Content+Technology Asia August-September 2015 by Content+Technology

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ASIA AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015

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THE VAST & THE FURIOUS BEHIND THE SCENES OF MAD MAX:FURY ROAD

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30 Behind the Scenes on Mad Max REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 03 NEWS Chinese Broadcasters Evaluate 4K,

48 FEATURES AND DEADLINES

UHD and New Media at BIRTV 2015, Turner Strengthens Regional Distribution Team, AsiaSat Announces New Organisational Structure

HAIL FURIOUS MAXIMUS! SPECIAL FOCUS MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Margaret Sixel Drives Success with Avid Everywhere (30), A Conversation with Senior Colourist Eric Whipp (31), Iloura Creates a Toxic Storm (34), Shooting RAW Fury (32), Sound Devices Goes on a Wild Ride (36), Syncing Mad Max: Fury Road (38), DPA Microphones Capture the Sounds (39)

FEATURES 12 IBC PREVIEW Conference and Exhibition Preview

17 ACQUISITION George Gittoes Shoots

Snow Monkey with Sony, TrueBlue Filter for RED Cameras, Rock Star Hotel Builds 4K Live Streaming Workflow with Blackmagic

21 SPORTSCASTING KBS Broadcasts “Olympics for Uni Students” with VSM, MediaCorp Teams with Sony for HD SEA Games, Globecast Delivers Action from French Open

25 NEWS OPERATIONS MediaCorp Installs Octopus and Expands LiveU, Socialising with the News Desk, Ross Introduces Carbonite Black

28 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD MediaCorp

CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN: 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel: +61 (0)2 4368 4569 Mob: +61 (0)414 671 811 Email: papers@broadcastpapers.com

30 POST-PRODUCTION Adobe Creative Cloud 2015, Grass Valley Unveils EDIUS 8, Houdini Engine Public Beta, Blackmagic Announces DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI

36 AUDIO Audio Post Sounding Sweet, Audio Tests Made Simple with dBbox2, CEDAR Launching Cambridge Series IV

41 RADIO Media Prima Upgrades with HARMAN, Radio Industry Welcomes Government Digital Radio Report, Alan Dick Broadcast Displaying DAB

43 CONTENT DELIVERY Digital TV Labs First Approved Lab for Malaysian DTT HbbTV, NBTC of Thailand Selects R&S for DVB-T2, Jak-TV Indonesia Upgrades to PlayBox

Achieves Enterprise-Wide MAM with Dalet and Qvest, VTV News Deploys Etere Solution, Shalini TV Using Volicon Observer

SUB-EDITOR: Keith Ford Mob: +61 (0)430 432 437 Email: papers@broadcastpapers.com PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lucy Salmon Tel: +61 (0)2 9211 8205 production@broadcastpapers.com DESIGN & LAYOUT: Wide Open Media Tel: +61-2-9282 9359 info@wideopenmedia.com.au PRINTING: Lindsay Yates COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All material in Broadcastpapers’ Content+Technology Magazine is protected under

Australian Commonwealth Copyright Laws. No material may be reproduced in part or whole in any manner without prior consent of the Publisher and/or copyright holder. DISCLAIMER: Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for omissions or mistakes made within, claims made or information provided by advertisers.

EDITOR’S WELCOME

DAM MAM! Is it 4K if IP? By Phil Sandberg BACK IN THE EARLY 2000s, I was involved with a group called the Global

to look at Internet Protocol as a means of distributing video.

Society for Asset Management (G-SAM).

Quantel and Snell recently released the results of a survey they commissioned into the global industry’s views on IP and 4K adoption. More than 1000 people responded to the survey from small, medium and large-scale public and private broadcast and post organisations across more than 80 countries.

