Content+Technology ANZ Sept Oct 2013

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PP: 255003/06831

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013

MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY

www.content-technology.com

OVER-THE-TOP

ACQUISITION

SPORTSCASTING

THE THIRD DIMENSION

ISSN 1448-9554

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VOLUME 10 ISSUE 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013

Also see C+T in PDF at www.content-technology.com

Cover Story – Foxtel Makes The Switch to OTT

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EDITOR’S WELCOME NEWS Telstra Testing 4K, Montesin Moves to Miller, Fox Studios CEO Leaves, Quinto Gets Moody

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CLASSIFIEDS AND EVENTS INDUSTRY FOCUS TIME SHIFTER Whoozat!: Behind the Scenes of World Series Cricket

TAKING STOCK Techtel Consolidates AsiaPac Operations, Gencom Strengthens Focus with Broadcast One, Sennheiser Purchases Syntec

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FEATURES 18 27

IBC REVIEW Conference Review ACQUISITION Shooting with the Sony F55, Atomos Samurai Blade, Tripods and Tornadoes

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CONNECTED MEDIA Foxtel Makes The Switch to OTT

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AUDIO Soundfirm Launches Dolby Atmos Facility, Draft Standard for Streaming Audio-Over-IP, 3D Audio Standard

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SPORTSCASTING Gearhouse Purchases Canon Lenses in Bulk, Glasgow 2014 Diaries Part 4

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NEWS OPERATIONS ABC Trials News Aggregation for Mobiles, Nine News Goes Mobile with Dejero

RADIO DAB+ Trial Extended in Canberra and Darwin, World’s Biggest Short-Wave Upgrade in Taiwan

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TRANSMISSION The Future of Broadcast

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POST-PRODUCTION Cutting Edge’s New

Control Rooms, Jabiru Satellite Funding Finalised

Facility, Mistika 3D Finishing of Gatsby, Aussie VFX on The Wolverine

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Asset Management Gold for DAMsmart, Nine Installs Third SGL FlashNet

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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.

16/09/13 10:42 AM

EDITOR’S WELCOME

Over-the-Top – Friend, Not Foe?

By Phil Sandberg

UP UNTIL RECENTLY, the discussion around OTT/IPTV technology has been framed in terms of its potential to disrupt and undermine the traditional business of broadcast, but what if its powers could be “harnessed for good, not evil”?

After all, OTT is just another method of delivering content to those who want to consume it and there are plenty of examples of incumbent operators adopting disruptive technologies to further their own ends.

As featured in our cover story, Australia’s dominant pay TV provider, Foxtel, has launched a new OTT service under the brand of Foxtel Play.

Seemingly at odds with its core cable/satellite business, the new internet TV service will be delivered initially to compatible Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox 360 consoles, and PC and Mac computers. The service enables customers with a broadband connection to watch programs live or on catch-up with no lock-in contract and no installation costs.

In a move which not only addresses the growth in delivery platforms available, but also recognises that not all consumers are in a position to sign up for the traditional fixed cable/satellite installation, Foxtel Play offers customers access to content as soon as they sign up and enables them to subscribe by the month and pay as they go. Subscribers can stop and start their subscription month-to-month, to suit their circumstances or viewing choices.

Foxtel Play subscribers will also have access to the Foxtel Go service, launched as a smartphone/tablet extension service for existing set-top box subscribers.

According to Richard Freudenstein, Foxtel Chief Executive, “Foxtel Play gives even more Australians who might not be able to access the core service the freedom and flexibility to enjoy Foxtel across multiple connected devices and at price points to suit different budgets and tastes.”

If you subscribe to the philosophy that 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing, Foxtel’s OTT strategy makes a lot of sense, especially as its traditional “fixed” installation take-up rate sits around 30% of households – high by global standards – and any further increase in this rate is likely to be

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incremental. If one compares the ROI in making these incremental gains with that of delivering content via OTT to paying subscribers not interested in the traditional set-top model, it’s a pretty compelling argument for co-opting disruptive technology. Visit foxtelplay.com.au Also employing disruptive technology, GlobeCast recently announced the launch of an over-the top “Incubator Platform” for Asia designed to help new channels gain visibility and secure carriage agreements with Asian Pay TV platforms.

Available on iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, the OTT platform will eliminate the need for such broadcasters to make costly investments in regional playout and satellite distribution before gaining carriage agreements in Asia — an investment that is not sustainable for many niche mid-tier channels.

According to GlobeCast, broadcasters can get their live channels evaluated

by Asian Pay TV operators at a fraction of the cost, giving them a low-risk way to evaluate their prospects in Asia and secure regional carriage deals. Where GlobeCast hopes to benefit is by offering those who have successfully obtained carriage an upgrade in distribution to one of GlobeCast’s existing satellite platforms in Asia. GlobeCast runs satellite platforms on Measat 3a, Apstar 7, and AsiaSat 3S from its teleports in Hong Kong and from the brandnew teleport facility in Singapore.

This is a smart example of turning a potential threat (Internet carriage) into an asset for an existing business model (satellite delivery). Visit www.globecast.com Thanks for Reading Phil Sandberg Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com T: +61-(0)2-9211 8205

2013 C+T DEADLINES

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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013 VOL 10 ISSUE 6

‘ASIAPAC’

Bookings: 21-10-2013 Editorial Submissions: 24-10-2013 ASIA EDITION OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2013 VOL 1 ISSUE 6

EDITOR’S WELCOME

ASIA

Bookings: 30-09-2013 Editorial Submissions: 03-10-2013

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FOR MORE INFORMATION www.content-technology.com +61-(0)2-9211 8205 or +61-(0)414 671 811 Email: papers@broadcastpapers.com Sales enquiries: papers@broadcastpapers.com +61-(0)2 9211 8205

The C+T (Time) Zone.

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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com

Election 2013: Videocraft Supports Seven in Crucial Seats THE RECENT AUSTRALIAN Federal Election

These were set up to manage incoming feeds

saw Videocraft bolster Seven’s coverage of polling with the supply of equipment to handle contributions from the network’s small army of reporters.

from over 50 SNG crews covering various in-

According to NSW State Manager Andy Liell, Seven gave its ‘preferences’ to Videocraft after the network’s incumbent supplier dropped out of the race before polling day.

Seven added three production hubs to its master control facility at Sydney’s Martin Place.

door and outdoor venues from across Australia.

The hubs included technical, audio and video monitoring, a Ross NK72MD router system, comms panels, and EVS XT3 server which was used to buffer incoming feeds and for editing of highlights packages. Videocraft also supplied extra studio cameras for the event.

Visit www.videocraft.com.au

Telstra DVN2 Trials Ultra HD/4K Transmission PUSHING THE ENVELOPE on its DVN2 network, Telstra has undertaken proof of concept trials of Ultra HD/4K transmission. Held in July of this year, the transmissions involved the Telstra Digital Video Network (DVN2), Sony’s PMW-F55 4K camera, Medialinks’ MD8400 video transmission platform, and a “major Australian Broadcast Group”.

Media & Entertainment at Telstra, “It wasn’t elegant content, but it did prove the network was capable of carrying the transport streams.”

The group first trialled the “stitching” together of pre-recorded 4 x 1.5Gb/s native HD transport streams into a 6Gb/s stream which was then transmitted studio-to-studio.

Sansome says the network configuration would potentially allow for live switching of coverage to take place at the studio, rather than the event venue.

According to Phil Sansome of Industry Services-

Commenting on the capabilities of the DVN2, Sansome said, “If client A wants all native HD TX feeds from the MCG back to their studio with one HD stream back and a Gig of data, that’s what the network is configured to do.”

Live trials of the network are scheduled for October.

NSW Parliament Chooses TeleDelta HDS from AVW Broadcast AVW BROADCAST (Sydney) has announced the successful deployment of TeleDelta HDS Platform for NSW State Parliament, moving the facility from an aging Analogue TV to Digital distribution network.

AVW Broadcast provides Australian engineering solutions in the field of DVB-T, IPTV, OTT, streaming and Broadcast Media, with proven deployments in Government, Education, Medical, Enterprise and the Hospitality Sector.

The TeleDelta HDS platforms deployed into NSW Parliament provided a mixture of HD and SD channel distribution, integrating in-house channels along with FTA and other digital services whilst using a combination of Broadcast and Professional formats (SDI and HDMI). The TeleDelta HDS platform will provide a cost-effective upgrade path as more content is shifted from SD to HD formats in the future. The TeleDelta HDS hardware platforms provide a range of solutions for Broadcast, IPTV, DVB-T, Streaming, OTT and Distribution applications. The powerful HDS3600 series can be configured to offer functionality including: MPEG2/4 HD/SD Encoding and Decoding, DVB-T/S/S2/C Receiving, Decryption Scrambling, DVB-T COFDM output, IPTV, OTT Input/output, ASI Input/ output.

Visit www.avwbroadcast.com.au

Studiotech Australia is proud to continue to Sell, Integrate and Support the complete range of Evertz Solutions and Products AUSTRALIA Pty Ltd

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NEWS + PEOPLE

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NEWS + PEOPLE

ASIA NEWS CHINA SNELL HAS ANNOUNCED that China’s Jilin Television (JLTV) has installed Kahuna SD/HD multi-format production switchers in a brandnew 16-channel HD outside broadcasting (OB) van and in a new electronic field production (EFP) system. Supplied by systems integrator Beijing Xingguang Sanitec Science & Technology Co., Ltd., JLTV has complemented its new Kahuna systems with a Kudos Plus TBS800 SD/HD/3Gbps format converter.

Visit www.snellgroup.com

PAKISTAN THE NEW CENTAURUS CINEPLEX has opened its doors, outfitted with multiple high-lumen DCS Digital Cinema Solutions from Kinoton. High-end D-Cinema projection solutions have been installed in all five of its auditoriums. Throughout the multiplex, programs are controlled and managed by Kinoton’s Theater Management System (TMS).

All of the connected systems can also be remotely maintained and monitored via the Kinoton Remote System (KRS).

Visit www.kinoton.com

INDIA NETHERLAND-BASED Exset B.V. and Indian cable operator Darsh Cable have entered into an agreement, which will see the companies provide the Exset’s Digital Monetisation System (DMS) platform to Darsh Cable’s customer base. Exset B.V. will be responsible for providing DMS CAS and Middleware to Darsh Cable for its digital cable platform.

Visit www.exset.com and www.darshdigital.com

THAILAND SES HAS ANNOUNCED that Thailand’s IPMTV has broadened its partnership with SES. The broadcaster has contracted additional capacity on SES-8 and has renewed its multiyear capacity deal on NSS-6. SES-8 is expected to be launched later in 2013 and will be co-located with NSS-6 at the prime orbital location of 95 degrees East.

Visit www.ses.com

MALAYSIA

NEWS + PEOPLE

ON THE VERGE OF launching its nextgeneration satellite constellation, O3b Networks has announced a major long-term capacity deal, providing fibre equivalent capacity to Malaysian telecoms provider Maju Nusa. The multi-million dollar, multiyear deal, will allow Maju Nusa to deploy mobile data services significantly further into mobile operators’ networks, reaching rural communities in Malaysia where there is little or no access to broadband.

SINGAPORE

AU

INTERRA SYSTEMS, a leader in Content QC and Monitoring, has announced that Baton is delivering File-based QC at GlobeCast Asia. Baton is chosen for the quality check of content at multiple points within the production and transmission chain in GlobeCast Asia’s new digital broadcast facility at Mediapolis@one north in Singapore.

Visit www.interrasystems.com and www.globecast.com

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SES HAS ANNOUNCED a new multi-year, multi-transponder deal with one of its largest customers in the Philippines, MediaScape Inc, on SES-7 at 108.2 degrees East. The new capacity expansion will allow MediaScape, through Cignal Digital TV – its Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television service provider – to further expand its services for the provision of DTH satellite TV in the Philippines.

Visit www.ses.com

INDONESIA VIACCESS-ORCA has announced that Indonesian satellite TV provider PT. Global Comm Nusantara (GCN) has selected its Smartcard Conditional Access System (CAS) to support an upcoming interactive satellitebased DTH service called “neotv.” Using Viaccess-Orca’s CAS, GCN will have the ability to deliver educational and cultural content to subscribers.

AUSTRALIA JULY 31 SAW DARWIN, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, become that country’s twelfth region to switch to digital-only free-to-air TV, when analogue TV signals were permanently switched off at 9 am. Sydney is next in line switching on 3 December 2013, Melbourne and Remote and Central Eastern Australia will follow on 10 December 2013, to complete the roll out.

Visit www.digitalready.gov.au

NEW ZEALAND XYTECH, a leader in facility management software for the broadcast and media services industries, announced that Avalon Studios has chosen the company’s Media Pulse Express solution to support its studio production operations. MediaPulse Express helps the busy studio manage its varied facilities, as well as staff, resources, and back office operations.

Visit www.xytechsystems.com

NEWS + PEOPLE

QC

PHILIPPINES

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Auckland Upgrade for TVNZ Following Land Sale TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND (TVNZ), New Zealand’s national television broadcaster and digital media company, has taken the opportunity to refurbish its central Auckland facility in parallel with a two-year investment project to upgrade its online technology, following the Board’s decision to sell a second package of land and buildings to hotel and casino operator, SKYCITY Entertainment Group, for NZ$10.6 million.

In response to rapid growth in TVNZ Ondemand and ONE News online video streams, TVNZ has decided to fast-track investment in technology to fully integrate systems that will support the automated delivery of video content to all its on-air and online platforms.

At the same time, SKYCITY’s purchase of TVNZ land and buildings has triggered the opportunity to consolidate its Auckland staff into one building and redesign its central Auckland facility into an open, flexible workspace – transforming business culture in tandem with technology.

TVNZ reached agreement with shareholding Ministers to dividend relief, net of proceeds from the sale to SKYCITY, to cover the costs of refurbishing its main building at 100 Victoria St West.

The building transformation project will begin during the coming summer. During the natural break in television programme production over Christmas and New Year, up to 500 people will be moved into temporary leased accommodation in the Telecom building in Victoria St West – just 200 metres down the road from TVNZ. CEO Kevin Kenrick says the one-off circumstance of a willing buyer of land and buildings plus vacant office space within walking distance of TVNZ’s main building has created a unique opportunity too good to ignore.

“This is a great result for TVNZ. Right from the outset our Board made it clear that they would only consider the sale of land and buildings if it were in the best interests of the business. As it happens, the benefits will be significant.

“We are currently in a pre-internet building with the limitations typical of office designs of that age, and we were facing the need for significant repair and maintenance work before very long. The decision to invest heavily in upgrading our online technology had already been made. So to have the opportunity to integrate the new technology into a purpose-designed new workspace will be a gamechanger for us.”

Mr Kenrick said the redesign and refurbishment of TVNZ’s primary building would create the extra space required to accommodate those people currently housed in the buildings now sold to SKYCITY.

NEWS + PEOPLE

While the majority of staff will move to temporary accommodation for up to two years, TVNZ’s News and Current affairs and core technology support staff will remain at their current base in the main building to ensure business continuity.

The announcement follows the closure of TVNZ youth channel, TVNZ U, on August 31, after two years of running at a loss, and the launch a time-shifted version of TV2, called TV2+1.

Visit www.tvnz.co.nz

TVNZ Enhances Freeview Platform with SeaChange TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND (TVNZ) has deployed linear broadcast software from SeaChange International to streamline the creation and delivery of television content schedules for its Freeview broadcast partners across the country. Specifically, the SeaChange CASIS and STAGIS solutions are enabling TVNZ to aggregate, schedule and generate Digital Video Broadcasting-Service Information (DVB-SI) tables including event information tables for electronic programming guides (EPGs).

TVNZ and its Freeview partners operate a number of national and local channels that are broadcast on the national free-to-air terrestrial and satellite platforms. Freeview is a not-for-profit organisation launched by New Zealand’s leading free-to-air broadcasters to help facilitate the national transition from analogue to digital TV. “We’re evolving TVNZ’s technology platform in support of our broadcast partners and to serve our strategic vision for engaging all New Zealanders with the content and services they desire most from a trusted national institution,” said Greg Newman, Distribution Engineering Specialist at TVNZ. “We chose SeaChange to gain the advantages of solutions that dramatically improve our DVB-SI generation capabilities that we can pass on to our partners, while lowering our operating costs in schedule workflows, back-ups and configuration changes. In the end, we found the transition to SeaChange from our prior platform to be efficient and without disruption.”

“SeaChange is very pleased to have delivered the solutions and local support to ensure TVNZ’s service to broadcasters nationally,” said Andrei Noppe, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA & APAC, SeaChange. “While we’ve already helped TVNZ overcome several initial challenges and improve its operation, the SeaChange CASIS and STAGIS solutions set the stage for future gains through a range of add-on capabilities.”

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Service providers use SeaChange linear broadcast software solutions globally. Their flexibility and ease of use empower cable, terrestrial and satellite broadcasters to fully realise the advantages of DVB-SI, such as service discovery and selection, populating EPGs with schedules, and signaling PVRs to record shows. SeaChange software handles metadata to ensure program management and accurate EPGs; and it easily regionalises for content tailoring to suit languages and geographies.

The SeaChange STAGIS schedule management system allows operators to seamlessly gather data from any number of content providers to maintain up-to-date EPGs, as well as merge schedules and automatically replace or insert information. STAGIS collects EPG data, parses the files, checks them for consistency and converts them into a standard format. It then distributes schedules to downstream systems such as SeaChange CASIS and middleware application servers. CASIS provides MPEG/DVB-compliant tables, access criteria generation and MUX profile scheduling.

Visit www.schange.com

Quinto on the Move in New Zealand COINCIDING WITH SMPTE 2013 exhibition, Quinto Communications announced the opening of its new offices in New Zealand.

Located at 15 Auburn Street in Takapuna, Auckland, this new office will give Quinto Communications’ NZ staff much needed additional space and facilities.

According to Quinto NZ’s National Sales Manager, Pete Fullerton, “Our new office bring us additional space for customer meeting “ rooms and product demonstration areas. Tech support facilities will also be enlarged.”

Quinto’s New Zealand telephone and fax numbers will remain the same at (+64 9) 486 1204.

Visit www.quinto.com.au

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Thompson Joins Avid Team in Australia AVID HAS ANNOUNCED David Thompson has joined Avid as Partner Account Manager, Australia and New Zealand. Thompson joins the company after 13 years with Brisbane-based Videopro where he was a Product and Senior Account Manager with a focus on Avid solutions.

Thompson has worked with a diverse range of customers from creative independents, production companies, education and government agencies along with broadcasters from across Oceania including Queensland, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

As an Avid Certified Instructor (ACI) Thompson brings a number of ACSR qualifications and is skilled in technical sales, support management, training and presenting and will be a key contributor to forthcoming initiatives that will continue to underscore the commitment of Avid within the ANZ marketplace.

David Thompson will be working out of the Avid office in Sydney and may be contacted at dave.thompson@avid.com or +61(0)448 845 389.

Quinto Gets Moody QUINTO COMMUNICATIONS HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of James Moody as a Technical Sales & Solution Architect based in the Quinto Communications Sydney office.

Prior to joining Quinto Communications, James was Engineering Manager at Globecast Australia where he was responsible for the design and successful implementation of many significant upgrades to Globecast’s Teleport facilities.

According to Tom Pavicic, CEO of Quinto Communications, “I am delighted James has joined Quinto Communications as part of the expansion of our customer sales and support facilities.

Through working in Australia and the UK for premium companies, James has acquired an impressive amount of local and international broadcast engineering experience. He will be a major asset to our company and will be working closely with our customers and team of Quinto engineers in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.”

Visit www.quinto.com.au

Deanne Weir Appointed Ai-Media Chair SPEECH-TO-TEXT PROVIDER AI-MEDIA HAS announced the appointment of Ms Deanne Weir as Chair of the Australian-owned business.

Ms Weir, currently Non-Executive Director, succeeds founding Chairman Mr John Martin who will become Non-Executive Director.

NEWS + PEOPLE

Ai-Media is a private enterprise that is developing commercial technologies while remaining dedicated to its founding goal of ending the social, educational and vocational exclusion of people with disability.

“We are delighted John will continue to work with us as a Director,” Ms Weir said. “John has led us through an exciting period of change and growth, in Australia and overseas, after joining as Chairman in 2010.”

Visit http://ai-media.tv

Montesin Makes Move to Miller MILLER HAS ANNOUNCED THE appointment of cinema and television industry veteran Charles Montesin as Global Marketing and Sales Manager.

The appointment aims to continue and build on Miller’s momentum in innovation and global marketing of professional camera support equipment.

“Charles brings a wealth of industry knowledge and professional marketing and sales expertise to Miller at a very exciting time for the industry,” said Andrew Klapka, General Manager, Miller Camera Support Equipment. “The advent of more affordable high quality video cameras has resulted in worldwide growth of the professional video market and camera support equipment and Miller is well placed, with wide equipment line-up, to meet customer needs.”

Mr Montesin will lead Miller’s global “go to market” strategy and regional sales in Asia, Middle East, South Africa Australia and New Zealand.

“I am excited to join Miller at such a pivotal time in the cinema, television and video content creation industries,” said Charles Montesin. “New technology is about removing barriers to creativity and Miller’s innovation DNA positions the company in the box seat to work with partners and customers to contribute to the industry.”

Visit www.millertripods.com

CEO Romano to Leave Fox Studios Australia AFTER 13 YEARS with the company CEO Nancy Romano has decided to leave Fox Studios Australia at the end of 2013.

The studios enjoyed considerable success during Romano’s tenure attracting international blockbuster productions including Australia, Wolverine: X-Men Origins, The Great Gatsby and The Wolverine and major Australian TV hits including X-Factor, The Voice and Australia’s Got Talent.

Romano also successfully partnered with the NSW State Government to increase production attraction incentives and oversaw the major acquisition of lighting equipment from Panalux making Fox Studios the largest lighting supplier in Australia.

Romano plans to move back to her native Melbourne in early 2014.

Tonagh Heavy Lifting at News Corp PETER TONAGH HAS RESIGNED as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Foxtel to take up the position of Chief Operating Officer with News Corp Australia.

Foxtel CEO, Richard Freudenstein, said, “Peter Tonagh has made a great contribution to Foxtel over nine years and we will be very sorry to lose him.

He has been a key member of the executive team responsible for driving many of Foxtel’s achievements. Peter’s most recent success was the crucial role he played in the acquisition of Austar/XYZ Networks and Showcase for which he was recognised in 2012 as CFO of the Year.

“While we will miss PT and his daily contribution, I am thrilled that he will be taking up an exciting role at News and will that he remain close to Foxtel in his new position. I wish him well and look forward to working with him in the future.”

Visit www.foxtel.com.au

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TAKING STOCK Moves in the business of content + technology

www.content-technology.com/mediabusiness

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Broadcast ONE, Gencom: End-to-End Combination

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MAY 2013 SAW RF broadcast and communication systems integration company Broadcast ONE acquire the shares of all companies in the Gencom Technology Group.

Gencom’s distribution/SI operations include offices in Auckland, Sydney, Singapore, and Johannesburg while Broadcast ONE is headquartered in Sydney and operates an office in Manila.

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C+T asked outgoing Gencom CEO Ray Sanders about the company’s new relationship as part of the Broadcast ONE family.

According to Sanders, “At Gencom, we were getting to a point where some of the shareholders were looking at an exit strategy and for us to do that properly we wanted to do it as a whole shareholding team. So we looked for somebody to purchase us but we wanted it to be in a way that we could retain the company culture, we could retain the branding and the credibility that we’ve built up over the years without being perhaps swallowed by another corporation and without people feeling that they didn’t have the same company culture.

“So, for us, it was important — and, in looking at that, to do it with Broadcast ONE and their CEO Darren Kirsop-Frearson, made sense because the new company culture is similar to ours. We’re able to be ‘lean and mean’ and move quickly on things rather than get bogged down in a lot of bureaucracy.

“Going forward, each of the companies in the group will retain their own identities, their own structure and branding and everything else.

We’ll apply new initiatives to some areas, but it’s business as usual with a new thrust that provides Broadcast One with Synergies — because, they being more of a transmission company and us being more of an everything-up-to-that-point company, means that we can do whole turnkey solutions and do it across the whole region.”

While his former fellow Gencom shareholders have settled into

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Broadcast ONE/Gencom VP of Business Development, Ray Sanders.

retirement, Sanders is embracing a new role in the expanded Broadcast ONE/Gencom organisation.

“A lot of people have said, ‘Oh you must be retiring’, but it’s quite the opposite,” he says. “I’ve spent a lot of time in this industry and I want to stay engaged and, from that standpoint, I’m going to continue working with Gencom and Broadcast One, and my new title is VP Business Development.

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“It encompasses many things: strategy, company strategy, partner relationships, major projects and special projects, marketing and branding - those sorts of aspects in support of each of the companies across the group and in conjunction with Darren.”

This role will be especially brought to bear on leveraging the expanded geographical footprint of the new Broadcast ONE/Gencom Group.

Visit www.gencom.com and www.broadcastone.com.au

Techtel Poised for Regional Expansion Ross Integrates Former Harris/Leitch R&D Team DISTRIBUTION AND SYSTEMS INTEGRATION company Techtel is poised for regional expansion following closer integration of operations in Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. The move comes after the retirement of Techtel founder Ray Holland who had been guiding operations in SouthEast Asia.

TAKING STOCK

According to Managing Director of the restructured Techtel Group, David Elsmore, “It gives us the ability to share a knowledge base, share resources, and present a more solid solution, particularly to the South-East Asian market. We’ve also got the ability to draw on resources in Singapore that might add value to what we’re doing elsewhere.

David Elsmore, MD, Techtel Group.

ROSS VIDEO HAS ANNOUNCED the acquisition of Montalto, a research and development company established by former Harris/Leitch staff, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. The Ross Virginia team will take responsibility for advancing the Ross routing systems line, as well as contributing technology and products to Ross’ openGear product portfolio.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to join such a engaged leadership team who have developed a culture of innovation and ‘can-do’ attitudes where customer focus and market leadership are core to the company’s values,” said Mark Sizemore, Managing Director, Montalto and now Director of Routing Soutions, Ross Video. “It’s been a dream of the Montalto team to get back to our core passion, and we’re able to do that again with Ross.”

“We’ve got a headcount of five in Singapore but we’re looking to expand that. We’re looking to expand our regional operations, to maybe push a little bit further East out of the Singapore operation. We’ve got a good product set there, but we’re looking also looking to get more involved in systems work.”

“Ross Video is thrilled to add the Montalto team to our Infrastructure group – they are a great group of guys and fit right in with our culture,” commented David Ross, CEO, Ross Video.

Visit www.techtel.com.sg

Visit www.rossvideo.com

As a result of the acquisition, Ross has opened a development lab in Virginia Beach as a base of operation for routing systems development. This new location creates a third R&D component in the USA, adding to development labs in Boston and California. Ross Video also has R&D facilities in Ottawa, Canada; Brussels, Belgium; Hilversum, The Netherlands; and Melbourne, Australia.

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Sennheiser Purchases ANZ Distributor Syntec AS OF SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2013, Sennheiser electronic has taken over the business from Syntec International into its own newly formed sales subsidiary, Sennheiser Australia Pty Ltd. Following the change in ownership, Sennheiser Australia has continued to distribute the other brands carried by Syntec.

“During the last three years, we have recorded high growth in the Asian Pacific region. This positive development shows that having our own local subsidiaries has been the right strategic decision. With a direct presence in Australia and New Zealand, we are well positioned for the future and can serve our customers with our expertise, the excellent service and quality that Sennheiser is known for,” explains Daniel Sennheiser, CEO of Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG. “For over 25 years, Syntec has been proud to be a sales partner of Sennheiser,” says Robert Sloss, Owner and Managing Director of Syntec International Pty Limited.

“Robert Sloss is handing over a very well-established and successful company,” states Daniel Sennheiser.

