Content+Technology ANZ April-May 2021

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Inside Nova’s New Sydney Studio ... page 22.

REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 04 NEWS+PEOPLE Freeview Launches New

31 INDUSTRY FOCUS

Integrated HbbTV Platform; AEQ in the Alice - 8CCC Goes AOIP

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FEATURES 08 ACQUISITION Denson Baker Named

19 POST-PRODUCTION Netflix Powers Up

11 SPORTSCASTING Sky Racing Takes Remote

22 RADIO Inside Nova Entertainment’s New

Australian Cinematographer of the Year; 8K UHD Broadcast Lenses from Fujifilm; ARRI Unveils Remote Solutions Toolkit; Marshall Expands IP Workflows with New PTZ Cameras; Sony FX3 Full-Frame Camera.

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Track with Sienna’s NDI Software; 2022 Games’ Host Broadcaster Picks EVS for Media Management; Krizmik Goes NDI with Gameday Hire for Wakefield Enduro 300; 5stream Serves Up Australian Open; and more.

14 NEWS OPERATIONS Grass Valley Fires Up Your Bulletin; Primestream Brings Immediacy to News; Polygon Labs Boosts Unreal Engine.

16 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Telestream Acquires

Masstech to Create MAM Powerhouse; SCA Invests in Australian AI; McKee Joins Silver Trak; Rohde & Schwarz Expands SpycerNode Storage; Mediaproxy Adds Zixi and SRT; Cloud-based Motion Compensated Standards Conversion, and more.

Remote Workstations for the Discerning Artists; 12field Animation Embraces Remote Production with Digistor; Autodesk Fuels Flame, Adds Muscle to 3ds Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder.

Sydney Studio.

24 AUDIO Song Zu Acquired by Music Licensing Company Songtradr; Sydney’s City Recital Hall Upgrades with The P.A. People; RØDE Unveils Streaming Software, Adds MIDI to RØDECaster Pro; RTS DBP Digital Beltpack; and more.

29 CONTENT DELIVERY Austereo Boosts

Distribution with International Datacasting; hoopla digital Brings Digital Library Content to Australia; ACMA Announces 5G Auction Results; Whatever Happened to SDI?

24 CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN 34 095 653 277) PO Box 165 Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel +61 (0)2 4368 4569 Mob +61 (0)414 671 811 papers@broadcastpapers.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER: Adam Buick Mob +61 (0)413 007 144 adam@broadcastpapers.com PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lucy Salmon Mob +61(0)412 479 662 production@broadcastpapers.com DESIGN & LAYOUT Wide Open Media Mob +61 (0)419 225 348 www.wideopenmedia.com.au PRINTING: SOS Printing, Sydney

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.

EDITOR’S WELCOME

Content Be Nimble, Content Be quick

By Phil Sandberg

Then there is Amazon Web Services.

The company has announced a new initiative, AWS for Media &

Moscow

Underpinning the new initiative is Amazon Nimble Studio, a new service that “enables customers to set up a content production studio in hours instead of weeks, with elasticity that gives them near limitless scale and access to rendering on demand.”

Nimble Studio gives artists access to accelerated virtual workstations, high-speed storage, and scalable rendering across AWS’s global infrastructure. There are no upfront fees or commitments to use Amazon Nimble Studio, and customers pay only for the underlying AWS services used.

Amazon Nimble Studio is available in six AWS Regions and AWS Local Zones: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon) Region, Canada (Central) Region, Europe (London) Region, Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region, and US Local

Remote Workflow Solution Specialist

ersburg

Among the reactions from AWS beta testers, two stand out.

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Netflix, for example, is rapidly evolving into an ecosystem. The streaming giant recently announced ‘Netflix Workstations’ (see story page 21) which allows VFX artists with a laptop to “work wherever they are”. The move adds to Netflix’s Studio in the Cloud and has been complemented

by Netflix Drive, a cloud drive for media assets.

Zone (Los Angeles), with additional region support coming soon.

AWS for Media & Entertainment brings together AWS internal resources, AWS Professional Services, and 400+ industryspecific Independent Software Vendor Partners and 100+ System Integrators – otherwise known as an ecosystem!

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And now the value chain is shifting again with the rise of the big Internet tech companies.

And, so, the ecosystem as a mode of creation/collaboration and distribution was embraced by technology vendors as their businesses became more software driven and tied less to proprietary hardware. Avid Technology’s Pro 16:00

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The first significant move in this direction was Apple’s iTunes which not only encapsulated the delivery mechanism and the end-user device, but also altered the power of the recording companies and the artists (though the artists still find themselves without that much power). But, what iTunes provided was an ecosystem connecting most of the participants in the music industry together in a way that had previously not been possible.

Entertainment, which is designed to make it easier “… for industry customers to discover, implement, and deploy purpose-built AWS capabilities and partner solutions for their highest priority workloads enabling them to create compelling content faster, invent new customer experiences, expand direct-toconsumer offerings, and improve media supply chain efficiency.”

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Communities, along with the Avid Customer Association, has been one of the more successful examples of this. The benefits for users include a direct line to product development and fellow users of Avid’s toolset, along with access to third-party vendors who have joined the ecosystem. The benefits for Avid include an ongoing and engaged relationship with existing customers and, through their professional networks, exposure to potential new customers.

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EVER SINCE THE RELEASE of the original Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) in 1979, the tools and business of content creation have been increasingly subject to the forces of commoditisation and virtualisation as tech companies have staked out points in the production and delivery chain.

According to Kurt Rauer, CEO of online gaming platform Anjekumi, “Amazon Nimble Studio allows us to concentrate on the creative result rather than the technical journey as it solves some key issues in our production pipeline.”

Meanwhile, James Bennett, Founder and Director of U.S. VFX & Animation company, Shomen Productions, stated, “We believe the future of production is dispersed teams and agile studios. We believe Amazon Nimble Studio will be as impactful to creative production as iTunes was to the music industry.”

Of course, iTunes and its onerous revenue split (not to mention end-user ‘property’ rights) was not the only ecosystem under the Apple umbrella. Those with longer memories will recall the number of innovative post production technologies which became mere “plug-ins” for Final Cut. We’ll see what this latest evolution brings …

Visit https://aws.amazon.com/ nimble-studio/ Thanks for reading Phil Sandberg – Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com +61(0)414671811

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NEWS + PEOPLE

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

Freeview Launches New Integrated HbbTV Platform FREEVIEW AUSTRALIA has launched its free enhanced HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) service, designed to provide Australians with a more seamless integration between broadcast and on-demand BVOD services.

The new Freeview product not only provides a more streamlined way to search and discover a world of free-to-air (FTA) entertainment across more than 35 channels, but also enables free and on demand access to a massive library of more than 50,000 individual programs and episodes, from back catalogue, to current programs and digital exclusives.

Freeview’s new HbbTV service, scheduled to be completed by the week of May 12, 2021, will deliver a more simplified viewer experience. The comprehensive search function will make content easier to discover as viewers will be able to search for content across ABC iview, SBS On Demand, 7plus, 9Now and 10 play without the need to download individual broadcaster apps.

Freeview Australia’s HbbTV application is built using the latest HbbTV 2.0 standard and it joins the UK as the only other service in the world delivering an aggregated platform across multiple broadcasters on this latest standard. The new service also provides a simple on-screen program guide that makes it easier than ever to see what’s available across every Freeview broadcaster in Australia.

According to Helen Clifton, Freeview Chair and ABC’s Digital and Information Officer, the new platform is a strong and positive move for viewers.

Clifton said: “I am very excited about the new HbbTV-powered Freeview service for connected TV. Not only will it provide audiences with a streamlined way to search and discover content, but it also opens up access to the complete freeto-air on-demand catalogue – over 5000 hours of content.

“The launch of a new gateway for TV viewing also

means Freeview can take advantage of the latest technologies and bring audiences an improved and richer interactive experience which will help drive the industry forward.”

Freeview Australia’s CEO, Bridget Fair said the launch is also great news for the networks and advertisers.

“With the launch of the new service, there is now an easier way to search and view linear and BVOD content with access to thousands of additional episodes and items. We know that Australians will be excited and engaged in this new FTA experience,” she said.

The new HbbTV service has been built on new HbbTV 2.0 devices but is also fully backward compatible with all Freeview certified HbbTV 1.5 devices (dating back to 2014) through the dynamic delivery of different app versions to suit varying TV requirements.

According to Fair, “With these announcements, Freeview continues to innovate and joins the ranks of leading global connected TV players harnessing the power of HbbTV. This new HbbTV technology is breaking ground as the leading delivery platform for DVB’s new targeted advertising specification and continues to set standards for broadcast television by transforming possibilities for viewers”.

Australia-based online video developer Switch Media helped facilitate delivery of the new integrated Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) service.

“We’ve been working with HbbTV specifications for many years and we have the knowledge to maximise the features available. It’s a complex process that we can significantly simplify for broadcasters and platforms so that they can deliver a sophisticated HbbTV service across as many devices as possible,” said Matt Moran, Engagement Director, Switch Media. “Having worked with Freeview to deliver their world-first Freeview FV mobile app as well as their Freeview Plus upgrade, Switch Media was best placed to assist with delivery of this exciting new HbbTV service.”

Freeview has also unveiled a refreshed brand identity which consolidates the Freeview branding under one easily identifiable logo. Freeview’s brand refresh and launch of HbbTV is supported by 15’ and 30’ TVCs - broadcast and digital – which launch early May, plus dedicated digital, social and PR campaigns.

Visit https://freeview.com.au

IN BRIEF ROSS VIDEO has announced that Kyle Le Roux has joined the company in the newly created role of Inside Sales Specialist for the Oceania region. Le Roux will be based in the Ross office in Sydney, Australia, and comes to Ross with a broad sales background, including tech start-up 1nsight, Citigroup, UFC Gym, Nine Entertainment/NineMSN and Stan.

NEWS + PEOPLE PEOPLE

Visit www.rossvideo.com ----------------------------------------------------------------

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SILVER TRAK DIGITAL has promoted Matt Christie to the role of NSW Sales/Client Services Manager.

Christie will now be instrumental in promoting Silver Trak’s overall business development and generating new business through

client interactions. He has previously held roles with Beyond Films, Beyond Distribution and Video 8.

Matt Christie can be contacted at matt@silvertrak.com.au or on 0422 985 205.

---------------------------------------------------------------ROD MCKINNON has taken on the role of Sales and Marketing Management with Event Communications Australia. He previously spent 28 years with JANDS Pty Ltd “… working with some of the best professionals in the integration and live performance audio, lighting and staging industry.”

Prior to that he was Sales and Marketing Manager with Australian Monitor P/L.

---------------------------------------------------------------NIC SMITH has been appointed Senior Account Executive, based in Australia, with online video platform Vimeo. He previous roles include Sales Leader with IBM Watson Media, Sales Engineer Cloud Video Services with IBM, Head of Technology with Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, and Workflow and Application Specialist with Digistor.

---------------------------------------------------------------TE TUMA WHAKAATA TAONGA New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) Chair, Dame Kerry Prendergast, has announced that CEO Annabelle Sheehan would step away from the role, after three years

leading the agency, and return to Australia to complete treatment for cancer. She is expected to make a full recovery.

Meanwhile, the NZFC has announced appointments to four roles in the Development and Production team headed by Leanne Saunders.

Angela Littlejohn will take up the role of Senior Investment Executive and Olivier Leroy will move into the role of Investment Executive. The other appointments are Christina Andreef who will remain in the role of Development Executive, and Joel Rudolph who will take up the existing role of Department Co-ordinator.

Visit www.nzfilm.co.nz

NEWS

FREE + PEOPLE Download Now!For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com

Introducing DaVinci Resolve 17 Over 300 new features including HDR grading, AI magic mask and improved Fairlight usability!

DaVinci Resolve 17 is a major new release packed with over 300 features and enhancements! Colorists get new HDR grading tools, AI based magic mask, color warper and more. Fairlight adds lightning fast keyboard and mouse sound editing tools. Editors get new metadata ‘slate’ view, smart reframing, proxies, keying, Fusion effects and more!

Powerful New Edit and Cut Page Features!

Next Generation HDR and Color Features!

Fusion Effects, Titles and Transitions for Editors!

New HDR grading tools, redesigned primary controls, AI based magic mask and more. The new HDR palette lets you create custom color wheels for targeted corrections, magic mask uses the DaVinci Neural Engine to isolate and track objects, and the color warper lets you morph colors in creative new ways!

New DaVinci wide gamut image processing gives you even higher quality!

DaVinci Resolve 17 lets you save anything created on the Fusion page as an effect, title or transition that can be used on the edit and cut pages! New animation curve modifiers automatically retime animations when clip length is changed, there are new vector shape tools for motion graphics, shared markers, and audio playback with graphical waveform!

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Available for Mac, Windows and Linux

NEWS + PEOPLE PEOPLE

Fairlight features a powerful new engine that supports up to 2,000 realtime tracks with effects, dynamic and EQ. The new context sensitive edit selection tools and updated shortcuts make it even faster and easier to use, especially if you’re switching from another system. You can now reverse clips, analyze loudness, view transients, preview video, move automation and more!

A new metadata ‘slate’ view with bin dividers makes it easy to sort and find clips based on scene, shot, camera, and more! There’s also new audio trimming on the cut page, AI based smart reframing for changing aspect ratio, a new portable proxy workflow that supercharges edit performance, render in place, timeline based syncing, compositing, keying, Fusion effects and more!

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NEWS + PEOPLE

US-based FuseFX Buys Rising Sun Pictures FUSEFX, a full-service, award-winning visual effects company with studios in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, Montréal, Toronto, and Bogotá, has announce its acquisition of Rising Sun Pictures (RSP), a world-renowned, high-end visual effects studio headquartered in Adelaide, Australia. Rising Sun Pictures, founded in 1995 by Tony Clark, Gail Fuller, and Wayne Lewis, offers a full suite of visual effects services and has a long heritage of creating world-class visual effects for many of Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster movies and streaming content. Over its 25-year history, RSP has established itself as one of the world’s elite visual effects studios.

Rising Sun Pictures Co-Founder Tony Clark will continue to lead the studio and operate under the Rising Sun Pictures brand. Together, the combined companies have nearly 800 artists at eight locations across the globe.

“Tony, Gail, Wayne and the entire team at Rising Sun Pictures have created one of the most wellestablished and respected independent studios in the world,” said David Altenau, Founder and CEO of FuseFX. “Their commitment to delivering the highest quality art and service to their clients has helped make them an icon in the visual effects industry. Their previous work and position in the industry make them a fantastic partner for FuseFX. “We’re thrilled to be joining forces with Rising

Sun Pictures to help fuel their ambitious expansion plans and to offer an even broader range of skill sets, geographic locations and storytelling solutions to our clients at the level of quality and service they demand.”

RSP Managing Director, Tony Clark, said, “We’re very excited to be partnering with FuseFX, which comes at an ideal time as we grow to meet the demand over the coming years. Our vision for Rising Sun Pictures is to be a cornerstone component of the next generation global full-service visual effects company, and with the FuseFX partnership, we can achieve this vision to ensure that we stay at the forefront of visual effects production and remain a trusted creative partner to our clients.”

Clark added, “I’d sincerely like to thank my fellow founders and shareholders for the last 25 years.

We have all been crucial to the success of RSP, culminating at this pivotal moment in time. RSP will embark on an expansion plan over the next few years, and we’re grateful to be partnering with David Altenau and the team at FuseFX to help fully realise RSP’s potential.”

As RSP continues to execute on its plan, Tony will be joined by RSP’s well-established executive management team, including Chief Financial Officer, Gareth Eriksson, Head of Business Development, Jennie Zeiher, Executive Assistant, Maree Friday, Head of People & Culture, Scott

Buley and Head of Production & Executive Producer, Meredith Meyer-Nichols. There will be no operational changes to the RSP business and the team will look to add talent after a recent expansion of the Adelaide headquarters that provides the studio with a capacity of 270 crew.

Over the past year, the studio has contributed to projects including Disney’s upcoming Jungle Cruise led by VFX Supervisor Malte Sarnes and as lead vendor on New Line Cinema’s Mortal Kombat under the direction of VFX Supervisor Dennis Jones.

