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DAMsmart Asia, Silver Trak Digital and TransMedia Dynamics launch Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence ... page 28. REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 04 NEWS New CEO for ASTRO; Ross Video
Supports CCTV’s Spring Festival Broadcast; Barnfind Technologies Opens Singapore Office; ABS-CBN Future Up in the Air; People Moves.
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FEATURES 12 TECHNICAL STANDARDS 13 MEDIA BUSINESS Maxon/Red Giant Merger
Completed; Cinedigm Closes First Investment Tranche in Starrise Media; Telestream Founder Returns as CEO; SEGA Invests in Flutin Music Service
14 ABU DIGITAL BROADCASTING SYMPOSIUM Preview
17 ACQUISITION Chinese Blockbuster
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‘Whistleblower’ Uses Blackmagic Cameras; Canon’s New EOS-1D X Mark III; Three New 4K Camcorders from Panasonic.
20 SPORTSCASTING Japan’s Cyber Media TV Uses ATEM Constellation 8Kfor eSports Streaming; Panasonic Equips Tokyo 2020 National Stadium; OBS Counts Down to Olympic IBC Opening; ChyronHego Scores with Live Sports..
25 NEWS OPERATIONS India’s NDTV Embraces
Quicklink TX; Japan’sAbemaTV Streams with LiveU; Vietnamese Developers Launch Coronavirus Tracker; Google News Initiative Supports Innovative APAC Storytelling.
36 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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28 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD DAMsmart Asia, Silver
Trak Digital and TransMedia Dynamics launch Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur.
32 POST-PRODUCTION Gritty Grading for Tran
Thanh Huy’s Rom; Tokyo’s Digital Garden Grades ‘Eren The Southpaw’ with DaVinci Resolve Studio; Alibaba Cloud Passes TPN Certification; Sony’s Next-Gen 4K HDR Monitors.
36 AUDIO NK SOUND TOKYO Installs World’s
Largest Rupert Neve Designs 5088 Console; Korea’s MBC TV Installs Calrec Apollo Consoles; SDI Media and IMAGICA Open State-of-the-Art Dubbing Studio; VoiceQ Takes Dubbing to the Cloud.
40 RADIO China’s Fuzhou Radio Embraces Lawo AoIP; NOVA Launches Interactive Ads for Google Assistant; New AoIP Tech.
43 CONTENT DELIVERY Thaicom 5 Satellite
Customers Migrated After Anomaly; SET Taiwan Integrates Playout with VSN; ATEME Powers VOD/OTT/IPTV for Korea’s Medialog; Video Codecs - Past, Present and Future; Fastly Launches Origin Connect; VUALTO Partners with ATEME.
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EDITOR’S WELCOME
For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com
On the Plus Side…
By Phil Sandberg
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Overall, Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International revenues for the quarter increased from USD$0.9 billion to $4.0 billion. The segment’s operating loss, however, did increase from $136 million to $693 million. According to the company, the increase in operating loss was due to costs associated with the launch of Disney+, the consolidation of Hulu and a higher loss at ESPN+, due to higher programming costs.
Time will tell. Thanks for reading Phil Sandberg – Editor/Publisher
Despite this, there’s no doubt Disney’s trump card is its content library, and it’s easy to see the appeal in the subscription business model, no matter your industry. Recurring billing gives operators the ability to forecast with some certainty, regardless of an individual
While it wasn’t a harbinger of a media apocalypse, the Disney+ streaming service has done pretty well since its launch last year. In The Walt Disney Company’s First Quarter
Could we see a time where telcos, cable/ satellite, and other “legacy” operators step in, offering perhaps, aggregated subscription or pay-per-view access to long-tail or underexposed original programming? With so many aspirants in the subscription streaming space, will we see a re-emergence of the gatekeeper? 03:00
30.4 million.
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A number of studies have found the number of streaming services consumers are prepared to sign up to averages around three. If you’re Disney, Netflix or Amazon, that might be fine, but what of other services, and is there space around that pain point for traditional aggregators to step in?
Meanwhile, ESPN+ subscribers grew from 1.4 million in December 2018 to 6.6 million in December 2019, while Hulu subscribers (SVOD-only and Live TV+SVOD) came in at
Pluses Keep Multiplying
ersburg
subscriber’s actual consumption, but there is a limit.
Earnings Reports for 2020, the company reported current subscribers numbering a staggering 26.5 million. With an average monthly revenue per paid subscriber of USD$5.56, that’s roughly $147,340,000 per month, so far.
Neither ourselves, our families, friends, colleagues or clients have been affected by to the extent that many others have, and for that we are thankful. So, all we can do is dust ourselves off, help others where we can, and continue to do what we do. Hopefully, you can do the same, and we can all come together again at NAB2020, or the ABE Show. Take care out there. 16:00
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IT’S BEEN AN EVENTFUL Christmas/New Year/New Year period here in the offices of Content+Technology. We’ve stayed huddled inside, filtering out bushfire smoke with the air-conditioning while the sky overhead turns a dark shade of Martian red, we’ve journeyed to the public library for remote teleworking because, well, the library still had power, and we’ve revised our travel itineraries in the light of the Coronavirus outbreak. The office betting pool is still giving odds on a zombie apocalypse, locust plague, and asteroid strike, but the good news is IT COULD BE WORSE.
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Ross Video Supports CCTV’s Chinese Spring Festival Gala Broadcast
Euan Smith New CEO for ASTRO EUAN SMITH IS TO TAKE UP the role of CEO of leading Malaysian TV business, Astro. Euan comes to ASTRO from Australian pay TV operator Foxtel where he served as Chief Operations Officer. He was responsible for Product Development, Project/Change Management and all the operations platforms upon which the company is built (OTT, Broadcast, and all Customer & Corporate systems).
CCTV, CHINA’S NATIONAL BROADCASTER, has an incredible reach of just over one Billion viewers, and one of its most widely-watched programs is the network’s coverage of the annual Spring Festival Gala, a song and dance variety spectacular that is broadcast on Chinese New Year’s Eve. Known in China as ‘春晚’, the show has been officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s most watched TV program and is regarded by many Chinese families as an integral part of their New Year celebrations. This year’s show was broadcast from a number of different venues around China, with the main CCTV stage in central Beijing acting as a hub for the show. The extensive coverage in HDR 12G UHD included a number of animated graphic and augmented reality sequences that were made possible by Ross Video, partnering with CCTV on the New Year’s show for the
Prior to joining Foxtel, Euan ran his own UK consulting business, Valonon. Formed to ‘create worlds that people want to belong to’ Valonon both supports start-ups during their build phase and advises corporate clients on the delivery of major transformations. Through 2017 Euan was primarily based in Los Angeles operating as both subject matter expert and programme lead at Fox, where he helped the Digital Consumer Group create their ‘next generation’ commerce platform and product set. Before this Euan spent over five years as Chief Operations Officer at Sky Deutschland, a key member of the team that turned a €250m loss-making business into a major commercial success. Sky D is now Germany & Austria’s premier payTV provider, strongly profitable, & delivering sparkling content across cable, satellite, IP & OTT. En route the 1500-strong team that Euan led built Germany’s largest OTT platform from scratch (Sky Go, Sky Ticket), performed a full reengineer of broadcast, studio & IT operations, tripled the revenues of the B2B business unit and won more than a dozen product innovation, customer service and operations awards. Earlier in his career Euan ran Sky UK’s field, supply chain, service & purchasing operations for eight years, leading a team that grew to over 3000 and was instrumental in the successful launch of DVR, HD & Broadband products.
second year in a row. In common with last year’s broadcast,
Euan is an engineer by background, an alumnus of Birmingham University & Harvard, and a qualified Leadership trainer.
CCTV chose Ross Video’s Voyager graphics rendering solution
Visit https://www.astro.com.my/
to provide stunning, photo-realistic results, as well as the Furio camera motion system, Mira replay server, Ultrix routing/ AV processing platform and Gator Toolbox signal processing solution. Unlike last year, CCTV decided to work with the XPression real-time graphics platform from Ross to ensure seamless integration and a more efficient workflow. According to CCTV’s lead Technical Engineer responsible for the broadcast, Voyager was an instrumental part of the production solution, enabling the design teams to create amazing graphics easily and efficiently. Flexibility, ease of use and speed were all highlighted as key benefits of the Ross solution, a strong endorsement of the Ross philosophy of helping content creators overcome the creative, business and technical challenges they face. Return on investment was also raised as an important consideration – more creative content means more eyeballs and that makes for a more attractive proposition for advertisers. Mark Cooke, acting Director of Sales for Asia, said, “Everyone at Ross understands the importance of the Spring Gala Festival broadcast – it’s a lavish production and the scale means there’s
Headquartered in Hong Kong, CTE operates a bouquet of pay television services, including Celestial Movies; the Kix action-entertainment channel; Miao Mi, the Mandarin edutainment channel for pre-schoolers; and Thrill, Asia’s first regional horror, thriller and suspense movie channel. All of CTE’s channel brands are available as linear, on-demand and over-the-top services. CTE also produces original production for its bouquet of channels. “Encompass has been a valued partner of Celestial Tiger Entertainment for many years,” states Ofanny Choi, President of CTE. “The CTE team continues to produce and deliver some of the most innovative content and brands across the region, so it is crucial to know that our channels and services can be trusted with a globally established service provider like Encompass.”
the way through rehearsal and the live broadcast itself.” Visit www.rossvideo.com
Visit www.celestialtiger.com and www.encompass.tv
again helped CCTV deliver a flawless production and would single out our team in Beijing who shadowed the CCTV crew all
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ENCOMPASS DIGITAL MEDIA, the global technology services company that delivers end-to-end video solutions to television networks, broadcasters, sports leagues and OTT service providers, and Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE) have signed an agreement to extend their current arrangement covering playout, media management and transmission services from Encompass’ facility in Singapore.
“We are very happy to continue our relationship with the team at Celestial Tiger Entertainment,” comments Marc Bruce, Encompass Managing Director, APAC. “Given CTE’s focus to create and entertain their audience with compelling content across Asia and beyond, we’re thrilled to provide the regional expertise needed to manage and deliver their services across a number of markets.”
great expectation and lots of pressure. I’m delighted that we
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Encompass and Celestial Tiger Entertainment Extend Services Agreement
Former AvidForCEO Leads Equity Firm to Buy Grass Valley the latest news visit www.content-technology.com BLACK DRAGON CAPITAL, a private equity firm, led by former Avid CEO Louis Hernandez Jr., has completed an agreement with Belden Inc. in which it will acquire Grass Valley, the supplier of broadcast and media solutions. The deal, which will be finalised during Q1 2020, will transfer full control of all Grass Valley assets to Black Dragon, which says it plans to leverage Grass Valley’s intellectual property and talent to drive innovation and lead the industry’s migration to a softwarebased future. There are no immediate changes planned to Grass Valley’s operational management structure and Tim Shoulders will continue in his role as president. Black Dragon’s founder and CEO, Louis Hernandez, Jr. commented, “We see tremendous opportunity for transformation in the media technology market and believe that Grass Valley is in an ideal situation to lead the market through these changes. Under Belden’s leadership, the Grass Valley solutions portfolio has expanded and the business has developed a discipline that puts them in the upper quartile
of the market in profitability. Black Dragon’s experience leading companies through digital transitions will allow Grass Valley to accelerate the next step in its evolution, bringing more innovative products to market faster.” In his time as CEO of Avid, Hernandez spearheaded a strategy to transition the company’s core product offerings to solutions that enabled smooth and simple content sharing and distribution workflows. Black Dragon, noting that today’s broadcast landscape is in need of a similar shift, says it sees Grass Valley as a platform to accelerate the industry’s move toward its digital future, increasing investment in technologies and systems that enable new softwarebased services and pay-as-you-go business models. According to Black Dragon, the equity firm takes an advisory approach to the companies in which it invests, and delivers a series of proprietary tools, such as its Black Dragon Playbook, a set of guidelines designed to create sustainable, market-leading companies. Additionally, the firm has an extensive roster of advisors
with a combined century-plus of experience in engineering, content creation, business management and technology leadership in the media space. “Grass Valley has led the market in the transition from SDI to IP and has been diligently pivoting our product lines to cloud-based and SaaS solutions,” said Tim Shoulders, Grass Valley’s president. “Black Dragon brings the expertise and vision that will allow us to accelerate this transition to the benefit of our customers who are looking for more robust and flexible models for content production and delivery. We’re excited to bring our customers along with us on this journey.” According to Grass Valley, customers who are invested in current product lines will experience a seamless transition. Grass Valley says it maintains full control of the supply chain and operational systems to enable on-going support without disruption.
Tim Shoulders, President, Grass Valley.
Louis Hernandez, CEO, Black Dragon Capital.
Visit www.grassvalley.com
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KOREA KOREA’S media entertainment company CJ ENM, and its subsidiary Studio Dragon, and Netflix have entered into a three-year partnership beginning in 2020. Studio Dragon will produce original series that will be available to Netflix members globally. Netflix will also receive distribution rights to other select Studio Dragon titles. Visit www.netflix.com
PAKISTAN PAKISTAN TELECOMMUNICATION Company Limited (PTCL) has deployed Nokia’s technology to expand capacity of its 100G transport network to a 200G optical network for both domestic and international traffic. The capacity expansion has been carried out in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Visit www.nokia.com and www.ptcl.com.pk
MALAYSIA PAY OPERATOR ASTRO has been offering eligible Malaysian condominium blocks free upgrades to their centralised satellite infrastructure. The upgrades would enable residents to receive 4K UHD programming on the new Astro Ultra Box. Visit www.astro.com.my
HONG KONG
CELESTIAL TIGER ENTERTAINMENT (CTE) has signed an agreement with Encompass Digital Media to extend their current arrangement covering playout, media management and transmission services from Encompass’ facility in Singapore. CTE operates a bouquet of pay television services, including linear, on-demand and over-the-top services.
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Visit www.celestialtiger.com and www.encompass.tv
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ASIA PACIFIC NEWS
JAPAN
HULU JAPAN has selected video intelligence and analytics company NPAW (Nice People At Work) to improve its platform performance and user engagement to drive better business
INDIA
results. NPAW’s analytics platform, YOUBORA,
VERIZON MEDIA has announced that South Asian OTT entertainment platform Eros Now is using the Verizon Media Platform fully managed streaming service to meet global consumer demand for high quality streaming of Indian cinema. Eros Now claims over 177 million users and features over 12,000 movie titles, TV shows, Eros Now Originals, and short-format content.
enables product and technical teams at Hulu to support data-driven decision-making to build an optimised streaming service, enabling instant access to premium live and on-demand experiences across all devices. Visit www.npaw.com
Visit www.verizonmedia.com/media-platform
AUSTRALIA PREDOMINANTLY metropolitan-based Seven West Media has taken a 14.9% stake in regional broadcaster Prime Media Group following a rejection by a majority of Prime shareholders of a proposed merger of Seven and Prime. Seven MD and CEO, James Warbuton said, “While we’re disappointed with the outcome of [the shareholder] vote, we remain committed to Prime.” Warburton went on to say Seven’s investment would provide stability for Prime, and support regional Australia and regional news. Visit www.sevenwestmedia.com.au and www.primemedia.com.au
SINGAPORE
NEW ZEALAND
SINGAPORE TELCOS StarHub and M1 have
SKY NZ HAS ENTERED into a conditional
submitted a joint bid for a 5G licence in the
agreement to buy entertainment streaming
country’s 5G auction proposals. No details have
service Lightbox from broadband provider Spark.
been released on the terms of the bid. There are four licence slots up for grabs. The country’s Infocomm Media Development Authority says the nation is on track to commence the roll out
The deal enables Sky to merge Lightbox with its own entertainment streaming service Neon. Visit www.sky.co.nz
of 5G mobile networks in 2020.
Sample shown is WEATHERSCAPE Scenes, Typhoon track, Glass style.
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Visit http://ir.starhub.com
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Ross Video Names Mark Cooke Director of Sales in Asia ROSS HAS ANNOUNCED that Mark Cooke has been promoted to the role of Director of Sales for Asia. Mark joined Ross in 2014 as a Solutions Architect, before taking on a variety of sales roles and responsibilities for the UK, Africa and then Northern Europe. Most recently, Mark was Regional Sales Director for EMEA North and was living in the Netherlands. Mark has now relocated to Singapore, where he will guide Ross Team Asia through the next phase of the team’s development. Commenting on his latest role, Mark is looking forward to the new challenge. “The Asia team has delivered solid performance over the last few years,” he said, “and we’ve expanded very quickly in key territories such as China and Japan. Asia remains a vibrant and strategically important region for Ross, and I have a clear mandate to continue adding talent to the team and expanding our market share across both our traditional and developing market verticals.” Oscar Juste, Vice President of International Sales, points to Mark’s track record as a solid indicator of future success. “Mark quickly established himself as a key member of our sales leadership team and has consistently over-delivered on the challenging growth targets set for his regions,” said Juste. “Mark is a strong leader and a very efficient organiser; I know these qualities will be valuable assets to him in this new role. I have no doubt he will elevate our performance in Asia and enjoy even greater success in this new and exciting leadership role.” Visit www.rossvideo.com
Future of Philippines’ ABS-CBN Up in the Air WITH 11,000 JOBS AT STAKE, Filipino broadcaster ABS-CBN is battling to renew its broadcasting franchise The country’s Solicitor General, Jose Calida, has been seeking to cancel the network’s franchise which will expire on March 30 unless the Filipino Congress grants it a new licence. The Solicitor General has cited “highly abusive practices” by ABS-CBN, including the launch of its KBO channel without a permit from the National Telecommunications Commission, and allegedly allowing foreign investors to control the company. He has sought a gag order to stop the network publicly discussing the issue. The network has come under criticism from Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte who has accused it of failing to air his political ads during the 2016 election campaign. Speaking at a Philippines Senate hearing, ABS-CBN President and CEO, Carlo Katigbak, said “ABS-CBN has not been cited for any violations with regard to tax payments, election laws, or compliance with the National Telecommunications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Like many other companies that have been operating or providing services for a long time, we have pending issues associated with labour as well as other matters related to the regular course of doing business. We believe in due process and will comply, as we always have, with any decisions made by the proper authorities. “We continue to trust in the legal processes and the fairness in the hearings for our franchise renewal.” Visit www.abs cbn.com
Barix Partners with Digigram Asia DIGIGRAM ASIA PTE LTD and Barix have announced an exclusive partnerships in several countries of the APAC region (Singapore, Malaysia,
Ideal Systems Expands in Jakarta IDEAL SYSTEMS HAS OPENED a new office building in Jakarta to accommodate its continued growth in Indonesia. The new building is located in Joglo, West Jakarta and was designed to accommodate the rapidly expanding Ideal team in Jakarta. Ideal Systems have been present in Jakarta since 2014 for its broadcast business and launched its pro-AV division in Jakarta in 2017. Since launching its AV business in Indonesia, Ideal Systems have been experiencing rapid growth in the country. Originally operating only as a sales office, the new Ideal building will accommodate sales, support, service, engineering and pre-staging all under one roof. The Ideal AV team under country head Mr. Indra Syahputra have been winning major prestigious corporate AV projects in with companies such as leading e-commerce company Tokopedia, leading oil and gas company Pertamina, global business consultancy SAS Institute and leading hospitality groups Marriott and Mercure Hotels.
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Visit www.idealsys.com
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Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Myanmar, and South Korea) designed to bring customers the best alliance for products and support resources. “Digigram Asia Pte Ltd is taking another step in its expansion strategy by adding Barix to its existing agreements with Auvitran and Streamguys. We will be able to provide extended service and additional value to our customers. Barix has the perfect combination of cost-effective yet reliable products and we are excited to start this partnership in 2020,” says Nancy DIAZ CURIEL, Managing Director of Digigram Asia. Under this agreement, Digigram Asia Pte Ltd will distribute the entire Barix product line, including the new SIP Opus codec. “We are happy to be able to work with Digigram as our new distribution partner for Asia,” says Reto Brader, Barix CEO. “Digigram’s knowledge of the audio over IP market combined with Barix cost-effective solutions for radio broadcast, intercom, and paging as well as audio streaming will give Asian customers access to better solutions for their audio over IP needs.” Visit www.digigram.com
Third of Taiwanese Access Pirated Content A NEW STUDY OF THE online content viewing behaviour of Taiwanese consumers, revealed that 33 percent of consumers have accessed streaming piracy websites or torrent sites to access premium content without paying any subscription fees. In addition, 28 percent of consumers use a TV box which can be used to stream pirated television and video content. These TV boxes, also known as Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs), allow users to access hundreds of pirated television channels and video-on-demand content, usually with a low annual subscription fee. TV boxes often come pre-loaded with illegal applications allowing ‘plug-and-play’ access to pirated content. The QBox, UBox and EVPad remain the most popular illicit streaming devices purchased by consumers. The survey, commissioned by the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and conducted by YouGov, highlights the detrimental effects of streaming piracy on legitimate subscription video services. Of the 28 percent of consumers who purchased a TV box used to stream pirated television and video content, half stated that they had cancelled all or some of their subscription to legal pay TV services. In addition to the short-term problem of cancelled subscriptions is a longer-term problem – namely, many of the people streaming pirated content are young. The survey found that 47 percent of 18-24 year-olds and 61 percent of 25-34 year-olds used ISDs or other apps/ services to view infringing entertainment content. The free streaming problem
is not limited to the low-income demographic. On the contrary, the survey found that the usage rate of piracy streaming services increased with household income level (low income group – 25 percent mid income group – 35 percent, high income group – 43 percent). Neil Gane, the General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) commented, “Consumers are funding crime groups as well as wasting their money when purchasing illicit streaming devices, when they find their ISD can no longer access live sports matches or their favourite TV shows. The global content industry is now collaborating to prevent and disrupt illegal feeds of live sports, TV channels, and video-on-demand content through enforcement against the illicit IPTV operators and blocking orders against piracy streaming websites and piracy applications. ISDs can never provide quality programming and a ‘service guarantee’, no matter what the seller may claim.” Thomas Ee, the Chairman at Taiwan Broadband Communications also added, “The damage that online piracy does to the Taiwan creative industry is without dispute and the results of this latest survey are alarming. With the support from the Taiwanese government, our industry must continue to work together closely to do more to protect intellectual property and to work even harder to stamp out ISDs and streaming piracy in Taiwan.” Visit www.avia.org and https://hk.yougov.com
SportsPro Postpones OTT Summit SPORTSPRO HAS CONFIRMED that the OTT Summit Asia 2020 will be rescheduled due to the ongoing Novel Coronavirus outbreak. Following consultation with domestic stakeholders, partners and advisory board members, SportsPro has decided to postpone the OTT Summit Asia, previously scheduled to take place in Singapore on 25 – 26 March 2020. SportsPro has confirmed the OTT Summit Asia will now take place later in the year on 21 – 22 October 2020, in Singapore. Any passes purchased for the event will remain valid for these rescheduled dates. For questions surrounding the postponement, or the event in general, email events@sportspro-ott.com.
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Barnfind Technologies Expands with Singapore Office BARNFIND TECHNOLOGIES, the manufacturer of multi-functional, signal neutral fibre transport solutions, has announced the opening of a new office located in Singapore. The office, which will serve customers in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, is the second regional headquarters Barnfind has opened in Asia following the March launch of its Beijing office. A team of seasoned industry veterans, led by John Foo, have been tapped to lead sales, marketing, support and business functions to strengthen the company’s global growth initiative in the key Asia region. John Foo, newly appointed vice (Left to Right) Barnfield president of sales and operations, Technologies’ CTO, Arild joins the company with 25 years of Skjeggerud; VP of Sales and experience in business and sales Operations, John Foo; and CEO management in the technology Wiggo Evensen. industry. Foo formerly served in highlevel executive positions, including regional sales manager, director of sales, strategic business director and vice president for sales for some of the industry’s most prominent suppliers such as ChyronHego, Ikegami, Grass Valley, Network Electronics, Philips and FujiFilm. CW Tan a veteran engineer and solution architect with over 15 years of experience integrating leading technology partners and manufacturers will direct the pre-sales and support operations. Tan will draw upon his background of providing the highest level of consulting, implementation and support to ensure that problems are addressed immediately, resolved and projects are successfully delivered.
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Jerry Burianyk brings a wealth of broadcast knowledge earned from 15 years of experience working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in studio operations, program and news production. He more recently spent 20 years in ChyronHego as a product evangelist, workflow and pre-sales engineer, and product manager. Burianyk is applying his skills-set to Barnfind Technologies’ range of fibre solutions as business development director.