Results of the research included: ¡ 66% of surveyed executives lowered the cost of multi-platform distribution

¡ 52% improved delivery of personalised content on connected devices ¡ 54% enabled new revenue streams across multiple channels

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¡ 50% improved real-time collaboration of creative media professionals

¡ 50% of executives plan to increase MAM spending over the next 5 years ¡ 82% see MAM delivering more than 10% of ROI

On 4K, 60% of respondents saw it as relevant only in the future, with the majority of predictions spread across the two to five year timescale. When asked whether High Frame Rate (HFR) or High Dynamic Range (HDR) would bring the most economic benefit to respondents; 47% saw HDR as a potential revenue generator, only 22% HFR, with 31% seeing no potential benefit from either. Finally, to learn where IP and 4K fit in, respondents were asked about features they look for in production switchers. 44% chose multi-format, multi-program production, with 20% and 16% concerned with IP and 4K readiness respectively. Quantel/Snell CEO, Tim Thorsteinson, said “The results of our survey will go a long way to dispelling the myths and claims around IP and 4K. It clearly shows that broadcasters see these as key future concerns, but for the vast majority, a full-on infrastructure lift-out and replacement with IP and 4K is not going to happen any time soon. What broadcasters need are future-flexible solutions that can meet their current needs and give them a progressive path to IP and 4K adoption as dictated by their individual business needs.” 03:00

The Ovum-conducted research shows that MAM implementations are delivering strong results for top media organisations. According to Ovum, MAM boosts collaboration and productivity by enabling production teams to access media assets from any location, and MAM solutions help media enterprises to reduce lifecycle costs and deliver content to audiences via new multi-platform delivery services. By using MAM as a strategic tool to accelerate multi-platform asset monetisation, says Ovum, organisations can gain significant ROI.

When asked if they would be using live signals over IP in 2016, 20% said not at all, 47% somewhat and 29% extensively – with just 4% indicating that they are going fully IP next year.

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Fast forward to 2015 and Avid has announced research findings that reveal how the leaders of major global media enterprises are using that DAM offshoot, MAM, to improve collaboration and operational efficiency, reduce costs, drive revenue, and deliver a higher return on investment (ROI).

The headline findings on IP are: Only 19% of respondents thought that SDI routers would be completely replaced by IP within two years, 42% within five years and 27% only seeing this happen within ten years. Interestingly, 9% of respondents predicted that SDI will never be completely replaced.

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“What is crystal clear, however, is that the promise of DAM has not realised a fraction of its full potential.”

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At the group’s first annual conference in New York in 2003, Executive Director, Richard Eberhart, said “It is a forgone conclusion that the world is going digital and we all believe that Digital Asset Management is the key to doing better business in this digital age, regardless of what the business may be.

The research also found that the ability to quickly introduce new online video services has resulted into average revenue increase of 17% on these new platforms and that, on average, media organisations are reducing multi-platform distribution costs 19-20% with their MAM deployments.

Given the number of countries throughout the region that have just made, or are still making, the transition to “plain, old” high definition, that’s one research finding that makes sense.

Of course, it’s a short path from DAM and MAM to file-based workflow which, in conjunction with the proliferation of the Internet, has lead media technologists

Phil Sandberg - Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com - T: +61-(0)414671811

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CNN Indonesia Begins Broadcasts

Imagine Communications Powers India’s News7

AUGUST 17, 2015, saw the commencement of broadcasts from CNN Indonesia, marking an historic day for CNN International, Transmedia and the people of Indonesia.

IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS has implemented an end-to-end broadcast

From brand new state-of-the-art news facilities located in the Transmedia broadcast centre in Jakarta, CNN Indonesia offers viewers a mix of national and international news, plus the latest in business and sport in Bahasa Indonesia. The start of CNN Indonesia TV follows the launch of www. CNNIndonesia.com in October last year. The digital platform is an integral component of the CNN Indonesia brand with the ability to reach Indonesians at home and abroad. Jeff Zucker, CNN Worldwide President, said, “This is an incredibly important day for us. To be able to extend our footprint locally and reach millions of Indonesians is hugely exciting and humbling. We are confident Transmedia will deliver first-class content that appeals to Indonesians all across the country.” CNN Indonesia is part of a strategic effort by CNN International Commercial’s Content Sales and Partnerships Group. Its core business is to explore ways to reach more consumers locally, regionally and internationally by partnering with other leading media organisations.

news production and playout system for newly launched News7, part of the VV Minerals Group. Serving the global Tamil-speaking population, News7 provides 24-hour news coverage in India as well as to audiences in Bangladesh, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. At the heart of the News7 operation are Imagine Communications’ Nexio servers and ADC automated content and distribution solution. The broadcast workflow includes central storage for ingest, asset management and playout on a Nexio Farad high-performance online storage network. Editorial is setup using Velocity editors alongside Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier Pro suites linked over a SAN network. Imagine Communications’ Platinum routers with integrated multiviewers provide the display capabilities to support the monitoring requirement of the News7 newsroom. Additionally, with the Nexio IconMaster master control switchers and Selenio modular signal processing solutions, Imagine Communications provides News7 with switching, signal processing and distribution capabilities. Visit www.imaginecommunications.com