FocalPoint Partners served as financial advisor to FuseFX and Will Berryman advised RSP. FuseFX is a portfolio company of EagleTree Capital.

Visit https://fusefx.com www.eagletree.com and https://rsp.com.au/home

AEQ in the Alice: 8CCC Goes Audio-Over-IP 8CCC RADIO is a community radio station established in 1981 with a programming focus on the Northern Territory of Australia, on 102.1FM, although today its signal can also be followed online around the world. This region of Australia covers an area of almost 1.5 million square kilometres with a population of barely 240,000, which gives an idea of the immensity of the area as well as how scattered and isolated the localities can be.

At the end of 2020, the management of Radio 8CCC decided to renew the technical equipment of the broadcasting studios with two vital parameters in their idea of technology: robust and user-friendly.

NEWS + PEOPLE

Radio 8CCC has its main studios in Alice Springs with secondary studios in the town of Tennant Creek over 500km further north. In both cases the two locations are a long way from any other population centres in the area, so any technical problems are very difficult to solve, and particularly robust and fail-safe equipment is a must.

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In addition, Radio 8CCC runs many of its programmes with volunteer staff without specific radio training, and the equipment and systems that are used need to be extremely easy to operate.

With this idea in mind Radio 8CCC decided to

install a new AEQ FORUM IP console in Alice Springs and an AEQ CAPITOL IP audio mixer in the main studio at Tennant Creek.

The CAPITOL IP console installed at Tennant Creek is an 8-channel fixed configuration Digital Audio mixing console. One of the main qualities of the AEQ CAPITOL IP is the large input capacity available: four mic/line, 12 analogue, four digital stereo AES/EBU (AES3), two digital stereo USB, two optional telephone lines, and optional digital multi-channel audio links; 16 AoIP channels over two ethernet connectors or 64 MADI channels input via fibre optics.

CAPITOL output capacity is also important: eight analogue, four digital stereo AES/EBU (AES3), two digital stereo USB, two optional telephone lines, optional digital multi-channel audio links, 16 AoIP channels on two ethernet connectors or 64 MADI channels fibre optic input, control headphones, primary and secondary studio headphones, control monitoring, studio monitoring and special output for CUE pair of speakers.

with direct assignment key, making it easier to handle multiple programmes or recordings simultaneously.

Improved safety in case of breakdowns. Its modular composition makes it difficult to send the console for repair to Sydney, on the opposite side of the Australian continent. The module is easy to identify so can be replaced easily by the station staff.

The FORUM IP console installed at Alice Springs is based on the same technology, but has two fundamental differences due to the fact that this station is the main one:

The installation, configuration, commissioning and training of the entire project was carried out

by Broadcast Components, AEQ’s local partner in the country, located in New South Wales, in a direct line of communication with AEQ’s central technical services in Madrid-Spain.

Increased input, output and control capacity with 12 faders and four programme buses

Visit www.aeq.eu and www. broadcastcomponents.com.au

ACQUISITION & LIGHTING www.content-technology.com/acquisition

Denson Baker Named Australian Cinematographer of the Year AT THIS YEAR’S FUJINON FUJIFILM Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) National Awards held at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, it was Denson Baker ACS NZCS (pictured) who won the prestigious Australian Cinematographer of the Year Millli Award. Baker also won a Gold Tripod for his work on The Luminaries Ep2 The Place You Return.

contact with the ACS has always been one of respect and inspiration. These are traits I have tried to maintain and radiate to everyone I have since worked with.”

On winning the award Baker said, “I am indebted to my fellow Australian cinematographers for this incredible honour. Milli recipients are some of the world’s most influential and inspiring cinematographers. So, it is beyond a privilege to be included alongside these very people who define great cinema — both in Australia, and on the world stage. Thank you to each and every member of the Australia Cinematographer’s Society. Your artistry and leadership is deeply appreciated.”

Other Gold Tripod winners included Tony Luu ACS who won the John Bowring ACS Station Breaks & Promos for I’m A Celebrity Promo – Season 6, Michael McDermott ACS took home the Music Videos award for Leaving LA – Tim Minchin x Tee Ken Ng and Paul Walker who won the Syd Wood ACS Local/National News award for CBD Stabber.

Host and MC for the evening, Ray Martin AM took care of proceedings in his usual professional and quick-witted fashion and as always, ACS National President Ron Johanson OAM ACS started the evening with some special awards.

Ron presented Hall of Fame Awards to Geoffrey Hall ACS, Terrance Byrne ACS and Michael Edols ACS. Then the Life Membership Award to Kim Batterham ACS and the Ron Windon ACS Contribution Award to Erika Addis. Megan Ogilvie was given the John Leake OAM ACS Emerging Cinematographer Award and the Sony Judges Award went to Bella Merlino.

Guest of Honour at this year’s awards was Ivan Sen who said, “One of the most important roles performed by the ACS is its encouragement and pathway development for newer generations.

The support and encouragement I received from the ACS as a young filmmaker with very little experience, was pivotal to my development in the film industry. Since the beginning, my

The ACS CineKids award was won by thirteenyear-old Bella Merlino for Hermione and a Gold Award for Student Cinematography was awarded to David Luff for Memoir.

The Neil Davis International News award went to Timothy Myers ACS for Beat The Press: Journalism Under Attack, John Varga took the Current Affairs award for Children of Chernobyl, Cesar Salmeron-Hoving and Cameron Morley won in Entertainment & TV Magazine for Chromatopia – Black and Gerald Thompson won the Art, Innovation & Specialised Cinematography award for Rebooted.

The Ron Taylor AM ACS Wildlife & Nature went to Jon Shaw ACS for Australia’s Ocean Odyssey S1Ep1 The Tropics, the Documentaries award went to Allan Hardy ACS for Viva the Underdogs, Dramatised Documentaries was won by Michael McDermott ACS for Wild Butterfly and Michael McDermott and Kieran Fowler NZCS ACS took out the gong for Short Films with Soulmate.

The Gold Tripod for Feature Films – Budget under $2m went to Sky Davies for Blood Vessel and the Gold Tripod for Feature Films – Budget $2m and over was won by Dion Beebe ACS ASC for I am Woman.

ACS National President Ron Johanson OAM ACS said, “I would like to congratulate Denson on

winning the Milli and also all the other award winners for their truly excellent work. Their commitment to the craft of cinematography is unparalleled and they are an inspiration to us all. I would also like to thank FUJIFILM FUJINON for their unwavering support of our society and indeed all of our sponsors without whom these awards and much of the work the ACS does simply wouldn’t be possible.”

Other Gold Tripod Winners were: • Corporate – Corporate Branding & Advertising – Joshua Lamont ACS for Defiance. Rewarded Tourism Tasmania • Corporate – Branded Content, Education & Events – Ben Cotgrove for Restaurant Labart • Commercials – Local / Regional – Jake Koning for Porsche ‘Accomplishments’ • Commercials – National / International – James Brown ACS for Glenlivet – Breaking Walls • 2nd Unit Cinematography – David Burr ACS for Aquaman Visit http://www.cinematographer.org.au

Australian Govt Extends Film and TV COVID Support

The AUD$50 million Temporary Interruption Fund (TIF) will be extended for a further six months, to provide coverage for productions that commence principal photography prior to 31 December 2021.

The Australian Government will also retain at 40 per cent the Producer Offset rate for feature films with a theatrical release. In addition, as announced last year, the Government will raise the Producer Offset rate from 20 to 30 per cent for other eligible formats such as drama and documentary

content for television and streaming platforms.

Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, The Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said these support measures would enable the local screen industry to continue to create quality Australian productions and keep thousands of jobs and businesses in the local production sector.

“Despite our successes in managing COVID-19 in Australia, the continuing severity of the pandemic internationally is a problem for screen production, with insurers still not providing coverage for COVID-19 related events,” Minister Fletcher said.

“TIF has been vital in providing the certainty that productions need to secure financing, and it will have assisted with more than 12,000 production

roles and 5000 business contracts in its first year of operation.”

The 40 per cent Producer Offset supports around 50 Australian feature films per year with total average rebates of around $124 million. This injects over $300 million per year into the Australian economy, and underpins the tremendous success Australian feature films have had at the box office in recent times.

TIF and the Producer Offset are administered

by Screen Australia. Eligibility criteria, guidelines and how to apply are available at: https:// www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-andsupportscreenaustralia.gov.au/funding-andsupport

ACQUISITION

IN A BOOST FOR Australia’s film and television industry, the Federal Government has extended two measures that will support the continued production of quality, local screen content as the sector recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ACQUISITION & LIGHTING

8K UHD Broadcast Lenses from Fujifilm FUJIFILM HAS LAUNCHED two broadcast zoom lenses, the ‘FUJINON HP66x15.2-ESM’ (HP66x15.2) and the ‘FUJINON HP12x7.6ERD-S9’ (HP12x7.6).

The two new lenses use cuttingedge optical technology to capture dynamic 8K video at ultra-high resolution. The HP66×15.2 is a box type zoom lens reaching a focal length of 1000mm and offering a zoom magnification of 66x. The HP12×7.6 is a portable type zoom lens covering the focal length range from 1 7.6mm to 91mm in telephoto. The HP66x15.2 and HP12x7.6 will complete a seven-model line-up of FUJIFILM’s broadcast lenses to cater for 8K video production.

FUJIFILM has applied its highprecision forming technology that can polish the surface of lens elements on the order of nanometers as well as mechanical designing and assembling technologies that accurately place multiple lens groups into a lens

barrel. The vivid colour reproduction and strong contrast of the new lenses result in rich tonal gradation in high dynamic range (HDR). They also feature the new “Remote Back Focus” function, which enables adjusting the back focus remotely, e.g. from a broadcast van, to streamline video shooting.

Aspherical and fluorite lens elements control image distortion and light fall-off at image corners as much as possible. In addition, the use of the floating focus system, which controls multiple lens groups according to the shooting distance, minimises fluctuations in optical performance that occur as the shooting distance changes, thus maintaining sharpness across all shooting distances from close-up to infinity.

FUJIFILM’s proprietary ‘HT-EBC (High Transmittance Electron Beam Coating)’ multi-layer coating technology is applied to lens surfaces to enhance light transmittance for vivid colour

ARRI Unveils Remote Solutions Toolkit ARRI HAS ANNOUNCED Remote Solutions, a toolkit that can be customised to meet near-set and off-set workflows. This remote production ecosystem allows professionals to safely and immediately get back to work without compromising operational and creative control.

With a complete system of connected ARRI cameras, lights, remote heads, and accessories, ARRI Remote Solutions offers workflows that enable safe social distancing between talent and crew as well as between crew members.

The ARRI Remote Solution enables professionals to: • Remotely control ARRI cameras, lights, remote heads, and accessories; • Leverage proven technology;

ACQUISITION

• Produce premium, cinematic quality with near-set and offset workflows for broadcast, cinema, live events, corporate, sports, music video production, fashion, and more.

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Applications such as Stellar, the intelligent lighting control app from ARRI, provides a smart and innovative way to control professional lighting. It allows gaffers to change colour temperature and output without touching lights or approaching

talent. Products such as the WCU4 and the ERM (External Radio Module) allow crews to control focus and camera movement from a greater distance and through barriers such as concrete floors or walls while the SRH (Stabilised Remote Head), enables cinematic movement of the camera and can be combined with a robotic dolly for near-set movement without approaching talent.

Simultaneously, web control allows cinematographers and gaffers to creatively and technically control the camera and lighting from another room or even another continent. The result is cinematic quality, no matter the crew’s distance or location.

“The pandemic has accelerated change and forced productions to adapt. With travel limitations and new requirements for social distancing onset, our connected ecosystem of industry-proven tools can be customised to create safe sets, whether working near-set or off-set, without compromising the creativity or technical control of production.

This is just another way we at ARRI are enabling and supporting filmmakers,” says Stephan Schenk, General Manager Global Sales and Solutions.

Visit https://www.arri.com

reproduction and high contrast.

This results in rich tonal gradation in HDR. The lenses can be combined with the focus position demand unit “FUJINON EPD-51A-D02/F03” (optional), which facilitates focus adjustments at hand, to achieve precise focusing.

The lenses also feature a highperformance optical image stabilisation mechanism, a feature of FUJIFILM’s high-magnification zooms. It accurately corrects image blurs caused by wind or shaking of the footing without any time lag, providing added stability in video shooting.

The use of 9-blade diaphragm achieves an aperture shape closer to a perfect circle, allowing users to incorporate natural bokeh into their video expressions. The lenses come stock-standard with a 16-bit encoder, enabling high resolution output of lens data including zoom and focus positions. It enables

The FUJINON HP66x15.2-ESM.

The FUJINON HP12x7.6ERD-S9

connection with various systems such as a virtual studio for combining computer graphics with live video footage.

Visit www.fujifilm.com.au

Marshall Expands IP Workflows with New PTZ Cameras MARSHALL ELECTRONICS continues to develop new cameras designed to improve IP workflows.

The company has released two levels of 4K PTZ cameras within the last year with 30x optical zoom and professional grade sensors: one with up to 4K30 (CV630) resolution and one with up to 4K60 (CV730) resolution. Marshall also recently offered two levels of fixed position cameras with 30x optical zoom and professional grade sensors; one with up to HD60 (CV355-30X) resolution and one with up to UHD60 (CV42030X).

In looking forward to 2021, Marshall is scheduled to launch a High-Bandwidth NDI PTZ camera (CV730-BHN) late Q3 with up to 4K60 resolution and 30x optical zoom packed with High-Bandwidth NDI, NDI|HX and simultaneous 12GSDI/HDMI2.0 outputs. Also planned for later this year, Marshall has its CV620-BI with 20x optical zoom 3GSDI, HDMI and IP/HEVC/SRT, and the CV620-BN with 20x optical zoom 3GSDI, HDMI and NDI|HX on its product roadmap.

“Marshall was one of the first adopters of the NDI platform, building the technology into our PTZ cameras several years ago and watching the technology progress with greatly improved NDI Tools, lower latency, ease of discovery and the ability to mix different media types into the NDI workflow,” says Tod Musgrave, Director of Cameras for Marshall Electronics. “Marshall is completely behind the big push in IP cameras with PTZ and fixed position camera options, whether it’s standard IP (HEVC), Haivision SRT or Newtek NDI. We, as a company, have double-downed, triple-downed, even gone ALL-IN on the future of IP in broadcast and proAV.” Visit www.marshall-usa.com

ACQUISITION

ACQUISITION & LIGHTING

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ACQUISITION & LIGHTING

Sony FX3 Full-Frame Camera SONY’S FX3 (model ILME-FX3) camera features a full-frame, back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor with full-frame 10.2 megapixel (approx. effective) count for movie recording (and 12.1 effective megapixels for stills), as well as the BIONZ XR image processing engine to ensure high sensitivity with low noise. The standard ISO range is 80 to 102,400 (expandable to 409,600 when shooting a movie), and dynamic range is an impressively wide 15+ stops2.

Part of Sony’s Cinema Line, the FX3 allows users to create a cinematic look without post-production, using S-Cinetone. Based on the colour science of Sony’s flagship VENICE camera, S-Cinetone delivers natural mid-tones, plus soft colours and smooth highlights.

The FX3 also features 4K recording at up to 120 frames per second, and produces slow-motion imagery (up to 5x) at QFHD (3840 x 2160) resolution with autofocus.

The FX3 weighs just 715 grams, including the battery and memory cards, and the body is 77.8 mm high, 129.7 mm wide and 84.5 mm deep.

The FX3’s body features five thread holes (1/420 UNC) to attach compatible accessories. The supplied XLR handle unit securely attaches to the body via the Multi Interface Shoe without any special tools, and provides three additional thread holes for accessories: two on the top and one on the end.

To enable high quality audio, the XLR handle unit includes two XLR/TRS audio inputs to the FX3.

Camera settings provide audio recording formats,

including four-channel 24-bit recording.

