more with RV-SDI’s real-time colour, collaboration and review features,” said Seth Rosenthal, President, Tweak Software. Visit www.tweaksoftware.com
The list of features include the new Dope Sheet, allowing artists see and move keys around in the context of a timeline style view, a brand new Text node letting artists compose, edit and animate directly in the viewer.
NewBlueFX Supports Premiere Pro CC Enhancements
There are big updates to NUKE’s grading and colour correction tools with a new intuitive in-panel colour wheel to control hue, saturation and value as well as Scope tools to help users analyse the picture like Waveform, Vectorscope and Histogram viewers and a pixel analyser. There’s also a new Match Grade node enhancing NUKE’s grading capabilities.
FOLLOWING TWO SIGNIFICANT Adobe Premiere Pro CC enhancements, NewBlue, Inc. announced full compatibility of its entire line of 68 NewBlueFX video transitions with the newest Adobe release.
Making environment work a faster and easier process, a further update to NUKE’s Camera Tracker adds to the set solve functionality and lets artists track and solve cameras from reference stills, helping to assist object or set modelling within one integrated environment. The Model Builder now also features UV creation for even greater 3D control. Brand new 3D tools include Viewer Capture to allow users to flipbook images from the 2D and 3D Viewer, a new Edit Geo node, a Particle Cache node to speed up rendering times and the Wireframe Shader node for various visual effects and increased control over projection mapping. Overall speed and performance are also improved with the addition of OpenEXR 2.0 multi-part image read and write support, Alembic 1.5 and Planar Rendering. NUKE 8 also features a new intelligent incontext help system. Visit www.thefoundry.co.uk
Editors who update to the latest version of Adobe Creative Cloud receive two powerful new features in Adobe Premiere Pro CC that dramatically increase the speed and ease of editing with video transitions: fast drag and drop insertion and native editing in the effects tab and the ability to run transitions directly in the GPU, via OpenCL or CUDA, for real-time performance. Through technical collaboration with Adobe, the NewBlueFX team delivered transitions that fully leverage these powerful new features. “Adobe Premiere Pro CC customers want the fastest access to transitions possible. Our newest release provides the ability to work most efficiently with brilliant results. In addition, NewBlue responded quickly, bringing its rich lineup of beautiful transitions up to speed,“ said Simon Williams, director of strategic relations at Adobe. “We’re committed to providing our customers with the best options, and that includes a healthy partner ecosystem. NewBlue’s support is part of that equation.” Visit www.newbluefx.com
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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT
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THE NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA recently opened its newest collection preservation facility in Canberra.
Pic - Darren Weinert.
According to NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein, ‘The facility meets international standards for audiovisual collection storage. The layout has been designed to provide maximum flexibility with four separate vaults with separate temperature and humidity controls that can be adjusted for collections requiring from cool to cold conditions. We have also included a data storage room that will enable the added security of providing a secondary storage site for the digital collections.’ Project Managers, APP Corporation, architects Daryl Jackson Alastair Swayn Pty Ltd, IQON builders and Mott MacDonald engineers worked closely with the NFSA Senior Technical Researcher to determine the best materials and fixtures to be used in the build. This was particularly important when selecting water-proofing sealants which would not emit gasses that could damage the collection. Fast Facts + 8.48 kilometres of Australian made shelving; + International standards for audiovisual collection storage;
+ Secondary site for data storage facility for the digital collection; and
+ First collection to move will be 71 000 cans of colour film weighing approximately 81 000 kilograms;
+ Facility can withstand external temperatures of -4 to 37 degrees Celsius.
Telstra Extends Cloud with Cisco AUSTRALIAN TELCO TELSTRA HAS ANNOUNCED it will be the world-first partner to leverage Cisco’s global cloud platform to provide customers with the innovation, scale, and open standards to address more cloud requirements. Telstra will build a cloud infrastructure together with Cisco that provisions cloud and network services in realtime, providing greater speed, security and performance. Telstra also announced it will invest in Cisco Evolved Services Platform for its networking infrastructure, enabling seamless and highly secure delivery of cloud applications to customers, across the network and cloud, all the way to the branch and user desktop.
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT
+ 4 vaults designed to be individually controlled with separate temperature and humidity levels;
“Our customers will now have the choice of cloud infrastructure from global leaders, allowing them to select the cloud service to meet their requirements and scale network and cloud resources to deliver service agility, security and performance. We are excited to be developing an intelligent network enabled cloud with Cisco,” said Telstra Global Enterprise & Services, Executive Director, Cloud, Erez Yarkoni. “This world first partnership sees us move from being a provider of enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure and market-leading cloud solutions, to adding more value to our customers by helping them design the best cloud environment to suit their business." Rob Lloyd, President, Development and Sales, Cisco, said, “Cisco is honoured to expand its longstanding partnership with Telstra to deliver global cloud services that uniquely address customer requirements in a world of hybrid clouds. This first of a kind deployment, which recognises the value to customers of an open, application centric approach to hybrid cloud, reinforces Telstra’s position as an innovative and pioneering leader in the global service provider industry.” Telstra’s cloud offerings based on Cisco’s global cloud platform will be available in Australia by the end of 2014. Visit www.telstra.com
Visit http://nfsa.gov.au
Cambridge Imaging Expands MAM Solutions with Magna MEDIA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SPECIALIST Cambridge Imaging Systems, the company that has successfully been developing software for media archive management systems since 1991, is expanding into the Asia Pacific region with its partner Magna Systems and Engineering. Cambridge Imaging Systems’ archive management system, Imagen, contains a number of modules that are designed to work together in a coordinated way to reduce the manual intervention required to manage very large-scale media archives. It is possible to use Imagen as a complete media asset management system, with a customisable website for publishing online. According to Magna Systems Group Engineering Manager, Barry Pegg, “In the broadcast industry you can use Cambridge Imaging Systems’ Orbital Enterprise Video Recording tool to capture feeds from one or more IP stream encoders or DVB-IP gateways, connected to terrestrial or satellite receivers. Users can playback the buffered transport streams, edit and export the raw content. The exported files can be used in third party video editors or stored in a long term archive. The captured stream is stored without any loss of quality or EIT (Event Information Table) data, making it suitable for compliance recording. Orbital systems can be configured to manage between one to forty eight Channels for ninety days. As Orbital integrates seamlessly with Imagen, the combined system enables content owners to easily record, archive and republish TV programmes or encoded streams. EPG and subtitle information can be automatically extracted from the transport stream to create rich, searchable metadata records. This makes the Imagen/ Orbital solution ideal for content owners who wish to create an online VOD portal, a TV catch-up service, an educational resource or an online prorgramme library.” Imagen is also used so that visitors to an online archive can create comments, thereby increasing engagement and building communities of interest. Features include support for Gravatars, formatting and full moderation by administrators. Visit www.magnasys.tv
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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT
With Front Porch Digital, Costs Go Down and Productivity Goes Up at India’s TV18 by Piyush Gupta, Operations Director and Chief Technology Officer, TV18 TV18 IS A SUBSIDIARY of the Network18 Group, a media and
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With so many channels, there’s an endless onslaught of data, multiple complex workflows, and a never-ending need to fill the content pipeline. We produce or source more than 10,000 hours of content annually across the network. We used to manage all of that content in tape libraries, but after getting more and more requests to restore from the archive, it became very difficult to meet the demand. Not only that, but managing videotapes takes significant physical space, and moving content among locations requires coordination and staff time. Also, because we needed the content to be in various formats at different stages, we were using multiple resources to convert and manage all the different recording formats. The situation eventually became too complicated and inefficient, so we decided to go tapeless. As part of that process, we evaluated many archiving and media asset management (MAM) products, but most of them did not provide an endto-end solution. For example, a few products were good at managing content in digital form, but they couldn’t read or write off of the LTO library. We discovered that Front Porch Digital products could do it all — manage storage servers, store and retrieve from LTO, and handle delivery — within a system that was built especially for the unique challenges of managing video data. As a bonus, Front Porch Digital has a direct presence in India, which would make for easier, timelier support if it were needed.