ITE use SoftCast Technology for its new Higher NITEC Certiﬁcate course in Broadcast & Media Technology www.idealsys.com

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The Future of Broadcast is People and Technology

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Chinese Broadcasters Evaluate 4K, UHD and New Media at BIRTV 2015 By Nancy Yan Wang 2015 IS A VITAL YEAR for “media convergence” to take place in radio, film and television in China. Chinese industry professionals have been literally bombarded with this buzzword at every industry event since it was first brought up by President Xi Jin Ping in the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee at the end of 2013. As the world’s third largest broadcast technology exhibition, this year’s BIRTV will closely follow this trend and seriously bring “actions on expectations of new media” to the agenda. Speaking to a number of industry professionals before the show, technology priorities were varied. “BIRTV represents the latest technology in the Chinese broadcast market,” says Lin Lin, Deputy Director of Chief Engineering Department, Beijing Gehua CATV Network Co., Ltd. “I expect to get more information on Ultra HD, i.e. 4K or 8K and relevant encoding or decoding products. It will be interesting to find out what products are available for the measurement and monitoring of the Ultra HD signal.” Zheng Wei, Deputy Technical Director of Hangzhou Culture Radio Television Group, says “We have tried 4K acquisitions on some TV programmes as testing, but considering the customer receiving terminal, HD is still what we should focus on at this stage. At this show, I would like to find out 2K production products that are value-for-money and will continue to explore 4K products. In terms of cloud computing, private cloud services and solutions are more practical for us, so I will do some research on it at the show.” According to Zheng Dong Bo, Technical Director of SETV, Fujian Media Group, “Though we have just completed the HD system upgrade, it’s always beneficial to see what’s on offer with 4K products. However, I will be more interested in proven manufacturers, such as Sony and Panasonic, as they usually provide good services and free trainings. I am also after advice on promotion strategies and the ways to increase users’ subscriptions for our lately set-up IPTV platform.” “I will go through every booth basically, including content creation, management and delivery,” says Zhang Juan, Project Manager, China Central Television, “but I will pay extra attention on solutions such as channel-in-abox, UHDTV, video over IP, virtualization in broadcast, encoding & decoding and Big Data applications in radio and television.” “I will be interested in all content creation and post production related products and see what’s new and what’s on offer,” says Michael Kuang, Section Manager of Production Department, Guangdong Radio & Television

Station. “I will also get further information on fibre optic delivery systems for SDI & HDSDI signal.” On the audio side, Li Yue Song, National 2nd Level Studio Sound Engineer, Beijing, says “Dolby Atmos and 3D sound are certainly getting popular,” “but I knew them at other shows and had experience with them already. At this show, I’d rather check out equipment than technology. I buy my own equipment, so I prefer medium to small-scale analogue audio control consoles with digital controls for my film music mixing projects. I am also interested in mid-field monitors.” “BIRTV is a good opportunity for me to catch up with my industry friends, including my students,” says Zhu Wei, Professor, Institution of Recording Arts, Communication University of China. “The technology of AoIP is very popular these days and I will definitely check out the relevant audio products integrated with this feature. Also, anything to do with Loudness Control will be a catch for me as well.” For smaller operators, it is the intersection of traditional broadcast and new media that holds promise. “The traditional media generates low advertising revenue, especially for local televisions like us,” says Ling Jing, Director of IT Department, Wuhan Education Television. “Therefore, development on new media becomes a priority. I look after our website, WeChat, Weibo and online community and found we lack expertise on the new technology. I will see if I can find some IT specialists and developers to join us at the show. I might also look for outsourced suppliers to complete this project for us. Product wise, I will look at media server for streaming video including cloud server.” Echoing these sentiments, Yang Wei Guo, Technical Director of Information Centre, Shanghai Media Group, says “New media will definitely attract me.” For more insights into the Chinese media technology market, visit our sister web site www.chinameiti.biz

Oz Streaming Firm Enters Merger MOU with Chinese Content Company AUSTRALIAN STREAMING PROVIDER QUICKFLIX has announced that

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it has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with a Shanghai-based film and television company to combine their businesses and form a global streaming platform for distribution of Chinese film and TV content into China and international markets.