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Thanks to the successful network of distributors and its own sales presence in all the Australian states, the company is close to its customers in every corner of the continent. The Syntec team in Australia (approximately 50) and New Zealand (5) consists of highly-qualified and experienced specialists in all areas of the audio business.

“We would like to thank the long-standing Owner and Managing Director of Syntec International, Mr Robert Sloss, his team, and the dedication of every individual who has contributed for the successful establishment of the Sennheiser brand and excellent customer service,” says Daniel Sennheiser.

Bjørn Rennemo Henriksen is the designated Managing Director of the new Sennheiser subsidiary. He comes from Sennheiser’s Denmark-based subsidiary Sennheiser Nordic, where he was the Sales and Marketing Director for all Nordic and Baltic countries. He has been involved with Sennheiser in all business segments and in multiple markets over the last seven years, and brings a vast sales, marketing and product experience with him.

“The opening of a subsidiary in Australia and Sennheiser Australia Pty. Ltd. New Zealand represents MD Bjørn Rennemo Henriksen a significant commitment from Sennheiser to the market. I am proud and looking forward to working with the team to serve the Australian and New Zealand customers,” says Bjørn Rennemo Henriksen.

Sennheiser Australia Pty Ltd. Is now the 16th Sennheiser sales subsidiary, highlighting the international focus of the parent group. Sennheiser currently is represented in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Visit www.sennheiser.com

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People Recognition: The Integral Building Block to any Business

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Media staff & strategy by Karl Jansson The recent SMPTE 2013 trade show in Sydney held in Sydney during 23-26 July this year had a similar feel to most trade shows, meeting old acquaintances, colleagues, clients and potential clients, as well maybe past employers along the way.

Now I’m not saying that it was better or worse than previous SMPTE shows or other similar off shore trade shows for that matter, because “better” is a point of perception experienced by each individual exhibitor and visitor.

Let’s face it, communication is the reason for attending or exhibiting a trade show because it can be seen as informative, persuasive or just pure industry gossip or conjecture. From my position as a known HR consultant to the broadcast community, conversations usually turn to people related issues, from either executives or from staff concerning themselves with their current and future employment.

within each individual, and with each person the urgency of these needs varies.

1. Physiological needs - These are the basic needs of air, water, food, clothing and shelter. In other words, physiological needs are the needs for basic amenities of life.

2. Safety needs - Safety needs include physical, environmental, and emotional safety and protection. For instance: Job security, financial security, family security, health security, etc.

3. Social needs - Social needs include the need for love, affection, care, belongingness, and friendship.

4. Esteem needs - Esteem needs are of two types: internal esteem needs (self- respect, confidence, competence, achievement, and freedom) and external esteem needs (recognition, power, status, attention, and admiration).

In these situations it’s difficult to offer a blanket solution or a stock standard band-aid application when you’re addressing the emotive side of people, especially when it’s an issue best dealt with by the employee and the employer.

5. Self-actualisation need - This includes the urge to become what you are capable of becoming / what you have the potential to become. It includes the need for growth and self-contentment. It also includes desire for gaining more knowledge, social- service, creativity and being aesthetic.

The self-actualisation needs are never fully satiable. As an individual grows psychologically, opportunities keep cropping up to continue growing.

Having said that, there are some fundamental issues that seem to surface on a regular basis when chatting to employees, whilst on the other hand, there are a few comments that seem to be repeated by most employers.

According to Maslow, individuals are motivated by unsatisfied needs. As each of these needs is significantly satisfied, it drives and forces the next need to emerge.

I thought by listing a few of these, it might well open discussions in your workplace, and in doing so address any potential areas of concern that may not have been raised.

Maslow grouped the five needs into two categories - Higher-order needs and Lower-order needs. The physiological and the safety needs constituted the lower-order needs. These lower-order needs are mainly satisfied externally.

The social, esteem, and self-actualisation needs constituted the higher-order needs. These higher-order needs are generally satisfied internally.

DISCONTENTED OR DISSATISFIED EMPLOYEES This is without doubt the most common complaint that lurks behind unresolved areas that haven’t been addressed. So how do you know if you are discontented or dissatisfied with your job, or how do you recognise employees who are discontented or dissatisfied?

The most common behaviours include: Frustration

Alienation

Demotivation

Slackness

Low productivity

Absenteeism

Lack of discipline

Bouts of unrest

SO WHAT CAUSES THESE BEHAVIOURS? It can sometimes occur when an employee thinks, believes or even feels that they have been treated unfairly, unjustly or inequitably. Alternatively, it could be from unbalanced monetary reasons to non-attributed benefits.

SO HOW DO I KNOW WHERE TO START? Once you identify an area of sensitivity you then need to qualify whether it’s factual, imaginary, or disguised. Factual of course is cut and dry in most cases, but not so much imaginary or disguised, because it may involve a third party, be it intentional or not. To help sort and identify, you’ll need to understand the basic fundamentals of what drives all of us through our daily existence.

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Thus, we can conclude that during boom period, the employee’s lower-order needs are significantly met.

By example of how to relate this theory to the workplace, physiological needs are those benefits to purchase the basic necessities of life. Bonuses, overtime, health including family insurance, travel or retail vouchers etc.

As far as the safety needs are concerned, the feeling of a safe and hygienic work environment with maybe training sessions on stress management.

Lower micromanagement levels and encourage autonomy.

As far as social needs are concerned, use autonomy in building a team environment, establish an open door policy, as well encourage social events.

As far as esteem needs are concerned, reward employees on accomplishing and exceeding their targets, from regular feedback to adding flexibility, training opportunities, and even involve them into a succession plan where their career path is clearly visible.

As far as self-actualisation needs are concerned, give employees challenging jobs in which the employees’ skills and competencies are fully utilised. Give them the opportunity to showcase their skills to peers, management, and subordinates.

Managers who identify the need level at which employees exist are then able to provide those needs that can be utilised as push for motivation. The above examples will more than likely result in a shift in the employees work/ life balance.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

This is a great way to examine your own personal needs under just five headings, so maybe you could discuss them with your employer?

Ask a HR professional and they would have cut their teeth on Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs Theory” so what better way to get the basic principal outlined.

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.

The theory is based on the assumption that there is a hierarchy of five needs

Contact: Karlj@BroadcastJobz.tv or Mbl: +61 (0)408 274 413

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Global TV Owner Looks to Divest GLOBAL TELEVISION CEO Keith Andrews has confirmed to Content+Technology that the company’s owner, Australian investment firm Catalyst, is looking to divest itself of the production and outside broadcast services provider.

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While a formal sales process has yet to be commenced, Andrews anticipates this will take place within the next 12 months and that this will in no way affect the day-to-day operations of the company.

“Catalyst’s investment in Global has been ongoing since January 2007. By today’s standards, seven years is a long investment cycle and we have seen many companies, including our customers, suppliers and competitors undergo ownership and management changes during that period.”

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Catalyst describes itself as a leading independent firm in the Australasian private equity market with in excess of AUD$1 billion in funds under management. It manages a portfolio of companies that employs over 4000 people across a range of industries including packaging, retail, media, mining services and manufacturing.

For its part, 2013 has proved busy for Global TV with projects including Big Brother, the ANZ Championship Netball Grand Final,The Voice, and the major winter sports of NRL and AFL. The company is also part of a joint venture with UK production company Sunset+Vine to provide Host Broadcaster Facilities for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Visit www.globaltv.com.au

Asia Sat Announces 2013 Interim Results SATELLITE OPERATOR ASIA SATELLITE Telecommunications Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1135), has announced its 2013 interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2013.

The financial summary, includes: Turnover HK$767,383,000 -25% Profit attributable to shareholders HK$400,678,000 +1.4% Earnings per share HK$1.03 +2% Dividend per share HK$0.12 No change The company’s 2012 interim turnover included a one-off revenue contribution of HK$296 million. Excluding this one-off revenue contribution, the core business turnover recorded a slight increase.

Operational highlights include: Manufacture of new satellites AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 on track for launch in 1H 2014 to bring new capacity for future business growth Overall utilisation rate of in-oribit satellites, AsiaSat 3S, AsiaSat 4 and AsiaSat 5, remained stable at 79% Short-term revenue from AsiaSat 7 before it replaces AsiaSat 3S in 2014 New partnership with GeoMetWatch to host the first hyperspectral STORM sensor on board AsiaSat 9, the company’s future satellite planned for launch in 2016 AsiaSat’s Chairman, Ju Wei Min, said, “For the second half of 2013, we do not expect to see any major new business developments as we await the launch of AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 in the first half of 2014. These new satellites will provide an opportunity to grow our business in years to come.”

Visit www.asiasat.com

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TECHNICAL STANDARDS www.content-technology.com/standards

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DVB Celebrates 20 Years of Delivering Standards AT THIS YEAR’S IBC, DVB marked its 20th Anniversary and celebrated with another world’s first technology demonstration. Visitors witnessed a demo of DVB-T2 delivering a wide range of resolutions from 4K Ultra HD down to the smaller screen resolutions typically found in mobile devices. The presentation underlines the power and flexibility of this second-generation standard. Also being highlighted were the new features provided by CI Plus v1.4, recently developed by DVB. Using DVB-T2 transmission, a 4K service utilising HEVC encoding, and a mobile service were delivered in a single 8 MHz channel. This is enabled

by DVB-T2’s featured use of Multiple PLPs (Physical Layer Pipes) that allows for the separate adjustment of the robustness of each delivered service within a channel to meet the required reception conditions.

HbbTV Extends Logo Licensing to Consumer Devices THE HBBTV ASSOCIATION, a global initiative dedicated to providing an open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes, has announced that it will license the HbbTV Logo to consumer electronics manufacturers.

Any vendor selling an HbbTV device is now able to use the Logo on their device to indicate compatibility with the standard in addition to printed and Web-based promotional materials.

In highlighting the new features of CI Plus v1.4, DVB showed this new version’s support for IPTV. In addition to a standard broadcast, a TV display will receive IPTV via its Ethernet interface. A CI Plus module will receive the IP multicast and carry out the necessary processing for Conditional Access and interactivity. It is envisaged that the new features of CI Plus v1.4 will permit the CI Plus module to provide traditional set-top box functionality.

The official IBC Conference program also featured a raft of DVB related sessions delivered by experts from the DVB and its membership. Conference attendees heard more on topics ranging from DVB-S2 extensions to HEVC encoding for DVB standards.

Visit www.dvb.org

Ten Physical Layer Proposals Submitted for ATSC 3.0 THE ADVANCED TELEVISION SYSTEMS Committee (ATSC) has received 10 initial proposals from 19 organisations for the Physical Layer of the new “ATSC 3.0” broadcast television standard. The standard is expected to deliver Ultra High-Definition services, robust reception on mobile devices and improved efficiency.

Detailed proposals are due Sept. 27. Initial proposals for the ATSC 3.0 physical layer have been submitted by:

“Using the HbbTV Logo is an excellent way for consumer device manufacturers to demonstrate HbbTV certification and interoperability,” said Klaus Illgner, chairman, HbbTV Association. “As the standard continues to gain momentum around the world, our Logo will become more familiar to consumers enjoying a connected television experience based on HbbTV.”

Coherent Logix and Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG)

Prior to receiving approval to use the HbbTV Logo, the HbbTV devices must pass the HbbTV Association’s Test Suite in order to verify compatibility. The certification process provides flexibility to HbbTV device manufactures by providing them with two approaches to verify compliancy: through self-testing or at a registered Test Center. A Certification Body from HbbTV will periodically test HbbTV devices available in the market to ensure that they comply with the applicable specifications.

Allen Limberg

The standard is already deployed in various European countries including Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, and a large majority of connected TV sets sold in Western Europe implement the HbbTV standard. There are currently more than 5 million active HbbTV receivers globally with the potential to reach over 110 million homes in those countries. Future HbbTV deployments have also been announced in Europe, Australia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

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Visit www.atsc.org

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SMPTE to Receive Emmy for HD-SDI Standard THE SOCIETY OF Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) will be presented with an Emmy Award for Technology and Engineering for 2013 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The honour is being conferred upon SMPTE in recognition of the society’s work on development, standardisation, and productisation of the HighDefinition Serial Digital Interface (HD-SDI) standard.

“For an organisation such as ours, the Emmy Award for Technology and Engineering is not only a tremendous honour, but also confirmation that we’re successfully carrying out our mission as the leading technical society for the motion-imaging industry,” said SMPTE Executive Director Barbara Lange. “We’re very proud of the work our members have done in advancing the HD-SDI standard, as well as the value that the standard itself brings to the field.”

This Technology and Engineering Emmy Award recognises the work behind the SMPTE 292 standard for high-definition digital video transmission. The SMPTE 292 standard is the foundation for the family of serial digital interface (SDI) standards for transmitting uncompressed HD video signals. The SMPTE 292 standard has proven to be robust and versatile, and a large number of additional standards have been created based on SMPTE’s original work. The derivative standards address higher data-rate versions and the use of multiple interfaces for advanced applications such as D-Cinema connectivity.

The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards will be presented Jan. 9, 2014, in conjunction with the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Visit www.smpte.org

Sony, Panasonic Agree to Develop New Optical Disc Standard SONY CORPORATION AND PANASONIC Corporation have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, and with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage.

Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015.

Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content. Both companies have previously developed products based on the Blu-ray format, leveraging the strengths of optical discs. However, both Sony and Panasonic recognised that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement.

Sony previously commercialised a file-based optical disc archive system in September, 2012. Based on optical disc technology that Sony cultivated for its XDCAM series of professional broadcasting products, this system houses twelve optical discs within a compact cartridge as a single, high-capacity storage solution. Each disc within the cartridge holds 25GB capacity, offering a total range of storage capacities from 300GB to 1.5TB. In July this year, Panasonic launched its ‘LB-DM9 series’ of optical disc storage devices. This series uses a dedicated magazine of just 20.8mm thickness to house twelve 100GB optical discs. A maximum of 90 magazines can be stored, providing a total storage capacity of 180TB. In addition, Panasonic adopted a newly-developed changer system together with RAID technology to offer rapid data transfer performance of up to 216MB/s.

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IBC 2013 PREVIEW

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View videos from IBC2013. Make sure you have installed a QR code reader app on your tablet or smartphone, use the app to scan this QR code with your device’s camera, enjoy IBC content from C+T. Alternatively, visit www.content-technology.tv

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Director Sir Peter Jackson Honoured by IBC

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THE IBC 2013 International Honour for Excellence, the highest award

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IBC bestows, will go to New Zealand film director Sir Peter Jackson. He is currently completing the second part of The Hobbit Trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug.

engagingly. For The Hobbit he has adopted high frame rate production and presentation to make the 3D more engaging and immersive.

Of his continual quest, he said, “I set my team these challenges, but I know the real discussions between them and their key suppliers start at IBC.”

The IBC International Honour for Excellence is presented each year to an outstanding individual or organisation which has fostered, contributed to or built upon the relationship between technology and creativity. Recent recipients have included the Science and Technology Research Laboratories of Japanese national broadcaster, NHK, and Sir David Attenborough.

“I am particularly delighted to accept the IBC International Honour for Excellence, because those conversations which happen every year at IBC are critical to the future of our industry,” he continued. “Thank you, IBC, for this award, and long may you be the place where story-tellers and technologists can meet.”

The award is in the gift of the IBC Council. Chairman Peter Owen said, “In the world of the cinema, few directors have pushed the technology barrier harder or farther than Sir Peter.”

Also making the shortlist for the IBC Innovation Awards was Park Road Post Production, along with SGO Mistika, for the world’s first HFR 3D post on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

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His life was changed at the age of nine when he first saw the 1933 movie King Kong and vowed to remake it. He set about learning the skills of movie-making and effects, always pushing himself on to ever-more elaborate effects.

SGO’s Mistika was selected as the core platform for all HFR-3D media, and an extraordinary relationship developed – extending the toolset so that the Mistika is at the very heart of a complete workflow from camera through editorial to final deliverables.

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This immense project has created a new technical and aesthetic standard. HFR3D is now available to film-makers and audiences worldwide, and is arguably one of the most significant developments in the last 80 years of cinema.

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Jackson’s movies have now won 20 Oscars, four Golden Globes, and 14 BAFTAs, among many other awards. As well as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and his current project, The Hobbit Trilogy, in 2005 he achieved his ambition of remaking King Kong, a movie which contributed three of the Oscars.

He continually drives technology forward to help him tell stories more

Visit www.ibc.org/awards

Nationwide SDN for Uncompressed HDTV in Japan JAPAN COMMERCIAL BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION (JBA) and technical partners NTT Communications, Fujitsu, and Juniper Networks, are nominated for an IBC award in the content delivery category. This successful project, led by NTT Communications, demonstrates both close collaboration and application of patent-pending innovative technologies.

Switching (MPLS) technologies. This enables the newly-developed video interfaces in TV stations, which connect to the transmission network edges, to consolidate all the service functions - such as flexible circuit reservation, dynamic network-path setup and hitless protection – into fast, standard Internet Protocol (IP) implementations.

The JBA was seeking a solution to construct a cost-effective, highlyreliable, highly-stable, easy-to-use, uncompressed, digital, terrestrial HDTV network on a nationwide scale.

In addition to pre-planned circuit reservations, users can flexibly contribute/distribute video content in a timescale of seconds, providing virtually instant demand service using easy one-click access.

The solution was engineered with state-of-the-art Multi-Protocol Label

Visit www.j-ba.or.jp

FOX SPORTS Australia, GlobeCam Finalists for IBC Award AUSTRALIAN SPORTS BROADCASTER, FOX SPORTS, and GlobeCam, a GlobeCast Australia live, point of view camera technology, have been jointly shortlisted for the Content Creation category of the IBC Awards. GlobeCam is a lightweight and compact camera worn by sportspeople, umpires and referees to place viewers in the middle of the action.

IBC 2013 PREVIEW

In a world first, viewers experienced what it was like having 145km per/ hour thunderbolts bowled directly at them as GlobeCam transmitted live HD vision from cricketing batsman Shane Watson during last season’s KFC T20 Big Bash League coverage on FOX SPORTS. FOX SPORTS, via its production team headed by Gary Burns and Innovation team headed by Todd Proctor, commissioned GlobeCast Australia to develop Helmet Cam in 2012.

GlobeCam uses low latency digital link technology in various forms to suit the application. From short-range, low-powered miniature links to the more traditional 2GHz microwave link technology, GlobeCam pictures

are transmitted Live and in HD directly from the field-of-play. A diversity antennae and receiver system located on the camera deck within the grandstand receives and decodes the pictures for integration with the Outside Broadcast production.

Todd Proctor said, “We really do pride ourselves on breaking new ground in sports coverage and we are thrilled to be acknowledged with this nomination for broadcast innovation. Providing greater entertainment to our viewers is the ultimate objective and “helmet cam” achieved that by bringing them closer to the game with a live camera angle never seen before.”

Simon Farnsworth, CEO of GlobeCast Australia, said, “We are extremely honoured that GlobeCam has been recognised internationally with this nomination. In tandem with our partner FOX SPORTS, we are committed to providing viewers with exciting vision through our cutting edge camera and broadcast delivery technology.”

Visit www.foxsports.com.au and www.globecast.com.au

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IBC 2013 PREVIEW

Thomson Showcases Multi-Platform and HEVC AT IBC 2013, Thomson Video Networks has demonstrated several innovations that enhance the viewer experience while maximising available bandwidth and video quality.

Thomson also showcased an HEVC playout system, powered by its own HEVC technology, which enables broadcasters to trial and demonstrate Ultra-HD content on their networks.

The company showed off its versatile ViBE EM4000 eight-channel SD/HD premium encoder that enables broadcasting in a single 1RU chassis. As a complete DVB-S2, QAM, or DVB-T2 compression system for HD live content, the ViBE EM4000 is the highest-density premium encoding solution in the industry.

Also on display was a solution for HbbTV1.5/MPEG-DASH streaming that harmonises the delivery of broadcast and broadband services. This

solution relies on both the ViBE EM4000 and ViBE VS7000 multiscreen video platforms as well as Thomson’s Flextream 2.0 statistical multiplexing technology.

Thomson showcased both real-time and offline HEVC encoding on the ViBE VS7000 platform for multi-screen and OTT applications, using MPEG-Dash packaging to tablets, smart phones, and connected TVs. Visit www.thomson-networks.com

Softron’s New Smart Playout Engine AT IBC 2013, SOFTRON released their playout solutions OnTheAir Video

the internet for WebTV – or both simultaneously.

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and OnTheAir Node with the totally new Smart Playout Engine – seen for the first time in Europe. They also announced the next big evolution of MovieRecorder with the Smart Record Engine.

Softron featured a technology demonstration of the upcoming MovieRecorder 3 incorporating a new Smart Record Engine, featuring a new interface design, support for all major codecs, and other features.

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The new Smart Playout Engine provides greater power and flexibility at the core of Softron’s applications. Outputting all major codecs including i-Frame, long-GOP, H.264, MPEG2, and XDCAM HD in both QuickTime and MXF containers, the engine dynamically overlays graphics and CG over the video output. Intelligent resizing allows formats to be mixed and matched, and playout can be directed to a video card (in RGB or YUV) or streamed directly to

OnTheAir Manager offers single or multichannel playout reliability on the MacOS platform. Taking broadcast scheduling to a new level by offering a calendar-like interface coupled with an advanced playlist editor, OnTheAir Manager features media validation, clip and event attributes, hierarchical playlists, built-in switcher support, EAS, EPG, and CG.

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Visit www.softron.tv

TMD Focussing on Mediaflex CI TMD HAS USED IBC 2013 to focus on the way that its Mediaflex platform offers a new, hands-on approach to developing workflows, not least to support the rapidly evolving multi-platform distribution environment in which content has to be prepared in a number of formats, resolutions, and wrappers.

Previously the realm of only the largest enterprises, Mediaflex CI (Content Intelligence) provides the ability to design workflows and use business analytics to derive valuable information. More than just automating processes, the use of analytics means that the system itself can make intelligent decisions based on business rules developed by the organisation, delivering huge productivity benefits.

Mediaflex CI is at the heart of FAST, the enterprise-wide file-based infrastructure now implemented at Irish national broadcaster RTÉ, and is ready to transform service-oriented broadcast architectures worldwide. FAST and the TMD asset management and workflow engine was also a finalist for the IBC2013 Innovation Award.

The same intelligent decision-making makes Mediaflex CI a particularly powerful workflow engine in multi-platform delivery. Rules can be established which drive content through transcoding and transwrapping farms to automatically generate content that is quality assured and with the right metadata in the right places.

TMD also demonstrated the latest additions to its cloud-enabled i-mediaflex application environment.

Additionally, TMD demonstrated the latest additions to its Mediaflex Collections module. This included the ability to import and manage bulk data for large ingests, together with tracking and reporting on the acquisitions and accession process.

Visit www.tmd.tv

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IBC 2013 PREVIEW

Enhancements to DEV’s Mosart Updates Newscast Automation OPTRIBUTION Portfolio plan the full studio production in a newsroom computer system (NRCS).

DEV SYSTEMTECHNIK’S OPTRIBUTION

With Mosart Newscast Automation 3.4, users can assign more advanced content sequences to shortcuts. Further functionality allows users to send such content directly to the studio walls. Mosart also has enhanced the drivers for CasperCG and ORAD graphics, as well as Studer audio (now using EmBER), and the automation system now supports an unlimited number of video server channels.

product family was presented during IBC 2013.

DEV has expanded its portfolio and now offers modules to be used in their OPTRIBUTION Chassis based on DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology.

With DEV’s OPTRIBUTION System for DWDM, 48 signals can be transmitted over one single optical fibre simultaneously with a maximum signal quality over a distance of more than 200 kilometres. A DEV OPTRIBUTION Chassis of 3 RU can be equipped with a 16:1 DWDM System.

In addition, a DEV Matrix with optical inputs was launched at IBC. Bringing together optical reception and RF Matrix functionality, the new system can be realised and upgraded to any size up to 1024 x 1024 and is easy to manage with one CPU and Web-Interface regardless of size.

Visit www.dev-systemtechnik.com

AT IBC 2013, MOSART MEDIALAB has showed off the latest version of its Newscast Automation, as well as the Mosart Multi-Studio Solution.

Mosart Newscast Automation controls more than 55 broadcast devices: vision and audio mixers, video servers, graphics systems, camera robots, studio video walls, light desks, and other systems through dedicated protocols. The user can

Mosart Multi-Studio Solution is a software package for larger broadcasters with multiple studios. Combining Mosart Media Router and Mosart Template Sharing, the package enables sharing of resources and coordination across several control rooms. New for 2013, the Mosart Media Router now also provides sharing of video wall, lighting, and camera resources.

Visit www.mosart.no

Bridge Technologies Shows New Products BRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES HAS LAUNCHED an entirely new QoE (Quality of Experience) solution at IBC, enabling operators of Bridge systems to bring the industry’s most sophisticated QoS capability together with state of the art QoE monitoring – all running on the same Bridgetech infrastructure, and with support for QoE monitoring of regionallyinserted material. Full details of this new solution are not yet available, but will be revealed at IBC. Bridge Technologies’ 2nd generation OTT Engine makes MPEG-DASH support a core part of the user’s OTT monitoring capability, is compatible with all Bridge Technologies 1G and 10G probes, and part of the iOS and Android

PocketProbe mobile monitoring apps. To ensure the widest possible compatibility with future, current and legacy OTT operations, Bridge Technologies’ new OTT Engine extends its HLS, Smoothstream and MPEG-DASH capability by adding support for RTMP and subtitle tracks.

Technologies systems introduces support for Bridge’s build-to-order probe hardware with internal 16, 32 or 64 GB flash memory and onboard recording of transport streams or PCAP files. Version 5.0 also introduces many more new features..

The first of a new line of products, the VB273 Satellite Redundancy Switch is designed for Bridge Technologies’ new carrier-grade intelligent redundancy switching solution for satellite uplinks. The VB273 module works with a VB272 and VB120 in a redundant chassis to monitor two signals from dual production chains and switch to the backup chain if the main chain fails.

Bridge Technologies also showed another industry first with the VB266 DVB-C2 RF Interface card. Coding and modulation techniques in the new DVB-C2 allows cable operators to achieve greater than 30% higher spectrum efficiency under the same conditions, with downstream channel capacity gains greater than 60% for optimised HFC networks.

Version 5.0 of the system software for Bridge

Visit www.bridgetech.tv

Autocue Launch DSLR Prompter and New App AUTOCUE LAUNCHED the first prompter

and microphones to be deployed.

designed specifically for a DSLR at IBC 2013.

The DSLR prompter will be available in two variants – the first uses a universal iPad mount (including the iPad Mini and other tablets) and the second an 8” monitor. Both variants provide two solutions in one – a traditional set-up or a detachable straight-read mount for simple magicarm applications. Software will be included.

IBC 2013 PREVIEW

The use of DSLRs in video shoots has increased significantly over the last few years and has resulted in increasing demand for a prompter that is fit for purpose. Whilst various existing teleprompter solutions can accommodate DSLR cameras, they are far from a perfect fit.

The prompter mounts in front of the DSLR, directly to a standard set of 15mm DSLR rails, making the prompter extremely lightweight. This means that DSLR users can mount a range of accessories onto the rails as normal. Autocue also sells its own 15mm rail camera mounting kit.

There will also be an optional bar at the top of the hood with a number of ¼ width threads to allow further accessories like on-camera lights

Autocue launched a brand new prompting app at IBC, called iAutocue. Autocue has also debuted its new folding hood for ultimate portability of its Professional and Master Series prompters.

Together with the new app, this folding hood significantly reduces the (weight of the) kit required for OB shoots and rental jobs.

Visit www.autocue.com

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NOA Showcases New Enhancements FROM IBC 2013, NOA Audio Solutions’ mediARC has featured new enhancements for the inclusion of rich media including full support for videoscene detection, updated streaming servers for easier intranet content preview of rich content and video content, and the ability to launch retranscoding export operations via API from lossless compressed videoarchive formats.