station was different than the original, the entire tape had to be ingested and then transcoded before it was usable, which took precious time, especially for a news story that required nearly immediate turnaround. Now, once the content is ingested into DIVArchive, users can access it via the Internet through DIVAdirector’s Web interface from any connected computer on any platform and any major browser. They can browse and preview low-resolution footage from the archive to perform various functions such as logging. And when they find what they need, they can restore or partially restore any piece of archived content in full resolution to any channel in our group at any time to create news programs. DIVAdirector is the only MAM we use, and as of December 2013, our DIVAdirector system was managing 495,000 objects. Over time we added additional actors, additional slots, and additional workflows to accommodate new channels. Because users can preview the clips before selecting them, our production time has gone down and production quality has gone up. Recently we upgraded our DIVArchive system to support API integration at one of our facilities, which helped us push content to the archive using our in-house application. With DIVArchive and DIVAdirector, the whole process of archive and restore takes one-tenth the time that it used to take. Also, LTO technology requires one-fifth the space of conventional videotapes, and since LTO capacity is continually increasing, we save on the cost of physical space and infrastructure. The system has helped us build efficient workflows that have saved time and money for the company, and made us more competitive in the highly competitive world of 24-hour news and always-on content. Visit www.fpdigital.com
As a result, in 2007 we centralised our media archive using Front Porch Digital’s DIVArchive content storage management system and automated tape library, and installed Front Porch Digital’s DIVAdirector MAM system to be our portal into the archive. Digitising the tape library in DIVArchive proved invaluable because it made our content searchable, a fact that was especially important in our fast-paced news operations. DIVAdirector integrated directly and seamlessly into all of our existing workflows, ensuring any of the TV18 group of channels could access and repurpose any piece of content at any time, regardless of the format or workflow requirements. For example, at our Noida station, we use Avid automation for managing news operations, whereas at another center, we use ENPS and Harris. Both centers have different production formats as defined by Avid and Harris, respectively, and both archive their stories and other content on a daily basis. Because DIVAdirector manages the archived content, the entire library is accessible to both stations regardless of which one sent the content to the archive. Restore requests generated by a given station ensure that the content taken from the library gets restored in the format used by that particular station. Even our Web team, responsible for managing our news websites, has unrestricted access to the content, and DIVAdirector ensures that all of the team’s restore requests are delivered in Web format without any manual intervention with backend processes. For our non-news stations, the workflow is straightforward, with content and its metadata being stored directly in the library and made available to production or transmission centers as needed through DIVAdirector. The DIVAdirector workflow helped us enormously after we added HD to our portfolio. With DIVAdirector, we can downconvert from HD to SD with no hassle. Before using DIVArchive and DIVAdirector, we had to physically move tapes from one place to another in order for content to be available in a location other than the one that created it. If the production format at the requesting
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT
Pic - Darren Weinert.
entertainment company with interests in television, Internet, film, e-commerce, magazines, mobile content, and allied businesses. TV18 operates several news channels. TV18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels. TV18 has also forayed into the Indian factual entertainment space through A&E Networks | TV18, a joint venture between A&E Television Networks and TV18 Broadcast, and we also operate HistoryTV18.
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www.content-technology.com/radio
Nova Chooses LAWO for National DAB Router, Coles Radio PROFESSIONAL AUDIO TECHNOLOGY has announced it has configured and supplied a large LAWO NOVA17 router to NOVA Entertainment in Brisbane, formally known as DMG Radio.
Siano Launches Multi-Standard Digital Radio Receiver Chip CHIP MANUFACTURER SIANO has announced the launch of SMS2160, a new multi-standard digital radio receiver chip designed for automotive and portable/mobile consumer electronics applications. The SMS2160 is the world’s most versatile digital radio IC to support T-DMB/DAB/DAB+, DRM+, and FM Radio, including RDS/TMC. The SMS2160 is the first chip of its kind to support 2-way antenna diversity (MRC) for DRM+, T-DMB/DAB/DAB+. DRM+ (the FM mode of the all-band Digital Radio Mondiale standard) is the digital open candidate for FM band radio when FM broadcasts start phasing out. An extension of the DRM digital radio broadcasting system, DRM+ works in frequency bands over 30 MHz (Band I, II and III), delivering enhanced audio quality and multimedia broadcasts. With DRM+’s growing popularity worldwide,Siano’s SMS2160 offers users high sensitivity and mobility performance in a variety of devices. “We are excited about the prospects of a dedicated DRM+ receiver chip to potentially support India’s massive mobile device market,” said Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Consortium Chairman and President of the DRM Association. “The nationwide All India Radio (AIR) DRM Rollout Plan will support digital radio broadcasts in 23 languages and 146 dialects, covering 92% of the country and reaching 99% of the population. Making Siano’s SMS2160 receiver chip available to the national effort open to public and commercial broadcasters will open new horizons for quality mobile broadcasts all over India.”
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The SMS2160 is a highly integrated, small-size (5×5 mm) receiver chip with optional 2-way antenna diversity (MRC) and multiple frequency band support: VHF Band III (174-240 MHz), VHF Band I (47-88 MHz), VHF Band II (88-108 MHz), and L1-Band. Alon Ironi, CEO of Siano, comments, “The increased popularity of DRM+ technology translates into winning partnerships for Siano’s mobile digital TV solutions. Already having several customers such as Hirschmann Car Communication and others, we are confident that this new chip will lead the steadily growing DRM+ market.” Visit www.siano-ms.com
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The system notifies the engineer in charge should any failures occur. This was achieved via integrating the main router system with NOVA’s existing Kingfisher monitoring/paging system. To provide the engineering staff with visual system feedback, a series of custom designed VisTools screens provided switching information and level indication as well as alarm screens and general system monitoring selectors. Visit www.proaudiotechnology.com.au
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Samsung Galaxy Smart Phones Include RadioDNS Hybrid Radio THE RADIODNS ORGANISATION has announced that RadioDNS Hybrid Radio is now integrated into three Samsung Galaxy smartphones; the Galaxy Express 2 LTE, the Galaxy Core Advance, and the Galaxy Grand 2. These are the first smartphones in the world to include RadioDNS Hybrid Radio functionality as standard. RadioDNS Hybrid Radio is open technology that lets broadcast radio and the internet work together. RadioDNS is a not-for-profit international organisation, providing the RadioDNS service and support to broadcasters and device manufacturers wishing to use the technology. The project has 26 members from the United States, Europe and Australia, and over 60 supporters, with over 1900 stations currently using the technology. RadioDNS works equally across FM, DAB/DAB+ and HD Radio, and the digital radio standards used elsewhere in the world. Samsung has upgraded the experience of the integrated FM radio to add visuals, interaction and automatic switching from FM radio to internet streaming depending on the quality of the FM signal. This is a significant development for radio, opening up new opportunities for listening and interaction on the smartphone. Any radio station using the open RadioDNS standards of RadioVIS and RadioEPG will be able to provide an improved listening experience on these Galaxy smartphones, and many other devices supporting the global RadioDNS standards. Nick Piggott, the Chair of RadioDNS, said, “This is a landmark for RadioDNS Hybrid Radio, and an exceptional opportunity for radio broadcasters to connect with listeners on their smartphones using broadcast radio. I hope that many radio stations will seize this chance to show that they can make broadcast radio as interesting to use as streaming apps on the smartphone.” Visit www.radiodns.org
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After a thorough tendering process, the NOVA Entertainment engineering team, led by Sydney Chief Engineer John Pearce, decided on the LAWO router technology for the project.
Based around a redundancy fail-over design, the NOVA Entertainment engineering team, in cooperation with Professional Audio Technology’s team of engineers came up with a design that is based on intelligent logic, which not only switches over to another service should the primary service fail, but is also intelligent enough to switch back once the primary service is restored.
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The system, which consists of a LAWO NOVA17 Router with an additional DALLIS I/O frame, various LCD button panels for monitoring selection and three LAWO KSC.GPIO32 general purpose input and output panels, is being used by NOVA Entertainment for the switching of all national DAB streams. In addition to this, the new LAWO router is also being used as the main audio router for COLES Radio, which NOVA Entertainment supplies nationally.