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Wiggo Evensen, CEO of Barnfind Norway said: “John Foo has been a friend of the Barnfind team for many years and it is a pleasure to work with him again. Barnfind is already well-known is the region having completed some significant project installations over recent years in many South East Asian countries, but now we are eager to launch a dedicated office and introduce existing customers to our new portfolio of products. While Barnfind’s main focus remains in media and broadcast, we will also be expanding into other verticals like telemedicine, education, industry, rentals etc. because there are so many growth areas with clients that need to transport any kind of video and audio signals on fiber solutions between buildings, cities and countries. We are delighted to begin operations with John and we are sure that we will achieve success quickly. Barnfind has already seen incredible accomplishments in our other regional offices - Barnfind China and Barnfind USA - which is a testament to our dedication to local partners and customers. It is great to work with professionals that know the region and we are happy to provide them with support from our headquarters in Sandefjord, Norway.” Visit www.barnfind.no
Globecast Asia Names Tan See Chai as Head of Sales – Distribution GLOBECAST, THE GLOBAL SOLUTIONS PROVIDER for media, has further strengthened its management team in Asia with the appointment of Tan See Chai as Head of Sales – Distribution. Based in Singapore, See Chai will report to Shakunt Malhotra, Globecast Asia MD. See Chai is responsible for sales of Globecast’s permanent distribution services to broadcasters, cable operators, news agencies, corporations as well as other relevant organisations across Asia and Asia-Pacific. This will include identifying and pursuing new business as well as maintaining and growing relationships with existing customers. Malhotra said, “We are pleased to welcome Tan to this important role. He has huge experience across the satellite industry, in particular, and this will come to the fore in this multifaceted position. As well as liaising with new and existing customers, he will also work closely with our Singaporebased operations and engineering group – where one of our three global Media Centres is located – as well as liaising with key personnel in other Global Business Units located around the world.” See Chai has over 25 years’ experience in the industry and was most recently Director of Sales with Telesat, a position he held for the past 30 months. In that role he was responsible for major satellite capacity sales across the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to that, he held a range of positions with Globecast, the last as Senior Director of Sales – Head of Occasional Services for Asia, a job he held for five years. He has also worked for Verestar and Echostar International, among others. See Chai said, “I’m genuinely excited to be appointed to this important position with my extensive experience across the industry being recognised as being invaluable to the role. I already have extensive experience with the company and I look forward to helping Globecast attain further growth across its distribution business.” Visit www.globecast.com
Streaming Platform Confluent Appoints Wong VP for APAC WITH SOME OF THE LARGEST enterprises as customers in the region, including Rakuten Card, Bank BRI, Bank BTPN, and Hotstar, event streaming platform Confluent, Inc. has announced Damien Wong as vice president of Asia-Pacific (APAC). As VP of APAC, Wong will drive sales and go-to-market strategy for AsiaPacific and Japan, drawing upon extensive experience growing successful markets. Prior to Confluent, Wong served as the vice president and general manager for Red Hat across its growth and emerging markets region which included Southeast Asia, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Wong also established the company’s APAC enterprise sales organisation by creating its Asia-Pacific enterprise excellence team. Prior to Red Hat, Wong was the general manager for HP Software Southeast Asia. Visit www.confluent.io
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
“I intend to work in full accordance with the public broadcasting mission,” said Mr Maeda. Mr Ryoichi Ueda, NHK’s reitiring President, stepped down on January 24 after completing a four-year term. Visit www.nhk.or.jp ---------------------------------------------------------------
SINGAPORE’S MEDIACORP has announced the appointment of Ms Tammie Tham to its board of directors. Ms Tham is Chief Executive Officer of Ensign InfoSecurity, one of Asia Pacific’s largest pure-play cyber-security firms offering bespoke, end-to-end security solutions to enterprises and governments globally. Ms Tham has extensive experience running cyber businesses across the ASEAN region. Prior to Ensign, she was the Chief Executive Officer
and Founder of Accel Systems & Technologies (Accel), a cybersecurity systems integrator. She led the APAC Cyber Security Business Unit at BT Frontline, a subsidiary of BT Global Services, and was responsible for expanding its cyber business in ASEAN and building a footprint in Asia Pacific. Before that, Ms Tham led the ASEAN Security Practice at IBM. Visit www.mediacorp.com.sg ---------------------------------------------------------------
MASSTECH HAS ANNOUNCED that Srinivas Gankidi has joined the company as Sales Manager for India. Srinivas has over 20 years’ experience in the media and entertainment industry, delivering file-based technology solutions to major broadcasters in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, including Zee TV, Sony TV, SRM Channels, Jain HITS, TV9, RIL (Reliance Infocom), NTV, Star Maa, Somoy TV, and Ghazi TV. Prior to joining Masstech, Srinivas was Sales Manager for Media & Entertainment at Quantum Storage India Pvt Ltd., and previously held sales engineering positions with Evertz Microsystems and Harmonic Inc. Srinivas will form part
of Masstech’s Asia Pacific team, designing and deploying Masstech’s Kumulate intelligent storage and asset lifecycle management solutions for clients throughout the region. Visit www.masstech.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
WARNERMEDIA Entertainment Networks has unveiled its newlook Southeast Asia leadership team based in Singapore. The organisation, which was first revealed in August 2019, unites Turner Asia Pacific and HBO Asia to form what the company says is one of the most powerful portfolios of entertainment brands in the media industry. Reporting to Clement Schwebig, Managing Director of Southeast Asia, Pacific and China, the leadership team includes: • Yasmin Zahid will head up affiliate distribution and marketing for all HBO channels, as well as CNN International, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Warner TV and Oh!K. • David Simonsen will lead the development of HBO GO and also responsible for driving the growth of the service through
partnerships with telcos and as a standalone OTT app. • Awantika Sood will lead ad-sales, branded content and commercial opportunities. • Magdalene Ew will take charge of the company’s consolidated Entertainment pillar which includes all HBO channels, Warner TV and Oh!K. • Jessica Kam will oversee original Asia productions for the Entertainment pillar. • Shonali Bedi, will be responsible for Business Development and Strategy in the region. • Marianne Lee will lead consumer Marketing and Central Services team in the interim, which includes Creative Services, Social Media, Research and Data as the process of integrating processes, workflows and systems continues. • Leslie Lee continues to lead all the Kids brands for the network in Asia Pacific, including in Southeast Asia. Visit www.turner.com
NEWS + PEOPLE
MR TERUNOBU MAEDA has assumed the office of President of Japanese broadcaster NHK. He will serve a three-year term. Mr Maeda joined the then Fuji Bank in 1968 after graduating from the University of Tokyo and was President and Chairman of the postmerger Mizuho Financial Group.
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TECHNICAL STANDARDS www.content-technology.com/standards
HbbTV Association Releases Targeted Advertising Specification
Certification Program for 8K TVs
THE HBBTV ASSOCIATION, a global initiative dedicated to providing open standards for the delivery of advanced interactive TV services through broadcast and broadband networks for connected TV sets and set-top boxes, has announced the release of the HbbTV specification for targeted advertising (HbbTV-TA).
THE 8K ASSOCIATION (8KA), the cross-industry group promoting growth and harmonisation throughout the 8K ecosystem, has announced that an 8K Association Certified program for 8K TVs is now available for 8K TVs that meet the exacting requirements outlined by the 8K Association.
The move will set a standard for broadcasters and the advertising industry to create new business models and generate new revenue sources by making use of targeted advertising opportunities which have so far been largely restricted to the advertising market on the internet or OTT/ streaming services. “The release of the HbbTV-TA specification marks a new chapter in the digital transformation of broadcasters. While keeping their unique asset of addressing a large mass market, they can now also address highly differentiated audiences, opening up new prospects for business growth,” said Vincent Grivet, Chair of the HbbTV Association. “HbbTV-TA is the first open standard dedicated to targeted advertising in live broadcast TV, and it has a huge potential of adoption in Europe as the market is currently highly fragmented with several proprietary solutions,” added Grivet. “The development of the specification follows requests by broadcasters, once again confirming the close alignment of HbbTV with market requirements and business needs.” The HbbTV-TA specification, initiated in collaboration with DVB, enables broadcasters to provide specific audience groups with customised advertising during commercial breaks, where the ‘normal’ advertisement on the TV channel’s conventional broadcast feed is replaced on a screenby-screen basis with a specific targeted advertisement. The addressable TV capabilities of the new specification also enable personalisation and localisation features which will open up significantly improved accessibility options for people with vision or hearing impairments. At the same time, DVB is releasing its targeted advertising specification that complements the HbbTV-TA specification with a standardised way of signalling the advertisement substitution opportunities in the live TV broadcast. Visit www.hbbtv.org
8K Association Certified TVs are deemed to feature four times as many pixels as standard 4K TVs for impactfully realistic clarity and deliver exceptional contrast and colour for striking high dynamic range performance. Member companies of the 8K Association will be able to promote 8K TVs under the 8K Association Certified banner after each TV model’s performance criteria is validated by an independent Certification Program Manager. Under this certification program for 8K televisions, TV brands will be able to display the 8K Association Certified logo to consumers to demonstrate the verified high-performance characteristics of each TV model. For 2020, the 8K Association plans to ramp up its education and industry cooperation activities. With strong membership growth from companies representing all parts of the 8K ecosystem, the 8KA plans a number of initiatives in the year ahead to foster continued growth and awareness of 8K via: • Promotion and certification of 8K TVs with the 8K Association Certified program back by robust compliance validation; • Expanded promotional activity for the 8K industry to create cutting edge demos showcasing the maturing nature of 8K products, production workflows, delivery options and display devices; • New initiatives to reach consumers to promote the 8K ecosystem wherever people are engaging around high-quality video content; and • Facilitate the adoption of higher efficiency 8K streaming technologies. The 8K Association now counts 5 of the world’s leading panel manufacturers as members, representing over 70% of the global TV panel manufacturing capacity. Visit www.8KAssociation.com
“Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance” Launches for 5G World
TECHNICAL STANDRADS
MOBILE PHONE MANUFACTURERS vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi have formed a partnership to bring a new wireless file transfer system to consumers around the world. An initiative of the newly formed “Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance”, the new system enables seamless cross-brand file transfer with just one click.
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Vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi says they have established the “Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance” to provide users with an unparalleled file transfer experience. The new wireless file transfer system will allow consumers of these three brands to easily transfer files between their mobile devices without the need for any third-party applications or network data, supporting a wide range of files, including photos, videos, music, documents, and more. The move is also in anticipation of 5G adoption, where the average file sizes are expected to significantly increase with the availability of varied and richer content. The wireless file transfer system provides a streamlined mobile experience which does not require internet connection. It uses Bluetooth for fast pairing and WiFi P2P (Peer to Peer) technology for the data transfer, bringing together an instant, stable and high-speed connection between devices,
as well as low power consumption. The technology delivers an average transfer speed of 20MB/s. Also, the WiFi P2P technology does not interrupt the WiFi connection, meaning users remain connected and can continue their activities on the device during the file transfer. Users just need to turn on their WiFi and Bluetooth, or turn on the function under “menu”, then select the files that they wish to share. If the other party also has the function turned on, an icon will pop-up to notify the user. Once confirmed, the selected files will be transferred. The Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance is a collective commitment between vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi to drive the next generation of mobile experience. Together, the three brands will continue to openly collaborate to deliver new technological breakthroughs. The Alliance is also looking forward to welcoming more brands to participate and expand the ecosystem in the future. This feature will be gradually rolled out on new vivo products in different markets from February 2020. Visit www.vivoglobal.com
MEDIA BUSINESS Maxon and Red Giant Merger Completed MAXON, THE DEVELOPER OF 3D software solutions and Red Giant, creator of tools for editors, VFX artists, and motion designers, have announced the completion of all financial and regulatory agreements required to complete their merger. Additionally, key appointments in executive leadership have been revealed. The new executive team includes leaders from both Maxon and Red Giant. Together, the company says, they are expected to bring synergies across all areas that will result in “greater reach, product innovation and customer service”. The leadership team assuming new or expanded roles at Maxon will be directly reporting to McGavran, and include: • Chad Bechert, Chief Strategy Officer and Member of Advisory Board • Philip Losch, Chief Technology Officer • Stu Maschwitz, Chief Creative Officer • Enrique Glas, Chief Financial Officer • Gesa Häfner, Global Head of Employee Experience and Legal • Robert Sharp, Global Head of Sales • Paul Babb, Global Head of Community and Customer Experience • Aharon Rabinowitz, Global Head of Digital Experience • Karen Gauthier, Global Head of Products • Ozlem Zaimoglu Akinbosoye, Global Head of Operations • Nicolas Burtnyk – CEO Redshift Enrique Glas, who currently serves as Vice President Corporate Finance and Controlling with parent company Nemetschek, will be joining the executive team to head up the finance department. Visit www.maxon.net and www.redgiant.com
SEGA Invests in Indian Music Service FLUTIN IS A MUSIC DISCOVERY PLATFORM focused on independent artists. Using AI, Flutin tracks music listening behaviour of the users and recommends the most relevant tracks from emerging and independent artists, thus helping them discover new music and providing better and more relevant exposure to the artists. Flutin has over 9 million downloads, over 300K DAUs and is streaming 3 million songs daily. It raised funding from GHV Accelerator and some HNI Angels and corporate investors.
www.content-technology.com/mediabusiness
Cinedigm Closes First Tranche of Investment in Starrise Media
CINEDIGM CORP. (NASDAQ: CIDM) has announced the Company has closed on a portion of the transactions contemplated by the Stock Purchase Agreement signed on Friday, December 27, 2019 to acquire approximately 29% of the outstanding equity of leading Chinese entertainment company Starrise Media Holdings Limited (Starrise) (1616. HK) from two existing holders in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately US$68 million. On February 14, 2020, the Company closed on the purchase of 162,162,162 Starrise shares and issued 21,646,604 shares of Common Stock as consideration on February14, 2020, and expects to close on the remainder of the Starrise shares as soon as practicable. Starrise’s ordinary shares are listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. In calendar year 2018, Starrise reported approximately US $139 million in total revenues and gross profits of US $31 million, a 97% increase from 2017 revenues and 196% increase in gross profits. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of calendar year 2018 were approximately US $41 million. In the first half of calendar year 2019, the company reported revenues of approximately US $67 million and gross profits of US $19 million, a 11% increase in revenues and 104% increase in gross profits. Cash & cash equivalents at the end of the first half of calendar year 2019 were approximately US$35 million. Starrise’ Film/TV business segment mainly invests in film, television and other short form content. Starrise distributes film content theatrically and to all key media platforms in China and is committed to significantly growing its investment in entertainment content for the rapidly expanding Chinese theatrical and digital marketplaces. Recent prominent film investments by Starrise include The Wandering Earth, one of the most successful Chinese films ever released, generating almost US$700 million at the box office in China in 2019, and The Grandmaster of Kung Fu, a successful internet-released action movie. Visit www.cinedigm.com.
Telestream Founder Returns as CEO Telestream, the provider of digital media tools, quality monitoring
The company has announced an investment partnership with SEGA, part of the well-known gaming and digital entertainment’s expansion into new, promising companies. Based in India but growing across the globe, the investment will enable Flutin to further strengthen its user base in key markets like the US.
and workflow solutions, has announced that Dan Castles, one of the
“Investing in Flutin is part of SEGA’s effort to advance into the music industry. They believe in us because of the approach we are taking in supporting emerging musicians and providing them substantial tools to grow their fanbase. 63% of total music revenue in Japan comes from independent music, and SEGA understands that this will be reflected globally in a few years,” notes Flutin founder and CEO Vishu Gupta. “They believe that platforms like Flutin that support emerging artists and help surface new talent in the industry are going to play a vital role in the next wave of change in the music industry.”
Eli Weiss, Managing Director of Genstar Capital, Telestream’s majority
“SEGA has often taken a broad view of entertainment, within and outside the gaming space, and looked for meaningful partners and investment opportunities,” says Toshihisa Kiyomiya, investment director of SEGA. “In markets like India and in areas like streaming music and music-based mobile apps, we see a great potential for growth and innovation, which is why we’re excited to support Flutin as it continues to create value for musicians and music lovers worldwide.” Visit www.flutin.com
company’s original founders, has returned as CEO to lead the company through its next phase of growth. Scott Puopolo, who has served as CEO of Telestream since 2017, has decided to step down as CEO. shareholder, commented: “We are grateful for Scott Puopolo’s many contributions to the company. Scott has been a great partner to Genstar in our efforts to grow and expand Telestream. As we embark on a new decade which promises to bring fundamental changes to the broadcast industry, we are excited to have Dan rejoin Telestream to help drive its growth strategy and continue to lead the industry.” Under Castles’ 20-year leadership, Telestream experienced consistent year-on-year revenue growth, and strong profitability. The company has today become the recognised leader in enterprise-class video transcoding, quality assurance, and workflow solutions, addressing the numerous video format and device incompatibilities and service disruptions encountered when delivering video over any network. Visit www.telestream.net
MEDIA BUSINESS
Moves in the business of content + technology
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PREVIEW The ABU Digital Broadcasting Symposium, 2-5 March 2020 at Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur. This annual symposium staged by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) to help fellow broadcasters go digital, with the support of the broadcasting industry. IT COMPRISES AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, masterclasses and an industry exhibition showcasing the latest technologies and services providing a platform to share expertise and experiences, network with likeminded colleagues, showcase and embrace advancing technologies to help broadcasters make the right decisions. 5G Technology & Broadcast will be one of the key discussions at the upcoming ABU DBS 2020. The technology promises to bring significant improvements, such as multi Gbps bandwidth, ultra-low latency, high reliability and massive capacity (10 times more than current). With the rise
of Internet-based media delivery platforms, 5G technology is anticipated to play a key role in broadcast & media delivery. Converting existing infrastructures to IP or building Full IP infrastructures from start, is another hot topic for broadcasting industry which will be addressed at the ABU-DBS. As broadcast technology changes to UHD, 8K, HDR, WCG etc., broadcasters need new infrastructures which should be expandable, upgradable, and cost-effective to deploy. In short, the novel infrastructures need to be based on Internet Protocol (IP) eventually. Visit http://dbs.abu.org.my=
CONFERENCE, WORKSHOPS & MASTERCLASS SESSIONS PROGRAMME 2 MAR MON DBS WORKSHOP DAY 09:30-12:30 SDI to IP Workflow (half-day workshop) 14:00-17:00 WorldDAB Workshop (half-day workshop) 3 MAR TUE CONFERENCE DAY 1 09:00-09:30 Opening session 09:30-10:30 Session 1: Advances in Technologies & Broadcast Standards Future of Broadcast TV Dr Peter Siebert, Adcom member, IEEE BTS Will cloud become and broadcast reality before IP Dr Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO, IDEAL Systems Lindsay Cornell, Principal Systems Architect, BBC Digital 10:30-11:00 Networking Break
ABU 2020 PREVIEW
11:00-11:30 Ministerial Address and official opening of exhibition
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11:30-12:30 Session 2: Evolving Media Business – Strategies and Opportunities Commercial Radio Evolution and Digital Radio Joan Warner, Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Radio Australia Using Shared Transmission Facilities Steve Ahern, Managing Director, AMT Pty Ltd Do You Know What You’re Worth? – Marketing Prioritisation within Public Service Broadcasting Joseph Goddard, Director, Asia-Pacific, James & Wilkinson Media 12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:30 Session 4: IBB Interoperability – Workshop presented by T-NET JAPAN Case study and way of approach realizing interoperability from the viewpoint of disaster management Yoshimitsu Tsurimaki Producer T-NET Japan
Session 6: Media Management, Workflow Automation and Cloud Integration Paul Shutt, Vice President, Media Technology and Platforms, Vizrt The importance of an efficient content supply chain: 4 case studies Albert Feytons, Business Consultant, MEDIAGENIX
15:30-16:00 Networking Break
12:30-14:00 Lunch
16:00-17:00
14:00-15:30 Session 7: Intelligent Media Factories: streamline your content supply chain to maximize revenue Workshop presented by DALET Sebastien Letemple Head of PreSales Design for Asia Pacific Dalet
SESSION SPONSORED BY VERIZON MEDIA
Session 4: Cybersecurity and Content Piracy – Action Required Cybersecurity and Content Piracy Matthew Sturgess, Head Sales Asia Pacific, Verizon Media Cybersecurity Recommendations Hamid Nayeri, Chairman ABU Technical Committee 4 MAR WED CONFERENCE DAY 2 09:30-10:30 Session 5: Advanced Broadcast Delivery Systems and 5G Technology LTE (5G) BroadCast Networks Requirements and Capacity Mats Ek, Technical Director, PROGIRA Delivering a better user experience for live OTT using Multicast ABR Colin Prior, APAC Sales Manager, ENENSYS Potential of Satellite Broadcasting toward Progress of Broadcasting Applications Masashi Kamei, Senior Research Engineer, Science and Technology Research Laboratories, NHK-Japan 10:30-11:15 Networking Break 11:15-12:30 SESSION SPONSORED BY VIZRT
15:30-16:00 Networking Break 16:00-17:00 Session 8: Digital Radio, The Podcast Generation & Enhanced Audio Technologies WorldDAB Alexander Zink, Senior Business Development Manager, Digital Radio & Streaming Applications, Fraunhofer, Nick Piggott, Project Director, RadioDNS 5 MAR THUR CONFERENCE DAY 3 09:30-10:30 Session 9: Content Delivery Networks, OTT Platforms and IBB Systems Assessing consumers’ appetite for on-demand and streaming. What does the consumer want? Mardhiah Nasir, Director & VP of Sales, IPSB Technology, Yoshimitsu Tsurimaki, Producer, T-NET Japan Co Ltd Faster than Broadcast – Ultra Low Latency OTT Streaming Today Chao Yin Loong, Enterprise Architect, Akamai, Singapore
10:30-11:15 Networking Break 11:15-12:30 Session 10: Industry Debate Panel – “The Changing World of Broadcasting…” 12:30-14:00 Lunch 14:00-15:30 Session 11: Advanced Production Technologies and All-IP Infrastructure Live IP Production (Opportunities and Challenges) Dr Mohieddin Moradi, Senior Researcher, IRIB R&D PTP MANAGEMENT AND ST2110 MEDIA FLOW MONITORING Why an umbrella management layer for all-IP infrastructures has become a must Thomas Gunkel, Global Market Director Broadcast, Skyline Communications Upgrading TV Studios to HDR Technology with focus on SDR and HDR Coexistence Seyed Mohammad Paknahad, Senior Researcher, IRIB R&D, Iran 15:30-16:00 Networking Break 16:00-17:00 Session 12: Media Personalisation Strategies – Applications of Big Data & Artificial Intelligence Social Big Data Analysis for TV Program Production Hiroki Okamoto, Research Engineer, NHK-Japan Practical Applications of AI in Television and Video Production Maarten Verwaest, CEO, Limecraft, Belgium Human Motion Capture Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks Mohammad Nozari Pak, Senior Researcher, IRIB R&D, Iran
ABU 2020 PREVIEW
COLLABORATE & INNOVATE
ABU 2020 PREVIEW
2 - 5 M A R C H 2 0 2 0 | H O T E L I S TANA K U A L A L U M P U R
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ACQUISITION & LIGHTING www.content-technology.com/acquisition
Chinese Blockbuster ‘Whistleblower’ Uses Blackmagic Cameras BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED that the new Chinese blockbuster film by Xue Xiaolu, Whistleblower, used a number of Blackmagic Design cameras to shoot the film, including URSA Mini Pros, Micro Cinema Cameras and Micro Studio Camera 4Ks. The camera packages, along with a number of other Blackmagic Design products, were used to shoot a large number of scenes for the action thriller. The international blockbuster film, shot in China, Australia, and Africa, follows a Chinese expatriate working for a mining company, who, after a fatal accident, discovers that new technology developed by the company may be a health risk. A joint Chinese and Australian production, the film includes a number of high paced, dramatic vehicle stunt scenes shot by DP Marc Spicer ACS, 2nd Unit DP Mark Wareham ACS, and DP Ricky Schamburg, as well as other crew members that were part of the teams that shot several of the Fast & Furious films. Michelle Pizanis was the AC on the project, an industry veteran who has worked on some of the biggest action films, including Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Furious 7 and Thor: Ragnarok. Already familiar with Blackmagic Design cameras and products from a number of other films, Pizanis was tasked with building the action stunt rigs for Whistleblower. The film’s action and stunt scenes rival any other blockbuster, and included high speed chases on roads and water, incredibly dramatic fight scenes, POV shots from body rigs on actors as they were sliding through tunnels and other tight spaces, and a huge number of physical effects. To capture this, Pizanis needed to design a set of rigs that were able to capture every shot reliably regardless of whether it had to go through a heavy impact, was attached to a crashing vehicle, or was dropped from a height. To accomplish this, several multicamera rigs were created, including a background plate array using URSA Mini Pro cameras, multiple car and motorcycle rigs built around Micro Cinema Cameras and Micro Studio Cameras. Each rig also used Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4Ks for recording and monitoring.
ACQUISITION
One of the bigger rigs was a background plate array that was attached to a chase vehicle. “We used six URSA Mini Pros for our background plate array, and these were amazing. With the dial-in filtration we were able to avoid using matte boxes and external filters, which allowed us to align the cameras inward facing as close as possible with six identical 20mm Zeiss PL Ultra Primes,” Pizanis said. “When we went to Malawi in Africa, we took these cameras and they were perfect to travel with as all six cameras fit in two pelican cases. After using them on the plate arrays we also used the cameras in full production mode, recording in RAW for all of our B-roll footage.”