Subject to satisfactory completion of further due diligence and all necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals the parties intend to proceed with a transaction in which Quickflix will acquire the Shanghaibased company for a consideration to be negotiated upon completion of further due diligence. The Shanghai-based company produces original Chinese language film and TV, participates in co-production in China and international markets

and has a slate of future production including a co-production with a US studio. The Shanghai-based company is profitable and generates free cash-flow. Consolidation with Quickflix would result in the combined entity having a significantly improved financial outlook and ability to access further capital for growth. Quickflix has made a considerable investment over a number of years to create a leading scalable streaming platform supporting a wide range of major consumer devices. Combining the Quickflix platform, with original content and accessing large global audiences represents a significant opportunity to unlock the value of Quickflix. Visit www.quickflix.com.au

Singapore Institute of Technical Education Selects SoftCast IDEAL SYSTEMS HAS ANNOUNCED that the Institute of Technical Education in Singapore (ITE) has selected and deployed its SoftCast Technology Platform as a key technology underpinning its new full time Higher Nitec in Broadcast & Media Technology course. The new course has just commenced with forty students for a start, at the ITE College Central in Singapore. These initial students are expected to graduate in March 2017. The course is taught in a purpose-built training room that can accommodate all students at their own designated workstations that replicate the current technologies in use at modern television broadcast facilities. The syllabus utilises a number of modules from the SoftCast system which help teach ITE students a broad spectrum of up-to-the-minute broadcast technology skills including, Media Ingest, Channel Scheduling and Traffic, Media Asset Management (MAM), managing metadata, media asset archiving, asset editing, TV Channel Master Control, Channel Automation, Playlist management and Playout with graphics, logo’s and CGs. The broadcast training system, built on site by Ideal Systems is a full end-to-end broadcast grade built with software-based systems and the standard hardware elements from a broadcast facility such as DA’s, IRD’s, video routers, waveform monitors. “We choose the SoftCast Technology system because it is an effective way to train our students in a wide variety of the skills they will need to

work in a modern broadcast facility. There is a lot of pressure on TV channel technicians at today’s broadcasters with many channels operating On-Air 24/7, and many have live sports and breaking news events, so it’s great L-R SingYee Lee, Fong Yuk Seng and Adrian Tan from to be able to train Ideal Systems setting up the SoftCast System at ITE new technicians in an off-air but fully simulated environment, which has the pressure and fear of making On-Air mistakes removed. Our new training room at ITE is, in fact, like a giant aircraft flight simulator. However, in our case it can fit forty pilots within the cockpit,” said Ms Neng Rashidah Hussain, Section Head, Broadcast & Media Technology, School of Electronics & Info-Comm Technology, ITE College Central. Visit www.softcast-technology.com and www.idealsys.com

Imagine Communications Delivers Next-Gen OTT Architecture for WSG IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS has delivered a major upgrade to the online infrastructure of World Sport Group (WSG), Asia’s largest sports marketing, media and event management company. The new platform relies on Imagine Communications’ feature rich and robust SelenioFlex Live encoders, designed to deliver massive amounts of sports content to multiple platforms. From its headquarters in Singapore, WSG delivers almost 600 sporting events annually and over 5,000 hours of programming across more than 30 countries in Asia. The company provides complete broadcast and production services as well as customised coverage of major international sporting events for a global network of broadcast, broadband and mobile partners. Live satellite feeds are passed as HD-SDI with embedded audio to the SelenioFlex Live encoders. The encoders reliably and efficiently create OTT, mobile, web and live streaming output formats which are then multiplexed and sent to WSG’s content delivery network. As WSG generates a significant volume of media content daily, the company stands to benefit from enhanced encoding software and a platform that is simple to manage and largely hands-off. WSG uses the SelenioFlex Live

