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The
Revolution
in Slow Motion has arrived
The ATOM one SSM500
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On Location in the Studio ... page 12. REGULARS 04 EDITOR’S WELCOME 06 NEWS MediaHub Australia Turns Ten,
48 CLASSIFIEDS
Positions Vacant, Work Wanted.
Launches New Services; the Changing Face of SMPTE; People on the Move.
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FEATURES 12 ACQUISITION The Studio is the New Location – WETA, Avalon and Streamliner Launch Virtual Production Service; COVID-Safe Streaming from Sydney’s Masonic Centre; plus new Cameras from Canon.
16 SPORTSCASTING NEP Snaps Up NZ’s OSB
from Sky; Optus Gets Fit with App; Pacific Broadcast – Riding the Wave; Telstra Tunes Into the 5G Future for Broadcast.
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22 NEWS OPERATIONS Concern Over Newsroom Redundancies; Dalet Advances Mobility for News Operations; ews Analytics Tools from Google; ChyronHego Releases PRIME Graphics 3.6; Bluefish444 Workswith Aximmetry; Viz mosart 4 with NDI.
28 POST-PRODUCTION ETC Publishes Specs
for Naming VFX Image Sequences; Avid Reimagines Workflows; Onboarding Package for AWS Thinkbox Cloud Rendering; Cinema 4D and Redshift Usage-Based Licensing, Cloud Rendering; AJA T-TAP Support for Mistika; DejaEdit Version 3.1; Bluefish444 Supports Foundry Nuke.
44 20 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
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32 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Silver Trak Launches in
NZ; AI Workflows from Digital Nirvana; Arvato Re-launches Vidispine; NAGRA NexGuard Watermarking Leverages AWS; iconik Adds Transcription; EcoDigital Launches Managed Services; EditShare Straps on MoovIT’s Helmut to Supercharge Adobe Workflows.
36 AUDIO Stage Tec Launches Two-User
Operation for AVATUS; TC Electronic’s Master X and Brickwall; AMS Neve Unveils New 8424 Console; Dolby Introduces Dolby.io for Developers; New System T Broadcast Platform from SSL.
41 RADIO Ad Agencies to Pilot RadioMATRIX
World-First Virtual Workspace; SCA Launches Research & Insights Division; New Features for Lawo; Wheatstone Remote Mixing; Manage Radio and Digital Ads Simultaneously; Digigram Launches IQOYA CONNECT for Remote Broadcasting.
44 CONTENT DELIVERY MediaHub Provides
Playout Services for PacificAus TV; Optus to Launch Game-Changing Satellite; Embrionix and the Riedel Connection.
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The
Revolution
in Slow Motion has arrived
The ATOM one SSM500 Full HD resolution (1920x1080) Global Shutter Frame rate is up to 500 frames per second Dynamic: 300 fps 12 bit – 500 fps 10 bit Video output: EVS Super Slow motion mode (4x60p) or Trigger mode Recording time: @500 fps 60 seconds RS485 control and IP HDR Mode: HLG, PQ Size: 190mm x 60mm x 60mm
Check out the slow motion footage at youtube.com/user/ProAudioTech
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EDITOR’S WELCOME
Google Boxing - It’s Time to Get the Gloves Off By Phil Sandberg
ersburg
The letter then pits “big news businesses” against other types of businesses using the platforms.
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“The law would force us to give an unfair advantage to one group of businesses - news media businesses - over everyone else who has a website, YouTube channel or small business. News media businesses alone would be given information that would help them artificially inflate their ranking over everyone else, even when someone else provides a better result.”
The implementation of this code promises to be one murky battle. Different parties will ascribe different (political) motivations to the various stakeholders. There will be accusations of favours being done for legacy media “mates” who have failed to adapt to the (now adolescent) new media environment, Government interference in the market and that the code will place services used by “ordinary Australians” at risk. 16:00
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The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission’s proposed News Media Bargaining Code is a code of conduct designed to “address bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media businesses and digital platforms, specifically Google and Facebook”.
The letter then unironically uses the spectre of privacy to somehow infer that companies for whom the term “surveillance capitalism” was invented (especially in the case of Facebook), are more trustworthy with user data than a news organisation.
Google has already clicked on the panic button with an “Open letter to Australians” from Mel Silva, Managing Director, Google Australia, which you’ll find highlighted on the Google
Of course, this fear mongering has been given short shrift by the ACCC. In a statement the regulator said, “The open letter published by Google contains misinformation about the draft news media bargaining code. “Google will not be required to charge Australians for the use of its free services such as Google Search and YouTube, unless it chooses to do so. “Google will not be required to share any additional user data with Australian news businesses unless it chooses to do so. “The draft code will allow Australian news businesses to negotiate for fair payment for their journalists’ work that is included on Google services. 03:00
“A proposed law, the News Media Bargaining Code, would force us to provide you with a dramatically worse Google Search and YouTube, could lead to your data being handed over to big news businesses, and would put the free services you use at risk in Australia.”
And, if Content is King, if search and social media platforms benefit from the use of someone else’s content, they should pay for it accordingly.
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The letter begins, “We need to let you know about new Government regulation that will hurt how Australians use Google Search and YouTube.
“You trust us with your data and our job is to keep it safe. Under this law, Google has to tell news media businesses “how they can gain access” to data about your use of our products. There’s no way of knowing if any data handed over would be protected, or how it might be used by news media businesses.”
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homepage. You can also find it via a pop-up on YouTube.
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SOME CALL IT INNOVATION, some disruption, others call it eating someone else’s lunch. It’s the impact Silicon Valley tech companies have had on traditional businesses and, as we know, the media and entertainment industry has borne its fair share.
“This will address a significant bargaining power imbalance between Australian news media businesses and Google and Facebook.
is disappointing that the global digital platforms are highlighting selected elements of the draft Code and presenting them in a way which does not accurately reflect the framework in which the draft Code will operate. For example, the suggestion that news media businesses will get access to data not available to other content providers is not consistent with the Draft Code. The implication that data provided to news media businesses will not be protected ignores the impact of privacy legislation on those news media businesses. “At Nine we maintain our position, which, at its core, means our premium journalism and content have a clear monetary value which these platforms should remunerate us for. We look forward to working with the ACCC on finalising the Code and then negotiating a fair outcome for our business with the digital platforms who will be subject to the Code.” It’s fair enough. Don’t forget if you want to place a Work Wanted ad with us, just email me at papers@broadcastpapers.com. It’s free.
“A healthy news media sector is essential to a well-functioning democracy.”
Thanks for reading
Echoing the ACCC, a Nine Entertainment spokesperson said “It
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Moira Hogan Appointed BritBox Oz Country Manager
Shane Ormsby Named Technical Sales Manager for Magna NZ
AS UK STREAMING SERVICE BritBox escalates its plans to launch in Australia later this year, joint venture partners BBC Studios and ITV have announced the appointment of Moira Hogan as Country Manager. Tasked with leading the BritBox Australia strategy and team, Moira joins from Network 10, where she was Head of Content and Commercial Partnerships for Digital Media. She has proven experience in launching digital products to market, as well as leading content, product and commercial strategy for leading Australian digital platforms.
SHANE ORMSBY, one of the New Zealand broadcast industry’s best-known and most experienced professionals, has joined Magna Systems & Engineering as technical sales manager for their New Zealand office. Magna group CEO Matthew Clemesha said, “Our goal is to be New Zealand’s leading provider of tailored services and solutions across media and entertainment, telco and government Industries. Shane is the ideal person to help us achieve this goal as he’s a highly experienced, well respected results-orientated professional who is known for understanding and taking care of the needs of every client. Shane’s expertise is also a perfect fit with our clients in NZ as they range in size from small privately-owned firms to NZX listed television networks, telcos and government departments. Ultimately Shane is a great asset and addition to our team.”
In addition, Richard Hill has been appointed Head of Launch Marketing and PR, joining BritBox from his position as Digital Strategy Lead for SBS. BritBox is an ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service that will bring Australians the ultimate collection of beloved British content from across the decades, including classic and contemporary box sets, delivered via a wide range of mobile and connected home devices. As BritBox Country Manager, Moira will work closely with the BritBox North America team, where the service has already successfully launched in 2017, followed by Canada in 2018 and the UK in 2019. Moira Hogan said: “ITV and BBC Studios have created a premium SVOD product in BritBox and I’m excited to lead its launch in Australia. The partners have an unrivalled catalogue of British programmes, with some of the world’s best-known acting and presenting talent, which we’ll be able to offer local audiences, curated and all in one place.” Visit www.britbox.com
Ormsby will be working closely with Magna’s newly-promoted group sales manager, Paul Maroni, to develop relationships and further grow the company’s client base across New Zealand. In his role as Magna’s technical sales manager in NZ Ormsby is also responsible for completely managing the sales process from lead qualifications through to final purchase. He will be identifying new opportunities for Magna by establishing and nurturing relationships with all customer stakeholders and will be the company’s main point of contact for online demonstrations, webinars and face to face meetings with clients, vendors and product specialists. Commenting on his new appointment Shane Ormsby said, “It’s an exciting time to be joining Magna Systems in New Zealand as they are truly one of the only companies who are still pursuing new technologies, new markets and innovative new solutions. My experience and Magna’s history have a lot in common as we have both sold multimillion dollar broadcast systems to and successfully planned and implemented complex systems for New Zealand’s key broadcast companies. We also share a common vision for the potential of the region which makes the future of the NZ market even more exciting.” Shane Ormsby can be contacted at Magna Systems & Engineering NZ on +64 9 520 1582 or at SOrmsby@magnasys.tv
Vi s i twww. a v i a s i f . c omf ormor ei nf or ma t i on
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Magna Promotes Maroni to Group Sales & Marketing
Doron Pozniak Joins Silver Trak Digital
AS PART OF Magna Systems & Engineering’s continued expansion strategy, Paul Maroni, previously the company’s A/NZ sales manager, has now been promoted to group sales and marketing manager for all of Magna’s offices across the Asia Pacific region. This new role sees Maroni responsible for continuing the success he has already enjoyed in Australia and New Zealand whilst now also strategically leading and driving the company’s sales and marketing via their offices in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore and indeed throughout the entire Asia Pacific.
DORON POZNIAK, one of the sports and event marketing industry’s best-known and respected professionals, has joined Silver Trak Digital as corporate sales executive. Pozniak is known as a highly accomplished and performance-focused sales manager with over thirteen years of proven successes in delivering a wide range of live distribution, archive and production services for high profile media organisations.
Magna Group CEO Matthew Clemesha said, “Paul has proven himself by bringing in strong sales and creating solid and valuable relationships in the A/NZ markets in a relatively short timeframe. As Magna’s vision is ultimately to be the region’s leading provider of tailored services and solutions in the media, entertainment, telco and government industries, Paul is the perfect person to lead our sales and marketing efforts and achieve our goals moving forward.” Maroni’s remit now includes being responsible for managing the company’s Asia Pac-wide staff and growing the company’s sales, marketing and brand presence across industries in the region by delivering exceptional results.
Most recently Pozniak enjoyed considerable success as sales manager with IMG Media where he was responsible for managing sales of IMG Media live broadcasts and their programming catalogue for events and organisations including Wimbledon, The English Premier League, English FA Cup, Italian Serie A soccer, The Open Championship, Rugby World Cup and the Olympic Archive.
board of SMPTE’s Australia Section and represents Magna as an IABM APAC Council Member.
He also played a major role in negotiating and concluding the Football Federation Australia six-year live rights agreement and set up Silver Trak’s own Media Room asset management system within IMG in order to deliver critical broadcast files to clients around the globe.
Visit http://www.magnasys.tv
Silver Trak COO Christian Christiansen said,
Paul Maroni also recently23:53 been re-elected to the C&TVB440.pdf 1 has 25/05/2020
“Doron has a proven track record of marketing and selling sports archives, driving business growth and forging strategic alliances with key sporting federations throughout the world. He is widely recognised for his commitment, integrity and focus on achieving consistently outstanding results. He is a great asset and addition to the Silver Trak team.” On his new appointment Doron Pozniak said, “Silver Trak Digital are game-changing trailblazers in the world of digital content management and distribution and Media Room 3 is a simply brilliant asset management solution. Joining Silver Trak now at this time when the sports media technology landscape is changing at a rapid pace is not just exciting but an incredible opportunity.” Visit www.silvertrak.com.au and www.mediaroom.com.au
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PMS 356 PMS Cool Gray 8 Studio Production Analytics
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MediaHub Australia Turns Ten, Launches New Services its new, flexible, cost effective deep archiving solution, ArkHub, specifically designed to give all industries access to a world-class, cloud based, deep archiving service without the complications or bill-shock associated with other major cloud archive providers. In the past ten years, MediaHub has grown from its core deliverable of providing stable, cost effective playout services to the broadcast industry to now developing and providing all of its services to any industry.
IT IS NOW TEN YEARS SINCE MediaHub was launched, a milestone event that changed the Australian broadcast and media technology landscape in Australia. Initially built as a playout centre for joint venture partners ABC and WIN, MediaHub proved that broadcasters can collaborate and share critical infrastructure for operations while providing cost savings and greater operational flexibility and resilience. In the last decade since launch, MediaHub has grown beyond playout to be a comprehensive end to end service provider, expanding its range of services and consolidating its reputation as technology and innovation leader in Australia, ready to meet changing media management and delivery requirements of clients. Beyond playout, MediaHub now offers a full spectrum of products and services including ArkHub, CacheHub, ExchangeHub, FibreHub, FlexHub, MamHub, PresHub and StreamHub. These top tier services are complemented by compliance recording services, data centre, disaster recovery, master control, NOC and transcoding services. The company now also provides over 400 broadcast and live streaming services for both Television and Radio across Australia
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According to MediaHub CEO Alan Sweeney, “Ten years ago a number of broadcasters got together to discuss potential ways forward that would allow for a centralised national playout operation, reduce capex and opex spend providing a green field operation that was completely file based. After consultation with many broadcasters at the time, WIN and ABC agreed to establish a joint venture to create a joint playout centre and MediaHub Australia was born.”
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In November 2009, construction commenced on the MediaHub facility in Ingleburn and the first ABC TV channels went to air in April 2010. Just six months later, WIN had completely migrated its complex regional operation into the facility. Early MediaHub innovations such as commercial hot listing and flexible multi market playout enabled significant benefits to both clients far beyond the capability of their previous in-house playout facilities. This theme of technological innovation and ultra-efficiency has continued over the years
growing from strength to strength. Sweeney continued, “At Launch, MediaHub was basic playout only. It had no MAM or connectivity of its own and the only storage was a limited functional nearline to support playout. Then year-on-year as we met and exceeded our performance and financial targets we went to market.” MediaHub’s early days included clients such as SBS, TVN and the FOX International group of channels. It has continued to grow, adding clients including Prime Television, Imparja Television, Australian News Channel (SKY News), Network TEN, Southern Cross and FreeTV. It’s not just the number of clients that have grown but the services that are on offer now are on the cutting edge of innovation. MediaHub Head of product Derek Curtis added, “One of our major milestones was the creation of our FibreHub managed fibre connectivity services product. From a standing start FibreHub has grown to now have 14 points-of-presence across Australia and New Zealand and currently provides 37 high-bandwidth, low-latency services for clients such as the ABC, WIN Television, PRIME Television, DDA, Southern Cross Austereo, FreeTV, Network TEN and ANC-Sky News. This collectively amounts to over 1.2TB/s of managed customer traffic, 365 days a year.” Next MediaHub created its bulk Transcode Services product to process and transcode thousands of video assets and their metadata, and expanded their StreamHub online television streaming capabilities for their clients.
Head of operations Scott Jolly said, “Many people are surprised to discover that WIN TV carries programming from all three commercial free to air television networks in Australia, not just one. This adds an interesting twist to breaking news and live sports as at any one time, if you think about the amount of sport usually on over a weekend across all of the broadcasters. That said, MediaHub manages all of this across all channels simultaneously and seamlessly. When I joined the company we launched over 100 channels in just a few months in a greenfield site which many doubted was even possible. Not only have we proved the doubters wrong, but we take great pride in what we have achieved and continued to achieve.” Fast forward to today and MediaHub is an operation that has been fine-tuned to add new clients to its portfolio and a full end to end suite of products that match the ever-changing broadcasting and telco landscapes amongst many others. There have been many achievements along the way as Sweeney explained, “Gaining each new client was huge as they could have remained inhouse or gone elsewhere. The fact that they were willing to put their faith in MediaHub was and still is very humbling. We now add more value to our clients than ever before as they are able to cross connect into our FibreHub fibre ring from their own DC facilities. This has also allowed MediaHub to build out our other suite of products making us a full-service player in the broadcast industry. Our proven systems allow considerable flexibility for all our clients and we are continually enhancing our services.” MediaHub will continue to add new clients and expand key services such as its ArkHub deep storage and its content acquisition and delivery solutions as it increasingly leverages the power of its FibreHub platform.
2019 also saw MediaHub win the contract to provide disaster recovery services for the TEN Network.
Alan Sweeney concluded, “Our success with technology advancement and improvement has been replicated in our people culture to the point where MediaHub staff have always felt empowered and happy. As a result of our low staff turnover the IP alone that exists within the MediaHub team is second to none. Where we changed and added value to the broadcasting landscape we are now making the same progress and expanding into in the worlds of telecoms, finance, education, health and government. Our philosophy has always been to innovate, grow, add value and stay ahead of the curve and that’s exactly what we plan to do for the next ten years.”
At the same time, it was planning and developing
Visit www.mediahubaustralia.com.au
Then having built and deployed Channel Seven’s 7Flix channels and planned, project-managed, built and deployed all of PRIME’s 65 free-to-air broadcast channels, MediaHub also launched its MamHub MAM services product. It was around this time that the organisation also took its first steps into the telecommunications world with the migration of the Digital Distribution Australia (DDA) NOC to MediaHub, as part of its integrated MCR services.
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The Changing Face of SMPTE C+T talks to SMPTE Australia Section Chair, Paul Whybrow PAUL WHYBROW’S PROFESSIONAL LIFE had its beginnings in audio at the BBC. Like many Brits, he moved to Australia and “fell in love with the place”. Since he made the move Down Under, his roles have included promo production with Channel 7, establishing video production at Fairfax Digital Media, and GM of interactive TV services at Foxtel. Most recently, he has taken on the role of Chairman of the Australian Section of SMPTE, the Society of Motion Picture & Television engineers, where he faces the challenge of helping to guide the Section and its stakeholders through a COVID-19 world.
committed to deliver that no matter what, so we’re going to prepare to make sure that we can deliver that, even if worst case scenario, we had to do that in some virtual way. We definitely want to plan for that, but our preference is to do physical.”
“I’ve become very interested about how we’re transitioning and how that impacts the members of SMPTE and what we can do for the membership. We’ve tried to explore more about how things have changed and how we can help things. And then, COVID’s come along and that’s kind of changed again, how things are changing. So, that’s really a quick summary of the kind of route of how I’ve got to where I am.
You’re not the only fresh blood on the Board. Who else has joined?
“We want to do
The local section’s been hosting a few webinars. Will we see more of that? “Yes, you are. Same as everyone, we thought, we can’t do any face-to-face stuff at the moment unfortunately, so how can we do more? That’s why we’ve started doing the webinars and we’ve pulled together a schedule to the end of the year, so we’ll probably be doing one a month. And we will be announcing soon, what they are. “One of the ones that we did as well, which was one I got very lucky enough to actually host myself, which was a global one, which was involved with SMPTE in US and that was the first time, I think, we’d done that. So, we had someone in the UK, we had Channel Ten here and we had someone in the US and we actually did a global one, as well. We want to try and do more of those as well so that they’re in the right time zone here as well as the local webcast.”
The SMPTE US Conference is scheduled from November 10-12. Will there be any ANZ input?
more to attract in a wider range of people that perhaps weren’t in the traditional areas that very often SMPTE members came from, the pure broadcast, if you like.
“They’re going to be doing a very virtual experience. And there’s a lot of planning. What they are looking at is how members and people here can get more involved and work out the time difference, how they can maybe time shift some pieces so that we can get more involved and use the virtual that way. “Because it’s not going to be a physical thing and there’s so many people that can’t make it, even from within the US – they are trying to make it as accessible as they can across the globe.”
The next local SMPTE conference is scheduled for 2021. Where does that sit at the moment?
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“I’m not giving you a full exclusivity but we’re definitely going ahead. Same as everybody, we’ve obviously thrown around about what we’re going to do and not do, and I think we’ve listened to feedback over this year about how people found the conference and the exhibition and the key thing is, there’s a lot of things people really love about it. And one of those is socialising and being physically in the same space. So, we have been over the last month or so, considering what we do and we’ve made that commitment that we’re absolutely going ahead next year. We’re working out exactly how that will come together.
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“Ideally, it will be physical. That’s definitely what our absolute preference is. And we want to make, continue – the conference, we know, is really important to people and we definitely want to make that the centre of the whole piece. But to be honest, we’re also thinking about how do we cope if things change. I mean, none of us can predict what on earth will happen so my gut feel is that we will end up with a physical, potentially something that’s hybrid within that. But certainly, for the conference, we’re absolutely
“David Herridge has joined. He’s involved in MediaKind. Karen Clark, who’s at Telstra Broadcast Services and Tony Moran who works for Grass Valley. So, they’re all new people and join the rest of us. Michael Day, who continues on as Treasurer from Telstra, Paul Broderick who’s done a fantastic job for the last six years and deserves his break, who is the past Chair, Adrian Chespy, who has been on the board for last year with me, as well. Dave Elder who’s over in New Zealand, Johnny Tran and Paul Moroney as well, and Shruti Tripathi as well.