The actLINE range includes full mediABUTLER support for WMV, and open source video formats such as ffv1, and the integration of third-party transcoders for all typical production formats. NOA will also be demonstrating a new QC module for video quality control, and will announce several strategic partnerships.

Visit www.noa-audio.com

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AT THIS YEAR’S IBC, EVS has showcased its latest enriched live production solutions which capture and enhance content and make it instantly available for delivery to the home, in a stadium or via a second screen. EVS presented its approach to delivering an enhanced viewing experience and increased content monetisation in a transforming media landscape.

EVS Sports unveiled a 4K version of its XT3 production server, which was recently deployed for the live coverage of the Confederation Cup in Brazil. The new version will offer content providers with even greater flexibility and advanced HD workflow operations, as well as instant delivery of multicam footage to secondscreens and Live Slow Motion in Ultra HD resolution.

EVS Entertainment presented its XS media server with improved multicam streaming capabilities that allow up to 12 HD streams per server and showcase its newly-released studio playout solution, Nano Air, for TV studio and on-stage entertainment productions. EVS’ latest software controller requires no configuration and gives production teams instant control of all EVS production servers. EVS Entertainment also presented its newly-available IPLink plug-in panel for advanced integration with the new Adobe Premiere Pro suite. This workflow enabler allows for immediate creative enrichment of content without any cumbersome content search or processing.

EVS News introduced its new media workflow engine for high-speed news file ingest, editing and multiplatform delivery. It’s the latest among EVS’ integrated news solutions and enables content gathering from multiple sources, including smart devices and social media. As a

result, media is instantly available for editing and playout, allowing broadcasters to break news as it happens. The web interface also provides web services with SOA for third-party integration. In addition, EVS News presented a new SD/HD auto sensing feature on the XS server for automatic HD up-conversion during ingest and to further reduce media processing operations.

EVS Media unveiled its most comprehensive solution yet for ingest and mastering in file-based workflows. This year EVS Media demonstrated OpenCubeHD encoding and decoding of IMF and DCP J2K lossless files with performance more than three times faster than real time. Also on display was the closed captioning and subtitle management part of the OpenCube MXF file encoding and management suite. EVS Media presented its XFReader through MXF UniReader – a self-service PC to open and view any SMPTE standard MXF files. This was available for visitors to test their MXF files throughout the show at the EVS booth. Updates to EVS Media’s MediaArchive Director for sport legacy archive management, including new virtualisation and multi-tenancy capabilities were also presented at the show.

Visit www.evs.com

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Thanks to its new design, the console guarantees an absolutely intuitive workflow. Additional features like button glow, instant local access and the new overbridge ensure fast and safe operation. In terms of future-proofing, once again the mc²56 is packed with innovative features such as Loudness Metering, new surround tools and ground-breaking RAVENNA technology. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the very essence of the mc²56: in other words, cutting-edge technology in an extremely compact footprint. The mc²56. Performance, pure and simple.

Contact us for mc2 User Training courses held in October Exclusively & proudly sold in Australia by Professional Audio Technology. Call 02 9476 1272; www.proaudiotechnology.com.au

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IBC 2013 PREVIEW

BLM Launches New Interfaces BLUE LUCY MEDIA (BLM), a UK-based software developer in the field of production workflow modernisation for IT environments, has launched two new, browser-based interfaces to its product tool-set, “Miura ProductionWeb” and “Miura StoreFront” at IBC. Miura ProductionWeb is a new production interface that provides global access to BLM’s media management and video processing tools. Miura ProductionWeb enables all production workflow management operations to be managed through a highly customisable operational interface from anywhere with Internet access.

Miura StoreFront enables content owners to realise the value of assets by providing a public-facing portal through which material can easily be searched, retrieved and

Digital Connectivity for Ultra HD From Gefen PROFESSIONALS PREPARING FOR 4K Ultra HD can look to Gefen for a selection of signal distribution, extension, and integration solutions.

Video over IP solutions and customisable matrix switchers were also among the new products on display at Gefen’s booth during IBC. Ultra HD Splitters for HDMI 4K/2K provide 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8 signal distributions. Each splitter includes automatic EDID management to support size and resolution of each display on the output.

Gefen Fast Switching Technology (FST) is also used to prevent system disconnects.

A 4×1 Ultra HD Switcher for HDMI 4K/2K integrates up to four 4K sources with one 4K display. Users can switch between all sources using the same hi-def or Ultra HD display.

The 4×4 Ultra HD Matrix switches between four sources and four displays. The 6×2 Ultra HD Matrix switches between six sources and two displays. Both use a new Ultra HD chip technology that allows switching between all sources and displays.

IBC 2013 PREVIEW

The 16×16 Modular Matrix w/ELR routes up to 16 sources to any or all 16 extended outputs.

The 32×32 Modular Matrix w/ELR routes any 32 sources to any or all 32 extended outputs. Users can tailor the outputs for local or extended mode using HDBaseT. Gefen’s integrated, network matrix switching system uses Video over IP technology to combine a Gigabit Ethernet switch with Gefen’s HDMI over IP extenders. It is flexible with a 1080p signal distribution and switching with optional automation using GAVA (Gefen A/V Automation).

The GefenPRO HDVI to 3GSDI Scaler, GefenPRO 3GSDI to 3GSDI Scaler, and the DisplayPort KVM Extender over CAT-7 was also shown.

Visit www.gefen.com

purchased. Fundamentally, Miura StoreFront is a white-label content publishing and point-ofsale platform that provides a simple and highly automated system for content owners to showcase and monetise their media catalogue.

Operationally, consumers can search for content, browse material and select clips, or sections of clips, for use in new production packages. Following a simple check-out process the material is automatically restored from a master content repository and delivered to the client’s facility in the desired format using BLM’s video processing services.

Miura StoreFront also provides interfaces to billing and CRM systems to provide a completely automated store function.

Visit www.bluelucy.com

Crystal Vision Shows Keyer Range AT IBC 2013 CRYSTAL Vision has shown a keyer for every application.

The recently shipping Safire 3 real-time chroma keyer works with 3Gb/s, HD and SD sources and is ideal for all live virtual productions from studio to sport. Safire 3 makes it easy to quickly set up a chroma key using multi-point sampling to automatically get the best possible default settings, and features a range of fine-tuning tools to optimise the picture.

The second new modular keyer demonstrated at IBC was be the MultiLogo HD/SD three-layer logo keyer. MultiLogo provides three layers of keying from a variety of internal and external sources, including a 4 GB or 8 GB video store.

The big new feature introduced in this version is the extensive audio capabilities. It can embed up to four audio groups into its video outputs, with audio mixing allowing the output audio to be generated from a mix of the audio embedded on the video input and a voiceover sourced from either the two internal audio stores or from an external AES input.

The third new keyer is LKEY 3 – a featurepacked and space-saving linear keyer designed for the simple keying of graphics over 3Gb/s, HD or SD video streams. LKEY 3 brings with it a number of new features appearing for the first time.

Crystal Vision also showed its new audio metadata handling features for the TANDEM 310 embedder/de-embedder and SYNNER 310 synchroniser.

Visit www.crystalvision.tv

Yellowtec Exhibits a Full Range

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YELLOWTEC HAS DISPLAYED ITS full range of solutions for studio and broadcast applications, including: iXm, a high-quality pro microphone with built-in recording and Yellowtec’s LEA Engine; m!ka, the studio mic and monitor mounting and lighting system; Intellimix, the desktop audio mixing system; litt, a programmable visual signalling system; b-line XT and b-line bold, a system for talk show and game show broadcasters; VIP/Digital, a personalised voice processing system for radio studios; and the PUC2 hi-definition USB audio interface.

Hanno Mahr, CEO Yellowtec GmbH, said, “Following Yellowtec’s successful launch at NAB, we are very pleased to present our full range of products for studios and broadcasting professionals at IBC 2013.”

Visit www.yellowtec.com

LYNX Takes Centre Stage FRONT PORCH DIGITAL HAS featured a broad range of products at IBC 2013, beginning with LYNX. LYNX is the industry’s first enterprisescale cloud implementation of content storage management (CSM).

The company showed LYNXdr and LYNXlocal at IBC 2013. LYNXdr is a hosted disaster recovery service that allows global media enterprises to centralise critical assets and consolidate operations, and LYNXlocal is a simple extension to LYNX that operates locally as an appliance, caching cloud content and providing integration to specialised systems if needed.

DIVAdirector V5.2 is the latest version of Front Porch Digital’s media asset management (MAM) system, a permission-based Web application that enables complete access to file-based content stored by DIVArchive CSM systems. With support for multiple audio channels for different language tracks, users can provide multiple language options for a given video file.

At IBC 2013, Front Porch Digital showcased its DIVArchive V7.1 CSM system. The new AXF Explorer offers an intuitive interface for parsing Archive eXchange Format (AXF) objects, with straightforward operations that are performed using drag-and-drop procedures. DIVArchive V7.1 also enables a complete range of world-class video transcoding and workflows and is directly integrated with Telestream’s Vantage Transcode and Vantage Transcode Pro. Front Porch Digital also showcased its SAMMA product lines at IBC. These solutions are the first of their kind to automate the digitisation of videotape, moving content into secure, accessible, and searchable digital storage.

SAMMArobot and SAMMAsolo take content from videotape on the shelf into the digital environment.

Visit http://fpdigital.com

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LYNX TECHNIK AG has launched the new MAC version of its yelloGUI application for yellobriks at IBC 2013. yelloGUI is a new complementary software application that permits select yellobriks to be configured over USB using a PC and a MAC. With the new yelloGUI, users have access to a host of advanced settings and adjustments of the individual yellobrik that were not possible before. Typically, yellobriks are configured via the integrated module rotary switches, dip switches and indicators and with the availability of yelloGUI, users now have an enhanced level of configuration for advanced features & settings.

The yelloGUI user interface, like the yellobrik modules, was designed to be simple and intuitive. Once the module is connected, a virtual image of the module is displayed showing the user all switches, controls and module indicators. yelloGUI also displays status information such as the detected video format, HDMI output resolution and frequency, as well audio signals.

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Visit www.lynx-technik.com

Marquis’ Medway V3 Shipping

Quantel Starts a Revolution AT IBC 2013, Quantel has demonstratied its

MARQUIS BROADCAST, specialist in

full range of software solutions.

content workflows and media integration software, is now shipping Medway V3, the latest version of its flagship media integration product, first shown at NAB 2013 and which was demonstrated in Europe for the first time at IBC.

For broadcasters, Quantel showed streamlined, file-based and creative workflows for news and sports. Visitors could see the latest developments for Enterprise sQ fastturnaround production systems and in QTube connected workflows. Also on show was revolutionQ – software services that deliver efficient production workflows from generic storage.

The H.264 support was being shown in an Avid proxy workflow where ingested media is prepared for the off-line edit after which Medway can deliver full resolution trimmed media for Avid to perform the relink and on-line and finishing. This allows for edit workflows which are faster, less resource-intensive and yet produce results of the highest possible quality.

Medway V3 also supports AS-02, the AMWA standard for versioning of sequences.

Visit www.marquisbroadcast.com

Quantel has also shown QTube connected workflows. QTube is about far more than remote operations; QTube has grown into a technology that connects different geographies and different systems together.

For quality colour and finishing applications, Quantel showed Pablo Rio. Pablo Rio can handle 4K 60fps production and deliver over 20 layers of colour correction at 4K at full resolution in realtime. On show were new tools, enhanced workflows and 8K. Visit www.quantel.com

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IBC 2013 PREVIEW

I-MOVIX Shows Off d-flicker

2wcom Introduces the FMC01

FOR THE FIRST TIME at IBC 2013, I-MOVIX has

FMC01, a compact codec for high-quality FM MPX contribution and distribution via IP or E1 (G.703).

In an industry first, the FMC01 can combine Encoder and Decoder functions in the same unit, offering significant infrastructure savings. With 100% lossless audio encoding/decoding and optimised bandwidth technology that delivers maximum FM quality, the FMC01 is a point-tomultipoint distribution solution that redefines the cost/performance equation for radio networks.

shown d-flicker, its new automatic de-flickering solution, designed for use with SprintCam Vvs HD and X10/X10+ systems. This product is the world’s first and only fast processing turnkey system providing an efficient solution to the flickering problem encountered by any highspeed camera user. Simple to use, d-flicker delivers flicker-free ultra slow motion shots in real-time, revealing the beauty of the action, and solving distracting problems caused by lighting issues.

The I-MOVIX X10 is a live ultra-motion solution that delivers a 10 times super slow motion output at native HD resolution and image quality.

The X10+ system can operate on an extreme slow motion mode at frame rates up to 2,600 fps in 1080i50 or up to 5,600 fps in 720p60.

Visit www.i-movix.com

AT IBC 2013 2wcom has introduced the new

IRD for audio contribution via satellite and IP 2wcom’s FlexDSR02+ and FlexDSR04+ offer a combination of capabilities in a compact 1U IRD for professional audio contribution via satellite and IP. Far more versatile, powerful and effectively integrated than the previous generation of satellite receivers, the FlexDSR02+ and FlexDSR04+ feature versatile inputs for up to four different programs with analogue or

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digital output, a full regional insert solution, SIRC for inband control via satellite, and automatic weightbalancing of quality parameters and program source switching (satellite, IP-line, ASI, SD card) in case of failure.

The 2wcom FlexNsert DAB+ Distribution Inserter receives a DAB ETI data stream (according to EN 300799), converts the stream into a standard MPEG2-TS-signal and outputs it via ASI or Ethernet transport stream interfaces. The FlexXtract+ DAB+ Distribution Extractor demodulates a data stream (2048 kbps) from a DVB-S or DVB-S2 signal and converts the data into a standard ETI-signal according to EN 300799 or EDI-signal according to TS 102 693 to feed DAB or DAB+ transmitters. Both units offer optional advanced bandwidth saving technology for up to 45% greater efficiency, together with a multi-program regionalisation management option.

solution, shown at IBC 2013, is designed to integrate with NRCS, MAM or automation control systems to provide significant improvements to workflow efficiency without intruding on the users’ familiar desktop.

Whether customers’ are looking for a single site archive system; main and back-up operation or a hub and spoke configuration, FlashNet can accommodate their requirements.

SGL’s Open System architecture provides broadcasters, post production facilities, and news/sport organisations with reliable, scalable solutions with substantial cost and workflow benefits.

LTFS has switched the traditional ingest workflow around by enabling material to be transferred directly into the archive, opening up an array of

new workflows and creating substantial time and cost benefits. Taking the next step in this transition, SGL will demonstrate its Notification Service. Using this new subscription service, management of the archive is further enhanced by the addition of intelligent amalgamation services – optimising tape and tape-head usage without limiting access to individual files. The separate elements of an amalgamated archive can still be identified and easily retrieved and the addition of the SGL Notification service means that users can subscribe to messaging about processes, material and hardware for workflow monitoring.

SGL has further highlighted its support for LTFS at IBC 2013. Broadcasters and content owners now have true interoperability between what were once disparate systems. Material can be acquired

LiveU Bonding at IBC LIVEU HAS demonstrated its complete range of bonded 3G/4G uplink solutions for broadcast and online media, offering a one-stop-shop for live news, sports, and event coverage.

IBC 2013 PREVIEW

Based on the fourth-generation of LiveU’s disruptive technology, the portfolio includes a wide choice of solutions to meet customers’ different needs: Professional-grade LU70 backpack, with its internal and external antenna arrays; Belt-clip or camera-mounted LU40-S device, weighing less than 700 grammes (1.5 pounds), with new live newsgathering features; LU-Smart mobile app solutions, bringing bonded transmission to mobile phones and

tablets (iOS and Android devices), including its Smart Grip device with its chargeable battery and MiFi channel in a handheld monopod; LU-Lite software-only solution (Win and Mac), enabling file transfer and live video over multiple platforms, from fixed locations, in the field and on-the-move; LiveU integrated Xtender antenna for extrastrong resiliency in extreme scenarios.

All LiveU products are incorporated into the LiveU Total ecosystem by LiveU’s unified management platform, enabling control rooms to manage multiple video feeds from LiveU units operating in diverse locations.

Visit www.liveu.tv

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directly to disk and then dragged and dropped to data tape and transported back to the facility removing the need to re-ingest content to the archive and enabling large amounts of data to be transported and archived on a single LTO tape.

This puts the archive much further forward in the production process placing it alongside the ingest element of the chain.

SGL demonstrated FlashBrowse, its archive management application. FlashBrowse can be configured to provide at-archive browse creation, automatically generating browse resolution copies of clips as the high resolution versions are archived. The FlashBrowse interface can be used to instigate restores or partial file restores directly from the desktop.

Visit www.sglbroadcast.com

Trilogy Communications Sends Messenger AT IBC 2013, Trilogy Communications featured its new Messenger intercom system, making its European debut. Messenger is an affordable yet powerful matrix-based intercom that includes comprehensive features and functionality.

Messenger bridges the gap between the constraints of low-end, two-wire party line systems and the cost and complexity of high-end broadcast communication systems.

Trilogy also showed Gemini, the company’s distributed matrix intercom and IP panel rang; and Mentor XL, a master reference generator that includes a new GPS option board.

Visit www.trilogycomms.com

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AT IBC 2013, ON THE M-STAR STAND, Exset showed the latest version of its Digital Monetization System (DMS) – DMS 1.0 – for the first time in Europe. DMS bridges the gap between technology and value-added services for digital TV deployments in emerging markets.

Already installed in India and SE Asia, and now discussing opportunities in Africa, DMS allows digital television platforms to be created that can then be monetised in a new dynamic way where previously impossible.

Allowing interactive services over and above TV

via digital broadcast networks, DMS provides an incredibly low price point for operators. This means that new revenues can be generated for operators where they weren’t possible before, therefore operators are not only relying on a very low subscription fee, but also on interactive transactions and information dissemination. It uses a popular application model that sees core processing carried out centrally with content then distributed when the application is accessed via the TV screen.

Low power set-top boxes can be deployed to receive services therefore opening up

opportunities in emerging markets.

DMS 1.0 includes HbbTV and multi-screen access. At IBC 2013 Exset launched the integration of DMS with connected TV standard HbbTV. Already rolling out widely across Europe, HbbTV will provide an enhanced DMS experience where bandwidth allows.

The use of this set-top box middleware also facilitates multi-device usage as DMS can be run on a browser, opening up a new world of possibilities for service providers.

Visit www.exset.com

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Ingest and QC From AmberFin AMBERFIN HAS USED IBC to highlight the importance of scaling versatility, high calibre quality control resources, and cost efficient media transformation platforms in the rapidly growing file-based workflow market space.

AmberFin debuted a strategic extension to its iCR (intelligent content repurposing) family of modular software products. The new iCR Transcode Farm Controller functionality builds on AmberFin’s market leading multi-format transcode capabilities.

It significantly increases the flexibility and versatility of a multi-node transcode environment, bringing improved resilience and robustness whilst simultaneously generating cost savings through more versatile network licensing capabilities.

The product of another strategic development initiative, AmberFin showcased an enhanced version of its Unified Quality Control (UQC) platform. This major new release extends the UQC ecosystem to support best-of-breed third-party

tools and fixes in areas such as loudness control and multiple language support for media files.

Launched earlier this year, the AmberFin Academy is a new industry resource designed to help broadcast professionals navigate the complexities of file-based workflows. As part of the Academy, at IBC, AmberFin has demonstrated the latest version of its MXF (Material eXchange Format) Desktop software application.

Visit www.amberfin.com

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IBC 2013 PREVIEW

Jampro at IBC with a Host of New Solutions JAMPRO ANTENNAS, a leader in the manufacture and design of antennas, combiners & filters, and RF components for every application in radio and television broadcast, hasunveiled a variety of new antenna solutions for the international broadcast market at IBC 2013.

Jampro‘s UHF Broadband Medium Power panel antenna is now available for Bands IV & V in all polarisations: CPOL, EPOL, HPOL, and VPOL. The antenna is designed as either a side-mount or a top-mount for DTV, ISDB-T, DVB-T/H, NTSC or PAL broadcasting.

Now available for both VPOL and CPOL polarisation the JVD-U and JCD-U broadband

IBMS Updates From Pilat IBC 2013 SAW PILAT MEDIA demonstrate the latest enhancements to its flagship Integrated Broadcast Management System (IBMS).

Pilat Media’s recently launched IBMS Express is a modular and flexible entry-level business management system based on the Company’s broadcast management solutions. Deployable as a cloud based SaaS solution, the quickly mastered IBMS Express lowers training requirements and shortens implementation projects.

At IBC 2013, Pilat Media highlighted enhancements to IBMS Omnicast, its business management solution for nonlinear nextgeneration on-demand services such as VOD, over-the-top (OTT) TV, and catch-up TV across all delivery platforms. IBMS Omnicast combines the latest IBMS nonlinear services management features in a stand-alone back office system addressing everything from acquisition and multiplatform service scheduling to workflow orchestration and business dashboards.

IBC 2013 PREVIEW

Available as either a stand-alone solution or as an addition to IBMS-managed environments, IBMS Rights delivers centralised rights management across all broadcasting operations, covering contract management, program finance, and distribution licensing. At IBC, Pilat showcased additional IBMS Rights functionality for distribution licenses, which includes the identification of revenue shares and management of the associated payments.

OTTilus, a new Pilat Media subsidiary, enables modular end-to-end OTT deployments that encompass all major solution components from content acquisition to player applications. The OTTilus video platform integrates with broadcast operations and is compatible with all security, streaming, device, and monetisation options.

OTTilus provides a consistent viewer experience with player applications that support major enduser devices.

Visit www.pilatmedia.com

antennas for UHF Bands IV & V, these antennas were designed as low to medium power solutions, with a special focus on rooftop deployment. The antenna is a vertically or circularly polarised system enclosed by a full cylindrical radome for environmental protection and minimal urban visual impact.

Jampro’s Broadband Batwing IV/V 470 – 860 MHz Antenna has many outstanding features that bring great value to today’s broadcaster.

The radome-enclosed unit can be either top or side mounted on a tower offering long life and many years of continuous service, ideal for broadband multi channel UHF applications.

Minimum windloading while providing broadband response makes the JAT the perfect

SatLink’s OTT Solutions MAKING ITS EUROPEAN DEBUT, SatLink Communications’ forthcoming OTT solutions including Multi Screen Technical Delivery services for Live TV & Video On Demand (VOD) aggregation and streaming to all devices, was shown at IBC 2013. SatLink was also showcasing the new Cross Screen Multimedia Platform service featuring an end-to-end IP cloud-based platform providing centralised content, subscriber & monetisation management solutions.

The new OTT solutions offer transcoding, live content streaming and management tools for mobile and tablet devices on the Apple, Android, Windows 8 platforms, and onto PCs and Connected TVs. The combination of SatLink’s digital media management and delivery services from its teleport and newly equipped HD Playout and Content Management Centre and cross-screen OTT solutions enables SatLink to support media players and operators with end to end broadcast solutions for all their global live, linear, and non-linear digital media requirements.

SatLink provides global TV satellite distribution; content management and playout services to leading broadcasters including: Thomson Reuters, Viacom, Fashion TV, AP, euronews, ESPN, and others.

SatLink also exhibited its capabilities to provide end-to-end broadcasting solutions including Satellite uplink, downlink, and turnaround in HD, SD, 3D; Sports & News Occasional Use delivery; playout; content management, Digital Archival & TV channels localisation; productions, monitoring, and various satellite engineering solutions.

Visit www.satlink.tv

answer for applications where either one channel is defined, or multiple channels are combined.

Jampro’s JA/MS-BB Broadband UHF Slot antenna, part of the Prostar line, offers an economical alternative to buying, installing and maintaining multiple antennas. A single, compact solution, it conserves tower space and minimises wind loading. Especially designed for multi-channel or combined-channel operations in analogue-analogue, analoguedigital or digital-digital TV applications, the JA/ MS-BB antenna comes factory tuned in a readyto-install and streamlined design.

Visit www.jampro.com

Shotoku Demos Pan & Tilt and VR Tracking SHOTOKU BROADCAST SYSTEMS, a leader in manual and robotic camera support, and virtual reality tracking, has exhibited a wide range of advanced solutions for a variety of broadcast environments at this year’s IBC2013 show.

Shotoku’s advanced control system, TR-T, was shown once again, incorporating the recent enhancements and expansions in terms of camera capacity and dynamic configuration.

Fully automated and with live video touchscreen operation, Shotoku’s Orchestra CMS parliamentary TV system was shown in action.

The TG-27 pan and tilt head were be shown under the control of the TR-S panel.

Combining the intuitive control and feel of the manual pan and tilt head with the convenience and capabilities of a remote head, Gemini was shown for the first time at IBC with the lightweight TG-27 head. This combination is ideal for placing smaller cameras and lenses in locations where a camera man could not conveniently, or safely, be positioned.

One of Shotoku’s latest mid-weight EFP pan & tilt fluid heads, the SX-300 features a high capacity 40kg (88 lbs) payload and widebalance capability, and supports an array of cameras, lenses and accessories. The 300 head accommodates flat base or 150mm ball.

Shotoku’s SG-900 manual pan & tilt head offers vibration-free speed in an ergonomically designed sturdy package. Ideal for OB and studio production with Teleprompters or box type lenses, the SG900 supports 90 kg (198 lbs), and features single knob balance adjustment.

Shotoku’s new SX-300VR is an ergonomic, high resolution Virtual Tracking pan & tilt head. Based on decades of extensive VR experience, the design features a robust and reliable platform for a wide range of camera and lens configurations.

Visit www.shotoku.co.uk

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ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition

Shooting with the Sony F55

By Keith Ford During the BroadcastAsia Exhibition and Conference, freelance DP and Sony ICE (Independent Certified Expert) Alister Chapman gave a presentation on the Sony PMW-F55 and F5 4K Digital Cinema Cameras, their features, and how to effectively use them.

SOME OF THE AREAS that Chapman focussed on were the cameras’ versatility, the appeal and benefits of 4K, working with the different codecs, the sensor, and why frame image scanning matters.

Alister Chapman primarily shoots extreme environments, such as volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and just about any other type of extreme weather event. A cinema camera is probably not what most people would expect to be used in these situations, but Chapman says the camera is surprisingly suitable for quick shooting.

“I do also shoot commercials in the UK, actually cinema commercials, and F5 and F55 cameras are really great for that application. But it’s a camera that can be used for many different applications. So, at the high end you could be shooting a movie with it and at the same time, with the same camera, just by swapping the lens mount and a few other things, you can use it equally well for documentaries and for ENG style shooting.”

The obvious question that is inevitably raised in relation to 4K is: Why do I need it? There is currently only a very small amount of 4K displays on the market for consumers, with 3 models from Sony and one from LG, all of which are too expensive right now for mass take-up, making the cinema the only place that most people can experience 4K. Even then a large proportion of cinemas are unable to project in 4K yet, though they are certainly moving that way. So why does 4K matter outside of large scale cinema releases?

“One of the things with all video cameras; is they incorporate something called an anti-alias filter - a low-pass filter. Without it you would have all sorts of image artefacts on fine patterns and textures, so if somebody wore a stripy shirt or a checked shirt, you’d get coloured banding over it. You actually have to reduce the resolution of the image falling on the sensor to below the resolution of the sensor and all professional video cameras have this. So if you’re shooting with an HD video camera, what you’re actually recording, the resolution is actually lower than HD. It has to be otherwise we’d have aliasing issues,” said Chapman.

“So by shooting with a 4K camera your HD, when you’re shooting for HD, looks much sharper, much clearer, has much greater clarity to it and it really is very noticeable. The HD footage that I’m getting off the F5 and F55 looks far better than anything I’ve had off any HD camera. It also allows you to reframe your shot in post-production if you need to crop in a little bit, maybe a microphone’s come into the top of your shot. You can crop into that and you have no resolution loss.”

Chapman also pointed out that image stabilisation can be easily completed easily, due to the ability to crop in without affecting resolution, and keying and compositing for green screen work is of a much higher quality.