Mr Pearce explained, “We chose the Lawo Nova17 in the end because we believed that its native features most closely matched the specific project requirements. The bang for buck was greater, local and international support was fantastic and the product line and technology was mature.”
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Nova Entertainment Standardises On-Air Playout with RCS Zetta RCS AND NOVA ENTERTAINMENT have successfully completed the roll out of their new on-air playout, automation and content management system. RCS’ Zetta digital playout software is now installed in all on-air and production studios and this state of the art, mission critical platform is responsible for all content broadcast across the group. Nova Entertainment’s Group Program Director, Paul Jackson, said, “This is cutting edge technology, allowing all of our brands to surpass the competitors in the market. RCS has worked hand in glove to understand our needs across all our brands and Zetta certainly delivers.” Zetta plays out all on air programs and distributes music, commercials and all other audio assets around the country to every Nova and smoothfm radio
stations, their digital radio brands and the multi-channel Coles Radio from a single point of ingestion. Philippe Generali, President/CEO of RCS worldwide, commented, “Nova Entertainment is energizing the Australian radio market, and RCS is proud to be a part of their success.” As part of the rollout, RCS’ GSelector4 music scheduler was also installed company wide. This integrated solution gives content directors the flexibility to schedule music for any broadcast channel from anywhere across the group. Both Zetta and GSelector4 provides the enterprise solution for network programming. Visit www.rcsworks.com
New Sonata From AEQ AEQ SONATA PROVIDES for 20 factory presets to select your station’s sonic signature in an easy and straightforward way and another 20 user presets allowing the configuration of customised settings. An automatic preset time switch is also available. This allows to automate the changing of the station’s signature sound following the different programs and styles scheduled.
+ Stereo enhancer that increases the sense of presence and ambience of the sound. + 4-band compressor with optimised settings. + Independent processing for high frequencies – independent clipper for super high frequencies.
Features include:
+ Smart final Clipper with IMD masking. Much more gain and minimum audible distortion.
+ 2-band AGC input. Loud and defined mid-, crisp, bright high- and low frequencies with a lot of depth and presence.
+ Converters for input and output L/R with a 24-bit resolution and 96 kHz sampling (256 X oversampling).
+ Dynamic enhancer for mid, low and high.
Visit www.aeq.eu
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VidiGo Puts Social Media On Air
TIEL HIGHLIGHTS FROM VIDIGO for the 2014 NAB Show include software solutions for studio automation, visual radio and bringing web content such as Skype and Social Media on air. At NAB VidiGo will present breakthrough technology for the automation of live news productions. VidiGo Studio Automation enables broadcasters to produce a newscast with just one or two operators by scripting the entire format and automating tasks. This optimises the potential of equipment and human resources. Studio Automation can easily be integrated with newsroom systems with the VidiGo Translator. With Studio Automation users can create rundowns that can be played automatically or manually. It’s a visual representation of scenes, from simple camera shots to multi layered events. Another highlight will be VidiGo Visual Radio. It connects with radio automation systems and fully integrates with the existing radio workflow. Visual Radio creates a fully automated entertaining visual radio experience
NETIA Products at NAB Show AT THE 2014 NAB SHOW, NETIA will highlight an array of new product
and engages listeners and viewers through social media. The software decides when to plays clips, interactive graphics, video effects and commercials, based on audio analysis and data from the radio automation system.
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VidiGo will also officially launch the Social Media Hub that they developed together with major German broadcaster SWR. The objective was to create a plug & play system that could be used without the need for technical staff. Together with never.no VidiGo offers a complete workflow from data management to bringing dynamic graphics on air.
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Bringing different video codecs to air in high quality can be a huge problem for broadcasters. VidiGo Toolbox can virtually bring any codec on air using VLC Media Player. Native Skype integration in VidiGo Toolbox allows users to bring Skype conversations straight to air. All functions have a separate overlay to show logos or graphics.
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New NTP Audio Synchronisation Feature from Digigram
features and functions that not only streamline the sharing of content among production sites, but also enrich the use of metadata in media asset management. The company will showcase enhancements that improve users’ multimedia production capabilities, as well as their mobile and remote production workflows. At the 2014 NAB Show, NETIA will showcase the integration of its new multiple-device interface for audiovisual media management with the company’s Radio-Assist radio automation solution via a secure crossplatform Web-based interface. This integration enables journalists and field staff to use virtually any mobile device and operating system (iOS, Windows, and Android) to gain remote access to the NETIA Radio-Assist database and subsequently search, browse, ingest, edit video and/or audio, segment the video, insert a logo or subtitle, and export and publish it on social networks.
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NETIA’s Snippet range of editing tools, available within the Radio-Assist automation solution, has been improved for iOS devices. Sharing the same look and ergonomic principles as the Snippet desktop interface, the iPhoneand iPad-compatible iSnippet tool has already given field reporters and others remote Radio-Assist audio editing capabilities on their portable devices. Now, iSnippet serves as an all-in-one solution that allows iOS device users not only to edit and index media from their mobile devices, but also to record and export ready-to-broadcast assets from the in-studio Radio-Assist database. The teleprompter module for the Radio-Assist radio automation suite gives presenters and journalists convenient visual access to news scripts on their Windows tablet displays. The module also drives the studio playout system to increase users’ remote control capabilities. The enhanced version being demonstrated at the 2014 NAB Show features a new bidirectional link between the prompter and the broadcast/playout module within RadioAssist, which in turn enables the playout system to control content directly from the prompter and vice versa. Consequently, the Windows tablet user, working either in the studio or in the field, now can start and stop audio directly from the prompter without third-party intervention. Visit www.netia.com
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DIGIGRAM HAS ANNOUNCED the release of a new Network Time Protocol (NTP) feature for the company’s IQOYA *LINK, IQOYA *LINK/LE, and IQOYA *SERV/LINK IP audio codecs. Facilitating audio synchronisation via an NTP server, this feature allows radio broadcasters to assure a seamless audio experience for on-the-go listeners receiving signals from a series of different transmitters in a multiple-frequency FM network and to resolve the audio delay caused when adjacent transmitters receive signals from different sources, such as satellite and terrestrial IP links. Installed across transmitter sites, Digigram IQOYA IP audio codecs ensure that when a radio program is transmitted using several FM transmitters in a multiple-frequency network (MFN), in which all transmitters use different frequencies, the audio delay between two contiguous transmitters remains small and constant. This prevents undesired audio effects for a person in a car listening to an FM receiver that switches from one transmitter to another. When a transmitter site receives an audio program through a terrestrial IP network and a contiguous transmitter site receives the same audio program through satellite, the IQOYA products can significantly reduce the audio delay — sometimes as long as one second — between these two transmitters. Each IQOYA unit can be upgraded via a simple firmware update to activate the optional NTP feature, which slaves the codec’s sample frequency to the clock reference given by the NTP server. The Digigram encoder can then make the associated decoder play out the audio at the same presentation time. Playback on the decoder can be delayed up to two seconds for unframed audio formats (PCM, Eapt-X) and six seconds for framed audio formats (MPEG layer 2 and 3, AAC). The smart synchronisation on the incoming IP audio stream ensures a constant delay between the decoder and the encoder. Visit www.digigram.com
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New Bridge-IT XTRA IP Codec at NAB TIELINE LAUNCHES 2014 with the release of a new cost effective, high-performance, point-to-point and multi-point stereo IP audio codec called Bridge-IT XTRA. Bridge-IT XTRA is recommended for low cost Studioto-Transmitter Links (STLs), Studio-to-Studio Links and affordable remote broadcast links. Unlike some other codecs in the same price range Bridge-IT XTRA has dual internal power supplies and supports 6 stereo multi-unicast audio streams over the public internet. You can also combine Bridge-IT XTRA with Tieline’s Report-IT Enterprise smartphone app to create a cost effective, high quality remote solution. A wide selection of broadcast algorithms is available as standard, including Tieline Music and MusicPLUS, LC-AAC, HE-AAC v.1 and v.2, AAC-LD, AAC-ELD v1 and v2, aptX Enhanced, MPEG Layer 2, G.711, G.722 and MP3 playback. It also features an SD/SDHC card slot for MP3 or linear audio backup. Without doubt, the most significant codec technology trend at the NAB Show will be the establishment of STL grade reliability over imperfect IP networks like the internet. This can be achieved using codecs capable of dual redundant IP packet streaming. Tieline’s Genie and Merlin families of IP codecs use SmartStream PLUS technology to simultaneously send redundant data streams from different Ethernet ports. This delivers seamless redundancy by switching back and forth, without loss of audio, from the nominated primary data link to the backup link if one fails and then subsequently recovers. Using IP links from two different IP network providers delivers optimal redundancy over mission critical STL connections. Rapid improvements to IP network infrastructure have led to broadcasting over the public internet becoming a new paradigm. Cost pressures and demands to improve the bottom line have also driven broadcasters away