Manager software to centralise the management, monitoring and control of the encoders. The platform provides failover and self-healing recovery capabilities to help minimise disruption to the service. “As the exclusive marketing, media and event partner to the region’s leading sporting bodies and media networks, World Sport Group aims to deliver the highest levels of content quality and service reliability,” said Mark Hardess, president, ASEAN and head of media, WSG. “A robust and reliable encoding platform is essential to us delivering desired expectations, and we are pleased that SelenioFlex encoders are not only reliable, but also simple to manage and monitor.” “The media world is increasingly a non-stop, online business,” said Joe Khodeir, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, Imagine Communications. “We recognise that customers like World Sport Group demand equipment that is flexible enough to meet their changing needs, automated as much as possible to help ensure low operational expenditures, and highly reliable. The SelenioFlex Live rollout at WSG is a great demonstration of that philosophy in action.” Visit www.imaginecommunications.com

APAC REGIONAL BROADCASTER Channel NewsAsia has launched a Vietnam news bureau. The office, located in Hanoi, is the channel’s 14th dedicated bureau in Southeast and East Asia.

The opening of the bureau was announced by Ms Debra Soon, Head of MediaCorp’s News and Premier Segment, last year at Channel NewsAsia’s Vietnam Business Insights forum.

The event in Hanoi was attended by government officials, business leaders and partners. Channel NewsAsia’s Correspondent based in Hanoi, Tan Qiuyi, who has been based there since late last year, will file first-hand reports on the developments in a country that has one of the fastest growing economies in the region.

Ms Soon said, “With our bureau in place here in Hanoi, we are extending our capability to report with depth and integrity. This is what the channel stands for, to create better understanding of Asia and what it has to offer the world.”

Some of her more recent reports of Vietnam include the country’s territorial conflict with China in the South China Sea, the opening up of the real estate market and Vietnam’s athletes who scored gold and glory at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.

The bureau’s establishment comes at a time when the region is set to be further integrated, with the impending establishment of the ASEAN Community by the end of the year. The ASEAN Community will present tremendous opportunities for businesses, people-to-people exchange and closer regional economic integration. Visit www.channelnewsasia.com

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Channel NewsAsia Opens Vietnam News Bureau in Hanoi

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ASIA NEWS CHINA IMAX CORPORATION AND TCL jointly announced the launch of the IMAX Private Theatre “Palais” – the first premium, in-home private theatre developed through IMAX’s joint venture with TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Limited in China. The companies also unveiled a showroom located at Le Royal Meridien Shanghai, where the luxury system will be available for demonstration to qualified consumers on a by-appointment basis Visit www.imax.com

INDIA CHAMKI KI DUNIYA, a new preschool educational series airing on Turner’s kids’ channel POGO, is the second venture between Turner and Sesame Workshop. Previously, both companies had partnered to create five seasons of Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian adaptation of the popular American series, Sesame Street. Inspidea, an animation studio in Kuala Lumpur, has been commissioned for the animation of the series. Visit www.turner.com

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THAILAND

SINGAPORE

EURONEWS REINFORCES its position

AUSTRALIA’S PUBLIC BROADCASTER,

on the Thai audiovisual market, thanks to an important extension of its distribution agreement with one of the major operators in the country, CTH. Broadcast since last year via cable and satellite, the agreement includes the availability of Euronews on the CTH mobile app, on iOS and Android. The recently launched app counts more than 65,000 downloads.

the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and one of Asia’s leading media companies, MediaCorp, have signed a partnership agreement between their international platforms. The agreement sees both companies exploring opportunities for future programme and content exchange and coproduction between their various platforms on television, radio and online.

Visit www.euronews.com

Visit www.mediacorp.sg and www.abc.net.au

JAPAN THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION (WBSC) has announced

KOREA ZTE CORPORATION, a provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with KT Corporation on research and commercialisation of 5G technology. Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU), ZTE and KT will launch 5G Test Bed construction in Seoul, and jointly develop, present, and design the future 5G network architecture based on the Test Bed. Visit www.zte.com.cn

that Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) and TV Asahi have been awarded broadcast rights in Japan for the new WBSC Premier12 world baseball flagship event that is set to debut in Japan and Taiwan from 8-21 November, 2015. Visit www.wbsc.co