Talking specifically about the F5 and F55, one of the largest benefits is the number of codec’s that can be used, including simultaneously. Ulike most cameras that allow for the use of a single codec, these 4K cameras offer XDCAM, HDCAM, and the new XAVC, as well as the option of RAW recording in both 4K and, following a recent firmware update, 2K. “You can shoot in 4K, in 2K, and HD using compression - much like any other video camera that you have now, you can record a compressed recording that you can play back instantly; it’s all full cover, that’s your white balance and gain and everything else, just like any other video camera. But you can also add on the R5 recorder and that gives you the ability to record in RAW, and that’s really where these cameras come into their own,” commented Chapman.

“Codec wise, this is normal conventional compressed recording, we can do that with these cameras, but we have a choice of codecs: We have XDCAM HD422, this is 50 megabits per second. A nice, small, compact codec, doesn’t take up much space on your memory cards. You can edit it off USB2 hard drives,” explained Chapman. “This has been around for six years and is really well supported, really easy to deal with, really easy to archive and things like that, but it’s only 8-bit, so 8-bit’s not great for grading, but it’s really good for news and for fast turnaround.

“If you want better quality we have HDCAM SStP. Now this is a very high quality codec, this is basically the HDCAM SR codec and this can be 422 or 444. So, if you are doing a lot of grading or blue screen and green screen the 444 is very good but at 440 megabits per second it’s gonna chew through media really fast! You need USB3 or e-SATA drives to work with this.”

Continued page 28 

ACQUISITION

“I’m filming often in very strong winds, winds that may be 60 or 70 miles an hour where I’m standing and I have to get the shots very, very quickly, and one of the great things, actually, about the F5 and F55 cameras is, if they’re configured right, they are very quick cameras to use,” explained Chapman. “With the right lens it behaves like an ENG camera, like a 2/3-inch mount camera, so you can just grab shots very, very quickly with it. It’s not just a camera for film and for movie production.

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ACQUISITION  From page 27

The new XAVC codec sits somewhere between the XDCAM and HDCAM, in terms of quality and file size “XAVC is scalable, it’s very advanced, and it’s 10-bit. It can do HD, 2K, and 4K. It’s 422, it’s 10 bits so it grades very, very well and the bit rate will vary depending on the frame rate and the frame size that you’re recording at,” added Chapman. “If you shoot at 24 frames per second HD it’s 80 megabits per second, so it’s only twice the size of XDCAM, it’s not huge, and going all the way up to 660 megabits per second if you’re shooting at high speed in 2K. If you’re shooting 24 frames per second in 4K it’s around about 220 megabits per second. So it’s still quite a lot of data, but it’s actually quite manageable.”

The benefit of recording in RAW on the F5 and F55 is not just that you get much higher image quality, which leads to considerably large file sizes than any of the codecs, but that it can be recorded simultaneously with another codec, say XDCAM. This makes the post-production workflow run a lot smoother.

“So for the editing for your workflow you would take the XDCAM material which will have the same filename, the same time code, the same everything else as the RAW, and you edit with the XDCAM and you just do your edit because when you’re editing it’s all about flow: it’s about pace and flow,” explained Chapman. “By using the XDCAM, the computer will handle it really easily. Then, when you’re happy with your edit, you take a file from the edit suite - an AAF or an XML file - into your grading suite and at that point

you put away your XDCAM and you bring in the RAW files and you do your finishing from the RAW files.”

Going hand-in-hand with the choice of codec, one of the most important factors on image quality is the sensor; something that Alister Chapman feels is particularly impressive about Sony’s 4K Cameras.

“With any video camera it doesn’t matter what you record on or how you record it, if your sensor isn’t any good your recordings won’t be any good.

The sensors in both the F5 and F55 are superb and a lot of that comes from the quality of the colour filters that are used on the sensor. The accuracy and how precise those colour filters are is very important. If you’re shooting people, if you’re shooting faces and skin tones, the differences between different parts of people’s skin are very, very subtle. Those are very small differences and if your colour filters are more precise, the camera’s better able to separate out those very small, very subtle differences. That’s what makes skins tones look really good,” said Chapman.

Sony and Chapman also say that the newly developed frame image scan, which the F55 utilises, completely removes any type of skew, wobble, and flash banding. However, this is not a feature included on the F5.

“Skew is a CMOS artefact: most cameras that use a CMOS sensor, when you pan very quickly the image appears to bend a little bit because the image is scanned from top to bottom. The F55 works differently, so it doesn’t have this effect,” explained Chapman.

Visit http://pro.sony.com.au

Atomos Samurai Blade Cut Loose ATOMOS, THE CREATOR of camera mounted recorders Ninja-2 and Samurai, and the Connect converter range, have commenced shipment of their latest recorder/monitor, the Samurai Blade.

The new Samurai Blade offers a 1280 x 720 SuperAtom IPS touchscreen, at 325ppi 179-degree viewing, 400nit brightness and multi-frequency (48/50/60Hz) operation, depending on video input, giving super smooth monitoring and playback. Every screen is calibrated to SMPTE Rec 709 colour space and a D65 white point with 100% gamut from factory. On the fly screen calibration is built into every Samurai Blade so you are always accurate in any shooting environment.

Samurai Blade adds essential set up tools with full waveform monitor functions, including vectorscope, RGB and LUMA parades with transparent overlay and bottom right, lower 3rd or full screen positioning, making it an extremely flexible tool.

monitor and deck, and the Connect-AC converters. Ronin is a rackmountable solution for both fixed-facility and on-location production, based on the Samurai design. It can operate on location with battery or DC power, but it also has AC power built-in, standard HD/SD-SDI BNC connectors and balanced XLR inputs and outputs.

The portable and versatile battery-powered HDMI/HD-SDI converter, Atomos Connect, with built-in test pattern generator and audio tone, is now joined by its fixed-facility counterpart, Connect-AC. Stand-alone or rack-mountable, Connect-AC converters are powered by a standard figure-of-8 IEC cable and offer all the functionality of Connect while rendering ‘wall-warts’ a thing of the past.

Visit www.atomos.com

ACQUISITION

“The new screen is truly spectacular,” adds Jeromy Young, CEO and Founder of Atomos.

“With AtomOS 5 now offering waveform as well as monitor assist, I believe we have really raised the bar in the affordable monitor and field recorder segment. We’re the first to combine professional monitor functionality with recording and deck playout, all in a spacesaving, camera-mountable unit. Customers are continually amazed at the speed and low cost workflow we offer, Blade is no different”.

Like its Ninja-2 and Samurai predecessors, Samurai Blade allows the recording 10-bit images from the camera sensor directly to inexpensive HDD or SSD drives, captured using Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD codecs.

Waveform, vectorscope and monitor assist tools, such as tri-level focus peaking, zebra, false colour, and blue-only, offer a very comprehensive test and shot setup tool kit. The Samurai Blade has standard BNC connectors.

Also shipping are the Ronin portable recorder,

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ACQUISITION

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Miller Compass 15 Solo Tripod System Review

IBC

By Alister Chapman MBKS I travel a lot, so I was looking for a lightweight tripod that could carry my PMW-F5 kit.

The main use for this tripod was for my self-funded storm chasing and natural extremes stock footage shoots as well as for the many film making workshops I run all over the world. A tripod I have had my eye on for a while is the Miller Solo Compass 15 tripod package, so I decided to give one a try.

THE SOLO IS UNLIKE most professional video tripods as the legs are of the single tube, telescoping variety as opposed to the more traditional double tube variety.

They are constructed from Carbon Fibre, so they are very light, yet they can extend very high (1.87m for the legs alone), which is a great thing to have on news shoots or at an event or conference where you need to get the camera up above the heads of an audience. There is no mid-level or floor spreader with this tripod, the spread of the legs is governed by latches at the tops of the legs that have 3 different positions, each one restricting the maximum leg spread by a different amount. At the same time as being able to go very tall by lifting a latch at the top of each tripod leg the legs extend outwards almost flat to the ground and this allows you to get very low down at a height similar to a Hi-Hat yet the tripod remains very stable and solid.

The Compass 15 head is a middle weight fluid head with a 75mm bowl for levelling. The drag for the pan and tilt is varied using click stop rings, each with six settings from zero to 5. The drag range is very good with position 5 giving considerable drag, something useful when you working with a long lens or trying to do very slow pans. For counterbalance there is another click stop ring, this time with four different counterbalance settings.

The difference between the minimum and maximum counterbalance settings isn’t huge, but adequate provided you camera is within the heads payload range.

ACQUISITION

My first major project for this tripod was a bit of a baptism by fire. Every year, I spend around 6 to

8 weeks shooting severe storms and tornadoes in the USA for stock footage. These shoots are always tough. You have to be extremely mobile.

As I’m based in the UK, first of all there are the initial flights across the Atlantic to the USA. Once in the US, I will typically drive between 400 to 600 miles a on an active storm day. In a month I’ll clock up around 10,000 miles. I don’t have an assistant on these shoots so have to do all the kit lugging myself. As well as the camera kit there is also 20kg of additional equipment needed to get real time weather data via satellite, two way radios, laptops, hard hats and safety gear. So, anything I can do to save weight and bulk elsewhere is welcome and the Solo tripod scores highly for portability.

Filming a tornado is challenging. Very often the only way to get a good view of a tornado is by being in its path. Lots of rain and hail falls behind a tornado obscuring it from view and a strong, sometimes deadly wind called the RFD occurs around the back of a tornado, so, you need to be in front of it. A tornado can travel across the ground at speeds of up to 70mph, so if you’re two miles from a fast moving tornado you have only got about 90 seconds to get out of the car, set up your tripod, get a couple of shots, jump back in the car and drive out of its way. For this, the Miller Solo was fantastic. With no spreader to getting in the way, but the leg spread limited by the adjustable stops, I found it a very fast tripod to deploy and pack away.

At the same time it was also very stable. It is not as stable as a bigger, heavier tripod but still remarkably solid given its light weight. I’ve used bigger tripods in the past and it really

helps having that extra bulk when shooting in the often strong winds that surround the storms I shoot. But because these took longer to deploy I wasn’t always able to use them, reverting to handheld when time was short.

The Solo’s portability meant I was able to use it much often, so although some shots taken in high winds do suffer from a bit of wobble and buffeting, the more frequent tripod use means that I came away with a lot more steady and stable shots from this assignment than I would have with a heavier conventional tripod. I guess, really for me, I will have to consider taking two tripods if I can - something substantial and heavy for use when the wind is really strong and the Solo for everything else.

Talking of everything else, what about shots done when things are not so frantic? Well, a big part of the storm shoot is to document the whole life cycle of the storms. This means shooting a lot of panoramas and landscapes, often with very slow pans. One of the things that really took me by surprise with the Compass 15 head was the smoothness of the pan and tilt drag. This really is one of the best tripod heads that I have ever owned. The pan and tilt drag really is silky smooth and there is no perceptible backlash. It really is a delight to use. It’s so good that I think I’m going to have to take a close look at some of Millers larger tripods for when I want a heavy weight option.

Smooth, slow pans were easy to achieve, even at longer focal lengths. One small criticism of the tripod kit is that the single tube Solo legs twist a little more than most traditional double tube tripod legs, but then that’s the price you pay for going light weight.

So overall I think this combination of Compass 15 head with Miller Solo legs is fantastic. I’ve used a lot of tripods over the years, and this one stands out from the crowd. But, as I said at the start there is no such thing as a tripod that works for every application. I would not recommend the Solo legs for long lens work, they just don’t quite have the stability that can be obtained with a larger set of legs. That said, for portability and great performance in most everyday applications the Miller Solo and Compass 15 is a delight and I highly recommend it.

Me shooting a tornado with the PMW-F5 and AXS-R5 on my Miller Solo tripod.

Visit www.alisterchapman.com and www.miller.com

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Hitachi HDTV Studio and EFP Camera IBC 2013 SAW HITACHI Kokusai Electric exhibiting the new Hitachi “Z-HD6000” portable, dockable HDTV studio and EFP camera, with a 3 x 2/3-inch MOS 2.6 megapixel sensor.

The camera has HDTV signal format outputs in 1080/59.94i or 1080/50i with 1100TV lines resolution. The Z-HD6000 is the first 3MOS sensor HDTV camera in the company’s popular, affordable Z Series product line.

Universal Camera Kit Versatile on-camera microphone suspension

The Z-HD6000 is a two-piece dockable camera offering the versatility and flexibility necessary for multipurpose applications including studio, field, and mobile video production. The camera can be docked to an optical fibre, triax, or RF wireless adapter, offering high light sensitivity coupled with no vertical smear, the Z-HD6000’s three 2/3- inch native 1080i MOS sensors allows F13@2000 lx (1080/50i), and HD Signal to Noise (SNR) level of 60dB for a sharp, clean HD picture.

Lightweight for on-shoulder portability, the Z-HD6000 features realtime lens aberration correction (RLAC) along with versatile scene and lens features, ultra-gamma for film contrasts and a 12-vector and linear matrix masking allowing for changing hue- and saturation-levels. More useful features are skin-tone-masking, quick-focus as well as user-programmable switches and a choice of b/w or colour viewfinder displays.

Visit www.hitachi-keu.com Kit includes: Windjammer, Hot Shoe Extender & Camera Clamp Adaptor.

LED Lighting System

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.

IBC 2013 SAW ROTOLIGHT release Version 2 of its ANOVA EcoFlood (Bi-Colour LED system) featuring enhanced Colour rendering and brighter output performance. Rotolight have also announced an expansion to the ANOVA family of products, including the ANOVA SOLO Single Colour Flood lights available in 5600K (Daylight) or 3200K (Tungsten).

The complete range of new ANOVA products is available in either ‘UltraWide’ 110 degree beam angle for a beautiful soft light or ‘Standard’ 50 Degree beam angle for greater straight line output. All ANOVA models in the range are Totally Flicker Free and thanks to the latest LED technology, deliver ‘best in class’ Colour Rendering with enhanced output (R15 ‘skin tone’ CRI = 98).

The ANOVA family is also Eco-Friendly system on the market delivering 1000 Watt tungsten equivalent output for just 38-Watt consumption. All ANOVA lights can be controlled by DMX or via WiFi from the Rotolight ‘Magic Eye HD’ App for iPhone or iPad, the worlds most advanced Lighting controller APP. Rotolight has developed a new LED system for the V2 ANOVA’s that gives ‘best in class’ colour rendition and enhanced output and are ideal for fixed studio installs or ENG. The Bi-Colour ANOVA is electronically colour adjustable from 3150K up to 6300K and can accurately reproduce any colour of white light. All the ANOVA EcoFlood lights produce that signature ‘Ringlight’ / Soft Light effect and are perfect for Portrait lighting and interviews.

Power consumption is a low 38 Watts at full output (1000 Watt tungsten equivalent), so each ANOVA light can be powered by a standard V-Lock or Gold Mount battery for up to 4 hours making them suitable for location or ENG operation Visit www.rotolight.com

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ACQUISITION

Videocraft Provides Production Solutions for Beyond WHEN BEYOND NEEDED production solutions for their Challenge children’s TV series they turned to Videocraft for help. Their shows – Pipsqueaks, Toybox, and Lab Rats Challenge - are all original Australian concepts and broadcast both domestically and overseas.

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Beyond Producer Director, Ian Munro, explained, “For Toybox and Pipsqueaks our studio space came with no technical equipment so we were looking for a cost effective solution. Videocraft’s FlyPack kit provided all that we needed. These shows are switched, drama style, multi-camera productions requiring CCU, a switcher, cameras on pedestals and talkback communications as well as main and backup record. There are musical elements in the shows that also require 2 or 3-camera ISO recording and the kit’s router also enables that.”

The premise of Toybox is toys coming to life and having adventures in a child’s bedroom. To help create the illusion Beyond built sections of a bedroom at 5:1 scale and a matching complete bedroom at 1:1 scale for chroma key backgrounds.

Munro added, “There is a considerable amount of chroma key in Toybox and fortunately the Panasonic switcher in the Videocraft FlyPack has enough options for us to make trial keys. It’s also useful as a reference for camera colourimetry and to fine tune lighting. With the switcher’s ability to shrink and position foregrounds we are able to match angles and correct eye lines. We are also able to record clean shots direct for higher quality keying in post and at the same time watch the live reference key to check for possible problems and cropping.”

The production’s chroma key backgrounds are shots taken in the 1:1 set and Beyond now has many of the more common backgrounds stored in the FlyPack’s mixer as stills for quick shooting. The show also has two actors in full character suits with Videocraft supplying independent IFB channels for each one enabling them to hear other actors on programme audio and the director’s talkback.

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reverse scan monitors to perform. One option would be to go to a bigger switching desk with the ability to flip images on a separate layer but this is beyond our budget and small OLED monitors which offer the reverse option are too small for puppeteers to use across a big set. We were looking for a cost effective solution and Videocraft spent some time checking out possibilities and found a small converter they could feed into the router – happy days!”

The third show in the series, Lab Rats Challenge, is a multi-camera science game show. Due to its unpredictable content it requires all cameras to be ISO recorded – another challenge met and overcome by Videocraft.

Pipsqueaks uses the same Videocraft FlyPack kit but set to HD for switched multi-camera and ISO recording. As Pipsqueaks is a programme involving puppetry there are additional challenges which Videocraft were again quick to provide solutions for.

Munro explained, “While the studio is fully equipped with technical gear the studio wasn’t able to dedicate six ISO recordings. We approached Videocraft to help and they designed a recording and post-production path within our budget, supplying and installing an EVS system to record all the cameras and the switcher output. The only issue was, for a one-off production period, it wasn’t feasible to cable the EVS to the Avid. So Videocraft created a simple system of multiple portable raid drives to get the material from the studio to the edit suite.”

Munro continued, “In a big set the puppeteers require numerous

Visit www.videocraft.com.au

Due to the nature of the shoot, Friedman and his crew took their Sony cameras to locations all across Australia. He added, “We needed a small robust camera kit suitable for a road trip shoot, rigging in planes, on cars and in underwater housings. The camera needed to be able to shoot 4K RAW and have a good low light capability. Hence, our decision to film on an F55 plus an F5 for the rig shots.”

As 4K increases in popularity, and as Ultra HD TV sets become a little more affordable, the production community is seeing an increasing number of projects shot, post produced, and screened in 4K.

ACQUISITION

The TVC’s producer, Paul Friedman, explained, “As we were invited to film the launch of the new Sony 4K Ultra HD televisions it made perfect sense to use Sony 4K professional camera equipment. We chose to shoot and complete the post production in 4K to ensure the absolute best quality in cinemas and in-store.”

Friedman continued, “The F55 and F5 cameras perfectly suited our needs.

They proved to be reliable and took the hard workout we gave them with ease. The size of the camera kit dictated we mainly used the F55 as we needed to be very mobile and required quick and numerous setups.”

Sony’s F55 and F5 CineAlta 4K cameras, alongside the flagship F65, spearhead the company’s now well-established drive to offer a full 4K workflow and ecosystem. To date, over 2000 F55 and F5 cameras have been shipped worldwide.

Friedman concluded, “The Sony team gave some technical advice which really helped us on the shoot.”

Watch the Sony 4K TVC at http://youtu.be/hVmy2W1mKi0 Visit http://pro.sony.com.au

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Sony Shoots First Australian-Produced 4K Cinema TVC

THE FIRST LOCALLY PRODUCED 4K cinema TVC has been shot with Sony PMW-F55 and PMW-F5 cameras. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the ad was created to promote the launch of Sony’s new range of BRAVIA 4K Ultra HD TVs. Titled “Like Nothing You’ve Ever Experienced” the TVC is part of a multimillion dollar national campaign that offers viewers a window into a first time experience of three real life Australians.

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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide

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Pacific Broadcast Goes Surfing with Fujinon & Magna IN ORDER TO FULFIL one of its many broadcasting requirements for the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, Pacific Broadcast recently purchased two new FUJINON XA99×8.4BESM DIGIPOWER 99 Premium Field Lenses. The company also expanded their multi-viewer capabilities with a Miranda Kaleido Modular multi-viewer solution from Magna Systems and Engineering.

Pacific Broadcast’s, Matt Percy, explained, “The XA99x8.4 ultra-wide field production lens offered us a zoom range of 99x, a focal length of 8.4 to 832mm, and MOD of 2.9m. This was ideal as we were looking for great zoom lenses with excellent stabilisation to shoot ASP World Championship Tour events across Australia and throughout the world.”

The XA99x is f1.7 to 341mm and f4.2 at 832mm and offers FUJINON’s DIGI POWER digital controls (featuring F number limit), Quick Zoom, two-shot presets, and a 2X extender.

Percy continued, “The XA99x Ultra Wide is outstanding in its class because it combines high-performance imaging, a long zoom reach, and an ultra-wide angle. It’s extremely rugged, versatile, and reliable and, as I mentioned, ideal for live sports production like surfing.”

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The XA99x8.4 also features a patented image stabilisation technology, which is especially critical for long-distance HD shots and, according to Percy, the technology doesn’t come more into its own than on a surfing tour.

He added, “This lens is incredibly wide at the wide end for a box lens and yet its near focus ability is also excellent. This means when we are shooting coast lines and surfers in full flow through heat haze, sea spray and mist the images are not only sharp but rock steady, despite the distance, thanks to the amazing image stabilisation.”

High-resolution 16-bit encoders are standard on the XA99x8.4 making it suitable to virtual, robotic, and digital signage, among other applications.

FUJINON’s exclusive GO-Technology improves image resolution and chromatic aberrations at all focal lengths.

Speaking about the Miranda Kaleido Modular system, Percy said, “One of our OB trucks – OB2 – needed a flexible, fast and reliable multi-viewer so we discussed our options with Magna and decided on the Miranda Kaleido Modular system as the best solution for our requirements.”

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As a dense, quad-split multi-viewer the Kaleido-Modular provided Pacific Broadcast’s OB truck with a space-saving, low noise and energy-efficient solution that offered up to 20 multi-viewer outputs in its 3RU frame.

Percy continued, “We liked the fact that it’s a series of cards that make up the Kaleido modular system as that means it can be configured as cascaded or individual head outputs and can be easily moved around to suit changing requirements. Aside from being very flexible it also has a high level of redundancy as you can swap out the cards so it’s pretty ideal for our outside broadcast work.”

The Kaleido-Modular multi-viewer was first used by Pacific Broadcast on a number of ASP surfing tour events throughout Australia, events that always have a great deal of vision to monitor at any one time.

Percy concluded, “It’s a great product and that combined with the excellent service and support we got from Magna – their delivery time was spectacularly quick by the way – has made the entire purchase a very worthwhile one.”

Visit www.fujifilm.com.au and www.magnasys.tv

Gearhouse Makes Largest Ever Canon Lens Purchase IN ITS LARGEST EVER LENS PURCHASE, broadcast services specialist Gearhouse Broadcast has made a multi-million dollar investment in highend Canon field and ENG/EFP lenses to bolster and enhance its Australian HD OB supertrucks fleet.

Gearhouse Broadcast CEO, John Newton, said, “This deal firmly reinforces the message we communicated, when we announced our new HD5, HD6, HD7 and HD8 30-camera OB supertrucks, that we are fully committed to bringing the Australian market the very best in broadcast services for the long term. Our core philosophy has always been to deliver the latest and highest quality technology, workflows and services to our customers. This multimillion dollar investment in Canon lenses is another good example of that philosophy in action.”

The new Canon lenses will form an integral part of Gearhouse’s technology offering at many of the high profile events it provides broadcast services for including the ATP Tennis Masters 1000 and 500 tournaments, V8 Supercars, AFL, Super 15s Rugby, and A-League Football amongst many others.

The company has purchased multiple XJ100, XJ95, XJ80, XJ76, and XJ27 box lenses and HJ40, HJ22, and HJ14 ENG/EFP barrel lenses from Canon’s optical division. As Gearhouse has clients and offices across the globe some of the lenses will also be utilised at overseas events in markets including the UK, USA, Qatar, and India when required.

Canon Australia Sales Manager Broadcast – Canon Professional Imaging John McInerney said, “We have been working closely with the team at Gearhouse Broadcast to see how we could best meet their lens requirements for the fit of the new HD OB supertrucks. We believe Gearhouse has purchased the very best lenses available in terms of being able to offer their clients the exacting visual standards required of image capture systems in today’s HD outside broadcast environment.”

John Newton concluded, “As a company Gearhouse is always listening to and fulfilling the requirements of our clients as best we can. Our belief is that top quality and first-class presentation are paramount and that our clients keep coming back because they know they can always expect both from us.”

Visit www.gearhousebroadcast.com and www.canon.com.au

SPORTSCASTING

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SPORTSCASTING

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The Glasgow Diaries: Chapter 5

By David Bowers

It’s the quietest day in our project office for more than a month, quiet being a relative term of course. literally tens of thousands of emails since their previous visit in February, nothing compares to working side by side, especially in a period of such concentrated activity.

The following two days in Glasgow were devoted to workshops with each broadcaster group and the Organising Committee, and walking the RHBs through their individual scenarios.

WE’VE JUST COMPLETED a milestone on our critical path following the second meeting of rights-holder broadcasters (RHBs) – a follow up to their initial visit last November.

The extent to which plans have evolved since that first meeting is gratifying to us on the Host Broadcaster team and, fortunately, our world broadcaster clients seem to agree, as all appointed so far have signed off on their individual arrangements. They include the ABU, BBC TV and Radio, Australia’s Network TEN (with Australian sub-licensees ABC Radio), Sky Network Television New Zealand, Supersport, and Taj TV. A full-on week started with a half-day presentation by the Organising Committee to outline the sporting schedule and timeslots and how the events would flow, as well as transport and accommodation; how people will move between venues; the processes for secured items to enter venues; and, naturally, catering: any army marches on its stomach!

In the afternoon it was the Host Broadcaster’s opportunity to detail the facilities we’ll be providing and to review the services rate card: essential for RHBs’ budgeting and important to prevent any surprises down the track.

SPORTSCASTING

SVGTV director Keith Andrews opened with an overview of what the Host Broadcaster will provide and handed over to project director Andrew Quinn, who took the RHBs through the detail. With TV and radio representatives attending we covered a lot of ground as, successively, production, broadcast venue managers, engineers, and telecommunications experts presented their respective components.

I was particularly glad to welcome back my Sydney-based colleagues from Global Television: Terry Manley, Christopher Farmer, and Mark Ahern from engineering; broadcast venue manager Caroline Ramsay; and head of production Ian Hirst. Despite daily Skype and phone calls, and

Representatives from Australian RHB Network TEN travelled from Sochi to attend our world broadcasters’ meeting and lap up some of the magical Glasgow weather. Perfect northern summer days were a great backdrop to showcase potential sites for live crosses and athlete interviews, including the magnificent Loch Lomond, which, while not actually a Games venue, could feature in after-Games events. We are working closely with TEN to ensure we meet their needs and deliver them a first-class result, and they indicated they were impressed with the level of preparedness 12 months out.

Understandably, the BBC has the most significant space and facilities requirements, and with a bureau right across the River Clyde from the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) we are finalising the best way to interconnect them, as they will have many more people at their own premises than at the IBC or venues. The BBC’s extensive plans for multi-platform coverage are exciting and we’re well advanced on a framework that will give them the flexibility they need.

One of the elements we were keen to demonstrate at the broadcasters’ meeting was the outdoor ‘stand-up’ position in the Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) precinct adjacent to the IBC. The triangular forecourt buttressed by the SSE Hydro, Clyde Auditorium, and Crowne Plaza Hotel provides a 270-degree panorama of the city and main Games precinct. It will be a spectacular backdrop for RHBs to bring Glasgow colour and movement to their audiences at home.

The SSE Hydro is nearly finished and will open at the end of September with concerts booked for the first week of October. It will be a spectacular venue for the Games and set to become a new city icon.

We were also excited to explain our plans to base three remote-controlled cameras at the press centre to capture multiple daily media conferences. Rather than build a stand-alone control room at the MPC, these cameras will be connected to the IBC by approximately 800 metres of fibre (just a little too far for conventional cable).