from leased lines, ISDN and satellite IP into terrestrial IP networks for STL and audio distribution more generally. Tieline has expanded the range of distribution solutions available in the Genie Distribution IP audio codec. The new v2.8.xx firmware release supports sending and receiving 3 simultaneous multicast or multi-unicast audio stream transmissions. Tieline has announced support for up to 6 simultaneous streams of Opus encoding in Genie Distribution and Merlin PLUS IP audio codecs. Opus is the latest state of the art audio codec standardised by the Internet Engineering Task Force for interactive speech and music transmissions over the internet and a range of IP streaming applications. It has also been validated by the EBU. Many networks simultaneously connect multiple Report-IT Enterprise app users to Merlin PLUS codecs and they can now use Opus to stream 7 kHz quality mono audio at only 14.4 kbps. This is a huge advantage in regions where network bandwidth constraints exist and highly efficient encoding is required. Visit www.tieline.com
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Trackdown Mixes It Up With JBL And Crown
www.content-technology.com/audio
PAT Enters New Agreement with TAG For Audio-Technica PROFESSIONAL AUDIO TECHNOLOGY (PAT) has entered a commercial arrangement with local distributor Technical Audio Group covering the sales of Audio-Technica microphones and headphones for the broadcast and related sectors in Australia. With a wide product offering for recording, live broadcast and news gathering applications Audio-Technica is an ideal addition to the PAT portfolio. “Many of our broadcast customers, such as The OB Group and Gearhouse, already use Audio-Technica products so it made sense to strengthen our strategic alliance with TAG and A-T,” said PAT MD Patrick Salloch. “A-T products offer high quality, durability and outstanding performance for live touring, broadcast and recording studios and provide our customers a huge number of solutions at the right price.” Visit www.proaudiotechnology.com.au and www.tag.com.au
SYDNEY’S TRACKDOWN RECORDING and post studios have done and seen it all; from recording INXS in the 1980s to orchestral recording for award-winning feature films like “Happy Feet”. Across two sites, Trackdown offers audio recording and post for both music and film, and operates Australia’s largest purpose built orchestral scoring stage at its Moore Park facility. Moore Park’s capabilities were recently expanded with the addition of “Theatre One”, a 20 seat theatrette with grading, audio post, mixing and 3D screening capabilities. A partnership with Definition Films, the new room packs serious technical capabilities into a small space, which has seen it working solidly since its opening in February. Hoyts were commissioned to install a Christie Projector, Harkness Microperf Screen, Xpand 3D System and Doremi Showvault 4K DCP Server. “We finished painting in the morning and it started working in the afternoon,” said Elaine Beckett, General Manager of Trackdown. The Theatre’s first job was impressive; picture checking of visual effects for Baz Luhrmann’s blockbuster The Great Gatsby. So what does a world-class audio and post facility choose for cinema monitoring? Surprisingly, not monitors. Trackdown, with assistance from Jands’ Rod McKinnon, cleverly opted for a full cinema loudspeaker system from JBL with matching amplification and DSP from Crown. The full-scale L/C/R system features three JBL 3722-Ns, which pack impressive dual 15’ woofers plus horn into a compact cabinet. Four JBL 8340A two-way surround speakers pump out a respectable 250W (continuous) each, while a JBL 3635 single 18” sub rounds out the low end. Three Crown DSi2000 cinema power amplifiers, matched to run JBL ScreenArray loudspeakers, power the wide dynamic range needed in film. The system has had a serious workout since installation. WWI film “Forbidden Ground” was mixed in March, Camera D’Or winner Warwick Thornton’s new film “The Dark Side” has passed through, and a new concert documentary on Paul Kelly and Neil Finn was recently mixed in the space.
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“One mixer in particular was thrilled to be working in a premix space with theatre monitoring,” related Elaine. “It’s quite common to have small monitors in premix rooms. He was very impressed he got to work with theatre speakers in a premix environment before moving on to a final mix stage and finishing. What he mixed in the theatrette translated so well to the large theatre because of that.” Mixing and control duties are driven by a 24 fader Avid D-Command control surface, and The Theatre runs a ProTools HDX-2 system with a full suite of plugins. Visit www.jands.com.au
New Sonifex Distribution Amps SONIFEX HAVE ANNOUNCED two new distribution amplifiers, the RBDDA6A3 digital distribution amplifier and the RB-DA24MD24 way audio distribution amplifier. The RB-DDA6A3 digital distribution amplifier is used for distributing AES3id digital audio, repeating both the audio data and the status information of the input whilst re-normalising to standard digital audio levels. It has a single BNC AES3id audio input which is distributed to 6 BNC AES3id audio outputs. The RB-DA24MD is a 24 way audio distribution amplifier, with 2 inputs which can be individually routed to 12 outputs or mixed and routed to all 24 outputs. The inputs can be configured as either dual mono, input 1 routed to outputs 1-12 and input 2 routed to outputs 13-24, or mixed-mono, inputs 1 and 2 mixed at a pre-set level and routed to all 24 outputs. Each output is also protected against connection to both POE (power over Ethernet) and phantom power circuits. Visit www.sonifex.co.uk
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for its intelligent loudness management solution: DB6. With the new software, broadcasters are able to recall up to 16 Scene Presets by using GPI 1 and 2 together. DB6 offers a variety of ways to engage or disengage processing automatically, depending on format, level, physical inputs etc. TC Electronic says the GPI implementation of DB6 is “very extensive”, offering switching between up to 16 Scene Presets using only two of its four GPI inputs. Based on this, DB6 may be controlled during playout, or a simple preset selection panel can be designed with easy access to presets and/or emergency override. Further, it is now possible to control DB6 by multiple instances of the ICON remote, adding a new level of operational flexibility to the platform. Finally, it is also possible to copy entire User preset Banks to or from files stored on a PC or Mac. Visit www.tcgroup.tc and www.ambertech.com.au
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AUDIO, IN FOCUS VP83 & VP83F LenshopperTM Camera-Mount Condenser Microphones The VP83 and VP83F are new ultra-compact condenser microphones designed to easily capture detailed, high-denition audio with camcorders and DSLR cameras. Developed with highly directional supercardioid/lobar polar patterns, both models provide superior off-axis rejection and deliver natural audio reproduction. Additionally, each model
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utilises an integrated, custom-designed Rycote® Lyre® shock mount, exclusively developed with Rycote for robust isolation from vibration and mechanical noise. ®
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AUDIO
Avid Updates and Improves at NAMM AT THE RECENT NAMM EXHIBITION, Avid announced Sibelius 7.5 software for composers, arrangers, music publishers, students, and educators. Avid also introduced the Eleven Rack Editor, the Avid Space plugin for Pro Tools 11, as well as a Pto Tools 11 compatible version of the MDW Hi-Res Parametric EQ 5 plug-in. “With Sibelius 7.5, composers can create professional scores more quickly and deliver higher quality, inspiring content,” said Chris Gahagan, Senior Vice President of Products and Services at Avid. “Sibelius continues to provide the fastest, smartest, easiest way for professionals and students to write music for live performance, film and television, and media entertainment.” New features in Sibelius 7.5 include: + Accelerated navigation – The new Timeline window allows for a quick view of the entire structure of a score for faster editing and playback, no matter how large or complex the score; + More expressive playback – The redesigned Espressivo 2.0 feature delivers complete control over the customisation of the rhythmic feel of any individual part of the score; + Improved notation interpretation – Sibelius playback has been enhanced, providing better interpretation of notation distinctions such as tempo markings, metric emphasis, grace notes, mordents, caesuras, and breath marks; + Easy collaboration and sharing – Sibelius 7.5 enables collaboration and distribution of compositions through score sharing and social media features; + Full Scorch app integration – Sibelius scores can be exported to Avid Scorch on iPad for fully interactive playback, practice, performance, and publishing. Sibelius automatically optimises the score for iPad display. The Eleven Rack Editor provides owners of the Eleven Rack guitar system with a faster, more open workflow for creating and editing guitar tones. The no-cost application makes Eleven Rack software control available for Pro Tools 11 and third-party digital audio workstation solutions. “As the cost associated with audiences’ rising expectations for sound quality continues to grow, artists and musicians need innovative and affordable solutions to deliver higher quality, inspiring music,” said Chris Gahagan. “The release of Eleven Rack Editor fulfils our customers’ request for a standalone software editor, and allows artists and music professionals to create highquality, inspiring guitar tones with greater speed and efficiency.” Eleven Rack Editor replaces the software control window that was built into previous versions of Pro Tools, and makes it available as a standalone application. Eleven Rack owners can now upgrade to Pro Tools 11 and enjoy
64-bit performance. The Eleven Rack Editor enhances software control for artists and music professionals, allowing them to operate Eleven Rack with any digital audio workstation.