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The film crew also kept a single URSA Mini Pro available to shoot wide establishing shots. “Quite
often these shots were a lock off shot on a Dutch tilt, and this saved us time in having to strip the A or B camera down, and also allowed us to do multi camera coverage on that scene,” she said. For car and other vehicle stunt shots, they used rigs made up of four Micro Cinema Cameras and two Micro Studio Camera 4Ks. These smaller cameras were perfect for tight shots and getting anywhere on a vehicle. “The Micro Studio 4Ks were used when the cameras weren’t in harm’s way so that we could record 4k. When the cameras were in harm’s way we used the Micro Cinema Cameras because we could record directly to the camera and put them in Pelican cases to protect them from impact. They all rendered perfectly on impact,” Pizanis continued. “The Video Assist 4Ks were used for our array set up and also as our portable video village as we were most impressed with their auto recording. When the camera recorded via a transmitter, we were able to record to the monitors and watch playback. We were able to build a trigged switch to record all cameras simultaneously and also have gen-lock and timecode using the Ambient NanoLockit,” she added. Whistleblower was also shot using Blackmagic Design products on Digital Imaging Technician Michael Easter’s cart to provide a critical viewing environment during photography. The Blackmagic gear allowed Easter to receive live images from the cameras on set via wireless SDI and enabled him to apply temporary looks to the footage, monitor camera configurations, assess exposure, gather and display reference materials for each scene and setup, and pass graded footage to the live monitors on set for the creative team. Easter used a number of Blackmagic Design products, including Smart Videohub 40×40, Videohub Smart Control, UltraStudio Mini Monitor and Mini Recorder, SmartScope Duo 4K and DaVinci Resolve. “There are a number of Blackmagic devices on my DIT cart. At the heart of this was the Smart Videohub 40×40. In combination with the Videohub Smart Control I am able to route images from wireless SDI receivers to my LUT
boxes, to my Grade 1 Reference OLED Monitors, to a quad-split SDI device, route images to and from the video operator and to the various other systems on the cart. During production, there were some days where we had live images from seven cameras to seven monitors hanging off the workstation,” Easter said. “Also, I am able to capture and display reference video and stills using Mini Monitors and Mini Recorders. To assist in managing exposure, I had a SmartScope Duo 4K set to either histogram, waveform, or a false-colour exposure tool from one of my LUT boxes. I used DaVinci Resolve to back check footage.” Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
ACQUISITION & LIGHTING
NTV Bangladesh Gets Up to Speed with Wireless Live Streaming HARE KRISHNA MOZUMDER has every reason to be excited. After years of trying to work around Bangladesh’s patchy network coverage, he’s finally seeing the country making big inroads to close the digital access gap. Bangladesh is a predominantly 2G and 3G mobile market but recently it has stepped up to 4G. This has helped promote digital inclusion across the country and industries, especially broadcasting.
Both the PWS-100RX1A and PWS-110RX1A Network RX Stations use Sony’s QoS (quality of service) technology or MPEG2-TS to maintain video and audio integrity during transmission.
“As a newsmaker, our priority is to deliver accurate and unbiased news as it happens” said the Senior Manager, Broadcast Operations and Engineering. “While digital coverage in Dhaka has been relatively stable, the same cannot be said about Bangladesh’s vast rural and remote areas. The arrival of 4G has greatly helped NTV get its wireless-workflow underway.” One of the first TV stations in Bangladesh, NTV, which is owned by International Television Channel Ltd, started broadcasting in 2003. It is considered Bangladesh’s most popular Bengali language TV station offering a wide range of news and entertainment programmes delivered across TV, Internet and Mobile. “Despite our lagging 3G network coverage, NTV was the one of the first TV stations in Bangladesh to embrace mobile-enabled live streaming,” added Mozumder. “NTV has a wide range of Sony XDCAM camcorders for ENG like the PXW-X400 and PXW-X200. The camcorders came with a built-in Wi-Fi module and gave us the opportunity to live stream using mobile data. Unfortunately, our 3rd party live mobile streaming solution was patchy, and it was also a costly exercise as we had to frequently switch SIM cards.” That changes when NTV acquired Sony’s PWS-100RX1A and PWS-110RX1A Network RX Stations, as well the IP-enabled XDCAM camcorders such as the PXW-X70 and PXW-Z280. Designed as a cost-efficient wireless live streaming solution the PWS-100RX1A and the
NTV acquired the PWS-100RX1A and the PWS-110RX1A Network RX Stations by Sony to provide a costefficient wireless live streaming solution using 4G/LTE and Wi-Fi networks.
PWS-110RX1A Network RX Stations provide stable video and audio direct from XDCAM camcorders using 4G/LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Underpinning the Network RX Stations is Sony’s QoS (quality of service) technology or MPEG2TS to maintain video and audio integrity during transmission. Each Network RX Station can simultaneously control two SDI outputs - these can be used to live stream from two locations at the same time. Multiple systems can be added for greater input and output loads. “Sony’s wireless live streaming products,
combined with 4G, gave us far improved live streaming results. Sony’s Network RX stations and wireless-workflow-enabled XDCAM camcorders worked very well even with low broadband bandwidth,” Mozumder added. “Our crew in rural areas could transmit entire files to our studios in Dhaka using a single SIM card. We’re very excited about our latest Sony acquisitions as they give NTV the best of both worlds – live streaming and high-quality HD images.” Visit https://pro.sony/en_HK
ATOMOS HAS ANNOUNCED a new technical collaboration that makes recording and monitoring a HD live-switched multicamera shoot on Roland video switcher easier than ever. When recording a feed on an Atomos monitorrecorder from the new Roland V-8HD HD Video Switcher you can now trigger recording directly from the switcher. The Roland V-8HD is the smart 8-input, all HDMI video switcher designed to simplify HD live production. When combined with any current Atomos monitor-recorder, like the award winning Ninja V, you have all you need to monitor or record the V-8HD‘s output. With three HDMI outputs, you can even connect up to three Atomos devices to trigger, monitor
and record. The combination creates a highly portable, easy to use HDMI switching solution that’s packed with features that take the stress out of multicamera, live video production. The record trigger is enabled by integrated Atomos protocols. It allows the V-8HD to start and stop recording via HDMI, in full HD quality, directly from Roland’s new switching deck. It’s a neat feature that centralises capture and control of live multicamera content, streamlining live production by taking away another stage in the process of recording mixed video output. This is particularly valuable when recording live events, for education, worship, live streaming, corporate presentations, esports, and more.
particularly love about the new Roland V-8HD is the all-in-one design and the unified, central control this gives crews when switching and recording live, multicamera content. The future of multicamera filming relies on lots of different technologies working together seamlessly. Collaboration and the joining of technologies is the best way to make multicamera production workflows work more coherent and more cost effect, so more content creators can film in this way. This democratisation of production is something we believe in strongly at Atomos, and our work with Roland on their new V-8HD switcher is an awesome example of this in action.”
Jeromy Young, CEO of Atomos said: “What we
Visit www.atomos.com
ACQUISITION
Atomos and Roland Collaborate on Multicamera Capture
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ACQUISITION & LIGHTING
Canon Unveils Landmark New EOS-1D X Mark III CANON AUSTRALIA HAS LAUNCHED the ultimate interchangeable lens camera, the EOS-1D X Mark III, offering professional photographers, videographers, and content creators limitless possibilities, at blistering speeds. Boasting dramatically improved AF tracking performance, image quality and communication capabilities, the camera represents the pinnacle of Canon’s EOS series. Enabling moments to be captured like never before, Canon’s new flagship camera enables incredible shooting speeds of up to 20fps with AF tracking, the ability to shoot in complete silence, and features improved high ISO performance. The EOS-1D X Mark III’s AF sensor sports 28 times the centre resolution of its predecessor to address professional photographers’ need for greater accuracy and focusing on subjects in a wider range of scenarios. What’s more, the camera offers impressive 5.5K 12-bit RAW video internal recording – the first non-cinema Canon EOS series camera to have such feature – allowing professionals to capture top-quality video as well as stills. To ensure uncompromised performance in harsh environments, the EOS-1D X Mark III comprises Canon’s EOS-1 Series trademark build-quality, reliability, and weather sealing features and will also be backed by Canon Australia’s five-year manufacturer warranty.
Unrivalled autofocus Based around the Canon EF mount, with more AF lenses available than any other system, the EOS-1D X Mark III features a new AF system and sensor. This Canon-developed technology enables enhanced stability and tracking giving professionals a new level of flexibility and accuracy when photographing subjects in various conditions.
ACQUISITION
With a new AF sensor, the camera provides 28 times the centre resolution of its predecessor and three times the number of AF points. Partnered with a dedicated DIGIC 8 processor, focusing on subjects in a wider range of lighting is made possible. In addition to focusing accuracy in low light, the camera is ideal for photographing low contrast, patterns, fine detail and diagonal lines – all of which were previously difficult to capture.
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Programmed via deep learning, the camera’s AF system can identify human subjects in a range of sporting situations, bringing them into focus – at high speeds – with an advanced subject tracking system. With this capability, the camera will lock on to a subject’s head or face – the primary place of focus for the human eye when looking at images – even in situations when the subject’s eyes are covered by the likes of helmets and goggles. A new Auto AF case setting has also been incorporated in the camera
to tune the AF settings to match the subject, making setting up the AF system easier.
Limitless creative opportunities Thanks to its new Canon developed DIGIC X processor, 20.1 Megapixel sensor, mirror system and shutter, the EOS-1D X Mark III gives a competitive edge – achieving industry leading speeds of 16fps. To achieve such fast frame rates, Canon’s technology reinvents the SLR mirror system. With Canon’s mechanical engineering superiority at the heart, the camera features almost zero mirror bounce – meaning its mirrors return to their positions as quickly and as precisely as possible, directing light to the camera’s AF sensor to take a reading faster.
Meeting the demand for high-quality video Thanks to its new sensor and processor, the EOS-1D X Mark III is now Canon’s most advanced video product with interchangeable lenses outside of the Cinema EOS series, offering 4K Full Frame and supporting 12-bit RAW internal recording. The EOS-1D X Mark III is the first non-cinema Canon camera to feature RAW recording, providing an expansive range of colours and tones which can be extracted in post-production for superior image quality. In addition, video can also be recorded as 12-bit CRM file at 5.5K (5472 x 2886), allowing very detailed oversampled 4K footage that meets the demand for high-quality video. The camera can also record using Canon Log Gamma, captured as a 10-bit HEVC/H.265 file, giving professionals multiple editing and unlimited creative possibilities. Addressing the need for speed, the EOS-1D X Mark III supports file recording in a MP4 container for fast transmission of files. What’s more, the EOS-1D X Mark III is also the first EOS-1 series camera to support Movie Digital IS which provides
5-axis stabilisation to cope with a wide range of movements. This is a feature seen in high-end Canon cinema cameras like the EOS C500 Mark II. Using the EOS-1D X Mark III, Dual Pixel CMOS AF is supported in 4K and RAW mode. When coupled with Movie Digital IS, professionals can have confidence their movie image footage will have pin-sharp focus and be steady whatever the condition or scenario; perfect for impromptu video opportunities.
Content delivery at competitive speeds Keeping pace with shortening deadlines and addressing professionals’ needs for seamless and speedy content delivery, the EOS-1D X Mark III is the first EOS-1 series camera to feature built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The Wi-Fi can be used for FTP or connecting via EOS Utility as well as connecting to a smartphone. Its Bluetooth connectivity uses the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, providing a constant connection to a compatible smart device while requiring minimal battery power. This is ideal for long shoot days. By opening Canon Camera Connect, the EOS-1D X Mark III automatically connects to compatible devices, allowing image review, sharing, and remote Live View shooting with a single tap. With inbuilt GPS, professionals can capture location data to images which is particularly useful for travelling sports photographers and exploring wildlife photographers. The camera transfers data faster than the speed of the EOS1D X Mark II when using the built in ethernet, or the new optional wireless file transmitter – the WFT-E9. Coupled with simpler network set-up, it greatly enhances professionals’ workflows. The EOS-1D X Mark III will be available from Canon’s online store and official Canon retailers from February 2020. Visit www.canon.com.sg
ACQUISITION & LIGHTING
Panasonic Announces Three New 4K Camcorders PANASONIC HAS ANNOUNCED THREE NEW 4K 60p camcorders designed to provide mobility, efficiency and affordability for small production houses and news gathering professionals. The lightweight camcorders are ready to go off-the-shelf, and allow working professionals to respond to events as they happen with capabilities including live streaming support, optical image stabilisation, and super slow-motion recording; as well as the convenience of built-in lenses, long battery life, XLR audio input and ND filters. A heat-dispersing design that includes a newly developed thin fan makes the new models the industry’s smallest and lightest camcorders[i] with an integrated lens capable of 4K 60p recording. By pulling in air from the rear panel and efficiently dispersing heat from the front panel, reliable, extended shooting is achieved.
Other capabilities include two manual rings, an ND Filter, plus a built-in LED video light on the HC-X2000 and AG-CX10. The camcorders support 24-bit high resolution linear PCM audio recording, 4:2:2 10bit internal video recording up to 4K 30p and the new, high-efficiency HEVC codec for 4K 60p recording. High-spec optical performance is achieved with a wideangle 25mm LEICA Dicomar lens, and 32x intelligent zoom (i.ZOOM) in 4K recording. Key features supporting high-quality recording:
Powerful Optical Performance for Precise Shooting
The camcorders’ integrated lens has a 24x optical zoom ranging from 25mm wide angle to 600mm tele. i.ZOOM achieves 32x at 4K resolution, and 48x at FHD. The 4-Drive Lens System drives four lens groups independently for a powerful zoom in a compact body. The LEICA Dicomar lens meets the stringent criteria of Leica Camera AG to deliver precise resolution and contrast, producing stunning images while suppressing flaring and ghosts. Two manual rings are provided, one for focusing and the other for zoom or iris operation. The rings are different sizes so it’s easy to select and control the right ring at a touch. ND Filters can be selected from 1/4, 1/16, 1/64, and Clear, and the use of glass protects against scorching from sunlight condensation.
5-Axis HYBRID O.I.S. for Stable Image Acquisition
In both UHD and FHD modes, in addition to O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilisation), Electronic Image Stabilisation operates to detect and correct handshake in five axes, including rotational blurring, to produce stable images at 24x optical zoom. This provides strong correction under unstable conditions, from low-angle to high-angle shooting. A Ball O.I.S. System reduces friction on the drive section, achieving delicate correction even for small-amplitude handshake.
Super Slow-Motion Recording Expands Creative Expression
FHD mode offers slow-motion recording at 120fps (for 59.94Hz) and 100fps (for 50Hz). 10-bit recording is supported, and full sensor area images are obtained even at high frame rates. Auto focus can be used during slow-motion recording.
High-Performance Processor Delivers Versatile Recording Modes
Panasonic’s high-performance Venus Engine processor achieves 4:2:2 10bit internal recording with maximum 29.97p in UHD, and maximum 59.94p in FHD. When set for 10-bit recording, the camcorder delivers 4K 60p 4:2:2 10-bit HDMI output, enabling high image quality capture with an external recorder.
New, highly efficient HEVC recording (LongGOP/10-bit 4:2:0/MOV) is also supported for recording 59.94p at a high bit rate of 200 Mbps. In addition to MOV, MP4, and AVCHD, the AG-CX10 will also support P2 MXF, and AVC-Intra/AVC-LongG codec recording after a free future update (timing to be announced).
High-Speed, High-precision AF including Face Detection AF/AE Superior focusing speed, stability and tracking performance for both 4K and Full HD is achieved thanks to Face Detection AF/AE together with the precise focus lens drive. In addition, precise subject tracking, with skin tone recognition to distinguish between faces and backgrounds, can be activated by touching the LCD panel.
Versatile Network Functions Expand User Workflow A Wi-Fi module is built-in, so there is no need for a separate wireless LAN module. Using a tablet application HC ROP, wireless remote control, including camera settings and lens control, can be set. RTSP/RTP/RTMP/ RTMPS-Compatible HD streaming allows direct connection and streaming of content such as concerts, sports events, and news flashes. In addition, the AG-CX10 is NDI/HX compatible. When a paid third party activated key is downloaded, NDI/HX mode can be enabled. This allows data transmission and camera control via IP connection without an external converter, thanks to the AG-CX10’s wired LAN capability.
3G-SDI for Connecting to an External Recorder (AG-CX10, HC-X2000) USB (micro AB) to LAN conversion adaptor and USB micro AB-Host Cable included (AG-CX10) Compatibility with wired remote controls via the remote terminal
Double SD Card Slot Two SD memory card slots are provided. With Unlimited Relay Recording, the recording media switches automatically and seamlessly from Slot 1 to Slot 2. Simultaneous recording and background recording are also selectable.
48-kHz/24-bit High Resolution Linear PCM Audio Recording The handle of the HC-X2000 and AG-CX10 provides +48V phantom power supply/MIC/LINE selectable XLR audio input with manual volume controls, available for each of the two channels. Also supported are a 24-bit linear PCM system (MOV/P2 MXF – AG-CX10 only), 16-bit AAC (MP4), or Dolby Audio system (AVCHD) high-quality two-channel audio recording. The optional handle unit (VW-HU1) is required for the HC-X1500 to access these capabilities. Visit www.panasonic.com
ACQUISITION
The new camcorders – the HC-X1500, the HC-X2000, and the AG-CX10 – will be available in Australia late March. Recognising the demand for live broadcasts of special events and news, the camcorders offer built-in Wi-Fi supporting HD live streaming. In addition, the AG-CX10 supports the broadcaster-targeted P2 MXF file format, ethernet HD live streaming, and has an NDI/HX compatible IP connection. Connectivity is provided for use as a live camera.
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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide
www.content-technology.com/sportscasting
Japan’s Cyber Media TV Uses ATEM Constellation 8K for eSports Streaming
JAPAN’S CYBER MEDIA TV is using Blackmagic Design ATEM Constellation 8Ks and ATEM 1M/E Advanced Panels for eSports and steaming programs for gaming. Cyber Media TV uses both ATEM products, along with a number of other Blackmagic products, to stream 60 to 80 eSports programs each month.
Cyber Media TV has four studios in Tokyo and offers streaming services mainly for eSports and gaming programs. As the demand for eSports and new high-quality streaming programs continues to increase, Cyber Media TV introduced a new video switching workflow using the ATEM Constellation 8K switcher. Kotaro Abe, CEO of Cyber Media TV said: “I have already used an ATEM 4M/E Broadcast Studio which was stable and worked great. However, I always wanted more inputs, so I decided to purchase the ATEM Constellation 8K when I heard about the announcement as it had so many inputs and two SuperSources.” He continued: “In Japan, the style of esports streaming is different than those of overseas. We tend to use so many picture-in-pictures, so having two SuperSources has great advantage. It also has four DSKs which means I can use more keys and fills.” For more efficient operation, Cyber Media TV heavily used ATEM’s macro feature. “I, for example, use the macro to playout some
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“I cannot work without the ATEM’s macro function for eSports streaming. I use ATEM’s physical control panel for quicker operation. Sometimes I rent an ATEM 2M/E Broadcast Panel for bigger scale jobs but usually I use an ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel with macro function,” he said. In September of 2019, Cyber Media TV handled streaming at the Tokyo Game Show, one of three biggest video game shows in the world. For the event, they used Teranex Mini converters, UltraStudio Mini for game capture and HyperDeck Studio Mini for VTR play out, as well as the ATEM Constellation 8K and ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel.
“The ATEM is very stable, even though it is used in rough situations that other manufacturer’s switchers would have stopped working. I have used it for three days with the power on all the time and have never had a single problem. In fact, I have seen other streaming companies using ATEM Constellation 8K for eSports too,” Abe said. “Beyond eSports, we sometimes use the ATEM switcher for other jobs, such as corporate events. As it has so many inputs and outputs, it is versatile and can be used for many jobs. Also, PlayStation and Xbox will support 4K soon, so we need to examine 4K streaming. The ATEM Constellation 8K supports up to 8K, so I feel secure it can be used five more years from now,” Abe concluded. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
Cingularity Monitors Sports in Japan, Australia with Phabrix
Encompass and beIN Asia-Pacific Extend Partnership
PHABRIX, THE DEVELOPER OF test and measurement solutions, supplied three Sx handheld 3G/HD/SD video/audio monitoring instruments and an Rx 2000 rasterizer to Cingularity, the media network provider, for monitoring on location at two APAC sporting events – the women’s handball world championships, held in Japan in November, and the [ATP Cup] men’s outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament held in Australia in January 2020.
ENCOMPASS DIGITAL MEDIA, a global technology services company that delivers end-to-end video solutions to television networks, broadcasters, sports leagues and OTT service providers, and beIN ASIA PACIFIC have signed an agreement to extend their current contract covering playout, streaming and distribution services.
“We chose the PHABRIX Sx instruments largely because of their compact size and weight, as we knew we would be moving constantly between sites on both projects,” said Dan Pope, Managing Director, Cingularity. “They are great for initial set-up and lining up, you can send and receive to the same box, and the battery life is good so we can just grab them and go without worrying.”
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video combining HyperDeck Studio Minis and the ATEM,” said Abe. “The ATEM can communicate with up to four HyperDecks and recall transition through the macro. As the ATEM has two SuperSources, I can use one SuperSource while writing macro for another SuperSource for different effects and switches. During eSports streaming, it is very hectic so I make macros for all complicated operations so that all I have to do is press one button, and the video starts to play and overlay the subtitles. “
With advanced SDI physical layer analysis (Eye & Jitter), the SxE is suitable for applications like live production. The instant, RTE (Real-Time Eye) technology speeds physical layer testing and delivers
automated measurements and logging for key parameters such as: rise time, fall time, delta, overshoot and cable length. The SxA offers all the same advanced signal generation, analysis and monitoring capabilities as the SxE, without the advanced Real-Time SDI physical layer analysis (eye and jitter instruments). There is support for SMPTE compliance testing with over 350 different formats. An extensive array of video and audio tools includes a signal generator with moving test patterns, a highperformance waveform, and ANC/VANC inspector. The Rx 2000 rasterizer offers up to four channels of 2K/3G/HD/SD-SDI video/ audio analysis and monitoring (dual inputs per analyzer) and can also provide signal generation. Up to 16 instruments can be presented simultaneously for video analysis and eye/jitter testing via an external display. Monitoring of the instruments and video can also be performed using dual built-in screens and audio speakers. Visit https://phabrix.com
“Encompass has been originating beIN SPORTS channels and feeds for beIN SPORTS CONNECT from its Singapore facility for many years,” states Mike Kerr, Managing Director, beIN ASIA PACIFIC. “Given the everchanging landscape of beIN’s business and the flexibility a company like Encompass offers, it was a
natural choice to continue to entrust our brand and services with Encompass.” “We are very pleased to extend our relationship with beIN ASIA PACIFIC,” comments Marc Bruce, Encompass Managing Director, APAC. “The demanding nature of managing multiple live sports services for both traditional TV platforms and beIN SPORTS CONNECT, which provides coverage for some of the world’s most prevalent sporting brands, makes our Singapore facility the perfect fit with its dynamic scope of capability offerings.” Visit www. beinmediagroup.com and www.encompass.tv
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Panasonic Equips Tokyo 2020 National Stadium PANASONIC CORPORATION has delivered a wide range of equipment essential to operation of Japan’s new National Stadium in Tokyo, including large screen displays and audio systems, stadium lights, and approximately 600 digital signage systems.
AUDIO SYSTEMS
The new National Stadium was built on the site of the old National Stadium, which served as the Olympic Stadium during Tokyo 1964 (demolished in 2015). During Tokyo 2020, the new National Stadium will host the Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies and competitions such as track and field. Based on the concept, “a stadium in forest,” it was designed to incorporate elements of nature such as greenery and trees, yet, it is also equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies.
The RAMSA audio system line array speakers, WS-LA4WP, was delivered. The ideal linear sound source was brought to life by selecting the unit optimal for the acoustic characteristics demanded of stadiums, theatres, and event halls, and employing the waveguide horn design. Here are the key features of these speakers that satisfy the acoustic characteristics of large spaces: (1) Amplify sound clearly near or far, in a very large venue; (2) Create optimal sound thanks to the high resolution simulation software; (3) Feature a metal mounting structure that realizes both workability and safety.
Panasonic delivered AV and lighting equipment essential to enlivening the competitions as well as other facilities essential to stadium operation and for spectators to get around. Panasonic also installed two approx. 9m x 32m large screen displays on both the north and south sides of the stands, in addition to 38-line array speakers that consistently deliver clear sound ensuring sound pressure even on the field, far away from the speakers. The lighting equipment not only illuminates the field of play, but can be turned on/off instantly, enabling the use of lighting for spectator entertainment. The system also has adopted a light source that has been designed to optimise colour reproducibility during TV broadcasts. For the stands, Panasonic delivered 600 digital signage systems that can be remotely controlled to provide information to spectators. Different information can be delivered in each concourse area, so information can be efficiently relayed to spectators. Panasonic also provided eco-friendly air conditioning systems. The equipment provided includes:
LARGE SCREEN DISPLAY SYSTEMS South side: Approx. 9m high, 32m wide North side: Approx. 9m high, 36m wide (including 4m for the turret clock, 45-minute counter, and running timer) Resolution: Full HD
Line array speakers (competition audio): 8 barrels x 24 units, 4 barrels x 14 units; a total of 38 units.
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT IN THE STANDS For competitions – Approx. 1300 units For spectators – Approx. 200 units among others According to Panasonic, LED floodlights “Stadium Beam”, utilises cutting-edge technology to realise optimal colour reproducibility and high-speed image reproduction for 4K/8K broadcasts. 4K/8K broadcasts can reproduce colour more vividly than Full HD. Panasonic has developed floodlights that offer the optimal colour reproducibility for 4K/8K broadcasts – an average colour rendering index of Ra 90 plus a special colour rendering index of R9 80 for red tones. Moreover, by adopting ignition technology, the floodlights minimize flickering during high speed reproduction of slow-motion footage, etc. With these two technologies, Panasonic will support high quality image expression for 4K/8K broadcasts. The floodlights create an optimal lighting environment that satisfies the lighting design standards, but
is less glaringly bright when people look up. With proprietary light distribution design technology, the floodlights optimally narrow the focus of the light from the light source to significantly reduce glare. The floodlights will clearly illuminate the competitors’ field of view and the way within the stadium for spectators.