INDONESIA LAGARDÈRE ACTIVE and Lightning International have announced a new major carriage agreement that will see ‘Mezzo Live HD’ launch on First Media and BiGTV. The 24/7 channel will be available immediately to subscribers of the cable and satellite platforms. The deal includes offering a large selection of the channel’s best performances on First Media and BiGTV’s new OTT and SVOD services. Visit www.lightninginternational.net

TIMOR-LESTE O3B NETWORKS has announced a multiyear strategic framework agreement to provide IP trunking services to Bharti Airtel for Timor-Leste. Because of the rapid growth of the mobile economy in Timor-Leste, a cost effective solution was needed to cope with the growth of 2G services and to deliver the expected higher performance of new 3G services. Bharti Airtel partnered with O3b to deliver a unique satellite service with the performance of fibre at a fraction of the cost and deployment time of undersea cable. Visit www.o3bnetworks.com

AUSTRALIA

NEW ZEALAND AS PART OF THE UPGRADE of their studio facilities at Television Centre in central Auckland, engineers from New Zealand’s state broadcaster, TVNZ, faced the daunting task of temporarily relocating productions whist each studio was being rebuilt. This involved the re-routing of incoming and outgoing video feeds which proved to be a major challenge. Following discussions with engineering staff from the Quinto Communications office in Auckland, TVNZ chose, as their new Production Router, the Evertz EQX 26RU routing switcher, populated up to 198 x 144. Visit www.quinto.com.au

is conducting a review of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to ensure the regulator is able to effectively deal with challenges arising from a rapidly changing communications sector. The ACMA is responsible for the regulation of broadcasting, the internet, radiocommunications and telecommunications throughout the country. Visit www.communications.gov.au

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THE AUSTRALIAN Federal Government

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Turner Strengthens Regional Distribution Team

Benchmark Names Rahul Kulshreshtha as Principal Architect

TURNER ASIA PACIFIC HAS ANNOUNCED several changes to its management team to support growing demand in Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific markets. The changes include new positions for Robi Stanton and Vishal Dembla, as well as the appointment of Voo Chih Yeong.

BENCHMARK BROADCAST SYSTEMS (S) PTE. LTD., a leading

The move comes on the back of several new brand launches, including the addition of Oh!K and World Heritage Channel to Turner’s portfolio, and the relaunches of Warner TV and Boomerang.

Rahul is a versatile and creative senior broadcast professional with about 30 years of extensive experience in the technology and operations of broadcast companies.

As part of the expansion, and emphasizing the importance of the Australia market, Robi Stanton has been promoted to General Manager – Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Territories. She will oversee all of Turner’s commercial business relationships in these markets, including ad sales, content sales and network distribution.

Before joining Benchmark, he was Senior VP – Technology & Operations at TV Today Networks, a part of the India Today group, a leading news house based in the Greater Delhi region of India. Rahul’s experience and depth of knowledge of broadcast and editorial operations will help Benchmark to augment its solutions portfolio to help broadcasters increase their operational efficiency and keep up with the latest technologies.

Appointed Vice President – Southeast Asia, Voo Chih Yeong will assume responsibility for all affiliate partnerships in key markets such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. In addition, Vishal Dembla has been promoted to Vice President – Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, with a remit that includes Hong Kong, Thailand and Indochina. Visit www.turner.com

Broadcast Systems Integrator based in Singapore, has announced the appointment of Rahul Kulshreshtha as its Principal Architect.

Visit www.benchmarkbroadcast.com

TSL Products Appoints APAC Field Sales Engineer

AsiaSat Announces New Organisational Structure

BROADCAST EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER,

ASIA’S LEADING SATELLITE OPERATOR Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) announced its new organisational structure to power the growth of the company in key Asian and global markets. Under the new organisational structure, Philip Balaam will head both sales and business development teams. Under his expanded role as Vice President, Sales and Business Development, Phil will assume new responsibilities in driving sales activities in all Asian markets while continuing to oversee the company’s business development initiatives. Sabrina Cubbon has been named Vice President, Marketing and Global Accounts. In her new capacity, Sabrina will focus on key global strategic accounts while continuing to lead the marketing, communications and corporate affairs functions of the company. Visit www.asiasat.com