What are you looking at for recruiting from the younger cohort in the industry? “I mentioned Karen Clark from TBS. That’s an area that she’s particularly interested in and looking at how we spread out that industry and member diversity and it’s something that I feel personally quite interested in, as well. Because realistically as you said, when you look at the industry, things are changing quite a lot. We’ve got this kind of merger between traditional engineer, if you like, and the IT world and how it all blends together.
There’s a lot of
people involved with
“We want to do more to attract in a wider range of people that perhaps weren’t in the traditional areas that very often SMPTE members came from, the pure broadcast, if you like. There’s a lot of people involved with Over-the-Top TV in the entertainment side, in east ports and a whole range of different professional media areas who ultimately, do use all the standards, do use all the things but don’t necessarily think it’s top of the mind. And those are the areas, the people that we’d like to attract in. More importantly, we do want to attract people from a much wider range of industries, because we think that’s really important. “We want to try and attract younger people, whether they be students or, if you like, emerging professionals. They’ve perhaps been in the industry a few years. They may have moved around. They may be involved in media production. But mainly, aren’t necessarily aware of the heritage that SMPTE has, how it’s involved in standards or importantly, in education, which is something that a big thing that SMPTE does.”
Over-the-Top TV in the entertainment side, in east ports and a whole range of different professional media areas who ultimately, do use
all the standards, do use all the things but don’t necessarily think it’s top of the mind.
“One message I do want to get across, I think, is really that one thing we’ve done this last year, is the start of deeper listening and we definitely want to do that with members. We had in our plan to have more social events during this year and we’ve just not been able to do that, so I’m sorry about that. But we’re going to do the webinars, but we really do want to get more members actively involved.” Visit www.smpte.org.au
Straker Coniglio Now GM APAC with Vizrt
STRAKER CONIGLIO has been appointed General Manager - Asia Pacific with Vizrt.
Coniglio has served with Vizrt for over five years in the roles of Head of Global Product Management; President, Media Asset Management and Digital Publishing, APAC; and President, Media Asset Management - Asia Pacific. Prior to Vizrt, he held the position of Director of Market Development, Content Creators and Programmers with Harmonic. Commenting on the new appointment, Coniglio said, “I’ve had an absolute blast leading Vizrt Group Global Product Management and launching a ton of new products with the team including VizHelix, VizVectar, VizArc, VizVerdi, VizSocial, VizOne 7, Mosart 4, VizEngine4, VizStory 2, MultiPlay 3, Libero 7, along with NewTek Tricaster 7, TricasterMini4K, the world’s first NDI PTZ UHD|HX, 4K Sparks, and more.
“But, I’m even more excited to announce my next challenge: leading the Asia Pacific region for Vizrt. We have an immensely talented team that covers N. Asia, S.E. Asia, Greater India, Africa, Oceania, and IL. It’s a massive region with equally massive potential. Super excited to be working with the team and our customers in this dynamic region.” Visit www.vizrt.com
Simon Roehrs Joins Riedel as Director, APAC RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS HAS ANNOUNCED that Simon Roehrs has been appointed director of the company’s Asia-Pacific operations. Based in Singapore, Roehrs brings a rich background in sales executive management from prominent media technology companies to his new role. Roehrs began his career as a software developer and application support specialist at DVS GmbH, where he became lead programmer for the company’s flagship products with a focus on the postproduction and broadcast studio industries. After the acquisition of DVS by Rohde & Schwarz, Roehrs later moved into a role as a solutions architect and service engineer based in Singapore and covering the APAC region, subsequently moving to Tokyo after a promotion to regional manager for APAC. Prior to joining Riedel, Roehrs had also served as APAC sales director for Lawo and as Japan cluster manager/regional director for Vizrt. “In the past couple of years, Riedel has significantly increased its impact and investment in the APAC region. We have successfully built a regional framework to support our growing customer base served by our subsidiaries in Japan, China, Singapore, and Australia, and by our network partners. Simon is the perfect person to take the helm,” said Martin Berger, Chief Sales Officer at Riedel. “Not only does he bring deep technical industry expertise and regional knowledge to this important
role, but he is a believer in industry standards and a highly influential speaker at major Asian conferences such as SMPTE Hong Kong, BIRTV, InterBEE, and Broadcast Asia. We look forward to working with Simon as we continue to expand Riedel’s influence in Asia-Pacific.” “I am happy to be able to continue building on the great foundation Riedel has established within the APAC region, especially developing its talent, products, and vision,” Roehrs said. “I am very excited to contribute to Riedel becoming an even more influential leader in IP and strengthening the brand in the APAC region. In addition, I will provide my team with a dynamic work environment in which they feel comfortable and happy so they can perform at the highest level. Freedom and responsibility are important aspects of my leadership, and I firmly believe it will help them to grow and push boundaries.” Visit www.riedel.net
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ACQUISITION & LIGHTING www.content-technology.com/acquisition
Weta Digital, Streamliner, and Avalon Studios Launch LED-Stage Virtual Production Service NEW ZEALAND’S WETA DIGITAL, Avalon Studios and live event company Streamliner Productions, have announced a new LED-stage virtual production service, based in Wellington. A modern take on using front or rear projections of landscapes or rolling streets, Weta Digital Executive Producer David Conley describes LED stages as “… the latest technique to take advantage of game engine technology to provide virtual production workflows that can greatly expand what is possible on set. Being able to shoot final VFX imagery at the same time as principle photography adds another level of creative control for producers and filmmakers.” According to Richard Lander, Studio Manager at Avalon, the service can be scaled to cater for smaller productions and TVCs right up to a 270-degree screen scenario of the type used by ILM and Disney on The Mandalorian. “Each partner’s a different part of the puzzle,” says Lander. “We’ve provided the studios. Our Studio 8 measures in height to its grid 8.4 metres, and it’s got 23 metres wide and 33 metres deep. And then our Studio 11, which is going to be used in the same way, has the 17 metres wide and it’s 30 metres deep and it has an extra height of 10 metres. “We’ve done experiments where you can potentially put screens on the grids because our grids are enabled to do a clip on type scenario where you can clip the screens to the roof of the grid, but we’ve also worked out that you don’t always need a screen on the grid or a screen necessarily on the floor, it’s more the walls, because obviously on the floor the Art Department is laying something together to give you that illusion of there’s a bit of sand, for example, that people have used regularly, or a bit of a prop in the foreground that then the background so the screens takeover and give you that 3D imagery out the back. And on the grid, you can do that.” The studios can also employ J-arm cranes with LED screens attached that can “float” or be positioned above the acting talent. “For example, if they’ve got a helmet on and you want that reflection to appear truly in the top of the helmet, or if you’ve someone with glasses and they’re looking up, the reflection from the screen is appearing in that,” says Lander.
ACQUISITION
Provided by Streamliner, the facility’s large, configurable LED panels are able to display imagery beyond 8K as a way to augment practical sets or replace greenscreen shots. With screens for indoor and outdoor use, options include a variety of small pixel-pitch arrays (the smaller the pixel pitch, the higher the pixel density, and resolution).
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“We’ve got some which are 3.9mm pitch and some which are 2.5mm pitch,” says Richard Lander. “Those are the indoor ones and then the outdoor ones we’re carrying are 5.9mm and 6.9mm pitch.
“We know in the next few months there’ll be one that will become more the standard, which is going to be around the realms of 1.9mm pitch. I think the industry standard will become 1.9mm near the end of the year, so that’s what we’ll gear up to as well.” Another piece of the puzzle provided by Streamliner are strong relationships with augmented reality technology provider Disguise, as well as Epic Games, creator of the Unreal Engine. In addition to delivering high quality VFX/ graphics to the LED screens, the systems can also be used to trigger studio lighting. “The lighting board is also being driven by Disguise and the Unreal Engine,” says Lander. “So, the lighting board is getting triggered by what the screens are doing to actually enable the lights to flash to a particular timer or to a certain colour temperature or whatever you wanted to use. “We’ve done tests with a car scenario where someone’s gone out and shot a plate scenario. A car was mounted with five cameras on it inside and on the roof, it recorded the environment where it drove for ten minutes down a road and then we come back and that imagery from all those five cameras is then played onto the five screens surrounding the car and then you’re getting the true reflections of that. And not only are they acting as the reflection, but the panels or the LED screens are so strong that they become the lighting in a sense as well. “The car was travelling through trees, so obviously you’ve got the light coming through the trees, which is exactly like a shaft of light, so you were getting an effect of that by the screens themselves but to augment that, the DOP put a light through one of the panels so he gave that extra flash to give the illusion to the person in the audience watching it, there was a shaft of light striking the car every three or four seconds. The beauty of that now, because of all of this technology, the guys are timing the screens, they’re using the screens, which is driven by the
Disguise system, and the Unreal Engine, but they’re tying it to the lighting guys or the lighting board operators. “The beauty in using the LED screens of course, is you’re getting true reflections all in time in sync with the driver who is driving, and then the director of course is just able to back up the thing, repeats the link, as opposed to driving down the car down the road or closing off a road.” According to the Avalon Studio Manager, test scenarios have involved different models of camera to ascertain compatibility with the LED set-up. “That proved really successful,” says Richard Lander. “We’ve tested with RED cameras to know their capabilities and their lens variations on a screen. We’ve tested with ARRI cameras and Sony cameras, and Panavision cameras. “To be fair, some cameras performed better than others in this environment, which would be true anywhere. [For example] the ARRI camera and the Sony camera have a subtle shutter thing within them that enables you to clear up any of the what we would term, ‘a Moire effect’, when you’re in close to a screen.” In addition to enabling more control, and reducing production and costs, Richard Lander says LED stages suit the requirements of a COVID-safe workplace. “In a COVID sense,” he says, “the programmers, or the people prepping the production, can be upstairs using that space in a comfortable environment to do all their design elements, and then it’s controlled where we can patch it to the floor straight away and to the screen, so that means there’s actually less people on the studio floor, which is good for long form or TV projects because then you’re keeping that social distancing factor on the floor.” For more information, contact sales@wetafx.co.nz
ACQUISITION & LIGHTING
AVE Powers ‘On-Air’ Studio with Panasonic ALTHOUGH RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTING in some states, the imperative to isolate through COVID-19 has thrown calendars into disarray as conferences, plays and festivals are forced to postpone, or abandon events altogether. In a bid to build industry resilience and help local business spark virtual creativity, Sydney Masonic Centre (SMC), Create Engage and Audio Visual Events (AVE) collaborated to deliver ON AIR, a state of the art semipermanent studio with audio visual and virtual event capabilities. Located in the heart of the Sydney CBD, uses three Panasonic AW-UE150 ProPTZ cameras, while the studio space provides users with access to leading technology to stream their message to their audiences during a time of travel restrictions and physical distancing. Until now, this kind of production studio has been limited in existence, with most organisations opting for a more traditional and familiar style of venue or event space for production. In the current operating climate, there is a clear appetite for these alternative spaces. Since March, the studio has been booked out by clients opting for half-day or full-day sessions. With the support of Panasonic solutions, the ON AIR studio has turned an unused conference room into a fully-booked livestream and recording studio. AVE made the decision to incorporate three Panasonic ProPTZ (AW-UE150) cameras, operated by one central AW-RP150 controller. The AVE operations team can quickly organise each camera angle during rehearsal, improving efficiency at the operations desk as the event requires just one operator for all three 4K cameras. General Manager at AVE, Paul Keating, emphasised that the construction and design strategy for the ON AIR studio was centred around reliability and flexibility due to the global pandemic. “The use of the Panasonic ProPTZ camera system within the studio has enabled us to deliver our clients live streams with very high production quality,” said Mr Keating. “We have stocked a range of Panasonic ProPTZ cameras and controllers for years, and the use of pre-sets within the AWRP150 enables perfect repeatability and control over each camera’s setting. Our technical operators enjoy working with them during shows and clients love the results, flexibility and cost savings these products deliver.” The technology utilised within the studio also enables operators to adhere to physical distancing measures, without compromising video and image quality. “The health and safety of our team and clients has remained of utmost importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of three AW-UE150 cameras with one central controller allows us to reduce the number of people required in studio, and respect physical distancing needs. This also allowed us to carefully manage client budgets at a time when many organisations are looking for efficiencies across their operations,” said Mr Keating.
With an impressive pipeline of upcoming events and conferences, the ON AIR studio has been receiving great reviews from its early clients, including Blackmores Group, Salesforce, Vinnies CEO Sleepout and Palliative Care Australia. Visit: www.onairstudio.com.au and https://business.panasonic.com.au
ACQUISITION
Scott Cooper, Director of Sales at SMC Conference & Function Centre also said: “The refitting of this space at the Sydney Masonic Centre has allowed us to continue supporting local artists and business pursuing their creative passion and utilising streaming services. With uncertainty around ongoing restrictions of business travel, some organisations have also considered hosting national and international conferences with us too. It really is an incredibly unique and versatile space which will fulfil a range of needs in the months – and maybe years – to come.”
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ACQUISITION & LIGHTING
Canon Looks to Make Another Mark with EOS R5 and R6 IT WAS SOME 12 YEARS AGO in 2008 that Canon released its game changing 5D Mark II. Combining video and stills in the one device, it was the first full frame mirrorless camera on the market with full HD movie mode built into it. Now Canon is looking to repeat history with the release of the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6, two new full frame mirrorless camera additions to Canon’s EOS R System built on the RF Mount. The pro-level EOS R5 delivers 45 megapixel stills at up to 20fps and is the first full frame mirrorless ever to record 8K RAW up to 29.97fps internally and 4K to 120p. The EOS R6, meanwhile, captures 20.1 megapixel stills up to 20fps, 4K video up to 60p and Full HD at up to 120p. According to Brendan Maher, Senior Product Manager, Consumer Imaging, Canon Australia, the EOS R6’s target market is “… a bit more focused on the stills photographer, definitely in that low light space, and event photographers, who, if they’re taking thousands of images every day, having less megapixels actually helps them because of their workflow, with smaller file sizes it makes it a little bit easier for them. “For the R5, really seeing it obviously with those impressive video specs is a bit more focused on the videographer, definitely a great camera for wedding photographers that might be picking it up as hybrid shooters, doing equal amounts video and stills. This is the camera for them because it excels in both areas. And in terms of travel or landscape shooters, 45 megapixels stills is fantastic for them because they can get a bit more flexibility to crop or to print bigger.”
ACQUISITION
Both cameras feature in-body image stabilisation which enables eight shutter speed stops of image stabiliser. Using a “Co-ordinated Control Image Stabiliser”, which is the Optical IS system of RF lenses talking to the 5-axis in-camera stabilising unit, the system is designed to deliver a better result than what either could do on its own.
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DIGIC X processor technology at the core of EOS R5 and EOS R6 – the same technology in the EOS-1D X Mark III – supports next generation Dual Pixel CMOS AF II. Claimed to be the world’s fastest AF focusing speed among interchangeable lens digital mirrorless cameras, EOS R5 focuses in as little as 0.05 seconds and can focus in light levels as low
as -6EV. EOS R6, meanwhile, is the first EOS camera to offer a minimum EV for AF of -6.5EV. The high precision AF is effective in even poorly lit or low contrast shooting conditions. An iTR AF X AF system has been programmed using algorithms and face/eye detection mode ensures subjects are kept sharp even when moving unpredictably with a shallow depth of field. Even if a person turns away for a moment, their head and body continue to be tracked. “We’ve got eye detect auto focus and all detect auto focus,” says Brendan Maher. “Both working in stills or movie modes, both work in servo as well, so it will track your subject around the frame as they move. We’ve got a huge amount of auto focus zones. We’ve also got the multicontroller joystick on the back of the camera for moving your AF point around the screen.” There is also an Animal Detect feature which will track dogs, cats and birds. With built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the EOS R5 (5GHz Wi-Fi) and EOS R6 (2.4GHz Wi-Fi) can be easily connected to a smartphone and networks allowing high-speed file sharing and FTP/FTPS transfer. This functionality also allows for the cameras to be remotely controlled using the Camera Connect and EOS Utility apps, tethered to a PC or Mac via Wi-Fi or high-speed USB 3.1 Gen 2. With a camera body weight of 730g, they can be carried by a mid to large-sized drone. The EOS R5 and EOS R6 also support automatic transfer of image files from the device to the image.canon cloud platform, or integration with Google Photos or Adobe Cloud workflows. While the Wi-Fi capability can’t be used for streaming, Canon USA is Beta-trialling a USB platform for camera connection to a PC where the Canon camera takes over from the PC’s internal webcam. “That will launch later this year,” says Maher. “So, that’s across a range of platforms you’ll be able to use, not just these cameras but pretty much any camera that we’ve launched in the last three or four years, will be able to run via USB and stream on a range of platforms. And it’ll be a free service when it does launch. It’s free to download now, the Beta version itself.”
For on-board storage, the EOS R6 uses two SD UHS II card slots, while the EOS R5 uses one SD UHS II slot and one CFexpress slot. “The reason behind that,” says Brendan Maher, “is if you want to shoot 8K or if you want to show 4K 120P, it’s a huge amount of information, a huge amount of data, and basically you need the fastest card on the market for that, so the CF express card is needed if you’re shooting 8K or 4K or 120P.” “8K is a pretty exciting spec. What we’ve seen over the last couple of years is display manufacturers, your TV manufacturers are out there pushing panels out into market which are 8K, but there’s not a whole heap of content out there that you can display on those screens, so the opportunity for Canon photographers and videographers now to pick up an R5 for what is a very reasonable sort of price point, compared to other 8K cameras out there on the market, and be first to market with really 8K content, shooting on our devices, is pretty exciting. 8K’s four times the resolution of 4K, so it’s not just about outputting 8K either at the maximum resolution, you’ve also got the flexibility there to crop into your frame by up to four times and still deliver a beautiful 4K video file.” Visit www.canon.com.au
“For the R5, really seeing it obviously with those impressive video specs is a bit more focused on the videographer, definitely a great camera for wedding photographers that might be picking it up as hybrid shooters, doing equal amounts video and stills. This is the camera for them because it excels in both areas.
ACQUISITION & LIGHTING
IP Image Capture with Grass Valley’s LDX 100 GRASS VALLEY CONTINUES TO DRIVE the evolution of live production with the launch of the LDX 100 camera platform. This latest addition to the company’s camera portfolio is a high-speed, native UHD camera that takes a revolutionary approach to camera design. Built from the ground up with native IP connectivity, the camera delivers signals directly into the network, conveniently enabling access to them wherever they are needed — even, for example, as return feed monitoring from another camera position. The LDX 100 unlocks greater creativity and flexibility for content creators, freeing them from the physical constraints of traditional live production environments. The LDX 100 leverages the full power and agility of IP by delivering easy, rapid set-up and configuration and the ability to add features as needed. Its unique integrated design frees up multiple rack units per camera that were previously dedicated to camera base stations and deeply simplifies the logistics for mobile productions when having to pair the right number of cameras to CCUs at each event. The
camera is a self-contained IP device that connects directly to the network, at up to 100 Gbps, allowing simple connection and discovery of audio, video, and control as well as superior PTP timing using open SMPTE IP standards. Implementation of NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 protocols means the camera is instantly identifiable to a network control system such as Grass Valley’s GV Orbit. At the heart of the camera is Grass Valley’s all new Titan imager. Designed to answer the specific demands of live sports production, this 2/3-inch imager provides superior UHD resolution and HDR/WCG color reproduction at up to 3X high speed. The camera easily pairs with industry standard B4 lenses to provide the zoom range and depth of field needed in sports without the optical gymnastics of other competitive solutions. This new solution allows production teams to create rich breathtaking images in full raster native UHD without compromising on the storytelling that
viewers demand. Further matching the needs of live event production, LDX 100 has a new mechanical design that provides ergonomic support for operators lifting and carry equipment, at-aglance state indicators for operational status — and “Champagne shower proof” protection against moisture and dust. A flexible SW-Option - available on a temporary or permanent basis — allows customers to leverage extensive upgrade capabilities and only pay for features when they are required. Visit https://www.grassvalley.com/
Telemetrics Adds AI and Facial Tracking to Automatic Shot Correction
With its latest RCCP-2A Robotics and Camera Control Panel, Telemetrics has continued to improve its control systems with new artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition algorithms that allow the RCCP to track several people with multiple cameras simultaneously. “We’re layering object-tracking on top of our facial tracking, so reFrame becomes more robust,” said Michael Cuomo, Vice President of Telemetrics. “When a person turns around, we can still track them because the system intuitively knows that that face and body was there before. Other systems can’t do this.” New rules for how the system behaves have also been added, enabling the operator to determine when they want reFrame to track an object or person and when they don’t. The new improvements have also facilitated better pan/ tilt/zoom and focus capabilities. Telemetrics offers reFrame on its RCCP-2A control panel with either the optional Studio (STS) or Legislative (LGS) software packages. The technology ensures that on-screen talent remains in frame despite their moving about or slouching in their seat. With its AI and facial recognition algorithms the software can run a production in a fully automated mode without operator intervention. Also, the functionality of the control panel’s top row of eight TeleKeys is dynamic, adapting to the operator’s commands as they define predetermined actions to run
a production in fully automated mode - with the control panel automatically switching and adjusting cameras as required. Meanwhile, RCCP STS Studio Software, predominantly used in TV production studios, includes a Studio View feature that enables users to work with a 3D display of their studio environment and quickly see the location of Telemetrics robotics and set pieces within that space. A 3D model of the user’s studio can be imported into the panel to be processed and integrated with the software, providing complete positional awareness of all studio robotics. The STS control panel also features a selectable Robotics Status display to show all major robotics parameters—such as pan/tilt angles, elevation height, rotational status, lens information—for any selected camera, at a glance. Quick access to custom overlays, stored pre-sets and built-in intelligence for all robotic cameras within a system allows the user to easily select the best camera angles, and add graphics, with one button press. The system also includes the ability to internally store snapshot thumbnails for easy shot identification, as well as a live video preview output.
is now used by dozens of governmental agencies and departments around the world to cover regular proceedings and keep the public informed. An operator with limited production skills can pick any subject within a large chamber they want to feature on camera and store their facial profile into the system. The operator then simply pushes an icon for that person on the control panel’s touchscreen interface and the system automatically moves the corresponding camera to that person, focuses and trims the shot, and inserts the required title graphic. The LGS software also includes the Robotics Status display.