The FX3 offers Fast Hybrid autofocus (AF) by using the 627 points focal plane phase-detection system during movie recording, as well as Touch Tracking (Real-time Tracking) where touching the subject on the monitor screen initiates auto focus and tracking. Precise focus is maintained with Real-time Eye AF – technology that pinpoints the eye, even when subjects are looking away. Other AF features include AF Transition Speed, AF Subject Shift Sensitivity, intuitive control and AF support when focusing manually.

High precision 5-axis optical in-body image stabilisation and gyro sensors enable an ‘Active Mode’ dedicated to movie shooting in different formats, including 4K. The FX3 also records image stabilisation metadata that can be applied to captured footage during post-production.

Buttons frequently used in movie shooting, such as ISO, iris and white balance adjustment, are located on the grip, and on the top of the body. In addition, 140 functions assignable to 15 custom keys allow for efficiency.

The zoom lever located on the top of the grip not only controls compatible powered zoom lenses, but also allows Clear Image Zoom to also be used with unpowered zoom and prime lenses. The lever also enables smooth zooming.

Recording lamps (tally) are provided on the upper front and rear of the camera. A side-opening vari-angle touch-panel LCD monitor allows for easy operation and is suitable for gimbal-mounted shots, handheld operation, etc. Flexible Exposure

Mode allows the FX3 to have a similar Auto/ Manual switch operation as other FX series cameras for aperture (iris), shutter speed, and ISO. The FX3 is compatible with several recording functions including S-Log3 gamma with S-Gamut3.Cine colour space to preserve rich colour and gradation, that can record in a high dynamic range and wide colour gamut. It also supports internal recording in XAVC S and XAVC S-I formats in 4K (QFHD) and FHD, and XAVC HS (MPEG-H HEVC/H.265, 4K only) format. 4K 60p video in 10bit 4:2:2 or 16-bit RAW format can be output to an external device via the FX3 HDMI Type-A jack.

The FX3 also offers two media slots for CFexpress Type A cards. The same data can be simultaneously recorded to both cards for backup.

A “relay” mode will automatically switch to the second media card when the first media card becomes full.

The camera also has high-speed wireless LAN functionality (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band) and wired LAN connection via a compatible USB-to-Ethernet adaptor for remote shooting.

Visit https://scene.sonyanz.com/au/cameras

Why be good when you can be great?

Harness the power of Dejero connectivity for rock-solid reliability.

Transmit high-quality, low latency live video from virtually anywhere and scale your remote productions to new heights.

The EnGo 260 — the world’s most durable and versatile mobile transmitter — blends up to 8 wired and wireless IP connections from multiple providers to form a virtual ‘network of networks’.

ACQUISITION

Broadcast

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Media Production

Live Events

Learn more at dejero.com/engo

SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide

www.content-technology.com/sportscasting

2022 Games’ Host Broadcaster Picks EVS for Media Management EVS, THE PROVIDER OF of live technology for broadcast and new media productions, has been selected by the host broadcaster of a global multi-sports event taking place in Asia in 2022 to provide solutions for the centralised ingest, management and distribution of its media content. EVS will also be responsible for a comprehensive media server infrastructure that will give operatives instant access to thousands of hours of material. These tools will enable the production crews located at the various venues and within a central international broadcast center (IBC) the possibility to create an unprecedented amount of compelling content.

distribution platform MediaHub. By using the platform’s web-based interface, production teams will be able to easily browse, review, select and deliver content from anywhere to anywhere.

Worldwide rights holders at the event will benefit from the host broadcaster’s decision to deploy EVS’ latest MediaCeption Sports solution, including the centralised video content

Commenting on the signing, Serge Van Herck, CEO of EVS said, “This event is an exciting milestone for EVS, as it gives us another opportunity to deploy our latest innovations

All workflow management and reporting will be handled through EVS’ VIA Flow, a central workflow engine, which enables users to exchange content between the IBC and multiple venues as well as monitor the flow of media throughout the EVS ecosystem. It offers full visibility from ingest to archive to help editorial teams keep track of their work, while facilitating collaborative workflows.

for the live coverage of a major sporting event that will be watched by billions of viewers.”

Xavier De Vynck, SVP Major Events & Business Development at EVS added: “Our latest solutions enable content creators onsite, as well as from their home bases, to drive value with memorable stories of live events for the delight of sports fans across the globe.”

EVS’ LiveCeption Signature solution will also be used by many of the facilities providers contracted to cover the multiple sports. As part of the solution, IP-based LSM-VIA systems will be deployed at the various venues for the creation of high-quality replays, slow-motion and highlights.

Visit www.evs.com

Sky Racing Takes Remote Track with Sienna’s NDI Software

Beaming out thoroughbred, harness, and greyhound racing from 172 venues Sky Racing covers an astonishing amount of territory across Australia. Televised via satellite to a huge network of TABs and hospitality venues, as well as directly via Foxtel, the three main channels Sky Racing 1, Sky Racing 2, and Sky Thoroughbred Central represent a complex and evolving network rivalling the largest public broadcaster.

“At the onset of the Covid-19 lockdown, we had the ability for the majority of our staff to work remotely with ease, but the problem was that we could remote control operations, but couldn’t see all of our outputs,” explains Dennis Dovale, Head of Technology, (Broadcast & Media) at Tabcorp. “Remoting keyboard and mouse is simple, but ability to see what we usually have on large-screen multi-views in our control rooms was lacking.”

Fortuitously, Dennis and his team were already working with Sienna, market leaders in the implementation of the video-overIP NDI Protocol in broadcast. With Sienna’s ability to deliver scalable, modular, broadcast infrastructure distributed over the internet, it was the perfect suite of products for the problem at hand.

All of Sky’s remote workflows are handled by Sienna’s software, running on off-the shelf-PCs. The NDI Processing Engine replaces racks full of traditional SDI glue modules and is used for scaling, bug insertion, audio embedding, deembedding and mixing, plus the all-important

multi-viewer, while the NDI Router provides an infrastructure equivalent to a traditional SDI video router. At the ingest and output points, the NDI Source Multi takes SDI ins through BlackMagic Design ingest cards, and the NDI Outlet Multi sends the final NDI streams back out to SDI through BlackMagic Design output cards.

“We currently have two servers sending to and receiving from 25 remote Sienna NDI video endpoints,” continues Dennis.

“Our staff working from home are monitoring multi-views with ultra-low latency vision, sub one second from the source. We’ve integrated AES67 audio from our comms network, supplied extra ins and outs, and enabled remote race calling. Our talent can select, view, and call races remotely. The video goes out to our staff, runs through the Sienna software on their machine, inserts their call into programme, and sends it all back to our Sky control room before it’s beamed out.”

The video over IP space for broadcast applications has evolved quickly the last three years. The NDI Protocol, which is a high quality, lossless video codec that only requires a small amount of bandwidth means broadcasters

don’t have to use the expensive infrastructure required to work with larger, uncompressed video over IP formats.

Sienna’s suite of NDI and SDI products are distributed and supported in Australia by D2N – Technology Solutions, headed by MD Jason Owen.

“I love how Sky have taken Sienna NDI software and implemented it so fully in the broadcast environment,” comments Jason. “They have a fantastic IT team that have already found new and interesting ways to use NDI. They’ve really embraced the fact that NDI is perfectly scalable; there’s no broadcast application too big or too small.”

Visit www.d2n.com.au

SPORTSCASTING

WHEN COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS came into play during 2020, Tabcorp’s broadcast arm Sky Racing had to find a way for race callers, producers, and post-production staff to work safely from home, no easy feat for live sports broadcast.

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SPORTSCASTING

Krizmik Goes NDI with Gameday Hire for Wakefield Enduro 300 GAMEDAY HIRE is a new, Sydneybased facilities rental company specialising in live streaming and remote production and connectivity solutions. A joint venture between well-known industry professionals Andy Liell and Christopher Dredge, the company is focused on highquality equipment rental solutions, coupled with in depth knowledge, advice and unparalleled support.

Gameday Hire is particularly focused on the second and third tier sports market and have already provided facilities for a number of events in this space.

data connectivity solutions.

Andy Liell has a long pedigree in the production and rental industry in Australia. As State Manager of Videocraft Sydney and Canberra offices for over 12 years, he has intimate knowledge of the production equipment rentals landscape. Andy was also instrumental in establishing their Outside Broadcast business with many high-profile broadcast events under his belt, including major TV productions, live music coverage, sports and corporate events. Later, Andy established a Post Production rentals business for Gravity media, servicing clients like ITV, Warner Bros, Playmaker and Endemol Shine.

• Cameras, Audio, vision switching, recording and processing, audio, lighting and other associated bits and pieces; and

Chris’ heritage lies in transmission, but with a particular focus on live streaming and remote connectivity, which he has been involved in since the very beginning. As founder of Pacific Live Media, Chris is also well known for his extensive knowledge of LiveU bonded cellular solutions and has recently developed satellite-based remote

Gameday Hire’s offerings include: • Turnkey, Multi-camera streaming solutions from compact desktop-based options, to a full 32 input, IP based OB trailer, Gameday Hire can cater for any event big or small; • LiveU bonded cellular rentals from a single-channel LiveU Solo, up to 4-channel systems and beyond; • Satellite data connectivity and streaming solutions for extremely remote locations;

• Technical and operational crew supply.

The company recently brought its expertise to bear on the Wakefield 300 Enduro. Established in 2007, the Wakefield 300 is one of the “must do” events for club and state level motorsport competitors. Held every February, the event attracts teams from all over NSW, and offers a test of cars, drivers and teams over a 300km endurance event.

After the events of 2020 and the impact on crowd gatherings at sporting events, organisers decided to live stream the Wakefield 300 for the first time, in an effort to bring this popular event to as many viewers as possible. Production of this 7-hour livestream was awarded to Krizmik Industries, who have long pedigree in live streaming and production

for sport.

Michael Geddes, Managing Director of Krizmik Industries said, “The biggest challenge for this event was the limited connectivity from the site. I had heard that Gameday Hire was a new player in the rentals game, who had built an OB trailer based around NDI and bonded cellular connectivity.”

and can handle easily handle 6-8 cameras, plus multiple NDI video sources, as well as on board audio, graphics and replay. Outbound connectivity includes LiveU bonded cellular transmitters, and also has LiveU receivers built in, making remote production simple, reliable and cost effective.

Designed and built in-house, Gameday Hire’s flagship Outside Broadcast solution is a small trailer facility, designed for multi camera production for broadcast and live streaming of second- and thirdtier sports, eSports, corporate and events work.

Michael Geddes concluded, “The Gameday OB trailer was the perfect solution for the Wakefield 300 live stream. It is really a smart, IP based solution. The Tricaster TC2 Elite was more than capable of handling all the switching, graphics and replay requirements of the stream. The LiveU and ClearCaster streaming path was rock solid over seven hours. I was really impressed at how quickly the team was able to roll out the fourcamera OB, and the Gameday team were a pleasure work with.”

The facility utilises the latest IP-based video and audio connectivity, with SDI redundancy,

Gameday Hire can be contacted on 1300 GD HIRE (434 473) or info@ gamedayhire.tv

Andy Liell, General Manager of Gameday Hire said, “The approach from Michael at Krizmik could not have been more timely. The Gameday OB trailer was already part built and its capabilities ticked all the boxes for this event, and then some.”

5stream Serves Up Australian Open with LiveU LIVEU’S, live streaming and remote production solution was selected by Australian production company 5stream at 2021’s Australian Open tennis for innovative viewer engagement and branding on behalf of the tournament’s official partner Mastercard.

SPORTSCASTING

The live production was a key element in the sponsorship activation campaign, managed by local advertising agency McCann Australia to connect fans with the tennis via an immersive viewing experience. LiveU’s local partner, Pacific Live Media, provided the equipment and local technical support.

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LiveU’s LU800 production-level unit was instrumental in covering the tournament, enabling a cost-effective multi-camera sports production with superior video and audio capabilities. Live 360° feeds were streamed in

4K to Mastercard’s YouTube channel providing unique virtual fan experiences with a behindthe-scenes look at the tennis in real-time.

The same unit was also used to cover the tournament from multiple angles with high-res, fully frame-synced feeds, and as a DataBridge with wireless connectivity for direct high-quality data streams on-the-go.

it to meet our production needs as we went

Mitchell Kalika, General Manager, 5stream, said, “With the social distancing restrictions and subsequent lockdown, we were determined to reach the fans stuck at home with a premium 4K 360° viewing experience. At the same time, we needed a cost-effective solution that was reliable and could easily be used as part of a remote production. In the end, the flexibility and efficiency of the LiveU LU800 solution exceeded our expectations, we simply adjusted

technology. This remote production, over

along, switching between single and multicamera feeds. It was almost like a swiss-army knife with multi-camera, live streaming and DataBridge all on the same device!”

“As full service live streaming experts, 5Stream are truly creative in their use of LiveU the course of 14 days, took the live coverage to a higher level providing an incredible tennis experience for virtual fans at home,” summarised Yaal Eshel, General Manager, LiveU Asia.

Visit http://5stream.com and https://www.liveu.tv

SPORTSCASTING

Out-of-the-Box Sports Video Solution ACCEDO HAS LAUNCHED a new out-of-the-box Sports Video Solution.

The new solution, Accedo Play - Sports, enables sport organizations to launch, manage and monetise a service which delivers both a world class video-centric experience, as well as a premium and tailored fan experience.

With Accedo Play – Sports, rights holders, federations, and clubs can quickly deliver a video centric hub for their brand to augment and enhance any existing video and social media strategies. As well as creating an engaging digital space for fans, Accedo Play - Sports opens up the opportunity to monetize across core revenue streams, such as ticketing, merchandising, sponsorship, as well as direct video revenue streams.

Michael Lantz, CEO Accedo, commented: “Many sports organizations are already producing video content to distribute through Youtube, and other social channels. We believe that revenue potential and fan engagement will be significantly improved by a branded experience powered by Accedo Play - Sports. The new solution offers great possibilities for sports organizations to aggregate their content, create new revenue streams and engage their audience - from the casual viewer to the diehard fan.”

Accedo Play - Sports supports a wide range of editorial content, from highlight reels to full live matches, across multiple device platforms and including distribution to social channels. Rights holders, federations, and clubs benefit from a data-driven approach that delivers key insights into fan behavior and content preferences. Accedo Play - Sports ensures that sports organizations can deliver a high-quality user experience and scale as audiences grow.

As services mature, the Accedo Play - Sports solution will enable additional advanced features to support the growth. This includes ‘next generation’ content formats such as Augmented Reality, game statistics and sponsor activations which can bring a new level of interaction to content.

Visit https://www.accedo.tv/play-sports

Saul Shtein Joins Gravity Media GRAVITY MEDIA, the provider of live broadcast facilities and production services, has appointed former Head of Sport at Seven Network and Fox Sports Saul Shtein as its new Director, Production and Content in Australia.

After a run of successful productions as Head of Sport for the Seven Network over the past 15 years and, more recently, as Senior Producer with Mushroom Group, Saul will be responsible for broadening Gravity Media’s expansion across production and content for its Australia-based business. Saul’s extensive knowledge and experience will make a significant contribution to Gravity Media’s overall global production and content strategy.

Not long after he started in television at the Nine Network, Saul produced the highly successful MTV program for two years. In 2020, for Mushroom Group, Saul pioneered the COVID-19 era production of the highly acclaimed ABC-TV series “The Sound” along with an Anzac Day special, “Music from the Home Front” and “Sounds Better Together” both for Nine Network.

Visit www.gravitymedia.com

SPORTSCASTING

Saul has been at the forefront of the broadcast industry for over 40 years. His track record at the Seven Network includes heading up the live coverage of three Summer Olympics and two Winter Olympics. He also steered the Seven Network’s award-winning AFL coverage, the Australian Open Tennis Championships and a raft of other major live events. In addition, Saul spent almost eight years as Head of Sport at Fox Sports Australia, initially supervising the transformation from Premier Sports to Fox Sports Australia and then responsible for all production. Previous to Fox Sports Saul spent 16 years with the Nine Network. His productions included Test and ODI Cricket, Rugby League, Formula 1 Grand Prix, and Wimbledon.