DIGITAL SIGNAGE Digital signage: Approx. 600 units Utilising Panasonic’s digital signage solution, “AcroSign”, a wide range of content from core industry systems including sightseeing information for inbound travelers and information from L Alert (Public Information Commons), etc. can be delivered to systems that cater to needs of different customers. Moreover, by combining an extensive range of Panasonic devices and a rich power of expression, Panasonic will provide a new value for signage. By taking advantage of the collective power of the Panasonic group, extensive range of audio-visual technologies, and the wealth of experience in installation and operation, Panasonic will provide large-scale stadium solutions that can create an electrifying environment that integrates and flexibly operates multiple screens. Visit www.panasonic.com/global
OBS Counts Down to Olympic IBC Opening
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THE EAST HALLS of the Tokyo Big Sight convention centre precinct are set to house the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) Construction, Engineering and Planning teams fitting out technical and production areas.
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According to OBS Chief Executive Officer Yiannis Exarchos, “Unlike recent Games, the IBC in Tokyo didn’t have to be built from the ground up. We are utilising the excellent existing facilities and amenities offered by Tokyo Big Sight, Japan’s premier convention centre. This project was an integral part of the shared commitment between OBS and Tokyo 2020 to reduce the environmental impact of construction for the Games and
minimise our overall broadcast footprint.” OBS will once again use the modular prefabricated panels that were first introduced for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and re-used in PyeongChang in 2018. With now a lifecycle of three Games, the sustainability initiative has resulted in a substantial reduction of OBS’ broadcast footprint, construction costs and time required for the fit-out and the dismantling of the IBC, while providing broadcasters with a suitable working environment. Also, OBS will re-use part of the cabling recovered from previous Games in the IBC. For Tokyo 2020, the IBC plans have been redesigned to include specific areas for the Broadcasters to house equipment for receiving or sending signals from/to OBS. Known as the
Centralised Technical Areas (CTAs), they will contribute in saving energy by reducing the heat, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and technical power consumption, since all the technical equipment will be concentrated in certain areas, and not scattered around the IBC as per previous layouts. These areas can be shared between two or more RHBs, therefore making it a more efficient use of space and more costeffective for the broadcasters. The first RHBs to use the IBC facilities are planned to arrive in April 2020. However, it is only on 24 June 2020 that the IBC will become fully operational, the soft opening taking place exactly one month prior to the Opening Ceremony as per previous Games. Visit www.obs.tv
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ChyronHego’s Paint 8.1 Scores with Live Sports
CHYRONHEGO IS NOW SHIPPING Paint 8.1, the newest release of the company’s sports analysis and telestration tool.
Paint version 8.1 gives broadcasters the ability to record and play out a multicamera ultra-highdefinition (UHD) panoramic video stitch and then manipulate it using full pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ) control. H.264 streaming and enhanced remote access and control capabilities are among the other new updates that further boost Paint’s value in enriching sports analysis and production. Paint empowers sports broadcasters and coaches to leverage video and graphics to improve player and team performance. The software-based system offers a feature-rich set of easy-to-use telestration tools for graphically enhancing and highlighting video. Paint 8.1 builds significantly on the capabilities of Paint 8.0, which delivered an all-new user experience and a completely overhauled graphics set. The ability to combine outputs from multiple UHD cameras to create a multi-UHD stitch and placing full PTZ and playback control in the hands of operators is a transformational addition to Paint. Version 8.1 offers several other critical capabilities that enhance telestration for live sports broadcasts. Updates to Paint style, user interface, and features include the following: • AllCam Stitch & Control — Designed to optimize creative flexibility, AllCam Stitch & Control allows Paint users to reframe and focus on the field in ways previously not feasible for tighter replays and play coverage. Controlling the UHD camera stitch with a joystick, replay telestration operators become virtual camera operators who can view any point on the field at any time — and exert total control over the broadcast-quality output.
• H.264 Streaming — Video REST API control facilitates the streaming of Paint’s output via H.264 over any network. With support for multiple playout endpoints over the network, Paint 8.1 is an even more flexible solution for live streaming of enhanced sports content. • Web Remote App — Remote access and control via web-ready HTML5-based interface allows for simplified touchscreen control, in turn supporting more interactive talent-driven telestration on tablets or remote workflows. • New User Experience Optimized for Ease of Use — With Paint’s new user interface, operators are able to create larger quantities of high-quality content and deliver it to air much faster than competing solutions. • New GFX — A completely overhauled graphics (GFX) package adds sophistication to Paint while making it easy to adapt all of the software’s graphics to align with the user’s preferred look and feel. • New Timeline — Unique timeline functionality in Paint 8.1 makes it simpler than ever to create great-looking multilayered presentations, and to generate this content faster than ever.
• Intelligent Automatic Chroma Keyer — Based on the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the automatic chroma keyer built into Paint 8.1 drastically reduces the complexity of working with keyed graphics, especially when dealing with challenging and changing conditions, such as shadows on parts of the pitch or court. • Convenient Data Display — Ancillary data for clips and footage now can be viewed on a secondary output when Paint is used as the replay device. • Publishing to Social Media — Single-click publishing in Paint 8.1 makes it a snap to publish content to social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. • New 3D Tools — Multiple new 3D tools build on the already rich feature set within Paint’s telestration toolbox. Visit www.chyronhego.com
FIFA Certifies ChyronHego
For the EPTS program, FIFA appointed Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, to conduct specialised testing using a standardised protocol designed to bring independence, objectivity, and transparency to the process. Designed for a sports market in which data accuracy is becoming ever more important, test scenarios measured the performance of tracking systems in different situations. The resultant data was measured against data from the millimetreaccurate VICON motion capture system, which represents the gold standard for ground-truth comparison. The results attained through the EPTS assessment showed that TRACAB Gen5 data was of the highest possible quality across all measured categories.
Spatial-temporal and derived-metrics data feeds from TRACAB Gen5 systems can be accessed through a series of APIs to service the wide variety and expanding number of use cases for football data. The data supports broadcast applications such as rendering live player graphics with tools such as Virtual Football for illustration purposes; performance analysis applications used in coaching; and even instadium entertainment on LED boards using Click Effects PRIME. Derived metrics are available for contextualized in-game and seasonal analysis of statistics. When ultra-low latency is of the utmost importance, as for innovative applications such as fan engagement using augmented reality, data from TRACAB Gen5 can be delivered within 150ms, the fastest delivery time for a data set of this richness in sport. ChyronHego has also seen its Virtual Football system certified by FIFA for use as a virtual offside line platform. A system for inserting virtual graphics onto the field, Virtual Football addresses the stringent performance requirements essential to the accurate placement of offside lines as part of the video
assistant referee (VAR) workflow in football matches. Referees can rely on the technology to accurately place an offside line and help them make decisions more easily. Virtual Football features an array of tools that enable users to enhance live football production with graphical elements including offside lines. Built on advanced image processing, Virtual Football allows users to insert virtual graphics without the need for camera sensors or special camera heads. The system’s built-in keyer overcomes harsh environmental effects, such as shadows and bright sunlight. FIFA included ChyronHego’s Virtual Football system in a testing program designed to certify technologies on the market for displaying virtual offside lines for VAR usage. Following a number of testing events, where the rendered offside lines were measured for their accuracy in a variety of scenarios by an appointed testing institute, FIFA certified that Virtual Football was able to pass the performance criteria required for Virtual Offside Line (VOL) technology. Visit www.chyronhego.com.
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THE NEW GEN5 VERSION of ChyronHego’s TRACAB optical tracking system has been certified by the FIFA Quality Program for EPTS (Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems) for the global football industry. Of the four tracking systems to achieve this certification, TRACAB Gen5 is the only optical tracking system to be qualified and to demonstrate clear industry-leading results.
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SNTV to Manage J League’s International Youtube Channel
Ncam AR Suite v1.1 NCAM TECHNOLOGIES has announced an entirely new suite of tools for the Unreal Engine that provide a complete solution for delivering photorealistic virtual production in real time. The Ncam AR Suite is available as either a Lite or Standard version. Both versions include all the essential tools, an open source framework, and augmented reality pipelines to enable real-time, photorealistic augmented reality to your productions.
SNTV, THE JOINT VENTURE between IMG and The Associated Press, has agreed a new deal with the J.League, which includes managing the new international YouTube channel for J.League, Japan’s professional football league. SNTV will deliver a complete YouTube channel strategy for the J.League, to increase reach and connect with fans globally, by producing rich and engaging video stories, including match highlights, player profiles, reaction and archive features. In addition to managing the YouTube channel, SNTV will create regular news feature stories, highlighting players, events and matches, which will be distributed across SNTV’s global network of broadcast and digital media organisations. This is the third year SNTV has worked with J.League as a partner and the expanded partnership highlights the work SNTV is doing to support the J.League maximise exposure, increase their social footprint and ultimately grow their international audience. James Dobbs, Managing Director of SNTV, said: “The J.League is recognised as one of the most successful and competitive leagues in Asia and we are excited to extend our relationship with them. The launch of the international YouTube channel and SNTV’s overall content offering will take viewers closer to the action and give a real insight into the clubs and players in Japan.” SNTV, which was founded in 1996, has relationships with over 200 sporting federations covering over 40 sports, creates over 60 unique videos per day and over 30,000 stories per year. Visit www.sntv.com and www.jleague.jp/en
HK’s CABLE TV Carries J League from 2020 to 2022
HONG KONG’S CABLE TV has announced its carriage of J.League from 2020 to 2022 with exclusive broadcast rights in Hong Kong, bringing viewers one of the most popular football actions in Asia in the coming three seasons.
SPORTSCASTING
Mr Tommy Choy, Controller of i-CABLE Sports Limited, said, “We are pleased to extend our long-time partnership with J.League, and very excited that i-CABLE has once again acquired the exclusive pay TV, free TV and OTT rights of J.League in Hong Kong for the next three seasons, bringing the best Japanese sports actions to our viewers. With our extensive experience in producing and broadcasting large-scale sports events, we strive to offer an extraordinary viewing experience to Hong Kong viewers on different platforms.”
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Compatible with Unreal Engine 4.23.X or 4.24.X and included with Ncam Reality, Ncam AR Suite Lite is a complete solution for producing Virtual Studio and Virtual Overlay augmented reality within UE4. It features an open source, modular and extensible design, an intuitive wizard allows new virtual production projects to be created and configured in minutes, and comes with complete video tutorials, quick start guide and a reference manual. Built from the ground up using native UE4 frameworks, it integrates seamlessly with: • Live Link – Providing instant, live camera tracking data to UE4. • Media Framework – Supporting combinations of AJA and Black Magic SDI cards up to 6G 4k. • Composure – For configurable compositing of live video, virtual graphics and visual effects. • Sequencer – To record and replay Ncam camera tracking. • Multi-User Editing – Allowing many Ncam cameras to share one virtual space that can be modified live. • nDisplay – To drive LED walls using Ncam tracking data including offaxis (POV) projection. • Timecode Synchroniser – For perfectly aligning all data sources together. Greatly improved performance over the previous NcamAR plug-in. Ncam AR Suite, meanwhile, is compatible with Unreal Engine 4.23.X or 4.24.X and available to customers on a subscription model. It includes all features of Ncam AR Suite Lite and extends it with advanced rendering pipelines. Photographic and rendering effects include: Depth Of Field – Naturally pull focus to and from virtual objects; and Screen Space Reflections – See the video stream reflected in the virtual objects; Virtual Overlay allows users to render and composite virtual objects seamlessly into a live video stream. Features include Shadow Receivers (Hold Outs) – Cast shadows from virtual objects onto the video stream. A Virtual Studio features allows virtual replacement of green screen and compositing with keyed elements. 3D Garbage Mattes mask areas of the video to extend your virtual scene past the edges of the green screen. There is also Support for the Ncam Keyer and Real Depth. Two extended rendering modes add more experimental and advanced features. These include: • Lens Flare and Bloom – Advanced optical effects; and • Light-Wrap – Seamless blending of the edges of virtual elements with the video stream. Visit www.ncam-tech.com
Selected matches will be broadcast exclusively on multiple platforms of the Group, including free TV channel, Hong Kong Open TV (Channel 77); pay TV channels, CABLE Sports (HD 601 / SD 661), Sports Plus 1 (HD 602 / SD 662), Sports Plus 2 (HD 604 / SD 664), and Sports Plus 3 (HD 605 / SD 665); official websites of Hong Kong Open TV (www.hkopentv.com) and CABLE TV, and the mobile apps of Hong Kong Open TV and CABLE TV. Moreover, a team of subject experts will host and provide professional commentary and analysis for the matches. Visit www.i-cablecomm.com
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NEWS OPERTAIONS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations
India’s NDTV Embraces Quicklink TX for Prime-Time Debates Founded in 1988, NDTV offers round-the-clock coverage of the latest news and has a mix of news bulletins, current affairs, talk shows, and general interest and entertainment programs. The Quicklink TX Quad has enabled NDTV to introduce guests into its debates using any Skype-enabled device. As the Quicklink TX can receive from and send to any Skype user, it provides NDTV with global access to millions of
Skype users in order to broadcast the calls in HD quality. “Having used the Quicklink TX daily during our prime-time debates, we’ve found the quality to be excellent and the technology to be faultless. The Quicklink TX has added significant value to our productions,” said Dinesh Singh, Chief Technology Officer at NDTV. The Quicklink TX, designed in partnership with Microsoft, is a video call management system. It is a transceiver that enables professional reception and transmission of multiple Skype
Vietnamese Developers Launch Coronavirus Tracker Within Hours
Japan’s AbemaTV Streams with LiveU
A TEAM OF FIVE VIETNAMESE software engineers has taken a mere 12 hours, albeit non-stop, to build an online dashboard which monitors not only global cases of infection of the coronavirus in real-time, but also allow Vietnamese internet users to catch-up with latest and official news.
LIVEU HAS ANNOUNCED that one of Japan’s leading video streaming channels, AbemaTV, is implementing LiveU cellular bonding technology to produce its online news and entertainment business. AbemaTV is using over 20 LiveU field units, including the LU600 HEVC, combined with the LiveU Central cloud management platform to live stream shows and events from various venues and outdoor sites. On the ground support and service is provided by LiveU’s longstanding Japanese partner, Sanshin Electronics Company.
KOMPA GROUP had already developed an English version of the dashboard, ranking it as one of the world’s most popular 2019-nCoV tracking websites, but there was no Vietnamese language supported platform available on the internet. Vietnamese people could not track the number of COVID-19 cases in Vietnam and around the globe due to the language barrier. More importantly, social media and other news platforms were bombarded with fake and unofficial news which were causing a great deal of confusion and unnecessary panic in public. According to Mr Vong Thanh Cuong, CEO and Founder of Kompa Group, another obstacle when building the website was to coordinate the Data Science team located in Silicon Valley, U.S.A., and the development team based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. “When COVID-19 was declared a global health emergency by WHO, everyone was on holiday. The time zone difference between Vietnam and the United States made it difficult for executing the project, yet all members tried their best to deliver the work successfully,” Mr Cuong said. A highlight of KOMPA GROUP’s dashboard is the news bar. Users can not only keep track of the number of COVID-19 cases, but they can also quickly get updated on the latest information from official and credible information sources related to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In addition to the real-time global infection map, the dashboard also provides an infection map customised for Vietnamese people to follow. Visit https://corona.kompa.ai and https://consulting.kompa.ai
video calls through SDI inputs/outputs and HDMI interface. NDTV plans to continue utilising the Quicklink TX daily during prime-time debates. Visit www.quicklink.tv
AbemaTV has been using LiveU since the start in 2016. The internet TV service chose LiveU for its high quality and reliability, as well as its cost-effective receiver (LiveU Central), having tested several mobile bonding products. Today the channel broadcasts up to 20 channels for free, featuring original drama, news, sports, live contents and more. A popular non-stop three-day live broadcast variety show in November 2017 used 12 LiveU units, representing the longest live streaming program to date. The channel also uses LiveU to cover the 7.2 hours live broadcast variety show, Shogi Games, also known as Japanese chess or the Game of Generals, a two-player strategy board game native to Japan, and a golf contest. Mr Nobuteru Kondo, Live Streaming Delivery Technology Division of AbemaTV, said, “LiveU enables us to live stream in high-quality, wherever we want to go. We always aim to broadcast the latest trends in entertainment, and LiveU enables us to flexibly prepare for live streaming of urgent press conferences. We value the technology’s stability, compactness, and scalability so it can receive the number of channels we need.” Yaal Eshel, General Manager, LiveU Asia said, “We’re proud of our relationship with AbemaTV, helping them to grow their business with engaging live content. It’s great to see the creative ways that the technology is being used to enrich their programming, with LiveU being implemented as an end-to-end live broadcast solution.” Visit www.liveu.tv
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NDTV (NEW DELHI TELEVISION LIMITED), an Indian television media company, has embraced the Quicklink TX for daily contributions into its prime-time debates.
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NEWS OPERATIONS
Google News Initiative Supports Innovative APAC Storytelling LAUNCHED WITH THE GOAL of helping journalism thrive in the digital age, the Google News Initiative (GNI) has supported 87 news organisations from around the world through the GNI YouTube Innovation Funding, part of a USD$25 million commitment to build a strong future for online video journalism. Lessons from the first projects funded under the programme have been published demonstrating how newsrooms have succeeded in developing their video strategy - including experiments with made-for-YouTube news content from ABS-CBN of the Philippines; Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting Company (EBC) madefor-YouTube livestreaming and monetisation; and TV Asahi’s development of new technology to commemorate the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Established 65 years ago, ABS-CBN is one of the largest media organizations in the Philippines. While broadcast remains its biggest platform, the organization is in the midst of a digital transformation across all its main businesses - TV and film, magazine publishing, cable and broadband, and news.
Melding Google Maps and YouTube, TV Asahi’s Rec from 311 website commemorates the March 2011 earthquake which hit eastern Japan.
ABS-CBN had always wanted to experiment with made-forYouTube news content. They saw an opportunity to introduce a new digital-first brand (NXT) via YouTube that would help them report the news in innovative ways and reach a younger audience. ABS-CBN wanted to create a new digital brand for showcasing bespoke digital-first content, to complement their successful online strategy (the ABS-CBN news channel already has over 7M subscribers). They hired and trained staff, purchased equipment, then started to experiment with different formats to maximise audience engagement. As a first step, they set about hiring staff for their new digital video team. They selected people with limited or no TV experience, but who had an understanding of You Tube. This meant mostly hiring from outside the organisation, and it took more time than they had anticipated. In the end, the company trained 11 team members to produce video content specifically for YouTube. Next, they purchased new equipment - they went for equipment that was high quality, versatile enough to use every day (could From Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting Company (EBC), the made-for-YouTube livestreaming and be used for different types of content), and that they would monetisation madness of the Crazy Political Show. continue to use well into the future (e.g., 4K Mirrorless cameras and laptops). Then, they held orientation sessions for staff around put TV content online) - something the company had been wanting to try YouTube best practices (e.g., storytelling, editing, etc.), and equipment and for years. Specifically, EBC wanted to see how made-for-YouTube livestream technical training (e.g., camera operation, video editing basics, etc.). formats would help them engage with audiences. In addition, EBC wanted to The whole digital video team brainstormed content formats and agreed on an find ways to monetise audience engagement and build a sustainable digital initial storytelling approach - for launch, they would release two mid-length video platform. (10-15 mins) videos per week based on their own, original ideas and topics EBC first had to set up a space and a team dedicated to digital video. After trending on YouTube (a regular schedule helps build audience). that, they were able to experiment with format and learn how to engage with Several months in, they started to experiment with other formats, such as audiences in real time. mini-documentaries, profiles, and explainer videos about politics, history, EBC built up its digital video team by hiring producers and a host, and then culture, and science. trained them in YouTube best practices (including interview techniques, After each video aired, the whole team would regroup to discuss the equipment operation, etc.) and EBC standards and protocols. Simultaneously, performance of the video and areas for improvement. They then applied they established a dedicated studio inside the EBC offices, which is smaller those learnings to new videos so they could improve and hone their YouTube and more cost-effective than their regular TV studios. storytelling skills on the go. The studio has a green screen so they can easily (and cheaply) change ABS-CBN built and launched its digital video brand, and succeeded in backdrops multiple times per show. They also purchased equipment, including exploring and innovating with a number of digital video formats, which cameras, cloud-based video editing software, and animation/graphics employ different storytelling techniques from their broadcast offerings. They software. experimented with a number of different formats, launching five series in total. The company found the new formats were better at engaging audiences – average watch time for NXT features is 13% higher than other ABS-CBN videos. ABS-CBN continues to study available data and insights so it can better understand its audience. Moving forward, the team aims to reduce the amount of format experimentation it does and develop a short-list of best performing content, then focus on producing more of those formats.
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EBC LEANS INTO LIVESTREAMING
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Founded in 1991, Eastern Broadcasting Company (EBC) operates eight satellite TV channels as well as online programming across multiple platforms. It broadcasts content for news, finance, variety, drama, entertainment, and kids. With GNI YouTube Innovation Funding, EBC had the opportunity to experiment with native digital video content for the first time (previously EBC had just
The team started brainstorming which content formats would help best achieve their goals. They decided on two livestream shows: A daily talk show, “The Crazy Political Show,” and a bi-weekly current-events talk show, “Crucial Moment” (a made-for-YouTube version of a popular EBC TV show). They launched the shows on YouTube (at a fraction of the cost of their regular TV programming), then spent the first couple of months honing how they interacted with audiences during the livestream. For example, during ad breaks in “The Crazy Political Show” editors chat with viewers in real time via live chat. They also started using Super Chat, which allows viewers to pay to have their responses pinned to the top of live chat. Editors can then feed audience interactions back to the hosts, and they can integrate questions and suggestions into the show in real time. Once the editors and hosts had found the best ways to incorporate realtime feedback, they could focus on monetising the channel by encouraging more people to use Super Chat. In addition, they increased audience reach by
NEWS OPERATIONS
EBC successfully developed, launched, and tested made-forYouTube formats, which are helping them grow and monetise their online audience to create a sustainable digital video presence. The results of EBC’s new formats included: – EBC hit breakeven (non-fixed costs) within a month after launching. – Through a combination of livestream and VOD, “The Crazy Political Show” had over 16M cumulative views for 2019. – Up to $3-5K earned via Super Chat per livestream of “The Crazy Political Show.” – The made-for-YouTube version of “Crucial Moment” gets 100K-300K average views per episode. – Revenue for the made-for-YouTube “Crucial Moment” has grown by nearly 65% since launch (currently $50K USD).
COMMEMORATING THE MARCH 2011 EARTHQUAKE
TV Asahi wanted to create an online homage to the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami so that the disaster would not be forgotten, but also so that future generations might be better prepared for disaster relief. To support this initiative, they saw an opportunity to develop a new content management system (CMS) that could integrate YouTube videos with Google Maps, displaying location-specific archival footage of how different locations were rebuilding after the disaster. They hoped this interactive format would help bring their earthquake project to a broad audience - and that the technology could be used going forward for other, similar projects. To commemorate the 2011 earthquake, TV Asahi created a website, ‘REC From 311; that overlays archival footage of the natural disaster and the recovery aftermath on an interactive map of Japan. Users can navigate to specific locations or time periods on the maps, enabling different views into the rebuilding process. To support this project, they developed a CMS that can take archival videos, connect YouTube to Maps, and display content in an interactive way. They used an existing team within the company, and focused on developing the proprietary software that could scale to other projects. In order to bring this ambitious project to life, TV Asahi would need to create a bespoke CMS. They brought the web, design, and systems teams together to outline and execute a plan of action. The team had very specific tasks they wanted the CMS to achieve - for example, sort clips of reconstruction projects across the country chronologically to show progress, and then link videos to certain locations. They developed a new system for uploading videos, for sorting by location, and then pinning the videos to specific places on Google Maps. They then developed an interface to effectively edit and upload videos into Maps. With the new software, they created the interactive website ‘REC from 371’ where users could navigate to see different locations that the earthquake and tsunami hit, and see how those spots have recovered over time. TV Asahi knew how important presentation was, so they spent significant time and energy dedicated to getting it right. This included aspects like creating an introductory video, testing different soundtrack options, choosing thumbnails, etc. In order to reach a more global audience, they also produced an English language version of ‘REC from 311.’ The project was so successful that they quickly scaled the software to other use cases (e.g., other natural disasters, cherry blossom forecasts, and festivals in local areas). They are also developing a whole website about everyday disaster prevention built with their proprietary CMS. TV Asahi successfully developed a new CMS that they tested on one project and rolled out to others. In doing so, they significantly grew their audience. Within in single day (March 11th, 2019), the ‘REC from 311’ page had over 103K views. Over 300K accumulated pages views within eight months of launch. The total number of video views for ‘REC from 311’ exceeds 3.5M. Visit https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/
CP Communications Streams the News
CP COMMUNICATIONS, A PROVIDER of solutions and services for live event productions, has added a fourth system to its growing Red House Streaming (RHS) family of STREAM content acquisition solutions. Now shipping, ENG Cam STREAM enables broadcast-quality production and bonded cellular streaming at a low price point to provide connectivity from most locations. Suitable for broadcast news and AV applications, ENG Cam STREAM receives its public debut at the 2020 NAB Show, taking place April 19-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. CP Communications exhibits in the Mobile Viewpoint booth at SU6110. ENG Cam STREAM provides live 1080p HD content acquisition, bonded cellular networking and IP streaming in an affordable, plug-and-play package. The turnkey solution lets camera operators quickly capture and stream their live shots - via 4G/3G, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet - to TV studio servers, or directly to Facebook, YouTube, and other web URLs. Shipping in a single flight case, ENG Cam STREAM includes an XDCAM camcorder, tripod and microphones, and can be set up by a single operator. All encoding components fit into a lightweight backpack, making it easy to carry to the best vantage point. Breaking news, political rallies, sporting events, and municipal parades are just some of the newsworthy live events that can be covered and streamed, even from far-flung, connectivity-challenged locations. ENG Cam STREAM also provides an affordable and feature-rich solution for professional AV productions that require direct-to-web streams, including corporate presentations, classroom lectures, and live performances. As a turnkey live news production and streaming solution, the ENG Cam STREAM employs bonded cellular to provide connectivity from virtually any indoor or outdoor location, including remote spots that can’t easily be reached by ENG or SNG news vans. The system includes a Sony PXW-X400 XDCAM camcorder with a Canon 18x zoom lens, and supports one or two channels of live 1080p HD video, with up to eight embedded audio channels. The camera integrates a Mobile Viewpoint (MVP) Agile AirLink (H.265/H.264) encoder to harness the bonded cellular bandwidth of eight separate modems, providing fast upload speeds over Wi-Fi. ENG Cam STREAM users can use any SIM cards and 4G/3G data plan they choose, select their target URL, and start live streaming reliably. The compact package also contains an Elvid on-camera field monitor, Sennheiser ME67 shotgun microphone, Sennheiser MD46 ENG handheld microphone, and cameramounted LED light kit. CP Communications introduced the first three STREAM products at the 2019 NAB Show. These systems, which the company will demonstrate at NAB again this year, serve a broad variety of single- to multi-camera productions. All four STREAM systems are available to rent or purchase. Other configurations include: • Cam STREAM, a broadcast-quality, single- or dual-camera acquisition system with streaming over Ethernet, WiFi, and/or bonded cellular • MultiCam STREAM, which supports up to four cameras, 32 audio channels, and data (such as return tally and fourwire intercom); and delivers separate SDI cameras feeds or a single, multiplexed stream • Production STREAM, which supports up to seven cameras and sources, with tally and intercom, and integrates Simplylive video switching and Dante-enabled audio mixing Visit https://cpcomms.com/
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releasing a version of the livestream as video on demand (VOD) after it had been filmed.