Telemetrics’ LGS Legislative Software bundle
Visit www.telemetrics.com.
ACQUISITION
TELEMETRICS INTRODUCED its reFrame Automatic Shot Correction technology as a key feature of its RCCP series camera control panel in 2017, allowing operators to lock cameras onto the talent and automatically trim the shot without having to touch the controls.
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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide
www.content-technology.com/sportscasting
Optus Sport Launches Home Fitness Content on App
AS FITNESS PROVIDERS have moved to online delivery of their classes and workouts while people continue to work from home, Optus Sport has seen an opportunity to expand its content beyond competitive football with the launch of OS Fitness on its platform. Optus Sport is the home of premium football content in Australia, including exclusively live coverage of every Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League match. OS Fitness corrals at home workouts from leading online fitness providers to deliver a variety of fun and effective video workouts that cater to a wide range of interests and fitness levels. According to Optus’ Head of TV and Content Corin Dimopoulos, “So far, we’ve partnered with Flow Athletic and Fitness Playground, creators of Virtual Playground, which means Optus Sport customers can try yoga, dance, cardio, and fast fat-burners, plus core strength sessions and pilates routines. This content is free to all existing Optus Sport users with more partners coming on board.” “We know that some people may have fallen out of their fitness routines in recent months so we want to help people keep both physically and mentally fit at home with a bundle of workouts based on their fitness level.” The launch of OS Fitness creates new connections with the broader Optus Sport community, providing greater value to customers who have an Optus Sport subscription but don’t access its exclusive football content. “We want to provide customers with a range of options to connect with us, so sports lovers outside of our core football audience can jump on board OS Fitness,” Mr Dimopoulos said. “Our goal is to create a streaming service that can be utilised by the whole family, so our customers are getting even more value from their Optus Sport subscription. “It can be accessed via Optus Sport on any compatible device with an internet connection at home or on the go, which means you can head down to the local park for a workout or stream to it to your TV from the comfort of your own home.” Visit https://www.optus.com.au
Ross Enhances Stats Perform SGL Integration with XPression Graphics CONTENT CREATORS WORKING in live sports production know that data is king, and sports fan are always hungry for stats on the performance of their favourite teams and players. Relevant statistics, no matter how obscure, can really help keep viewers engaged, and Ross Video is responding to this need by tightening the integration between its XPression real-time graphics platform and Stats Perform – a leading provider of data and research in the world of sports.
SPORTSCASTING
For sports production professionals, a Stats Perform SGL subscription is like adding a whole team of researchers and graphics producers to your production with the click of a button, providing hundreds of data points for each player in a structured method. An updated Stats Perform SGL interface with a new dedicated connection option for XPression provides access to Stats Perform data which can be downloaded directly in to the XPression engine. This means that automation can create thousands of compelling graphics in a matter of seconds. This enables your graphics team to focus on more creative tasks while guaranteeing that critical data-driven graphics are available at their fingertips.
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Sky NZ Sells Outside Broadcast Assets to NEP SKY NZ HAS ANNOUNCED the sale of its Outside Broadcast (OSB) subsidiary to NEP New Zealand, in a transaction that Sky CEO Martin Stewart says will ensure Sky continues to deliver high-quality sport production to its customers. Upon completion, NEP will own OSB’s assets including six HD OB units and all ancillary equipment, and NEP has secured two OSB warehouse facilities. The majority of OSB team members and some Sky broadcast specialists will transition to NEP New Zealand, and Sky will retain its world-class sports production team who will be working closely with NEP New Zealand to keep the sports action coming. As part of the transaction, NEP will be Sky’s technical production partner in New Zealand for the next ten years. “Sky Sport’s focus continues to be delivering quality sport that New Zealanders love, from grassroots to high performance and professional competitions. It’s what Sky Sport lives and breathes – that won’t change. We’ll be focused on developing creative content and great storytelling, with NEP New Zealand as our outsourced technical production partner,” says Sky Chief Executive Martin Stewart.
“Stats Perform is the premier provider of sports data, and XPression is all about real-time motion graphics,” says Patrick Twomey, Ross Video’s Director of Product Management for XPression. “Having a dedicated XPression interface to Stats Perform’s SGL tools is like adding a virtual graphics producer to the production team.”
Stewart says the sale will enable Sky to reduce its future capital investment in multi-million dollar OB equipment, drawing instead on NEP’s ability to leverage its global network of technology developments so that Sky’s broadcast offering stays at the forefront.
Visit www.rossvideo.com
“The rate of technological change in
the OB space is significant, and the advantage of this transaction is Sky Sport will continue to have access to the best advancements in the OB world without Sky having to make substantial investments to own equipment. “We’ve always been extremely proud of what our Outside Broadcasting team members do – travelling up and down the country 52 weeks of the year to produce hundreds of events. We look forward to continuing to work with the team and NEP New Zealand through our partnership and delivering the best possible experiences to our customers.” President of NEP Australia, New Zealand and Japan, Soames Treffry commented, “NEP New Zealand is absolutely thrilled to begin this partnership supporting Martin Stewart’s vision for content creation at Sky. Sport is in our DNA and we’ll bring the world’s best practices and technology to Sky. NEP New Zealand General Manager Oliver Pitkin is looking forward to welcoming the team from OSB into the NEP family. In the end, people make pictures, so it’s important to us this is Kiwi from top to tail. The addition of OSB’s experienced, professional team further bolsters that position. The expansion will enable us to train, develop and create more jobs in the industry as a whole in New Zealand.” The transaction is subject to approval from the Overseas Investment Office and the New Zealand Commerce Commission, and relevant applications have been lodged. The terms of the transaction, including purchase price and services agreement, are confidential between the parties. Visit www.sky.co.nz and www.nepgroup.co.nz
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Sky Racing Deploys TVU for Horse Racing Coverage During COVID-19
SKY RACING (previously Sky Channel) is an Australian broadcaster that operates a number of television channels and radio service showcasing the best in wagering, primarily across thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing through top quality live streaming and advance-deposit wagering on races taking place in Australia, as well as selected international races across 15 countries. The broadcaster telecasts more than 140,000 live races per year to 5000 retail outlets, pay TV and digital platforms as well as into 51 countries. Before COVID-19, Sky Racing had three TVU One transmitters in the field, three TVU Transceivers in their studio and a TVU RPS kit. TVU Anywhere was primarily used as an application to integrate regional talent and analysts across Australia on the daily afternoon preview show along with providing betting market updates on site at sporting events like the Cricket and NRL. When Covid19 struck, Sky Racing had to realign its staff and equipment in order to cover stories, keeping in mind restrictions and safety of their staff and crew. TVU Anywhere was a natural choice as Sky Racing had transceivers installed and operational in the studio facility. Sky Racing expanded TVU Anywhere usage to 60 active registered devices to integrate the rest of the talent, industry participants like horse trainers, jockeys, owners, officials and more, who were not able to come into the studio due to stay at home policies. Sky Racing team also deployed TVU Anywhere for its anchors. To comply with social distancing, Sky Racing separated their three anchor Sunday show between the anchor’s home and studio. One anchor would host the show Thoroughbred Weekly from their home while the other two hosts came into the studio. The collaboration was completely seamless between the anchor using TVU Anywhere at home and anchors at the studios. “The advantage of TVU Anywhere over other products was the amount of control over the quality instead of solutions like Skype and Zoom. CBR/VBR options, delay and bandwidth control are very handy when dealing with varying mobile and Wi-Fi networks in Australia,” said Ryan Gray, Broadcast Operations, Sky Racing AU. “It also allowed us to seamlessly send back IFB straight to the presenter’s device. We could also remotely adjust exposure and framing. “I would recommend TVU Anywhere to those that obviously need to contribute live or recorded content that don’t have a resource like a camera or the resources to transmit live. The TVU Anywhere app allows you to do this anywhere, anytime. All you need is a phone and a mobile or WIFI network. Additionally, the app allows you to secure high amounts of bandwidth by aggregating across both cellular and home internet connections. This is a big tick when trying to secure high quality video transmission.” Visit www.tvunetworks.com
Dalet Brings Broadcast Graphics Workflows to the Cloud
DALET, A LEADING PROVIDER of solutions and services for broadcasters and content professionals, has announced the availability of a cloud-enabled version of its premium broadcast graphics solution, Dalet CubeNG, powered by the Brainstorm real-time graphics engine. The end-to-end graphics solution includes tools to create and manage the playout of superior 2D and 3D dynamic graphics and branding for news content across traditional, digital and social channels. Tightly integrated within the Dalet Galaxy five environment, Dalet CubeNG can now run on public cloud infrastructure as well as onpremises, supporting real-time graphics creation with must-have features including CGs on the timeline with animated preview and burn-in. “With this version of Dalet CubeNG, we not only optimise mobility with cloud infrastructure, but the connection to the Dalet ecosystem as well,” states Jérémy Krein, Dalet CubeNG Product Manager. “Natively integrated, Dalet CubeNG’s broadcast graphics workflows provide a first-class user experience that we continually improve upon. Journalists can browse their video and image titles through Dalet Galaxy five and retrieve assets to build image-rich stories and engaging visuals from anywhere, using the Dalet CubeNG plugin. The familiar interface and simple-to-use tools make the entire experience seamless, allowing users to focus on creating graphics that up-level the visual news narrative across traditional, digital and social channels.” New resource optimisations enable organisations to scale both projects and concurrent users with maximum efficiency. As Jeremy Krein explains, “Dalet CubeNG distributes time-intensive processing jobs such as burn-in and animated preview across multiple file-based engines in parallel. This is a significant time-saving whether you are working in the cloud or on-premises.” Visit https://www.dalet.com/platforms/dalet-cube
ChyronHego Training for PAINT Sports Telestration
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CHYRONHEGO HAS EXPANDED its ChyronHego Academy training program with a new certification course focused on the company’s PAINT sports production analysis solution, which enables sports pundits, commentators, or producers to visually analyse game play using augmented data-driven graphics and immersive video highlights. Offered free of charge, the new PAINT course supports industry professionals in acquiring and updating essential skills in working with the popular ChyronHego software.
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“Telestration traditionally has been considered a specialised and complex tool that only a limited pool of specialists can use successfully,” said Carol Bettencourt, director of product marketing at ChyronHego. “Easy to learn and use, PAINT takes the mystery out of telestration. And now, with this new ChyronHego Academy course, we’re taking any mystery out of PAINT. We truly
believe that with fundamental training on this software, anybody can look great.” Intuitive to use by on-air presenters, PAINT’s feature-rich tool set allows users to create powerful graphical illustrated replays without the need for additional infrastructure or specialist operators. Optimised for remote access and control, PAINT’s customisable HTML5-based interface can be used anywhere (via laptop, web browser, or touch screen). The ChyronHego Academy’s self-paced online curriculum for PAINT was developed by product experts with professional field experience. Using a trial version of the software to work their way through practical exercises and quizzes, operators not only gain experience using the PAINT tool set but also build out a portfolio of professional-grade content. Upon
successful completion of the course, operators can earn ChyronHego Academy certification by submitting a professional recommendation confirming that they have successfully demonstrated their skills with PAINT in a realworld environment, either as a professional or a volunteer. ChyronHego Academy makes skills training accessible and convenient to all types of participants, from freelance designers and operators looking to boost their own knowledge base to teams working within larger media organisations. Learning from the best — and on the latest technology — participants can complete basic, intermediate, and advanced course modules to earn certification. Visit https://chyronhego.com/services/ chyronhego-academy
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Comms and Talkback for eSports THE MODEL 207 ESPORTS CONSOLE from Studio Technologies helps to open the lines of communication in eSports by allowing production personnel, team coaches and fans to hear what the players are discussing during game play. The solution also provides the added benefit of preventing teams from hearing their competitors or the event commentators. The Model 207 is optimised to address the microphone, headphone monitoring, and personal computer audio interfacing needs of eSports players. Housed in a compact, tabletop enclosure, the unit incorporates both analogue and Dante audio-over-Ethernet technology to allow direct integration with a player’s headset, gaming computer, and Ethernet-based audio network. In just minutes, an eSports player’s location or “position” can be integrated into a sophisticated live event application. The Model 207 operates on the Dante network and the intercommunication audio feed can be tied into the game play with the audio following the video while switching between the game play feeds. One of the main benefits of the Model 207 is its remote-control capabilities, as operators can control the Model 207 from a workstation on the network. The Model 207’s talkback feature also helps with player-support personnel intercommunications during an event. From a workflow perspective, there are usually several administrators on the event stage that are responsible for making sure that the players have everything they need. Using the talkback feature, if a player is having an issue, such as with their mouse or keyboard, they can easily contact the administrators. Using Model 207 units, or other Studio Technologies’ products, the administrators can communicate with each other and then back to the requesting player. Studio Technologies’ Model 207 also supports a “masking” noise headphone feed. This feature allows an audio source, typically pink noise, to be “fed” to players at a fixed level with no ability to adjust the volume. Included for game integrity, this audio signal helps to prevent the players from hearing real-time commentary that may be present on a “house” sound system. The masking audio helps to keep play fair, shielding the players from being able to hear game strategy or related topics as might be discussed by the commentators. Visit www.studio-tech.com
KVM for Esports AS A MANUFACTURER of KVM systems for extending and switching keyboard, video and mouse signals, Guntermann & Drunck GmbH (G&D) offers gamers a professional Esports experience including crystal-clear full HD resolutions with 240 Hz frame rates and without any noticeable latency. With KVM systems from G&D, powerful and noisy computer technology can be moved from gaming areas or arenas into separate equipment rooms. Computers can be kept in a secure and temperature-controlled room to prevent overheating Nonetheless, gamers can still operate their computers in real time and at full power – without any loss of quality and over distances up to 10,000m.
Since the products support transparent USB 2.0, it is possible to even extend the latest gaming keyboards and mice that are not HID-compliant – because of the additional keys and mini-displays – via KVM matrix. Visit https://www.gdsys.de
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With G&D DP1.2 devices, gamers can run full HD resolutions with high frame rates up to 240 Hz. Crystal clear 1080p resolutions with virtually no delay will support them in their gaming exploits. G&D DP1.2 products are also able to transmit 2K resolutions of 2560×1440 with 144Hz. An entire range of KVM systems such as the extenders DP1.2-Vision, DP1.2VisionXG, DP1.2-Vision-IP, or the KVM switches DP1.2-MUX, DP1.2-MUXNT, DP1.2-MUX3-ATC as well as the DP1.2-Splitter are the first line of defence against lagging displays and suboptimal resolution.
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Tuning Into the 5G Future for Broadcast By Karen Clark, Telstra Broadcast Services Head of Sales FOR MANY, THE FUTURE OF 5G is still the great unknown. But what is widely known is the fact that it will fundamentally change everything we know about technology and how we interact with it. Each mobile generation, from 1G to 5G, has brought with it a brighter future and no other industry appears more poised to reap the rewards of the latest digital transformation than the broadcast sector. 5G will make good on the promise of a truly connected entertainment experience, delivering speeds and network capacity we’d only previously dreamed of. Among the many 5G demonstrations at Telstra Vantage in 2019, I was particularly blown away by Australia’s first live 5G broadcast. In partnership with Igloovision, Summit Tech
applications and the promise of new tools for broadcasters and content creators to work with. It’s likely 5G’s first impact in the broadcast industry will be felt mostly in the live sport sector. We’ve already seen a number of highprofile international trials by our industry peers across the US, Europe and Asia and the results have been eye-popping. NBC Sports successfully trialled the use of 5G during a live broadcast for the National Football League (NFL) in December. Beyond the visual quality, the technology deployed by the NFL seeks to improve audience interactivity and opens the door to VR and AR home broadcasts in real time. The need for this type of content has only grown in the face of COVID-19. In 2020, almost all sports experiences are virtual and
when needed, so they aren’t permanently consuming bandwidth on the network. Broadcasters could soon be offered ‘slices-asa-service’, which can be booked on a per hour/per minute basis the same way fibre and satellite network resources currently are. 5G network slicing will make wireless contribution a viable option for live sport.
It’s Showtime Multimedia Communications, and Magna Systems & Engineering, we streamed 360° video, live over 5G for the very first time, showcasing Kurrawa beach, Queensland onto the Vantage show floor in a breathtaking 8k resolution. For many, it was an awesome demonstration of 5G’s future power, but for me it was a captivating glimpse into its potential to redefine the broadcast and entertainment industry.
Endless possibility To understand what broadcasters are expecting with 5G, we went straight to the source. We carried out internal research to understand what media professionals are anticipating and how they want emerging mobile technologies, such as 5G, to power their broadcasting workflows.
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Having spoken with television and radio broadcasters, sports broadcasters, e-sports bodies, production teams and freelancers, the sentiment is both fascinating and unanimous. Our customers believe 5G will initially be highly complementary to existing technology, but its increased capacity offers the capability to deliver more immersive, higher resolution experiences.
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5G is more than just making Ultra High Definition content the new standard in this country. It’s about empowering 360° filmmaking, virtual reality and augmented reality
5G technology is positioned to disrupt and democratise the way we consume sports and other broadcasts. 5G will have the capability to place anyone, from pretty much anywhere in the middle of the game, with the addition of rich immersive content and without the expensive first row tickets. When looking at a successful deployment like this, it’s easy to envisage a world where the NRL and AFL follow suit - offering users unprecedented ways to enjoy the game they like, being closer to the action than ever before.
A bigger bandwidth slice Cellular solutions for live broadcasting have been around for some time, but haven’t been embraced in live sport due to network congestion at stadiums, where tens of thousands of people all compete for the available bandwidth. The difference with 5G and its superior capacity is that we’ll be able to offer network slices. For those unfamiliar with the term, 5G network slicing allows a network provider, such as Telstra, to create specific broadcast-grade networks for customers with the guaranteed latency, bandwidth and quality required for live broadcast without competing against other network use. 5G network slices can be turned on and off
It’s exciting to think what this will mean not just for the modern fan experience and engagement but also for their own contribution – harnessing live user-generated content. With 5G equipped fans sitting in the stadium or at an off-site fan zone, our customers can incorporate their unique experiences into their production on any platform in near real time.
“It’s likely 5G’s first impact in the broadcast industry will be felt mostly in the live sport sector. We’ve already seen a number of high-profile international trials by our industry peers across the US, Europe and Asia and the results have been eyepopping.
Telstra has the largest, fastest, smartest and most reliable next generation network, and is continuing to roll out 5G coverage to more parts of Australia The potential for 5G to expand into the broadcasting space is exponential. If we can inspire the next generation of content creators, who knows what the future of entertainment can be – a new world where a VR headset can transport you to the Masterchef kitchen? Or maybe the AFL Grand Final broadcast in 360 from the centre circle? Visit http://www.telstra.com/broadcastservices
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ChyronHego Releases PRIME Graphics 3.6
CHYRONHEGO HAS INTRODUCED PRIME Graphics 3.6, the newest version of the company’s platform for real-time graphics authoring and playout. PRIME Graphics users now can run an instance of LyricX on the PRIME platform, with both design and control of LyricX messages remaining within the familiar LyricX interface. The platform can simultaneously play out a single LyricX channel along with PRIME channels, or it can dedicate all channels to either PRIME or LyricX playout. With backwards compatibility for existing LyricX messages, LyricX Mode allows broadcasters to future-proof their production capabilities with minimal workflow impacts. Now with best-of-breed camera-tracking data support, PRIME’s familiar real-time graphics workflow extends to augmented reality graphics design and playout. Broadcasters working with PRIME 3.6 can entertain and inform viewers with immersive, data-driven 3D graphics for sports, entertainment, elections, and news studio productions in 4K or HDR. PRIME AR’s powerful data binding to scene elements ensures that designers can easily create and visualize data as real-time events unfold. Fully integrated with CAMIO, ChyronHego’s MOS-driven, template-based graphic asset management solution, PRIME AR allows producers and journalists to browse, fulfill, and
preview predefined templates for augmented reality graphics directly from the familiar newsroom system - just as they would for video walls, lower thirds, and more. Designed to improve workflow efficiency, PRIME’s Style Sheets functionality allows users to tag objects and then set up logic statements that trigger the application of a certain property value, such as colour. Taking advantage of Style Sheets streamlines workflows by allowing designers to quickly change the look of some or all objects in a scene to match team colours, eventspecific branding, and more. PRIME Graphics 3.6 allows users to build if/then conditions as part of a Logic Effect that may be applied to any object in a scene. With the ability to reuse conditions and apply them to multiple objects in a scene, or even different scenes, users can quickly build smart, logic-based templates. New easy-to-use visual guides for the spline editor in PRIME allow designers to adjust ease — the gradual rate at which animations start or stop — for complex 2D and 3D animations more quickly and with greater accuracy for even better-looking graphics. Visit www.chyronhego.com
Dalet Advances Mobility for News Operations Concern Over Newsroom Redundancies
DALET HAS ANNOUNCED usability improvements to its Dalet On-theGo mobile app for smartphones and tablets, boosting the collaborative experience between remote journalists and the newsroom with advanced content contribution and remote planning capabilities through a brand new, modern UI.