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NEWS OPERTAIONS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

Grass Valley AMPPs Up Remote Production WITH SPORADIC COVID COVID lockdowns in some territories and the virus out of control in others, technology providers have adapted to provide flexible, remote newsgathering and live production solutions which have enabled their customers to continue functioning throughout the pandemic.

One such provider is Grass Valley. According to Greg de Bressac, GV’s APAC Vice-President of Sales and Customer Success, “We took a very conscious decision at the beginning of lockdown in early 2020 that we were going to do everything we needed to do to help our customers. Very quickly, customers in Australia, customers in Southeast Asia, customers in the North of Asia, in China, came to us and said, ‘we need your help’.

“And, in many cases, we went to them and said, ‘how can we help?’ Some people said, ‘look, we just need some additional licences. Can we borrow them? Or can we rent them from you for a period of time, we’ve got 150 people who can’t come into the office.’

“For a large customer in Australia, we provided hundreds of licences so that they could work from home to be able to connect back in remotely to their production plant.”

This remote connectivity was made possible by Grass Valley’s Agile Media Processing Platform, or AMPP, a scalable SaaS platform of management tools, cloud-based elastic platform services and intelligent media technologies that combine into solutions to mirror broadcast workflows. AMPP solutions include cloud-based switching, master control, playout, and audio mixing.

“To clarify the way that amp works,” says Greg de Bressac, “we’ve got an orchestration layer that sits in an AWS instance. That’s like a tenanted facility and we manage that. We have a network operation center in Kuala Lumpur, and one in the US, and we’re developing one in Europe. And the idea is that we have multiple instances of this around the world and we’re able to leverage, licence, bill, do all of those things, control, put all of the solution together in that instance. That doesn’t, therefore, mean that you have to have in AWS the processing that goes on. You could have

the processing in your facility, you could have the processing in Google Cloud, in Microsoft Azure, or in AWS. “It means that I’ve got a camera out here in the field and I’m shooting some video, let’s say at a sporting event or at an Amazon conference, like Corrivium, our managed service provider in Australia. They do all of the Google and AWS events in Australia and they’re doing that using AMPP.

literally, ‘We need to build it for an election. And then anything other than that, we’ll be right for’.

But, most of the time they’re sitting there at 30% utilisation or something like that. Well, what if you could build it for the 30% utilisation and then when you need it to scale for the election, then you scale and you’re only paying for producing the election, or the Olympics, or the G7 summit, or whatever it is. That’s the efficiency gain in the production side of things.

“So, the idea is they shoot the video and so it can be uploaded into the cloud using any of the traditional methods to get a video signal into the cloud - RTMP, RIST - or you can plug an IP or an SDI into a device that we will sell you, and that’s an AMPP node. So, you can plug those in and then that gives you a bi-directional interface into and out of GV AMPP. That allows you then to also do some processing in that device, if you wish to.

Because it connects into GV AMPP, it can be a processing node as well as a gateway node. So, the idea is then that you could use some of that to process and some capacity in your AWS instance to process, basically just a pool of processing resources.”

“And then if you move to the playout side of things, what we’re seeing is a huge opening of the eyes, if you will, of some of our customers into the idea of saying, ‘We can be a lot more responsive to what’s going on in the world’. So, whether it’s a sporting customer, ‘Okay, we can spin up three channels where once upon a time we would only do one for this particular sporting event’, or if it’s a news channel, ‘I can split off a news feed channel for a particular event that’s going on, whether it be an election or the Capitol riots in the U.S. or something like that, that we can, you can actually create a channel and it doesn’t have to be the stuff that’s playing out on terrestrial’.

The impact on news goes beyond just remote production.

“It could be as simple as playing out as a separate stream on your website or the app that you have.”

“We used to build news facilities and it was

Visit www.grassvalley.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

Polygon Labs Boosts Unreal Engine

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VIZRT HAS ANNOUNCED Vizrt Channel Branding.

One of five software Solution Suites made available exclusively through Flexible Access, Vizrt Channel Branding makes complex channel branding graphics simple for customers faced with the growing need to promote more content across more channels. Broadcasters, marketing and promotions departments, and master control technical departments all benefit from Vizrt Channel Branding software’s ability to adapt and scale up and down to meet rapidly changing production needs.

Vizrt Channel Branding software allows users to import data from traffic and scheduling applications to automatically create playlists that reduce manual processes. Rapid, up-to-second sync with automation systems for data and trigger control, guarantees every single element is played out at exactly the right time. This can be changed down to the wire without fear of error. Accurate content delivery, dynamic data-driven graphics, automatic error checks all go to provide a smooth operator workflow and high levels of brand consistency.

One operator can control multiple channels from a single interface – which can scale up and down to any number of channels without significantly changing the workflow. Vizrt’s proven graphics branding solution augments the technical capabilities of master control environments and the marketing capabilities of promotional departments to serve anything from single channel facilities up to large network operations that manage multiple broadcast, web, and mobile channels.

Visit www.vizrt.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

Primestream Brings Immediacy to News PRIMESTREAM, a leading provider of asset management and automation software solutions for media production, has introduced new ingest access capabilities for its Xchange media asset management (MAM) platform. Now, Xchange is able to access and log “growing files” from live broadcast feeds as the content is being recorded, creating powerful new efficiencies for news and sports producers, directors, and editors.

As a web-based, enterprise-ready MAM platform, Xchange is suited for remote media workflows — giving teams universal access to critical content and the ability to collaborate and contribute from anywhere. While Xchange has always had the ability to ingest file-based content, producers previously had to wait until the entire program was ingested and encoded before they could access and log the content in Xchange.

In contrast, the new Xchange ingest access feature enables journalists, editors, assistant directors, and producers to start creating a rough-cut edit of the program in real time as the live content is being captured in SDI- or IP-based operations, and then deliver the sequence immediately to air. The operator can review a live clip and use the timeline tools in Xchange to mark beginning and ending points of interesting segments, and also add metadata with descriptive comments to facilitate easy search and retrieval of relevant content.

The Xchange ingest access capability for growing files also brings new efficiencies to postproduction. Once the producer has marked up the rough-cut edit, it can be handed off to an editor for further enhancement and polishing, such as adding transitions and graphics, for inclusion in a later scheduled program. The edit previously stored by the producer for the rough cut is instantly available to editors working in the Xchange shared environment, removing editing silos and facilitating remote collaboration.

Xchange offers seamless integration with NLE tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro. Through integrations with content distribution networks and more than 100 other third-party providers, Xchange delivers maximum MAM flexibility. This gives media operations the ability to link in the maximum number of content providers and workflows and enable the secure, real-time distribution of content to OTT platforms.

Visit www.primestream.com

Polygon Labs Boosts Unreal Engine POLYGON LABS HAS ANNOUNCED its new Visual Data Plugins and Asset Hub software to expand the use of the Unreal Engine 3D creation tool for broadcast applications. The two new products join Polygon Labs’ Porta workflow enabler (used by multiple Vizrt customers) to further bridge the gap between TV content production workflows and Unreal Engine broadcast production.

Asset Hub is a web-based, centralised platform that can be hosted on site or in the cloud and is already used by apparel brands and the retail world with adaption for broadcast use now near completion. With it, users can seamlessly import 2D and 3D files and associated metadata and can tag, group, store, browse, preview and distribute 3D assets to Unreal Engine. Asset Hub provides the functionality to centrally store and distribute 3D assets across the production workflow with Unreal Engine, an important addition to Unreal Engine’s capabilities. Asset Hub will be available as a software subscription.

Polygon Labs has also introduced Porta which makes it possible for Vizrt control tools to send data and commands to the Unreal Engine, with users able to control the Vizrt and Unreal Engine graphics simultaneously, bridging the gap between the two workflows.

Visit www.polygonlabs.us

NEWS OPERATIONS

The new Visual Data Plugins are suited for applications like finance, weather and sports, as well as for things like showing data for elections.

They create real-time bar, line, pie or candle charts with any data that users push through the Unreal Engine. Visual Data Plugins will be available on an annual subscription basis that includes upgrades, support and maintenance.

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM Telestream Acquires Masstech to Create MAM Powerhouse

TELESTREAM, THE DEVELOPER OF of media workflow orchestration, media streaming and delivery technologies, and a portfolio company of Genstar Capital, has become the industry’s pre-eminent provider of media asset management solutions following its recently announced acquisition of Masstech, the provider of hybrid cloud-based storage and asset lifecycle management solutions.

The move marks Telestream’s 10th acquisition and comes shortly after its purchase of EcoDigital, the digital archiving company which had purchased Oracle’s Digital Media Solutions business and DIVA Content Storage Management product line. Oracle had previously acquired the DIVA Content Storage Management product line as part of its September 2014 acquisition of the developer of the platform, Front Porch Digital.

According to Telestream, the combination of

Masstech and Ecodigital within the company makes it a leading supplier to the content storage/management segment of the M&E market with over 1000 active customer systems in operation worldwide.

All the resources of Masstech have been transferred to Telestream. The company’s engineering and product management functions are integrated within Telestream’s Content Management Business Unit, led by Geoff Tognetti who joined the company with the EcoDigital acquisition. The priority for this team will be to combine the best intellectual property from Masstech and EcoDigital DIVA in one product. Masstech’s support team, sales and pre-sales teams will join Telestream’s global customer sales and support network.

“Following the EcoDigital acquisition, this investment decision made natural sense and it is strategic in its very nature,” commented

Dan Castles, CEO and Co-Founder of Telestream. “The knowledge base gained through the Masstech acquisition is complementary to what we have been doing and want to do in this area.

Telestream CEO Dan Castles.

“This transaction brings together nearly two Exabytes of M&E content under the management of Telestream products in over 1000 operational systems. With this market leadership comes a critical responsibility to work with our customers as they navigate a hybrid operating environment with assets on premise and in the cloud,” Castles concluded.

Visit www.gencap.com, www.masstech.com

Daryl McKee Joins Silver Trak as Internal Sales Support Exec AS PART OF SILVER TRAK DIGITAL’S continued expansion, Daryl McKee, one of the industry’s best-known and respected account, client service and post-production co-ordination professionals, has joined the company as internal sales support executive.

Silver Trak COO Christian Christiansen said, “Daryl is known as an experienced client services and account manager working with tier one clients. He is customer driven with excellent communication skills and the ability to understand and execute projects to strict deadlines. He is also able to manage multiple tasks under pressure and is self-motivated. Finally, he possesses exceptional organisational skills, attention to detail and the ability to get things done through teamwork or

autonomously with an excellent attitude. He is a great addition to the Silver Trak team.”

Most recently Daryl enjoyed considerable success at the National Film and Sound Archive where he was responsible for checking, preparation and ultrasonically cleaning film ready to send for digital transfer and archiving. Prior to that he was the Digital Asset Manager at Collaboro, a Client Service Executive with Adstream and an Account and Client Services Manager for Deluxe Australia.

At Silver Trak Daryl will assist the business development and sales team through receipt and processing of sales orders and helping generate new business opportunities. He will also schedule and activate client follow-up to ensure that outstanding job elements are received on time

to meet required processing deadlines.

In addition, he will be the key sales interface with Silver Trak’s operations team to help facilitate the smooth running and delivery of projects.

On his new appointment Daryl McKee said, “Silver Trak Digital are an excellent, forward thinking company. In the world of broadcast, production, post production, QC and media asset management they are at the top of their game. I’m delighted to be joining their team.”

Visit www.silvertrak.com.au

SCA Invests in Australian AI and Machine Learning Firm Sonnant

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

SCA HAS BECOME an early-stage investor in Melbourne-based Sonnant Pty Ltd, an artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) company that provides content discovery for the spoken word.

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Consumption of digital audio is growing in Australia and is expected to reach 80% of the population by 2024. To capitalise on this trend, SCA recently launched the LiSTNR app, designed to be a best-in-class consumer digital audio experience.

SCA’s in-house technical capability will be enhanced by Sonnant’s AI intelligence, providing an in-depth of understanding of SCA content that allows for rich meta data and new user experiences.

Sonnant allows SCA to enhance the key product

pillars of LiSTNR delivering a personalised experience to each user based on the topics they most enjoy listening to. This aids discovery and recommendations as well as enhancing the accessibility of LISTNR’s audio, so it can reach new Australian audiences with its premium shows.

“SCA is a proud supporter of the Australian entrepreneurial ecosystem, so when we found a company of Sonnant’s calibre in Melbourne, we knew that an investment partnership would provide significant long-term value to both parties,” SCA Head of Digital and Innovation, Chris Johnson, said. “We were delighted when Sonnant’s tech outperformed several ‘off the shelf’ products we pitted it against in testing. Even better that they were right in our own backyard!”

Sonnant CEO, Tony Simmons, said: “Technology now allows us to do things with the spoken

word that was merely science fiction a few short years ago. Sonnant has long recognised that the consumption of audio, especially the need for better audience discovery of relevant content with podcasts, can greatly benefit by our exacting AI processes.

“Importantly, by applying Sonnant’s machine learning, SCA will reduce manual processes and SCA customers and advertisers will experience more precise results in a shorter period of time.

We are very excited for the opportunity to work with Australia’s pre-eminent media organisation to create even better listener experiences and a high degree of engagement.”

Visit www.southerncrossaustereo.com.au and www.sonnant.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

The Supply-Chain View on Content Rights Management

By Neeraj Shah, Product Manager, MEDIAGENIX

The only way ROI on content can be achieved in this context is by bringing the right content to the right audience at the right time through the right channels. This is in fact the kind of thing a supply chain does in any industry. And any smart supply chain today operates on real-time data as its single source of truth.

rights data can be harvested, managed, and leveraged. One of the challenges as far as rights data is concerned is to capture the multifaceted complexity right from the start, and to shift that start further upstream. This can be done by enabling diverse parties to capture rights data very early into the process and enrich the data as the content proceeds through the supply chain. This implies facilitating diverse use cases for a growing user base, through web workflows that are simplified for task-based contributions. Think of platforms such as a content marketplace in the Cloud or applications such as a web app that supports the whole process of selling rights.

PLUGGABLE INTO THE SUPPLY CHAIN

AUGMENTED INTELLIGENCE

In the meantime, revenues are under pressure. Costs need to be reduced, efficiencies raised, and maximum value needs to be squeezed from every piece of quality content, repackaging it for different audiences, and purposes. As a result, the whole media industry is pivoting to a multiplatform strategy.

Supply chains in the media industry specifically require a single source of truth around content and rights. If the rights management system is plugged into the supply chain management platform and revolves around a single source of truth about rights, restrictions and obligations, then all departments — from Acquisition, Planning and Scheduling through to Sales and Finance — can work in perfect sync on real-time rights data. Together with ecosystem, contextual and consumer data, this rights data can connect the media strategy to the planning plane and ultimately to the execution of the supply chain, and then flow back again to influence the strategic plane, which impacts the planning plane and so on, as a flywheel of continuous improvement. This substantially increases overall efficiency but also return on content investment, thanks to a tighter grip on business models and strategic windowing.

SIMPLIFIED WORKFLOWS FOR TASK-BASED CONTRIBUTIONS The key is to unlock the data.

Across the content supply chain, a growing pile of consumer, contextual, ecosystem and

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing are playing a growing part in content & rights data enrichment (e.g., automated document uploads) and, eventually, in capturing the content intelligence.

BI tools and smart analyses can be applied to data to gain important insights. By distilling these insights into AI algorithms, the intelligence of the human experts can be augmented, which further improves the decisionmaking process and the quality of rights, content and schedule management. To improve the decision-making process when scheduling, for instance, MEDIAGENIX is further developing a rights-based suite of augmented intelligence solutions, including rating predictions, scheduling recommendations, and automated off-peak scheduling. The more OTT channels are micro-segmented, the stronger automated scheduling will come into play. And the ultimate form of automated scheduling will be personalized channels, similar to Spotify playlists.

MULTI-LEVEL RIGHTS VERIFICATION

In the meantime, content is being repurposed and repackaged for use on diverse platforms, including social media. The notion of content is no longer limited to long-form content, as media companies are taking a more generic look at it.

Short video or audio clips, texts, press articles, books, e-book, usergenerated content, … it can all be valuable content. This underlines the need for flexible and extensible content data models and multilevel rights verification.