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Avid Space is a convolution reverb plug-in for Pro Tools Avid Space User Interface music and postproduction projects, available in 64-bit AAX Native, DSP, and AudioSuite formats. From large concert halls to dense plate reverbs, Space delivers the sounds of natural reverb spaces with familiar controls from high-end hardware reverb units. By combining the sampled acoustics of real reverb spaces with advanced DSP algorithms, Space offers full control of reverb parameters in mono, stereo, and surround formats.
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“Avid has already changed the game endless times with their vast array of amazing plugins including the EQ 3, Pro Limiter, Pro Compressor, and others available for Pro Tools 11,” stated Junior Sanchez, remixer for artists including Madonna, Gorillaz, Daft Punk, Shakira, and more. “Now that Space is available in the 64-bit AAX format, along with a tonne of other amazing Pro Tools plug-ins, now is the perfect time to upgrade to Pro Tools 11.”
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Avid and Massenburg DesignWorks jointly announced the MDW Hi-Res Parametric EQ 5 plug-in is now compatible with Pro Tools 11. Version 5 offers AAX Native 64 and AAX DSP 64 formats, providing the flexibility to use the EQ across the entire Pro Tools 10-based product line.
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George Massenburg, who has spent a lot of time refining this AAX 64-bit version, says, “The latest MDW EQ5-AAX DSP continues the MDW tradition of highest-quality, double-precision math, resulting in the highest measurable performance – the lowest artefacts of any commercially available digital equaliser. The MDW EQ user interface presents a finely tuned EQ human interface, with controls that reflect a deep understanding of the ergonomics of EQ control and use, and the expectations of what an engineer expects to hear when a knob is turned. MDW EQ controls are always easily readable and controls are easily settable. The MDW EQ and the MDW EQ5-AAX continue to be the standard against which all other EQ plug-ins are measured.”
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Audio-Technica Remaster M-Series Headphones
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AUDIO-TECHNICA HAS REMASTERED its M-Series professional monitor headphones, replacing the range with four renewal models: ATHM20x, M30x, M40x and M50x. Taking cues from the sound and proprietary design of A-T’s ATH-M50, the ATH-M20x, M30x and M40x deliver accurate audio and comfort. All three models feature 40mm drivers with rare earth magnets and copper-clad aluminium voice coils, as well as a circumaural design that contours around the ears for sound isolation in loud environments. The ATH-M50x (featuring 45mm drivers) has the same sonic signature as the original ATH-M50 and adds refined ear pads and three detachable cables. The M50 has been the choice of studio, mastering and live audio engineers alike. The M50x now offers improved ear pads and three detachable cables (coiled, 1.2m and 3m straight). Available in black, white and limited-edition blue with brown headband.
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The M40x also offers swivelling ear-cups for convenient one-ear monitoring if required. Engineered with pro-grade materials and robust
construction, the M40x excels in professional studio tracking and mixing, as well as DJ monitoring.
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The M20x and M30x offer a comfortable listening experience with enhanced audio and effective isolation. Both are an excellent choice for tracking and mixing but, with its fold-up design, M30x is the pick for field recording. Visit www.audio-technica.com
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TSL Releasing Major Upgrade to Touchmix TSL PRODUCTS, manufacturer of surround sound microphones and processing, audio monitoring, broadcast control systems and power management solutions, is introducing a major software upgrade for its Touchmix (AVM-T-Mix) rackmount audio mixer/ monitor system at NAB 2014 (Booth N1123).
Universal Camera Kit Versatile on-camera microphone suspension
When operated as a mixer, the Touchmix allows the user to mix and monitor any combination of 5.1, stereo and mono signals, in their native form without the need for up- or down-mixing, via two independent, multichannel mix engines. Mixer 1 (formerly stereoonly) now features a parallel 5.1 bus, whilst the secondary mixer maintains its original stereo configuration. A number of key features have been bundled as part of the mix capability including a useful combined panner/divergence control so that the engineer can direct a mono signal to any spatial position across the LCR front channels yielding more accurate production value. The 5.1 monitoring outputs can be routed to surround sound speakers via analogue or AES connections, and controlled using the onboard master volume encoder. The Touchmix’s new onboard 48 x 24 XY audio router handles mono, stereo or 5.1 SDI, AES and analogue signal sources, and gives the user complete control of source to destination routing configuration. A physical input or internal bus (mixer, monitor) can be freely assigned to any of the multichannel AES or analogue output connections. The XY router also allows the creation of different configurations for each of the 18 onboard user snapshots.
Kit includes: Windjammer, Hot Shoe Extender & Camera Clamp Adaptor.
Suitable for most camera-mounted shotgun microphones, it provides low profile slip-on wind shielding with excellent wind protection of up to 36 dB. Shock mount and suspension attaches to the hot shoe for high quality external camcorder microphones; enabling the best possible sound production quality.