Following our workshops the RHBs had an option to tour the venues. While most had a walkthrough in November at the first world broadcasters’ meet-

ing, the venues are so much further along now it’s increasingly possible to visualise what they will be like when full of athletes and spectators.

Having sat in on the review meetings with RHBs to capture the finer detail and include any late changes to the build plans, the Global Television engineering team headed home.

They are now completing the bill of materials and starting construction on the ‘fly away’ portion of the broadcast telecommunications operation centres (BTOC) and commentary control rooms (CCRs) for the IBC and venues.

As each venue requires one of these systems, there are approximately 30 CCR and BTOC systems to build. Although there are ‘only’ 17 sporting events some will have up to five fields of play (e.g. Athletics), each of which will require its own coverage.

The CCR systems will be 10 rack-units in height in standard flight-case size packaging, while the BTOCs will be full-height equipment racks.

Interconnecting the BTOCs and CCRs will be single mode fibre to keep weight down and because it offers bandwidth flexibility to scale each system as needed.

The build will take place between September and December in Sydney with guidance from Global’s engineering manager, Jim Tinker, who is taking the experience Global gained on the Delhi Games and expanding it for Glasgow. The systems will be progressively shipped to Glasgow for installation in the new year. Daily progress calls will keep our respective teams in sync.

As I mentioned at the start, quiet is a relative term. Though our project office is hosting fewer visiting clients and team members, the pace of activity is – if anything – even faster as we now have a clear mandate from RHBs. The energy outside our office is building, too: Glasgow’s streets are alive with entertainment, open-air markets and live concerts – a carnival atmosphere made even better by the extraordinary summer heat wave we’re enjoying.

It’s officially one year to go, and these festivals are in some ways a ‘practice run’ for the main event next year.

David Bowers is head of engineering and technical operations for SVGTV, which holds the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Host Broadcast contract.

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SPORTSCASTING

IBM and USTA Captivate Tennis Fans with Immersive Second Screen Experience IBM AND UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION (USTA) have served analytics, cloud computing, mobile, and social technologies to 2013 US Open tennis fans, bringing them closer to the action on the courts while delivering real-time insights into match data that go beyond basic scores and stats.

IBM and the USTA have collaborated for over 20 years on a technology partnership that enables fans – no matter where they are located – to follow and examine every serve, volley, and point at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.

The digital US Open environment provides fans, players, broadcasters and media with access to a range of Big Data insights streaming from the courts, including stats, facts, videos, live scoring, and historical and real-time analysis of tennis data served to tablets, smartphones, PCs, and other devices.

“As the US Open continues to grow and reach tennis enthusiasts around the world, our fans are clamouring for access to more and more content, as well as deeper insights that allow them to join social conversations about the tournament,” said Nicole Jeter West, director of Digital Strategy and Partnership, USTA. “Having a partner like IBM for over 20 years enables us to have great confidence the USOpen.org technology infrastructure and to feel like we have the best resources in place to meet our fans’ demands.”

New for the 2013 US Open was a redesigned IBM SlamTracker analytics dashboard that delivers real-time insights into match data and statistics that goes beyond basic scoreboard watching, helping fans understand how and why a player prevails in a particular match.

SlamTracker includes a “Keys to the Match” feature, built on IBM predictive analytics software, and “Momentum”.

The enhanced SlamTracker software also offers a new embedded social sentiment feed that will enable fans to follow and contrast how the volume and tone of fan sentiment on Twitter correlates and shifts as player performance changes on the court.

For most of the year, the USTA’s digital USOpen.org infrastructure runs like a small business, but during the two-week US Open tournament it rapidly transforms into data and performance hungry environment that requires constant and uninterrupted access to content ready to serve the unpredictable demands of millions of tennis fans.

Previously, IBM manually monitored and adjusted computing workloads for the USTA. For 2013, IBM upgraded the infrastructure that supports USOpen.org with a combination of predictive analytics and cloud computing technologies to predict, monitor, and continuously adjust the capacity and computing resources that support the US Open’s digital needs. This versatile cloud computing environment – powered by IBM Power servers and cloud technologies located in three geographically dispersed data centres that are virtualised as one – provides continuous availability and scalability the US Open needs.

IBM and the USTA also delivered a captivating second screen experience to fans watching from the stands on television or online via a robust, mobile friendly USOpen.org that enables fans to easily navigate and access content, data & stats from a variety of devices.

The US Open mobile fan experience features numerous enhancements from IBM Interactive, the company’s digital design agency, including a refreshed, engaging iPad app that offers integrated social features, instant access to live video and in-depth match analysis and statistics.

On site at the Tennis Center, IBM brought back the IBM Game Changer Interactive Wall for a second consecutive year. The Game Changer wall extends many the USOpen.org and mobile app features and provides greater insight into the US Open action using the power of analytics.

Tennis fans of all ages can interact with the wall and access live match scores, in-depth analysis and data visualisations.

“Sports fans demand ubiquitous and uninterrupted real-time access to scores, stats and insights from Big Data, much like clients and C-suite execs in most industries,” said Rick Singer, vice president, Sports Sponsorship Marketing for IBM. “The explosion of mobile and social technologies has radically changed the ways companies and people access data, giving them many choices over how, when and where they tap into information. From watching a game on TV, catching video highlights on a smartphone to monitoring online sales via an iPad, uninhibited access to Big Data has become an essential element of business and life.”

Visit www.ibm.com

FFA Extends Hyundai A-League Global Broadcast Rights FOOTBALL FEDERATION AUSTRALIA (FFA) has appointed World Sport Group (WSG) to represent the worldwide (excluding Australia and Oceania) broadcast rights for the Australian national football league, the Hyundai A-League, for a further four years, until the end of the 2016/2017 season.

SPORTSCASTING

The Singapore-headquartered WSG has been an FFA sales partner since 2005. In addition to the Hyundai A-League, the FFA has also extended WSG’s agreement to sell the broadcast rights to the Australian senior men’s national team matches.

“FFA is pleased to continue its relationship with WSG to sell the international broadcast rights of the Hyundai A-League and senior men’s national team matches,” said FFA CEO David Gallop. “We have had a long and fruitful history working with WSG and we look forward to continuing this relationship and developing further broadcast opportunities internationally for the promotion and visibility of Australian football.”

“We are pleased to extend our partnership with Football Federation Australia for a further four years,” said James Clarke, Senior Vice

President, Content at World Sport Group. “The Hyundai A-League is one of Asia’s leading leagues and together with FFA, we have been able to build a strong broadcast platform for the competition across Asia and around the world over the past few years.”

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Matches from the Hyundai A-League’s 2012/2013 season were televised in major markets worldwide with a potential reach of nearly 90 million.

Broadcasters who aired the matches included Mediaset Premium Calcio in Italy, BSkyB in the United Kingdom, Fox Sports and One World Sports in the USA, TV Asahi and NHK in Japan, i-Cable in Hong Kong, Astro in Malaysia, Starhub in Singapore and Guangdong TV in China.

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Further, in partnership with Perform, the digital rights group, WSG will also stream every match played in the Hyundai A-League worldwide (subject to geoblocking in selected territories) on www.aleague.livesport. tv. WSG will support the league broadcasts on online and social media including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Visit www.footballaustralia.com.au and www.wsgworld.com

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SPORTSCASTING

OCA to Establish Broadcasting Services THE OLYMPIC COUNCIL of Asia (OCA) and MP & Silva, an international media rights company, announced their plans to internalise the media production of all Asian Games competitions and all other OCA events. A new OCA Broadcasting Services company will be established in the molds of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) with the objective to guarantee the highest standards of production technology for the Asian sporting events.

MP & Silva has been appointed to manage the OCA Broadcasting Services entity. MP & Silva will be responsible to manage, supervise and execute all media production of the Asian multi-sporting competitions on behalf of OCA. The next steps of this project include a joint OCA/MP & Silva production tender to identify the best production companies with the right set of technical expertise.

By internalising the broadcasting production, the OCA and MP & Silva intend to set a new production standard for multi-sporting event coverage and to give more visibility to other OCA competitions, other than the Asian Games.

The Asian Games, organised by the OCA, takes place in every 4 years and involves 45 nations of Asia and Middle East. With a television audience of billions of people, the 2010 Asian Games had over 2,500 hours of broadcasting transmission.

Visit www.mpsilva.com and www.ocasia.org

PA People Upgrades for ANZ’s Audio THE P.A. PEOPLE HAS delivered a AUD$3 million sound system upgrade to Sydney’s ANZ Stadium which will give concert-sound quality to the 83,500-capacity venue. The multipurpose stadium was purpose-built for the 2000 Summer Olympics and now hosts professional sporting events as well as global entertainment acts including U2, The Rolling Stones, Andre Rieu, and AC/DC. The system was installed by Sydney based contractors The P.A. People, who designed and installed the original sound system in 1999 for the 2000 Olympics, undertook the system’s conversion in 2003 when the venue was renovated, and has maintained the system and provided PA system operators for every major event since.

According to Chris Dodds, Managing Director, The P.A. People, “Our knowledge of the ground, developed over nearly 15 years, places us in a unique position to understand the requirements of a new system, the wide range of events it needs to serve and the stadium’s expectation of that delivery for their clients and audiences.”

The new sound system doubles the number of speaker boxes to 374 suspended in clusters, and debuted at the State of Origin opener on June 5 and again at Australia’s successful World Cup qualifier against Iraq.

SPORTSCASTING

When the original system reached the end of its service life, the company was contracted to install the new d&b V system speakers along with the substantial mechanical design and metal fabrication required, and continues to provide the venue with an ongoing service and operational commitment.

The system is based around the Stadium geometry with loudspeaker clusters suspended up to 45 metres high in the four quadrants, each served by its own amplifier room. Each of the quadrants was installed in a single week through May to enable the entire PA to be fully operational for weekend club matches. The four-way stereo design comprises 266 fullrange line-array loudspeaker elements, 44 full-range loudspeakers and 64 sub-bass cabinets.

Scott Willsallen of Auditoria designed the system, with d&b components supplied by National Audio Systems, and new hoists by Jands Theatre Projects.

Visit www.papeople.com.au

Simoco to Supply DMR System for Adelaide Oval SIMOCO HAS BEEN SELECTED as the supplier of the new radio communication network at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval and will install its Simoco Xd DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) system.

The Adelaide Oval is undergoing a $535 million redevelopment, with completion scheduled for early 2014. Once finished, the 2100m² sporting ground will have a seated capacity of 50,000 spectators. As part of the redevelopment, it was identified that a comprehensive interoperable digital radio system was required to allow clear, reliable communication across the entire site for all operational personnel including security, facilities management and contractors, particularly during match days and events, was required.

The contract, secured by the local Adelaide office of Simoco Australasia, includes system design, installation and a four-year maintenance agreement for the Simoco Xd system which includes Simoco’s digital base stations and hand held portable radios. In addition, Simoco will provide supplementary portable radios through its rental division to meet additional demand around specific events.

Ian Carr, CEO of Simoco, said, “We are delighted to be supporting this prestigious venue as it undergoes a significant redevelopment. Simoco Xd brings to the Oval the latest in digital radio standards to manage and control its critical communications across the venue which is fundamental to the overall spectator experience.”

Visit www.simocogroup.com

Gearhouse Oz Standardises OB Units on Riedel Intercoms RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS HAS announced that Australia’s Gearhouse Broadcast Pty Ltd is continuing to base all of its outside broadcast (OB) units on the Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom system. Installed across five OB trucks so far with two more slated for release in 2014, the Riedel systems serve as the core communications platform and integrated commentary/announce solution for Gearhouse’s mobile and remote productions. As early adopters of the Artist system, Gearhouse Broadcast holds Australia’s largest complement of OB-deployed Riedel systems.

“We continue to choose the Artist system for its overall capabilities, the power and flexibility of its software, and the superior audio quality assured by internal digital audio routing,” said Stephen Edwards, head of engineering at Gearhouse Broadcast Pty Ltd. “We can easily merge and expand Artist systems across multiple OB trucks and facilities, and their integration with Lawo audio desks gives us the benefit of sharing signals and resources between the two systems.”

Located in Sydney and Melbourne, Gearhouse Broadcast’s evergrowing fleet currently consists of seven HD units of various sizes and two SD units. The two latest OB trucks to be equipped with Riedel’s Artist intercom systems, HD5 and HD6, feature identical 192port systems comprising a combined Artist 128 and Artist 64 system in a two-node configuration.

The Artist system also is in use at the U.K.’s Gearhouse Broadcast Ltd, which is part of the Gravity Media Group along with Gearhouse Broadcast Australia. The U.K. operation has already integrated five Artist systems for international projects and mobile fly-away systems.

“As part of Gravity Media, the Gearhouse Broadcast businesses represent one of the biggest content production groups in the world, and it’s great that Riedel has its support,” said Cameron O’Neill, solution manager at Riedel Communications.

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Visit www.gearhousebroadcast.com.au and www.riedel.net

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Nine News Goes Mobile with Dejero AUSTRALIA’S NINE NETWORK has deployed multiple Dejero LIVE+ Transmitters for its Australian and international news bureaus.

Supplied by Dejero’s exclusive Australian distributor, Digistor, the Dejero equipment has become a valuable component in Channel Nine’s live newsgathering capabilities.

“Dejero’s LIVE+ Transmitters enable us to bring ‘you are there’ immediacy to breaking news for which microwave or satellite might not be practical,” said Mathew Yelavich, chief technology officer, Channel Nine Australia. “And now, with the remote control and enhanced audio features in Version 2.9, Dejero has set the bar even higher for broadcast quality in a cellular bonding transmission solution.”

The remote control feature of Dejero’s LIVE+ 2.9 gives broadcast operators an easy means of controlling Dejero’s LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter and LIVE+ VSET mobile ENG systems from any studio or remote location using any HTML5-enabled Web browser, including those running on mobile devices. Via the familiar and intuitive 20/20 Transmitter graphical interface, the remote control capability enables joint field/studio operation and provides the ability to control multiple transmitters at once.

Also in Version 2.9, the Dejero LIVE+ Platform now features an updated codec that is able to produce much better audio quality at similar bit rates than previous versions. In addition, Dejero transmitters now apply the company’s adaptive bit-rate (ABR) encoding — a technology that was previously applied only to video — to the audio transmission. (ABR) encoding automatically and in real-time adjusts the bit rate assigned to audio as a function of the bandwidth available on the intelligently bonded connection.

Dejero says it has also improved its LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter, a rugged and portable mobile ENG solution, and LIVE+ VSET, a vehicle-mount version of the 20/20 Transmitter.

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Version 2.9 of the Dejero LIVE+ Portal intelligent online management system now includes general performance improvements and the addition of remote control management.

Visit www.dejero.com and www.digistor.com.au

ABC Trials News Aggregation to Mobiles ABC INNOVATION HAS LAUNCHED a new pilot project that channels news and information from a variety of sources to mobile phones. The trial will be initially rolled out in Newcastle, NSW, and Launceston, Tasmania.

Going under the name of ‘Spoke’, the service provides a mobile phone site for aggregated news, entertainment and other information relevant to people in specific communities. News and information will be combined from ABC news outlets, Fairfax local publications and direct from city councils, festivals and event organisers, sports clubs and community groups.

Newcastle and Launceston residents can test the product by logging on to the m-site spoke.abc.net.au and entering their location. The m-site can then be personalised to give viewers only the news and information that they want to see. Sport, for example, can be made a priority or turned off completely for those not interested.

Feedback from residents will be used to improve the Spoke experience and will feed into further beta trials. The research findings are also being shared with content participants and with the public on the Spoke blog Director of ABC Innovation, Angela Clark, said further Spoke trials would be based on community reaction and engagement.

“We conducted research in Launceston, Mt Gambier, Geelong, Canberra and Newcastle to better understand what role a person’s location plays in their content needs,” she said. “Spoke came out of this research, as it showed that people in smaller cities and towns were struggling to find the right mix of relevant news in an easy-to-use mobile format.”

“The first Newcastle and Launceston pilots will hopefully give us a sense of what people want and to determine if Spoke is on the right track. We have already learnt that people don’t want only local news but would prefer a mix that includes local, national and international.

“We thought Newcastle and Launceston would be good places to test this tool as they are cities with strong local identities and of regional significance. Newcastle is also emerging as a hub for digital incubation and both cities have vibrant arts communities and a passion for local sport.

“With the vast changes in the media landscape, we are hoping to create a tool that offers support across the sector. By providing people with links to a range of media sources, we achieve two goals: sending more traffic to different sites while wrapping information up in one single source to make it easier for readers. Collaborative ventures like this will benefit local media and the communities they serve.”

The ABC plans to extend Spoke to Mt Gambier and Townsville later this year.

Regional Expansion for ABC News Geelong have received a boost with the appointment of two new locally dedicated ABC journalists.

The ABC is establishing the local news bureau in Geelong following AUD$227,000 in funding from the Australian Federal Government. The $227,000 grant is part of a $10 million ABC News Initiative.

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The area that will be serviced by the new bureau has a population of 220,000 people and Geelong is the 12th largest city in Australia. The focus of the bureau will be on generating local stories across all platforms and increasing diversity in news content, which will also feed into stories of state-wide and national interest.

Australia’s national broadcaster also recently launched ABC NewsRadio in the New South Wales Illawarra region, broadcast on 90.9FM.

The NewsRadio regional rollout is one of the largest radio projects ever undertaken in Australia, with 70 new News Radio services launched. This service in Wollongong will reach a potential audience of 1.2 million people in the wider Illawarra region.

In addition, the ABC in Wollongong will also receive funding of $205,000 to improve the production of local news services. The money will fund a new camera operator, new camera kits, and live-linking equipment.

ABC Wollongong news and local radio staff will be trained in the use of the lightweight camera gear and laptop-based linking equipment that will enable local interviews and live television crosses from ABC locations around the country. While the ABC has an extensive network of regional bureaus, this new equipment will increase the flow of video regional news content to local, national and state audiences across all its platforms, including online.

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Vislink Launches Motorised MSAT VISLINK HAS LAUNCHED a new motorised version of the Advent MSAT satellite terminal at IBC 2013. Vislink’s Advent MSAT is a fully integrated satellite data terminal, capable of supporting either a 90cm or 120cm antenna and designed to meet growing demand from the global SNG market for more portable systems with improved data throughput and ease of deployment.

Following the successful launch of the broadcast specification Mantis MSAT earlier this year, the motorised MSAT adds the option of a 120cm reflector and also offers improved data throughput rates of up to 10Mbps, making it the ideal system for a first on scene broadcast uplink.

With simultaneous three-axis motorisation and one button auto acquire, the MSAT data terminal offers full support for two-way video, voice and data communications, designed for rapid deployment and one man operation in a variety of scenarios.

The new motorised MSAT is a full tri-band optioned system that can support X, Ka and Ku band configurations, capable of delivering highdefinition video and data from anywhere in the world. The feeds can also be swapped in the field.

The Motorised MSAT is part of Vislink’s Advent range of antennas, and like other Advent products, is highly customisable and can be tailored to include the Advent DVE5100 H.264 encoder or a customer-specified IP modem fitted into the body of the unit.

Visit www.vislink.com

Unreel Introduces UX VS Lite with Ross Video UNREEL, AN INDUSTRY LEADER in Virtual-Set (VS) and AugmentedReality (AR) solutions for broadcast television, has announced the availability of UX VS Lite, a new member of its UX product line, designed to support trackless virtual sets. UX VS Lite is a full-featured product for customers seeking a low-cost entry point into the world of virtual sets.

The objective of UX VS Lite is to deliver an affordable trackless virtual set control system that leverages all of the strengths of the flagship Unreel Xperience, while leaving open the option to move into more sophisticated tracked solutions. UX VS Lite users can easily upgrade to the full UX VS product for both virtual sets and augmented reality should their requirements grow or change.

“Our singular business focus is virtual sets and augmented reality, and we’re pleased to be able to now offer a complete range of UX products,” said Paul Lacombe, CEO of Unreel. “We’re looking forward to growing our product capabilities as this technology becomes mainstream over the next several years.”

UX VS Lite is designed to work with the Ross Video’s powerful XPression 3D graphics engine. Unreel’s UX VS Lite touchscreen user interface enables customers to easily setup and control a full 3D virtual set. Within this environment, UX VS Lite provides customers with the ability to create animated camera moves; move, scale, and animate virtual objects; trigger complex multi-step animations; and place stills, movies, and/or live video into the scene.

Visit www.unreel.com and www.rossvideo.com

Designed to be easily portable, AVIWEST’s DMNG PRO transmitters and Thuraya broadband terminals represent a perfect solution for journalists and camera crews on location. Compact and lightweight, DMNG PRO transmitters can be mounted directly on professional cameras or carried

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AVIWEST Integrating with Thuraya AVIWEST’S DIGITAL MOBILE news-gathering video uplink systems, DMNG PRO Series, have received certification from mobile satellite services operator Thuraya. From now on, broadcast reporters and camera crews can use AVIWEST equipment to stream live video over Thuraya’s satellite telecommunication network via the Thuraya IP or the new Thuraya IP+ broadband terminal.

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into a small backpack.

This integration offers a great benefit: ease of use. Once setup, the DMNG PRO detects the available network connections and establishes a straightforward connection with the satellite terminal without the need of a laptop. Thuraya’s broadband terminals are plug and play devices, that is, plugging an Ethernet cable from the DMNG PRO to the terminal is the only thing to do to connect the devices together. On air in a few seconds, the DMNG PRO automatically adapts itself to the network performance.

Visit www.thuraya.com www.aviwest.com

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LiveU Unveils LiveU Connect LIVEU HAS ANNOUNCED LiveU Connect, incorporating the full-range of LiveU’s product portfolio and its next-generation central management system, LiveU Central, in one single multi-layered, multi-faceted live video ecosystem.

The LiveU Connect ecosystem includes three main product categories:

NEWS OPERATIONS

1. Front-end field acquisition cellular bonding products: include the variety of devices and software to transmit live video from the field using LiveU’s patented cellular bonding technology.

2. Back-end servers: LiveU’s server options to physically ingest video in a broadcast facility or on the cloud for online distribution.

3. LiveU Central management platform that allows full control and monitoring of the entire ecosystem and content via any browser-supported device.

LiveU Central brings live video management into the heart of the control room, providing newsroom operators with the most comprehensive and

intuitive tools for controlling the operation and flow of multiple live feeds from different locations, both nationwide and overseas. The system includes: LiveU MultiStream, enhanced point-to-multipoint distribution; LiveU Matrix for real-time previews and flexible online management of multiple feeds; Geo-Location for each LiveU unit; and Enhanced Remote Control of all LiveU field devices, servers, laptop, and smartphone applications.

Samuel Wasserman, LiveU’s CEO, said, “The challenge that LiveU is rising to with LiveU Connect is to allow the integration and control of multiple unit feeds into an efficient broadcast workflow together with the sharing of content between bureaus and affiliated stations.”

LiveU Central integrates with newsroom, CDN, and OVP equipment. The system includes other features and capabilities such as managing groups, users and output channels, Store & Forward and FTP. Video can be stored on local storage or in the LiveU Cloud.

Visit www.liveu.tv

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IN THE SECOND INSTALLMENT in the series of high end VFX spots for Subaru Japan’s XV, Australian post house Cutting Edge has continued the narrative of miniatures playing on the surface of the car, only this time it has dialled up the CG considerably.

Designed to promote the XV Hybrid, the script called for 'car on car' action – that is, an XV driving over itself – and this, along with the budget, virtually demanded it be delivered as 100% CG. ADK/ADK Arts first approached Cutting Edge with the idea of the car driving on itself through various weather patterns, and then set them the challenge of how to structure that in one shot, and to establish how it would look and feel.

According to Mr. Junichi Tanaka, ADK Creative Director, it was Cutting Edge's creative vision that meant they were invited to work on the project without a pitch.

the environments are all CG, with environments traditionally being more difficult to achieve.

According to Jeff, "Because of the complex camera moves and the way the car was interacting with the environment, we had to create all of the elements ourselves – there was no component shoot for the mud, snow and rain at all."

This meant a lot of work texturing the car. For example, getting the mud right called for a combination of information drawn from actual mud sprays on cars, pulling mud off a real cars and creating photoshop style brushes to create mud effects.

"Getting the mud splats and snow splats right required creating an animated file in Flame for Maya to turn the mud layers on and off as the

car was moving through the scene," said Jeff.

Another substantial challenge was getting into Realflow and creating simulations in 3-D for the environments.

"Usually sims are contained in small areas," said Jeff. "But we were dealing with areas that were really big. For example, the snow on the roof was spread out over hundreds and hundreds of metres; just finding ways to achieve this was a wonderful challenge."

This brought particular technical challenges: in Maya and Realflow, some sims such as the rain took 48 hours for the computer to do the calculations. Renders too were lengthy, with the opening scene render taking 72 hours.

Visit www.cuttingedge.com.au

"Cutting Edge has wonderful creative insight – they bring ideas to the table that help take the idea and expand on it, refine it and add extra dimensions," said Junichi.

The result is impressive and viewers will find it hard to pick that the cars are entirely made out of ones and zeroes. However, according to Jeff Gaunt, Cutting Edge VFX Director, the trick to making the idea work was to subtly signal that all was not as it seemed.

"To draw the viewer in, we wanted the miniature car to have a quirk to its motion, a slight weightlessness in the animation to give a sense that it's not all quite real. The subtle depth of field effects helped here too," said Jeff.

Also of note is the fact that both the car and

Cutting Edge Establishes New Facility in Melbourne CUTTING EDGE HAS REVEALED the opening of a new facility in the post production precinct of South Melbourne, adding to its existing operations in Sydney and Brisbane. The move is in direct response to increasing client demand, and promises to provide a client focussed option to the local market, catering to post production services and workflow solutions.

Michael Burton, Cutting Edge CEO, said that the Melbourne production scene was robust and that he had fielded ongoing requests for the company to open its doors in Victoria.

“We’ve put together a new team, led by Executive Producer John Fleming, to answer the call,” said Burton. “Yes, we’re new to Melbourne, and we plan to respect that.

However, with our 21-year history, we’re well credentialed and we’ve been servicing clients here via our other offices for some time. We’ll also be linked with our Sydney and Brisbane facilities, and that means we can offer the capacity to service any project.”

According to John Fleming, clients will be delighted by Cutting Edge’s ability to deliver, and their focus on innovation.

“It will be great to bring this to the Melbourne market; we share a similar passion for invention and problem solving,” said Fleming.

“I’ve been involved in the industry for a long time and I love working with clients and seeing projects through.”

Fleming added, “Cutting Edge continues to successfully navigate the considerable market shifts of recent years by being flexible and developing individual solutions for their clients with a focus on creativity. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Visit www.cuttingedge.com.au

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Mistika From Start-toFinish on Gatsby

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SGO MISTIKA’S STEREO 3D tools and advanced metadata-based stereo workflow were used from start to finish on “The Great Gatsby” directed by Baz Luhrmann. The corrective stereo colour balancing was achieved using Mistika.

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Production Company Bazmark Film III’s VFX Department, headed by VFX Supervisor Chris Godfrey, purchased a Mistika system from SGO’s Australasian partner Mojo Media Solutions. The Mistika was in use constantly by Bazmark from the first day of the shoot and right the way through to the end of the DI. In addition, a second Mistika system supplied by Soundfirm Sydney was brought in for the sixteen week finishing period as a key part of the DI pipeline designed in tandem by VFX Supervisor / Digital Color Timer Tony Cole and Post Production Supervisor Henry Karjalainen. Australian feature sound mixing and editing facility, Soundfirm invested in a Mistika 2K finishing system with advanced DI colour grading and Stereo 3D options back in January 2012 as they expanded into the world of DI and Stereo 3D finishing.