TSL Products, has appointed Dan Shihata to the role of Field Sales Engineer responsible for South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Dan’s responsibilities will include growing TSL Products’ market reach in the APAC region and championing its broad range of industry-leading broadcast solutions. Dan joined TSL Products in 2012 as a Support Solutions Engineer following his completion of a BEng in electronic and electrical engineering. The extensive technical knowledge gained from his initial role, as well as his dedication to customer service, drove his promotion into the sales team. Dan has managed numerous technical projects in the APAC region including overseeing responsibility for delivering and installing over 1000 MDUs into a major Singapore broadcaster, supplying PAM2 MK2 Dolby units in Malaysia and delivering a range of Audio monitoring units into a global Indonesian broadcaster as it continues its preparation for SD- HD transition. Chris Exelby, Managing Director, TSL Products, said, “Dan has done a fantastic job of supporting our clients technically and building strong relationships within the region.” Visit www.tslproducts.com

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For Your Trial Subscription, Visit www.chinameiti.biz THE TEAM NANCY YAN WANG Nancy is a graduate of the Communication University of China and holds a Bachelor Degree in Audio Engineering. Her technical thesis was published in Chinese national broadcast magazine, CATV Technology. Following social practice with China Central TV Network (CCTV) and Zhejiang Satellite TV Network, Nancy worked with Fujian Satellite TV Network for five years as an Audio Engineer. In 2005, Nancy took on the role of Marketing Coordinator in the International Marketing Department of manufacturer Miller Camera Support where she built strong relationships with dealers and broadcast professionals alike and travelled extensively to visit Chinese customers and help extend Miller’s business in the China market.

PHIL SANDBERG Phil Sandberg has spent over 25 years reporting on technology and policy issues affecting the TV, radio and recording industries throughout Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. He is the founder of Content+Technology magazine and Broadcastpapers.com

She currently divides her time between Australia and China.

His other credits include TV Technology & Production magazine, Broadcast Engineering News, Internet World Australia, the IBC Daily News, Radio World, Production Solutions, Pro Sound News Asia, Personal Investor magazine and The Australian newspaper.

Nancy can be reached via chinameiti@gmail.com

You can reach him via papers@broadcastpapers.com

In 2010, she completed a Business Marketing course with TAFE NSW and graduated with Distinction. She has also undertaken online marketing for the SMPTE Australia Section.

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Clear-Com Appoints Chia as Sales Manager for Southeast Asia CLEAR-COM, a provider of real time communications and connectivity solutions, has appointed Hans Chia to the role of Regional Sales Manager responsible for Southeast Asia. Hans’ responsibilities will include expanding Clear-Com’s market reach in the APAC region by managing and developing local channel partners and championing the company’s broad range of industryleading intercom and connectivity solutions. With over 11 years of pro audio industry experience, Chia joins Clear-Com Systems from Sennheiser Audio where he held the role of Integrated Systems

Product Specialist, developing, establishing and maintaining contacts with new and existing clients in Southeast Asia. Chia commented, “My real-world experience of working on large-scale deployments throughout the region will help me build on Clear-Com’s already strong foundation in Southeast Asian markets. I am excited to join this dynamic and forward thinking company.” Visit www.clearcom.com

Ideal Systems Scoops International Business Award in Singapore

Suharjono Named CEO of NMA NEXT MEDIA ANIMATION (NMA) has announced that Indra Suharjono will join NMA as its CEO based in Taiwan. Effective immediately, Suharjono will be responsible in driving and delivering on the growth plans of the company and to establish NMA as the premier animation studio in Asia and home to creators worldwide. Suharjono will succeed Kith Ng, who will join the board of NMA.

IDEAL SYSTEMS (Singapore) was selected as the winner of the coveted technology category award at the International Business Awards in Singapore. Ideal won the award for its SoftCast product suite, an advanced range of software-based products for broadcasters to run and manage broadcast TV and News channels. Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO of Ideal Systems (Singapore) was presented with the technology award by Tim Charlton, Editor-in-Chief, Singapore Business Review magazine at the ceremony held in the Conrad Centennial Hotel in Singapore.

NMA is one of the largest 3D computer animation studios in Asia, with more than 500 creators and animators based in Taipei, Taiwan.

“We launched our SoftCast product set in 2014 and we have already successfully deployed a number of systems in Singapore and as far afield as Los Angeles and Tokyo. We are delighted with the success of our SoftCast product and are continuing to develop the product and grow our SoftCast team in Singapore and across the Ideal Systems Group,” said Mc Kiernan.