Mixing and monitoring capabilities aside, the Touchmix upgrade also means that the product doubles as a 16-channel SDI source de-embedder to AES or analogue outputs and a multi-format audio cross converter with A to D/D to A functionality. Visit www.tslproducts.com
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NUGEN Audio Offering Loudness Bundles AT THIS YEAR’S NAB SHOW, NUGEN Audio will showcase its complete line of solutions for loudness compliance, now available in bundles that provide a one-stop solution and deliver a significant discount over individual product pricing. The new MultiMonitor software for loudness and true-peak monitoring will also be unveiled at the 2014 NAB Show. NUGEN Audio’s Loudness Toolkit provides everything audio engineers need to produce loudness-normalised audio intuitively that integrates into the audio production workflow. The Loudness Toolkit includes: VisLM: Visual Loudness Metering Plug-In. With detailed, objective loudness measurement, history and logging facilities, VisLM is a visual loudness monitoring tool that provides an ITU, ATSC, and EBU standardcompliance; + ISL: Inter-Sample True-Peak Limiter. ISL is an inter-sample true-peak limiter designed for controlling peak levels in audio signals from mono through to 5.1; + LM-Correct: Stand-Alone Loudness Tool. NUGEN Audio’s LM-Correct offers automatic, faster-than-real-time loudness analysis and correction; + MultiMonitor: Loudness and True-Peak Monitoring Software. Making its first NAB Show appearance, MultiMonitor is a new loudness and true-peak monitoring software application. MultiMonitor offers up to 16 individual loudness and true-peak meters in mono, stereo, and 5.1 formats for up to 96 individual audio channels. Visit www.nugenaudio.com
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The Professional Choice
for Microphone Windshields & Suspension Systems
For more information on the award winning Rycote range, Freecall: 1800 648 628, email: sales@sennheiser.com.au or visit the website: sennheiser.com.au/rycote 24/03/14 11:56 AM
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Broadcast Oz Orders Transmitters from R&S BROADCAST AUSTRALIA HAS PLACED ORDERS for High Efficiency DTV transmitters with Rohde & Schwarz as part of both the introduction of new services and a transmitter replacement program. These will be installed throughout the country and include THU9 (UHF) and the recently launched THV9 (VHF) Transmitter series in different Power classes (2.3kW - 9.2kW). Both UHF and VHF High Efficiency transmitters are using the Doherty technology which helps the Operator to reduce their operational costs. Broadcast Australia’s General Manager of Engineering, Stephen Farrugia, said,” Broadcast Australia is delighted to be partnering with Rohde & Schwarz. The performance of the new generation Tx9 High Power Transmitters from R&S will help us to improve the management of our networks.” Final deliveries, installation and commissioning will be coordinated by Broadcast Australia. “We are very pleased to work with Broadcast Australia in this project”, said Regional Manager Nils Ahrens. ”Energy Efficiency becomes a key indicator for Broadcast Transmitters and Broadcast Australia is one of many Broadcasters & Network Operators around the world relying on High Performance and efficient R&S Transmitters.” Visit: www.broadcastaustralia.com.au and www.rohde-schwarz.com.au
NewSat Jabiru Satellite Launch Schedule on Track AUSTRALIAN SATELLITE COMPANY NEWSAT has announced that Jabiru-2, the hosted payload on the MEASAT-3b satellite, has been confirmed for launch in May 2014. The satellite is to be launched from the European Spaceport in French Guiana in May 2014. It is expected the satellite will be operational within 4 – 6 weeks after the launch. Noting the approaching launch of Jabiru-2, NewSat’s Chief Commercial Officer, Scott Sprague has observed the awareness of Jabiru-2 has increased. “Now we have a launch month, the demand for Jabiru-2 capacity has intensified. A number of key prospects with requirements in and around Australia are in capacity negotiations for the targeted coverage and flexibility Jabiru-2 can provide,” he said.
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Meanwhile, the company has announced commencement of its Jabiru-1 mission analysis and Critical Design Review milestones. This included submission of the required inputs into the initial draft of the Application to Use Arianespace’s Launch Vehicle. The mission analysis kick-off meeting also involved significant interchange of technical data between Arianespace, Lockheed Martin and NewSat. Critical Design Review, the next key milestone for the Jabiru-1/MEASAT3c spacecraft, is currently underway with Lockheed Martin, the resident Jabiru engineering team in Pennsylvania, the Jabiru engineering team from Australia and MEASAT. This stage reviews the design against mission requirements and is the final analysis of spacecraft components and systems before assembly. Visit www.newsat.com
www.content-technology.com/transmission
Globecast Australia Launches CNC TV GLOBECAST AUSTRALIA LAUNCHED ‘CNC Chinese’ (Mandarin) and ‘CNC World’ (English) channels on their Direct to Home (DTH) Optus D2 platform on Saturday 1 March 2014. Part of the CNC TV platform, the Mandarin and English CNC channels give Australian viewers access to current international and Chinese news, via Xinhua News Agency’s 200+ global news reporting centres. China’s Xinhua News Network Corporation (CNC) was formed in 2009 and is now broadcast in over 70 major cities around the globe. As demand continues to grow for content from the Asian region, and with the third highest number of new migrants to Australia from China, CNC will fulfil a growing demand for the country’s news and culture. Simon Farnsworth, CEO of Globecast Australia, said, “Globecast Australia has an established history of bringing specialised content to service Australia’s increasingly multi-cultural population. We are thrilled to continue this legacy with the launch of the CNC channels.” Mr. Zou Chen Dong, CEO of CNC Holdings Limited, said, “We are one of the two state owned TV stations of China and we bring objective and up to date news around the clock to over 70 major cities around the world 24/7. We are excited to work with Globecast to deliver these contents to the Australian and New Zealand communities.” Mr. Tian Di, CEO of Xinhua Australia Satellite Station, said, “The launch of the Australian market is a strategic piece of CNC coverage and we are thrilled that our news coverage can complement the specialised content already on Globecast.” Visit www.globecast.com.au
Huawei and Optus Hit 2.3Gbps in World-First Gigasite Trial HUAWEI AND OPTUS have completed a world-first technology trial combining multiple mobile broadband technologies, hitting aggregate throughput of 2.3Gbps for a single, live network mobile site. The ‘Gigasite’ trial combined Optus’ spectrum assets across seven frequency bands and utilised a combination of 2G, 3G, and 4G (TDD-LTE and FDDLTE) technologies to produce the record-breaking download speeds. “Our Gigasite trial is about demonstrating our network of the future, and understanding the potential of Optus’ market-leading metro spectrum assets,” Andrew Smith, Optus’ Vice President of Mobile Engineering, said. “The Gigasite trial was a breakthrough in combining spectrum bands and mobile technologies to successfully hit never-seen-before aggregate download speeds,” Huawei Australia CTO, Peter Rossi, said. Optus’ large amount of spectrum capacity allowed for the unprecedented throughputs in the multi-technology trial, conducted in the field at a site in Lambton, Newcastle, NSW. The trial combined spectrum from the 700MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz, 2600MHz, and 3500MHz bands, using a total of 286.8MHz of spectrum. Optus announced in January that it had been granted trial licences for 4G in the 700MHz ‘digital dividend’ and 2600MHz bands, which were utilised in the Gigasite trial. In another first, Huawei and Optus successfully conducted Australia’s first 3500MHz TDD-LTE call in the early stages of the Gigasite trial. Visit www.huawei.com.au
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Telestream Announces Availability of HEVC Transcoding TELESTREAM, A PROVIDER OF video transcoding and workflow solutions, is now shipping HEVC encoding within its Vantage Transcode Multiscreen product. This is the first commercial product to leverage the x265 encoding technology, which was developed by an open source community to create a highly optimised HEVC H.265 codec. HEVC offers the promise of higher frame rates and lower bit rates, doubling the compression compared to AVC/H.264, and enabling next-generation Ultra HD 4K video services. “We’re excited about the addition of x265-based HEVC encoding,” said Paul Turner, vice president of enterprise product management at Telestream. “We had great success in the past with the x264 project, both by contributing OpenCL-based optimisations to the project, and by including a commercially-licensed implementation in our commercial offerings. The x265 project builds on that robust codebase. The consolidated expertise of the open source community ensures that the new codec is as robust, efficient and high quality as its predecessor.” Telestream is a co-founder of the x265 project, which utilises the work of a global community of experts from universities and labs that span the world to bring their creativity and knowledge to bear on the challenge of creating the best H.265 HEVC encoding technology. “The x265 project is achieving fantastic quality and performance, and we are excited to see it going into production with Telestream’s Vantage Transcode Multiscreen product,” said Curtis Davis, Chief Operating Officer of MulticoreWare. “We are seeing very strong adoption from leading content producers and video services. Telestream’s leadership in this project has helped us to create an HEVC encoder that is second to none.” Vantage Transcode Multiscreen is a complete video transcoding, packaging and workflow automation solution that includes x265 and x264/H.264 encoding to provide pristine image quality and compelling bit-rate efficiency. Vantage Transcode Multiscreen software runs on the Telestream Lightspeed Server to enable blazing-fast video processing and acceleration across multiple GPUs and CPU cores. Visit www.telestream.net
Etere Adds OTT Delivery to Broadcast Management Suite
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ETERE RECENTLY ANNOUNCED that OTT delivery capability has been added to its suite of broadcast management solutions. Etere’s solution allows you to export your content to OTT platform providers meeting all contract terms and media formatting requirements while ensuring the protection of premium assets. The integration between Etere OTT delivery and other Etere modules such as Workflow, Automation and MAM creates a high-level business architecture able to maximise revenue generation and efficiently deliver your content to the OTT marketplace and the video service providers available on it. The OTT Delivery solution has been powered with workflow technology to provide automated and accurate transfer and transcoding capabilities that will allow you to make your media suitable to the requirements of any OTT video delivery platform. OTT Delivery can be seamlessly integrated with your existing broadcast workflows to easily expand your multi-platform product offerings. Etere OTT delivery enables content providers to get a quick and easy way to manage and monitor delivery of content through the use of highly-detailed delivery orders empowered with the following features: + Facilitated order compilation and multi-change capabilities + Easy duplication of orders to extend platforms + Multi-platform delivery of assets through different orders + Automatic workflow preparation and export of files Visit www.etere.eu
Aspera’s fasp transport technology was created to overcome the bottlenecks of traditional transport protocols in moving large data over the wide area network. Aspera fasp has no theoretical throughput limit, and is practically constrained by the available network bandwidth and the hardware resources at both ends of the transfers.