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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM The Pursuit of Excellence
DAMsmart Asia, Silver Trak Digital and TransMedia Dynamics launch Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur. IN A WORLD FIRST, DAMsmart Asia, Silver Trak Digital and TransMedia Dynamics (TMD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to officially launch a Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence in a purpose-built facility in Kuala Lumpur. The facility was officially opened by YB Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, alongside representatives from the Australian and British High Commissions. Located in Petaling Jaya, just outside of KL in Malaysia, the 600 square metre, purpose-built Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence is part of Silver Trak Digital’s expansion in and commitment to Southeast Asia, and now acts as a hub that offers a full range of digital media services to government, media and entertainment clients throughout the region. There’s also high-capacity digitisation and preservation services for any form of aging audio and videotape. The facility also offers content aggregation, language, quality assurance and checking for digital video and film, electronic content distribution, DCI mastering, duplication and distribution services integrated with full media asset management using TMD’s Mediaflex UMS system.
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
DAMsmart’s Joe Kelly said, “DAMsmart is the leading specialist archive digitisation and management services provider in Australia. With the backing of our parent company, Silver Trak Digital, we launched DAMsmart Asia and this new facility in Kuala Lumpur. It’s clear that all forms of media archives are now at risk of permanent loss within the next few years if urgent action is not taken to convert the physical holdings of videotapes, audiotapes and film into data, due primarily to technology obsolescence and media degradation. With this new facility, our significant experience and expertise in these areas are now available to government agencies and private sector organisations in Malaysia as well as other countries throughout the region.”
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Supporting Kelly in the new facility is Operations Manager Andrew Martin, Patrick Brunsdon whose credits include Post Production Technical Manager with Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios, as well as a team of skilled, locallybased technicians. DAMsmart Asia is using TMD’s latest generation of Mediaflex-UMS (Unified Media Services) platform, which provides the company with a cloud-native, service-oriented architecture
Launching the Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence: [standing] CEO of DAMsmart Asia, Joe Kelly; Founder & Executive Chairman of TMD, Tony Taylor; Silver Trak Digital CEO Tim Creswell; and [sitting] Malaysian Minister of Communications and Multimedia, YB Gobind Singh Deo.
delivering media aware, software-defined workflows. Mediaflex-UMS supports the management of both physical media and digital content. It enables DAMsmart Asia to manage the digital supply chain of its media content, including acquisition, creation, digitisation, re-purposing, preservation, enrichment, delivery, publishing and archiving through TMD’s own applications and from its extensive list of integration partners. According to TMD CEO, Carlton Smith, “The new Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence is unique. Within the centre TMD will support and maintain the Mediaflex-UMS platform and services and provide general IT support for the entire facility. It truly is a world first and one of a kind offering.” The new Centre of Excellence also specialises in motion picture film scanning for any film gauge at any resolution and is the first to utilise the new GoldeneyeNet global franchise network, launched this year by one of the centre’s key technology partners, Digital Vision World (DVW). GoldeneyeNet includes the Goldeneye IV Archival Scanner and Phoenix and Loki suite of products. It will enable DAMsmart Asia to offer clients world-class DVO restoration and file-based image processing tools. The GoldeneyeNet network is central to the
facility’s overall offering for film preservation, restoration and archival work with its Universal Optics, and the fact that any film from 8mm to 70mm, including Pathé and every format in between, can be scanned. DVW’s Director of Global Sales, Mark Coleman, said, “By launching our new GoldeneyeNet platform with DAMsmart at the new Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence we offer a unique and valuable opportunity to the market. As the most versatile high-quality film scanner on the market, Goldeneye IV gives the facility the advantage of being able to tackle any film format that a client has. The opportunity for clients to then have their content processed by experienced operators on our Phoenix and Loki software suites using the same multi awardwinning DVO tools used by National Archives and the largest film studios around the world under one roof, is another major bonus. All of this is now available to clients without the need for cost-prohibitive investment on their part.” The final offering in the new facility comes from Silver Trak Digital in the form of local project management for localisation services throughout the region. Silver Trak Digital CEO Tim Creswell said, “The new Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence is an incredible technological Continues p30>>
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM >> continued from p28
make any version from those formats as well.” In terms of migrating content to 4K resolution, Creswell sees 35mm film as the main driver. “With film, certainly 35mml lends itself very well to 4K,” he says. “So, we certainly hope there’ll be a fair bit of that. There’s a lot of 16mm I believe in Southeast Asia, which is obviously up to 2K. It could be pushed to 4K, but certainly 35mm is where it’s really at for the sort of 4K content that platforms are looking for, as well as holding it for archives. So, film is obviously one of those things where going back to analogue quality you can make a really great 4K image from that archival storage.”
The team at the new Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence.
Once analogue content is digitised, there is a natural requirement for the addition of metadata. According to Tim Creswell, the new Centre expects to deal with a range of metadata requirements. “Everyone will want something different,” he says. “And, I think the benefit of capturing this content is once you’ve got it, then you can run all kinds of things on it. Not just your standard metadata, framerate, frame size, all that kind of thing. But then you can also run AI on it as well. So, if you want to find people’s faces, you want to find brands, all that kind of stuff that’s potentially valuable, historically or commercially, then you can use that to run that scanner through systems that we also have to find those brands and those faces for storage and for searchability later on.
Touring the new facility.
achievement and of great value to companies and organisations throughout the region. The local feedback we’ve been given is that southeast Asia needs a new, experienced player in the digitisation, restoration and preservation space. There is a digitisation deadline looming due to tape degeneration and format obsolescence and this facility offers the best technologies to address these issues along with excellent customer service to complement them.
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
“There are hundreds of thousands of hours, hundreds of thousands of assets, probably millions of assets just in Malaysia alone. And then, obviously, when you start throwing Indonesia, India and surrounding areas and subareas and countries then we certainly haven’t uncovered a lot of it yet. I think that’s still to be discovered. So far, many hundreds of thousands are out there at the moment, and also the conditions in Southeast Asia are not great for housing tape, naturally. So, some of it has been housed well, some of it hasn’t, but certainly in the next five years, there’s going to be a loss of a lot of that data if it’s not captured before then.
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“A key part of the problem is if you don’t digitise, certainly the tapes, in the next five years, you very well may lose that data, you may never get it back. The tape decks might not be available, won’t be working anymore. So, if you’ve got valuable content on one inch or whatever it might be, then you actually physically won’t be able to get it off that tape. Or, it’ll become seriously much more expensive, because the number of
tape decks in the world is reducing every year, and the number of parts with those tape decks is reducing as well. “In terms of film, it’s not quite the same level of degradation in terms of we’ve got a limited lifespan, but film, obviously the longer you leave it in bad condition it is going to degrade. So, getting that into a digital file where it can be stored for a long period of time, that’s the key. And then from that, obviously, monetisation. There are so many digital platforms popping up all around the world, but they need special local content. Whether it be Malaysia or Vietnam or Indonesia, they want that content rather than out of the US or the UK. So, there’s a great demand to get that and to be able to buy that content that hasn’t been on these platforms before. They’re probably the two big drivers that we see.”
RESTORATION WORKFLOW When film or tape is received at the Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence, it is cleaned to the point where it can be run through the Centre’s scanners. “Once we get that into a digital file,” says Silver Trak Digital CEO Tim Creswell, “we can then run that through Digital Vision restoration software, which can then clean it up, stabilise it, remove dirt, all those kind of things, to get the best possible file that can be made. Then we store that in whatever format the client wants to store it as, whether it be JPEG2000, DPX, Pro Res, you name it, we can store all those formats, and
“I think the more data we hold, the more content we ingest, we will certainly see AI growing. Because the whole point of AI really in our industry, certainly for us, is being able to farm that metadata, find more information out and make that data usable. The more information you have about data, the more information you have about your content, the more valuable becomes to you.” In terms of throughput, Tim Creswell says the Digital Media Supply Chain Centre of Excellence will be capable of hundreds of thousands of hours per year. “That’s where our expectation is,” he says, “based on the volume of work that’s out there and that needs to be done, and the timeframe that a lot of that needs to be done by. We expect hundreds of thousands of hours of work to be done per year of capturing and digitisation, and our facility is built to handle that, that amount of work. “What we’ve basically been able to build out is an end to end solution, hopefully, for any client or any company or archive looking to get their content off their current format. So, from digitalisation from film into a file, from being able to convert that file into any type of format, and then being able to run that through an automated solution to make any number of workflow requirements and formats, and then delivering that format to any potential platform through Silver Trak’s contacts, whether it be Netflix or any other local platform up there that might need that content. So, what we can offer is effectively an end-to-end solution which certainly nobody in the region has offered in the past.” Visit www.damsmart.asia www.silvertrak.com.au www.tmd.tv www.digitalvision.world
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
Pimp My Management System! Three Media soups up its XEN:Pipeline content management platform with Arcitecta Mediaflux.
that needed to change, and which also posed significant challenges to resolve.
THREE MEDIA is a professional broadcast services and technology development company. Since 2009, it has consulted on large-scale projects for leading broadcasters including BBC Studios, ITV, AMC Networks, BT Media & Broadcast and Globecast.
All new systems must support easily extensible and flexible data schemas, complex business and technical hierarchies (parent/child relationships) and the ability to manage and present “big data” sets - an example of which would be layer after layer of timeline data extracted through video and audio AI recognition workflows. Not only must the database support these capabilities, it must also be highly functional. The clear conclusion was that a wholesale upgrade of core database capability was required but that none of the traditional choices would deliver against all the requirements.
Three Media has designed modern broadcast workflows through the implementation of metadata/big data, using modelling, simulation and optimisation techniques to produce the most efficient systems. This work led to Three Media’s own product, XEN: Pipeline, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ ML) to control and integrate functions within a broadcast complex or across a network. Like the capabilities of many of the industry’s leading media and metadata management systems and tools, those of XEN: Pipeline have continued to advance. The challenge has been changing quickly enough to keep ahead of new demands. The relentless, almost geometric growth, across the industry, in both the volume of files and complexity of data required for identification and global exploitation, poses a significant performance challenge to all vendors. This, coupled with the necessity to increase automation and dramatically reduce human intervention at every point in the supply chain, has meant many vendors have had to step back and consider if their products remain “fit for purpose”. Three Media was no different and performed an intensive ‘bottom up’ analysis of its XEN: product set. XEN:Pipeline is Three Media’s content management system which can process all types of files and metadata, from programme inception through to packaging and delivery. Supported by a flexible data schema and a powerful business logic layer, the highly automated system supports processing and transformation of all types of assets, files and metadata for delivery to any linear or non-linear location..
The Challenge Inherent market, design and functional pressures guide the definition of new functionality and capabilities in most products, but Three Media have identified an additional two key areas
Second to that, Three Media identified that visibility and identification of files across multiple locations was becoming more and more critical. A user does not need to know where a file is located but just that it exists, it is associated to the hierarchy and can be exploited. As most content providers have an archive of library files stored across multiple devices, locations and in many different formats, this capability was defined as being a core requirement, delivering significant efficiencies. The challenge was then to identify a mature vendor operating in this space as building this functionality would take months, if not years.
The Solution: Arcitecta Mediaflux Three Media’s evaluation resulted in the decision to replace the underlying database and related infrastructure and to implement significant changes in the way XEN:Pipeline manages, processes and presents data and files to end users. This was an essential move in order to provide a flexible framework to support and enable continued growth and critically, expanded features and functionality. This led, after an exhaustive search and product evaluation, to the selection of Australian company Arcitecta and its Mediaflux compressed object database (XODB) as the new core of XEN:Pipeline. Arcitecta provided a robust, mature solution based on Mediaflux to both areas of identified change. The flexibility of Mediaflux, combined with a broad set of API functions, enables the ability to integrate almost any kind of storage environment anywhere into a
cohesive and global namespace, fully supported and protected by native national defence grade security.
Benefits With Mediaflux at its heart, Three Media says XEN:Pipeline now offers “unrivalled capabilities” to the media industry. The way in which it manages data provides the flexibility and performance required to manage many millions of data sets. The company says, there is now no limit to the extensibility of the data schema ensuring that, as the industry grows and new trends surface, XEN:Pipeline can extend quickly, seamlessly and cost effectively. Its approach to storage management provides the near unique ability among its peers to integrate almost any kind of storage into a common, secure, operational environment with little or no engineering required. It can be deployed into a customer’s business and operational environments alongside any existing storage management system with no disruption to existing operations, whilst delivering dramatic reductions in overhead connected with implementation, deployment and support of new features. The combination of Mediaflux and Three Media’s powerful business content management layer and the simplification of the XEN:Pipeline UI delivers an entirely new set of advanced capabilities to the metadata and content management industry. XEN:Pipeline enables businesses and users to cost effectively discover, identify, associate, describe, manage and ultimately exploit a far broader and deeper range of “long tail” content, wherever it’s located and on almost any kind of storage hardware. In the past, and the present, much of this content is not economically viable using other systems. Arcitecta, Mediaflux and XODB are registered trademarks of Arcitecta IP Pty Ltd XEN:Pipeline is a trademark of Three Media Associates Ltd Visit www.three-media.tv and www.arcitecta.com
Arcitecta – Big Data Downunder College of the Arts in building the VCA’s Film and Television Digital Archive. Over 50 years of film was digitised, preserved and made accessible with the big data project - totalling over 78TB of historical and socially significant cultural data assets.
Operating in a range of industry verticals, including defence and life sciences, the company recruited former Director of R&D at Animal Logic, Guy Griffiths, to manage its media and entertainment portfolio.
According to Arcitecta CEO, Jason Lohrey, “We are at an exciting point in the evolution of incredible films; where the art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art. Accessing the data in a larger context than the traditional film school setting, opens up new possibilities to celebrate and discover new aspects of Australian cultural identity and the University’s impact on a global scale.”
Arcitecta recently partnered with the Victorian
The project was driven by Donna Lyon, an
Associate Director of Teaching and Learning at the VCA Film and Television School with the aim to celebrate, explore and engage with the films made by past, current and emerging filmmakers. “I wanted to democratise the film school archive that remained shut off - inaccessible to staff, students and beyond - and ensure that these films could be seen by not only students and staff, but a diverse array of audiences,” she said. At launch, the Archive Project had already ingested some 19,270 hours of film, equivalent to 214 features. Visit www.arcitecta.com
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM
MELBOURNE-BASED ARCITECTA was founded by CEO Jason Lohrey, a quantum-physicist and artist who recognised the concept of “Big Data” long before it became a buzzword, and that access to the broadest sets of data would provide the foundation for identifying patterns and making new discoveries.
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POST PRODUCTION www.content-technology.com/postproduction
Gritty Grading for Tran Thanh Huy’s Rom GRADED USING BLACKMAGIC DESIGN’S DaVinci Resolve Studio, Tran Thanh Huy’s feature ‘Rom’ was the first Vietnamese feature film to be awarded the top prize at the renowned Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
‘Rom’, directed by Tran Thanh Huy, follows the life of homeless children and the main character named Rom, a young boy on the streets forced to survive by picking numbers to buy illegal lottery tickets for his clients and getting commissions when they win. To help create the look of the film, Tran Thanh Huy and the film’s DP Nguyen Vinh Phuc chose Ho Chi Minh Citybased colourist Bui Cong Anh. Bui Cong Anh is an experienced colourist with two decades of post-production on a variety of films, television shows and other projects. He has also been using DaVinci Resolve Studio for more than five years, and recently coloured the popular Vietnamese film ‘Summer in Closed Eyes’ using DaVinci Resolve Studio. With Rom, he was challenged with maintaining the gritty look and feel of the slums of Ho Chi Minh City while creating specific looks for Rom and other kids. He also had to juggle between the dark and violent look and feel of the streets while still showing Rom as being hopeful. “For Rom, we had the looks of the city and crowds and the other was for individuals. First was with the people living in a complex slum in Ho Chi Minh city so Huy wanted a gritty yet powerful look that leaned to the warm side with lots of orange, especially on their skin,” Bui Cong Anh said. For colour correction for the individuals, Bui Cong Anh had two main focuses: Rom and his enemy Phuc, each one with very different looks. “Rom was a member of a small community in the film, so in most scenes he looked like any one of them and it was his actions made him different from the rest. Only when he was alone did I grade him differently,” he said. “There were many shots when Rom sat down alone on the roof steps away from his hideout where I really added a strong colour cast that varied from reddish orange for day, blue and pink for dawn to colour his solitude, or blue and pink in the clouds to lend a feeling of youth and hope. I created these looks in Resolve with curves to selectively control the saturations, then curves again to selectively boost colours.”
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In the film, two scenes highlight the challenges Bui Cong Anh faced in post-production. These included a night-time fire scene and a chase scene.
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“For the burning scene, the characters decided to join a night rumble at the end of the day. As a result, I found myself bringing down everything
from the fire to match the night, which was also fun to do. As a night scene it came with blue light in the atmosphere, and I matched it to the day-for-night. I threw some Power Windows here and there to dim down or bring up details in every shot, and I brought characters’ faces up to bring focus on them and qualified fire to add more heat with orange.
“With Resolve and ACES,
“The last chase scene combined different locations ranging from a main street to a couple small streets and then straight to a rail track and bridge. It was shot in different months in different time frames and under different sunlight with different cameras. So, it took me three days to match every shot of this particular scene. Of course, without Resolve’s image wipe and all the primary and secondary colours correction tools available inside Color Page, I could not complete this task,” he said.
before primary corrections.”
The film was shot with a large variety of cameras, lighting conditions, locations, weather conditions and even real-life events that filming ran into. To manage the large number of different scenarios and looks coming in from production, Bui Cong Anh used the ACES colour encoding system in conjunction with DaVinci Resolve and its management features. “To match shots of a same scene, I use primary and secondary tools like any other colourists would. I grouped all shots in a scene and build the look from there. When there was a need to
I had an environment where I could quickly manage every shot with a few mouse clicks
modify the look all I had to do was to go straight Group Post-Clip, dialled some parameters to change,” he said. “With Resolve and ACES, I had an environment where I could quickly manage every shot with a few mouse clicks before primary corrections. “Resolve was my key tool to do many things from grading, finishing and mastering for this particular project. When I finished the grade, there were many shots I found that I had better comp before handing them to anywhere else. Resolve provides Power Windows, alpha outputs and Warper in OpenFX library. Those were enough for me to make believable comps without even leaving Color page. Then I output shots for VFX houses in ACES EXR. The return shots also came in EXR, I just popped them in my timeline and it was done,” he finished. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
POST PRODUCTION
SGO Brings “Revolutionary Freedom” to VR and Post
THIS YEAR’S NAB SHOW in Las Vegas will see SGO showcasing the very latest developments, updates and new products joining the line-up of Mistika Technology, with a spotlight on its costefficient full-finishing solution for Windows and macOS Mistika Boutique.
• Learn how to use Mistika’s unique and infinite Timespace, Version and History Management and other features to increase your project’s efficiency and productivity.
Under the banner “The Revolutionary Freedom you always wanted”, NAB visitors will be given a chance to explore in detail unique aspects of Mistika Boutique, the first and only postproduction system to totally integrate professional toolsets for Colour Grading, VFX, Stereo 3D, Conform, VR and much more. In addition, brand new features and user interactivity will be revealed for the first time – a must see for those especially interested in colour!
SGO recently pre-released an updated version of its stitching solution Mistika VR, introducing Insta360 Flowstate Stabilization feature and a brand-new user-friendly License Activation Tool.
Mistika Boutique topic-focussed demonstrations being presented at NAB 2020 are: • Designing Future-proof Colour-managed Pipelines • Find out how you can simultaneously colourgrade HDR & SDR without affecting the system performance and how to use Mistika’s unique Unicolour feature to create deliverables to any colour space and gamma curve within the same environment. • Integrating Colour & VFX into one efficient workflow
• Post-producing a bigger picture – 360º and beyond
Insta360 FlowState Stabilization support now allows Mistika VR users to easily import the motion sensor metadata from the Insta360 Pro2 and Insta360 Titan cameras, resulting in automatic stabilization regardless of the lighting conditions of the scene. SGO has also added Mistika VR support for Kandao’s latest camera, the QooCam 8K. Mistika VR users can now stitch Kandao QooCam 8K media at the highest level of precision, applying new pre-sets for still images or video files. When this pre-set is applied, the second video track contained in the same movie file will be added as a second camera layer. In addition, when using the feature “Load Kandao Calibration Metadata”, you can automatically load the calibration data embedded within the camera movie files.
• Discover how you can work faster and smarter without moving between different applications or software solutions by natively integrating Colour & VFX workflows.
Another feature added to this release is an all-new License Activation Tool bringing its users easier and more straightforward license management. Licenses can now be simply moved between systems by using drag and drop functionality.
• Boosting productivity with intelligent Project Management
SGO has also released an upgraded Open Beta of its first media management, transcoding
and delivery application Mistika Workflows. This latest version introduces a brand new and user-friendly License Activation Tool together with other additional nodes, features and stability improvements throughout the software. Users can now find Extended File Metadata for RAW and video formats together with a newly integrated Property Window, reflecting RAW metadata of selected files and a Properties Management Tool, providing easy editing of node attributes. A greater level of automation is additionally provided with accelerated performance of Move and Copy functionality and new Send Email and Folder nodes. Scripting features have also been upgraded with improved access to the Python console and a new system to inject Python code. SGO has also released another new version of its full-finishing software solution for Windows and macOS Mistika Boutique. Mistika Boutique can now proportionally scale its user interface windows and tabs to fit large resolution displays, providing overall better representation and visualization of the icons. For example, to enable a 4K GUI simply go to mConfig, open the Interface tab, activate “Use GUI scaling” option and tweak the values to fit the required display resolution. Another useful new feature is Automatic Audio Routing where multiple audio files can be simultaneously imported as a vertical stack and automatically routed to the correct corresponding channels. Visit https://www.sgo.es/
Alibaba Cloud First Public Vendor to Pass TPN Certification
The TPN is a joint venture between two major entertainment industry associations; the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA). The TPN’s goal is to help companies to ensure content security, prevent leaks, breaches, and hacks of movies and TV shows before they are released, by creating a single, central global directory of ‘trusted partner’ vendors. The certification is significant because it satisfies content producers that Alibaba Cloud’s use of industry best practices ensures that its solutions,
facilities, people and workflows are secure, as certified by experienced industry evaluators.
Cloud Key Management Service. All of Alibaba’s Cloud’s audited solutions passed TPN’s tests.
To secure the highly prestigious accolade, Alibaba Cloud’s solutions had to undergo stringent auditing and evaluation processes. A number of Alibaba’s solutions that are suited to the entertainment industry were tested, including: Object Storage Service – an encrypted and secure cloud storage service which stores, processes and accesses massive amounts of data from anywhere in the world; Express Connect – an easy-to-use network service that enables high-bandwidth, reliable, secure, and private connections between different environments; Cloud Storage Gateway – this uses OSS for cloud-based storage at the back end, and supports standard file and block storage protocols in the industry; and Key Management Service – this facilitates the creation, deletion and management of encryption keys with Alibaba
“By completing the on-premises TPN audit process successfully, Alibaba Cloud demonstrates its mature abilities in securing media content with its facility and infrastructure capabilities. As the future of media productions is shifting to public cloud platforms, it is essential for vendors like Alibaba Cloud to pioneer innovations that will propel the advancement of the entertainment industry in a digital era,” said Drew Branch, Senior Security Consultant at Independent Security Evaluators.
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World-class production houses that have embraced Alibaba Cloud’s solutions include Animal Logic and Territory Studio. Visit www.alibabacloud.com
Sign up at www.content-technology.com
POST PRODUCTION
ALIBABA CLOUD HAS ANNOUNCED that it is the first public cloud vendor in the world to obtain the prestigious Trusted Partner Network (TPN) certification, an achievement that validates the entertainment industry’s confidence in its robust security and trustworthiness as a cloud service provider.