CLOSED-LOOP ORCHESTRATION MEDIAGENIX believes that the best way to offer clients their best-of-breed solution for rights management is to make it pluggable into the WHATS’ON platform for closed-loop orchestration of the end-to-end content supply chain. As this supply chain extends beyond the confines of the media company, the platform also allows third parties to plug in and interact in innovative ways.

THE CLOUD The Cloud is a key element in this as it facilitates the central view

and opens a natural way to make the central platform accessible from anywhere. The Cloud also supports globalization as it enables international companies to manage rights on both the global and the regional level. In combination with web technology, the Cloud provides portability and remote collaboration, for instance for entering rights data. Media companies are moving to the Cloud driven by the need for agility, flexibility, and elastic scalability.

They are also increasingly convinced by the benefits of SaaS/ PaaS and OPEX. That is why MEDIAGENIX offers a flexible, hybrid framework that supports the client’s gradual adoption of cloud technologies and cloud deployment models.

The ultimate aim of it all is to enable media companies to navigate the changing media landscape, each in their own way, with strategic rights management as their trusted rudder.

Visit https://bit.ly/2QkOS4O

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

NEVER HAVE THE CHALLENGES for content rights management been so complex. And never have they been so pivotal now that the media industry is generating an avalanche of content that needs to reach an increasingly fragmented audience, and this while the very concept of content is changing.

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

Rohde & Schwarz Expands SpycerNode Storage Family ROHDE & SCHWARZ has announced the introduction of a new member of its SpycerNode media storage family. Completely Ethernetbased, the R&S SpycerNode SC targets the storage requirements of both broadcast and post production workflows. SpycerNode SC is designed to fulfil the requirements of modern post production teams, where performance is a higher priority than redundancy, but reliability, compact design and affordability are key requirements.

Based on the latest HPC technology SpycerNode SC is capable of delivering a data rate of up to 22GB/s within a single device. Rohde & Schwarz production asset management software, SpycerPAM, can run natively on SpycerNode SC eliminating the need for separate infrastructure or further interoperation. All SpycerNode products use 100 Gb ethernet connectivity to enable both SAN and NAS operation within a single system.

Ease of set-up, ease of integration and ease of maintenance were key design goal to reduce IT complexity or intervention.

“Creative teams need to collaborate without fear of technology limitations dictating awkward workflows,” commented Andreas Loges, Vice President Media Technologies at Rohde & Schwarz. “The powerful, unique performance and redundancy features of SpycerNode SC ensures that talented content creators can access assets fast and work with confidence.”

SpycerNode SC can accommodate up to 60 drives configurable in sets of 30 spinning or flash. Fully equipped the net capacity in a single unit is 800 TB spinning or 430 TB flash.

SpycerNode SC can perform as a stand-alone

unit or configurable within larger clusters of a SpycerNode system. Using Rohde & Schwarz’s metro cluster technology, SpycerNodeSC can be used in environments with high redundancy requirements, such as broadcast production and playout workflows.

Visit www.rohde-schwarz.com

Mediaproxy Adds Zixi and SRT Capability to LogServer MEDIAPROXY HAS UPGRADED its flagship logging and monitoring system to work with both the Zixi and SRT formats. This allows LogServer to be used by OTT service operators running low latency streams, an important feature for more efficient, fully interactive viewer experiences.

Zixi is a software-defined live streaming platform designed to produce a broadcast-quality service over any IP network, protocol, cloud provider or edge device, with the added benefit of low latency.

The company’s Software-Defined Video Platform (SDVP) is aimed at operators looking to launch digital OTT networks or migrate their workflows to the cloud. It can also be used in planning for satellite contract expiration, entering new markets, signing up new MPVDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributors), providing new distribution paths to reach new audiences, expanding brand content and offering localised and mass customisation.

SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) is an opensource video transport protocol based on UDP (User Datagram Protocol) technology. It is able to deliver high-quality, secure, low-latency video over the public internet by optimising streaming

performance across unpredictable networks using secure streams and easy firewall traversal. In this way SRT can account for packet loss, jitter and fluctuating bandwidth, while at the same time maintaining video integrity and quality.

The protocol is developed and promoted by the SRT Alliance, which includes prominent broadcast and media companies such as Avid, Microsoft, Telestream, Evertz and Red Bee Media among its members. Mediaproxy recently joined the Alliance, which will give the company the opportunity to further develop its LogServer monitoring and analysis technology for low latency OTT applications.

According to Mediaproxy chief technology officer, John O’Halloran, “Low latency streaming is becoming more important for live internet

sources. Having native support for both Zixi and SRT protocols in LogServers will allow customers to take advantage of our advanced toolsets for compliance, monitoring and analysis. We are also very pleased to now be a member of the SRT Alliance and hope we can make a contribution to the good work that has already been done in the development of low latency, open-source video transport systems.”

Visit www.mediaproxy.com

Cloud-based Motion Compensated Standards Conversion

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

InSync Technology and Dalet have announced a new service offering – FrameFormer motion compensated frame rate conversion on demand via the industry leading Dalet AmberFin Cloud Transcoder Service SaaS solution.

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Dalet AmberFin Cloud Transcoder Service is a SaaS-based, high quality media processing service with robust media packaging and distribution capabilities for post-production and broadcast workflows. The solution includes every feature from the on-premises version of Dalet AmberFin, with tools beyond simple media conversions, ensuring media professionals have access to image scaling, standards conversions, cut/ splice, caption conversion, audio normalisation,

localization versioning, IMF creation and submission, and HDR conversions. Dalet AmberFin Cloud Transcoder Service can be accessed via a public cloud managed service environment or deployed as a scalable container-based service inside a customer’s existing private cloud infrastructure.

Frame rate conversion is an essential requirement for any content owner wanting to monetise material domestically and internationally. A high quality, motion compensated standards converter is the only solution for handling the multiple formats and frame rates needed for content distribution. With integration of FrameFormer from InSync Technology, top quality, motion

compensated standards conversion is now available within the Dalet AmberFin SaaS solution.

“FrameFormer is becoming a popular choice for on-demand standards conversion. Customers have told us that FrameFormer delivers superior results for all types of content, from sub-QCIF up to 8K and beyond,” said Managing Director of InSync Technology Paola Hobson.

“Dalet finds that InSync’s FrameFormer technology provides best in class, motion compensated standards conversion for SD/HD/ UHD content at a price/performance ratio that is unmatched in the industry,” said Eric Carson, Director of Dalet AmberFin Product Strategy.

Visit www.insync.tv

POST PRODUCTION www.content-technology.com/postproduction

12field Animation Embraces Remote Production with Digistor MELBOURNE-BASED 12field Animation is an established, multi-award-winning studio, specialising in combining traditional skills with the newest technology to create high quality long form 2D character animation. Amongst many other projects, 12field works across the award-winning series Little J & Big Cuz, for NITV and the ABC, produced by Ned Lander Media, and The Strange Chores for the ABC (pictured), co-produced by Media World Pictures and Ludo Studio.

In early 2020, as 12field embarked upon further series work, COVID-19 hit and the studio’s needs changed overnight. An immediate transition to offsite was required with flexible solutions to run different pipelines and software across the two shows. Remote file sharing, communication tools and the technical capacity to manage two large data flows required reliable and future-proof solutions. 12field needed to establish their remote capability and expand their animation software portfolio and for that they turned to Digistor and Toon Boom Harmony.

As Studio Manager at 12field Animation, Kelly Lynagh, explained, “12field’s a studio that’s very familiar with the Flash-Animate pipeline for

remote. After discussions with Digistor we felt they were the ones to help us navigate that.”

12field needed advice on hardware that could better handle the system requirements of Harmony for the show’s second season and manage the rest of the software that they use on a regular basis and so evolved the solution discussion and design with Digistor.

Lynagh continued, “It was about designing a system that protects our files with both security and retention, plus a transition from an onsite studio to essentially running a remote studio when COVID arrived. It was a huge leap out of our comfort zone. We’re obviously not alone in suddenly needing all our artists to have the capacity to work from home but having professional direction from Digistor on how to do that was invaluable.”

In the animation field artists usually are experts at their chosen piece of software, yet the hardware requirements and how those systems work can still be a mystery.

Lynagh added, “Having support from Digistor meant we could have a discussion about what we knew we needed from our software and the

Studio Manager at 12field Animation, Kelly Lynagh.

much completely runs our new pipeline for all our current projects.”

12field’s typical workflow involves a lot of artistic prep work, then distributing that work remotely for their artists to work on locally before they return it to the studio so it can be edited and mastered for broadcast.

12field’s typical workflow involves a lot of artistic prep work, then

Lynagh added, “The most important component is making sure all our artists have access to the source materials they need at any time and that the work they create and provide comes back uncorrupted within a reasonable time frame.

Technical problems can quickly mean we’re behind on production, so stability is vitally important to ensure everything’s moving forward as smoothly as possible.

Also having good archival and backup processes in place is a big sigh of relief knowing our source material is protected and insured. To that end, we found Digistor to be very well versed in the media and arts industry’s workflows, which is a huge advantage when the need to upgrade is necessary, as well as being able to maintain good systems. You know you’re getting advice from a company that understands what you do, as Digistor does.”

distributing that work remotely for their artists to work on

locally before they return it to the studio so it can be edited

production. At the time we were talking about making Season One of The Strange Chores we felt it was a good opportunity to break away from our known pipeline and explore some new software that would give us more features. This included features that would allow us to tap into our background of traditional animation and achieve visuals that have an older feeling aesthetic. Our characters look like they’ve been drawn with pencils and our animators often draw into their shots yet have a lot of control of the rigs, and our backgrounds are rich in detail and lighting. We also knew Strange Chores needed more options in the VFX department and we clearly saw that Toon Boom Harmony ticked all the boxes for us to switch over for this production. It was a steep learning curve and we were keen, moving into the second season, to have robust support which became even more crucial when we all went

resources we have available to make it with a partner who can inform us on the best equipment to run it and how to structure it so it works efficiently.”

To run their latest productions of both Little J & Big Cuz (Season Three) and The Strange Chores (Season Two) concurrently, 12field needed a cut across to a bigger and faster server, so they went with a SuperMicro Server.

Lynagh explained, “We also worked with Digistor on designing a new backup system with Veamm.

COVID also meant we had to up our game on the remote front so, again, with assistance from Digistor we now run a VPN via a new Fortigate appliance. We’re also on a Customer Assurance Plan with Digistor to ensure we have access to technical help whenever we need it. As a result, the new solution Digistor supplied us with pretty

and mastered for broadcast.

All-in-all a complex requirement was not only met but solved with a comprehensive, reliable and efficient solution as Kelly Lynagh concluded, “Knowing that 12field is fully set up to run our productions remotely is a big plus for us. The ongoing advice Digistor provides will ensure we’re always employing great work practices that are bespoke for us and what we do.”

Visit www.digistor.com.au

POST PRODUCTION

The Strange Chores

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POST PRODUCTION

Autodesk Fuels Flame, Adds Muscle to 3ds Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder AUTODESK HAS UNVEILED more than 40 userdriven improvements to Flame which it says simplify the artist’s day-to-day and boost creative collaboration. Building on machine learning (ML) capabilities that address specific tasks in Flame, these include: • Nex-gen camera tracking: Using cutting-edge scene reconstruction algorithms similar to autonomous vehicle smart ‘vision’ and reality capture-type point cloud reconstruction, Flame’s new camera tracker ‘auto masks’ or ignores moveable objects like people, cars, bodies of water, and skies, and focuses the solve on the static scene environment only, so that artists no longer have to spend time manually masking out moving objects to get a reliable result. In many cases, the new camera tracker provides artists with a one-click solve, delivering high-quality results with over 5000 points in a fraction of the time it would take using traditional workflows.

• Integrated finishing toolset: A new creative look up table (LUT) loader lets users import an external file-based LUT or colour transform from a wide variety of file formats (.3dl .cube .ctf .ccc) directly inside Action and Image toolsets, and apply the ‘look’ to the entire picture or part of it. Additional enhancements include broadened GMask Tracer functionality, expanded support for industry-standard tactile colorist control panels (Arc, Element, Wave 2, Ripple, Element-Vs), and Blackmagic RAW media compatibility.

• NDI video preview streaming: Artists can now share high-quality full screen video with creative stakeholders remotely, either over a closed network or public internet, using any NewTek NDI receiver software or device. The new feature is also compatible with webcasting software like OBS Studio and streaming services like YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and Twitch.

The updates to Flame follow Autodesk’s recent improvements to Maya, 3ds Max, and MotionBuilder.

Among these updates is the USD plugin for Maya.

First announced at SIGGRAPH 2018 as a joint effort with Pixar, Animal Logic, Luma Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios, USD is now seamlessly integrated in Maya, enabling artists to load and edit massive datasets at “lightning speed”. Maya’s animation, modelling, and rendering toolsets also see significant updates.

With this update, Maya artists gain:

POST PRODUCTION

• Seamless USD Integration: Full USD integration allows artists to load multiple gigabytes of data within seconds and work directly with the data using Maya’s native tools. Robust referencing functionality, nondestructive data editing workflows, and support for complex variants on top of USD increase pipeline efficiency and collaboration and help teams scale for highvolume data workflows.

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• Powerful Animation Tools: Animation tool updates help artists animate faster and in fewer clicks. A new Ghosting Editor allows artists to quickly see animation spacing over time, making it easier to pinpoint necessary edits and how poses work together in animations. Improvements to the Time Editor, including support for cached playback and additive animation clips, and new filters in the

Graph Editor bring artists a smoother animation experience overall.

• Modern Rigging Workflows: This update introduces several procedural, topologyindependent rigging workflows. Component Tags and Deformer Falloffs provide modern methods for defining membership and weighting, as well as seamlessly sharing that data between geometry and deformers. Maya’s extensive deformation toolset also gets bigger with new Solidify and Morph deformers.

• Community-Inspired Modeling Updates: A new Sweep Mesh tool enables artists to procedurally generate geometry and adjust attributes with a single click. Using the new Game Vertex Count plugin, game artists are able to more accurately estimate how assets in Maya impact their in-game vertex count budgets before exporting them to game engines. Additional updates enhance the overall modelling experience and include pivot improvements; an upgraded extrude thickness tool; faster lasso selection; and match, translation, and scaling enhancements to provide artists with precise control over scene transforms.

• Fast and Flexible Rendering with Arnold 6.2: Standard in Maya, Arnold 6.2 introduces new imagers for light mixing, bloom effects, and denoising for an upgraded post-processing experience. Additional benefits include GPU improvements, enhanced USD support, and integration with OpenColorIO v2, enabling artists to take advantage of OCIO’s native implementation of ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) and processing improvements directly in Arnold.

• Python 3: Python 3 is the new default for Maya on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. • Improved First Experience: A faster and more modern user experience offers reduced startup time and customisable preferences, splash screen improvements, and intuitive script editor enhancements that help artists work more efficiently and with greater control.

Meanwhile, the latest updates to 3ds Max include: • Improved Protection Against Malicious Scripts: Security improvements powered by the Scene Security Tools plugin include Malware Removal that automatically detects and eliminates malicious scripts from scene files and startup scripts. Scene Script Execution offers further protection against malicious scripts embedded in 3ds Max scene files.

• Enhanced Workflow Efficiency: To help artists maximise time and productivity, new enhancements have been added to popular modelling tools, including the Relax Modifier, Smart Extrude, Slice Modifier, Extrude Modifier, Symmetry Modifier, and AutoSmooth tools.

• Arnold Rendering Upgrades: Workflow improvements accelerate rendering processes, including a new render configuration window with faster QT-based UI; quicker and more responsive QT-based Quicksilver render settings; and the ability to sync Viewport bloom settings to Quicksilver settings. Working directly from the Arnold RenderView, artists can now relight images using light mixing, denoise images, and add bloom effects.

• Bake to Texture Improvements: Simplified navigation and selection of baked map types

NDI preview streaming with Flame.

Camera tracking within Flame.

allow users to bake frequently used maps in a few clicks without requiring complex material setups.