The initial research work between the two companies used the novel Intel Data Direct I/O Technology (Intel DDIO) and Single-Root I/O Virtualisation (SR-IOV) resulting in 10 Gbps transfers, 300% improvement versus a baseline system, and similar results across both LAN and WAN environments, and across both physical and virtual environments.
The Intel DPDK provides Intel architecture-optimised libraries that allow developers to focus on their application. Designed to accelerate packet processing performance, the Intel DPDK contains a growing number of libraries including memory and buffer management, queue/ring functions, flow classification, and NIC poll mode library.
Phase II of the research focused on an experimental integration between Aspera fasp and Intel Data Plane Development Kit (Intel DPDK), which makes it possible to directly access the network interface controller, bypassing the kernel networking stack. Using Intel DPDK, Aspera was able to boost single-stream data transfer speeds to 40 Gbps.
The Intel DPDK provides non-GPL source code libraries to support exceptional data plane performance and ease software development, while minimising development time. It offers a simple software programming model that scales from Intel Atom to the latest Intel Xeon processors, providing flexible system configurations to meet any customer requirements for performance and scalable I/O.
+ Maximising packet throughput by minimising traditional CPU, memory, and I/O bottlenecks;
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+ Bypassing the kernel networking stack by reading data directly from storage into designated memory; + Eliminating the per-packet processing bottleneck of using a socketbased interface; + Reducing the number of memory copies needed to send and receive packets.
The research results confirmed Aspera fasp can leverage modern computer, network and disk I/O architectures and development kits that enable low-latency, high-speed throughput. Details about the tests including full results from the first phase research are published in a whitepaper developed by Aspera and Intel available here. Details about the latest tests using Intel DPDK are published in a whitepaper developed by Aspera and Intel available here. Visit www.asperasoft.com
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Key benefits of the fasp prototype using Intel DPDK include:
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Aspera Labs Uses Intel DPDK to Deliver Superior Transfer Speeds ASPERA, INC. HAS ANNOUNCED the results of a research project that
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TRANSMISSION
Artel Simplifies Media Transport AT THE 2014 NAB SHOW, Artel Video Systems will demonstrate its comprehensive solution for transporting broadcast-quality media across fiber, IP networks, and optical backbones using the DigiLink media transport platform. DigiLink is compact, flexible, and simple to install and support. At the 2014 NAB Show, along with offering a complete set of solutions for transporting video and Ethernet across fiber and optical networks, Artel’s DigiLink will also support HD-SDI, SD-SDI, DVB-ASI over IP networks using industry standard SMPTE 2022 Encapsulation and Forward Error Correction. With its low latency and cost effectiveness, JPEG2000 is rapidly becoming the industry standard compression format for transporting HD-SDI over
bandwidth-limited network infrastructures. At the 2014 NAB Show, Artel will demonstrate its cost-effective and easy-to-deploy JPEG2000 compression solution for compressing HD-SDI into ASI. Artel will be showcasing DigiLink’s innovative integrated signal routing capabilities. The ability to route video and Ethernet signals simply, reliably, and in real time within the DigiLink chassis eliminates the need for external video routers and Ethernet switches. By routing the media in its native format, as DigiLink does, operators not only eliminate unnecessary cost and complexities, but can also enhance reliability and quality of service. Visit www.artel.com
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WORK Improves on Signal Distribution AT NAB 2014, WORK Microwave will be exhibiting significant enhancements to its DVB-S2 Broadcast Modulator, Video ACM System, and Fifth-Generation Frequency Converter Series. Powered by a combination of video and IP technologies, WORK Microwave’s DVB-S2 Broadcast Modulator provides operators with the ideal solution for IP network links and TV contribution. Through an advanced feature set, the modulators help operators get the most out of expensive satellite bandwidth, optimise data transport, and dramatically improve satellite signal quality. Innovative features include DVB-S2 multistream, TSoIP, wideband (up to 80Mbaud), and carrier ID. The DVB-S2 Broadcast Modulator’s most recent improvement - carrier ID support - defines the modulation, channel coding, and signaling protocol intended for the identification of the host carrier. A key highlight at the NAB Show will be WORK Microwave’s Video ACM System, an integrated data/video (DaVid) modem and encoding solution for
enhanced video contribution. Combining WORK Microwave’s DVB-S2 Modem SK-DV and the EN-91 MPEG-4 HD ultra-low delay encoder from Adtec Digital, Video ACM automatically improves an operator’s satellite link budget, enhancing video quality and reducing operational expenses. The Video ACM solution can transport multiple MPEG transport streams up to six - and IP data into a DVB-S2 multistream, enabling simultaneous transportation of data (network connection) and live broadcasting (video content) over a single satellite carrier. During a live, interactive demonstration at the booth, visitors can see interoperability between the DVB-S2 Modem SK-DV and Adtec Digital’s EN-91 encoder. At the 2014 NAB Show, WORK Microwave will also demonstrate Ka-band support for uplink and downlink services, superior phase noise, and adjustable slope compensation for its Fixed Frequency Block Converter line. Visit www.work-microwave.de
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Ideal Systems Launches SoftCast Technologies IDEAL SYSTEMS GROUP HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of SoftCast Technologies, the world’s first suite of downloadable solutions for broadcast television operators. The SoftCast range is a comprehensive suite of software products for operating and managing broadcast television channels. In an industry first, Ideal Systems is making the new SoftCast range of products available for broadcasters to purchase and download online through its new online store, www.Ideal-Direct.com. Ideal Systems’ broadcast engineers and growing network of offices, which currently includes locations in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia, will support SoftCast. The new SoftCast range of products includes modules for channel in a box; traditional automation; hybrid automation; content ingest; content playout in HD-SDI and IP; CG graphics; media asset management; newsroom computer system; live feed edit and censorship; broadcast schedule planning (traffic); and broadcast ad sales and contract management. The SoftCast modules can be used as standalone solutions or natively connected to provide an end-to-end broadcast system. SoftCast modules can be delivered internationally over the Internet and are optimised to run on standard Dell computers that can be obtained locally in the user country. The ability to use standard equipment removes any difficult import regulations that many countries impose on broadcast equipment. SoftCast is already available in multiple languages including English, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese, and will be localised into more languages as required. “This is the first time this type of product has been sold and delivered on the Internet, and it’s very exciting that Ideal Systems is pioneering this new delivery method and customer engagement paradigm,” said Fintan McKiernan, Ideal Systems’ spokesman for SoftCast. “This is also the first time that all of Ideal Systems Group offices will be supporting a common product set. At each of our offices, we will provide a high level of support with trained SoftCast engineers and production equipment for demonstrations, trials, and proof-of-concept work.” Visit www.idealsys.com
New Modular Units from Elber CLEBER FROM ELBER offers a flexible and modular hardware and software platform for broadcasting and contribution networks, where customers can install up to six boards with no limitations in terms of position. Based on a Linux embedded OS, the CLEBER detects the presence of the boards and shows the related control interface to the user, either through web GUI and touchscreen TFT display. Two power sources (AC and DC) are always available. For the DC source, users can chose between 22-65 VDC or 10-36 VDC for site or DSNG applications. CLEBER can host any combination of boards, particular applications and use cases can be considered and described separately. CLEBER is the control unit for Elber’s new portable link XPM. In case of transmitter control unit, the chassis is equipped with digital modulator (DVB-S/S2 and DVB-T), up-converter and, if needed, one or more encoders HD/ SD (MPEG-2 or H-264) while in case of receiver control unit it hosts a digital demodulator, down-converter and decoders. Multiple E1 and SMPTE-310 signals are now supported with several features like distribution, switching and multiplexing. The REBLE610, like its predecessor, contains two hot swappable power supplies – both AC and DC versions are available. From an RF point of view the new transmission circuitry is able to guarantee at least 1 watt at the head with every modulation scheme, introducing in addition, wideband precorrection (up to 1GHz depending on frequency band). Major innovations on the digital input side include two data interface boards. One is equipped with 10 ASI/BTS ports on BNC connector, configurable as inputs or outputs, so that it is possible to include the ASI distribution and ASI matrix capabilities in the same equipment – it also provides a GbE port for IP traffic, a 2048 Kbit/S E1 data channel (as an alternative to 2 ASI/BTS ports), and a ‘transit’ connection (not to waste coaxial connectors). The second one is equipped with 5 DVB-ASI/BTS/ SMPTE-310 ports (in or out) and 5 E1 channels. To transfer all these signals the channel capacity has been increased to 56MHz and bit-rate equal to 310Mbit/s; using an optional XPIC module (and an extra REBLE610) it is possible to duplicate the bitrate increasing it to 610MBit/s, exploiting H and V polarisations and cancelling undesired content. Visit www.elber.it
Thomson and MStar Reveal 4K OTT Delivery AT THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW (CES) in Las Vegas recently, Thomson Video Networks and MStar Semiconductor demonstrated advanced delivery of over-the-top (OTT) content to connected TVs via the emerging High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. The demonstration highlighted the interoperability of Thomson Video Networks’ ViBE VS7000 multi-screen encoding/transcoding platform with MStar’s 4K system-on-a-chip (SoC), which provides native HEVC decoding in next-generation connected television sets.