Advancements to the underlying Dalet Galaxy five news production and distribution platform bring remote editing features like cloud-based “edit while record” and support for modern open-source communications frameworks to accelerate secure content exchange across multisite and distributed newsrooms operations. Dalet Galaxy xCloud, the dedicated, cloud-hosted system managed by Dalet as a full SaaS service, also benefits from these enhancements and connects securely with users’ existing onpremises systems, supporting advanced workflows for remote editing and news production teams. Available from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, the latest release of Dalet On-the-Go connects journalists, reporters and chief editors to the newsroom enabling them to manage assignments, story development, review and approval, rundowns, planning, status and contact search, all remotely. Users can easily access their Dalet Galaxy five catalog of video, audio, scripts and wires. Advanced content contribution capabilities and templates let users record media and craft stories quickly mixing local media together with remote content stored within the Dalet Galaxy five system. Dalet’s smart upload features guard against connectivity issues, reconnecting to the upload exactly where it left off when necessary. A feature-rich teleprompter supports on-the-fly reporting while tickers, wires and chat messages keep staff connected to information and late-breaking news.
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Meanwhile, the SaaS-based Dalet Galaxy xCloud offering is a full-featured version of the latest Dalet Galaxy five platform that, hosted by Dalet, leverages the cloud to facilitate end-to-end, remote news production workflows. The core remote editing framework supports advanced proxy editing workflows, mixing of central and local content, with proxy content cached locally to eliminate disruptions due to limited bandwidth. Rendering is offloaded to the Dalet Galaxy xCloud system, optimising performance to break news faster.
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In addition to the rapid release of customer-centric features, Dalet Galaxy five’s new public API empowers news organisations to customise workflow capabilities and integrations, further optimizing specific operations and business opportunities. Visit www.dalet.com
THE MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS ALLIANCE says it is concerned that Network 10 recent round of redundancies will strip newsrooms and deprive audiences of local news. The MEAA said the loss of jobs, particularly editorial positions, will limit the amount of essential news and information available to the communities the network is supposed to serve. The decision to cease weekday news bulletins from Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide and replace them with bulletins originating in Sydney and Melbourne shows enormous disrespect to viewers. MEAA Media acting director Adam Portelli said: “The end result of these cuts is that viewers will simply seek their news and information somewhere else. “When the network was taken over by ViacomCBS three years ago this month, it was hoped that Network 10 would finally enjoy stability and an injection of new ideas. Despite the best efforts of staff who have constantly struggled to do more with less, we are now seeing deep cuts that have cruelled the hard work done by so many loyal employees. “Concerningly, under the restructuring being introduced by management, we now have the prospect of sports journalists having to film their own news stories. That’s a slippery slope that presents a real danger for news presentation in Australia,” Portelli said. The MEAA says it will continue to support members at Network 10 during this restructuring. Visit www.meaa.org
News Analytics Tools from Google
GOOGLE HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of a new suite of free tools designed to help online news publishers simplify and better understand data to improve their overall digital strategy. The new tools include: News Tagging Guide (NTG) – allows users to make the most of Google Analytics by identifying the engagement metrics that matter for audience and revenue growth. NTG simplifies the technical implementation and unlocks new actionable insights. News Consumer Insights 2.0 (NCI) – allows users to identify reader funnel optimisation opportunities to increase profitability and build deeper relationships with readers. NCI gives users access to personalised insights and actionable recommendations based on the user’s Google Analytics data. Realtime Content Insights 2.0 (RCI) – Publishers can identify in real time which articles and videos are the most popular with their readers and what broader topics are trending in their region. RCI enables engaging data visualisation for the newsroom and is available for publishers using all versions of Google Analytics. Visit https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com
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Secure Gateway for IP Contribution and Distribution VITEC HAS ANNOUNCED its new MGW ChannelLink IP distribution gateway. Designed for broadcast, corporate, and government, the appliance acts as a central hub where IP channels from the field can be received and reliably retransmitted live over any IP network. It can receive a large number of input streams and translate them into a multicast or unicast MPEG Transport Stream over UDP (UDP TS) or an SRT-protected stream. VITEC’s MGW ChannelLink is ideal for stream management, routing, rebroadcasting, or IPTV stream reflection over WAN or the internet. For broadcasters, it simplifies content delivery of live channels from news agencies as well as from sports or entertainment venues. Designed to meet stringent security criteria, it is also suited for secure government and military full-motion video applications. As latency is key to any IP streaming application, MGW ChannelLink achieves the lowest processing time for IP-based channels. When used in conjunction with VITEC’s MGW Ace Encoder and Decoder in its ultra-low-latency HEVC profile, the gateway provides the best end-to-end latency without compromising video quality. The solution enables remote production
and contribution over the internet and avoids the use of expensive fibre or satellite transmission infrastructure, leading to dramatically reduced OPEX. MGW ChannelLink is fully interoperable with third-party encoders and decoders. In addition, the compression-standard-agnostic gateway is compatible with MPEG-2, H.264, and HEVC codecs, any resolution and frame rate (SD, HD, 4K, and more), and is engineered to evolve and support future transport protocols. Tailored to streamline IP video contribution, backhaul, and distribution, users benefit from the solution’s straightforward interface. They can manage all incoming channels from around the world and view information and statistics, such as quality of the network link and packet loss. The gateway also provides users with a centralized location for aggregating content and monitoring incoming
Viz Mosart 4 with NDI Live Sources in Touch Interface VIZ MOSART 4 HAS CHANGED the studio production dynamic by adding live IP video support directly within the touch-based user interface, opening the door to entirely new workflows and allowing producers to build shows that can be run more easily, from a wide variety of locations. Further improvements to usability also mean that anyone in the organisation is able to execute a pre-built show, reducing dependencies on limited resources. Viz Mosart 4 features a fully customisable interface with interactive live sources. Viz Mosart integrates video over IP directly to the user’s monitor to give an unrivalled view of the show – displaying any video source, program and preview directly in the user interface. Building on the software-based and IP leadership within Vizrt Group and NDI, this setup can be deployed to an existing network environment and does not require radical infrastructure or monitoring changes.
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VITEC encoders and decoders are capable of encrypting audio and video streams. MGW ChannelLink handles the management of such encrypted streams to secure content end to end. Visit www.vitec.com
Web-Based Weather Data Management and Curation POLYGON LABS, A DEVELOPER OF interactive data applications and visual branding, has launched a centralised web-based weather data management and curation solution, Ipsum Weather. This announcement follows the recent release of Ipsum 2.0, the company’s data aggregation and visualisation platform for broadcast news, sports, weather and branding. Ipsum Weather, a data aggregation, management and playout scheduling solution for on-air weather presentations and sponsorship graphics, aggregates and curates weather data (point-data, satellite, radar, isobars, wind conditions, etc.) and weather alerts from a number of different providers. For gallery and studio weather graphics, the real-time weather data solution is fully integrated with Viz Trio and Viz Director for Viz Engine playout control, as well as newsroom templates in Viz Pilot. It can also provide database management and automated playlist control of master control weather graphics played out on Unreal Engine or Viz Engine.
The template organisation capability introduced in Viz Mosart 4 significantly reduces the time spent on creation and maintenance of automation templates, allowing users to focus on their show and not the tools needed to create and bring their vision to life.
“While significantly streamlining operations, Ipsum Weather generates customer value with simplified weather data and content aggregation integrating with Vizrt’s playout tools and with the Viz Engine and Unreal Engine outputs to provide the most engaging weather graphics,” explains David Jorba, Polygon Labs’ Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer. “The software supports full screen, ticker, augmented and virtual studio weather graphics and is fully integrated with weather data providers like WSI, Weather Bell, or NOAA, as well as data feeds coming from local providers, AP, Reuters, Twitter, Facebook, XML, JSON and RSS sources.”
Visit www.vizrt.com
Visit www.polygonlabs.us
Designed for breaking news, new functionality gives instant and unscripted access to assets including templates, show openers, and much more. The new graphics panel lets users access all their Vizrt graphics, preview them and then put them directly on-air.
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streams. Designed to facilitate the setup for operators, a large number of channel sources (encoders) spread around the globe can be set to target a single IP address associated with the MGW ChannelLink. Additionally, the user-friendly interface is designed to simplify channel sourceto-destination routing.
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Bluefish444 Works with Aximmetry Virtual Studio BLUEFISH444, the manufacturer of uncompressed 4K SDI, ASI, Video Over IP & HDMI I/O cards and mini converters, has announced SDI I/O support for real time 3D graphics and virtual studio software from Aximmetry for the KRONOS K8 and Epoch range of video cards. Aximmetry provides end-to-end, real-time 3D graphics and virtual studio solutions for the broadcast and entertainment industries. Aximmetry offers the choice of two real-time rendering engines: Aximmetry’s own engine and since the launch of the Aximmetry DE software products: Unreal Engine integration, giving users the flexibility to choose. Aximmetry also has its own advanced keying technology which is included in all licences. The company’s solutions cover all aspects of
advanced broadcast presentation: tracked virtual sets, Augmented Reality (AR), interactive touch-screen displays, data-driven graphics, virtual product placement, and audience interaction via second-screen devices. Content created in Aximmetry can be live-streamed directly to YouTube or Facebook. The integration between Bluefish and Aximmetry will provide the highest quality SDI I/O to Aximmetry 3D graphics for broadcast, live streaming, live event and projector/LED wall workflows. All Bluefish Epoch and KRONOS video cards feature bi-directional SDI I/O and are compatible with a wide range of Thunderbolt expansion chassis. Visit www.bluefish444.com
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With the exponential growth of media assets globally, media companies require innovative solutions to intelligently manage content storage. Magna partners with leaders in content management harnessing the latest technologies such as AI and cognitive services to transform asset movement across cloud and other storage tiers to ensure optimal operational efficiency for content creators, producers and distributors.
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By combining browser-based editing and publishing with a full-fledged metadata back end, journalists in the field and editors in any location can work together to edit, publish, and re-edit both urgent and complex stories for air with greater speed, ease, and quality. With minimal training, any user can edit from a browser with full access to stored files, stories, graphics, and metadata. Conversely, a story created in the field can be picked up again in the broadcast centre for further refinement, versioning, or even complete re-editing for a different platform with full flexibility using non burned-in graphics and concurrent editing tools. Viz One is a premium production workflow management platform that makes collaboration
easy for editorial teams needing to find content fast and create stories quickly. The Viz One 7 release enables video editing by integrating Viz Story 2 to compliment ingest, graphics, content aggregation, logging, metadata association, and multi-destination publishing capabilities. Viz Story is a browser-based video editing and multi-platform publishing tool that transforms how digital media houses and broadcasters edit and distribute news programs and video content. With only one single installation point, collaborative video and audio editing capabilities are expanded and content can be delivered from any location without expert skills due to Viz One integration. The Viz Story 2 release also enables content creators to search for and access assets using metadata, to choose whether to include graphics, and to publish finished articles for broadcast when combined with the latest Viz One 7 release. Visit www.vizrt.com
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VIZRT, THE PROVIDER OF software-defined visual storytelling tools for media content creators, has announced the release and integration of Viz One 7 and Viz Story 2. This combination empowers creatives by making media editing a fully seamless part of their complete live production workflow.
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Cinema 4D and Redshift Usage-Based Licensing, Cloud Rendering with Conductor Technologies
MAXON, THE DEVELOPER OF professional 3D modelling, animation and rendering solutions, has announced the immediate availability of usage-based rendering for Cinema 4D and Redshift with leading cloud rendering company, Conductor Technologies. Recently expanding their platform to include GPU support, Conductor provides on-demand metered access to an unlimited number of Cinema 4D and Redshift rendering nodes with per-minute usage and licensing options, with the ability to scale up and down based on project needs. Conductor is a secure, dynamically scalable, cloud-based platform that enables VFX, VR/AR and animation studios to seamlessly offload rendering and simulation workloads to the public cloud. It integrates into existing workflows, features an open architecture for customisation, provides data insights and can implement controls over usage to ensure budgets and timelines stay on track. Rendering in the cloud allows artists and studios to expand their rendering capabilities to preview scenes faster, meet deadlines, free up local hardware for other tasks (design, video encoding, or post-production for example) and explore more complex and challenging projects. With Conductor’s multi-cloud platform leveraging both AWS and GCP, studios can scale their compute power cost-effectively with production proven tools and expertise.
“The ability for artists to improve design visualization and generate content in shorter timeframes is critical in today’s content production environment,” said David McGavran, CEO, Maxon. “The easy integration Conductor offers into existing workflows will allow our Cinema 4D and Redshift customers the flexibility to take full advantage of cloud computing power to accelerate turnaround times and deliver greater photorealistic and high-resolution imagery.” Added Conductor CEO, Mac Moore, “We are thrilled to finally bring the Cinema 4D and Redshift offerings to Conductor. Maxon’s combined focus on ease-ofuse and high performance perfectly aligns with what we strive to enable with our cloud platform; near-infinite computing power at the push of a button.” Visit https://beta.conductortech.com/maxon and https://www.maxon.net
Onboarding Package for AWS Thinkbox Cloud Rendering DIGISTOR HAS RECENTLY DEVELOPED an ‘onboarding package’, enabling existing on-prem Deadline users to scale onto the cloud using AWS Portal. For customers without an existing on-prem environment, a hybrid can be set up and configured for easy access. This is a solution for those operating in the areas of visual effects, animation and editing, who would benefit from less time spent on waiting for renders to finish, and would like to utilise Digistor’s experience in deploying and supporting cloud-based workflows. AWS Portal simplifies the process of launching infrastructure and rendering in the cloud, through bridging an on-prem Deadline environment into the cloud, using AWS EC2 spare capacity (EC2 Spot). It also facilitates secure communication between the on-prem and AWS cloud environments, handling the asset transfers and software licensing.
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Digistor’s ‘onboarding package’ enables customers to take advantage of cloud rendering utilising the AWS Portal. Taking customers directly to the cloud by setting up and configuring the AWS cloud environment and communicating with the existing onprem Deadline environment. Once the cloud environment is configured customers can either choose to maintain the environment or engage Digistor to provide ongoing support via a subscription-based support contract.
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Pre-requisites: • Suitable Portal Server (Digistor can quote and supply if needed)
• Low-spec on-prem Windows or Linux server, physical or virtual • Could be existing Deadline Server • Existing AWS account • Alternatively, Digistor can host the cloud environment if required and/or configure a new Customer account if necessary. • Reliable internet connectivity with Min 15Mb upload speed • Higher upload speeds will shorten asset upload times and enable render jobs to start sooner in the cloud. • All required licenses for the host application, renderer and all plugin’s Digistor will help determine license requirements as part of the initial consultation process.
New Quixel Mixer Smart Materials for Unreal Engine FOR UNREAL ENGINE USERS, the newest Smart Materials pack has been added to Quixel Mixer. These include metals such as aluminum, oxidized iron and gold, fabrics such as denim, linen and camo gear, and a plethora of plastics, rocks, woods, and leathers. Every Smart Material is ready to go right out of the box and completely free to use. Quixel Mixer is a free tool that seamlessly fuses scan data, physically-based rendering (PBR) painting, and procedural authoring. With a vastly streamlined texturing experience, you can design Smart Materials, 3D paint meshes, and create tileable surfaces, all within a single application.
• Establishing communication with the on-prem environment including firewall considerations
With the release of Quixel Mixer 2020, the development team has focused on ways to let users make the Quixel Megascans library their own by enhancing its 3D and surface texturing capabilities. The goal is for artists to be able to make any asset and any surface bespoke to their art style. To that end, the latest update comes packed with 50 powerful new Smart Materials, bringing the total to nearly 150, along with improvements to Mixer’s ease of use.
• Basic training and handover documentation
Mixer is available free.
Visit www.digistor.com.au
Visit https://quixel.com/mixer
The onboarding package includes everything required to get customers started with bursting into the cloud including: • Initial consultation meeting to discuss requirements • Preparation of AWS Portal Server • Configuration of cloud infrastructure • Building custom image if required
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AJA T-TAP Support for Mistika Boutique
DejaEdit Version 3.1
SGO RECENTLY ANNOUNCED that it has partnered with AJA Video Systems to make its subscription-based full-finishing software solution Mistika Boutique compatible with AJA’s T-TAP, the portable Thunderboltpowered I/O device, in the latest Mistika 10 release.
DEJASOFT HAS ANNOUNCED the release of version 3.1 to support private cloud environments using the open source MinIO object storage solution.
Mistika Boutique is a subscriptionbased full finishing software for Windows and macOS designed to run on industry-standard, offthe-shelf hardware. It features the complete spectrum of professional finishing tools, from conform to VFX, colour grading, Stereo 3D, VR and more. When combined with AJA T-TAP, an affordable, compact video and audio output device that allows professionals to monitor highquality 10-bit HD, SD, HDR and 2K video with embedded audio output from any compatible Mac or PC, Mistika Boutique provides users with a new cost-effective option for feeding Mac and PC outputs to preferred displays for an enhanced finishing experience.
“Mistika Boutique was created for any type of post-production facility, including smaller studios or even freelance artists who want to take full advantage of the capabilities that our Mistika Technology software provides, with the added flexibility to work with their preferred hardware. T-TAP is an intuitive and cost-efficient device, making it a complement for Mistika Boutique users finishing 2D, 3D and even VR content on a laptop or computer,” said Geoff Mills, Managing Director at SGO. “In recent months, the importance of strong remote post production capabilities has become paramount, and our partnership with SGO aims to make mobile finishing that much simpler, providing an affordable way to get your Mistika Boutique output from your laptop or computer to a range of supported 3G-SDI and HDMI displays,” said Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. Visit https://www.sgo.es
DejaEdit allows multiple, remote Avid editors to work together by mirroring their locally stored media and edit assets to the local storage of other connected systems, using secure, background transfers across the internet. It can also be used to exchange media with on-location DITs and VFX/Audio houses. DejaEdit uses a centralised server to ensure that all connected platforms have access to the permitted up-to-date media. This central server is based on Amazon Web Services S3 storage and can be either provided by DejaSoft or it can use the client’s own AWS account.
be run in-house on a Linux, Mac, and Windows server and it is also available for Docker. MinIO provides data storage via an S3 compliant API. This allows applications, such as DejaEdit, to store objects in private centralised storage, rather than to a cloudhosted Amazon S3 storage device. The ability to operate in a private cloud environment further adds to the security management features that were released for DejaEdit Version 3, where permission to access specific assets by particular users can be controlled via a management console. New software release DejaEdit 3.1 is compatible with workflows for all Avid Media Composer and Nexus systems. Visit https://dejasoft.com
New for Version 3.1, the S3 media server can be created by the client ‘in-house’, using MinIO S3 object storage. MinIO (https://min.io) is an open source Object Server, which can
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ETC Publishes Specs for Naming VFX Image Sequences
THE ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY CENTER (ETC@USC) VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organising the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organisation had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication. ETC’s specification, which aims to standardise the process for media production, is available online for anyone to use. The new specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realised that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.