• New Floating Viewport Features: All floating viewports can now be viewed full screen without a border using a simple hotkey shortcut.

Finally, MotionBuilder gains a number of updates, including: • Python 3: Python 3 is the new default for MotionBuilder on Windows and Linux.

• Developer-Focused Improvements: The MotionBuilder Python Command Line tool has been significantly improved, opening the door to new capabilities like file processing and rendering from the Command Line. Additionally, the MotionBuilder API has been expanded based on developer feedback, it’s now easier to manage multiple script tabs in the Python Editor, and the startup experience can be customised to differentiate between different projects and tool versions.

• Workflow Enhancements: A slew of updates improve the overall animation experience and reduce the number of steps animators need to take to achieve the result they want. Among these updates is the ability to now visualize real Quaternion Rotation properties within the FCurve Editor, a new “Add to Body Part” property that simplifies the key framing process for character extensions, and time-saving updates in the Character Controls that reduce the number of actions required to expand IK auxiliaries when selecting individual effectors.

Visit https://www.autodesk.com

POST PRODUCTION

Remote Workstations for the Discerning Artists

By Michelle Brenner, Senior Software Engineer, Studio Infrastructure, Netflix

Netflix Workstations are remote workstations that allow content creators to get to work wherever they are. As an engineer, I can work anywhere with a standard laptop as long as I have an IDE (integrated development environment) and access to Stack Overflow.

However, the artists creating stunning visual effects and animations for Netflix Originals need more than that. They need specialised hardware, access to petabytes of images, and digital content creation applications with controlled licenses.

Historically artists had these machines built for them at their desks and only had access to the data and applications when they were in the office. With global demand for talent skyrocketing, we want the flexibility to hire anyone, anywhere. One of our first partners for the Netflix Workstations is NetFX, a cloudbased VFX platform that enables artists and creators worldwide to collaborate on Netflix VFX content.

Now that you know why, here is how we did it. Below is a broad technical overview of how to go from an AWS instance to a Netflix Workstation.

configurations and did not need maximum flexibility. Instead, we created a service to take the most popular configurations and cache them. Now, artists can get a new workstation in seconds.

Software Configuration: Salt Today, there are around 100 different packages that can configure a workstation, from installing software to editing a registry. How did we get here? We needed a system that could manage hundreds to one-day thousands of workstations. It needed to be extremely flexible while easy to jump in and create new packages. That is where SaltStack comes in.

We use Salt to make operating system agnostic declarative statements about how to configure a workstation. It has many built-in modules, from installing a package to editing the registry.

It also allows for logic statements to handle situations such as mount this storage in this environment only or only run this script if this file does not exist.

of that is being able to track a workstation’s lifecycle.

A gRPC Java Spring Boot control plane and a Golang agent manages and reports on the lifecycle. The lifecycle has many steps, but they fall into three main

This salt formula example is the equivalent of running a “yum install sis-lighting-10_1” in the terminal.

categories: before login,

centos7_lighting_install:

login, we use Spinnaker

pkg.installed:

- name: sis-lighting-10_1

Artist Experience We want the artists to be able to start their workday quickly. They simply select a previously created configuration, wait a few seconds to prepare, and jump right in via their browser.

the artist is working, and the artist is done. Before & Salt to configure and have free rein to make all necessary changes.

While the artist uses the workstation, we track the health but avoid making changes that could disrupt their

Machine Configuration: Spinnaker

work. We recommend

Starting at the left of the chart, Spinnaker is an

that artists get new workstations frequently to have the latest updates, but we can use Salt to deploy quick fixes

open-source platform that controls the creation of workstation pools. Spinnaker uses “pipelines” as instructions for creating the pools. An API in conjunction with variables in the pipeline creates Workstation pools programmatically.

Artists need many components to be customised. They could need a GPU when doing graphics-intensive work or extra-large storage to handle file management. Some artists needed Centos 7 to support their compositing software, while others required Windows to use their pre-visualisation software. To minimise lag, the workstations need to be as close to the artist as possible, so we support a growing list of regions and zones.

Initially, we created big pools of workstations that only had the OS and a few internal tools.

When the artist requested a workstation, all software was installed just-in-time. That led to long wait times and unhappy artists. Most artists were requesting a handful of standard

if necessary.

‘ Netflix Workstations are remote workstations that allow content creators to get to work wherever they are. As an engineer, I can work anywhere with a standard laptop as long as I have an IDE (integrated development environment) and access to Stack Overflow ’

Looking Ahead We’ve made it easier for artists to create content remotely.

However, we are only at the beginning of While this is the quickest way to get started, there are a few remote display options. The artist can use the browser to see the desktop, or application streaming. Application streaming simplifies the experience to the single artist tool they need. They could also skip the browser and use a native client on their desktop.

As with any new technology, the experience is not always bug-free. With our front-line support teams’ help, we are responsible for monitoring and quickly fixing any artists’ issues. We rely on our internal partner teams to support components installed on the workstation, such as storage and artist tools. They depend on us to provide observability into a workstation. Part

creating on-demand, secure, self-service remote workstations. We are looking to the future where Netflix Workstations are a platform for technical artists to make their own configurations. Where we can gather and analyse the usage data to create efficiencies and automation. Where an artist anywhere in the world can focus on their art and not on their commute. There is more work to be done, and if you want to be a part of it, we are growing!

This article first appeared on Netflix Tech Blog, written by Michelle Brenner.

Visit https://bit.ly/39JrFQD

POST PRODUCTION

NETFLIX IS POISED to become the world’s most prolific producer of visual effects and original animated content. To meet that demand, we need to attract the world’s best artistic talent.

Artists like to work at places where they can create ground-breaking entertainment instead of worrying about getting access to the software or source files they need. To meet this need, the Studio Infrastructure team has created Netflix Workstations.

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RADIO The original broadcast media

www.content-technology.com/radio

New Sydney Studios Shine for NOVA Entertainment IT WAS NO JOKE when the first NOVA Entertainment station in Australia went to air in Sydney on the 1st of April, 2001. Built upon a Klotz AES3 digital audio infrastructure, the Sydney station marked the first of what is now a national network taking in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide under its flagship brands, the Nova Network and smoothfm.

Two decades later and Nova 96.9 in Sydney is at the cutting edge again as part of the Network’s ‘Future Studios Project’, embracing LAWO Ruby consoles and Power Core IP Audio I/O & DSP Nodes, Riedel’s MediorNet video router, the Riedel Artist comms system, Scala digital signage players, DMX lighting fixtures, and Panasonic PTZ cameras.

Under VSM control via LAWO’s VisTool touchscreen software, NOVA’s new Sydney studios, designed in conjunction with UK company Jago Design, are built to handle broadcast radio, podcast and social media workflows, as well as future proof the station for emerging content delivery platforms.

According to John Pearce, Senior Solutions Architect with NOVA Entertainment, planning for the station upgrade began several years ago.

“We took quite a lot of inspiration from other international radio and television studio builds,” he says. “We were very keen to have a system that was easy to operate, but yet provided the capability to provide more scale than what was actually in the back end.

“The scope of the project was essentially all of the core broadcast infrastructure. We wanted to make sure that it included an IP audio infrastructure. We considered IP video, but at that stage there were just no solid standards that we could rely on.

“We really came to look at what standards were available at that time and AES67 was key. We sort of could see SMPTE 2110 on the horizon, but there was nothing available for that just yet. We ended up going with an SDI video system, but in a modular way. We were concerned about having monolithic routers and the system not being as scalable as we needed, so we went with the Riedel MediorNet system which allowed us to scale the video at a more appropriate pace.

“We decided on the LAWO ecosystem for audio.

That’s Ravenna-compatible, and we used Arista switches for clicking it altogether. All of our routing is done in Ravenna, and there’s edge devices that do format conversion to legacy equipment or to software virtual sound cards that interface to computers on that network as well.

“The decision to go down that LAWO path was not necessarily linked to any one specific benefit. It was more about the full suite of products that tied together and most closely matched what we were trying to do with audio, studio hardware, site level control and scheduling.”

RADIO

PRODUCTION WORKFLOW

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Regardless of the final delivery platform, the first step in NOVA’s content workflow begins with production staff accessing the studio via their

NOVA Entertainment’s Group Program Operations Director, Brendan Taylor [left] and John Pearce, Senior Solutions Architect.

RFID access cards, the same cards they would use to access the building. When a user is added to the building access system, that same card gets added and linked to their user account in the LAWO VisTool database.

VisTool has a national database that captures every setting from every system in the room, even outside of the audio system that it’s been designed to control.

“In the new design,” says John Pearce. “we’ve got the LAWO Ruby audio consoles and the Power Cores in the studios, the Riedel MediorNet video router in the MCR, the Riedel Artist comms system in the MCR, we’ve got the Scala digital signage players, DMX lighting fixtures in the roof, and VSM then has control of all of those systems.

Our touchscreen software in the studio is LAWO’s VisTool. That talks directly to the Power Core in the studio. It also then talks to VSM and tells VSM what routes are required.

“We knew that we wanted to integrate video a lot more closely, and not just capturing video, but also signage, and being able to dynamically change signage and change the look and feel of a studio as quickly as we could.”

By doing so, NOVA is able to brand studios to match station ID, program and presenters, as well as program sponsors, enabling brand consistency across social media.

“Previously, we would need to book out a studio an hour or two in advance of the show, every day, and then have it configured and tested properly,” says Pearce. “We wanted to overcome that challenge in the new world.

“The screens in our studios are connected directly to the video router, so we can route anything to them - essentially video and still content, even a

direct live video source like an interstate video link.

Again, that’s all linked back to the user snapshot.”

As well as delivering live video streams to platforms such as Facebook Live or Instagram, the new studios also allow NOVA to create short-form video content for social media, all using using vMix live production and streaming software. And, while short-form content is post-produced, live streams are switched manually.

“The plan was always to have two methods to create that content,” says John Pearce. “For Facebook Live or Instagram or other live streams, that content is switched manually. We use vMix for that and, at the same time, capture all of the content, just the ISOs of all the cameras. We’re able to create the short-form content out of those.

“The manually switched content is generally the stuff that goes out in the moment. We’re still trying to fine tune the automation. It potentially will be better, at some point in the future, but right now it doesn’t always make the same decisions as someone sitting in front at a table. It’s all about context. Just because there’s audio coming out of one microphone doesn’t mean you want to switch to that shot.”

CONSTRUCTION THROUGH COVID While the refit of existing studio facilities would have had its challenges in any given year, NOVA Entertainment’s new Sydney studios also faced the conditions imposed on it by the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions on the movement and gathering of people.

According to John Pearce, the build and commissioning of the new studios was “… a mighty challenge, especially with what we were doing where we were pushing the limits of some of the technology.

RADIO

“Where, previously, we would have agreed with the manufacturer that the only way to solve some complex issues was to get an engineer on a plane and get here and resolve it, it ended up being lots of late nights for us on this side of the world on Teams chats, video conference sessions, and having people on this end as the eyes and the ears and the hands for those engineers.”

Also key to the rollout were local suppliers such as Professional Audio & Television (PAT) and Riedel, as well as the Sydney office of Scala, especially as State border closures limited the movements of NOVA’s interstate engineers.

“Obviously, like everyone, we were restricted by the amount of people that we had on site,” says Pearce. “The good thing about the config was that it could be done remotely, but we did still have the guys from PAT on site quite regularly, helping us with those teething issues that are inevitable in any project. When somebody’s put a comma instead of a full stop in a config, or something like that, you find these issues when you go to press the button. PAT, particularly, were incredibly helpful, both on-site and remote. Really, there wasn’t too many hiccups in terms of the support provided by those guys just because they were able to change the way that they operate and deliver the same service.

“The other challenge that we found with COVID was just the actual building works. We’d locked in building works from January, 2020, with a six

month roll out period. By March, we were unsure if we were going to be able to continue to have trades on site. It was lots of seat of our pants stuff. We were watching the news daily, like everybody was. We were all concerned about the team’s welfare and what restrictions were going to be put in place to stop trades, potentially, from working.”

At the same time, COVID restrictions limited the number of production and technical staff allowed in the building, forced many to work remotely from home.

Most announcers were still keen to come into the station to broadcast from their studios,” says Pearce. “We did had provisions in place for all announcers to broadcast from home if that was their preference, or if COVID regulations required this to occur, but most had a desire to be in the studios, working with their teams and production staff.”

“We had a varied range of technology available to us because we had all of our outside broadcast equipment that we knew we weren’t going to be using anytime soon, and all the way down to Apps on iPhones the people could plug a headset into and contribute. So, for people that contributed the fewest number of minutes an hour, they’d be given less robust technology like a phone. Key talent, the ones whose names are on the signs, they were generally given more robust technology like a Tieline codec or something that had dual paths connected, one path to their home internet and other path to a 4G access point that we’d supply. We just looked at it as what was the risk of that talent becoming unavailable on-air due to a technical fault and just, distributing the technology as needed.

“It was a distraction from the builds of the new studios, but we were able to create enough kits to get everyone going.”

WHAT’S NEXT “Now that the Sydney site has settled in nicely, we’re shifting our focus to Melbourne. The hope is that we will be able to roll out the same capabilities in Melbourne by early-mid 2022.

With more than just Sydney online, it will allow us to activate an even richer level of automation where the user RFID card studio logins will not just control local studio technology, but via LAWO’s Line Scheduler software, automatically connect audio, video, comms and control to any studio in the NOVA Entertainment network,” said Pearce.

‘The design philosophy of ‘Any Show Any Station Anywhere’ allows for each user to be assigned to a ‘show’ and then a ‘role’ within that show. A user can swipe into any studio and based on the requirements of their role, be merged with other members of their show.

“These automated capabilities will be complemented with a semi-automated version of the same features where for ad-hoc connectivity, users can open up a map of the country, select a site, select a studio and make a connection to that space with audio and video at the touch of a few buttons.

“This will further remove the actual underlying technology from the user’s vernacular and provide a much more intuitive interaction where the system orchestrates an outcome for them instead, as opposed to needing to understand codecs, routes, mix-minus, etc., which ultimately detracts from what they are there to do.”

RADIO

“We were also setting up systems using very new technology. There were a number of systems that we, and the manufacturer, turned on and quickly realised, that the way we were using it had never really been tested at the scale that we were trying to use it.

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AUDIO Digital soundwaves

www.content-technology.com/audio

Song Zu Acquired by Music Licensing Company Songtradr B2B MUSIC LICENSING MARKETPLACE Songtradr, has announced its acquisition of Song Zu, one of the most awarded music and sound design companies in the Asia Pacific. The multimillion dollar transaction marks Songtradr’s second major acquisition since completion of its Series C funding round in July 2020 where the company raised US$30M.

Awards (LIA) for Best Music and Sound Design Company of the Year, and more.

Song Zu was founded in 1977 by legendary Australian glam-rock guitarist Les Gock (of Hush fame). Since the business was sold by Gock in 2001, Song Zu has established studios in Sydney and Singapore, and works in all areas of sonic branding, including soundtracks for advertisements on TV and radio, online content, VR and installation spaces. In addition to working with Australia’s leading broadcasters, Song Zu works with renowned brands and media businesses from around the world including Netflix, HBO, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Google, Amazon, and Guinness, among others. It has repeatedly received international recognition for its work, garnering top awards such as the Gold Clios, Cannes Gold Lions, London International

“We are well established in the APAC region and are looking forward to joining the Songtradr family, expanding our product offering and increasing our global footprint,” said Ian Lew, Managing Director and Partner of Song Zu. “Enhancing our initiatives with Songtradr’s technology is a truly exciting opportunity for us as our clients’ needs rapidly evolve.”

“Song Zu is the region’s leading custom music composition house and has such a rich history,” said Paul Wiltshire, CEO of Songtradr. “As we continue to expand into the APAC region, Song Zu is a natural fit and greatly complements our global music ecosystem.”

“Bespoke music will always be at the heart of what we do,” said Ramesh Sathiah, Creative Director of Song Zu. “But having the resources of the Songtradr platform as well as the music licencing power of Big Sync, allows us to offer creative solutions with no boundaries.”