Bazmark Film III’s VFX Department utilised Mistika on a daily basis for all of the RAW 5K stereo footage being shot in Red Epic-X cameras by Director of Photography Simon Duggan ACS. All of the takes, which were time-synchronised in Mistika, were also processed through the SGO system operated by Tony Cole and VFX Online Editor Justin Tran. Tony Cole designed a customised colour conversion procedure, where a first pass of stereoscopic 3D corrections for size, colour, and geometry were added, all in metadata form at the initial stage of the process. As the Editorial and VFX teams identified the candidate VFX shots, Tony and Justin pulled the shots from the large media storage pool attached to Mistika, where they would re-load the existing Mistika metadata and refine them to make additional, and even more precise, stereo corrections.

Mistika’s optical flow-based processing was used to provide pixel-based colour matching between the two eyes, an issue caused by polarisation, filters, mirror, and lens differences in 3D camera rigs. Many of the VFX shots involved resizing, which consequently affects the Inter-Axial (IA) separation of the two eyes.

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The second Mistika system, supplied by Soundfirm Sydney, was used as a core piece of a DI pipeline that was designed in tandem by Tony Cole and Henry Karjalainen. The DI took place in the Soundfirm DI theatre, located around 400 metres away from the Bazmark VFX offices. Bazmark installed a high-speed data connection between the two buildings so that the Soundfirm Mistika could access the same media storage that was being used by the Bazmark VFX Department, where all of the raw camera files were already available on spinning disks. This timesaving set-up prevented the need to create an expensive duplicate copy of over 300TB of raw footage just for the DI team to use.

Making this connection to the existing Mistika’s storage also gave Mistika DI and Finishing Operator, Nir Shelter direct access to the already existing Mistika metadata previously created over the preceding eighteen months work by the Bazmark VFX Department. This was of huge benefit to the conform and finishing process as the EDL’s being supplied by Editorial contained only Left Eye timecodes, yet due to Mistika’s ability to conform against its own metadata, it was still able to conform both eyes from a Left Eye only EDL, in a single step, even though the Right Eye source timecodes were often a few frames different. This provided instantly synchronised conformed stereo sequences from the raw RED Epic 5K files, and these conformed shots already had stereo corrections via metadata prepared earlier by Tony and Justin.

Stuart Monksfield, CEO of Mojo Media Solutions, explains, “The unique capability of Mistika to recursively conform against its own metadata is a huge advantage where editorial changes continue to be made after the DI finishing process has begun. In the case of a stereo project where an EDL is not available for the second eye, the last thing you want to do,

(L-R) Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Leonardo Dicaprio as Jay Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ drama “The Great Gatsby” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

is spend time eye matching the second eye each time an updated EDL is issued. The DI pipeline Henry Karjalainen designed for this project is a great example of how Mistika’s power and flexibility can help give back time to a project.”

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Nir Shelter was one of the 3D engineers during principle photography aligning and working with the 3D camera rigs onset. Later on in the pickup shoots, he was a 3D engineer and the Data Manager before moving on to use Mistika within the DI phase of the post process.

Nir used Mistika to check and adjust stereo alignments, geometry, colour balance of all non-VFX processed shots and he also re-created complicated dynamic timewarp speed change effects at full resolution in Mistika. The values of the dynamic re-times done in one tool in Mistika were made available to be re-used in other re-time effects. This meant that once a desired re-time had been plotted out on a graph it would be possible to apply the same values to other re-time effects to achieve different looks.

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Nir relied on the optical flow processing in Mistika to adjust some of the shots that went over depth budget due to enlargement for re-framing purposes achieved during the DI. The re-compositing of certain shots were later fixed in Mistika after reviews on the larger DI grading screen.

Nir Shelter explains, “Outside of the ‘Stereo Correction’ tool one of the most powerful stereo tools Mistika has is the ‘3D Comp’ tool. This was often used in the project’s DI for isolating specific regions of the frame, which required a different correction to the rest of the frame. Then with the use of the propagation function it was possible to apply identical values to the same parameters on multiple clips from a single take on the one timeline. This was a huge time saver as the clips with the propagated values would just need a quick tweak rather than creating new corrections from scratch.”

Henry Karjalainen says, “The Mistika is a great finishing tool. We were certainly left with no surprises after the planning and development stage for The Great Gatsby. Nir really hit the ground running with the Mistika using the 3D RED Epic 5K footage - everything just worked in the most brilliant way.”

Miguel Angel Doncel, CEO of SGO, the Spanish firm that develops and manufacturers the Mistika technology, adds, “We feel immensely proud to have played a role in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and it is another stunning testimony of how Mistika is being used to produce the highest quality Stereo 3D images and workflows for high profile productions.”

Executive Vice President Feature Post Production at Warner Bros., Marc Solomon, states, “SGO has shown that it is a cutting edge, forward thinking company with expansive digital tools and experienced professionals. Their contribution to the post of The Great Gatsby helped us to provide a spectacular looking film.”

Visit www.mojomediasolutions.com and www.sgo.es

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EditShare Unveils Advanced MAM Capabilities EDITSHARE HAS SHOWCASED new releases of the company’s highperformance shared storage, ingest, media asset management, playout, archiving and backup, and video editing solutions for production and broadcast at IBC 2013.

New announcements for EditShare at IBC 2013, included: New Flow 3 with AirFlow and Flow Automation - In this new version, to be released later this year, AirFlow and Flow Automation join the already established Flow Browse, Flow Logger, and Flow Ingest tools. AirFlow is the new web browser-based connection to the Flow media asset management system. It allows users to remotely access Flow for browsing, tagging and organising media assets that live on EditShare’s shared storage, archiving and backup platforms. Flow Automation provides new tools for setting up automated tasks such as transcoding and moving files across EditShare shared storage and archive systems based on easy-to-configure, rulesdriven templates. Other enhancements in Flow 3 include more powerful video editing and trimming; a new customisable user interface that gives users greater flexibility in arranging panes; and support for non-video assets such as audio files, still images and documents.

EditShare Shared Storage Version 7 - Version 7 operates on Linux OS and sports a totally new and intuitive EditShare Connect interface. New features include “Project Profiles”, a system status indicator, and localisation support for virtually any language.

EditShare Field 2 - Field 2 is EditShare’s all-new, quiet, portable shared storage solution with integrated Flow media asset management and file ingest. The turnkey platform includes file ingest, advanced project sharing/ bin locking, and archiving capabilities in an all-in-one, high-performance, rugged chassis. Ideal for on-location shoots, ENG trucks and remote offices, the new Field 2 is durable, light and compact.

New Connectivity Options.10GBaseT - Economical 10-Gigabit connectivity over standard CAT 6A copper cables - is the latest wave in Ethernet

technology. EditShare offers multiple switch options, including an EditSharecustomised version of Arista’s 52-port 10-Gigabit switches.

New Geevs Post Server - Geevs Post is a scalable, compact, multi-purpose ingest and playout solution designed for post production. It integrates with EditShare’s central storage and Flow media asset management, offering full integration with Flow projects. Sequences can be created in Post and edited in Flow, or vice-versa. Geevs Post is based on the new Geevs v6.6 release, which features live video for channel previews, expanded codec and frame rate support, real-time up and down conversion, Active Format Description for aspect ratio and active picture characteristics, and Geevs Scheduler, an intuitive web-based client for scheduling recordings.

EditShare Ark Tape - Expanded Tape Library Options.EditShare Ark Tape is an energy-efficient media backup and archiving solution that fully integrates with the company’s high-performance shared storage and asset management solutions. Powered by HP’s robust LTO technology, the new Ark Tape library options are available today in 24-, 48-, 72- and 96-slot configurations, supporting LTO-6 or LTO-5 tape drives with SAS or Fibre Channel connectivity.

Lightworks Pro - Now Available for Linux; Support for Mac OS X Coming Soon. EditShare demonstrated its newly released version of Lightworks Pro running on Linux. The company also gave a preview of Lightworks Pro for Mac OS X. Lightworks aims to be the first NLE to be truly cross-platform across all major operating systems. It continues to attract a growing user base with more than 600,000 registered users.

EditShare Horizon Cloud-Based Enterprise Support - Horizon, EditShare’s new enterprise monitoring solution, tracks the health of your entire workflow. It monitors all systems in the production and post-production chain, providing information to optimise the performance of your EditShare servers.

Visit http://editshare.com

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Australian VFX Houses Sink Their Claws Into The Wolverine PRODUCED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX and directed by James Mangold, The Wolverine was filmed in Australia, and also undertook a significant portion of its VFX down under. Among the effects studios to be enlisted

by Fox Studios were Iloura in Melbourne, Method Studios in Sydney, and Adelaide’s Rising Sun Pictures.

ILOURA AND METHOD STUDIOS The VFX talent housed at Iloura and Method Studios, both divisions of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., helped demonstrate Logan’s (Wolverine’s) incredible strength and his ability to heal, as well as promoting the intricate architecture of Japan.

Both VFX studios had the pleasure of working with VFX Supervisor and Academy Award nominee Philip Brennan; Iloura was also able to work again with VFX Producer Jamie Stevenson.

The Iloura crew, led by VFX Supervisor, Glenn Melenhorst, completed just over 100 shots for the film, including a sequence that featured a futuristic medical ‘Pin Bed’ made up of steel pins that follow the contours and movements of the patient’s body.

Melenhorst, says, “The bed was a 3D animated object that posed several complex challenges due to the meticulous integration detail required with the actor across more than 60 shots.”

Iloura also helped bring life to a tiny robotic medical ‘beetle’. The crew modelled, rigged and animated the 3D beetle based on production artwork and gave it an aggressive personality. Despite its diminutive size it threatens Logan in one highly memorable sequence.

One particular challenge for the team involved very complex body tracking, rotomotion and FX in order to see Logan healing from severe total upper body and facial burns. The shots included full hair regrowth as Logan’s healing powers are shown to their full effect before the audience’s eyes.

Method Studios completed 122 shots for the feature, divided into five sequences, which included shots of metal claws, Tokyo apartments, and Alaskan and Japanese streetscapes. The scope of work relied heavily on 3D compositing and matte painting, using projected backgrounds, point-clouds and image-based modelling to bring the immersive environments to life.

The studio created a digital version of Shinjuku station platform, made views of Tokyo from Noburo’s penthouse, Tokyo downtown, as well as a large number of shots of the Yukon; most of which were set extensions or environment shots.

“The Tokyo sequences were particularly challenging as the original shoot elements and references source were shot on public streets,” said Method VFX Supervisor James Rogers. “While they looked busy, it was a challenge to make the action work for the purposes of the film, especially in terms of continuity. We used a lot of techniques to patch the backgrounds together, in addition to perspective tricks to make them work for the studio-shot foregrounds.”

POST PRODUCTION

Both the Iloura and Method teams relished the opportunity to work on the project; Simon Rosenthal, Deluxe Head of VFX, Asia Pacific said, “The project provided a great opportunity for us to showcase the diverse skills within the Australian businesses and further reinforced our position as high-end facilities.”

RISING SUN PICTURES Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) created more than 260 visual effects shots for The Wolverine, helping to recreate the World War II atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki, Japan. It also produced digital environments for a number of sequences, including a scene set in a snow-covered Japanese village, and combat effects such as digital copies of Wolverine’s iconic claws for use in

numerous scenes involving challenging stunts. RSP’s team was led by VFX Supervisor Tim Crosbie.

“RSP was one of the primary vendors on The Wolverine and they brought a great deal to the table both creatively and technically,” says VFX Producer Jamie Stevenson. “Having worked with them in the past, we knew they would be a great fit for much of the claw work, but we also felt that they were the right vendor to take on several of the key sequences that required extensive environment work as well as challenging simulations and particle effects.”

For the atomic bomb attack, which occurs in an early flashback sequence, RSP artists worked from archival footage to produce a CG model of Nagasaki and the towering mushroom cloud produced by the bomb. They also created radioactive shockwaves, pyroclastic waves, and debris elements for shots showing the destruction of the prisoner of war camp where Wolverine was being held.

“The view of Nagasaki, seen from across a harbour, required an extensive digital matte painting,” notes Crosbie. “We started by modelling the bomb after photographs of the actual blast but James Mangold wanted something unique and so pushed the blast into something never before seen. We were able to leverage research we had done for previous destruction effects to make an event that is much, much bigger and more immersive. It’s exciting stuff.”

RSP built a detailed 3D model of the prisoner of war camp based on location in Sydney, and then blew it apart as the radioactive shockwaves roll through. One of those waves carries Wolverine through the air. He lands in a stone well where he uses his body as a shield in saving the life of a Japanese soldier.

“Components of the huts and wood that fly past the camera required a fair amount of choreography and numerous iterations to get the action beats just right,” recalls Crosbie. “Equally challenging was the pyroclastic cloud - the leading edge of the explosion - which sweeps across city and the water and through the camp ripping up buildings, guard towers and everything else in its path. Our team did well.”

Digital replacements for Wolverine’s claws were used in place of practical claws for scenes involving dangerous stunts. In those instances, actor Hugh Jackman wore stubs or tracking markers that served as guides for matchmoving the digital claw assets.

“Philip Brennan provided us with a full HDRI set for every shot requiring visual effects, so we knew exactly what lighting was required,” Crosbie notes.

“That worked extremely well. Each claw was rendered out with an option of blood stained or cleaned, so at a moments notice we could make a scene gory or safe.”

Other items on RSP’s task list included adding wounds to Wolverine during some of his many fights, filling a bucket with a murky liquid that one of Wolverine’s adversaries uses to create poison arrows, massive set extensions replacing iconic Sydney landmarks with iconic Japanese structures. Artists also created a matte painting and environmental elements for a scene set in Canada’s Yukon as well as all shots of the Yashida lab.

Visit www.iloura.com.au, www.methodstudios.com, www.bydeluxe.com and www.rsp.com.au

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT Asset Management Gold for DAMsmart

OCA IS ASIA’S APEX SPORTING BODY, it oversees all sports in the region and is one of the five continental associations recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The OCA held a significant collection of audiovisual assets covering several decades of sanctioned sporting events. As part of its governing role, the OCA takes receipt of the vision captured by the host broadcaster at the conclusion of each event.

Amer El Alami, OCA’s IT Manager, said, “As the custodian of the content, we are responsible for preserving the history of the games and, importantly, we act as a repository from which people can access footage. We identified two key challenges that needed to be addressed in relation to the videotape collection we held. 1) How to secure the footage for the future? 2) How do we provide open and productive access to our rich sporting asset?”

DAMsmart was invited by the OCA to provide expert advice on how the OCA could realise the value of its collection. DAMsmart proposed digitising the collection using its SMART digitisation platform to migrate the content off a range of videotape formats into standards based digital files. Then, once in its digital form, managing the collection using an intuitive enterprise storage and access system, so the content can be easily distributed around the office or around the world.

El Alami said, “We were impressed by DAMsmart’s credentials. Unlike many who claim to be experts, DAMsmart has a proven track record that demonstrates their versatility, their ability to deliver and their professionalism, which gave us the confidence to appoint them as our partner.”

DAMsmart was initially appointed to undertake the digitisation of the OCA’s video collection in late 2012. The collection was temporarily relocated from OCA’s headquarters in Kuwait to DAMsmart’s Canberra

facility. The collection consisted of in excess of 13,000 hours of content housed on Digital Betacam, DVCPRO, DVCPRO HD, HDCAM and VHS. The process delivered the OCA with IMX50 files for standard definition content and XDCAM files for high definition content, as well as H.264 proxy files. The collection was archived to LTO5 data tape written under Storage DNA’s DNA Evolution software to take full advantage of LTFS technology.

The OCA has now appointed DAMsmart to undertake its second recommendation, and deliver the organisation with a MAM solution.

DAMsmart will deliver the system using CatDV Media Asset Management software, from UK based company Squarebox, for collection access and control. The MAM application will be integrated with DNA Evolution LTO archiving software, from Storage DNA, configured with an LTO5 library for storage of the high-resolution files.

DAMsmart will commission the system in Australia, ingest the digitised content, and then return the prepopulated MAM back to Kuwait.

DAMsmart will be responsible for recommissioning the system at OCA headquarters, training OCA stakeholders in system operations and providing ongoing support to the OCA team.

FROM CONTENT LIBRARY TO LIBRARY WITH CONTENT DAMsmart, has also recently been awarded a one year preferred supplier contract by the State Library of Western Australia for the provision of digitisation services for 16mm film and U-matic video.

The State Library of Western Australia (SLWA) endeavours to identify, collect, preserve and make accessible Western Australia’s motion picture collection to both government agencies and public. The SLWA holds significant moving image collections in a variety of formats capturing unique images of Western Australia’s heritage. As part of an ongoing process, SLWA identified a need to transfer the most at risk and significant films and U-matic items within the State Library’s collection to a digital format.

DAMsmart will be delivering the SLWA with HD (1920 x 1080P) Lossless JPEG2000 in MXF, IMX50 and H.264 proxies for the 16mm collection. For the U-matic video collection DAMsmart is creating SD Lossless JPEG2000 in MXF, IMX50 and H.264 proxies. The files will be delivered back to the SLWA on pre-configured NAS appliances.

Visit www.damsmart.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

DAMsmart, Australian specialist audiovisual digitisation, management and access solution provider, has been appointed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to commission a Media Asset Management (MAM) system after completing 13,000 hours of video digitisation.

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

FORK Ecosystem Gets Upgraded AT IBC 2013, Primestream debuted FORK 4.5, the latest version of its FORK Production Suite for managing the automation of complex broadcast workflows. In FORK 4.5, Primestream introduces FORK Workflow Manager 1.0, a new FORK module that makes workflows visible and enables users to conceptualise and control their production workflows in an entirely new way.

FORK 4.5 also features workflow integrations with the most popular craft editors, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, and Avid Media Composer. FORK 4.5 also supports third party broadcast and workflow solutions with Harmonic, Quantum, Cisco, and others.

Primestream also exhibited version 2.5 of FORK Xchange Suite, an application that gives broadcasters instant cloud access to content on their FORK Production servers from any Windows, Mac, or tablet device. An addon to Primestream’s FORK software platform for managing and automating broadcast workflows, FORK Xchange Suite 2.5 introduces the Xchange Shot List Editor add-on module, which gives editors a fast and nimble way to edit content living inside the FORK environment via a proxy with Xchange for Web and iOS. Also making its European debut was Xchange for iPad 1.0, a professional, native iOS application that allows producers and editors to browse, edit metadata, and create annotations on content while disconnected from the production environment.

Now shipping is Primestream DigIT 1.0, a server-based software application that helps broadcast, government, entertainment, and corporate IT departments monitor their broadcast IT operations. The application can monitor individual servers in addition to the FORK production environment, making it easier for IT administrators to manage broadcast-related IT activity.

Facilities can monitor mission-critical servers and applications, quickly identify performance bottlenecks, prevent and recover from system failures, and reduce downtime and operational costs.

Primestream also demonstrated FORK Logger 1.0, a module for describing content inside FORK Production Suite’s software platform for media asset management and workflow automation. The module is a powerful metadatatagging tool designed from the ground up for logging live or pre-recorded video. The tightly integrated and configurable user interface enables content loggers to tag video quickly with defined metadata, making content searchable, ready to be filtered, and organised for viewing in FORK’s Content Navigator (MAM) — or for working with in a FORK project or rundown.

Wohler Shows RadiantGrid v8 WOHLER HAS SHOWCASED their RadiantGrid Intelligent Media Transformation Platform at IBC 2013. The Wohler RadiantGrid Platform provides a consolidated software architecture that combines intensive media processing capabilities with intelligent content management fabric and workflow orchestration layers.

New to IBC this year was the first version 8 series release of the RadiantGrid platform. This release contains a brand-new media processing engine that provides faster-than-real-time content transformation. This newly accelerated engine performs complete intelligent analysis of all inbound media, with the platform’s content management fabric retaining technical metadata at the container, essence, and frame levels.

Wohler featured its DVM family of video monitors, including the DVM4290, a 4-RU system with two 9-inch screens; the DVM-3270, a 3-RU system with two 7-inch screens; and the 2-RU DVM-2443 with four individual 4.3-inch screens and decoders. All of the monitors provide at-a-glance monitoring of program content from MPEG-2/4 ASI and Ethernet IP streams, as well as 3G/HD/SD-SDI inputs.

The Wohler AMP1-MADIe is an in-rack portable MADI monitor unit with Ethernet control and configuration, including compatibility with the Evertz MAGNUM facility control system. It can be connected in series with a 56- or 64-channel MADI stream to provide audible monitoring and metering of any eight selected MADI channels at once. Two models will be on display, demonstrating support for either multimode or single-mode fibre connections in addition to standard copper on BNC. Wohler’s new AMP1-16M dual-input SDI audio monitor provides broadcasters with high-performance monitoring of embedded audio in two 3G/HD/SD-SDI streams. The 1-RU system de-embeds and provides metering and monitoring of any or all of the 16 audio channels in the selected 3G/HD/SD-SDI stream.

Wohler also presented its flagship AMP2-E16V audio/video processing monitor. In addition to its top-quality audio system, it features simultaneous multiformat monitoring, quick program selection, instant stereo downmix, loudness monitoring, internal channel mixing including SDI re-embedding, audio delays, a wide variety of meter scales and ways to view meters, video, and Dolby or SMPTE 2020 metadata.

Visit www.wohler.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Visit www.primestream.com

Axle Video Supports Adobe Anywhere for Video AXLE VIDEO HAS ANNOUNCED availability of one of the first turnkey media asset management (MAM) solutions to support Adobe Anywhere for video, a collaborative workflow platform. axle Gear for Adobe Anywhere is a turnkey hardware and software system that provides automated media tacking, proxy generation, remote browsing, and review and approval for Adobe Anywhere users.

The axle Gear system works in real time to transparently catalog media.

Through a web browser-based UI, users can browse proxies, annotate, collaborate on, review, and approve media from any location. In the Adobe Anywhere workflow, axle Gear manages the lifecycle of media prior to and after the creative process. axle Gear is compatible with nearly all file systems and media storage solutions. axle Gear for Adobe Anywhere comes as a 1U rack mount system serving five user accounts. The system includes a media management server, a proxy transcode server to make the media available to nonAnywhere clients, and axle and Telestream software modules and one year software updates and support.

Visit www.axlevideo.com

Nine Installs Third SGL FlashNet SOFTWARE GENERATION LTD (SGL) continues to develop its strong relationship with Nine Network Australia (NNA) with the third installion of a FlashNet archive in the broadcaster’s post production department.

The two companies have a long partnership that sees FlashNet archive systems used in NNA’s news, production and playout operations integrated with Harris Invenio MAM (news) and Avid Interplay MAM and PAM systems (production and playout).

This third installation sees SGL FlashNet fully integrated with NNA’s Avid Interplay PAM and MAM systems, providing two key components to the broadcaster’s workflow. First, it will archive projects directly from the Interplay PAM system and second, it will archive long form RAW media from the Interplay MAM following ingest. The system has been installed as part of Nine’s ongoing transition to a digital workflow. Prior to installing the SGL archive, material was stored on DigiBeta tape.

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Mathew Yelavich, CTO, Nine Network Australia, says, “We’re delighted to be working with SGL again in accommodating our archive requirements for post. Our long standing relationship with SGL offers the advantage of in-house support immediately and a strong understanding of deployment requirements; this meant that we could have the archive operational in a timely fashion.”

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CONNECTED MEDIA Foxtel Turns on Switch for Over-the-Top TV

It wasn’t all that long ago that subscription television was seen as the nimble mammal to free-to-air TV’s lumbering dinosaur. A wider choice of programming, video-on-demand (VOD), PVR functionality, Internet connectivity, these were among the features that were clear differentiators to the terrestrial offering that have seen around 30% of Australian homes buy into subscription TV.

The Foxtel Play Catchup VOD page.

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HOWEVER, the installed cable/satellite set-top model itself has not been immune from the technological and lifestyle pressures that have seen free-to-air appointment television take-up multi-channelling, event-type programming and never-ending home shopping content.

According to 2013 Nielsen/OzTAM research, 27% of Australian households now have access to four screens - television, computer, smartphone, and tablet (up from 16% in 2012). The research also found Internet connected TVs are now in 21% of homes (15% in Q1 2012) and an increasing variety of devices attached to the main TV set - such as games consoles, ‘over-the-top’ television services, and PVRs – are now in 53% of homes, with 13% having two or more PVRs. Meanwhile, on the lifestyle front, the last Australian Bureau of Statistics figures (2011) show that just under 30% of Australian homes are rented. It is this combination of mobility, connectivity and domestic impermanence, along with a plateauing of in cable/satellite uptake, that have prompted Australia’s dominant subscription operator, Foxtel, to evolve both its method of delivery and its business model.

Building on its set-top to tablet/mobile extension service, Foxtel Go, the company has launched Foxtel Play, an Over-the-Top internet TV service, delivered initially to eligible Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox 360, and PC and Mac computers. The service enables customers with a broadband connection to watch programs live or on catch-up with no lock-in contract and no installation costs. The Foxtel Go service is also available on Foxtel Play subscriptions. Customers can access Foxtel Go on up to two registered devices, including iPads, selected iPhones, and selected Samsung smartphones and tablets.

Users of the new service create a subscription via the Foxtel Play website which interfaces with Foxtel’s Identity Management system (IDM).

According to Mike Ivanchenko, Foxtel’s Director of Product, “There is not a lot of difference to being a set-top box subscriber and the selling relationship is the same. While we have made changes to our subscriber management system (SMS) to accommodate a different type of subscriber, we have gone to a lot of work to make sure that they appear the same within our SMS.” As Internet, mobile devices and online video became a larger consideration for those in the content delivery business, the initial focus was on creating variations on a theme – either using a master asset to create separate, permanent assets each formatted to a particular end-user device or, in the case of live content, providing multiple encoding chains to deliver the same content at different bit-rates. The choice of bit-rate was often a manual process left to the end user with them clicking on a button corresponding to their connection speed.

With the proliferation of more device types and the advent of more

sophisticated encoding and decoding technology, this multiple handling became not only unwieldy, but unnecessary.

The Foxtel Play service delivers three broad types of content – live streams, pre-packaged VOD content and fast-turnaround ‘express’ VOD programming which is recorded during its transmission to set-top-box users, and then packaged for VOD delivery immediately or soon after screening.

The Holy Grail, according to Ivanchenko, is to “… distribute our content via IP in any requirement, in any format. We are moving to a platform whereby we can target many users from a consolidated output. So, not only will this IP content go out onto Play and Go devices, we will even start seeing some of it on the set-top for other uses as well. What we are trying to do is, rather than create an IP chain every time we bring on a new outlet, we have an IP chain that can then feed any device or outlet that we bring on.”

In realising that goal for its live streaming, the company has employed encoding technology from Elemental and Digital Rapids, both HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology for QuickTime/iOS players and Smooth streaming technology for Windows platforms, and Microsoft PlayReady Digital Rights Management through Irdeto.

According to Brett Paton, Head of Engineering - Platform Development at Foxtel, “The architecture we have got with Elemental, we are actually doing the additional DRM and encapsulation externally to the encoder. It gives us a very scalable and very flexible platform, so that we can have different streaming technologies in the future and potentially different DRMs or different ways to present that content to the subscriber.”

“Once you say PlayReady and Irdeto DRM in the same sentence, then that gives you access to a wide range of content,” says Ivanchencko. “Then there is a combination of HLS and Smooth that gets us across to a very wide range of devices and we have developed quite an efficient set of adaptive midrange bundles. It delivers a very good customer experience regardless of the screen size.”

That screen size is increasingly massive in the case of big screen, Internetconnected televisions and while content owners have, for some time, been working with the smaller screens of PCs and mobile devices, the connected TV segment is still one of evolving standards and varying capabilities. To help it make that connection for the Play service, Foxtel called on Swedish company Accedo to help develop a CTV application, initially for Samsung sets.

“Pretty much all 2012/2013 smart TVs can do it and we are in development with a number of others,” says Brett Paton. “All of the platforms, not just CTVs, are different. The processing capabilities, the way they have implemented certain things varies across the board. And so, we have the challenge of Continued page 48 XX

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CONNECTED MEDIA WW From page 47

“As part of the workflow,” says Stenhouse, “[Pilat’s] IBMS is used as the primary source of metadata. The editorial team prepare the content once in that system. The workflow is such that we tap into that as it’s being deployed to various different aspects of the system. We take a high bit-rate mezzanine file, process that into various adaptive bit rate profiles.