To ensure all requirements are represented, the Working Group included over two dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others. The ETC@ USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision for the future of media creation technology. A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices. Chair of the VFX Working Group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said, “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernise and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.” This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to
RE:Vision Effects Unveils DEFlicker v2 RE:VISION EFFECTS, INC., the effects plug-in developer, has introduced DEFlicker v2, a major upgrade to its solution to problematic high frame rate and timelapse footage. DEFlicker takes control of all things that flicker whether you shoot with very high-speed shutter or at very low video frame rates (timelapses). Version 2 provides additional and enhanced tools for correcting highspeed shutter artifacts, timelapse flicker and now comes with 4 plug-ins: HighSpeed: High-speed shutter and high frame rate elements tend to exhibit strobing caused by lighting systems. New in DEFlicker v2 are tools for managing the Alpha Channel for green screen VFX shots. Also added is improved noise reduction and a simplified method for removing the flicker quickly. Now users can enter the frames-per-second of the shot, and the system frequency for their region (50 or 60 Hz) and DEFlicker takes care of the rest. Timelapse: Your solution to handle flicker of image sequences with a lot of motion discontinuities. New features include improvement of render speed for sequences over 4K and better handling of large color and lighting shifts. It now also properly
deals with over-range values. Auto-Levels: Extended timelapse scenes often suffer from fluctuation in colour and levels when shot using automatic exposure. DEFlicker already allows you to display graphically the variation over time and replace missing frames in the sequence. In v2, new methods of fixing or replacing bad or damaged frames are implemented. Rolling Bands: New in v2, the Rolling Bands plug-in can be used in conjunction with the High-Speed plug-in or by itself. It allows you to model and attenuate those annoying dark bands primarily caused by lighting and rolling shutter speed time synchronization issues. Rolling Bands provide interactive ways to model the rolling bands height, the distance between bands, and the speed of roll. It also provides fine band feathering options to match the source video transition from lighter to darker. Temporal processing takes into account the rolling bands speed. All plug-ins will see better handling of linear versus gamma encoded sources (now automatic in AE, matches project settings) and v2 should load v1 based projects without issues. Visit https://revisionfx.com/
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make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver, co-chair of the VFX Working Group. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.” “Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.” Download the white paper, VFX Image Sequence Naming, via https://drive.google.com/file/d/173 MM9VRVXKZ64dEPixTajnTv04f2o5SN/view Visit https://www.etcentric.org
Remote, Cloud-based QC
HAVING SEEN A GREAT INCREASE in the need for those in the Media processing industry (post houses, editors, colourists, and alike) to have the capability to QC their content remotely, Venera Technologies has taken idea of usage-based pricing introduced with its Pulsar Pay-Per-Use (PPU) on-premise QC software, and applied it to Quasar, the company’s native-cloud QC service. According to Fereidoon Khosravi, SVP Business Development with Venera, “Up until recently, Quasar had been used by those Media companies and organisations that had already moved their content workflow to the cloud, and typically used one of Venera’s tiered subscription plans. However, given the current circumstances, there are a large number of Media Professionals, looking for a remote way to process (including QC) their content, but have been hesitant because they are unfamiliar with the Cloud and what can be done in the Cloud, and equally important, are not interested in committing to a monthly subscription plan due to the uneven and uncertain volume of work. “Given our experience of working closely with a wide range of Media professionals, we have come up with what we think is a winning practical solution for Remote QC – the cloud-based Quasar Ad-hoc plan.” Features include: • File storage; • An easy-to-use tool to upload your content to the cloud. • Instruction on how to use Quasar and its pre-made QC templates (you can modify them as you wish); • Browser-based interface; and • Users only pay for what they QC, simply load credits into your Quasar account using a credit card, and your account is debited as you QC your content. Visit www.veneratech.com
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Avid Reimagines Workflows with Media Composer 2020
AVID HAS ANNOUNCED a major new release of its flagship Avid Media Composer 2020 video editing software. Designed to give storytellers at all levels the most powerful solution for more creative freedom and workflow flexibility, Media Composer 2020 includes a redesigned customizable user interface, a new Universal Media Engine, finishing and delivery tools, and support for Apple ProRes for Windows and Catalina, among many other enhancements.
More customizable user experience – With Media Composer 2020 users can tailor their workspace to exactly how they want to work. Improvements to the panelled UI dramatically increase ease of use and faster editing and mastering. A new Timeline Sequence Map increases efficiency by letting creators navigate their entire sequence without taking up the whole screen, while the Blank Panel unclutters the UI and stops panels from resizing. Finish and deliver with precision – Expanding on the editing and finishing capabilities introduced a year ago, Media Composer 2020 enables users to fine-tune colour with greater precision and make more granular gain value adjustments when working in ACES (Academy Colour Encoding System) spaces. Users can finish high-resolution and HDR projects with total colour precision and interoperability, ensuring pristine picture quality throughout their workflow. Next Generation Avid Media Engine – Media Composer’s powerful Universal Media Engine enables users to accelerate their workflows by reducing the
reliance on QuickTime to deliver better media importing, playback, editing and export performance. The media engine increases processing speed of hi-res HDR media and provides native support for a wider range of formats, including direct media access and Open EXR for over-the-top services such as Netflix. Media Composer 2020 enhances a user’s ability to easily create content for mobile video platforms and social media by providing 9×16 and 1:1 Mask Margins and FrameFlex framing pre-sets. Apple ProRes for Windows and Catalina Support – Like Mac users, Windows users can now create, edit, collaborate, and export ProRes media natively with encoding supported on Windows machines for media creation and exporting to .MOV export, MXF OP1a, and MXF OP-Atom workflows. Media creators also can use Media Composer on Apple’s latest macOS Catalina, a 64-bit OS that provides superior performance while leveraging the power of the new Mac Pro. Media Composer | Enterprise – Additionally, Media Composer | Enterprise expands its role-based customization capabilities to enable users to deploy or update site settings across an organization and deploy user settings independently to individuals or groups quickly without impacting any existing site settings. With more studios managing remote teams, Media Composer | Enterprise gives users more control over their productions. Visit www.avid.com/media-composer
Automated HDR to SDR Conversion
BLUEFISH444, the manufacturer of uncompressed 4K SDI, ASI, Video Over IP & HDMI I/O cards and mini converters, has announced support for Foundry Nuke and Nuke Studio 12 in its latest 2020.14 Windows Installer for KRONOS K8 and Epoch hardware. Bluefish’s K8 video I/O card and the entire Epoch range now support 2K/HD/SD-SDI playback within Nuke and Nuke Studio 12, giving post-production 2D/3D compositing and visual effects professionals access to the high quality associated with Bluefish video cards. With the K8 and Epoch video cards, Nuke and Nuke Studio 12 now have access to the highest quality SDI playback with proprietary 12-bit processing, supporting both RGB and YUV colour spaces. Currently supporting 2K/ HD/SD video modes. Bluefish will continue to work with Foundry to update support for the Nuke and Nuke Studio products and will be integrating 4K/UHD support in a forthcoming installer update. Visit https://www.bluefish444.com
LYNX Technik’s HDR Suite of Processing Solutions (HDR Evie+, HDR Evie, HDR Static) for the greenMachine platform addresses the challenge that broadcasters and content creators are facing when there is a need to broadcast or archive content in both SDR and HDR. The simple solution is to have two independent production routes for SDR and HDR, but this is costly and falls short of delivering full HDR content to the customer and ultimately the subscriber / viewer. The greenMachine suite of HDR processing tools addresses the issue of the simultaneous workflows by combining optimized HDR with up-converted SDR sources into a single HDR production process, thus eliminating the expensive and time-consuming dual SDR & HDR production. HDR STATIC, HDR Evie (Enhanced Video Image Engine) and HDR Evie+ processing applications run on the now familiar and award-winning LYNX Technik greenMachine hardware platform. These industry leading format conversion solutions ensure facilities can, for example, use a single greenMachine titan hardware module to up-convert four independent 3G SDR sources (e.g. SDR-only cameras, graphics, replays, external feeds, archives, etc.) to HDR in a variety of formats, and feed directly into the HDR
production workflow. This conversion ensures that HDR content is delivered direct from the optimized HDR cameras without compromise. Once the content is ready for delivery / broadcast / streaming to clients and subscribers/viewers, greenMachine can down-convert one of the HDR program output feeds to SDR, ensuring media facilities can deliver content to both HDR-capable screens and to viewers who are still watching content in SDR. HDR Evie+, the most recent addition to LYNX Technik’s HDR line-up for its award-winning greenMachine platform takes things to a new level. It makes use of patented, industry leading dynamic segmented frame-by-frame algorithms that use sectional dynamic tone mapping that allows adjustment of each segment (144 segments/frame) of the 3G or 4K HDR content all in real-time. The segmented dynamic conversion by greenMachine HDR Evie+ is especially suited to demanding and unpredictable content, with fast moving subjects and high contrast conditions typically found in live sports and news broadcasts. The entire range of LYNX Technik’s greenMachine HDR < > SDR processing solutions support a range of open standards for conversion, tone mapping, and color gamut, including HLG, PQ, SDR, and SLog3. Rec709, Rec 2020, and camera standards by Panasonic, Sony, Arri, ACES, DCI-P3, RED and BMD. Visit www.green-machine.com
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Bluefish444 Supports Foundry Nuke & Nuke Studio 12
LYNX TECHNIK, the provider of modular signal processing interfaces, has announced that HDR Evie+ is now available for its greenMachine platform.
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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM Silver Trak Digital Launches in New Zealand New GM for Silver Trak’s new Auckland office, David Elder. GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH and as part of the company’s continued expansion across the Asia pacific region, Silver Trak Digital has established a new office in Auckland, New Zealand. According to Silver Trak COO Christian Christiansen, “As we were when we opened our offices in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur and to meet the unprecedented demand for our services, we are delighted that we are now able to offer to the full range of Silver Trak solutions to all customers across New Zealand from our Auckland office.” Christiansen says the main services offered from the NZ office will be digital cinema mastering and management, including duplicating and distributing content via hard drives or IP delivery to NZ cinemas, working with DAMsmart to provide digitisation services and Media Room to provide advanced asset management services to the NZ market. The NZ office will also be a hub for technical assessment QC for SD, HD and 4K SDR/HDR content, preparation and packaging services for OTT and broadcast, general broadcast services and a variety of audio services. Heading up the newly-established Auckland office is industry veteran and technology specialist General Manager David Elder. Elder brings with him over thirty-two years’ executive leadership and senior management experience, reporting at CEO and director level and leading diverse teams in 24/7 mission critical operations. He has held roles as principal of DECompl3x, Head of Business and Product Development at MediaHub Australia, On Air Services Executive and Head of Presentation and Programme Traffic at SKY TV NZ, and Head of Presentation at TV3 in NZ.
“With New Zealand’s success in suppressing spread of the COVID-19 virus, many areas of content production and distribution have rebounded more quickly than in other territories.
The Silver Trak NZ GM role sees Elder actively pursuing new business opportunities for the company whilst simultaneously implementing business growth strategies throughout the region. He will develop and manage customer relationships with new and existing clients and oversee all required business operations. Elder will also manage all Silver Trak NZ personnel to ensure that they are able to give the company’s clients the very best possible service and solutions.
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
According to Elder, “The New Zealand media industry is going through a massive change and restructure at the moment, with almost every broadcaster looking at significant change currently. TV3 up for sale, Sky TV is doing a massive restructure, TVNZ and Radio New Zealand are being looked at by the Government at the moment, and the Maori Media is also being examined, so there is massive change happening in the industry currently.
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“Silver Trak is in obviously an awesome position now to step in and help in that industry. We’re ideally suited for what’s going on. We’re available. We have a massive range of products that look like they will certainly be needed going forward. “Basically, we’re offering the full range of services that we currently offer in Australia and Malaysia. For some of those services we would be operating directly out of New Zealand, and some of them we would be simply providing a portal into the already-built infrastructure that exists for Silver Trak.”
Part of that infrastructure is Silver Trak’s recently expanded MediaTrak workflow management solution. MediaTrak collects a range of information for Silver Trak and turns it into a day to day manager for staff and equipment resources, client portal for complete visibility as well a database of IP for the services that Silver Trak has to offer. Its cloud-based, web interface allows clients to place an order for any number of services, track the order’s progress and watch it be delivered to a variety of broadcast and distribution outputs. MediaTrak works in parallel to Silver Trak’s Media Room, an advanced asset management solution available as a SaaS platform, to ensure every piece of content including film, TV and music masters, trailers, graphics, photos, metadata, captioning, subtitles and audio streams are digitally archived in one place keeping tracking and access simple and secure.
“The New Zealand media industry is going through a massive change and restructure at the moment, with almost every broadcaster looking at significant change currently.
With New Zealand’s success in suppressing spread of the COVID-19 virus, many areas of content production and distribution have rebounded more quickly than in other territories. According to David Elder, this will provide further impetus to the new office. “Cinemas are all open here now,” he says. “I got an email that the only cinema in Reefton, which is pretty much the middle of the southern alps, desperately needed a copy of Trolls and so, us being us, we went the extra mile. So, the first thing we did was got one [copy] into the couriers for them, but the second thing we did was started ringing around all the other cinemas within 200km of them and started trying to source a copy for them to get it to them faster than we could get the courier there, and succeeded. We’ve done it a few times now. When somebody wants something really last minute, we’re in the position that we’ll just make it happen.” And in the case of sporting clubs and the content they produce, Elder says, “At this point, they’re back up and running, everything’s coming together. Now the Aotearoa Super Rugby is in process. Even small club games, everything is as normal here now. In terms of Silver Trak’s relationship with them, they’ll be hearing from me in the near future. They’re definitely people I think we can do a phenomenal amount of work for and make their lives so much easier. The systems that are onboard at Silver Trak and are now coming onboard at Silver Trak should make life far, far more pleasant for anybody with an archive. “Digitisation of archives is a huge, huge opportunity for Silver Trak and for DAMsmart because Joe Kelly and those guys are the experts in it, and have a phenomenal reputation, so I’m sure that’s something else that I’m definitely going to be pursuing here.” David Elder can be contacted at Silver Trak’s New Zealand office by visiting 3D Delta Avenue, New Lynn, Auckland, 0600, New Zealand, emailing david@silvertrak.co.nz and by calling +64 21 025 00969.
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
AI Workflows Portal from Digital Nirvana
“The promise of AI and ML is being touted throughout the media industry, and these technologies do offer powerful potential for new efficiencies, time savings, and expanded potential for monetising valuable content. But AI and ML tools need to be accessible and easy to apply in order to see widespread adoption in the media industry,” said Russell Wise, Senior Vice President at Digital Nirvana. “That’s exactly what we’ve done with MediaServicesIQ. We’ve created a set of core AI capabilities and made them available in a layer that can be easily accessed by newsrooms, live sports and entertainment productions, post houses, and other media operations to expedite critical processes, reduce mundane tasks, and free creative personnel to do their jobs.” Building upon internal custom or industry-standard production and monitoring workflow platforms, MediaServicesIQ provides access to a collection of high-performance AI capabilities in the cloud that encompass speech-to-text, video intelligence, and generation of metadata that can be orchestrated to provide intelligence and actionable insights. These capabilities enable intelligent and immediate logging and feedback of content quality and compliance, better positioning broadcasters to meet regulatory, compliance, and licensing requirements for closed captioning, decency, and advertising monitoring. MediaServicesIQ provides an easy-to-access portal to these services through custom-developed workflows or through seamless access to Digital Nirvana’s range of applications, including MonitorIQ 7.0, MetadatorIQ, and Trance. An integration of the AI microservices with Digital Nirvana’s MonitorIQ 7.0 compliance logging system enables powerful insights and video intelligence
applications, including: • The ability to record, store, and retrieve content for compliance, quality of service, and insights into broadcast content. • Automatic transcription of content from live broadcasts and commercials. • Automated detection of logos, objects, faces, and shots. • Automatic extraction of on-screen text. • The ability to identify ad breaks in logged content. • The ability to identify restricted words or topics in recorded/logged content, as well as the classification of incoming ad material for restricted content. • Generation of automated reports for loudness compliance, QoE, SCTE inserts, and ad detection and identification. • Automatic content classification. • The ability to assess the quality and conformance of captions. MediaServicesIQ integrates with Digital Nirvana’s MetadatorIQ to provide automated metadata creation in preproduction, production, and live content workflows. Optimised for Avid MediaCentral | Production Management assets, MetadatorIQ applies advanced AI- and ML-based content analysis for automatic generation of better-structured, more detailed, and more accurate metadata. Media operations benefit in two key ways – first, with tremendous time savings in up-front metadata generation, and then by giving producers the ability to zero in on the assets they need right away. For automatic closed caption/subtitle generation and closed-caption quality conformance, MediaServicesIQ provides seamless access to Digital Nirvana’s Trance 3.0 toolset. Trance unites cutting-edge STT technology and other AIdriven processes with cloud-based architecture to bring metadata generation and closed captioning into existing operations, enabling media companies to radically reduce the time and cost of delivering accurate, compliant content for publishing worldwide. They also can enrich and classify content, enabling more effective repurposing of media libraries and facilitating more intelligent targeting of advertising spots. Visit https://digital-nirvana.com
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
DIGITAL NIRVANA’S MEDIASERVICESIQ is a suite of cloud-based microservices that leverage advanced AI and machine-learning (ML) capabilities to streamline media production, postproduction, and distribution workflows. MediaServicesIQ provides a comprehensive, one-stop portal by which users can access Digital Nirvana’s high-performance, AI-powered technology solutions: speech-to-text, content classification, closed caption generation and conformance, and a video intelligence engine that can detect ads, logos, objects, and faces.
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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
Arvato Systems Re-launches Vidispine
Samsung 8TB Consumer SSD
ARVATO SYSTEMS HAS ANNOUNCED that it will combine the synergistic product portfolios of its media & entertainment related Arvato Systems and Vidispine businesses, presenting them under a relaunched Vidispine brand. The move will bring the strengths of the two brands together in a more cohesive way, and give customers a clearer understanding of the product offerings.
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. has introduced its second-generation quad-level cell (QLC) flash drive, the 870 QVO SATA SSD, that is setting a new standard for high-capacity consumer storage. Featuring up to eight terabytes (TB), the new SSD delivers an uncompromising mix of speed, storage capacity and reliability for mainstream and professional PC users.
Arvato Systems, the IT specialist within the Bertelsmann Group, acquired media supply chain experts Vidispine in 2017 in order to strengthen the existing link between their complementary solutions and expand into new markets with a combined offering, working together to address the explosion in video content and the growth of cloud-based solutions for media. Behind the newly combined Vidispine brand is a complete ‘content ecosystem’ of the company’s own product portfolio and professional services together with a strong community of partner vendors, consultants and service providers and developers creating solutions for organizations.
In the past, consumers have had to choose between SSDs – which provide superior performance – and HDDs, which traditionally offer greater capacity. Samsung’s 870 QVO SSD, however, is able to reliably offer the best of both worlds, making it an optimal choice for mainstream PC users who prioritize performance and value, as well as for professional users who require high levels of capacity. The 870 QVO offers sequential read and write speeds of up to 560 MB/s and 530 MB/s respectively, with the drive’s Intelligent TurboWrite technology allowing it to maintain peak performance levels using a large variable SLC buffer. The 870 QVO also delivers a 13% improvement in random read speed compared to the 860 QVO, making it ideally suited for everyday computing needs such as multitasking, gaming and web browsing. The renewed Data Migration and Magician 6 softwares provide a host of improved and added features, enabling users to upgrade, manage and optimise their SSDs with greater ease.
The restructured portfolio includes solutions for the broadcast and media & entertainment industry, including enterprise Media Asset Management, Content Planning & Rights Management and Ad Tech, as well as the cross-industry content platform, VidiNet.
In addition to the industry-leading capacity and performance, the 870 QVO provides an exceptional endurance rating of up to 2,880 terabytes written (TBW), or a three-year limited warranty.
Visit www.vidispine.com/vidispine-arvato-systems-unite-strengths
Visit www.samsung.com/ssd
The 870 QVO comes in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB and 8TB models.
NAGRA NexGuard Forensic Watermarking Leverages AWS to Secure Content NAGRA, THE PROVIDER OF content protection and multiscreen television solutions, has announced API integration of NexGuard forensic watermarking technologies into AWS Elemental MediaConvert, a file-based video transcoding service with broadcast-grade features from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The API integration provides content owners, and any third-party working on premium content, with an added layer of security and traceability for their valuable pre-release and early release content workflows, and simplifies the watermarking process for file transcoding and OTT content preparation. NexGuard forensic watermarking for pre-
release, including the recently announced NexGuard ClipMark for short form content, as well as NexGuard Streaming for on-demand OTT content, is available in AWS Elemental MediaConvert, enabling full automation for the watermarking process from the cloud. No extra steps are required to apply forensic watermarking in the transcoding of pre-release content, such as full features, TV series or short clips, or in the preparation of content in the cloud, such as escreeners or direct-to-consumer OTT streaming. The API integration of NexGuard Streaming forensic watermarking with AWS Elemental MediaConvert enables OTT, direct-to-consumer, and video-on-demand platforms to apply a unique and imperceptible watermark per
streaming session, leveraging caching in the content delivery network (CDN) and efficient stream control at the CDN edge. The use cases include tackling theft of premium content such as early-release of movies in some territories, original video-on-demand content, and business-to-business online screening. AWS Elemental MediaConvert is a file-based video transcoding service with broadcastgrade features. It allows content owners, post houses and video platforms to easily create video-on-demand (VOD) content for broadcast and multiscreen delivery at scale. The service combines advanced video and audio capabilities with a simple web services interface. Visit https://dtv.nagra.com
iconik Adds Transcription and Annotation
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
ICONIK HAS ADDED TRANSCRIPTION and draw-on annotation features to the latest version of its cloud-based media management hub. iconik allows organisations to securely manage, edit and share their media remotely, using a single interface for both local and cloudbased assets.