Song Zu will form part of Songtradr’s recently

launched platform, ‘Vinyl by Songtradr’, alongside acquired companies, Big Sync Music and Cuesongs. ‘Vinyl by Songtradr’ is a techenhanced, human curated platform that gives users direct access to creative talent, commercial music licensing, as well as pre-cleared music, sonic branding, custom composition and more.

Visit https://www.songzu.com and https://www.songtradr.com

Sydney’s City Recital Hall Upgrades with The P.A. People SYDNEY’S CITY RECITAL HALL at Angel Place hosts a rich program of concerts and events, covering a broad range of genres from the contemporary to the classical. For 20 years, it has been a beacon to music lovers, nestled in the famous laneway precinct of the CBD.

As the venue enters its third decade of operation, time and heavy usage meant that the original stage management system, the essential control centre of every performance, was past its serviceable life and needed to be replaced.

“The system was part of the original 20-yearold fit out of the venue and as such had become unreliable and no longer fit for purpose,” relates Andrew Hudson, Technical Services Manager at City Recital Hall. “We put out a public tender for its replacement. The brief required the successful company to design, supply, program, install, test, and commission a system that, in addition to providing the usual functions such as paging to various backstage and foyer areas, talkback, and cue-lights, also included a large number of bespoke items, such as the ability to monitor stage temperature, be able to operate simple performance audio and lighting, record and playback messaging to foyers and backstage areas and record performance content. A new FOH manager’s announcement and audience recall system also fell within the scope of works.”

AUDIO

The P.A. People proposed a new system based around Crestron control, an ETC CueSystem, QSC Q-SYS audio processing, and Clear-Com FreeSpeak ll comms. Their bid was successful, and a team headed by Project Manager Ross Ford rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

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“We had to enable a lot of functionality that’s

not usually included in an SM console,” explains Ross. “The big one was the ‘Basic Mode’ that allows for one-person operation of the venue.

This includes control over the work lights and some lighting dimmers, the ability to trigger a pre-set lighting state, and simple volume control over wired and wireless microphones, all via the 10-inch Crestron touch panel fitted into the console.”

The Q-SYS audio DSP has been programmed to record and playback audio messages, including an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ announcement. Stage managers can pre-record their own announcements and preview them before storage or playback, allowing them to practice difficult pronunciations, for example.

Remote temperature sensors installed around the performance area can now be read from the stage manager’s console, enabling SMs to monitor changes in humidity and the environment that may affect the tuning of instruments. In addition, dual seven-inch monitors allow the SM to see live feeds from a new over-stage camera and the existing conductor-view camera.

The ETC CueSystem is a network-enabled cue light system, whose plug-and-play ‘CueSpider’ outstations can be positioned anywhere in the venue and linked to the nearest network port via a Cat5 cable. This means that it’s not just performers backstage that can be cued on, but FOH staff can be silently signalled to let in latecomers.

“The scope of works for the new system was the culmination of consultation with stakeholders, including casual and full time Stage Managers, along with wish-lists from hirers and presenters,” elaborates Andrew

Hudson. “Although some of the requirements for the new system fell outside of what would be considered normal SMC functions, Ross Ford and his team have been positive and proactive in delivering City Recital Hall’s specific requirements. The integration of the systems with existing services was a challenging requirement given the age and complexity of the existing infrastructure, and the limited original documentation. The P.A. People have delivered a system that will be of service well into the future.”

The P.A. People provided a custom electronic height adjustable Stage Management Console containing the following: • 10-inch Crestron Panel; • Blackmagic dual seven-inch SDI monitor; • Ruckus 12 port network switch with 10GB SFP fibre ports; • Atterotech Dante Mic input/output device; • ETC CueSystem 8 channel rack mount master; • Shure MX418 mic; and • Custom paging panel with 10 zones The main system includes the following: • QSC Qsys Core110F processor; • Crestron CP3; • Ruckus 24 port network switch; • Clear-Com FreeSpeak ll Master and four wireless beltpacks with Beyer Headsets; • Australian Monitor HS 412P amplifier; • Australian Monitor HS 212P amplifier; • ENTTEC DMX Interface; and • Crestron seven-inch touch panel at front of house manager’s position.

Visit: https://papeople.com.au and https://www.cityrecitalhall.com

AUDIO

THE NEXT STAGE IN SOUND.

Axient Digital defies limitations for both RF and audio excellence.

With an industry-leading 2 ms of latency*, linear transient response, and wide dynamic range, nothing gets in the way of true, pure sound.

Learn more at shure.com/axientdigital *From transducer to analog output, in standard transmission mode. © 2018 Shure Incorporated

Distributed by

AUDIO

www.jands.com.au

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AUDIO

RØDE Unveils Streaming Software, Adds MIDI to RØDECaster Pro RØDE HAS UNVEILED complementary software for its NT-USB Mini microphone in the form of RØDE Connect, a free software package for podcasting and streaming.

offers for livestreaming applications are incredibly powerful. No other audio company in the world is doing anything like this.”

Offering an intuitive, fully featured recording interface inspired by the RØDECaster Pro console, RØDE Connect has the ability to connect up to four NT-USB Minis to a single computer, enable seamless integration with video call and streaming applications, and more.

RØDE Connect allows up to four NTUSB Minis to be connected to a single computer. Previously this required complex routing and complicated software to set up. It features an intuitive, fully featured recording interface inspired by the RØDECaster Pro, complete with broadcast-style faders, one-click recording, level metering, mute buttons, output control, and flexible optimisation and export options for uploading to all popular podcasting platforms.

RØDE Connect is free to download and comes in versions for Mac and PC. Other features include: • Connect up to four NT-USB Minis to one computer – no complex routing required • Fully featured recording interface – complete with broadcast-style faders, level metering, mute buttons, and more • One-click access to a noise gate, compressor and legendary APHEX Aural Exciter and Big Bottom effects • Virtual channels – for seamlessly connecting remote guests, integrating streaming applications, and adding music beds and other external audio • Automatic mix-minus on every channel – for crystal-clear, echo-free audio Launched in 2020 to widespread acclaim, the NT-USB Mini is a studio-quality USB microphone that is designed to deliver crystalclear, professional audio direct to a computer.

“The NT-USB Mini, coupled with RØDE Connect, marks a huge leap forward for simple solutions that allow anyone to create a professional sounding podcast,” says RØDE CEO Damien Wilson. “And the possibilities the software

There are also two ‘Virtual’ channels (named ‘Virtual’ and ‘System’) for easily connecting remote callers via communications apps like Zoom and Google Hangouts, and for adding music beds, stings and sound effects, prerecorded interviews or any other audio from external sources.

RØDE Connect is also a powerful solution for gamers who want to simplify their audio setup. In addition to offering a flexible interface for controlling audio from the NT-USB Mini, RØDE Connect’s ‘Virtual’ channels allow for streamlined integration of audio from chat applications like TeamSpeak, gameplay sound, and other audio sources.

There are also dedicated output controls for streaming apps like OBS or Xsplit.

RØDE has also announced that the public beta version of its latest RØDECaster Pro firmware is now available. Firmware version 2.1.2 is the next major update that unlocks features such as:

MIDI Control – The RØDECaster Pro can now be used as a USB MIDI controller. This opens up a wide range of creative possibilities for podcasting and streaming, including DAW synchronisation in multitrack recording sessions, vision switching capabilities, and much more.

New Sound Pad Modes – In addition to the Latch, Pause, Replay, Play, and Loop modes, two new sound pad modes have been added – a “Swear Button” for bleeping out audio on the fly and a “Trash Talk” mode for muting the output to remote callers on the USB, smartphone, and Bluetooth channels.

ASIO Driver For Windows – This update includes an ASIO driver for ensuring a stable connection when using the RØDECaster Pro with DAWs such as Cubase and Adobe Audition on Windows computers. This can be downloaded separately from the RØDECaster Pro firmware page.

The RØDECaster Pro now offers a selection of languages for the LED touchscreen display, including Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean.

Visit www.rode.com

Sennheiser Re-Invents MKE 400 Shotgun Mic SENNHEISER HAS LAUNCHED the new MKE 400 – a highly directional compact shotgun microphone designed to bring compelling audio to DSLR/Ms and mobile devices alike.

The MKE 400 achieves its directionality with an acoustic interference tube, providing a supercardioid polar pattern that ensures pick-up from the direction in which the camera is facing while cancelling out distracting noise from the sides.

The result: dialogue recordings with presence and clarity that will help bring your content to life.

The MKE 400’s shock-mounted capsule minimises handling noise, while the microphone housing doubles as a standard windscreen. For outdoor use, a furry windshield is included. The microphone’s low-cut filter also does its part in removing problematic low frequencies like the hum from air-conditioning systems or the rumble from wind.

AUDIO

The MKE 400 is not only fitted with a lowcut filter and three-step sensitivity switch to fine-tune sound but also has a headphone monitoring output and integrated 8-step digital volume control, as not every camera has its own

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audio output. Users can plug any headphone with a 3.5 mm (1/8”) jack directly into the MKE 400 and conveniently check levels and audio performance while rolling.

The MKE 400 includes 3.5 mm TRS and TRRS locking cables to be used with DSLR/M cameras or mobile devices, ensuring that switching from one device to another is accomplished with ease. The mic’s cold-shoe mount with ¼-20 thread allows for universal mounting atop of cameras, gimbals or even at the end of a boom pole.

The MKE 400 takes two AAA batteries to power the microphone for up to 100 hours of continuous audio capture. A low battery indicator warns users three hours before the batteries run flat.

When connected to DSLR/M cameras, the MKE 400 automatically powers on/off with the camera. So your mic is ready the instant your camera is, and helps you save energy when

you’re not rolling. Power detection also works with many smartphone models: if you remove the MKE 400, it will automatically turn off. A manual power button is provided too, featuring an off-delay to avoid any accidental operation.

The MKE 400 is also available as “MKE 400 Mobile Kit” which additionally includes a Sennheiser Smartphone Clamp and Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod in a convenient package for your camera bag or mobile set-up.

Visit https://en-au.sennheiser.com

AUDIO

RTS Introduces DBP Digital Beltpack

DBP is a four-channel/four-button wired beltpack that runs on PoE+ (Power over Ethernet 802.3af and 802.3at) and connects using OMNEO IP technology. Its unique hybrid design supports both digital partyline and matrix keypanel modes: for use as a digital partyline device, DBP connects to an OMS; for use as a portable keypanel, including functionality like point-to-point communication, DBP can be connected to any RTS digital/IP matrix product using OMNEO – including OMI cards in ADAM/ ADAM-M frames or OMNEO ports on ODIN frames. DBP automatically selects the correct mode of operation (digital partyline/OMS or keypanel/matrix) when connected and switched on.

DBP’s PoE-driven design gives it an unmatched level of scalability and makes it easy to add new users. In and Out PoE ports (two etherCON locking RJ45 connectors) allow up to six DBP devices to be daisy-chained together from the same PoE switch port when used in partyline mode. Up to 40 DBPs can be connected to an OMS, allowing for the creation of an extensive digital partyline system – all in addition to the other wired and wireless devices OMS

supports. Depending on the matrix model/configuration, up to 64 DBPs can be connected to an OMI card for ADAM matrices, and up to 128 DBPs can be connected to one ODIN. Patent-pending design aesthetics make DBP comfortable and easy to use. Though lightweight and compact, the unit’s robust construction ensures it is ready for the toughest working environments. DBP’s over-molded ergonomic volume knobs and rubber enclosure detailing provide extra grip and drop resistance, and it is IP53 rated for protection against dust and water spray.

While its control layout will be immediately familiar to partyline users, DBP’s intuitive icon-based menu navigation system is presented via a full-colour, sunlightreadable TFT display with anti-reflective lens, making configuration quick yet precise for users of all levels, in any light conditions.

TALK and LISTEN capability for up to four simultaneously active partylines (i.e. access to a pool of up to 16 partylines) is controlled via four large backlit channel buttons, which can also be assigned for dedicated resources such as relay control.

available: 4-pin female, 4-pin male and 5-pin female (supporting stereo audio for different feeds on the left and right headphones).

Incoming CALL notifications are via audible alerts or haptic vibration.

DBP’s digital audio technology provides increased fidelity and a lower noise floor in comparison to analog. Both 3.5 mm TRRS and XLR connectors are provided for connecting headsets, with three different XLR options

Visit https://rtsintercoms.com and www.magnasys.tv

Rupert Neve 5057 Orbit 16 x 2 Summing Mixer

RUPERT NEVE DESIGNS has announced the 5057 Orbit 16 x 2 Summing Mixer. Housed in a 1U chassis, the Orbit features the same summing architecture as its older siblings; all of which are direct descendants of the company’s flagship 5088 mixing console.

To shape the sound character, the company’s Silk Red and Blue circuitry provides full control over the amount of harmonic content and tone of the mix.

While the Centerpiece and Satellite feature various options to control level, pan, inserts, and monitoring, the Orbit is designed for easy recall and seamless integration with a DAW-based workflow. Sixteen inputs are provided via DB25 connectors, the first eight of which can be precisely center-panned via front panel switches, and both sets of XLR outputs utilise Rupert Neve Designs’ own custom transformers. In addition to the Main outputs, the -6dB outputs – originally developed for the

DBP also supports Bluetooth audio connectivity to a headset, mobile phone or streaming device (via the recommended third-party dongles).

Creator Pack Pro from Audio-Technica

company’s Shelford Channel – are also simultaneously available, allowing the user to drive the Orbit’s mix buss harder into saturation without clipping the next device in the signal path.

FOLLOWING THE LAUNCHof its Creator Pack, Audio-Technica has released a Pro version. The Pack contains the ATH-M20X studio monitoring headphones, the AT2020USB+ cardioid condenser microphone and a boom arm.

and mix control that blends microphone and pre-recorded audio. Each Creator Pack Pro includes a USB-B to USB-A cable, a tripod desk stand and a faux -leather pouch for easy and safe transportation.

The Orbit offers precisely fixed channel levels and accurate mix buss attenuation via high-quality stepped switching, leading to low crosstalk, and channels matched to within +/- 0.1dB.

The most significant change is the upgrade to the AT2020USB+.

The rugged, side-address condenser USB microphone is equipped with a low-mass diaphragm hand-punched in Tokyo and custom-engineered for extended frequency response and superior transient response.

The mic’s cardioid polar pattern reduces pickup of sounds from the sides and rear, improving isolation of desired sound source. With a sampling rate of 16-bit, 44.1/48 kHz the built-in analogue-to-digital converter delivers high-quality audio ideal for recording vocals and instruments. Monitoring headphones can be plugged in at the back of the microphone.

The front features the control wheels for monitoring volume

The ATH-M20X is part of AudioTechnica’s flagship M-Series studio monitoring headphone range. The closed-back model features 40mm drivers and comes with a frequency response of 15-20,000Hz. The 3m long cable and the 6.35mm adapter fit into any recording environment and setup.

To expand the channel count, multiple units can be combined via the Link I/O on the rear panel. The 5057 Orbit can also be used as a building block in an expandable summing system utilising the 5059 Satellite for flexible summing and routing, and the 5060 Centerpiece for additional mixing and monitoring features.

Visit: http://rupertneve.com

The Creator pack Pro also features a c-clamp boom arm to ensure optimal positioning and minimise noise interference from vibrations.

Visit www.audio-technica.com

AUDIO

RTS HAS ANNOUNCED the DBP (Digital Beltpack) – the latest addition to the brand’s portfolio of OMNEO IP intercom solutions. DBP also joins the recently launched OMS (OMNEO Main Station) as a member of a new product family: RTS Digital Partyline.

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CONTENT DELIVERY Terrestrial, Mobile, Broadband

www.content-technology.com/transmission

Austereo Boosts Distribution with International Datacasting INTERNATIONAL DATACASTING Corporation (IDC) - a Novra Group company - has announced it has provided next-generation MAP Pro Audio satellite receivers and a NetManager network management subsystem to Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) for live content delivery to SCA affiliates in markets across Australia. Working with local partner Lumina Broadcast Systems Australia, IDC delivered MAP Pro Audio receivers that have been integrated into the SCA system in order to increase its broadcast reach and expand business opportunities.