“We are able to move quite nimbly and we’ve been able to get things out very quickly and continue to do so. Around Android, for example, it’s not the unified ecosystem that iOS is. You’ve got different manufacturers, you’ve got different screen sizes, different resolutions, and all these things add a complexity to it.

“When you say, for example, ‘we’re going to launch on Android’, it’s never quite that simple. And therefore, as you go through the process and you get to the final stage - whether it’s the pre-roll ads, how they will smoothly come through on different devices, or it’s the adaptive bit-rate changing, there are little complexities, unexpected complexities that will pop up.

Foxtel Play on Samsung’s connected TV.

trying to standardise as much as possible to actually make the platforms supportable, from an overall perspective. Because we are affected by every time they release a new firmware release, they release a change to their platform, we have got to very quickly scramble and look at how we deal with that, make sure wherever possible, we are extracted from that.

“And so, CTVs and their smart ability are relatively new on the scene.

You know you certainly wouldn’t say from an overall processing power perspective compared to any other things such as the high-end game consoles, but they have got a lot of grunt. So we have got to be really efficient about how we grow.”

According to Ivanchenko, Foxtel has also worked with its content delivery network (CDN) providers to enable more efficient distribution of its content and to give subscribers more “network-style” features.

“So, features like those you see in Go - scrub back and all those sort of things - through a combination of our CDM and our own IIS (Internet Information Services) technologies, we will begin to see more and more of those types of features on those devices.”

THE ‘SWITCH’ TO OVER-THE-TOP A central link in the delivery chain for the Play and Go services is OTT IPTV professional services provider Switch Media. The company provides an “IP head-end” for Foxtel Play and Foxtel Go through its Switch Video Content Management System (VCMS), workflow management and digital rights management (DRM) integration services. Switch Media also created the consumer facing apps for PC, Mac, Android and iOS, along with providing API’s for third parties to create applications on other connected devices.

Acting as the IP head-end, the Switch platform fields all user requests for content. DRM is activated at this time. The subscription status of the user is ascertained, device and operating system type/version and whether the device is registered to be used with that user’s account.

In the case of live content, the device’s app requests a live URL. This is passed through to Foxtel whose platform sends out the live stream, appropriately encoded to the device, via its content distribution partner to the end user.

For pre-packaged video-on-demand, a “mezzanine” high quality file of the content is sent from Foxtel to Switch for encoding into various formats to ensure compatibility with a number of device profiles, including connected TVs. Lastly, in the case of ‘express’ VOD content, Switch records programmes as they go to air, removes the advertising, trims the files and encodes them for delivery to the different user devices. The technology around this process means material can be made available for VOD more rapidly after screening than via the conventional editing suite.

CONNECTED MEDIA

Switch has partnered with Foxtel since 2012, providing the IP head-end and connected device experiences for Foxtel’s London Olympics IPTV service.

According to Switch Media Co-Founder and Managing Director, Christopher Stenhouse, “The Olympics was a short, sharp event, that sort of dropped Foxtel subscribers into the concept of being able to watch Foxtel with more than just their television.

“And, what we have become off the back of the Olympics, and then Go, and now Play, is effectively Foxtel’s IP head-end.”

“And, I think what Foxtel values is the ability to play around with those, identify workarounds or find fixes that we can get things out quickly prototyping faster than they otherwise probably have done in the past.”

An example of Switch’s nimble abilities is the ‘express’ VOD packaging and its rapid encoding which can result in a VOD asset available around a half an hour or so after the end of the original broadcast.

“This reuses the system that we put in place for the Olympics,” says Stenhouse. “It was very important to record these live events, sometimes in the order of six hours long, and have them available on the application within half an hour of the end of the programme. That’s really where it’s been important for us to pull apart that encoding and encryption pipeline and be able to tap in and do a very customised streamlined service.”

As well as processing content files, the Switch VCMS also gives Foxtel control over how it curates and publishes that content to the end user.

“An admin interface allows Foxtel’s online producers to manage all the content on a minute by minute, live basis,” says the Switch Media CEO. “They use that to check, for example, the exhibition windows for particular programmes and, using VCMS, they can make changes to any of the metadata they decide to publish. For example, they may want to feature certain things on the home splash screens on different devices. That can be configured differently by device with different assets appearing as different featured items on different devices.

“So, through our system, they’re able to create that and also schedule the publishing of those assets. So during the week, editorial staff can set all this up, preview it and verify it, get sign off, and then over the weekend the system will just grind through these and publish them.

“Analytics is also a key part of it as well. And we integrate with a number of Foxtel’s already big operation analytic services but that’s obviously the value of this, of when you move to IP, you can get much more granular in terms of who’s watching what and where are they or to what extent are they getting a good experience via the CDN. “That information’s particularly important to keep the system healthy.

We have very extensive monitoring and big data solutions keeping track of all the moving parts of the system. We summarise that and feed some of that information into Foxtel’s data warehousing so they can mine the account information, general user habits. That’s also being fed into a recommendation engine which will then be used to help recommend content, not just VOD content, but also live programmes coming out via their EPG - consolidate that user information across their entire platform.”

Pointing to the future of the Switch VCMS, Stenhouse says one development priority will be around the more effective delivery of advertising.

“Advertising is a key part of all TV services,” he says. “And so being able to leverage that and provide more targeted advertising is very important.”

“But, essentially, it’s a partnership delivering this service going forward,” adds Switch Media’s Chief Technology Officer, Luke Durham. “It’s a service, coming up with innovations, determining what the devices are capable of, and getting the most out of the devices - from a user interaction point of view, but also other technologies and best practices.”

Visit http://foxtelplay.com.au and www.switch.tv

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Enriching Content for Second Screens: Your Future May Depend On It

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AS COMPETITION FOR CONSUMERS’ EYEBALLS gets increasingly fierce and TV viewing evolves from a passive to an active pastime, broadcasters and content providers must find ways to produce more and better quality content to engage today’s multitasking consumers without substantially increasing operational costs. Cost-effectively delivering enriched content to consumers via their mobile devices is critical to taking advantage of the changing media landscape - bringing new ways to engage consumers and monetise content, as well as new revenue streams.

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Social media is changing the way viewers consume content of all types.

Not surprisingly, many broadcasters and rights owners see the proliferation of social media and second-screen engagement as business-threatening competition. Many assume that people spending more time connecting with others on their devices means more time away from their TVs. This isn’t necessarily so. Many of today’s consumers now browse the internet and interact with social media while watching TV. According to Ericsson’s 2011 TV and Video Consumer Trend Report, based on 13,000 interviews in 13 countries including China, South Korea and Australia, TV viewing is increasingly complemented by the use of social media. More than 40% of people use social media while watching TV on a weekly basis and almost one in three chat online.

While viewers use remote controls to flip channels, they’re also increasingly searching for content through wireless devices such as tablets and iPhones.

According to a 2012 Accenture Survey, more than 20% of consumers are willing to pay more to be able to access services across multiple devices.

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Most broadcasters with a second-screen offering have begun to provide viewers with access to additional content via online portals and apps. In the context of sports this includes player and match stats, exclusive interviews, forums, aggregated Twitter feeds, and so on. However, the small screen content experience still remains a largely passive one. Broadcasters still decide what content is provided and how the story is told. While consumers can choose which device they watch content on, that’s where their involvement ends.

To create a truly differentiated viewer experience, broadcasters have to go beyond just replicating the same content across both small and large screens. Consumers are already dipping in and out of scheduled content consumption, and making choices about where and when they watch available content. By further empowering the viewer and giving them greater control of the content they watch, broadcasters can begin to create an appealing and differentiated multiscreen experience.

Broadcasters can offer a more enriched connected experience by enabling viewers to create their own version of a live event and interact via social

media networks directly on the second screen. Moreover, broadcasters can deliver this type of proposition using their existing workflows and infrastructure for any live multi-camera production. Integrated into a filebased workflow either at a broadcast centre or onsite production venue, the latest technology provides all the tools necessary to generate exclusive content for instant delivery to multiple screens. With this capability, broadcasters can add new revenue streams and value to existing services.

MONETISING UNUSED CONTENT Live sports provide a good example of how this technology is being used and the opportunities it can afford. For every sporting event covered, broadcasters are capturing hours of premium content that currently goes unused. For example, in a soccer game with up to 18 cameras recording 90 minutes of content, for every 90 minutes of viewed content, another 26.5 hours of content ends up ‘on the cutting room floor’. In other words, 90% of captured sports content never sees the light of day.

With the right tools, this unused content can be monetised. Clips or highlights can be made instantly available to web app subscribers, who can choose to view different camera angles on their second screens.

The process begins with the processing and transfer of synchronised live multi-camera media recorded on production servers. All metadata associated with event footage are used as keywords enabling easy content retrieval.

Third-party stats are integrated into the database and associated to video clips and highlights, which are made available to the user in near real time.

A second-screen timeline of events being produced is created, into which external elements such as ads, stats or surveys can be inserted, enabling a high degree of interactivity and facilitating cause-and-effect programming.

Content providers can add value through multi-angle replays at various speeds, on-the-fly edits, and the insertion of graphics and statistics. The complete workflow – encompassing server technology, an integrated suite of video production management applications for ingest control, metadata management, on-the-fly editing, playout and scheduling, end-user application software, and a cloud-based content delivery network - provides a seamless end-to-end system.

In addition to enriching the viewer experience, new revenue opportunities are created - from app sales, subscriptions, sponsorship and advertising to facilitating the purchase of goods and merchandise.

GET IN THE GAME While the sports industry may be early adopters, consider the possible use cases for reality shows and live variety programming, from interview formats to cooking shows - even dramatic series. Unused content can be made immediately available, both giving consumers more choice and spurring interaction – through polls, chats and discussions – via social media. The result is more engagement, more viewers, and ultimately, more revenue.

The effect of social media on the way viewers consume media, combined with recent technology advancements, are driving a shift from traditional to personalised media consumption. Rather than fight against this trend, broadcasters and rights owners should provide consumers with more choice and the ability to receive personally relevant content.

It’s time to implement collaborative, integrated environments of real-time content ingest, editing and enrichment. Success will depend on using existing infrastructure, multiple cameras and other technology to smartly gather, produce and monetise content. To thrive in the years to come we must manage live content so that it can be output and viewed on multiple platforms, giving consumers more and better choices. There are challenges, of course, but also great opportunities to monetise original content, increase revenues, and ensure future business growth.

Visit www.ambertech.com.au and www.evs.tv

CONNECTED MEDIA

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In recent years, broadcasters and content providers have been hit by marketplace realities that bring both challenges and opportunities. Anytime, anywhere access to content is now a given. As connected devices – laptops, smart phones and tablets – proliferate in the global marketplace, consumers are using them to not only to facilitate on-the-go lifestyles but also to engage with social media and other online forms of media and entertainment.

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Soundfirm Launches New Dolby Atmos Facility SOUNDFIRM HAS ANNOUNCED the opening of a new, purpose built, picture and sound post-production facility in Port Melbourne, becoming the first company in Australia to deploy Dolby Atmos, installed in its flagship theatrical mixing theatre.

The newly converted warehouse building on Fennell Street, Port Melbourne, offers clients networked and scalable technologies for both picture and sound post-production, ensuring flexibility and reliability, regardless of a project’s size or ambition.

“The launch of the new build ding now gives film-makers and producers an independent, Australian-owned alternative for full-service post production,” said Roger Savage, CEO, Soundfirm. “Our facilities in n Sydney Melbourne and Beijing have been set up p with one aim in mind: to increase work-flow efficiencies in digital post-production and

to provide clients a creative solution for finishing film and television projects under the one roof.”

“Soundfirm always strives to o offer leading technologies for our client’s projects. We are very excited about our ability to o offer Dolby Atmos to create an enhanced and immersive sound experience for our upcoming projects,” Savage added.

“Dolby Atmos sets a new standard for the cinema audio experience which is only made possible through the support of leading sound studios such as Soundfirm,” said Mahesh Sundaram, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Dolby Laboratories. “We are very excited to have Soundfirm supporting Dolby Atmos in this important region.”

Visit www.soundfirm.com.au

MPEG Selects Technology for MPEG-H 3D Audio Standard AT ITS RECENT 105TH meeting, the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) selected technology for the MPEG-H 3D Audio standard (ISO/IEC 23008-3) based on responses submitted to the Call for Proposals issued in January 2013. The selected technology supports content in multiple formats: channel-based, channels and objects (C+O), and scene-based Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA). A total of seven submissions were reviewed: four based on C+O technology and three based on HOA. The submissions were evaluated using a comprehensive set of subjective listening tests in which the resulting statistical analysis guided the selection.

A submitted technology was selected for each of the C+O and HOA signal sets. At the highest bitrate of 1.2 Mb/s for the coding of a signal supporting a 22.2 loudspeaker configuration, both of the selected technologies have achieved excellent quality and are very close to true transparency, i.e. listeners cannot distinguish from a hidden reference. It is expected that the C+O and HOA technologies will be merged into a unified architecture during the standardisation process.

The 105th Meeting also saw MPEG issue a Call for Proposals for Program Level and Dynamic Range Control technology. While MPEG has Dynamic Range Control (DRC) capability integrated with the MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) profile coders, as in the AAC IMDCT-based multi-band DRC, it is interested in pursuing technology that could be more broadly applicable, be a significant advance with respect to AAC technology, and take into account recent developments in the field, including regulatory developments.

Submissions for the Call for Proposals are requested to compare the performance of proposed technology to that of the MPEG-4 AAC-based DRC technology. Submissions to the Call are due in October 2013 at the 106th meeting.

Visit http://mpeg.chiariglione.org

AES Releases Draft Streaming Audio-Over-IP Standard

Studer Offers Broadcast Academy Sessions Online

THE AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY (AES) has released the draft

HARMAN’S STUDER HAS announced that its Broadcast Academy

standard AES67-xxxx – High Performance Streaming Audio-Over-IP Interoperability.

According to the AES, high-performance media networks now support professional quality audio (16 bit, 44,1 kHz and higher) with low latencies (less than 10 milliseconds) compatible with live sound reinforcement.

The level of network performance required to meet these requirements is available on local-area networks and is achievable on enterprise-scale networks.

A number of networked audio systems have been developed to support high performance media networking but until now there were no recommendations for operating these systems in an interoperable manner.

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MPEG has committed to a short standardisation timeline to produce Version 1 of MPEG-H 3D Audio that is focused on higher bitrates (e.g. 1.2 Mb/s to 256 kb/s) with the Committee Draft, Draft International Standard, and International Standard expected to be complete in March, 2014, July, 2014, January, 2015, respectively.

To view the draft standard, visit http://www.aes.org/standards/comments/ drafts/aes67-xxxx-130729-cfc.pdf

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training course for Studer consoles is now available online at StuderBroadcastAcademy.com. The training program has been previously held in the US on the Soundcraft Studer mobile audio truck, which has visited numerous locations in recent years.

StuderBroadcastAcademy.com is an interactive online course for engineers worldwide to learn the operation of the company’s Vista Series digital mixing consoles. The course consists of a series of modules, which participants must complete and pass 100 percent to officially certify as a Studer Vista Operator. The course is structured in an interactive format and students can download the Virtual Vista software that gives them a graphic, active representation of a Vista console. Virtual Vista can also be used for offline console configuration and online remote control of Vista mixing consoles.

Visit www.studerbroadcastacademy.com

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Grace Gibson Migrates Radio Plays with CEDAR Cambridge GRACE GIBSON PRODUCTIONS, Australia’s leading audio library of classic radio plays including The Castlereagh Line, Cattleman, Dossier On Dumetrius, Night Beat and others, has invested in CEDAR Cambridge to restore its vast collection of vinyl records and magnetic tape.

“I tried some less expensive software solutions but I ended up with a less expensive result as well,” commented Bruce Ferrier, Managing Director of Grace Gibson Productions. ”Grace Gibson has been in operation since 1944, and was the largest producer of radio drama during the ‘Golden Days Of Radio’. In fact, we were the only audio production company to continue producing radio drama into the 1990s so the catalogue is enormous!”

“Unfortunately, no master discs were ever kept, and so the vinyl albums have well and truly ‘done the rounds’ of Australian and international radio stations. Some of the vinyl discs were quite damaged with some pretty alarming results on playback. So it was of paramount importance that the right equipment was obtained to restore such a valuable collection of Australia’s radio history. CEDAR Cambridge turned out to be the correct investment and it has provided outstanding results.

“In fact, I’m constantly staggered at how good a result it produces without any apparent deleterious effect on the main audio. So we’re thrilled, as it has allowed us to give these great shows a new lease of life, and retail them direct to the public through our recently launched GraceGibsonRadio. com website.”

Grace Gibson (a Texan by birth) opened her own production company in 1944, having been brought to Australia in 1934 by the General Manager of the then fledgling 2GB/Macquarie Radio Network. Her task was to set up ARTRANSA (the American Radio Transcription Service of Australia) and then sell and “Australian-ise” American radio soap stories for them. Initially she was only in Australia ‘on loan’ for six months, but ended up staying a lifetime.

Grace Gibson Productions is today owned by Bruce Ferrier, who has been in radio since 1972, and in the program syndication business since 1979 (when he headed up Macquarie Special Events, which he re-focussed from being a sports report service into a program producer and syndicator). In 1982 he established Independent Radio Services and produced (mainly in association with Doug Edwards and Triffique Productions) a string of comedy hits including “The Boys From Benalla”, “For The Term Of Her Natural Life”, the groundbreaking “Samuel Pepys Show” and was part of the birth of “How Green Was My Cactus” which Grace Gibson Productions once again distributes for Triffique. Bruce acquired Grace Gibson Productions in 1991.

In 2012, Grace Gibson Productions was inducted into the National Film & Sound Archives’ prestigious Sounds of Australia registry in recognition of the volume of work produced by the company over the years: the first corporation to be so honoured by the NFSA. “It has been a real pleasure to service Grace Gibson Productions,” said Peter Orehov, Manager of CDA Pro Audio in Australia. The CEDAR Cambridge has proved to be an invaluable investment for Grace Gibson and it is always pleasing to receive positive feedback on the audio restoration capabilities of the Cambridge software.”

Visit www.cda-proaudio.com

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NUGEN Audio Updates LMB AT IBC 2013, NUGEN Audio has displayed a range of innovations for loudness correction that offer a smarter approach to complying with new loudness regulations whilst maintaining the quality of broadcast audio.

NUGEN displayed its LMB system, an offline filebased loudness analysis and correction program designed for rapid assessment and correction of files for loudness and true-peak content, compliant with ITU-R BS.1770 and EBU R128based specifications. Now, with a new optional feature, LMB will analyse and correct MXF files without converting them to WAV format. With the MXF option, LMB saves corrected files to MXF format and preserves all other data in the file.

NUGEN introduced MultiMonitor, a new standalone software program that enables users to monitor loudness and true-peak levels on 16 individual meters. Available for Mac or Windows, the MultiMonitor software integrates with audio consoles to measure loudness in a variety of situations, from live TV or radio broadcasts to complex post-production mixes. MultiMonitor’s 16 individual meters can combine to monitor up to 96 channels of audio simultaneously.

Each meter can be formatted to mono, stereo, or 5.1 surround sound, with the ability to show both

a LUFS/LKFS momentary and true-peak display in a single window.

NUGEN Audio’s visual loudness metering plug-in, VisLM, now includes a timecode feature, making it possible to relate the loudness parameters directly to timecode references. This gives audio engineers and editors a clear frame-accurate position for any alerts, true-peak overs, maximum values, and other indicators to picture. VisLM is available in two versions, VisLM-C (compact) and VisLM-H (history).

LM-Correct is ideal for rapid, intuitive correction in situations where time is limited, providing an automatic method of rapidly conforming audio to current loudness standards. LM-Correct can be used as a one-stop loudness correction solution to fix audio that has not been mixed with loudness standards in mind, or in conjunction with a realtime loudness meter, such as VisLM. The NUGEN Audio ISL Inter-Sample True-Peak Limiter is designed for the control of peak levels in audio signals from mono to 5.1. ISL offers a true brick-wall solution, measuring inter-sample peaks and allowing the user to define the truepeak limit of the audio output.

Visit www.nugenaudio.com

I/O and SYNC for Fairlight Crystal Core WITH THE LAUNCH OF SX-36, Fairlight is adding a new I/O, synchronisation and control interface to its range. SX-36 is designed as a high-end solution for audio post production systems powered by Fairlight’s Crystal Core Media Engine. It offers an extensive variety of analog and digital I/O, pure sound, pristine remote controlled mic preamps, precise lock to timecode and ultra low latency, making it the perfect setting for the most demanding media productions.

SX-36 is a 1U rack mountable interface, and comes with a host of features, including 2 Remote-controlled Microphone / Instrument preamps; 8 balanced analogue inputs;12 balanced analogue outputs; 9 stereo digital inputs and 11 stereo digital outputs; 1 stereo digital input with sample-rate conversion and 1 stereo digital output (S/ PDIF format; dual independent 9-pin control ports; MIDI In and MIDI Out; and read and generate MTC and LTC. Visit http://au.fairlight.com.au

Clear-Com Celebrates 45 Years at IBC CLEAR-COM HAS LAUNCHED the new RS-700 Series analogue partyline beltpacks at IBC 2013. This introduction is a significant milestone in Clear-Com’s long history of developing analogue partyline systems for live production.

“This year marks the 45th year of the ClearCom business, and the company celebrates its success with the unveiling of the complete line of RS-700 Series partyline beltpacks,” says Bob Boster, President of Clear-Com. “Established in 1968, Clear-Com pioneered the first distributed wired beltpacks for live production and received industry recognition with the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for the contribution of this innovation.

Today, the company delivers the next generation wired beltpacks, a demonstration of our continued commitment to the partyline technology and the markets for which we serve with these offerings.”

with XLR line connectors that serve the needs of all users, be it first timers or experienced professionals. The 700 Series beltpacks require a lower operating current for additional beltpack drops. Moreover, they are built to be fully compatible with all Clear-Com legacy partyline systems and are protected against damage from accidental connection to other XLR-3 equipped digital systems, such as HelixNet Partyline.

The design of the new RS-700 Series beltpacks was based on Clear-Com’s popular RS-500 Series beltpacks that were highly durable and reliable. The contour-shape design gives the beltpacks the ideal form for a very comfortable

fit. All units are constructed with highly durable material for a tough exterior and strong enclosure to endure harsh, repetitive daily use.

All 700 Series beltpacks feature recessed rotary volume controls as well as Talk and Call keys that are guarded against accidental activation. An LED off mode is available for instances when the user requires complete darkness. For these situations, the switches are placed in convenient locations for ease of use. A concealed DIP switch on the back of the beltpack affords the capability to select audio and key options quickly and easily.

Visit www.clearcom.com

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Similar to its predecessors, the new RS-700 Series beltpacks feature state-of-the-art performance and exceptional audio clarity for partyline communications in small- to mid-size productions. The beltpack’s wide dynamic range and audio contouring enable intelligible voice communication for every audio level, from a whisper to a shout through the exclusive, crystal-clear “Clear-Com Sound”.

User-selectable microphone and listening level options and built-in limiters support the pristine sound.

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Extension for DAB+ Trials in Canberra, Darwin THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS and Media Authority (ACMA) has extended the DAB+ digital radio trial licences in Canberra and Darwin for a further 12 months. The scientific licences have been extended to allow ongoing bench and field testing and continued coverage modelling to be used in achieving a cost effective DAB+ rollout to other regional areas.

Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) chief executive, Joan Warner, said, “Australia is a unique market for the rollout of digital radio and careful planning is needed to get it right. Much has been learnt throughout the year of trial activity about receiver sensitivity which could influence transmission planning and the number of services offered, which also affects the rollout costs. Despite the research to date, more work is needed to ensure regional audiences enjoy great quality and reception and that the broadcasters can deliver that at a reasonable cost.”

CRA is the trial licensee and on behalf of the ABC, SBS, and all commercial broadcasters, requested extensions to the Canberra and Darwin trial scientific licences to allow the industry to continue its commitment to the roll out of digital radio to regional.

“The Canberra trial is a useful and active collaboration of commercial and public broadcasters and government agencies. It is a good test of a single shared multiplex model, which is being considered for regional areas and

Radio Industry Opens Up Audience Measurement

some important technical, as well as operational, knowledge has been gained,” said Ms Warner.

Commercial radio stations 2CA, 2CC, Mix 106.3, 104.7, My Canberra, Hot Country, Canberra 100, and Radar, plus multicultural and multilingual stations - SBS Radio 1 and SBS Radio 2, SBS Pop Asia, and SBS Chill continue to broadcast on the low power DAB+ trial. ABC stations – 666 ABC Canberra, ABC Jazz, Radio National, triple j Unearthed, and ABC Grandstand - joined the trial in 2011.

Hot 100 and Mix 104.9 and digital only services - Top Country Digital, Classic Rock, and Radio TAB - will continue DAB+ trial services in Darwin.

Canberra and Darwin DAB+ trials have been the first outside the metropolitan capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

The DAB+ trial signal in both cities is at low power, but tests have indicated coverage at low power has been able to extend to a large part of the Canberra and Darwin areas. A boost was required to retransmit the trial signal into Parliament House. This has provided additional testing opportunities for “in building” coverage in a challenging structure. The trial services continue to be subject to occasional interruptions and changes in power for ongoing technical testing.

Visit www.digitalradioplus.com.au

Digital Debut for Triple M in Perth

ADVERTISING AGENCIES AND RADIO stations will no longer be tied to a single radio analysis software package with the announcement that Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has started the process for Gold Standard Accreditation of radio audience measurement software.

From 1 January 2014, when audience measurement provider GfK commences the new contract for radio audience survey measurement in Australia, subscribers will be able to access a range of Gold Standard accredited software packages for use with radio survey data.

Currently, all subscribers of radio audience measurement data are only permitted to use Nielsen’s Radio Advisor software.

Gold Standard accredited software will use a common calculation base and standard industry language, terms and parameters.

CRA CEO, Joan Warner, said, “The industry has introduced the Gold Standard accreditation to open up the radio analysis software market to ensure choice for advertising and media agencies, advertisers and radio stations using radio audience data. This will enable agencies to integrate radio analysis into their current software systems, while still providing consistent calculations.”

The new three-year radio audience contract with GfK introduces an e-diary for computers, tablets and mobile phones, synchronised across the platforms and compatible with all operating systems.

GfK is currently conducting industry parallel pilot testing to ensure validity of the new processes when the contract commences.

Organisations can apply for Gold Standard certification by emailing goldstandard@commercialradio.com.au A full list of certified software suppliers will be made available in fourth quarter of this year after the initial round of accreditation.

Visit www.commercialradio.com.au

USING DAB+ DELIVERY AS a means of geographic expansion, Southern Cross Austereo has launched Triple M live across Perth for the very first time.

Linda Wayman, General Manager, SCA Perth, said, “We’re thrilled to now be able to offer the people of Perth access to what is one of Australia’s most iconic stations ever. It’s a very exciting addition to SCA’s radio portfolio.”

Southern Cross Austereo says it is leading the charge on digital radio, with an ever growing portfolio of successful digital offerings, broadcast around Australia. With over 1.3 million digital radios sold around the country to date, broadcasting an ever growing number of stations to 1.6 million listeners each week, digital radio is “the perfect platform to extend Triple M’s reach around Australia”.

Jaime Chaux, Digital Radio Content Director, SCA, said, “SCA has invested in digital radio to build a great portfolio of new stations and new sounds for audiences. Our next step, bringing Triple M to Perth, gives the city a real music alternative and Australia’s best AFL coverage.”

Visit www.triplem.com.au/perth/

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Taiwan Rolls Out World’s Biggest Short-Wave Upgrade Project AMPEGON HAS RECEIVED the third part of an ongoing contract by RTI Radio Taiwan International to upgrade two radio transmission sites in Taiwan. In cooperation with the local partner Techway Engineering Ltd, Ampegon will manufacture, install, and commission a total of ten 300 kW DRM shortwave transmitters and twelve rigid dipole broadcast antennas HR2/2/0.3 securing low and efficient maintenance works.