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The transcription feature uses AI to convert audio dialogue to text, and attributes it to a speaker. The transcriptions are displayed as closed captions in the iconik player but are also visible in formats which separate the text by speaker or display individual lines of text against a time code. With the transcription function, users can search through all the spoken dialogue stored in the asset’s metadata. This
enables them to easily search for the best clips of an athlete, actor or location, just from audio mentions. The iconik review and approve function, which enables teams to feedback on projects remotely, has been enhanced. The draw-on annotation feature includes free-line and shape-based drawing tools, a colour chooser and a select and move tool. This enables reviewers to visually manipulate and draw directly onto single frames of video and images. These annotations help the reviewer to quickly clarify any amendments they are requesting. The annotations can be turned on and off when the user previews the content. This helps teams to communicate changes visually, in addition to
time-based comments. The iconik team has also implemented some additional enhancements. Folder uploads allow for many files to be uploaded to iconik at once. Azure Blob Storage support has been added for uploads, downloads and the iconik Storage Gateway (ISG). The cloud scanner in iconik can now support partial scans offering more control over the management of cloud resources. Collections can be transferred while maintaining their directory structure, ensuring consistent asset organisation. Finally, the iconik links have been shortened to streamline the sharing process. Visit https://iconik.io
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
EditShare Straps on MoovIT’s Helmut to Supercharge Adobe Workflows
EDITSHARE AND MOOVIT GMBH have formed a global partnership to transform Adobe enterprise workflows. MoovIT’s Helmut solutions are used by leading broadcasters, newsrooms, sports leagues, corporations and new media organisations for their robust project management and administration, enhancing creative workflows for large distributed Adobe workgroups. The two companies have worked to integrate EditShare’s EFS shared storage solution and FLOW media management with the Helmut suite of products to form a comprehensive project management and remote editing workflow solution for enterprise Adobe workgroups. Scalable to the enterprise level, the EFS, FLOW and Helmut integrated workflow offers a media technology foundation that combines storage, media management, workflow automation, and workgroup management for a proven all-in-one solution. “To succeed in the evolving world of video production, our customers are looking to EditShare to provide open solutions that allow them to rewire their workflows and adapt,” states Tom Rosenstein, Vice President of Business Development, EditShare. “EditShare’s expanded partnership with MoovIT allows us to bring to our Adobe customers a powerful, adaptable set of tools to address those challenges head-on. The Helmut platform coupled with EFS and FLOW, embodies the workflow structure users require. Powerful, yet simple, collaborative Adobe Premiere Pro project management alongside adaptive media production management. It’s the complete package professional editors have been waiting for.” Visit https://editshare.com and https://www.moovit.de
IMT Streamlines Cloud Data Transfers
INTEGRATED MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (IMT) has announced the general availability of SoDA, an enterprise software application that streamlines the process of intelligent data transfers to and from the public cloud. Designed for media and entertainment workflows and other unstructured data environments, SoDA provides predictive, actionable cost and data transfer metrics for optimising on-premise and cloud storage. “SoDA predicts the cost and speed of data movement between on-prem and cloud solutions, giving customers the tools they need to control their spend and understand the time it takes for data movement,” said Greg Holick, vice president of product management for software at IMT. “SoDA data management software gives users unprecedented insight into their total cloud storage spend.” Technologies partners contributing to the platform include Dalet, reachENGINE, IPV and CatDV. SoDA delivers unprecedented simplicity, insight and control, enabling users to manage the operating costs of their storage and cloud services more efficiently. Key SoDA benefits include: • Simplicity. Install and configure in minutes • Unlimited Data Movement. On-prem, hybrid, or cloud movement • Fixed Monthly Rate. SaaS model The launch of SoDA comes as IMT also announces the expansion of its advanced software development division to bring to market innovative software tools and applications that automate and simplify business operations, workflows and hybrid cloud data management. Visit https://cloudsoda.io
GB Labs Strengthens Security for CORE.4 and CORE.4 Lite THE DEVELOPER OF INTELLIGENT storage solutions, GB Labs, has announced that its proprietary CORE.4 and CORE.4 Lite operating systems have been upgraded with additional security benefits designed to augment existing performance, analytic, and real-time data monitoring and display features.
variety of remote locations – including home – and between various platforms, we knew it was important to revisit our operating systems to exploit or improve every aspect of their protective environment.”
“Some of what we have done will mean little to the casual observer, but to everyday users, we have again practically reinvented what is possible to do with a well-designed storage system.”
The CORE.4 UI has been improved with a range of auditing features, both historical and real-time. Data columns can be sorted to indicate how users have interacted with files as well as the type of protocol; login confirmation; shutdown and restart; file transfer status and location details; in addition to report creation and delivery tools. The real-time data is displayed in a timeline along with a pie chart that includes protocol data, all of which can be viewed for detailed analysis of precisely what’s taking place with the data at any time.
Twine said, “Security has always been crucial for protecting valuable assets, and with increasing numbers of people moving files around from a
“It is, of course, common to monitor a system and resolve security problems after the fact, using accumulated data, but what isn’t common
GB Labs’ Chief Product Officer, Howard Twine said, “We have been anything but idle in recent months and have used our time to further improve our already market-leading storage system OS with a range of security enhancements.
is our ability to automatically monitor a system’s data – live – and flag up anything extraordinary. This is highly valuable in showing how people interact with a system and in identifying where any bottlenecks may be, unnecessary downtime is being wasted, or further efficiencies may be found. All of these tools are useful in helping an organisation achieve its aspirations.” Twine added, “The in-built System Security Analyser in CORE.4 and CORE.4 Lite is a tool that actively looks for potential security issues and, if detected, makes appropriate recommendations. The upgraded CORE.4 OS with advanced security is currently being rolled out to existing GB Labs storage system users and will be available in all new systems from August 2020. Visit www.gblabs.com
EcoDigital Launches ECOPro Managed Services for Advanced Media Support
“Knowing how to build workflows efficiently, properly maintain infrastructure, and refine digital asset management strategy can be a challenge,” said Geoff Tognetti, Chief Technology
Officer at EcoDigital. “ECOPro Managed Services are designed to protects users’ digital assets, mitigate risks, reduce operational costs, and increase efficiencies, ultimately simplifying and streamlining digital content management so that users can spend more time on the activities that build their business.” Allowing users to strengthen their technology strategy, increase their operational efficiency, and extend their team’s capabilities, ECOPro Managed Services enable users to get the most out of their DIVA Software Suite. The service also provides cost-effective access to engineers and other subject matter experts who not only assist in optimising storage and workflow, but also help the business grow and evolve its DIVA system. The combination of 24/7 monitoring with proactive
ticket generation and patch installation minimises risk of operational downtime, giving users confidence that the right people always have access to the right assets at the right time. “As they expand their operations, most businesses can’t afford to get bogged down by the details of adding, managing, and training internal IT infrastructure,” added David Gonce, Chief Revenue Officer at EcoDigital. “ECOPro Managed Services allow these businesses to shift from a reactive model to a proactive IT approach that better supports efficient content creation workflows and frees up resources to grow and take advantage of new business opportunities.” Visit www.goecodigital.com
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
ECODIGITAL HAS ANNOUNCED the release of ECOPro Managed Services, a new offering that delivers digital ecosystem management, storage infrastructure optimisation, and workflow improvement for users of the company’s DIVA Software Suite for digital asset management. Through ECOPro Managed Services, a team of highly trained, qualified, and experienced EcoDigital engineers conducts proactive monitoring, reporting, automation, and technology maintenance so that users of DIVA (originally developed by Front Porch Digital) can focus more resources on their core business.
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AUDIO Digital soundwaves
www.content-technology.com/audio
Stage Tec Launches Two-User Operation for AVATUS STAGE TEC HAS INTRODUCED new features with the latest software release 1.12 for the AVATUS IP console. One of the most innovative new features is simultaneous operation of AVATUS with two sound engineers. The virtual division of a console, which can also consist of several physical buckets, is currently offered by no other console on the market. The division takes place in blocks of 12 control strips each, which make up one cassette. Both sound engineers have unlimited and independent access to various functions: They have their own SOLO and PFL functionalities at their disposal, each in its own control room. The global layer switching, function selection and synchronous scrolling of lists (Aux, N-1, groups, EQ bands, …) only affect the respective user area. Even functions such as spill, the temporary link function or Aux-/N-1 to faders (including auto
lists) can be altered independently by both sound engineers. Furthermore, both users can access all audio channels simultaneously and work with the same channels (e.g ambience). With the new software release, AVATUS performance and response times are enhanced significantly. And the talk functionality of the two command paths can now be assigned to any user button. Designed especially for collaboration, AVATUS now offers the possibility of temporarily linking one of the two control rooms to the other at the push of a button. Both control rooms always carry the same monitoring signal, but can be operated independently, and volume, mute functions, DIM, side and polarity swaps are independent. The alternative monitoring function for both
AVATUS control rooms is another new feature. It is possible to switch between two monitoring systems in both control rooms. The cross-points for the outputs of the monitoring systems are stored system-wide and no longer depend on the project. Software release 1.12 for AVATUS is available now. Visit www.stagetec.com
TC electronic Introduces Master X and Brickwall DESIGNED AND ENGINEERED in Denmark, TC Electronic’s MASTER X HD and BRICKWALL HD plug-ins are the ultimate dynamics duo combining unparalleled transparent performance with an easy-to-use interface.
MASTER X HD NATIVE With expansion, compression and limiting separate for each of the three bands, the MASTER X HD is a multi-band dynamics processing plug-in. Designed for use on single sources, buses and master mixes, its combination of software and optional hardware control gives users powerful algorithms combined with the latest in dynamics technology. MASTER X HD delivers studio-grade expansion, compression and limiting separate for each band. The studio-grade algorithms provide ultimate transparency while staying true to the TC Electronic legacy sound and include a built-in soft clipping feature. The MASTER X HD combines technologies from the MASTER X for Pro Tools and the legendary POWERCORE platform with TC Electronic’s latest
dynamics technologies found in the Finalizer application ecosystem. The overall processing characteristics of MASTER X HD are controlled via target curves, i.e. either flat, bass-emphasising, air-adding or the classic smiley curve. These specialised starting points gives users total and easy control via global processing styles for all bands in all algorithm blocks while reducing the number of complex parameters in a similar three-band processor by approximately 2/3.
BRICKWALL HD NATIVE BRICKWALL HD is a true-peak brick wall limiter plug-in. It sports both classic transparent limiting and modern loudness-oriented workflow. Designed to be an ultra-transparent master limiter, BRICKWALL HD protects audio without ever sacrificing sonic impact. Its studio-grade algorithm is built on the foundation of the original Brickwall Limiter from System 6000, BRICKWALL HD lets users increase the apparent loudness of a mix without losing audio quality.
BRICKWALL HD sports a modern take on limiting. The loudness limiter safeguards sonics for easy delivery to streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud and Tidal. Unlike most limiters that stop at 0 DBFS, BRICKWALL HD identifies the inter-sample peaks and eliminates the risk of down-stream audio clipping. The premium ISP limiting algorithm ensures clean and predictable results every time. The adaptive content-optimised limiter profiles guarantee maximum sonic transparency. For hands-on usability and improved workflow, optional USB-powered hardware controller addon’s for MASTER X HD and BRICKWALL HD are available. BRICKWALL HD and MASTER X HD are compatible with all major DAW’s (Standard VST, Audio Units and AAX-Native plug-in processing on Mac and Windows PC) and deliver full support for standard DAW automation and project recall.
As a supplement to the classic, transparent limiter,
Visit www.tcelectronic.com
suite of tools focused on the SuperVP Engine to process complex audio editing tasks that includes full automation of parameters such as: pitch, transposition, time stretching, remix noise, sinus and transient.
• Multi regions editing with cross-fades.
Audio Editor/Time Stretch App IRCAMLAB HAS RELEASED a new version of its flagship TS (Time-Stretch) application, now renamed ‘TS2’. The ircamLAB TS2 application is an audio toolbox application for professionals to edit or transform, time-stretch and manipulate audio files. The new TS2 is now a full mono/stereo audio editor. It can edit any audio regions (copy, cut, paste), transpose, ‘Transient Design’, and offer remix, extensive mastering capabilities and much more with unprecedented accuracy.
AUDIO
TS2 now supports the hosting of third party external VST/AU effects from plug-in manufacturers.
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The new TS2 application is a comprehensive
Post-production professionals, audio engineers, sound designers, musicians and video editors alike can use TS2 to transform recordings into production-ready audio files. New features in the TS2 Audio Editor include: • Full audio editing capabilities. • Copy, cut, paste, loop functions on audio regions.
• Unlimited undo. • Multiple audio files management. • Multiple documents. • Multi ruler control (time, second). • Loop and tempo calculator. • Multi windows and multi-screen visualization. • Real-time sonogram view. • Export of audio and command lines.
• Full Automation over the SuperVP engine.
• Multi-format VST2, VST3 and AU
• Individual volume control with fade in and out.
Visit www.ircamlab.com
AUDIO
Step to the of intercom technology. FreeSpeak Edge works in the 5GHz bandwidthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; beyond what you know about wireless intercom. It extends the entire FreeSpeakâ&#x201E;˘ range, giving you the freedom to think bigger.
www.jands.com.au
AUDIO
Distributed by
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AUDIO
AMS Neve Unveils New 8424 Console FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of the Genesys Black console, British manufacturer AMS Neve has unveiled another classic in the shape of the Neve 8424 – a small format console with a large format sound based on the iconic 80-series console range. The 8424 console is designed to fit the needs of the modern hybrid studio where the speed of in-the-box workflow is enhanced with the ultimate sound quality of analogue outboard gear. Designed to be straightforward and accessible to all, this versatile and powerful desk provides a centralised platform with unparalleled connectivity, facilitating an ergonomic link between the linear analogue processing world of outboard gear, analogue synths and instruments, to the digital world of DAW workflow, software plugins and session recall. Capitalising on Neve’s sixty years of technical heritage and highly revered analogue circuit design, the British-designed 8424 fits perfectly into many different applications. Whether you’re a music producer or an artist with your own project studio, the owner of a small professional recording studio or the person in charge of an educational facility, this compact, budgetconscious desk delivers everything you need to record, mix, monitor and master music quickly, marrying Neve’s revered sonic excellence with the speed and flexibility required for today’s connected workflows. Recording: The 8424’s dual-input channel strip allows for seamless switching between recording and mixing inputs without additional patching. Simple input connectivity via 24 line-level inputs,
dual 1073 preamps, and dual Instrument DI channels makes the 8424 the perfect console for artists to effortlessly connect and record their instruments, and performers can record directly from the control room, taking advantage of the 8424’s dual cue mix system with talkback/return talkback capability and dual headphone amplifiers. Mixing: The 8424 offers the ultimate analogue mixing platform with 24 DAW returns across 24 channel faders or, for larger DAW sessions, a 48Mix mode that allows a total of 48 mono inputs with individual level and pan controls to be mixed through the 8424’s Marinair transformer-coupled stereo mix bus. Engineers can take advantage of the 8424’s mono and stereo aux busses to connect to their favourite outboard FX units and route them back into the console’s two dedicated stereo reverb returns. Four mono groups with 2-band shelving EQ, Inserts, and Direct Outs make this console ideal for stem mixing. The 8424 stereo mix bus gives true voltage mixing into Marinair transformers, as found in the legendary Neve 80-series consoles, while additional features such as Stereo Insert, 2-band shelving EQ and Neve’s proprietary Stereo Width
control give engineers, artists and producers all of the tools they need to create polished, professional recordings. Connecting: Each Channel, Group and Stereo Mix bus has its own switchable insert point, giving a level of connectivity to analogue outboard units only found on large-format consoles. Dual on-board 500 series slots allow engineers to customise their signal chain and build a modular hybrid recording system, all connected and centralised through the 8424 console. The 8424 has an on-board Recall system, which further integrates the console into the modern hybrid studio workflow. This unique feature enables this pure analogue console to save, load, and recall all settings, faders and pot positions for on a session by session basis. With this unrestricted workflow, engineers can take advantage of all analogue features without the added worry of losing console settings and wasting valuable studio time. Visit https://www.ams-neve.com
Dolby Introduces Dolby.io for Developers DOLBY LABORATORIES HAS ANNOUNCED Dolby.io, an API platform that further broadens the opportunities to create in Dolby for the enterprise and application development space. Dolby.io will enable businesses, developers, and content creators to enhance every interaction and every piece of content in order to deliver spectacular communications, collaboration, and audiovisual experiences in their apps and services. Traditionally, businesses and developers outside of the music and entertainment industries often lacked the resources and experience to integrate Dolby’s technologies. Dolby.io changes that through a collection of scalable, easy-to-use interactivity and media processing APIs.
AUDIO
According to Aaron Liao, Vice President, Developer Relations, Dolby. “With Dolby.io, developers can now take the magic Dolby has instilled into billions of devices, thousands of films, billions of conference call minutes, and use it to fuel nearly any real-time interaction or piece of content – all at an accessible and transparent cost, designed to inspire iteration and creativity. The future of experiential media never looked or sounded better.”
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The initially available APIs can analyse and enhance the quality of media content or enable multi-party audio and video communications to
be embedded within an app. Dolby.io will also enable developers to bring Dolby experiences to new industries such as healthcare, distance learning, digital collaboration, online training, podcasting, and social media. The core offerings of Dolby.io include: Interactivity APIs - Keeping people connected effectively, from bridging geographies to working remotely in distributed systems, has never been more critical. Businesses and developers building communications and collaboration into their apps want control over quality and engagement that third-party services often cannot provide. Dolby.io brings all of Dolby’s experience and specialisation in delivering immersive, engaging interactivity and communication to the world of developers without them having to be experts in the underlying technologies. With Dolby.io’s new interactivity APIs, developers can build everything people need to communicate, collaborate, and succeed with powerful tools that map to existing workflows and ensure users are seamlessly engaged, in-app, and in-flow throughout the experience. Powerful cross-platform capabilities such as Spatial Audio, advanced noise reduction, HD Video, broadcasting and screen-sharing can combine to make distance learning, telehealth visits,
training sessions and other live events feel lifelike and familiar, no matter the physical distance separating participants. Media Processing APIs - Today, media is more crucial than ever to the success of businesses, and the proliferation of easily accessible, premium entertainment has dramatically increased consumer expectations for any type of audio or video content. Before today, high quality sound required dedicated resources and potentially entire teams to deliver professional, consistent results that keep pace with customer demand. With Dolby.io, developers and businesses can now analyse and enhance all their media costeffectively and at scale. These new and powerful media processing APIs can reduce background noise and improve dialog levels to increase intelligibility and engagement, in addition to providing quality metrics, audio analytics, and deeper content insights that help any developer, any industry, any size company effectively upgrade and manage media content, at scale. Dolby.io features a free trial for new users that includes 30,000 interactivity minutes and 200 media processing minutes. Beyond the free trial, interactivity APIs will cost USD$0.0045 per participant, per minute, and media processing APIs will cost $0.05 per minute. Visit https://dolby.io
AUDIO
New System T Broadcast Platform from SSL
Neumann Ships V 402 Preamplifier
THE LATEST SYSTEM T BROADCAST platform release from Solid State Logic addresses many of the ongoing IP and security challenges within modern audio production. With expanded AoIP integration providing direct console routing control for ST2110-30 and AES67 streams, and a major embedded operating system upgrade, broadcasters can embrace remote production and increased IP expansion and connectivity with confidence.
GERMAN STUDIO SPECIALIST Neumann.Berlin is shipping the V 402, its new microphone preamplifier with integrated headphone monitoring. The V 402 is Neumann’s first-ever stand-alone microphone preamp – although the company has created several generations of top-quality preamp modules for its mixing consoles, such as the now legendary V 476 B of the 1980s. Like its predecessors, the V 402 preamplifier is conceived as the perfect complement to all Neumann and other high-class studio microphones.
Tom Knowles, SSL Broadcast product manager, comments “System T provides the most advanced AoIP integration of any audio console, supporting Dante, AES67 and ST 2110 on the same hardware interfaces, with full discovery and dynamic routing of any Dante enabled devices directly from the console GUI. Our latest V3.0 release further enhances true IP integration with visibility and routing of ST 2110-30 or AES67 RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) streams from the console GUI. With this new level of management and control, the System T console becomes your routing control system for AoIP of any variety”. SSL has updated the embedded operating system on System T, future proofing ongoing investment and keeping production facilities secure. With the migration to Windows 10 Embedded, broadcasters get significant advantages of reduced development cycles and advanced feature deployment. With additional support for TeamViewer, consoles can also now be remotely accessed, enabling remote support, configuration, and ‘at home’ control with a standard internet connection.
The V 402 is a dual channel microphone preamplifier carefully designed to maintain the sonic integrity of the original signal. Its unique transformerless circuitry amplifies the microphone signal without unwanted coloration or sonic artifacts, such as noise and distortion. While this is also often claimed for simple preamps such as those in audio interfaces, the V 402 is built to much higher standards. The V 402 is equipped with a studio grade headphone amplifier ensuring uncompromised monitoring quality at the recording stage. Independent volume controls for each channel allow to dial in a latency-free monitoring mix without affecting the recorded signal. The V 402 is characterised by exacting attention to every detail. For example, the DI input is also designed for sonic purity. Its novel highimpedance input stage captures the sound of electric guitars and basses as well as other instruments with no loss of detail and free from audible noise. Its switchable high pass removes rumble and pops very effectively without signal degradation.
Further client requested feature updates include enhancements to System T’s onboard Effects Rack with a new reverb with degenerative noise controls, a 10-band parametric EQ with FFT overlay, plus a complete overhaul of channel and bus path presets.
A 20-dB pad allows the V 402 to be used with high-level sources up to 28 dBu without distortion.