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POST PRODUCTION
Masstech Launches Premiere Pro Panel for Kumulate ADOBE PREMIERE PRO users can now access the powerful functionality of Masstech’s intelligent storage, workflow and lifecycle management solution, Kumulate, from directly within Premiere Pro. The Adobe panel can be quickly added to any Kumulate system with minimal configuration. Storage movement and workflow tools are then presented as a plug-in within Adobe Premiere Pro, allowing users to access their entire inventory across any type of online or deeper storage tier, including cloud, local disk, optical disk, and LTO. All assets on all storage tiers are searchable to Premiere Pro users from within the new panel, using intuitive search criteria including structured, unstructured, and time-based metadata. These tools allow users to quickly access their content libraries from within Adobe Premiere Pro, speeding up workflows. Premiere Pro and other assets can be quickly and easily restored directly to editing storage, including individual sequences, complete projects, or selected files from a project. Kumulate’s simple UI allows users to browse proxies, and features familiar editing tools such as Adobe markers to define and initiate partial restores when only a portion of a file or project is required. And for customers operating multiple Kumulate systems, Kumulate’s Federated Search enables search across the content in disparate systems, and
subsequent copy of remote assets to the local storage. Other Kumulate features now accessible from within Premiere Pro include frame-accurate proxy playback of stored assets, bi-directional marker support (Adobe markers can be included within the archived asset and can be imported back into Premiere from Kumulate), and advance monitoring. Transfers, transcodes, and workflow jobs can be viewed within the Adobe Panel, enabling users to monitor progress of their own jobs as well as those initiated by other users.
“Kumulate already works with a huge range of MAMs, PAMs, NRCS systems and NLEs, but we are delighted to be able to offer additional workflow benefits to Adobe Premiere Pro users,” commented George Kilpatrick, CEO, Masstech. “Being able to access their entire video library in our next generation storage without leaving their editing application, will allow Adobe users to spend more time on the core creative component of their job and less time searching for files and assets.” Visit https://masstech.com
POST PRODUCTION
Sony Launches Next-Gen 4K HDR Monitors
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SONY RECENTLY LAUNCHED a new set of high-grade picture monitors from its TRIMASTER range at this year’s BSC Expo in London. Both the 24-inch and 18.4-inch models were showcased alongside other flagship solutions.
monitors. This functionality allows filmmakers to check the highlight and low-light balance of the contents with both bright and dark scenes.
The PVM-X2400 (24-inch) and the PVM-X1800 (18.4-inch) monitors provide high picture quality and accurate colour reproduction thanks to Sony’s specified and dedicated panels, which offer ultrahigh definition with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and an impressive brightness of all-white luminance of 1000 cd/m2. For optimum film production, their wide colour gamut matches the BVM-HX310 TRIMASTER HX master monitor. This means both monitors offer accurate colour reproduction and precise greyscale, giving filmmakers a reliable tool to help make critical imaging decisions and faithful colour matching throughout the workflow.
“We are excited to return to BSC this year and launch our two new picture monitors at the show. At Sony, we always work closely with our partners, customers and the wider industry to offer solutions that help filmmakers overcome the real-life production challenges they face on set or in the editing room. Through the launch of these new monitors, Sony is now able to offer its customers an even wider range of compact 4K HDR monitors that provide reliable and faithful colour matching from start to finish,” explained Anthony Kable, Group Manager Content Creation Solutions, Sony Australia.
With their compact size and high portability, the monitors are aimed to expand footprints in 4K HDR production including versatile applications such as on-set monitoring, non-linear video editing, studio wall monitoring, rack-mount monitoring of OB trucks or machine rooms.
Key features of the new reference monitors include:
The monitors also feature new Black Detail High/ Mid/Low, which helps maintain accurate colour reproduction by reducing the brightness of the backlight in three steps to reproduce the correct colours and gradations in low-luminance areas. Another new function, Dynamic Contrast Drive, dynamically changes backlight luminance to adapt to each scene or frame when transferring images from PVM-X2400/X1800 to existing Sony OLED
• 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and HDR capabilities.
• TRIMASTER technology offering precise greyscale and accurate colour reproduction, achieving 100% colour gamut coverage of the BVM-HX310 master monitor.
• Dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 by Dynamic Contrast Drive. • 4K/HD scopes with HDR scales that are Waveform/Vector. • Quad View display and User 3D LUT functionality.
• 12G/6G/3G/HD-SDI with auto configuration. • The new monitors will be available in July 2020. Visitors at BSC 2020 were also be able to experience a range of on-set acquisition and monitoring solutions, including the flagship motion picture camera system, VENICE, as well as the new full-frame 6K sensor camera, FX9. In addition, a number of third-party accessories that customers can test, all demonstrating how Sony equipment can be used with industry standard equipment in an on-set environment. Sony spokespeople will be on hand to showcase each solution and to discuss current industry challenges and key trends. Kable further explained: “For Sony, BSC is all about showcasing our advanced set acquisition and monitoring solutions that help filmmakers bring their creative visions to life. This includes our CineAlta flagship camera VENICE with its just released Version 5.0 firmware update which expands the HFR capabilities to up to 90fps at 6K 2.39:1, offers HD ProRes 4444 internal recording and many more features.” Visit http://pro.sony-asia.com
POST PRODUCTION
Tokyo’s Digital Garden Grades ‘Eren The Southpaw’ with DaVinci Resolve Studio BLACKMAGIC DESIGN has announced that Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) MBS/Tokyo Broadcasting System’s (TBS) drama series “Eren the Southpaw” was graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio. The show, a live action drama series based on a manga series by artist Kappy, includes hundreds of shots per episode graded with an advanced collaborative workflow at Tokyo’s Digital Garden using a mix of DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel, and DaVinci Resolve Mini or Micro Panel. Digital Garden colourists Masahiro Ishiyama and Osamu Haga are the main colourists for the series, with one handling grading for the present and one for the past, with both working on DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel. With the large number of scenes, difficult grades and tight deadlines, Digital Garden built a seamless collaborative workflow around DaVinci Resolve. The series follows Koichi Asakura and Eren Yamagishi, who met each other while in high school and continue their relationship as Koichi becomes a designer and Eren becomes an up and coming painter in NYC. “To those who could not become a genius” is the catch phrase for this series and the story depicts the people and environment in the art industry and at an ad agency based on the manga author’s actual experience. For Digital Garden, best known for their colour grading TV commercial work, “Eren the Southpaw” was one of their first long form drama series. The show’s DP, Akiyoshi Yoshida, wanted to use Digital Garden’s commercial expertise and asked them to grade the drama as if they were grading a TV commercial, while at the same time create two different looks between current and past scenes. To do this, he shot in two different aspect ratios – 4:3 for past and 2:1 for current, with colourist Ishiyama grading the present and Haga grading the past. “The current scenes I graded were mainly in the office, so I aimed for a more realistic look yet still contain decent shadow in the scenes. The set
design for this series is good quality, so I took advantage of the footage fully and tried to pull out the best tone possible,” said Ishiyama, the lead colourist of Digital Garden. Haga said: “The past scenes are a more fun memory of youth. So, I made more like pastel tone with brighter and more colours. I used a lot of Power Windows and keys even for single shots, such as brightening the white of characters’ eyes. And I sometimes use DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel or Micro Panel if I need to colour correct at the location. However, I mainly use DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel. Using panels allow me to grade instinctively and fast. I can say I cannot grade without them.” “The Advanced Panel allows us faster grading; however, even Mini and Micro Panel have the same quality of feeling when I touch the track balls.” Ishiyama added. Each episode of the show required three days of post-production, which had to include client presentations. To meet these tight deadlines, Digital Garden created a collaborative workflow between the main colourists and assistant colourists.
“There are more than 100 shots just needed to do colour matching for one episode. So, we, the main colourists, created base looks and then the assistants matched other shots with the base looks using the Mini Panel,” said Ishiyama. During preview, Ishiyama played the episode with the Advanced Panel and the DP and director gave feedback. While the preview went on, the assistant was fixing colours based on their feedback using the Mini Panel. By the time the preview was over, most of the fixes were complete. “This collaborative workflow has three advantages. The first is more for sales perspective in that we can increase our production ratio for the grading suites. Next is we, the colourists, can concentrate on more creative works. And the third is the assistants can learn grading in the actual working environment where the main colourist and client are in the same suite,” Ishiyama concluded. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
Red Giant Complete Complete is an incredible deal, we know some customers are more comfortable buying software the traditional way. We want to make sure our community of talented artists has what it needs, so we’re continuing to offer perpetual licenses at their usual prices.”
“Red Giant Complete has been available to our volume customers for years, with thousands of licenses in use at broadcast networks, film studios and universities. And now, due to popular demand, we’re really excited to offer subscription licensing to all of our customers,” says Chad Bechert, CEO of Red Giant. “At the same time, nothing has changed. While we think Red Giant
• Up-to-Date – Red Giant Complete includes free upgrades, so users will always have the latest editing, motion graphics and VFX tools, the moment they are updated.
Red Giant Complete includes: • All Access – Red Giant Complete gives artists full access to the complete set of Red Giant tools – including all four product suites and Universe.
• Trapcode Suite: The industry’s most essential tools for creating 3D motion graphics and visual effects in Adobe After Effects, now with the Dynamic Fluids physics engine.
• Magic Bullet Suite: Widely-used for colour correction, finishing and film looks, Magic Bullet Suite 13 gives editors and filmmakers everything needed to make footage look great, right on editing timelines. • Universe: Red Giant’s collection of over 80 GPU-accelerated plugins for editors and motion graphics artists. • VFX Suite: The all-new suite of keying, tracking, cleanup and visual effects compositing tools, all right inside Adobe After Effects. • Shooter Suite: Shooter Suite 13.0 is a set of purpose-built applications, including the industry-leading PluralEyes, that give directors of photography, videographers, shooters and filmmakers the ability to bring footage from set to post. Visit www.redgiant.com
POST PRODUCTION
Red Giant has announced the availability of Red Giant Complete for individuals, students and teachers. Expanding its software licensing options, Red Giant Complete is a subscription service that gives editors, motion designers and VFX artists all Red Giant tools at one low price – Trapcode Suite, Magic Bullet Suite, Universe, VFX Suite and Shooter Suite. With Red Giant Complete, annual subscribers will have the most up-to-date versions of all tools, saving thousands of dollars over traditional perpetual licenses.
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AUDIO Digital soundwaves
www.content-technology.com/audio
NK SOUND TOKYO Installs World’s Largest Rupert Neve Designs 5088 Console ORIGINALLY OPENED IN 2015 by engineer Neeraj Khajanchi, NK SOUND TOKYO recently made a large update to its main studio with the addition of an 80-input Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console, which is the largest 5088 sold to date. The console was provided by Rupert Neve’s long-time Japanese distributor Hook-Up Inc. and is loaded with 48 channels of Shelford 5052 mic preamp/inductor EQ modules.
NK SOUND TOKYO is divided into four rooms: AQQA, a mastering room; RUBY and SILVER, two dubbing/mixing rooms; and GOLD, the tracking room that houses the new 5088 – one of the largest of its kind in the world. “Originally, we had a 48 channel SSL E Series,” comments Khajanchi. “When we revamped the studio in 2019, I had been trying Rupert Neve Designs’ Portico 5024 4-channel preamps, then purchased two Shelford Channels. Overall the stability, sound quality, ease-of-use, and customisability of the 5088 is amazing.”
NK SOUND TOKYO’s Neeraj Khajanchi with the studio’s 80-input Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console.
get out of it what I put into it, which is great! Having all that headroom really helps give me the beautiful reverb tails and super clean sustain on all my instruments. But when I do need some character, I go straight for the SILK switch and add colour to my tracks that way.”
The studio also has a massive XLR patch-bay for its impressive collection of outboard gear, so Khajanchi said that keeping all of the studio’s connections XLR to XLR was important to him. Khajanchi works on a large variety of musical projects at NK SOUND including J-Pop, video game music, commercial music for television, rock, and high-fidelity jazz recordings. “The 5088 is just super clean,” says Khajanchi. “I
Korea’s MBC TV Installs Calrec Apollo Consoles LONG-TIME Korean Calrec customer Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), which has an extensive installed base of Artemis and Apollo consoles, has once again turned to Calrec to satisfy its growing audio needs with the purchase of two additional Apollo consoles.
AUDIO
Ji-hun An, Audio Director, Sound Department at MBC TV, said, “Being very familiar with Calrec’s Artemis and Apollo consoles, we’re confident in the stability of the company’s technology, which is vital in a live environment. The Apollo surface is also easy to use and when working live because we frequently have to adjust parameters during a broadcast, including channel dynamics and routing. The Apollo’s control surface makes this simple, and it’s high DSP count means configuring it for different projects is straightforward.”
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MBC acquired the two additional Apollos from Calrec for its flagship MBC TV channel. The first console is installed in studio C, which is used for the production and recording of live-to-tape UHD and HD current affairs and wider cultural content. The second is in studio E, where similar
content is produced for live-to-air broadcasts. MBC use a fixed format MADI box for multitrack recording in both studios. MBC TV is a South Korean free-to-air television channel owned by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, which operates numerous TV and radio channels as well as digital video and audio streaming services. MBC TV operates its headquarters in Seoul and has 16 regional studios throughout South Korea. It also has a fleet of OB vans that cover news and sports. The installation was handled by Calrec’s Korean distributor Ingang Audio. “It’s a privilege for us to continue our highly valued relationship with MBC TV and to see further momentum with our consoles in the South Korean market. The Apollo, with its great level of processing power and superb sound quality, is the ideal fit for MBC TV’s live programming needs and we’re delighted that they are pleased with their purchase,” said Anthony Harrison, International Sales Manager, Calrec. Visit www.calrec.com
been extremely busy.
Since re-opening the studio in September 2019, Khajanchi says they have
“Just within the past two months we have tracked albums for over fifteen artists, and are now in the process of mixing all the albums … recording and mixing on the 5088 has sparked my love for analogue gear once again!” Visit https://rupertneve.com and http://nksound.com
Stage Tec Announces Sales Partner in Japan
STAGE TEC, THE BERLIN-BASED manufacturer of professional audio technology, is expanding its worldwide network of distribution partners. TAC SYSTEM INC., based in Tokyo, is now responsible for the distribution of Stage Tec’s entire product range in Japan.
TAC SYSTEM INC. was founded in 1995 and has almost 25 years of experience in the professional audio market in Japan. Founder Tac Yamamoto has been a pioneer in the Japanese music industry and professional audio market since the 1970s. Together with his team, he has gained a lot of experience in project management – from planning, installation and commissioning to service. “We are very pleased that TAC SYSTEM INC. is going to take care of our product sales in Japan. The Stage Tec products are flexible and can be used in a wide range of applications. These properties are a great fit with TAC SYSTEM INC’s customers diverse requirements,” commented René Harder, member of the Stage Tec management team and responsible for innovation management. In addition to sales, the main business of TAC SYSTEM INC is product development of professional audio and video equipment.” Visit www.stagetec.com and www.tacsystem.com/en
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Mackie Introduces EleMent Series Microphones
MACKIE HAS ENTERED the microphone sphere, introducing its new EleMent Series microphones. Like all Mackie gear, EleMent Series mics combine professional-calibre performance and Mackie’s famed built-like-a-tank rugged reliability and outstanding value. The series consists of three models: the EM-89D Live Vocal Dynamic, EM-91C large-diaphragm condenser, and EM-USB USB condenser microphones. The EM-89D dynamic microphone features a cardioid polar pattern and is primarily designed for stage use but also makes a fine addition to a studio microphone collection. It’s designed as
an excellent handheld vocal microphone, but is also suitable as an instrument and amplifier microphone. The EM-89D comes with a mic clip, XLR mic cable, and zipper pouch. Every studio needs a quality large-diaphragm condenser microphone, and the new Mackie EM-91C’s audio quality and classic cardioid polar pattern makes it suitable for a wide variety of studio applications. The EM-91C is designed to bring warmth and brilliance for vocals, to capture the nuances of stringed instruments, and more. In addition to musical applications, it’s suitable for live streaming, voiceovers, and many other types
of content creation. The EM-91C comes with a shock mount and an XLR mic cable. The Mackie EM-USB condenser microphone is suited to recording, live streaming, podcasts, and online content creation, without requiring a separate audio interface. Connecting directly to a laptop or mobile recording device using USB-C and featuring a built-in headphone output with independent volume control, the EM-USB also provides controls for main input gain and mute. Included are mic clip, tripod mount, and USB-C cable. Visit https://mackie.com
AMS RMX16 500 Series Reverb NEARLY 40 YEARS SINCE making its debut on the professional recording scene, the iconic AMS RMX16 Digital Reverberation System has been relaunched in hardware format as part of AMS Neve’s rack-mounted 500 Series. In keeping with its predecessor, which was the world’s first microprocessor-controlled, full-bandwidth digital reverberator, the new RMX16 500 Digital Reverb Module is designed to be musical rather than simply implementing mathematical algorithms. Great care has also been taken to replicate the complex sonic characteristics of the original unit’s analogue and converter circuitry, which played a big part in the overall sound. From the outset the AMS RMX16 was designed
by ear, with each program tuned and re-tuned to provide as wide a sweet-spot of settings as possible by means of carpet graph parameter tables, interactively linked control by control. These design principles are key to its longevity and have been carried forward to the new RMX16 500 to ensure that it replicates the original’s outstanding performance.
• Low power consumption (and therefore cool running). • Independent control of each program’s fundamental reverberant parameters. • Nudge buttons to increment or decrement data for all selectable reverberation functions.
Key features include:
• Alphanumeric program descriptions for ease of use when storing or recalling information for the unit’s memory.
• An 18kHz bandwidth, allowing it to also be used as a high-quality digital delay line.
• New rotary push encoder enabling all parameters and settings to be adjusted by ear.
• 90dB dynamic range and 0.03 percent distortion in delay mode.
• New wet/dry mix blend function.
• Adjustable input and output levels for optimum signal to noise performance.
• New save/recall feature with 100 user-defined memory slots. Visit www.ams-neve.com
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AUDIO
Studio Headphones with Bluetooth
Multi-Dimensional Signal Processing
HARMAN PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS has announced the new AKG K361-BT and K371-BT professional studio headphones featuring Bluetooth connectivity.
KLARK TEKNIK HAS RELEASED the new 3RD DIMENSION BBD-320 Analogue Multi-Dimensional Signal Processor with BBD Technology.
AKG K361-BT and K371-BT headphones are designed for mobile artists, engineers, podcasters and beatmakers who want the flexibility of wired or wireless connectivity combined with studio-quality sound. The K361-BT and K371-BT feature an overear, closed-back design that is precision-engineered to reproduce natural, balanced audio in exceptional detail, so users can make more confident decisions when mixing and editing. With a frequency response of 15 Hz to 28 kHz in the K361-BT and 5 Hz to 40 kHz in the K371-BT, both models offer the convenience of switchable Bluetooth wireless and wired connectivity, with a built-in microphone for two-way Bluetooth communication. K361-BT and K371-BT professional headphones feature high-sensitivity, largest-in-class 50mm drivers and pure oxygen-free copper voice coils to deliver clear, detailed and balanced lows, mids and highs. With the latest generation Bluetooth 5.0 technology, users will enjoy up to 40 hours of wire-free listening between charges. The hybrid wired/Bluetooth design allows users to reference their mixes in a variety of listening scenarios, while an integrated microphone enables hands-free phone calls. The K361-BT and K371-BT have been engineered and rigorously tested to ensure reliability in the most demanding conditions. An over-ear, closed-back design provides superior isolation in noisy environments while minimizing low-end leakage. Additionally, the headphones are intentionally styled with ergonomic plush, slow-retention foam pads for long-wearing comfort, with adjustable calibrated headbands that deliver a perfect fit, every time. Accessories for the K361-BT and K371-BT include a carrying pouch and versatile detachable cables; 3m (9.8’) and 1.2m (3.9’) straight audio cables, a 1M (3.3’) USB charging cable, and a 3.5mm (1/8”) to 6.5mm (1/4”) adapter. Visit www.akg.com
Bluetooth-Enabled Reference Monitors
HARMAN PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS has announced new JBL Professional One Series 104-BT and 104-BTW desktop reference monitors with Bluetooth. The JBL One Series 104-BT reference monitors are designed to enable content creators and audio professionals to stream accurate, studio-quality audio via Bluetooth or play back audio using a standard wired connection. Black (104-BT) and white (104-BTW) finish options are available.
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The JBL 104-BT reference monitor features a coaxial driver that pairs a contoured low-frequency woofer with a soft-dome tweeter, for accurate frequency response, superior imaging, crisp detail, and a wide sweet spot. The cabinet’s low-frequency port works with the driver to deliver impressive low frequency performance down to 60Hz. A powerful 60-watt Class D power amplifier distributes 30 watts per speaker for clear, undistorted, loudest-in-class output. And One Series’ acoustic design, optimised for desktop use, ensures accuracy without the need for additional EQ.
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Features include: • Legendary analogue Spatial Sound Processor used by world famous artists; • Authentic reproduction of original analogue circuitry; • Pure analogue signal path based for highest signal integrity; • Sound effects based on authentic BBD (Bucket Brigade Delay) technology; • Precise 10-segment LED meter for output level; • Servo-balanced inputs and outputs with ¼-inch TRS and gold-plated XLR connectors; • Relay-controlled hard bypass switch with remote control and auto bypass function; and • Rugged 2U rackmount chassis for durability in portable applications The chorus effect has been a studio mainstay since the ‘80s. With greats such as Brian Eno, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Gabriel and so many more incorporating this effect into their recordings, the chorus has become legendary effect in the music industry. Now, that legend continues with the 3RD DIMENSION BBD-320, an amazingly affordable analogue multidimensional signal processor that can recreate those classic tones that so many amazing artists have used in countless releases. The BBD-320’s sound effects are based on authentic Bucket Brigade (BBD) technology, maintaining the quality of original 80’s circuit and opening the door to some rich chorus sounds that can spice up any guitar, synth or bass tones. It’s also built with a pure analogue signal path for the highest signal integrity. Controls on the BBD-320 are designed to be simple. No speed, tone or depth knobs here. Four buttons are all users need for great chorus tones. Start from button 1 and get a subtle warble all the way up to button 4 for a more intense chorus. Users can even press two buttons at the same time and stack choruses to get more nuanced effects. Remotely switch the chorus on or off by connecting a footswitch via the ¼-inch input located at the front of the BBD-320. A precise 10-segment LED meter is also included for easily monitoring the output level of the BBD-320. At the rear, the BBD-320 has servo-balanced inputs and outputs with ¼-inch TRS and gold plated XLR connectors. You can also switch the BBD320 to either stereo or mono. Visit www.klarkteknik.com
High-bandwidth Bluetooth 5.0 streaming, beyond offering the convenience of audio playback from mobile devices, provides audio professionals the ability to reference mixes over Bluetooth using a professional monitor, rather than a consumer portable device. JBL 104-BT reference monitors integrate smoothly into any production workspace, with features like a front-panel input control that selects Bluetooth, Aux, RCA, TRS or combines all inputs. Front-panel volume control allows convenient level adjustments without straying from the sweet spot, and a front-panel headphone jack conveniently mutes the speakers when switching to headphones. Dual 1/4-inch balanced, dual RCA and single 1/8-inch inputs, along with Bluetooth accommodate a wide range of signal sources. An optional protective carrying case is also be available for production on the go. Visit JBLPro.com/One-Series
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SDI Media and IMAGICA Open State-ofthe-Art Dubbing Studio in Tokyo SDI MEDIA, one of the the world’s largest localisation providers, and IMAGICA Lab., Japan’s largest post-production facility, both IMAGICA GROUP’s consolidated subsidiaries, have joined forces to make a strategic investment in Japanese dubbing by building a brand new, state of the art dubbing studio in the heart of Tokyo.
VoiceQ Takes Dubbing to the Cloud NEW ZEALAND-BASED tech innovator VoiceQ has extended its dubbing software to the cloud to meet increasing demands for speed, efficiency and scale in the global dubbing industry. VoiceQ Cloud Manager and VoiceQ Cloud Collaborator are web-based applications designed to complement native dubbing applications VoiceQ Pro and VoiceQ Writer by introducing script localisation efficiencies across the pre-record workflow, and reporting efficiencies across pre-record and record workflows. In announcing the launch of the new cloud tools VoiceQ CEO Steven Renata said, “Dubbing studios around the world tell us the script preparation stage is challenging. We have created cloud-based tools that allow everyone involved in script localisation to collaborate in real time, from anywhere, on any device, in perfect sync. “All Managers need is an internet connection to experience over-theshoulder editing, accelerate review and approval, manage multiple projects more easily, and be everywhere – without blowing the budget.” In extending to the cloud the company is riding the wave of growth in the global language services market, a market seeing exponential growth in consumption and soaring investment in localised content (up 35 percent year-on-year).