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“As the worldwide market leader in controller SoCs for TV sets, MStar is the ideal partner with which to showcase a full 4K OTT broadcast chain based on the HEVC standard,” said Christophe Delahousse, president, Thomson Video Networks. “By collaborating with leading consumer technology providers like MStar, we’re able to show how perfectly our ViBE VS7000 HEVC video system facilitates end-to-end OTT delivery from headend to user device via emerging standards such as Hbbtv 2.0 and MPEG-DASH.”
H264/AVC, HEVC is rapidly becoming the standard for customers to deliver the most advanced HD and Ultra HD video offerings to any type of device, including connected TVs and advanced set-top-boxes,” said Phillippe Notton, Vice President, SetTop-Box Business Unit, MStar Semiconductor.
MStar’s latest SoC is designed for high-end connected TV sets, and is currently being embedded in the products of major consumer display manufacturers to enable decoding of HEVC content streams in resolutions up to Ultra HD.
“As one of the first worldwide implementations of HEVC, Thomson Video Networks’ ViBE VS7000 is a best-of-breed solution for encoding OTT content at the headend that can be displayed on the most advanced connected TVs. We’re excited to work with Thomson Video Networks on this demonstration, and look forward to the unveiling during CES.”
“Like previous waves of encoding technologies such as MPEG2 and
Visit www.mstarsemi.com and www.thomson-networks.com
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August 5-7 Novotel Manly Pacific Hotel www.abeshow.tv
June 16 Singapore
Co./Last Name......................Page AJA...................................................... 3 Amber Technology................13, 19 ARRI................................................ IBC Avid Technology...........................39 Blackmagic Design......................... 5 Brightcove.......................................35
Broadcast Asia...............................63 Digital Rapids................................45 Elemental Technologies............IFC Fuji Film....................................60-62 Grass Valley APAC.........................23 Harris Broadcast/Imagination/ GatesAir....................................... OBC Jands................................................51
BIRTV
June 17-20
August 27-30 China International Exhibition Center, Beijing www.birtv.com
Lawo.................................................33 Lumina Broadcast Systems........55 Magna Systems & Engineering...11 OB Group.........................................59 On Air Solutions.....................49, 57 Professional Audio Technology..............................17, 47 Quinto Communications.............. 9
JVC Professional...........................29 Riedel Communications.............31 Rohde & Schwarz.........................41 Ross Video Asia.............................37 Sennheiser Australia....... 7, 15, 53 Sony Australia.........................21, 27 Studiotech........................................ 4 Techtel.............................................14
BROADCASTASIA2014
Advertiser Index
ABE 2014 – AUSTRALIAN BROADCAST EXHIBITION
Save the date!
ABE2014 Australian Broadcast Exhibition
exhibition
featuring the latest in digital broadcast & production technology
Tuesday 5 – Thursday 7, August 2014 Novotel Manly Pacific Hotel www.abeshow.tv
CLASSIFIEDS
SI o
April 5 – 10 Las Vegas Convention Centre www.nabshow.com
CASBAA SATELLITE INDUSTRY FORUM 2014
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Marina Bay Sands, Singapore www.broadcast-asia.com
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TIME shifter War’s Final Score? In a novel twist on the concept of repurposing content, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), in association with the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), is offering young composers (aged 18–26) the opportunity to create a soundtrack for a five-minute clip of a silent film of Australia’s first naval battle in the First World War. THE EXPLOITS OF THE EMDEN is a 1928 silent Australian film about the Battle of Cocos; the World War I naval battle between Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and German cruiser SMS Emden. A product of repurposing itself, it consists of footage from a 1926 German film, Unsere Emden, with additional sequences shot by Australia’s first Oscar winner, director Ken G. Hall. Only part of the film, which helped launch Hall as a director, survives today. In the Exploits of the Emden, a German officer in China prior to the outbreak of World War I sends for his wife to join him. When war is declared, he is assigned to the Emden. He is reunited with his wife when the Emden takes aboard passengers from the Diplomat in the Indian Ocean. The Emden fights the Sydney and is destroyed but the German officer survives.
of fire in the first great global conflict of modern times – the Great War of 1914 to 1918. The exhibition tells the history of the RAN through the voices of those who were there and the images and objects that have survived to this day.
The movie was made with the co-operation of the Royal Australian Navy, who allowed Hall to shoot footage on the real HMAS Sydney while it was training off Jervis Bay. Technical advice was provided by a signaller from the battle.
One of the most significant stories in the exhibition is the battle between HMAS Sydney and the German raider SMS Emden. This was the first great naval engagement of Australia’s new navy and it not only ended the amazing exploits of the Emden that had been raiding the Indian Ocean seemingly at will, but was celebrated with great gusto by Australians as their first victory in the war.
The winning entry of the competition for the new soundtrack will be included in the exhibition Test of War – Royal Australian Navy in WW1 at the ANMM in 2014. The exhibition is scheduled to travel to regional and metropolitan museums around Australia from June 2015 until late 2018. Entrants will compete for the winning prize of a Toshiba Tablet. Test of War – Royal Australian Navy in WW1 traces the history of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from its genesis after Federation in 1901, its formation in 1913, and its immediate baptism
The battle became the subject of books, posters and all manner of celebratory ephemera – including the film which is in the NFSA national audiovisual collection. You can view the film fragment at http://www. nfsa.gov.au/whats-on/test-of-war/
TIME SHIFTER
The Australian rights to Unsere Emden were bought by First National Pictures, but when the film arrived in 1927, the company was worried about the casting of Germans to play Australians. John Jones, the managing director of First
National, assigned his then publicity director, Ken G. Hall, with the task of shooting additional scenes. At this stage of Hall’s career, his only experience in handling film came with re-editing movies to meet the requirements of Australian censorship.
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FOUR YOUR CONSIDERATION Two new lightweight zooms expand the ARRI/FUJINON Alura series The new Alura 15.5-45/T2.8 and Alura 30-80/T2.8 zooms are compact and lightweight: perfect for handheld, Steadicam and 3D rigs. They are compatible with the ARRI Lens Data System, deliver outstanding optical performance and, like the original two Alura Zooms, match all other ARRI prime and zoom lenses.
. Visit the ARRI booth at IBC: Hall 11.F21
g www.arri.com
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