CONTENT DELIVERY

MAP Pro Audio is the first in the new generation of the modular architecture platform (MAP) products for radio, video, and data distribution via satellite

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and/or internet. It is designed to be both backward and forward compatible and easy to expand and upgrade with modular features as technology evolves. NetManager provides in-band management and control enabling easy remote configuration control and overthe-air updates.

MAP receivers feature flexible onboard storage for targeted content insertion (regionalised ads, station IDs, programming) and support output of audio via Livewire as well as professional analogue and digital audio interfaces. MAP comes preloaded with the client for IDC’s MISTiQ cloud-based internet distribution solution enabling satellite broadcasters to implement professional broadcast quality

connectivity through the internet in order to provide backup to their satellite links or reach new affiliates using internet delivery.

SCA Lead Systems Engineer, Phil Elzerman, commented “Our existing platform that service SCA’s own sites was excellent, but has some limits - it provided good functionality but comes at a significant cost and is dependent on WAN connectivity for control. We went with IDC for our expansion because the MAP solution utilises ‘in-band’ control, and also because we appreciate their willingness to meet the challenge of building a platform that would integrate seamlessly into our existing infrastructure.

Harris Liontas, President and CEO of IDC parent company Novra Group, added, “We are delighted that the new MAP Pro Audio receivers and NetManager were selected for this important strategic network expansion. We designed the modular architecture platform of the MAP specifically to make sure it would be extremely flexible and adaptable to the changing requirements of broadcasters. We appreciate the support of our excellent partner Lumina and the opportunity to work with a sophisticated customer such as SCA.”

“The service we received was excellent, great communication

Visit www.datacast.com and https://luminabsa.com.au

hoopla digital Brings Digital Library Content to Australia

ACMA Announces 5G Auction Results

IN RESPONSE TO soaring demand for digital resources among Australia’s libraries, hoopla digital recently announced the expansion of its services to Australia, the first international market for the company’s services beyond North America. hoopla digital is immediately available at select libraries across Australia, offering members 24/7 access to borrow, download and stream over 600,000 movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, audiobooks, comics and more with a valid library card.

FIVE COMPANIES have won spectrum in the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s latest spectrum auction in the 26GHz band. The 26GHz band has been identified as optimal for the delivery of 5G wireless broadband services.

“hoopla digital has worked with public libraries in North America for over eight years to usher in a new era of digital access to library content. Over the last year, we’ve helped our partner libraries respond to extraordinary needs for remote learning, children’s development, and adult education for new job skills. We are excited to support library systems in Australia, to help them serve their members, and to expand their offerings and increase accessibility,” said hoopla digital co-founder Jeff Jankowski.

The City of Wanneroo Libraries

in Western Australia was the first library system to pilot a successful partnership with hoopla in February 2021. Now, hoopla digital is working with the Toowoomba Region Libraries, Mackay Regional Council Libraries and Isaac Libraries in Queensland; the Blacktown City Council Libraries, Bega Valley Shire Library, Burwood Library, and Bourke Public Library in NSW; and the Brimbank Libraries, Bayside City Council Library and Glen Eira Library in Victoria. Services to several other Australian libraries are soon to follow. “hoopla is providing our patrons instant access to borrow and engage with more expansive and diverse library content any time of day, while at home or on-the-go,” said Nicole Thompson, Wanneroo Librarian. “Unlike other library resources, hoopla provides access with no wait time, and titles can be streamed over Wi-Fi or downloaded and enjoyed later.”

Visit https://hoopladigital.com.au

from both parties and extremely quick turnaround on testing feedback.”

Of the 360 lots available in the auction, 358 were sold, realising a total revenue of AUD$647,642,100 (USD$499,477,778).

Dense Air Australia Pty Ltd won two lots for AUD$28,689,900, Mobile JV Pty Limited won 86 lots for $108,186,700, Optus Mobile Pty Ltd won 116 lots for $226,203,100, Pentanet Limited won 4 lots for $7,986,200, and Telstra Corporation Limited won 150 lots for $276,576,200.

“This outcome represents another significant milestone for 5G in Australia. The successful allocation of this spectrum will support high-speed communications services in metropolitan cities and major regional centres throughout Australia,” said ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

“This auction is one among a suite of licensing approaches that the ACMA has introduced in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands to encourage a wide range of innovative communications uses,” said Ms O’Loughlin.

Licences won at auction will come into force later this year, for a 15year term ending in 2036.

The full results, including frequencies and geographical locations, are available at https:// bit.ly/3gVJvnO

CONTENT DELIVERY

Whatever Happened to SDI?

By John Mailhot, CTO Networking and Infrastructure, Imagine Communications

SDI is an incredibly successful interconnection technology. It has been adopted universally for digital video, and — within its limitations — it works very well indeed. It has served the industry for more than 30 years and has evolved over that time with a 40X increase in capacity.

Because of this, there is a vast wealth of equipment installed in production and delivery facilities around the world, which talks to other pieces of equipment through these one-signal-per-wire coaxial SDI cables. SDI equipment works.

ESTABLISHING THE GROUND RULES Throughout my long career in broadcast, I have learned one universal truth: If a piece of equipment still has an ounce of life left in it, a broadcast engineer will not throw it out. SDI hardware — and SDI itself — still works.

So, my first point is that, despite what some might say, we are not facing a war between the old guard of SDI and the new kids doing IP. Those kinds of words are attention-grabbers on the walls of busy convention centers, but this is not the reality on the ground.

It is now the time for the right conversation, about how SDI and IP fit into our future plans.

The second point I make anytime I can is that while sometimes we use the term “IP” for convenience, what I really mean is equipment and architectures conforming to the SMPTE ST 2110 standard, and more broadly ― the AIMS roadmap. As the editor of the standard within SMPTE during its development, I am personally committed to ST 2110. But ST 2110 is the future because it is an agreed standard that the industry has comprehensively backed, and it has been proven through hundreds of high-profile projects.

THE MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURE EVOLUTION So, if SDI works, what drives a need for IP/2110 in media infrastructures? It is an enabling technology: a new tool for doing things that stretched the bounds of SDI historically.

I noted earlier that SDI works well within its limitations. By that I mean it handles signals up to HD (1080p) very well, with excellent

cable reach and plenty of fiber options. Beyond that, there are limitations – 12G SDI for UHD is a great interconnection within a rack or a flypack, but the reach is a bit shy for a big facility. Additionally, the scalability of 12G SDI routing systems is limiting for a large facility. As content production and distribution evolves into UHD and HDR at scale, SDI will not do it for us — or only with problematic workarounds.

The nature of SDI crosspoint routing has some built-in breakpoints. If you have designed a system around, say, a 288 x 288 SDI router, then as sure as the sun rises in the morning, someone will discover a pressing need for a 289th source. Once again you are facing workarounds and production limitations. Then someone will need a 290th source, and so on. Meetings are held and shouting matches happen over the allocation of router ports in an SDI facility.

One of the widely acclaimed benefits of SDI is that it carries audio embedded in it, so it stays together and stays in sync ― which is fine in parts of the media workflow where the audio is actually tightly bound to the video.

But in production, the audio is just as often produced separately, and then re-united with the video right at the end of the chain. So in the production workflow, you have to add a stage that pulls the audio streams out of the video, maps them into (typically) MADI transport and takes them out to the audio room. Mixing and merging alongside all the other audio processes happens there, and then back through MADI to re-embed the audio streams (hopefully still in sync and only a little bit late) in every place where you need to hand off video with audio.

The complexity of embedders and de-embedders — their care, feeding and constant tweaking of delays — is the reality of daily life in production today. It’s a source of unnecessary complexity that translates into errors and scaling challenges.

The decision to build out new facilities from scratch at greenfield sites is often driven by real estate economics, workforce considerations, and other non-technical factors. Today, there are many new, largescale production and delivery facilities around the world designed to operate at a scale and interconnectedness that would have been unthinkable with SDI alone. Even the typical new “large” OB trucks being built today have staggering numbers of sources and destinations and a need to support UHD and HDR —requirements that push well past the limitations of SDI. If you are starting with a blank sheet of paper, like these projects did, then you have to consider what will and could happen in the future. Consumer transmission of UHD, for example, feels a long way away — until it’s not. But just like the early days of HD (while consumers were still viewing 99% of content in SD), UHD for production is here today, with the collateral benefits of higher resolution, improved gamut and HDR. Producing in UHD and HDR makes a better original, even if the distribution is “only” HD. Content produced in UHD and HDR today will have a longer repurposing life, into more formats than HD, while looking better getting there.

DELIVERING ACROSS PLATFORMS Talking of online, any new production facility will not just be creating and delivering material to a linear broadcast channel. Viewers expect to be able to watch over the air or on the device (and resolution) of their choosing, either as it happens or whenever they want to watch. That means multiple outputs and multiple versions — and would have required an explosive growth of router ports in a traditional SDI workflow.

REAL ESTATE ECONOMICS

All said, for any new facility, one must guess what the future holds and then be reasonably ready for it. SMPTE ST 2110-based IP works today and passes the test of being reasonably ready for UHD, HDR, and scale-up.

SDI with embedded audio is clearly the evil we know, but it’s still sometimes nefarious. When do we need to think about changing up? Where does the conversation around IP start?

There is another column on the scorecard for flexibility. In SDI, equipment is frequently built into “chains” to reduce the number of router ports. But in an IP environment, everything connects

through the switches, so every interconnection point is essentially a routing point — maintenance and sparing can become a route-around.

Reorganizing to a new workflow is just routing.

At least it is when you have an ST 2110 architecture.

Rather than being bound by a fixed number of crosspoints and a limited number of roads leading back to the router, you have a network topography that can reasonably grow and is bound by bandwidth, not switchports. The separation of video, audio, timing and data signals sharing a common fabric enables each device to only get the signals it needs for a given job.

‘Throughout my long career in broadcast, I have learned one universal truth: If a piece of equipment still has an ounce of life left in it, a broadcast engineer will not throw it out.

SDI hardware — and SDI itself — still works’

EVEN GREENFIELDS ARE NOT ENTIRELY GREEN Every operation today needs to have an opinion about UHD and how they could do it. Special projects can crop up that will likely require UHD or HDR at some point soon. Special projects beget special channels, and soon the experiment becomes the requirement. Recent global events have caused some delay, but it seems inevitable that one day, some sports rightsholders or high-profile events will insist on coverage in UHD and HDR. ST 2110 provides the infrastructure capability to meet the demand. continued p30

CONTENT DELIVERY

FOUR OR FIVE YEARS AGO, an exhibitor at IBC booked a lot of poster spaces for a sticker that read, in very large letters, “SDI must die”. Well, that is one view.

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CONTENT DELIVERY continued from p29

But here is the important point.

As broadcast engineers, thinking ahead and anticipating the emerging requirements is part of the job - the idea of adding capabilities to existing infrastructures has always been at the heart of what we do. And we can still do that.

For greenfield projects, the scale and possibility of SMPTE ST 2110 architecture is manifest — but even greenfield sites are not entirely green.

For economic reasons, even greenfield projects tend to bring in some legacy kit, e.g., we might have bought a new set of studio cameras only a couple of years ago.

Greenfields are a luxury, not the norm -- infrastructure refreshes and upgrades are the reality — and indeed a real necessity. A common approach is to add ST 2110 islands and beachheads as you redevelop your legacy architecture, gradually moving toward IP, but interconnected with the SDI plant of today. All this works perfectly well, because SMPTE designed ST 2110 to make interoperability reasonable with SDI.

TIME FOR A NEW METAPHOR The war metaphor between SDI and IP was never appropriate. I am certain there will still be significant amounts of SDI equipment in operation the day I retire from this industry. But television engineers are not afraid of the new – in fact, television engineering over the last 30 years has been a constant integration of new technologies and development of new “normals”.

Today, ST 2110 technology is widely available from all the vendors you are likely to deal with, and it is field proven — not a science experiment. Major systems integrators the world over all have experience in building systems based on SMPTE ST 2110. At this point, there is plenty of expertise to lean on, but ultimately it is down to you.

What are your requirements? How much flexibility do you need to build into your architecture decisions? What combination of SDI and IP is appropriate for your next project? Answering these questions will help you maximize the life of your SDI investments and transition to IP at whatever pace works with your business.

Visit https://imaginecommunications.com

TAG Video Systems Supports Irdeto KMS Decryption for OTT

TAG VIDEO SYSTEMS, the provider of Probing, Monitoring and Multiviewing solutions, has added decryption support for yet another encryption system. TAG customers now have the ability to cover their assets by decrypting OTT content encrypted with the Irdeto Key Management System (KMS) in real-time for full probing, alarming and visualisation capabilities at the mosaic output. This latest integration joins existing support for other encryption systems including, Verimatrix, Huawei, SkyDRM, and the DVB Simulcrypt.

Security, always a priority, motivates most broadcasters to encrypt OTT content during the encoding phase. Without encryption, content could be exposed, vulnerable to theft, risking its integrity. Content owners actually mandate that broadcasters use encryption so only those authorized have access to their assets. The tradeoff they encountered, however, was not being able to monitor and view the OTT content to ensure the quality just before distribution.

“Encryption is critical; it’s how broadcasters protect the value of their programming,” explained Gal Waldman, Chief Product Officer.

“The difficulty therein, is that when OTT content is encrypted after the encoding phase, content monitoring becomes limited, nor can it be viewed thereafter. But now, with support for Irdeto KMS integrated right into our MCM-9000, content owners can decrypt their programming after the packager, within the secure zone allowing it to be safely visualised for probing, alarming and monitoring.”

Incorporating decryption keys into TAG’s MCM9000 enables it to surpass the conventional features of today’s Multiviewing, Probing, and Monitoring solutions with another layer of operational ease, agility and security for TAG’s customers that use Irdeto’s KMS. Broadcasters can now decode, view, monitor and analyze Irdeto encrypted OTT content within TAG’s IP software-only platform, and visualize it at the mosaic output to validate its integrity, authenticity and quality in real-time before it is distributed.

Visit www.tagvs.com

AJA Enhances BRIDGE LIVE for Contribution, Streaming & Delivery

AJA VIDEO SYSTEMS has released BRIDGE LIVE v1.11 for its high-performance UltraHD or multichannel HD encoding, transcoding, decoding and contribution solution. The update introduces new functionalities including HLS input, VBR low latency, E-AC3 input, and numerous user experience upgrades for efficiently managing pipelines.

Developed in partnership with Comprimato, BRIDGE LIVE is a turnkey 1RU solution that makes it easy to move UltraHD or multi-channel HD video between uncompressed baseband SDI to/from a wide range of contribution, delivery and streaming codecs (H.265, H.264, MPEG-2 and JPEG 2000). BRIDGE LIVE v1.11 delivers a host of new features, including HLS input functionality for receiving HLS streams and bringing them into SDI baseband productions. HLS input supports both AVC TS segments for H.264 and the newly emerging fragmented MP4 standard for H.265/H.264. New VBR implementation allows for lower latency presets with algorithmic intelligence, and a new E-AC3 input supports Dolby Digital workflows. Additionally, pipeline upgrades include co-existence of different time bases, more efficient tools for managing presets, and REST API enhancements allowing calls for

individually starting and stopping pipelines.

“HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) is one of the most widely used streaming protocols in the industry.

Introducing new HLS input capabilities to BRIDGE LIVE is a highly sought after feature, enabling users to integrate high-quality HLS contributions into SDI ecosystems,” stated Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “BRIDGE LIVE v1.11 delivers new features that build on its robust, enterprise-level video processing power to further empower and simplify contribution and streaming workflows.”

BRIDGE LIVE v1.11 is available now for download from AJA’s website. The latest update comes standard with all newly purchased BRIDGE LIVE units and is also available to existing users with an active maintenance agreement. Customers without a maintenance agreement can access bug fixes within v1.11 but will not receive new feature access. BRIDGE LIVE is available through AJA’s worldwide reseller network.

Visit www.aja.com/products/bridge-live

CONTENT DELIVERY

Conference & Exhibition \ November 9-10 \ Luna Park, Sydney \ Visit abeshow.tv

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See more photos at www.facebook.com/phil.sandberg

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