Visit www.solidstatelogic.com
Visit https://en-de.neumann.com/
The V 402 comes in a 2U 19” rack enclosure measuring 89 mm x 483 mm x 242 mm.
AUDIO
This latest release provides new functionality across the whole System T console range including the S500, S500m, S300 and TCR, and builds on previous enhancements including NGA and immersive audio, and DAW and dynamic automation aimed at entertainment programming and events.
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RADIO The original broadcast media
www.content-technology.com/radio
Instantly Change Your Studio Setting IMAGINE YOUR MORNING talent broadcasting from the beach, while your afternoon crew airs live from a ski resort ⎯ or from anywhere else. This is now possible thanks to multiCAM BACKDROP!
Through Augmented Reality, BACKDROP lets you transport your presenters anywhere without them ever leaving the studio. It lets you create lively animation that’ll engage your audience and differentiate you from your competition. BACKDROP projects 3D images onto your screens, creating an immersive experience and transporting your guests at the snap of a finger.
The system comes with easily customizable templates to get you started. You can also order specific graphics depending on your needs. Powered by DreamCorp, BACKDROP synchronizes with your MULTICAM system. When used in combination with multiCAM RADIO, the system’s playout drives visuals and scenery details in real time, providing information such as music details, social network messages, weather, etc. You can remotely control BACKDROP via StreamDeck, an iPad or a web page, for example, to change your virtual background with one simple button. Easily brand your studio, station
Ad Agencies to Pilot RadioMATRIX World-First Virtual Workspace
Visit http://www.multicam-systems.com/
SCA Launches Research & Insights Division
SCA HAS ANNOUNCED that its Research & Insights and Strategy & Insights divisions have come together to form SCA iQ, one of Australia’s largest media research and insights offerings.
Nineteen agencies will participate in the pilot program, which provides them with a single interface to connect with 370 radio stations and collaborate on media campaigns in real-time, from any location.
SCA iQ fuses the research, insights and strategy functions together, to better power insightful solutions for SCA’s Sales and Content teams and advertising partners and is underpinned by a suite of unique tools.
“We are replacing the traditional manual and email-based approach with a virtual workspace that meets media buyers’ evolving needs. Online collaboration will become an increasingly important feature of the future workplace, and this has only been accelerated by the emergence of COVID-19 and the need to leverage technology to work securely, remotely and effectively across borders.” The agencies participating in the initiative are Carat, Dentsu, Havas Media, Ikon Communications, Initiative, MagnaGlobal, Mediacom, Mindshare, OMD, Orion, PHD, Rufus, Spark Foundry, Starcom, The Media Store, UM, Wavemaker and Zenith. Media buyers will have access to purpose-built tools to create and send out briefs, receive proposals from networks and undertake modelling. The cloudbased solution will be powered by GfK radio surveys data so agencies can check audience reach, frequency and cost against real-time availability. Jo Dick, Head of Partnerships, Outdoor and Audio at Omnicon, said: “As a major user of radio, Omnicon agencies are delighted to contribute to the pilot program because the real-time tools and insights that RadioMATRIX will bring will be enormously beneficial to facilitating a more streamlined briefing process.” Jenny Rowsell, Business Systems Director at Publicis Media, said: “Publicis are very pleased to have the opportunity to be part of the pilot. The introduction of holdings was a major first step and now the development of the platform will be hugely beneficial to our buyers. Exciting times ahead!” The first phase of RadioMATRIX was launched in October 2017 and digitised and streamlined the management of ad bookings. The platform is currently being used by 200 media agencies and has processed more than 1.5 billion items of radio inventory. RadioMATRIX is being developed by AudioNET, with the virtual workspace, briefings and proposals module scheduled for completion in October. Dave Cox, chief executive officer of AudioNET, said: “We believe RadioMATRIX will be the first whole-of-media sector briefing and buying platform in the world and we are delighted to work with agencies and the radio broadcasting industry to build a solution that is attractive, easy to use and meets the needs of the market into the future.”
RADIO
Check out the video here: https://bit.ly/2YVMByU
AUSTRALIAN RADIO BROADCASTERS are working with major media agencies on the development of a world-leading virtual workspace that will be a key component of the industry-wide ad buying platform, RadioMATRIX.
“We are excited to start work with agencies on the next phase of RadioMATRIX, which will transform the audio buying process and make it much easier for advertisers to invest in radio and podcast advertising,” Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner said.
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and shows, bringing visual radio to a whole new level.
Visit www.commercialradio.com.au
SCA iQ houses the Asia Pacific’s largest entertainment insight community with more than 300,000 members in metro and regional areas providing first party data that is a clear point of difference in market and gives SCA’s audience a voice at the table for both content and sales decisions. The community also offers behavioural insights to help shape insight-led content strategies and partner solutions by The Studio at SCA, along with demonstrating ROI and brand perception measures for advertisers. SCA is the only media owner to invest in all three Nielsen tools at SCA iQ, including Commspoint Journey, Commspoint Influence and Consumer & Media View (CMV). Combined with SCA’s first party data, these tools enable SCA iQ to plan and pressure test solutions across the most effective channels to influence consumers at different stages of the path to purchase. Abi Wallis is National Head of Strategy & Insights for SCA iQ, leading the Strategy & Insights team to deliver effective solutions for advertising partners, utilising SCA’s suite of local and national platforms. Working alongside Wallis and reporting to SCA iQ Head of Research and Insights John Musgrove, is Jasmine Beech as Head of Sales Research and Insights. Beech ensures the SCA iQ team has a comprehensive understanding of the latest consumer behaviour and attitude insights to develop solutions that engage brands and their target audiences. SCA National Head of Radio Sales, Nikki Rooke, said: “We engage with 95% of Australians every day and we want to continue to deliver value to our audience and our advertising partners. Bringing our research and strategy insights teams together to form SCA iQ propels our content and sales insights to a new level, especially as the way audio is consumed changes and areas such as live streaming, podcasting and on demand grow exponentially. Our insight communities sit within the centre of the business and it’s those insights that drive the business and our client solutions forward.” Visit www.sca.com.au/
RADIO
RADIO
info_asia@digigram.com
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RADIO
Wheatstone Remote Mixing App WHEATSTONE’S REMIX is a remote mixing application that can be installed on a Windows PC or tablet for home access to a studio’s WheatNet-IP audio network. A software extension of the WheatNet-IP audio network, ReMIX provides an affordable, quick alternative to a physical home studio for remote broadcasting and voicetracking by remotely accessing existing equipment at the station. With ReMIX on a home laptop or tablet, an existing WheatNet-IP audio network at the studio and an internet connection between the two, all facility resources such
as codecs, hybrids, and playout systems, are remotely available to the home studio. ReMIX allows talent in home studios or other remote locations to access station sources and codecs, turn channels on or off, control levels, advance to the next track in the automation system and build mixes on the fly through one standalone mixing application. The application can be installed on a Windows desktop, laptop or tablet in a home or remote studio or on a station PC that can be accessed by talent remotely through a secure VPN.
ReMIX provides a direct UI to the utility mixers found in the I/O BLADEs that make up the WheatNet-IP audio network. Each I/O BLADE includes two built-in 8×2 stereo mixers, the inputs and output busses of which are available as resources on the network. Utility mixers are unique to WheatNet-IP and accessible anywhere in the audio network for simple functions such as summing, splitting, and level adjustment, performing crossfades and segues between sources, as well as creating custom mixes or intercom systems. I/O BLADEs also include Wheatstone ACI (Automation
Control Interface) for third party control of automation systems and other Wheatstone partners’ gear and can be used for functions such as routing, ducking, panning, logic control, mixing and silence detection. WheatNet-IP is a complete IP audio network ecosystem of consoles, talent stations, I/O units, accessories and virtual tools. Its gigabit Ethernet architecture provides online mixing and processing, scripting tools, audio drivers, and more. Visit www.wheatstone.com
New Features for Lawo Radio Products LAWO HAS RELEASED new software with additional options, functionality and security features for its line of radio mixing consoles, RAVENNA/AES67 mixing engines, and VisTool GUI Builder software. The first major feature introduced with Radio Software v6.6 is a new license package for Lawo’s versatile Power Core DSP mixing/ routing engine: Power Core EDGE. This license provides an entry-level configuration designed specifically for deployment as a high-capacity audio gateway, where mixing surface control is not required. It’s suitable for NOC and TOC installations where plenty of audio ingest is needed, or for large-scale conversion of legacy baseband signals to AES67 networking. The Power Core EDGE license supports 2 MADI interfaces with 128 audio channels, and up to 64 RAVENNA/AES67 streams with a maximum channel count of 128. There’s a 1,280 x 1,280 routing matrix, and the ability to expand
with up to 8 rear-panel I/O cards. Power Core EDGE can be controlled with the Lawo VisTool user interface application, which supports as many as 128 patchable audio PPM and / or loudness meters onscreen. It can also be controlled with KSC control panels, and the EMBER+ network protocol. Additional feature extensions for Power Core include: • An 8x8 GPIO add-on package for the EDGE and SAN (Super Audio Node) licenses, • An add-on with 64 Mini-Mixers and selectable talkback inputs for the SAN, Console L, Console XL and MAX licenses, • A N-1 (Mix-Minus) add-on with 64 return feeds for the SAN, Console L, Console XL and MAX licenses, and • A Loopback add-on for EDGE, SAN, L, XL and MAX licenses which provides 128 loopbacks per free 8 channel I/O slot. v6.6 software adds several new
security features to Power Core to help keep intruders out, such as an EMBER+ whitelist to allow connections only from authorized sources, an option to limit control data to specific interfaces, upgraded protection against Denial of Service data flows on the network, SSL support for remote access, and enhanced network traffic logging for inspection and debugging operations. Other notable new features include: • “Make before break” functionality for RAVENNA/AES67 stream switching, helping to eliminate audio interruptions during live switching of network audio streams. • Improved snapshot timing and load speed in Power Core • Integration of De-essing and AutoMix functions within the main DSP structure, allowing these features to be accessed alongside other audio shaping tools such as EQ, limiting and compression.
Manage Radio and Digital Ad Campaigns Simultaneously
RADIO
MARKETRON, A DEVELOPER OF enterprise revenue management and digital software solutions, has introduced Marketron NXT – an allin-one platform that enables radio broadcasters to increase revenue and amplify their existing advertising programs by selling third-party digital advertising. According to Marketron, this “first and only digital advertising platform built specifically for radio”, Marketron NXT provides a single software solution for managing integrated radio and digital campaigns from proposal to invoice.
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Marketron NXT streamlines the process of enabling a broadcast organisation to expand its offering to a full, cross-media suite of ad services. NXT consolidates all major digital categories into a single system that includes capabilities for proposal creation, order entry, execution of radio and digital, campaign reports and invoicing. In the past, each proposal had to be built from
scratch and insertion orders had to be created for multiple platforms, leading to delays and possible errors. Reporting was inadequate for digital tactics, and business offices often struggled to create workflows that could account for all revenue streams and show accurate reporting and margins. Marketron NXT addresses these challenges with an easy-to-use proposal creation tool that gives broadcast sales representatives access to premium, third-party digital inventory. Within a single platform, sales teams are able to package all products and multiple tactics — air time, third-party digital display ads, non-spot revenue, O&O digital, sponsorships and more – into a single proposal with consolidated order entry, full invoicing and reporting. Sales reps are able to add creative to campaigns and convert proposals to insertion orders. Integrated reporting allows them
• Power Core support for the newly-released AES-3id I/O card, with 4 unbalanced digital stereo inputs and outputs using HD-BNC connectors. Radio v6.6 software is applicable to the entire range of Lawo radio products, including ruby, sapphire, sapphire compact, crystal and crystalCLEAR mixing consoles, Power Core, Nova17 MK2 and Nova 29 engines, VisTool MK2 GUI Builder software, and the On-Air Designer console customisation tool. Visit www.lawo.com
to report back to advertisers on success or identify areas that need adjustment mid-campaign in order to maximise results. Marketron NXT also includes training and support for salespeople on how to sell digital products and how they can help advertisers effectively use digital tactics to meet their goals. Marketron also offers creative services to assist broadcasters with the creation of digital ad assets. Tailormade for radio broadcasters, Marketron NXT is a cloud-based software platform that requires no on-premise equipment or servers. For current customers, Marketron NXT becomes a seamless component in their existing Marketron technology stack. Marketron NXT is now available in beta and will be available for wide release in the fourth quarter. Visit https://www.marketron.com
RADIO
Digigram Launches IQOYA CONNECT for Remote Broadcasting
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DIGIGRAM HAS RELEASED its newest addition to the ONE IP audio solution: IQOYA CONNECT, a cloud-based service and platform that provides a flawless, secure, reliable and intuitive connection for both technicians and journalists, each operating at one end of the broadcasting chain. “Because we have extensive experience in the Broadcast industry, we have observed that achieving a seamless remote show is often complex, as it requires both a technician and a journalist to set codecs parameters. Sometimes this happens just minutes before going live,” says Xavier Allanic, Digigram’s VP Sales. On the journalist’s end, IQOYA CONNECT features a unified web platform where the user’s custom profiles and audio settings are saved, offering unmatched autonomy and flexibility in live situations whatever the device used. Through a two-step process (log on to the platform, press the “live” button), media professionals can immediately go live. IQOYA CONNECT overcomes technical issues journalists might face while attending live shows, working on street interviews or performing sport commentaries.
Designed for technicians, the “codec fleet” monitoring page of Digigram’s IQOYA CONNECT. A “users” monitoring page is also available for journalists and producers.
On the technician’s end, IQOYA CONNECT has a global monitoring interface that enables real-time monitoring of the codec fleet on one screen, whether from the studio or from remote locations, as well as direct access to devices on the field if required. Programming portable codecs, or providing live support to journalists is more flexible and effective than ever.
professionals’ daily experience while offering more flexibility, security and
“When designing IQOYA CONNECT, our goal was to simplify the audio
Visit https://iqoya-connect.digigram.com
efficiency. This new service is a natural addition to the IQOYA product range, and it makes the traditional remote broadcasting obstacles ancient history,” says Allanic.
New DAB+ Pro Range Chips and Modules from Frontier FRONTIER SMART TECHNOLOGIES has launched a new Pro range of chips and modules with enhanced memory, allowing audio brands to “create the most feature rich and advanced digital radios in the market”. The software for the Pro product range (DAB 7 SDK), supports the following features: • Premium colour UI – Create a premium user experience with beautiful high contrast colour interface. Fully customisable. Integrated support for 2.4 - 3.5 inch colour TFT, OLED, and LCD displays. • Multiple slideshow format – Delight users
with support for broadcaster’s slideshows in both PNG and JPG format. • Store demo mode – Design eye capturing store demo with custom slideshow, which can be easily enabled / disabled. Easy way to inform users on key features of the product. • Multiple clock face - Supply up to four high quality clock faces, that can be configured by the user. • Multiple theme selection – Empower users with up to six themes, allowing the user to configure the look and feel of the radio.
• Night mode – Create great bedside products with dimmable back lights and soft colour scheme to allow users to sleep close to the radio. In addition to fully configurable clocks, alarms, and timers. • ActiveScan technology – Improve user experience by ensuring that radio station pre-sets and station list is always up to date. ActiveScan technology continuously monitors air waves and updates the station list. This feature will also be made available on Siena (standard) modules. Visit https://www.frontiersmart.com
Telos Updates Omnia VOLT Audio Processor It’s been nearly three years since Telos Alliance introduced Omnia VOLT, the successor to the best-selling processor of all time, Omnia ONE. Omnia fans have put more than 2,200 VOLTS on the air around the world. Customer feedback since the product’s introduction served as the inspiration for version 2.0. Highlights include: Reimagined Factory Presets – When VOLT was created, the goal was for it to be fast and easy to set up, with minimal adjustments needed to get the right sound dialed in. The QuickTweak adjustment feature was Omnia’s solution. The company has completely revamped Omnia VOLT’s FM factory preset list, carefully revising nearly a dozen of the most popular original presets to make them sound smoother and more open, but with no significant loss in loudness. Eight brand-new FM presets have also been added. Preset offerings have been
expanded and refined for HD/DAB and AM versions as well. Improved ITU-R BS.412 Performance – Customers in countries requiring the use of BS.412 power limiting will find sonic improvements in the FM version of VOLT 2.0, with nine revised or brand-new dedicated factory BS.412 presets. These presets make the most of the allotted deviation without the audible artifacts sometimes heard with BS.412 limiters. VOLT’s FM interface has been revised with the integration of a new BS.412 Drive control to help customers more easily tune how hard to lean on the BS.412 limiter.
multiple Omnia VOLTs on their network and prefer to use a single external IP address can now assign a unique port for each VOLT and take advantage of the security benefits and conveniences of port forwarding.
SNMP for All Configurations – Telos Alliance introduced SNMP for the FM version of VOLT in the last update (v1.3). VOLT 2.0 brings SNMP to the HD Pro, AM, and SG versions as well.
Since the product was launched, VOLT has allowed a single 1RU hardware platform to serve as a processor for FM, HD/DAB, streaming, AM, or as a standalone stereo generator via free firmware packages. This built-in flexibility means there’s a VOLT 2.0 update for every VOLT configuration, and software downloads are available now on Telos Alliance’s VOLT 2.0 Page.
Port Forwarding – Customers who have
Visit https://www.telosalliance.com
RADIO
TELOS ALLIANCE HAS ANNOUNCED the free v2.0 update for its broadcast audio processor, Omnia VOLT.
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www.content-technology.com/transmission
MediaHub Australia Provides Key Playout Services for PacificAus TV PACIFICAUS TV IS A PROGRAM of the Australian Government that complements a range of initiatives to enhance Australia’s engagement in the Pacific. Free TV Australia was selected to work with Australian commercial free-to-air television networks and Pacific Partner Broadcasters to supply premium Australian content across the Pacific. The initiative enables additional Australian content to be provided to existing Pacific broadcasters for them to broadcast within their programme schedules. After a comprehensive RFP the winner of the end to end managed services and playout tender for PacificAus TV was MediaHub Australia.
The objective of the PacificAus TV initiative is to make the broadcast rights to a variety of Australian television programmes available to Pacific broadcast partners in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru. This includes 1,000 hours of content per year for three years including lifestyle programmes, factual programmes, children’s programmes, drama, reality TV and sport. MediaHub CEO Alan Sweeney explained, “Free TV released an RFP to the greater broadcast industry and MediaHub Australia won the tender process. This means we now supply content acquisition, aggregation, playout and distribution services in order to deliver the 1000 hours of content per year to nine Pacific island nations at a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 99.99%. The core requirement is to provide the functionality to receive content from the commercial metropolitan networks, various production companies and sporting organisations such as the AFL and NRL. We also aggregate this content to playout 5 to 7 hours per day and uplink that content to the Intelsat 19 satellite. All of the content is transcoded and uploaded to the MediaHub ExchangeHub portal for the Pacific Island broadcasters to download the programs as VOD assets.”
The PacificAus TV website portal.
Once the RFP and contract stages were completed, the timeline for on-air was very tight. That said, by using their significant expertise and knowledgebase in the areas of channel management and playout, MediaHub was able to have the PacificAus TV service operational in just six weeks. Free TV’s Shane Wood said, “It was impressive to see the MediaHub team deliver this project so quickly and with such a great degree of flexibility and agility whilst working collaboratively with Free TV, STS, the Australian commercial FTA broadcasters and the partner Pacific broadcasters.” MediaHub’s suite of end to end Managed Services fulfill all of the PacificAus TV broadcast requirements including content aggregation, programme preparation and media management, presentation playout, satellite delivery, transcoding, compliance recording and even the creation of a web portal service for the Pacific Island Broadcasters to download content from. Sweeney added, “We furthered our partnership with Sydney Teleport Services (STS) to provide the satellite delivery of PacificAus TV to the Pacific Island Broadcasters. By using MediaHub’s patented, fully redundant, low latency-high capacity video and data services network, FibreHub, we connect the MediaHub playout centre to the STS uplink earth station which then manages the encoding, satellite uplink, encryption and transponder space.” Since the PacificAus TV initiative went live MediaHub has ingested, added metadata to and QCd over 1500 programmes and over 1000 hours of content from multiple providers into the MediaHub MAM system in under four weeks. Visit www.pacificaustv.com and www.mediahubaustralia.com.au
Optus to Launch “Game-Changing” Satellite, Signs Sky NZ OPTUS HAS ANNOUNCED what it describes as “a giant leap in its satellite business” with the confirmation of a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for a new, OneSat software-defined satellite, Optus 11, to be deployed for Australia and New Zealand in 2023 at the current Optus D1 orbital location of 160°East. Optus has also entered into a revised agreement with Sky New Zealand which will be the cornerstone customer leveraging the new satellite. Optus will be the first satellite operator in Asia Pacific to launch a softwaredefined satellite that can provide both flexible concurrent broadcast and broadband services via a very high throughput satellite (VHTS) design.
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The satellite is fully configurable in space, meaning its location, coverage, bandwidth and capacity can be changed in orbit as customer demands evolve – where traditional satellites are limited by on-ground configurations that cannot be altered after launch.