The transmitters are manufactured in Turgi, Switzerland while the antennas are designed in and delivered from Schifferstadt, Germany.

At the first site near Taipei four transmitters and two antennas will be installed, at the second site six transmitters and ten antennas.

The new infrastructure has been partially on air since May 2013 with two transmitters and antennas and is planned to be completed in several steps until (northern) autumn 2014.

ENCO DAD Integrates with Lawo ENCO SYSTEMS, a developer of radio and TV automation systems, and console manufacturer Lawo, have announced an integration partnership. It is now possible to automate a range of functions between the Lawo sapphire and crystal mixing consoles and ENCO’s DAD automation system. With the DAD user interface reflecting the visual appearance and philosophy of the Lawo console’s operational workflow, the bi-directional data transfer between the console and the DAD automation system is established entirely over IP, using RAVENNA technology for audio.

“With the integration of our products we provide our customers with a solution that significantly simplifies the installation,” states Ken Frommert, Director – Marketing and International Sales at ENCO Systems.

The integration partnership of ENCO and Lawo follows existing Lawo partnerships with Scisys and d’accord, both also well-known manufacturers of automation systems.

Visit www.ampegon.com

Visit www.lawo.de and www.enco.com

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Community Broadcasting Technology Think Tank A TECHNOLOGY THINK TANK is to be held as part of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia’s 2013 annual conference at Sydney’s Menzies Hotel (14 -17 November). The Community Broadcasting Think Tank is a sector initiative designed to bring together technology experts from both within and outside community broadcasting in order to discuss the sector’s technology plans.

Attendees will have the opportunity to provide input into the technological future of the community broadcasting sector as well as the activities of the CBOnline project and the Community Broadcasting Foundation’s (CBF’s) Online Grants Advisory Committee (OGAC).

The event is also a consultation mechanism for an independent review of CBOnline funding, including the sector project, grants, and other initiatives. It is hoped that through this process strategic priorities, including project and grant funding priorities, will be identified.

The think tank is a collaboration between the CBAA and OGAC, who provide advice to the CBF Board on online grant funding policy, including advice relating to the conduct of the CBOnline grant programs, CBOnline Sector Project, satellite and online distribution of content and national sector research.

The event will be facilitated by OGAC Chair, Nathaniel Garvin, and CBOnline Project Manager, Stephen Hahn.

Visit https://cbf.smartygrants.com.au/ThinkTank/116748/view

Report on Low-Cost DAB Platform THE UK MEDIA REGULATOR, Ofcom, has made available a report on the results of an investigation into low cost DAB solutions. A privately-funded, experimental DAB multiplex was set up in the English seaside town of Brighton between 14th September 2012 and 27th January 2013 using new lower-cost technologies.

As well as testing the viability and reliability of new wireless techniques for generating a Eureka 147 DAB compliant signal in a real world scenario, it also allowed various measurements, and comparisons with existing multiplexes to be made. The experiment successfully demonstrated that much of the infrastructure can now easily be implemented in software, and that integration with public IP networks improves accessibility while reducing the capital and operating costs quite dramatically.

It was also demonstrated that a trade-off in power amplifier selection could remove the need for large and costly cavity filters to meet ITU spectral masks.

The trade-off is a reduction in power efficiency, but the cost of this is negligible at low power levels. Some thought was also applied as to how a small-scale multiplex could fit in with the current and future radio broadcasting spectrum landscapes. It was also shown that a low-cost, low power approach could deliver a reliable, high quality service at minimal opportunity cost by using interleaved spectrum, which is unsuitable for use by larger networks.

The experiment also highlighted the importance of ‘site over might’. Low power transmitters sited in urban population centres can often deliver the fi eld strengths required for reliable indoor reception much more effectively than might be achieved with a higher-powered site on the periphery of the population centre.

The report can be found at: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/marketdataresearch/other/radio-research/Software-DAB-Research/?utmsource=updat es&utmmedium=email&utm_campaign=lowcostDABresearch

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TRANSMISSION Signal distribution, test & measurement

Jabiru Satellite Funding Finalised NEWSAT, THE US ExIm Bank and COFACE, along with other parties, have finalised the documentation for US$611 million of funding commitments for Jabiru-1, Australia’s first commercial Ka-band satellite. Jabiru-1 construction continues with US satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin after successful completion of the Preliminary Design Review last year.

The resident Jabiru engineering team in Newtown Pennsylvania, USA, along with CTO David Ball, and Lockheed Martin, recently completed a series of technical interchange meetings regarding key satellite sub-systems. The meetings demonstrated excellent progress and construction continues on schedule for satellite delivery and launch in 2015. Critical Design Review (CDR) remains on schedule to be conducted before the end of 2013.

Jabiru-1 will provide enterprise and government customers with “raw” capacity, not managed services (megahertz, not megabits).

The open architecture enables Jabiru-1 customers to have complete control over their own network implementation, rather than having to constrain their communication requirements to fit within the limits of a pre-defined managed service solution.

Jabiru-1’s three regional beams will provide coverage over South West Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. Two steerable Ka-band beams will be able to be independently located anywhere within Jabiru-1’s footprint.

Meanwhile, the company is expecting a second satellite, Jabiru-2, to be in orbit late 2013.

Visit www.newsat.com

BW Broadcast Names Broadcast ONE Master Distributor

www.content-technology.com/transmission

Magna Supplies Australian Telco with QoE for IPTV WHEN ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S largest Telcos required Quality of Experience (QoE) monitoring for one of their IPTV platforms, in addition to a large multi-viewer system, they approached Magna Systems and Engineering for a solution.

Magna Systems Product Specialist, Tim Banner, explained, “The Telco initially approached us to discuss the functionality and suitability of the Miranda EdgeVision system and the conversation developed further from there.”

EdgeVision offers richly featured, QoE monitoring across an entire network for satellite/cable/IPTV operators and broadcasters, using high performance video/audio streaming and extensive signal probing. EdgeVision can also provide both low quality and high quality audio/video streams, with fully selectable resolution and bitrates. This allows remote monitoring of signals over a LAN or WAN, without a negative impact on network capacity.

Banner continued, “After a series of discussions we provided the Telco with a proof of concept solution that included a Miranda iControl Edge platform for automatic control of the Telco’s IPTV set top boxes though the EdgeVision system and Kaleido-X and Kaleido-IP multi-viewers. This way IP streams from the EdgeVision are monitored on the Miranda Kaleido-IP multi-viewers. SDI signals are then fed into the Miranda Kaleido-X system providing up to 192 inputs and 16 monitor outputs.”

The Miranda solution also provides the Telco with a ‘Penalty Box’ that automatically displays any channel in error in a full screen without operator intervention.

Tim Banner concluded, “It’s a very efficient system that integrates well. The iControl system controls the EdgeVisions, which in turn control the Telco’s set top boxes. Alarms are received from the EdgeVision and feed back to the Kaleido multi-viewers where the operators take the required action.

Along with colleagues from Miranda we also commissioned the system and provided operational training.”

Visit www.magnasys.tv

Ai-Media to Caption for Nine CAPTIONING SERVICES PROVIDER Ai-Media has announced it has

UK–BASED BW BROADCAST HAS announced that Broadcast ONE has been appointed the Master Distributor for BW Broadcast in Australia.

BW Broadcast develops technology for low-power FM transmission, RDS encoders and processors for FM, AM, HD Radio and Internet broadcasting.

Broadcast ONE has a long standing commitment to BW Broadcast as a distributor. With the acquisition of Gencom in place and its Asia-Pacific spread, Broadcast ONE will act as Master Distributor, holding stock of BW Broadcast’s products and spare parts and support the efforts of other resellers in the region.

TRANSMISSION

According to Broadcast ONE Vice President, Kelly John Woods, “This announcement continues Broadcast ONE’s focus to bring ‘Best in Class’ FM products to the Australian market and will bring clients and regional distributors alike, fast, first class local support for the BW Broadcast product range.”

Scott Incz, Managing Director of BW Broadcast, said, “We welcome the new role of Broadcast ONE as Master Distributor and look forward to working together in serving Australian broadcasters with the latest technology in our product ranges.”

Visit www.bwbroadcast.com and www.broadcastone.com.au

completed an agreement with the Nine Network to service all of Nine’s Australian markets.

Nine awarded a five year captioning services contract to Ai-Media through a competitive tender process involving international and local captioning providers.

Ai-Media CEO, Tony Abrahams, said, “Ai-Media is excited to be working with Nine across its diverse mix of leading entertainment programming.

New, regulated captioning quality standards were introduced in June.

This has played to Ai-Media’s strength in delivering consistent quality at scale.”

Nine’s Director of Commercial and Regulatory Affairs, Scott Briggs, said, “This is an important service to many of our viewers and through this new deal with Ai-Media we are confident we will have the best quality service for them.”

The win by Australian-owned Ai-Media is the company’s first in the free-to-air television sector. Ai-Media is celebrating ten years in business.

Visit http://ai-media.tv

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TRANSMISSION

The Future of Broadcast Control Rooms

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The broadcast industry is coming to recognise the advantages of using standard IP infrastructures for broadcast applications. Traditional concerns, in some quarters, over reliability and speed become less of an issue each passing year in line with the IT mantra “never bet against bandwidth”. At Adder, we think the rise of IP as a transport network in control room environments is not only desirable, it’s inevitable.

BROADCAST ROOMS are already benefitting from the convergence of IT technologies into what has traditionally been a bespoke environment. IP is the natural choice of transport layer for these merging technologies. The number of signals coming into and out of the control room, from camera feeds, auto cue, and other interfaces are consistently increasing, rising in line with the complexity of the production environment. Therefore scalability, reliability and ease of use are becoming ever more significant in terms of managing the average gallery.

THE ADVANTAGES OF IP In the simplest terms IP is everywhere, it is reliable and resilient, and forms an extremely cost-effective infrastructure. The backbone of a control room’s infrastructure is already based on IP and while the products on the network may be sourced from different vendors, the investment in technology has already been made. This allows operators to leverage their current infrastructure without spending significantly more money. As a result, one major advantage of the wider adoption of IP is cost savings. In addition, the use of proprietary technology, often with its own set of standards, can be negated and a greater level of interoperability and future-proofing can be achieved.

WHERE IP IS MAKING INROADS One area of IP that is seeing greater adoption in the broadcast control room is in high performance KVM (keyboard video mouse) technology.

In a studio or gallery environment, IP-based KVM can be used to bring enhanced flexibility, scalability, functionality and reliability to operations. By adopting this type of KVM, a screen is no longer a screen, but becomes a portal into any number of computers.

What this essentially means is that IP-based KVM allows users in the control room to be separated from the physical machines they are using, moving the computers out from underneath desks and enabling users to perform all functions using just a keyboard, video monitor and mouse. Users are therefore no longer tied to a specific desktop, and can use any number of computers that they have access to, from any number of locations. By moving the computers out of the control room, the workstation environment can be ergonomically enhanced, adding space and eliminating noise and heat.

In addition, IP-based KVM allows users to switch between computers and multitask. In the newsroom environment, for example, there is a marked difference between the number of staff required for a prime time news bulletin and those needed for a midnight broadcast. By having the ability to switch between devices from a single desk, multiple users can switch between computers as required. From a multitasking point of view, two users can view the same computer from different screens. While only one user can have control, the other user can follow what is going on in real-time. This has benefits for shift changeovers, guaranteeing a seamless handover, as well as supervisory applications, such as having a studio manager monitoring various editors or operators in a newsroom.

IP-based KVM technology also provides the studio and gallery with greater fail-over and redundancy options. If all machines are linked via a high performance KVM system and one piece of equipment fails, an operator can simply move into another studio, type in a command at a workstation and access the same computer, immediately recovering what he or she was working on. If need be, all users within a studio can slowly migrate to the next studio with no downtime or loss of productivity.

IP-based KVM can be used effectively in both television and radio studios and control rooms, as well as in outside broadcasting applications where a number of trucks need to be linked to one another and to a main truck.

CONCLUSION Adopting IP as standard is definitely where the market is heading.

Even though broadcast control rooms may be slow in adopting this technology across the board, it is proving its worth in stages by being used in various areas of content production. By using standard networking systems as the core infrastructure, the future of broadcast control rooms is bright and will be characterised by high quality operations, cost-effectiveness, scalability and reliability, consigning costly proprietary technology to history.

Visit www.adder.com

The main drivers for using IP-based KVM in a broadcast control room are real-time and accurate video operation – absolute essentials for these mission critical hubs. Professionals within the broadcasting environment are coming to realise that this is now possible – and offers additional benefits, such as greater flexibility, interoperability and reliability.

KVM in the spotlight Using IP also guarantees greater scalability and upgradability. This is clearly illustrated in the use of KVM; to enlarge an IP-based KVM video system all that is required is the addition of more endpoints.

This flexibility and future proofing is evident in that the possibilities for enlarging the system are endless – from the number of machines that can be added, to the distance that can be placed between those machines and users. There is no need for any specialist knowledge to manage KVM that is used with standard IP, as would be the case with proprietary technologies. The system is easy to set up and use, intuitive and can be maintained by the traditional IT department.

TRANSMISSION

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By John Halksworth, Senior Product Manager, Adder Technology

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TRANSMISSION

Cobham Features SOLO7 Nano TX COBHAM BROADCAST HAS featured the world’s smallest wireless HD COFDM camera transmitter at IBC 2013.

The new SOLO7 Nano TX transmitter, a matchbox-size addition to Cobham’s SOLO range, provides vital transmission stability for HD images. With latency as low as 15ms, SOLO7 Nano TX enables wireless and wired cameras to perform as a single unit to capture and transmit details at events of any size, therefore enabling viewers to experience news, entertainment and drama from vantage points never before possible. An SD version of the Nano TX is also available and will feature at the show.

Cobham also featured an HD MPEG4 IP Encoder that not only gives camera operators the ability to establish bi-directional connectivity, but the ability to encode and transmit live broadcast quality HD video from anywhere that has broadband access. The encoder can easily be connected to virtually any camera and includes balanced audio inputs with integral broadcast-standard IFB talkback.

IBC also saw the return of the popular MediaMesh rapid set-up field newsroom unit that enables users to set up a live broadcast quality transmission on the fly.

Visit www.cobham.com

New StreamZ Live Encoders From Digital Rapids DIGITAL RAPIDS BROUGHT their complete range of media transformation and workflow technologies and solutions to IBC 2013. Featured solutions being demonstrated included Transcode Manager 2.0, StreamZ Live, and StreamZHD. Also, Digital Rapids once again powered the encoding of content for online and mobile delivery of IBC TV News, the official news channel of the IBC conference and exhibition.

Digital Rapids Transcode Manager 2.0, powered by Kayak, was showcased with new and upcoming capabilities. Transcode Manager 2.0 blends media transformation and workflow processes while providing unparalleled operational efficiency and agility for applications from production and archive to multiscreen distribution. Transcode Manager 2.0 combines its hallmarks of powerful management tools, quality and format flexibility with advanced capabilities.

Ideal for premium live and linear applications from IPTV and over-the-top (OTT) headends to high-profile live streaming deployments, the StreamZ Live 4000EX features rich adaptive streaming format support for reaching viewers with high-quality experiences on the broadest range of devices, while its underlying Kayak technology platform enables future-proof upgradability to support new features, formats, and technologies as they emerge.

TRANSMISSION

The new StreamZ Live 8000EX integrated multiscreen and broadcast live encoder simplifies the convergence of core linear television and multi-platform streaming operations. The StreamZ Live 8000EX features simultaneous H.264 or MPEG-2 encoding for broadcast/cable/telco/satellite television applications and multi-format encoding for multiscreen adaptive streaming delivery to platforms including mobile phones, tablets, PCs, IPTV, OTT services and more.

The new StreamZ Live 6000EX live broadcast encoder delivers the same H.264 and MPEG-2 broadcast encoding capabilities as the StreamZ Live 8000EX integrated broadcast/multiscreen encoder in a tailored configuration for dedicated broadcast, cable and satellite television applications.

The latest version of the software for Digital Rapids’ StreamZHD multiformat, ingest and encoding system was also showcased, including further enhancements to StreamZHD’s renowned encoding quality and performance.

Visit www.digitalrapids.com

Riedel Integrates MediorNet with Grass Valley Cameras RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS WAS showing off their MediorNet, MediorWorks, and Rocknet products at IBC 2013.

Riedel featured the European premiere of the Grass Valley Camera Interface Card for MediorNet Compact real-time networks. The new MN-C-OPT-GV-2 for MediorNet Compact allows the user to connect Grass Valley LDK and LDX cameras, and their base stations, directly to MediorNet. MediorNet’s network approach allows the free assignment of cameras to any base station or CCU within the network, providing unparalleled flexibility in setups and eliminating the need for re-wiring when production needs change. The MN-C-OPT-GV-2 for MediorNet Compact fits into a MediorNet Compact expansion slot. It provides two Grass Valley ports that connect either to cameras or base stations.

Supporting a variety of small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical transceivers, the MediorNet MN-C-OPT-HDMI and MN-HDO-4IO universal video cards enable the flexible configuration of MediorNet systems for bidirectional transport of analogue composite video, HDMI, DVI, and optical or coaxial SDI signals.

Ideal for environments including theatres, houses of worship, hotels, convention centres, and stadiums, the MediorNet bidirectional video cards bring added versatility to Riedel’s MediorNet Modular system. Depending on the SFP transceivers installed, each card can provide a combination of either four HD (1.5G) or two 1080p (3G) bidirectional video signals or analogue video, HDMI, DVI, or optical SDI video I/O. HDMI I/Os employ selflocking mini HDMI connectors.

Other products on display included the MediorNet Modular and MediorNet Compact; MediorWorks software; Performer, Artist, Acrobat communications systems; RockNet Fibre-Optic Converters and console interfaces.

Visit www.riedel.net

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Snell Goes All Out at IBC

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SNELL SOLUTIONS ARE used worldwide in broadcast media operations of every size and scale. At IBC 2013, the company featured new and enhanced products for a vast range of live TV and TV Everywhere applications.

With its exclusive FormatFusion3 technology that supports a mix of SD, HD, 1080p, and now 4K, Snell’s Kahuna 360 is a live production switcher that provides power and flexibility. At IBC, Snell launched a new set of control panels for Kahuna 360 that provide a flexible, quick, and reliable access control interface for all types of television programming, and utilise the features within the advanced Kahuna 360 electronics frame.

Snell has added three new configurations to its ICE channel-in-abox solution. The core ICE product is now available as a standard 2-U system, requiring a third less space than the previous hardware platform with twice the 2D or 3D graphics capability as was previously available. In addition, ICE is now shipping with Version 4.0 of the software.

ICE LE is a new 1-U version of ICE that provides the advanced functionality of the Version 4.0 software in a smaller, more costeffective footprint and with a streamlined feature set. Also, in partnership with Quantum, Snell is introducing ICE SAN. ICE SAN provides large-scale shared content storage to give multiple ICE units instant access to media.

New features and updates were also shown for Momentum; Snell OnDemand, beginning with Alchemist OnDemand; KudosPro; Alchemist Ph.C-HD LIVE; the Luna Series of router control panels; The Sirius 800 family of enterprise-class routing switchers; Vega; and IQ Modular.

Visit www.snellgroup.com

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CLASSIFIEDS Advertiser Index

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Co./Last Name .....................Page AJA ..................................................IFC Blackmagic Design ........................ 5 CASBAA show ............................. IBC Digital Rapids Corporation Ltd. ...........................19 Fuji Film ...................................60-63 Future Reality ...............................43 Gearhouse Broadcast Pty Ltd........

Gencom Technology Pty Ltd ....15 HB Communications (HK) Limited .............................. OBC Interra Systems ............................45 IRT Electronics Pty Ltd................16 Jands Pty Ltd .................................37

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Lumina Broadcast Systems......... 3 Magna Systems & Engineering..11 OB group ........................................59 On Air Solutions ....................25, 54 Professional Audio Technology .............................21, 55 Quinto Communications Pty. Ltd. ............................................................. 9 Riedel Communications GmbH & Co. KG ............................35 Roland .............................................23 Studiotech Australia ..................... 4 Syntec International Pty Ltd .............................. 17, 31, 51 Techtel Pty Ltd ..............................13 Videocraft ......................................29

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Broadcast Projects Engineer

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Gearhouse Broadcast Australia is currently seeking an experienced broadcast projects engineer to fill a full-time vacancy.

Net ons

Based in Sydney or Melbourne the role will involve frequent travel and work on a variety of projects both nationally and internationally.

In this role you willtake a lead role in the management and development of systems integration and broadcast engineering projects for Gearhouse Broadcast.

Requirements include: 5 years plus experience in Broadcast project engineering

In-depth knowledge of current broadcast technologies including audio, video & communications switching & routing matrices. EVS and non-linear edit workflows and networking Particular experience in broadcast systems engineering and project management for live sports coverage is desirable

Strong and demonstrable project management and technical documentation skills

Excellent communication and customer management skills essential

High level proficiency with Autocad / VidCAD & MS Excel

Application to sedwards@gearhousebroadcast.com.au

Please supply a current CV and covering letter upon application.

SNELL AND THE HONG KONG JOCKEY CLUB

y

Load the Code To view these videos, make sure you have installed a QR code reader app on your tablet or smartphone, use the app to scan the associated QR code with your device’s camera, relax and enjoy informative the content from C+T and selected organisations.

Proudly sponsored by Techtel and Harris Broadcast.

Alternatively, visit vimeo.com/67555547 recently_added/video-claudio_miranda

SHOOTING OBLIVION IN 4K WITH SONY F65 VERAMATRIX VIDEO ABS-CBN CARDLESS SECURITY CASE STUDY

Alternatively, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz1kpNPQnxQ&f eature=youtu.be

To see the interview with Claudio Miranda ASC, scan the QR code or visit: http:// pro.sony.com/bbsc/video/ related-recently_added/ video-claudio_miranda

SMPTE LOUDNESS MEETING Scan the codes to view presentations by Glenn Carrick, Chair, Free TV Australia Audio Group, and Adam Birch, Global Product

AUTOMOBILE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ASIA PACIFIC A video presentation by Joan Warner, CEO of CRA and Chairman of the WorldDMB Asia Pacific Committee, was shown at the recent 5th WorldDMB European Automotive Event in Hamburg, Germany.

Alternatively, visit http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=72bVJ2PABdA

CLASSIFIEDS

0

Marketing Manager, Harris Broadcast (UK), speaking at the recent SMPTE Australia Section Meeting on Audio Loudness, or visit: http://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCUlpcworPCM6Atu4paH1x-Q

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>> BROADCAST ONE >>

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>> ERICSSON SMPTE PARTY >> 027 >> ERICSSON SMPTE PARTY >> 028 >> ERICSSON SMPTE PARTY >>

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SONY SMPTE PARTY > >> 042 >> > SONY SMPTE PARTY > >>

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TIME shifter Whoozat! Behind the Scenes of World Series Cricket Part 1: Teeing Off In August of 2012, 35 years after it started, there was renewed interest in World Series Cricket (WSC) thanks to the Channel Nine miniseries Howzat!

Kerry Packer’s War. The miniseries, and the book it was based on, focussed on the fight to bring cricket onto commercial television as well as providing better pay for the players.

OUT OF THIS FIGHT Sprang World Series Cricket, a wildly different form of the game with matches that were dubbed ‘Supertests’ (the official rules could not be used, as they are the copyright of the Marylebone Cricket Club and these were not official cricketing matches). This was all shown in detail in the miniseries, but there was one aspect that was glossed over: the amazing technical feats produced by the production team. That’s where Whoozat comes in.

Whoozat is the untold story of the TV technical and production team who changed the way cricket was televised, as recounted by Warren Berkery, the technical manager for Nine’s WSC coverage (he was portrayed by Angus Grant in Howzat!), at a Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) event earlier this year. The story doesn’t actually start with Kerry Packer angling for cricket rights: it began with golf.

“Kerry Packer’s sporting passion in the mid seventies was golf, and he wanted to do for golf what his father, Sir Frank Packer, had done for yachting through his America’s Cup challenges,” explained Warren Berkery. “So Kerry committed Channel Nine TV and The Bulletin, his news magazine, to the Australian open golf tournaments in 1975 through 1978 to be held at the Australian Golf Club course, Kensington in Sydney, and be televised over all 18 holes with a full coverage of tees, fairways and greens.

TIME SHIFTER

“He commissioned Jack Nicklaus to redesign the course and put it on a par with the world’s leading championship courses and hire top American TV director Malcolm Hemion to oversee productions.

The 1975 open golf telecast involved seven OB units, including units and crews from GTV 9 Melbourne, QTQ 9 Brisbane, 10 Sydney, NBN Newcastle, and utilised 25 cameras, including two backpack cameras; pretty wild in those days. This was increased to 30 cameras in the 1976 event and included five portable cameras.

“The Australian open golf telecasts in the mid seventies were the first in the world to bring multi-camera coverage of all 18 holes to the sport’s television audience. The golf TV was acclaimed and convinced Kerry Packer that he had the TV firepower to bid for the ACB cricket rights. The golf telecast also had Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane TV crews working as a

single entity. World series cricket would extend this rationale to Perth and, in the longer term, to the Channel Nine affiliated stations nationwide,” Berkery added.

The success that Nine had with the Australian Open golf tournament; a drive to see the best cricketers in the world be paid a fair share of the proceeds, led by John Cornell; and the closed book on TV rights between the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), all combined to see Packer be turned down by the ACB and start his own form of the game. First though, they had to figure out how to actually get it onto screens.

“The original team committed to world series cricket planning were John Cornell, David Hill, the executive producer, and Channel Nine Melbourne director John Crilly, who was in charge of production planning. I was unaware and blissfully ignorant of the project,” said Warren. “The story broke in May ‘77 in the UK and Australian press. I was aware but remained blissfully ignorant.

“In July ‘77 I toured the USA, Canada and England on behalf of Channel Nine sport to observe CBS and BBC golf telecasts for the benefit of the ‘77 Australian Open golf. I was also advised to observe BBC coverage of an Ashes test telecast.

So in July ‘77 I ventured into the BBC commentary box at Trent Bridge, Nottingham and was introduced to senior commentator Richie Benaud.

Richie presented me with his shopping list for the essential infrastructure for a test cricket commentary box, and for essential equipment for world-class cricket TV coverage. I was no longer blissfully ignorant.”

Still from Channel Nine’s coverage of the 1975 Australian Open Golf

In August 1977, Berkery, Hill, and Crilly (or WPB, DBH, and JC as they referred to each other) planned out the OB van movements by going on a four state tour. They also sorted out local support units and support crew, van power, camera placements, scaffoldings, commentary boxes, communication circuits, and microwave circuits. That’s a lot of planning for any cricket operation, but when all the grounds have never even been home to a cricket pitch the complexity goes to a new level.

“In Melbourne the venue was VFL Park, Waverley, some 30 kilometres out of Melbourne, with the centre field ploughed up by VFL football in the vagaries of Melbourne weather. World Series cricket curator, John Maley, developed off-field wickets grown in concrete tubs as the only solution to provide for play scheduled in November, three months after the close of the VFL season. In Sydney, the Royal Agricultural Society Showground hosted World Series cricket as a lead up to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, but at least Sydney could allow for a grown wicket,” explained Berkery.

“In Adelaide the venue was another football ground, Football Park at West Lakes, a blindingly white concrete bowl where one could not hide from the South Australian sun. Perth, the wicket was grown in the sandpit in the centre of Gloucester Park, the home of harness racing in Western Australia.”

In the next issue of C+T, Time Shifter will look at the setup of the commentary box, electronic scoring, sound effects, as well as some of the logistical and technical obstacles that the WSC team faced.

Wickets being grown in concrete tubs by John Maley

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12/09/13 3:37 PM

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