Mark Howorth, CEO of SDI Media, said: “We are so proud to be launching our new dubbing services in Tokyo, continuing our long commitment to having owned and operated studios in the Asian market. The Japanese dubbing industry has a long and respected history, but demand has grown in line with industry trends. Hitoshi has created an impressive studio and has recruited some of the top names in Japanese dubbing. Our global clients have requested more capacity in Japan and I think they will be very impressed with what we have built.” IMAGICA SDI Studio houses five rooms, making it one of the largest dubbing facilities in Japan. There is one large ADR room (41 sqm), three medium ADR rooms (17 – 19sqm) and one mixing room (Dolby Atmos HE). The four ADR rooms are “Hybrid” rooms which means they can function both as ADR rooms and as mixing rooms – a highly efficient model. The rooms have been created to accommodate Japanese-style dubbing (multiple actors) and Western-style dubbing. The rooms were designed to meet the high requirements of the largest content producers in the world. Hitoshi Nozu, General Manager, IMAGICA SDI Studio, said: “IMAGICA GROUP has a long and rich history in the media and entertainment business, with roots as a film company in Japan dating back to the 1930s. This history includes serving leading filmmakers and creatives in all aspects of post-production. Our current dubbing studio at IMAGICA Lab. was built in 2017 and is NP3 certified. Now extending our language localisation services to these large new studios is the perfect addition to our portfolio.” This new facility’s design is focussed on maximising acoustic fidelity with a practical footprint, creating the optimum working environment for the audio directors and voice talent. It was designed jointly by IMAGICA Lab. and Daniele Turchetta, Dubbing Studio Technical Director at SDI Media. IMAGICA SDI Studios is 51% owned by IMAGICA Lab. and 49% owned by SDI Media. The facility is currently being booked for 2020 and is available for visits. Visit https://imagicasdistudio.co.jp
Launch of the cloud products has also prompted the release of a new package for training future audio production stars. Education and training institutions who sign up to the package get software for managers, engineers, adaptors and translators, including VoiceQ Cloud Manager and VoiceQ Cloud Collaborator for the pre-record stage. They also have access to customised training modules and video training. Education clients signed to date range from New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington to the Sámi Education Institute in Lapland, Norway. Visit www.voiceq.com
AUD$4 Million for Audio Description on Australia’s ABC and SBS THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has launched an initiative to help blind and vision impaired Australians to access audio description services on ABC and SBS television programs. Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said that the Government will provide the ABC and SBS AUD$2 million each to introduce audio description services. Audio description is a verbal commentary that complements the soundtrack of a television program so people with vision impairment can better experience television programs. It is already available for programs on some streaming services – notably for select titles on Netflix and Stan. “Australia is the only English-speaking nation in the OECD not to offer audio description on free-to-air television. We believe that it is long overdue for our national broadcasters to introduce audio description for their audiences,” Minister Fletcher said. The Government will not prescribe the way in which the ABC and SBS deliver audio description services. The ABC has previously trialled two different delivery methods – via its catch-up service and on broadcast television. “As a result of this funding, the national broadcasters are expected to begin offering audio description services to audiences by 1 July 2020,” Minister Fletcher said. Visit www.communications.gov.au
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The new studio, known as IMAGICA SDI Studio, has focused on building a strong team of highly experienced staff, already with excellent relationships with clients both in Japan and globally. Hitoshi Nozu is the General Manager, and he has spent sixteen years at IMAGICA Lab. and three years at SDI Media in the US. The Studio Director is Hiroshi Urago – an 18-year veteran at AC Create, who joined IMAGICA Lab. in 2016. Hiroshi will be supported by a group of producers and mixing engineers all with extensive experience at Tokyo’s renowned existing studios. Full time staff will be approximately sixteen.
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RADIO The original broadcast media
www.content-technology.com/radio
China’s Fuzhou Radio Embraces Lawo AoIP FUZHOU RADIO AND TELEVISION, one of the foremost broadcasters of China’s Fujian Province, has upgraded its Fuzhou Radio channels to AES67compliant RAVENNA AoIP with the installation of mixing consoles and I/O equipment from Lawo. Two identical on-air studios were built for Fuzhou Radio. Each is equipped with a 12-fader ruby mixing console, backed with Lawo’s Power Core AoIP mixing engine. Fuzhou Radio also equipped the studios with Electro-Voice RE27 and Shure MX 418 microphones, Genelec 8030 monitor speakers, Eventide BD600+ broadcast delay systems, and Infomedia AOIPBox terminals. “Fuzhou Television has worked with Lawo before and have experienced the power of our mixing consoles firsthand, with an mc²56 at the center of their HD OB van,” says Jochen Richter, Lawo Head of Sales, Radio. “When they decided to renew
broadcasters, thanks to the combination of an uncluttered mixing desk and powerful DSP mixing engine. Power Core’s multiple MADI and AES67 interfaces give access to as many as 384 channels of stereo audio, standard, making it the perfect bridge between baseband and AoIP audio.
their radio studios and adopt AoIP, they found our ruby mixing console perfectly suited to their needs. More and more broadcasters are realizing the benefit of audio networks based on standards rather than proprietary protocols, and choose Lawo.” Lawo’s ruby console and Power Core engine combination is hugely popular with top
NOVA Launches Interactive Ads for Google Assistant AUSTRALIA’S NOVA ENTERTAINMENT has announced what it says is an industry-first, the introduction of leading technology to create interactive audio commercials in the next extension of the company’s voice and digital audio strategy. NOVA has created a Google Assistant Action that adds activation and interaction for audiences listening to radio or podcast commercials in cars, at home and on the move. Listeners with Google Assistant-enabled devices can use the Action to interact with their radios or smart devices and provides a new audience and greater commercial opportunities. Fayad Tohme, NOVA Entertainment’s Chief Digital Officer said, “This is a significant evolution for NOVA’s digital audio marketing capabilities. For the first time, listeners will be able to interact directly with a smart advertisement, responding in real time to a call to action, requesting more information, and even connecting directly with an advertiser. The result is a more interactive, engaging experience for the listener and greater impact for the advertiser.”
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The Action launched via a special competition advertisement in the newly-minted Adelaide breakfast show, Nova 919’s Ben & Liam. The geo-targeted advertisement invited listeners in South Australia to use voice commands to enter an exclusive competition to win tickets to Nova’s Red Room with singer Guy Sebastian, live in Adelaide.
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Peter Charlton, NOVA Entertainment’s Chief Commercial Officer said, “Voice-driven interactivity is an important next step down the path of personalisation for NOVA. Our priority has always been to evolve the listening experience in line with changes to the lives and habits of our audiences. The ubiquity of voice-command can’t be ignored, and neither
can the clear chance it represents to deepen our audience connection. This is an exciting creative and commercial opportunity for NOVA and our partners, and we look forward to seeing it in action.” In February 2019 NOVA Entertainment launched a unique, voice-activated experience for the Nova audience, with the release of an Amazon Alexa skill. The innovative move saw NOVA Entertainment lead the industry in offering a unique and interactive voice experience for listeners. NOVA has since released new capabilities to further enhance the users’ experience and introduce unique advertising propositions for clients, including the launch of a flash briefing skill to provide Alexa customers with news headlines and the launch of a Google Action in December 2019 with access to podcasting and News Briefs to bring the listeners the latest in Australian and International News. NOVA Entertainment says the launch of this new Google Assistant Action is the latest stage in the company’s vision to transform the way people listen to radio or podcasts, by delivering an interactive, connected and personalised experience that provides an easy way for the audience to tailor their listening and interaction with advertisements. This new extension of NOVA Entertainment’s voice strategy is another addition to NOVA Entertainment’s digital portfolio with further diversification into new, future-facing platforms that includes GOAT, the mobile-first millennial platform and NOVA Entertainment’s partnership with Acast to become the biggest commercial podcast player in Australia. Visit www.novaentertainment.com.au
Eight plug-in slots accommodate even more I/O via mic, line, AES3, HD MADI and Dante expansion cards. When paired with a Lawo ruby mixing console, Power Core can provide as many as 96 DSP channels for precision audio shaping, with up to 80 summing busses, multiple AutoMix groups, and comprehensive compression / expansion / deessing tools. It also has dual, redundant NICs with SMPTE 2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching to ensure instant, inaudible recovery from network faults. Visit www.lawo.com
WorldDAB Publishes Aftermarket Devices Guidelines
WORLDDAB HAS PUBLISHED the first version of its Aftermarket Devices Guidelines, to help improve the user experience of Aftermarket Devices (AMDs) which include DAB+ digital radio. Designed by the WorldDAB Aftermarket Devices Working Group, the guidelines are based on previous research carried out by the WorldDAB User Experience Group, although allowances and changes have been made in line with the nature of AMDs. The guidelines, which are aimed at manufacturers, are available to download from the WorldDAB website. They include clear directions on the following domains in relation to AMDs: • User interface • Device connection • Functionality • Power • Service lists • Car display • Service following • Antennas “These Aftermarket Devices Guidelines were developed to help manufacturers better understand how to integrate DAB+ digital radio devices into vehicles that are already on the road,” said Jørn Jensen, Retiring Chairman of the WorldDAB Aftermarket Devices Working Group. “The aftermarket sector has seen a significant increase in demand over the last few years. More drivers are looking to bring the extra choice and better quality of DAB+ into older cars which do not have digital radio as standard. These guidelines were created to help achieve this in the best possible way.” Visit www.worlddab.org/automotive/aftermarketdevices-guidelines
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AKG Announces Podcaster Essentials Bundle
The AKG Lyra is an ultra-HD, multi-mode USB microphone that delivers 24-bit, 192 kHz audio quality, with four versatile capture modes suited to a wide range of recording applications. AKG K371 headphones provide clear, detailed sound with largest-in-class 50mm drivers and a closed-back design for superb sound isolation. Ableton Live 10 Lite is a streamlined audio production platform that allows users to quickly and easily record and edit professional podcasts. The AKG Lyra delivers the highest audio quality in its class, with acoustically transparent, 4K-compatible, Ultra HD-grade 24-bit/192kHz audio resolution. Lyra features the innovative AKG Adaptive Capsule Array, which provides four optimized capture modes that makes it easy to deliver professional sound for any application. An internal self-adjusting shock mount minimizes contact noise, while a built-in sound diffuser and AKG’s proprietary Internal Element Overload Prevention automatically reduces noise, eliminates pops and improves signal levels.
Plug-and-play simplicity enables creators to set up and start recording quickly, regardless of experience level. AKG K371 professional studio headphones combine performance, accuracy and supreme comfort in a compact, folding design that’s ideal for production in the studio or on location. High-sensitivity titaniumcoated 50mm drivers reproduce every detail from the deepest lows to the most sparkling highs for excellent acoustic precision. An over-ear, closed-back design provides superior isolation in noisy environments and prevents sound bleed into the AKG Lyra. Plush, slow-retention foam pads and an adjustable calibrated headband ensure a perfect fit and the earcups swivel 90 degrees for single-ear monitoring. The feather-light weight of the K371 keeps ear fatigue at bay, even on the longest sessions. Ableton Live 10 Lite is a fast, flexible, lightweight version of Ableton’s flagship Live 10 audio production software. With robust, intuitive features for editing together takes, sweetening vocal recordings, adding
New Firmware Version for Comrex ACCESS Codecs COMREX HAS RELEASED firmware version 4.5p2, a new update for its line of IP audio codecs.
Firmware version 4.5p2 is being released in conjunction with ACCESS MultiRack, a new multiinstance codec from Comrex, to provide seamless integration of all functions with legacy single-instance ACCESS codecs. This new firmware simplifies CrossLock connections between the new ACCESS MultiRack and legacy Comrex IP audio codecs. Firmware v4.5p2 also replaces an older Adobe Flash-based GUI with an HTML5 web-based GUI as the default user interface. This new interface avoids the security risks posed by Adobe Flash, and is supported by all browsers. The Adobe Flash interface can still be accessed by typing <ip address>/flash to view the Flash web GUI. ACCESS firmware v4.5p2 is available for ACCESS Rackmount, ACCESS Portable 2USB, ACCESS NX Portable, BRIC-Link, BRIC-Link II, ACCESS MultiRack and ACCESS NX Rack. ACCESS MultiRack, meanwhile, is a new rackmount multi-channel IP audio codec. ACCESS MultiRack occupies only 1RU, and it can handle up to five fullduplex IP audio connections simultaneously. ACCESS MultiRack is compatible with all Comrex IP audio codecs including ACCESS Rackmount, ACCESS Portable 2USB, ACCESS NX Portable, ACCESS NX Rack, BRIC-Link, BRIC-Link II as well as the FieldTap smartphone app. Comrex ACCESS MultiRack is Tech3326, AES67 and SMPTE 2110-30 compatible. ACCESS MultiRack includes Comrex CrossLock technology, a proprietary suite of tools that solidify connections over IP networks. By sending two identical streams through two separate networks (redundancy mode), or combining the network bandwidth of multiple networks (bonding mode), CrossLock provides a fail-safe in the event that the primary network falters. Each of ACCESS MultiRack’s codec instances can deliver and receive four contact closures, as well as transfer ancillary data to the far end using the serial data channel. Instance 1 can do so with an additional cable, but instances 2 through 5 require an external USB device. Visit www.comrex.com
sound effects and even creating custom theme and background music, Live 10 Lite gives podcasters everything they need to quickly and easily produce professional podcasts. The four-part Berklee Online course provides a broad introduction to audio production, from microphones to multitracking including recording gear and techniques, working with digital audio, critical listening, polishing your mixes and much more. Visit www.akg.com
Frontier Supports Broadcaster Visuals on Digital Radio
FRONTIER SMART TECHNOLOGIES is helping to enrich the digital radio experience by supporting integration of full colour displays into DAB+ radios. According to the company, all Frontier modules now include support for a colour user interface, which allows users to benefit from Slideshow services being offered by broadcasters. Slideshow is a core feature of DAB/DAB+ and enables radio stations to offer colour images, such as station logos, track and artist information, weather maps and traffic updates. Today major stations in Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and the UK all produce visual content delivered through Slideshow. Broadcasters making use of the slideshow feature include: • Germany - ARD stations include station branding, artist artwork, news headlines, weather, traffic information and adverts; • Norway - NRK uses slide shows extensively and includes social media highlights; • Netherlands - NPO shows station branding, news headlines and song/artist information; • Belgium - RTBF shows news headlines, traffic information and weather; • Australia - ARN and Nova user Slideshow to show advertisements; and • United Kingdom - Global has experimented with radio sponsorship slides, transport live cam and studio live cam. Prem Rajalingham, Managing Director, Frontier Smart Technologies, said: “We are delighted the technology benefits of DAB+ are being realised and Slideshow is being adopted by broadcasters with real enthusiasm. Powerful visual content completes digital radio experience. Frontier Smart Technologies is a leading driver of improved radio standards. We plan to continue leading digital radio development for the next ten years and more.” With continued investment in digital radio, Frontier says it will deliver further product enhancements – to be announced later this year. Visit www.frontiersmart.com
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DESIGNED TO GIVE PODCASTERS, video producers and content creators a professional edge, the AKG Podcaster Essentials bundle includes the new AKG Lyra USB microphone, AKG K371 headphones, Ableton Live 10 Lite recording software, a four-part Berklee Online recording class, and a full set of audio cables including a headphone splitter.
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Digigram Updates Firmware for Remote Broadcasts
DIGIGRAM HAS ENRICHED the functional scope of its IQOYA X/ LINK and IQOYA SERV/LINK IP audio codecs to extend them to remote broadcasting.
Digigram’s IP audio codecs configured for remote broadcasting are the only IP audio codecs allow users to manage up to 32 mono or stereo full duplex IP streams. For an optimal user experience, a specific mode of use was added for this new operating mode with dedicated and easy-to-use graphical interfaces, both for the configuration phase and for the operating phases. The user can now place calls and be connected to the field or the studio in two clicks. SIP, direct SIP and symmetric RTP connections are supported. This comes in addition to the existing “Program distribution” mode by just a firmware update. Key features of the new firmware include • Intuitive web interface to place calls from the address book in 2 clicks (SIP, Direct SIP, or Symmetric RTP), • Low latency audio connections • EBU/ACIP compliance for interoperability with third-party codecs and any SIP infrastructure • Reliable and resilient audio connections even over inexpensive unmanaged IP networks • IQOYA SERV/LINK is the AoIP solution with the highest codec density in 1U Digigram’s Fluid IP By using the codec in remote broadcasting mode, users benefit from FluidIP, the technology developed by Digigram for establishing reliable and resilient
connections on unmanaged networks such as the Internet. In particular, the technology integrates stream redundancy functions such as FEC (Forward Error Correction) or dual streaming with spatial or time diversity. Capabilities of the IQOYA SERV/LINK IP audio codec include: • In “remote broadcasting” configuration, it is the only IP audio codec on the market allowing to manage up to 32 mono or stereo full duplex IP streams whatever the audio encoding format and whatever the audio connectivity (Analog, AES3, MADI, AES67, DANTE). • In “program distribution” configuration, it is the only IP audio codec on the market supporting up to 128 mono input and output channels with the possibility to simultaneously encode, decode and transcode IP audio streams. IQOYA X/LINK, meanwhile, is a range of four IP audio codecs designed to best suit the remote broadcasting and program distribution applications of our customers. It features stereo and dual stereo IP audio codecs with analogue, AES3, livewire or AES67 I/Os and a 8-stereo IP codec with AES67 I/ Os only. Digigram’s One IP audio solution includes IP audio codecs (rackmount and portable units), a reliable and secure SIP infrastructure, and web applications. Visit www.digigram.com
MAGIC PhonerSet
The operation is based on the respective PC software of the telephone hybrid system. The following telephony functions are supported separately for each available caller line: Call setup, call acceptance, hang up, redial, call transfer, PRETALK, HOLD, ON AIR (1-fader or 2-fader mode) and line blocking (LOCK). Further functions are available via the Function key: Lock/Unlock all lines (LOCK ALL), hang up all lines (DROP ALL) and Call List.
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The status and caller information of each line are displayed via line cards. Depending on the number of lines, the following information can be displayed: Phone number/SIP Display
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AUDIOSCIENCE, the audio I/O company, has announced that its line of Dante audio interfaces, the Iyo Dante, now supports the Telos Alliance Livewire+ AES67 Audio over IP (AoIP) protocol.
Most Livewire+ AES67 devices can stream audio to and from an Iyo Dante interface including Axia Livewire+ enabled consoles and mix engines using the Livewire low latency stream format. Because it supports the Livewire+ AES67 discovery and routing protocols the Iyo Dante and its Livewire+ AES67 compatible streams can be discovered and connected using Telos Pathfinder Core Pro VM/appliance or the legacy PathfinderPro software. The Livewire GPIO protocol is also supported allowing the GPIO ports on the Iyo Dante RJ45 models to send and receive contact closures over the Livewire+ AES67 network. The Livewire+ AES67 functionality is included with Iyo Dante firmware version 3.2.1 and above which can be downloaded from the AudioScience’s website. Richard Gross AudioScience President stated, “The Iyo Dante Livewire+ endpoints have been developed as a direct response to increased Axia compatibility requests from AudioScience’s longstanding Radio Station audio card user base. The combination of the Telos/Axia open architecture platform with AudioScience’s technical expertise has helped us provide both a cost-effective and superior density solution in a 1RU.” Visit www.audioscience.com
AVT AUDIO VIDEO TECHNOLOGIES has released the MAGIC PhonerSet, enabling convenient operation of the company’s MAGIC telephone hybrid family (MAGIC TH2plus, MAGIC TH6 and MAGIC THipPro) via a purposedesigned touchscreen-enabled telephone. The telephone can be used parallel to the Windows PC software or independently without a PC. The connection for the control of all caller lines and the transmission of the audio signal takes place via a standard network interface. MAGIC PhonerSet uses the caller lines of the used telephone hybrid system - an additional registration to a SIP server is not necessary.
Livewire+ AES67 Support for AudioScience’s Iyo Dante
Logitek Announces RAVENNA Partnership
LOGITEK’S JETSTREAM PLUS and JET67 AoIP audio engines are now RAVENNA-compatible, adding this leading platform to the versatile audio networking and mixing options offered by Logitek.
The usable lines and authorisations (e.g. switching to ON AIR) of an operator workplace are automatically assigned via the system configuration of the telephone hybrid system. Only the connection parameters to the telephone hybrid system must be entered at the MAGIC PhonerSet.
Multi-format audio distribution has been a hallmark of Logitek routing engines for many years; the RAVENNA capability joins Dante, AES67, LiveWire and Logitek JetNet for interconnecting Logitek JetStream Plus and JET67 console engines with other equipment in a broadcast facility. JetStream Plus engines also directly connect to popular Television routers, edit systems and program automation control systems; both engines adopt Logitek’s high-density routing technologies to provide a large number of I/O channels in a small amount of rack space.
An HDMI interface also enables parallel output of the user interface on an external screen. MAGIC TH2plus allows the simultaneous use of up to two, MAGIC TH6 and MAGIC THipPro of up to six MAGIC PhonerSet workplaces parallel to the respective Windows PC software editions MAGIC TH2plus/MAGIC TH6 Control and MAGIC THipPro LAN/SCREENER.
“Logitek has always looked for better ways to manage audio in a facility,” said Tag Borland, Logitek President. “RAVENNA’s AoIP networking solutions are world-class, simplifying a station’s workflow and exemplifying the high quality and performance standards that we have incorporated in our broadcast Audio Engines from the beginning. We are pleased to join the RAVENNA Partner team.”
Visit https://www.avt-nbg.de/
Visit www.logitekaudio.com
name, caller name and city (only if database is activated).
CONTENT DELIVERY Terrestrial, Mobile, Broadband
www.content-technology.com/transmission
Thaicom 5 Satellite Customers Migrated After Technical Anomaly
THAICOM PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED has been forced to migrate customers from its Thaicom 5 satellite after the craft suffered a technical anomaly. The company has informed its satellite television broadcast customers to migrate their television platforms from Thaicom 5 to Thaicom 6, which commenced on 15th of February, 2020. The company further informed the satellite television broadcast customers to communicate to the end-users to turn on the set-top-box for a required automatic over-the-air update.
Thaicom, together with the satellite’s manufacturer and a team of specialists, performed three attempts to recover the satellite
system since the anomaly occurred. However, the system had not successfully been restored. Thaicom continues to work with the satellite’s manufacturer to recover the satellite system by using various alternatives for a certain period of time. In order to ensure the continuity of services for customers, it has been necessary for Thaicom to migrate the customers from Thaicom 5 to other satellites.
SET Taiwan Integrates Playout with VSN MEDIA INDUSTRY SOFTWARE COMPANY VSN has announced that its flexible, scalable, open standards-based solution has been chosen by SET Taiwan for its complete Playout and MCR requirements. SET Taiwan was launched in September of 1993 and is a television channel of the Sanlih E-Television in Taiwan. It mainly broadcasts Taiwanese drama, but it also has a variety of established shows and is the country’s first combination of network, information and technology planning of digital media and television. In common with many similar organisations looking to upgrade and improve their playout system, SET Taiwan needed to have an advanced and integrated solution that could control many different subsystems and would be able to interconnect with third-party software as well. That was the main reason why the TV channel has chosen VSN’s interoperable and centralised software solutions in order to provide them with an integrated playout, which includes 2 VSNOne TV channel-in-a-box servers (main and backup), one channel for recording and one channel for playout functions, simultaneously. Moreover, it counts with an IP stream output, closed caption modules, SCTE generation features and is connected with VTR, router and a GPI device. The solution also allows users to work and edit footage thanks to the integration with a non linear editor (NLE). Finally, in order to ease the transition to this new playout system and fulfil all the customer’s requirements without inconveniencing any of their existing workflows, VSN provided a solution that successfully integrates with all SET Taiwan’s current playlist and storage systems.
Key customers and television broadcast networks on Thaicom 8 and Thaicom 6, i.e., True Visions, Distance Learning Television (DLTV) and Must Carry Channels of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), have not been impacted by the incident, and the company has stressed that Thaicom’s project to extend fuel life of Thaicom 5 and develop new space drone technology to attach the fuel system to the satellite is unrelated to the recent anomaly. Visit www.thaicom.net
ATEME Powers VOD OTT and IPTV for Korea’s Medialog
ATEME, the developer of video delivery solutions for broadcast, cable, DTH, IPTV and OTT, has announced that Medialog, a Korean content provider and subsidiary of LG U+, one of Korea’s largest telecommunication carriers, has implemented ATEME’s TITAN File solution for its VOD OTT and IPTV services. ATEME’s TITAN File is a multi-codec/multi-format file-based transcoder producing high-bandwidth efficient content for multi-screen delivery. TITAN File supports the widest range of input formats, media containers and video codecs up to 4K with all HDR flavours. Tae Dong Lee, Team Leader, Medialog commented: “ATEME’s solution has exceeded our expectations and requirements in terms of video quality and flexible features. The company’s technical team also offers outstanding support.” Boyang An, Sales Director, Korea ATEME added: “We are pleased to contribute to the growing Medialog ecosystem. ATEME TITAN will allow Medialog to offer viewers a greater user experience, including unparalleled video quality on any screen, as well as easy and rapid navigation within its content catalogue.” Visit www.ateme.com
HK Comms Authority Releases Spectrum Plan THE HONG KONG COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY (CA) has published its new spectrum release plan (SRP) for 2020-2022 in accordance with the Radio Spectrum Policy Framework promulgated by the government in April 2007. According to the newly published SRP, the CA will release a maximum of 160MHz of spectrum in the 600/700MHz bands and 80MHz of spectrum in the 4.9GHz band to the market in 2021 in an on-going effort to release more spectrum to facilitate development of public mobile services, including 5G services.
One of the many advantages that an integrated playout has is the ability to reduce many parts of the traditional playout system and master control into a single software application that operates on a generic IT-based hardware.
In addition, there is 2900MHz of spectrum available in the 26/28GHz bands for assignment. The latest SRP also covers the planned re-assignment of 15MHz of spectrum in the 850MHz band and 90MHz of spectrum in the 2.5/2.6GHz bands upon the expiry of the existing terms of assignment in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
Visit www.vsn-tv.com
Visit www.coms-auth.hk
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The technical anomaly on Thaicom 5 resulted in technical limitations to monitoring the status of the satellite. Thaicom 5 was constructed by Alcatel Alenia Space, and is based on the Spacebus 3000A satellite bus. Launched in May 2006, with an expected operational lifespan of 12 years, it is equipped with 25G/H band (IEEE C band) and 14 J band (IEEE Ku band) transponders.