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Optus Managing Director, Wholesale, Satellite and Strategy, Ben White said: “Optus 11’s software-defined technology marks a paradigm shift in how satellite communication will be delivered across Australia and New Zealand and it will offer unparalleled flexibility for our satellite customers. The ability to re-configure payloads in-orbit is a game-changer. It allows us to adapt to shifting business landscapes and tailor the delivery of services and capacity through dynamic beam-forming technologies. “Optus 11 will add capacity and resilience to our satellite fleet and its unique capabilities will give our broadcast customers the option to tailor their
dynamic video delivery via IP streaming, and our broadband customers can benefit from better performance and higher individual throughputs.” Sitting 36,000km above Earth, Optus 11 will also able to host a satellitebased augmentation system (SBAS) payload – which has the ability to greatly enhance the accuracy and precision of existing GPS and positioning systems across the ANZ region and pinpoint a location to within a decimetre, without the need for mobile or internet coverage. Optus 11 will join five other Optus satellites in orbit and expands Optus’ geo-stationary satellite fleet to become the largest in the company’s and Australia’s history. Optus will also be the first operator in the world to utilise the Ku band (11-14GHz) spectrum for the software defined VHTS in both broadcast and broadband services. Optus 11 will also provide greater coverage than its previous satellites, with a reach from Antarctica to the Cocos Islands and covering a vast majority of the Pacific region. Sky NZ has agreed to a revised contract with Optus that delivers satellite capability for the next ten years, with the ability to flex the transponder capacity taken by Sky over the term of the arrangement with corresponding cost savings, and new functionality. The revised contract maintains the benefits of the existing arrangement including the ability to sub-licence capacity, particularly to free-to-air channels, and to access the D3 satellite to provide redundancy during the remainder of its service life. Visit www.optus.com.au and www.sky.co.nz
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PACKET BURSTS ENENSYS TECHNOLOGIES has delivered more than 50 of its ASIIPGuard switch products to BAI Communications for use within its DTT distribution network in Australia. The products have been supplied through Magna Systems & Engineering, after testing by BAI Communications’ project team.
With Oovvuu’s proprietary AI video matching technology, they will now be able to match video to their articles and increase their revenue from online adverts by an estimated 13 times what they could do with article adverts alone. Visit
The ASIIGuard switches will be used for switching between main and backup links in the transmitter distribution network. ASIIPGuard is an autonomous switch, offering 2:1 and 3:1 switching with options for seamless TS switching as well as IP input and output.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE AUSTRALIAN Federal Government will provide Melbourne and Adelaide community television stations, C31 and C44, with a final 12-month extension of their television licences to assist them in finalising the transition to digital delivery of their services. Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said the Government agreed to the extension following receipt of written undertakings from C31 and C44 that they will make the transition by 30 June 2021, and in C31’s case, with financial support secured from the Victorian Government. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SEVEN WEST MEDIA has enhanced its audience intelligence offering for advertisers thanks to a new partnership with Australian mobile location intelligence platform, LANDMARKS ID. LANDMARKS ID enables SWM to integrate its technology directly into the 7plus app to understand users’ ‘real world’ behaviours, brand affinities and more importantly, where they spend their time. SWM has created a ‘point of interest’ (POI) network which includes all key advertisers’ locations or points of distribution via use of a ‘geo-fence’ network. These also include significant landmarks like sports stadiums, train stations, airports, shopping centres, and more. Visit www.sevenwestmedia.com.au and www.landmarksid.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AUSTRALIAN STARTUP Oovvuu has been selected as the global video technology partner of WordPress VIP. Major publishers on the platform include The New York Post and Wall Street Journal, Quartz, TechCrunch, USA Today Sports Media, Medias News Group, Penske (publisher of Rolling Stone, Variety and The Robb Report), TV network Nexstar.
AUSTRALIAN TELCO TELSTRA is planning to expand its network infrastructure in the U.S. by increasing bandwidth capacity on its transPacific subsea cables; opening two new pointsof-presence (PoPs) in the region; and upgrading many of its in-country circuits to enhance network resiliency and diversity. The company will: Increase bandwidth by more than 1.5 terabytes in the next six months; Open PoPs in in Hillsboro, Oregon and Los Angeles, California; and Upgrade in-country circuits, from bundles of 10G transit services to 100G. The addition of 1.5 terabytes of capacity on multiple subsea cables from U.S. West Coast to Asia-Pacific is a response to demand from Telstra’s U.S.-based customers and partners needing to carry data, content, and IP to and from Asia. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Telstra has seen up to a 35 percent increase in traffic on its international network as well as a shift from 10G to 100G services on its trans-Pacific subsea cables. This is driven mostly by content providers, content delivery networks, and growing requirements from a range of businesses to support video, gaming, productivity, and enterprise apps. Visit www.telstra.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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infrastructure specialists
The transition from traditional baseband video infrastructure to an all IP media infrastructure brings many challenges to media companies. It’s important to partner with a company that prides itself on representing the best-of-breed media entertainment technology manufacturers and thoroughly understands the workflow requirements for the efficient creation and distribution of rich content.
AUSTRALIA-BASED SATELLITE services provider, Av-Comm, is acquiring STEP Electronics from Hills Industries (ASX:HIL). STEP Electronics is a provider of a wide range of satellite communications systems, equipment and services within the Australian and South Pacific regions. STEP Electronics will become a division of Av-Comm. The acquisition will complement and extend Av-Comm’s current business by expanding key strategic verticals in Government and Defence business. Visit www.avcomm.com.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AMC NETWORKS’ SHUDDER has announced that its premium subscription streaming service for horror, thriller, and the supernatural is now available in Australia and New Zealand, expanding a global footprint that already encompasses North America and Europe Shudder is available in ANZ on the web, iOS, Apple TV, Android and Android TV, and also FireTV in Australia. Plans start at AUD$5.83 and NZD$6.67. Visit www.shudder.com
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Visit www.magnasys.tv
https://oovvuu.com
secure innovation sales@magnasys.tv www.magnasys.tv
Australia | Hong Kong | Indonesia | New Zealand | Singapore
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Embrionix and the Riedel Connection C+T Talks to I/O pioneer Renaud Lavoie, founder of Embrionix, now part of Riedel. LAUNCHED JUST OVER TEN YEARS AGO, Canadian company Embrionix was formed with the goal of making the lives of manufacturers and users easier by allowing them to use different types of I/O - be it co-ax, fibre or HDMI - with the same product using the concept of SFP (small form-factor pluggable) devices from the world of datacoms. Over a ten-year period, Embrionix shipped around 700,000 SFPs in the SDI world alone, to a mix of OEM and end-user users. As the broadcast world started to embrace IP standards, the company found its use of the SFP format perfect for the world of gateways and switches. According to Embrionix Founder Renaud Lavoie, “We were really ahead of the curve for that and we wanted to really differentiate ourselves by doing a miniature, if you want, gateway. You can compare us to, instead of having a big card and frame, we created a gateway that was the size of your thumb and this thumb can fit directly in a switch so you avoid all power supplies and failure block. We were really successful.” The company was so successful, in fact, that in November 2019, it was acquired by comms and networking innovator Riedel, a longtime Embrionix OEM customer, to form a North American development hub for the company.
What was the compelling reason for the acquisition? What made sense? Renaud Lavoie: “We wanted to bring more value to, let’s say, a ‘big brother’, and the big brother of the best fit, and I’m still convinced the best fit was with Riedel. They had this MediorNet, super reliable transport, and on the other end, we had this IP advance and innovation and they really enjoyed this innovation as well. It was really a perfect fit combining the two forces.”
What’s the plan going forward with the integration? “Other than bringing to the Riedel identity, the SFP are now called MuoN and FusioN, they go in line with the next generation of MediorNet. We are now called the MediorNet division. We combined the strength of Montreal and Vienna and now we have a bigger R&D force to deliver, again, top of the line products and also really full features. In fact, three new products we will introduce in August will be J2K, JPEG-XS and both will do SDI to JPEG-XS or J2K or 2110. You can see that it’s an IP to IP product. “One cool thing we also did is fit a 16-image multiviewer in an SFP, so that’s 1 centimetre by 3 centimetres, and now you have a 2110 to 2110 UHD output multiviewer. You can take 16 images in a new output UHD in IP. So, you can basically create mosaic with really, really small footprint and a small power.”
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Given they are relatively new, what are some of the challenges in designing products to match the SMPTE IP standards, and to talk to other manufacturers’ systems?
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“Embrionix was the fifth member in the AMWA (Advanced Media Workflow Association), so for discovery and registration we were one of the first to jump in. Then we joined AIMS (Alliance for
IP Media Solutions) and also 2110 and Interop. Embrionix participated until five years to all the Interops, we did not miss any one of them, and the last one was at Riedel, which was really interesting as well. “I think to stay ahead of the curve, first of all, all product is software defined, so we just need a software update and, boom, we follow the new standard, but also it was a commitment from us. “We wanted to ease the life of users and honestly, IP, even today, it’s not an easy task. It’s not a walk in the park, like taking an SDI feed or SDI signal, you take, let’s say, test equipment and you plug that in and you’re good to go. “IP, where is my signal? I cannot remove the fibre connection or active cable and just plug that in and test equipment. This is why we participated in all those Interops and today, with all the small, let’s say “roadblocks” we had to overcome, we have more diagnostics inside our parts that help us in those interrupts, help us in the lab, but also help users.”
What’s your sense of 12 GB SDI versus IP and customer adoption? “It’s really everything to scale. Depending on the scale you want to achieve, of course the budget is an important point, but let’s say the scale you want to achieve, I take CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] as an example. They have thousands of signals, you don’t see huge routers of 12Gbit. They said, ‘One day we want to be UHD. We don’t want to always change the gear, reducing the cable reach and they have more and more UHD signal. So, for large installations, I will say it makes sense to go to the IP. “I will say for a small island, I can see 12Gbit, but the corona crisis for us really showed that the IP, you can work from home. I think the corona crisis also made us rethink how we want to do our job, and is it good to have remote people? I think so.”
You mentioned the AIMS group, which has started to focus on the AV sector. Where do you see your products fitting into that? “At the beginning of Embrionix, when we started, we did these SFPs and some were HDMI, and we did a lot of patents around that, but we can see ourselves being an HDMI to an IP port. The complexity we had when we started that was the HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) and I’m really happy to see that the AIMS group are asking or are looking with DCP group [Digital Content Protection LLC] to see a way to transport the protected content and IP, because this will be key for all this AV over IP and there are some standards, they have a way to encrypt the data to make sure no one can listen to it, but if we figure that out, and HDCP was always a little bit of a pain, but if we figure that out, it’s really interesting, and will fit in both ends of the spectrum.”
What else is on the radar? “We want to look at different types of compression. One aspect is to go more cloud
oriented, so H.264, H.265, maybe NDI, so that’s one aspect we are looking at. The other aspect is we did an up-down cross but now we want to see can we scale the updown cross. I can see one SFP supporting, let’s say, two UHD, which will be the best bandwidth optimisation where everything we’re doing is 25G, so best bandwidth optimisation.
“So far, since the acquisition, it’s seven months now, it’s going really, really well. The developments are now more and more with Vienna and Montreal and in
“I can see other functions such as SDR/HDR. Our boxes that you put behind monitors for 2110 are HDR ready but processing, more processing. I have to say the more processing, not like huge processing like bulk processing, this is probably cuts-oriented but on a more granularity we’re doing, I think doing processing in the venues, it still makes sense doing it with the SFP.
Wuppertal with the
HQ, so we’re seeing the integration taking place.
“The processing, it’s certainly one aspect we’re looking and a recent part we released were without any I/Os, so it’s kind of an SFP you stick in a switch and there’s no I/O whatsoever, so it’s an IP-to-IP pure processing, and there’s no gateway in front of an SDI system. Embrionix started, really, from scratch, so there’s no legacy inside our parts, so it’s really an IP-to-IP. If we say to a customer we go IP-to-IP in Riedel, it’s a real IP-to-IP, it’s not a bridge, there’s no bridge in there. “So far, since the acquisition, it’s seven months now, it’s going really, really well. The developments are now more and more with Vienna and Montreal and in Wuppertal with the HQ, so we’re seeing the integration taking place. There’s a good motivation for us, it’s super interesting, we have more people in the field to sell the technology, to sell our products, MediorNet IP, and I used to say the coronavirus just put some oil on the fire, just accelerated this IP transition. Honestly, it’s the way I see it.” Visit www.riedel.net
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BirdDog Introduces Flex Family of NDI Processors BIRDDOG HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of BirdDog Flex, which the company says are the smallest NDI encoders and decoders on the planet. This new addition to the BirdDog range has a footprint only slightly larger than a credit card, creating the world’s smallest 4K NDI Encoders and Decoders. With three products available Flex is suitable for most workflow needs, and includes Tally, Audio, Video, PTZ control, Audio Intercom and Power along a single Ethernet cable. The Flex range consists of the 4K NDI Encoder, 4K NDI Decoder and 4K Backpack, with key features including:
• Adaptive bit rate • Full PTZ camera control via optional control cable for nonnative NDI cameras • Dante input and output supported • RESTful API for third party control and automation • Camera Mounts are available as an optional extra • Central Lite NDI routing software
• Cool touch thermals for operation in the hottest environments
• Comms Lite audio intercom software
• Halo Tally is built into the Flex family, with zero configuration required with any NDI enabled software-based production system
The Flex 4K BACKPACK is designed as an upgrade for a camera top monitor recorder. Featuring an NP style battery connection, and 15w power
output, it allows the user to encode NDI, power a monitor, and record all at the same time. Visit www.ambertech.com.au
Blackmagic Announces ATEM Mini Pro ISO BLACKMAGIC DESIGN has announced the ATEM Mini Pro ISO, a new low-cost live production switcher with a 5-stream recording engine that allows all video inputs to be recorded allowing a live production to be edited after the event. This allows users to get a clean feed of all inputs and use edit software multi-cam features for later editing. ATEM Mini Pro ISO also records all audio files, media pool graphics and a DaVinci Resolve project file, so a live production can be opened and edited with a single click! Features include four standards-converted HDMI inputs, USB webcam out, audio mixer with EQ and dynamics, 2D DVE, transitions, green screen chroma key, and 20 stills for titles.
Connections include four HDMI inputs, one HDMI output, two microphone inputs (with power available), Ethernet port, and USB-C output. HD Video Input Standards include: 720p50, 720p59.94, 720p60, 1080p23.98, 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p29.97, 1080p30, 1080p50, 1080p59.94, 1080p60, 1080i50, 1080i59.94, and 1080i60. HD Video Output Standards include: 1080p23.98, 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p29.97, 1080p30, 1080p50, 1080p59.94, and 1080p60.
EQ; as well as Master gain control. The ATEM Mini Pro ISO supports direct live streaming over ethernet using Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP). Video recorded via the 4 x HDMI ISO inputs is recorded as H.264 .mp4 files at up to 70Mb/s quality at the ATEM video standard with AAC audio. Programme output is H.264 .mp4 file at the Streaming quality setting and at the ATEM video standard with AAC audio. On the Audio Recording side, the 6 x 2-channel audio inputs are recorded as separate 24‑bit 48KHz .wav files. These inputs include the 2 x analogue stereo audio inputs and 4 x HDMI 2-channel embedded audio inputs. HD Multi-View Monitoring consists of 1 x 10 Views including left right configurable Program/Preview, 4 HDMI inputs, Media Player, Streaming Status, Recording Status and Audio Meters.
Video Streaming Standards include: 1080p23.98, 1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p29.97, 1080p30, 1080p50, 1080p59.94, 1080p60
ATEM Software Control Panel is included free for Mac 10.14 Mojave, Mac 10.15 Catalina or later and Windows 10 64 bit only.
Video Sampling is 4:2:2 YUV. Colour precision is 10-bit with Rec 709 colour space. Colourspace Conversion is hardware-based and real time.
Blackmagic Design has also announced the ATEM Streaming Bridge, a new converter that decodes the live stream from any ATEM Mini Pro model switcher and converts it back to SDI and HDMI video. The advantage of ATEM Streaming Bridge is broadcasters can use it to connect high quality video links direct from any ATEM Mini Pro studio. ATEM Mini Pro’s video stream is much higher quality than that of conferencing software, so customers get broadcast quality, clean of any streaming software vendor logo burn-in.
HDMI Input Resolutions from Computers handled by the ATEM Mini Pro ISO include: 1280 x 720p 50Hz, 59.94Hz and 60Hz; 1920 x 1080p 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97,30, 50, 59.94; and 60Hz 1920 x1080i 50 and 59.94Hz 60Hz. The ATEM Mini Pro ISO’s 6-input x 2-channel mixing capabilities include selectable On/Off/Audio-Follow-Video per channel plus separate gain control per channel; Level and Peak metering; and Fairlight audio enhancements such as Compressor, Gate, Limiter, 6-bands of parametric
Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
CONTENT DELIVERY
ATEM Mini Pro also includes recording to USB disks in H.264 format, a built-in hardware streaming engine for YouTube Live, Facebook, and Twitch, plus multi-view to see all cameras on a single monitor. The ATEM Mini Pro ISO’s 5-stream recording includes all inputs as clean feeds for editing, plus a DaVinci project file for fast edit turnaround and Blackmagic RAW file relinking for finishing in Ultra HD.
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CLASSIFIED + EVENTS POSITION VACANT SENIOR WEB DEVELOPER FAIRWORK OMBUDSMAN Do you want to work for an Agency that’s at the forefront of workplace relations and offers great working conditions and a stable working environment? • Ongoing / Non-ongoing APS Level 6 opportunity • Position available in Canberra or Sydney • Build, maintain, and enhance multiple publicfacing web apps The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) was established by the Fair Work Act 2009. Our role is to promote harmonious, productive and cooperative workplace relations and ensure compliance with Australian workplace laws. We are proud of the work that we do in the regulatory space and our services are free to all workers and employers in Australia. We offer a challenging and supporting work environment with access to great training, development opportunities, and flexible working arrangements.
experience in all software delivery activities, including business analysis, solution design, coding, implementation, testing, maintenance and support. You will also have proven experience working within web standards and web accessibility guidelines.
• C#, VB.net, ASP.Net
You will need to exercise both initiative and judgement with the ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders, and manage your own work in the context of competing priorities. Good analytical and problem-solving skills with high technological aptitude is essential.
• Unit Testing
For further information about the Fair Work Ombudsman, please visit www.fairwork.gov.au. Typical Duties The duties of the Senior Developer would include, however, are not limited to: • Participate in the design and development of technical changes that meet business requirements while being aligned with FWO enterprise architecture • Provide technical design, development, implementation, and maintenance of complex applications and solutions to meet business and customer needs
We are currently seeking a Senior Web Developer to contribute to the exciting and innovative work of the Website Products Team in the Technology Branch.
• Provide application development services in line with FWO standards and methodologies, such as: coding, unit testing, code review and other quality assurance tasks
The Technology Branch delivers cutting edge business solutions to the FWO. This covers bespoke development, integration and configuration of commercial off-the-shelf software and shared services. The software set is Microsoft .Net, Dynamics CRM, SharePoint and elcomCMS. Infrastructure is provided under a Memorandum of Understanding with Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders to efficiently deliver high quality work
You will be a member of a small team that is responsible for building, maintaining, and enhancing fairwork.gov.au websites, My account, and multiple public facing web apps. You will be a .Net software developer working on projects and providing operational support and maintenance.
SELECTION CRITERIA
To be successful in this role you will have
• Coordinate and organise deployment to higher environments according to release process, include writing release instructions and scripts and liaise with various stakeholders • Responsible for defect management by identifying root causes to incidents, liaising with business users, and provide solution Essential Criteria: • Demonstrated practical experience and in-depth knowledge in the following technologies:
• .Net Frameworks such as ASP.NET MVC and/ or Entity Framework • Web Services technologies such as REST, Web API and/or WCF • Demonstrated proficiency and experience working with web standards and web accessibility guidelines • Proven experience in implementing secured solutions to support the information and data security needs of web systems • Proven experience in displaying initiative and working collaboratively with business to deliver technical solutions within a multi-tier enterprise environment • Demonstrated ability to work autonomously to provide technical expertise or collaboratively as a member of a development team and effectively organising work and managing multiple tasks simultaneously • Have excellent analytical, problem solving and troubleshooting skills • Specified Personnel must hold a current Australian Government Security Clearance (AGSVA) or be willing to undergo and obtain an AGSVA clearance (Baseline clearance as a minimum) Desirable Criteria: • Demonstrated proficiency and experience in the following technologies: • HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery • Microsoft SQL Server • Team Foundation Server and/or Visual Studio Team Services • Has relevant certifications Applications must be submitted by
• Content Management System (CMS)
August 30, 2020.
• Visual Studio.NET
Visit https://bit.ly/2Q7rdkI
CLASSIFIED + EVENTS
ADVERTISER INDEX
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Amber Technology-------------------------------- IFC,1
Grass Valley----------------------------------------- OBC
Pacific Live Media---------------------------------13,19
AVIA---------------------------------------------------------- 6
Jands------------------------------------------------------- 37
Professional Audio & Television--------- FC,3
Silver Trak Digital -------------------------------------- 33 Stagetec--------------------------------------------39
Blackmagic Design------------------------------------- 5
Lawo-------------------------------------------------------17
Riedel------------------------------------------------------- 21
Techtel-----------------------------------------------7,29
Blonde Robot----------------------------------- 24,25
Magna Systems & Engineering------11,27,45
Ross Video----------------------------------------------- 23
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