Anant Kaewruamvongs, Chief Executive Officer, Thaicom, commented: “Thaicom is doing the best we can to find suitable solutions in order to ensure the continuity of services for our customers. We conduct our business with strict adherence to relevant laws and concession terms. We would like to thank the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission for their continued support in the process.”
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Fastly Launches Origin Connect GLOBAL EDGE CLOUD PLATFORM PROVIDER Fastly has announced Origin Connect, a direct private network connection between an organisation’s origin server and a Fastly Shield point of presence (POP). Designed for companies moving more than one gigabit of data per second, Fastly says Origin Connect is an effective way to lower transit costs, reduce engineering complexity, and improve reliability for highvolume streaming content. Using Origin Connect is “akin to plugging directly into an outlet instead of connecting to an extension cord first”. Companies will benefit from the direct connection necessary to reduce transit costs as well as the risks of content lag associated with any additional path content travels to get from initial client request to an origin server, and all the way back to the end-user. Benefits of using Origin Connect include: • Reliability: A direct, private peering connection increases the predictability of traffic sent across dedicated bandwidth and reduces the number of hops in a network path. As a result, there are fewer providers involved in getting traffic from the organisation’s servers to Fastly’s network and back again. • Reduced transit costs: Customers using Origin Connect will no longer pay egress costs for outbound traffic from their origin server since they are shipping that traffic over a private connection directly to Fastly. • Availability: Origin Connect improves the availability of content and streaming services by reducing the risks of failed origin requests. • Performance: Reduced latency and more consistent and predictable performance due to the lack of in-between transit and upstream providers and a dedicated fibre interconnect. Fastly has also announced Cloud Optimizer, a new offering that enables critical, high-traffic content delivery by sitting between a company’s content delivery network (CDN) and its central cloud. Cloud Optimizer brings customers with multi-cloud or multi-CDN architectures, especially within commerce and high tech verticals, the real-time control and visibility required to make informed decisions as quickly as possible, without the need to re-architect network infrastructure. Other benefits include: • Superior Performance: Fastly’s powerful points-of-presence (POPs) are built with SSDs and large amounts of memory in well-connected locations around the world to deliver higher cache hit ratio, reducing the need for requests to go back to origin. All traffic is encrypted by TLS.
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• Real-time Control and Visibility: Gain full control with the ability to push out configurations quickly and pivot immediately. Real-time logs combined with client-side analytics allow rapid insight and true observability down to the network layer.
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Magewell Multi-Protocol Live Stream Decoder
MAGEWELL HAS ANNOUNCED a versatile conversion product that combines the worlds of IP streaming and baseband AV presentation equipment. The new Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI multi-protocol, SRTcompatible streaming media decoder made its first public appearance at the recent ISE 2020 exhibition. While earlier Pro Convert models transform professional AV signals to and from NewTek’s NDI AV-over-IP technology, the new Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI decodes a standard H.264 (AVC) or H.265 (HEVC) compressed video stream into a high-quality HDMI output for connection to baseband monitors, projectors and switchers. Supporting a wide range of streaming protocols for maximum source compatibility, the low-latency decoder is ideal for applications including multi-site video distribution between corporate, educational and church campuses, remote production, surveillance monitoring, digital signage and more. “While dedicated AV-over-IP technologies get a lot of attention and are ideal for many applications when used on robust networks, a lot of customers are already generating live H.264 or H.265 streams in distribution-friendly protocols and wish to incorporate them into their presentation and display workflows,” said James Liu, VP of Engineering at Magewell. The Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI is Magewell’s first product to support the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) open source protocol. Enabling secure, resilient, low-latency video delivery over unpredictable networks, SRT ensures high-quality streaming experiences even over the public internet. Other supported protocols include RTSP, RTMP, UDP, RTP and HTTP streaming. The Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI decodes streams up to 2160x1200 at 60fps for output over its HDMI 2.0 interface. Built-in FPGA-based video processing enables the device to automatically up-convert HD or 2K source streams to 4K for viewing on Ultra HD displays. The plug-and-play decoder features DHCP-based network configuration and can detect the video and audio characteristics of the target display device via EDID metadata, automatically optimising output parameters or providing the user with compatible choices. The device can be powered via an external adapter or PoE.
• Agility: With intelligent routing capabilities, organisations can switch between origins quickly to avoid getting locked into one provider. Cloud Optimizer can even support integrated configuration with CI/ CD systems, and during migrations from on-premise to cloud, or from one cloud provider to another.
Users can specify source stream URLs and control the decoder’s advanced settings through a browser-based interface, wired or wireless keyboard or mouse, or using two on-device buttons that overlay an intuitive menu on the HDMI output. Eight channels of AAC or MP3 audio are supported in the input stream with user control of audio gain, sample-rate, channel selection and on-screen VU metering. Additional integration features include image flip for inverted projector installations, safe area controls, and aspect ratio conversion.
• Cost Reduction: Request Collapsing consolidates multiple requests for the same piece of content down to one request back to origin. This, compounded with Fastly’s POP design that can increase cache hit ratio, protects a business’s origin from a barrage of identical requests and reduces the computing resources supporting a site.
Owners of Magewell’s Pro Convert for NDI to HDMI decoders can add multi-protocol H.264 and H.265 decoding capabilities to their existing devices with a free firmware upgrade for greater IP stream decoding versatility. The new firmware update is available immediately on the Magewell website, while the new Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI hardware is slated to ship in March.
Visit www.fastly.com
Visit www.magewell.com
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AT NAB 2020 will demonstrate new enhancements to Vantage Cloud Port, PRISM, and its iQ monitoring solutions from a new location in the front of NAB’s South Lower Hall.
PRISM The latest version of the PRISM media monitoring and analysis platform provides comprehensive monitoring of IP/SDI 4K/8K signals and comes equipped with specialised new tools for wide colour gamut (WCG) and high dynamic range (HDR). These new capabilities are specifically designed to accommodate the new workflow changes in production and postproduction required to meet the quality expectations for broadcast and streamed content. Offering objective and trusted measurements, PRISM guarantees quality at every stage of a production or broadcast chain.
VANTAGE CLOUD PORT Focused on the growth of content creation and delivery, Vantage Cloud Port enables powerful, new automation and media processing workflows that are both cloud-agnostic and multi-cloud. To be showcased at NAB for the first time, Vantage Cloud Port now features Tempo time adjustment and content normalisation plus a new, streamlined version of Post Producer automated content assembly and processing. Vantage Cloud Port Designer makes it even easier to start processing media with cloudenabled actions. Also new in Vantage and Vantage Cloud Port is the ability to convert between colour spaces, including support and certification for Dolby Vision, insert missing colour metadata, and ensure the best possible quality with the Vantage 16-bit video processing pipeline with full support for HDR standards. In addition, Vantage and Vantage Cloud Port now support object-based audio including Dolby ATMOS. To meet customers where they are in their cloud transformation process, Vantage Cloud Port now provides for even more predictable cost beyond the transparency of the current on-demand model by adding an option for paying on a time-metered basis. In addition to the option for time-metered billing, with the new Vantage Cloud Port Conductor customers can now upload complete Vantage workflows and execute them entirely in the cloud making it easier than ever to scale as needed.
IQ ABR MONITORING SOLUTIONS Two vital challenges for OTT streaming providers revolve around managing the customer experience and capitalising on advertisement revenue. Now, more than ever, it’s critical to see what the customer sees when creating an OTT network that is directly comparable with linear television in terms of quality of service and experience. Telestream’s iQ ABR monitoring solutions have enhanced post-origin content processing and delivery monitoring support for DASH and CMAF packaged ABR streams plus dynamic ad video quality assurance. Sentry software-based quality monitoring probes are now integrated into Telestream’s Intelligent Video Management System for Adaptive Streaming Media (iVMS ASM) providing a comprehensive, real-time view into the health of adaptive streaming video services. These latest additions to the Telestream iQ ABR monitoring solution provide essential insights that enable content owners, broadcasters, and service providers to manage these critical issues that can make or break their streaming service. As more organisations take advantage of direct-to-consumer streaming services, the onus to deliver quality, reliable streams has shifted from distribution partners back to programmers. Telestream’s new OptiQ Monitor is a cloud-based, monitoring-as-a-service, platform designed to give broad visibility into the health and performance of live OTT channels as delivered through CDN partners. Visit www.telestream.net
Actus Digital to Demonstrate All-in-One Media Platform AT THE 2020 NAB SHOW, Actus Digital will demonstrate how its mandatory compliance solution is part of a much larger media intelligence platform, providing cross-organisational benefits to the operations, marketing and research, and new media departments of broadcasters and media companies. The platform includes solutions for compliance, quality-of-service assurance, technical monitoring, content repurposing, rating and competitive analysis tools, advanced AI options, and more. “We have enhanced the Actus Digital intelligent media platform to include more functionality, additional AI options, and extended automation related to compliance, clips creation, and export capabilities for social media, with intelligent content monitoring and analysis,” said Raphael Renous, CTO at Actus Digital. “Having all these capabilities on one platform gives customers the freedom to choose what makes the most sense for their business today and easily add features in the future.”
COMPLIANCE PLATFORM THAT GOES BEYOND STANDARD REQUIREMENTS Media companies today need a solution that pushes the boundaries of compliance beyond supporting simple tasks, such as logging, monitoring, and regulation. They require a solution that can also handle complex compliance tasks with advanced AI options. They want a compliance solution to provide quality assurance tools, video analysis reports, advanced clip creation, OTT monitoring, and multiviewer capabilities all from a single platform. Moreover, since the industry is changing rapidly, the industry needs flexible solutions that support a range of deployment models. At the 2020 NAB Show, Actus Digital will demonstrate the expansive functionalities of its media monitoring platform, which offers an intelligent approach to monitoring and support for multiple deployment environments, including on-premises, virtualisation, the cloud, and hybrid combinations.
New Products and Improvements Include: • A new TS analysis solution for in-depth evaluation of transport streams, with the ability to detect ETR 101 290 priority 1, 2, 3 errors; track MPEG sections and tables (i.e., PAT, PMT, NIT, SDT); and display TS statistics in real time. The solution provides an overall view of TS health for enterprise applications via a web-based user interface, enabling global access and multiviewer display of critical errors. • Enhanced SCTE support, with the ability to compare multichannel SCTE messages and display live or archived SCTE messages, smart filtering for better monitoring, SCTE alerts, and the power to extract SCTE-35 and SCTE-104 for presentation on interactive graphical timelines.
HANDS-ON DEMO AT NAB 2020 At the 2020 NAB Show, visitors will have an opportunity to book a oneto-one meeting with Actus Digital experts. During a demo at the stand, visitors can see the efficiency of Actus Digital’s platform, how it’s being used in the real world by customers, and improvements on the horizon for media monitoring in the future. Visit www.actusdigital.com
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Telestream’s Cloud Media Processing and Monitoring Ecosystem
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VUALTO Partners with ATEME for Automated Encoder Integration VUALTO, AN EXPERT IN cloud-based OTT video delivery and orchestration, has partnered with ATEME, a leader in video delivery solutions for broadcast, cable, DTH, IPTV and OTT, for automated encoder integration within the VUALTO CONTROL HUB (VCH) video orchestration tool, which allows for multiple origins and encoders to be integrated. The VCH is vendor agnostic and interoperable with a host of technology partners. The VCH now has full integration for ATEME’s TITAN Live and TITAN Mux encoding solutions, providing: • Integration with the TITAN Live API to automate live event streaming workflows. • The ability to set specific inputs and outputs dynamically using the VCH channel configuration. • Support for redundant setups. • Capabilities for on-premise and in cloud.
The automated integration with VCH makes streaming easier, removing the requirement for manual configuration and risk of error, which can be a particularly cumbersome process when using a redundant setup. The addition of ATEME’s TITAN solutions has also facilitated an extension of the VCH plugin set. The partnership will allow operators and broadcasters to orchestrate live events and channels with ease, with the ability to automatically start, stop and configure TITAN Live encoder services from the VCH interface. The integration provides great benefits to operators and broadcasters who are looking for an efficient and convenient way to deliver their live streams. As well as having cost benefits, this tight knit integration ensures premium video delivery to end users, at all times.
ULTRIX, THE ROUTING and AV processing platform from Ross Video, was first announced at NAB 2016. The 1RU and 2RU versions (Ultrix-FR1 and Ultrix-FR2) were subsequently joined by a 5RU version (Ultrix-FR5) in 2018. With its ability to collapse racks of traditional infrastructure equipment into a more compact and efficient form-factor, the Ultrix family has redefined the market’s perception of what a routing platform can do. Ultrix is a software-defined solution, which means that additional features can be added to the product via a simple software license. This ensures that customers do not have to make critical system design decisions in advance and are not constrained by changes in transport technology. Recently, Ross Video has announced brand-new versions of the UltrixFR1 and Ultrix-FR2 frames that will also support the Ultrix IP blade. This development will allow customers to scale their IP deployments cost-effectively by using any of the Ultrix frame sizes. In addition, the new Ultrix-FR1 and Ultrix-FR2 frames feature the same omnicooling architecture found on the Ultrix-FR5, for even more efficient heatdissipation and improved performance in cramped conditions or challenging production environments. Commenting on the updated Ultrix variants, Todd Riggs, Marketing Product Manager for Connectivity, points to the key benefits that these new frames will bring to customers. “We were very pleased to launch Ultrix IP earlier this year, providing our customers with a highperformance solution for connectivity in the IP domain. With the launch
Visit www.ateme.com and www.vualto.com
Haivision Announces Play Pro HAIVISION HAS ANNOUNCED Haivision Play Pro, a free mobile player from the developers of the SRT protocol. Now available for iOS devices in the App Store, Haivision Play Pro offers streamers, developers, and broadcasters a quick and easy way to watch and monitor SRT video streams from anywhere on a mobile device. Haivision originally developed and open sourced the widely adopted SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol to support high performance streaming over any network. With Play Pro, the definitive player app for SRT streams, Haivision now makes it easier for any organisation to monitor low-latency video. The new Haivision Play Pro app provides broadcasters with a simple and convenient way to monitor any feed or channel anywhere using the SRT protocol. Broadcast producers, directors, executives, and on-air talent can monitor contribution streams and view return feeds in the field, whether they are the live to air streams, feeds supporting remote interviews, or even teleprompter feeds directly from the editorial desk. The end-to-end latency achievable with Play Pro is less than half of a second, enabling high quality real-time interactivity. With Play Pro, users can easily tune to an SRT stream or create and save channel lists that can be securely shared with team members needing access to a range of feeds. Furthermore, channel lists can be centrally managed ensuring that subscribed users are always able to access only the streams they need. “SRT is changing the way the world streams and our Play Pro app is the ideal player for anyone who needs to watch secure, low latency SRT streams on the go,” said Marcus Schioler, Vice President Product Marketing, Haivision. “Providing users with a premium SRT viewing experience anywhere, Play Pro is a must-have resource in every broadcaster’s toolbox.” Haivision Play Pro provides the following features: • H.264 and HEVC playback.
and even more cost-effective ways to begin building their IP and/or
• Support for low-latency encrypted SRT, UDP unicast or multicast, and HLS streams up to 4K/UHD 2160p60.
hybrid production facilities.”
• SRT secure streaming with AES 128- or 256-bit encryption.
Visit www.rossvideo.com
Visit www.haivision.com
of these two new style frames, we’re giving customers greater choice
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Paul Marsden, Sales Director, ATEME added: “What we share with VUALTO is determination to deliver the best video quality and video experience to our customers with optimised use of existing infrastructure. With the ATEME TITAN range, VUALTO can now achieve a higher level of automation and flexibility for workflows and provide a consistent and scalable delivery to audiences.”
James Burt, CTO and Co-Founder, Vualto said: “We are delighted to partner with ATEME and to bring to market another seamless integration
Ross Video Updates Ultrix Routing-AV Processing Platform
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within the VUALTO CONTROL HUB (VCH). The VCH has been designed to be adaptable, agnostic and to offer broadcasters and content owners complete flexibility in their online video streaming, all under one hood.”
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Video Codecs: Past, Present and Future
With streaming overtaking traditional broadcast, the need for new codecs has made
By Remi Beaudouin, Chief Strategy Officer, ATEME
The current landscape of codecs In the current landscape, there are two mainstream codecs, MPEG-2, the historic codec used for SD and initially the first digital deployment, and H.264, otherwise known as Advanced Video Coding (AVC) which was established for the transition to HD. Both primarily formulated for the broadcast market, these standards-based codecs have proved to be the two most successful so far. ITU standards like AVC were designed with TV in mind and have since been extended to over-the-top (OTT). Therefore, neither are optimized for streaming; instead, they could provide a solution for converged services. With streaming overtaking traditional broadcast, the need for new codecs has made itself apparent. This has led to the emergence of new codecs to meet the changing demands of the video industry. However, while it’s important for broadcasters to look to the future, it’s important not to forget that a large section of the video consumer base are still watching in HD. As a result, the functionality of existing codecs is equally important. Broadcasters and OTT providers should use what they learn from these developments to improve older existing codecs to ensure they are continuing to meet the needs of audiences who are still watching standard HD television.
Upcoming codecs High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) was originally seen as the ITU successor of AVC; however, its pace has been slowing down owing to limited 4K penetration and royalty issues. Compared to AVC, HEVC delivers high-quality 4K video that is at least 50% smaller than before. Another option has emerged in the form of AV1, which is a royaltyfree OTT-focused alternative to HEVC, supported by giant tech groups including FAANG through the Alliance for Open Media. AV1 has been designed primarily with OTT, and therefore progressive scan, in mind. Therefore, it is the optimized choice for this type of service. As there are similarities between the two, the use of AV1 or HEVC is very dependent on the broadcaster or pay-TV provider’s needs and existing infrastructure. Currently, AV1 is seen as the ‘codec of choice’ for streaming media distribution and is supported by the leaders in streaming, such as Amazon, Google and Netflix.
itself apparent. This has led to the emergence of new codecs to meet the changing demands of the video industry.
Further advancements With ever-increasing OTT consumption and continual advancements in technology, codecs are set to change even further as the broadcast industry develops new standards to handle new resolutions and more sophisticated content types. One of the codecs currently in development is Versatile Video Coding (VVC) which the JVET expects to be finalized this year. VVC capabilities are expected to support immersive content, resolutions from 4K to 16K and 360˚ videos. Meanwhile, Essential Video Coding (EVC) has been fast-tracked by MPEG to provide a “licensing-friendly” standardized video coding solution to address growing business needs, such as video streaming. Beyond the usual commitment of reducing the bitrate by 30-50% compared to previous standards (in this case HEVC), it’s too soon to determine the exact benefits and advantages VVC and EVC could offer. However, these new codecs are sure to make a big splash in the market in 2020 and beyond – bringing with them a certain amount of complexity, particularly as each of them are due to be set in stone over the course of the next year. As a result, it may take a couple of years before it’s possible to say with any certainty if they will find a place in the market.
The next decade Over the next ten years, it’s likely H.264, HEVC and AV1 will be among the most popular codecs in use. However, with the different properties available and the fact that every broadcaster or pay-TV operator has different infrastructure and legacy systems, it’s not expected that there will be a clear ‘winner’ in the codec domain. Instead, there will be several dominant players per niche. Due to the infancy of the standard, its core technology DNA and its supporters, AV1 may cement its position as the ‘codec of choice’ for streaming media distribution.
Pakistan to Regulate Web TV and OTT Services THE PAKISTAN Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has concluded a consultation period on the regulation of Web TV and Over the Top TV (OTT) content services. Defining OTT services as those delivered by the public Internet and charging a subscription and Web TV as the streaming of linear content, the Authority says “Both the services are getting popular day by day due to advancement in technology and the preferred use of small screen such as mobile device or laptop and tablets. These services have posed a real challenge to the legacy services such as satellite TV, Direct to Home & cable TV services since in majority of the countries the services are not subject to any regulation, hence no licenses are required, the service providers do not pay any regulatory fee & taxes as against the regulatory fee and taxes which licensed TV broadcasters and other operators are subjected to. “There are other regulatory issues also which necessitate it to regulate & hence license the Web TV & OTT services. For example, all PEMRA licensed broadcasters are subject to compliance with code of conduct-2015 which require the operators to have in-house delaying mechanism and editorial control to filter out content which is not in compliance with the code of conduct etc.
As continual advancements are made with the establishment of next-generation codecs, it will be possible to use the learnings and technologies generated to improve both older and new codecs. As such, the future of video compression is likely to allow all audiences to benefit from a better viewing experience, whether they are consuming content in HD or 8K.
“However, the web TV and OTT players are not subject to any code of conduct & other PEMRA laws. Moreover, as a regulator, it is the responsibility of PEMRA to provide a level playing field to all. Since OTT & Web TV operators are competing for the same advertisement or subscription revenue as the licensed operators, therefore, it is imperative that the services be regulated at par with other services.”
Visit www.ateme.com
Visit http://www.pemra.gov.pk
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SINCE 1988, VIDEO COMPRESSION has become a key component in the delivery of content to broadcast and pay-tv audiences – and some 30 years later, the involvement of codecs in this industry is showing no sign of coming to an end. However, with the ever-increasing demand for high-resolution video, broadcasters are facing the need to advance their video compression technologies and techniques in order to deliver this content on a large scale. To truly understand the changing world of video codecs, it’s important to consider how their origins are shaping their future.
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CLASSIFIED + EVENTS As well as the features below, EVERY ISSUE of Content+Technology contains features on the following: Image Acquisition
Media in the Cloud
Content Transmission & Delivery
News Operations
Digital Asset Management
Signal Distribution
Sportscasting
Audio
Command & Control – Automation,
Post-Production & VFX
Radio
Monitoring, Systems Management.
C+T AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND FEATURES + DEADLINES 2020 ISSUE
EDITORIAL + AD DEADLINES
PUBLICATION DATE
PRODUCT ROUND-UP
SHOW COVERAGE
Mar-April
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
23-03-20 27-03-20 30-03-20
1st Week March
+ Content Logistics and MAM + Content Delivery – RF, Fibre, Wireless and more. + Podcasting
+ Pre-Show Briefing: NABshow20 April 18-22, Las Vegas
May-June
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
15-05-20 15-05-20 20-05-20
4th Week May
+ Sports & Esports Production Solutions + Drones & UAVs + OTT/IPTV/VOD Solutions + Focus on Startups
+ Pre-Show Briefing: BroadcastAsia/ ConnecTechAsia 2020 June 09-11, Singapore + CES 2020 De-Brief:
(Published in concert with NAB De-Brief Networking Night – Sponsorships Available)
July-Aug
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
22-06-20 23-06-20 29-06-20
1st Week July
+4 K Acquisition & Delivery Solutions + I P Production & Delivery + Podcasting +C ontent & Cyber Security
+ Pre-Show Briefing: ABE 2020 July 21-23, Sydney
Sept-Oct
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
14-08-20 17-08-20 20-08-20
4th Week August
+ ENG/Newsroom Systems + Compression, Encoding, Transcoding Solutions + Radio Technology + Focus on Startups
+ Pre-Show Briefing: IBC Amsterdam September 11-15 + Pre-Show Briefing: National Radio Conference
Nov-Dec
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
23-10-20 26-10-20 02-11-20
2nd Week November
+ Channel-in-a-Box Solutions + Streaming + Cable & Satellite Delivery + Data Unification – Targeting, Privacy, Recommendation, Subscriptions
+ Pre-Show Briefing: Siggraph Asia, Daegu, Sth Korea 17-20 November + IBC De-Brief:
(Published in concert with IBC De-Brief Networking Night – Sponsorships Available)
C+T ASIA FEATURES + DEADLINES 2020
CLASSIFIED + EVENTS
ISSUE
48
EDITORIAL + AD DEADLINES
PUBLICATION DATE
PRODUCT ROUND-UP
SHOW COVERAGE
May-June
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
15-05-20 15-05-20 20-05-20
4th Week June
+ Channel-in-a-Box Solutions + OTT/IPTV/VOD Solutions + Sports & Esports Production Solutions + Podcasting
+ Pre-Show Briefing: BroadcastAsia/ ConnecTechAsia 2020 June 09-11, Singapore
Aug-Sept
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
24-07-20 24-07-20 29-07-20
1st Week August
+ Loudness Solutions + Cloud Solutions + Content & Cyber Security + Compression, Encoding, Transcoding Solutions + Focus on Startups
+ Pre-Show Briefing: BIRTV Beijing, China + Pre-Show Briefing: IBC Amsterdam Sept 11-15
Oct-Nov
Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:
01-10-20 08-10-20 15-10-20
3rd Week October
+ Cable & Satellite Delivery + Digital Asset Management Solutions + OTT/IPTV/HbbTV Solutions + Podcasting
+ Pre-Show Briefing: AVIA (CASBAA) Asia Video Summit + Pre-Show Briefing: Siggraph Asia, Daegu, Sth Korea, 17-20 November
ADVERTISER INDEX ABU-DBS--------------------------------------------13
Elevate Broadcast---------------------------------8
Magna Systems & Engineering---------IFC
AVIA----------------------------------------------------37
ChinaMedia.TV----------------------------- IBC
Mediaproxy--------------------------------------29
Blonde Robot----------------------------------------3
Harmonic------------------------------------------5
Silver Trak Digital-------------------------------------9
Sony----------------------------------------------OBC
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