“Indra brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Next Media Animation and will be a tremendous asset in realising our goals as we enter into our next phase of growth,” commented Jimmy Lai, Chairman of NMA. Visit www.nextmediaanimation.com

Visit www.idealsys.com

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Dracast Partners with Cheng Seng Group DRACAST HAS ANNOUNCED a newly formed partnership with Cheng Seng Group Co. Ltd. as distributor for Dracast products in Taiwan. “We choose our distribution partnerships very carefully to ensure that people who choose our products receive the very best in customer service and support,” said Dracast in a statment. “When the opportunity to work with Cheng Seng Group came up, the choice was obvious. We’re excited about what the rest of 2015 will hold as Dracast products will soon be available in Taiwan, China, and the rest of southeast Asia.” Visit www.dracast.com

Caton Expand Into South Asia CATON TECHNOLOGY CORP, a U.S based enterprise committed to R&D and manufacture of video compression and wireless transmission solutions has announced a new South Asia subsidiary setup in Singapore. President of Caton Technology Group, Ray Huang, commented, “We are excited with the opening of the Singapore new regional office, this affirms our willingness and strengthens our commitment in providing a better reach on both sales and support to our valuable customers, partners and prospects across the South Asia region.” “Asean in particular is still undergoing a major Digital TV transition and upgrading existing broadcast system, cost is always a critical consideration for broadcasters besides looking for a quality and reliable video solution,” says CB Lau, VP of Sales & Marketing Caton Technology Asia. Visit www.catontechnology.com

Forscene Set to Expand in Asia-Pacific Region with New Reseller Strategy WITH THE GOAL OF FURTHER EXPANDING the use of its professional video editing software, Forscene, in the Asian market, Forbidden Technologies has signed a reseller agreement with Singapore-based Broadcast Engineering Services (BES). The agreement is one of a series of new partnerships initiated at the 2015 NAB Show after Forbidden implemented a new Forscene reseller strategy earlier this year. “We believe that cloud-based editing solutions are the future of postproduction,” said Justin Teo, BES sales director. “Forscene is an exciting product that complements our current offering. We can’t wait to introduce our clients to cloud workflows and the benefits of working in Forscene.” Forbidden’s new Forscene reseller plan defines three reseller categories: post houses that provide Forscene as a service to their production clients, integrators that incorporate Forscene into other technical solutions, and traditional resellers that represent Forscene in territories where language and local knowledge are key. Each category has a tailored business model and management structure designed to drive growth in the Forscene customer base around the world. “Regional resellers like BES are key to our expansion plans,” said Jason Cowan, director of business development at Forbidden. “By adding BES’ local industry knowledge and contacts to our reseller effort in the region, we are confident that Forscene will become the leading cloudbased post-production platform in Singapore.” In this nonexclusive agreement, both BES and Techtel will represent Forscene in the region. Visit www.forscene.com

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SEE LIVEU AT IBC2015: STAND 3.B62

IBC 2015 REVIEW IBC2015 Conference Examines ‘The Future of Media in an Age of Disruption’ THE IBC CONFERENCE is a global destination for networking, discussion and debate, presenting a mix of visionary keynotes, panel discussions and master classes with the most influential thought-leaders and innovators in their fields. With the rapid convergence of broadcast, IT and telecoms, this year’s conference theme ‘The Future of Media in an Age of Disruption’ provides the forum to explore new strategies, gain insight into business disruptors, chart future technological progress and examine how the industry can seize the new opportunities. Each day of the conference will address the myriad issues facing the industry, prefaced by a keynote address that will set the stage. Attracting toplevel executives, technical experts and visionaries from over 170 countries, with business interests spanning the full spectrum of content creation, management and delivery, as well as emerging markets and key industry disruptors, the conference ensures valuable access to insights and contacts. The opening IBC Forum session, ‘Broadcasting in an Age of Challenge’, will reveal how four top media powerhouses are solving the challenges they face. Fran Unsworth will explain how she plans to use technology to expand despite squeezed budgets and well-funded opponents such as Russia Today and China Central Television. David Butorac, who runs 146 pay TV channels in the Middle East and North Africa will show how quality content always wins in the end. Philip Luff, Managing Director UK and EMEA for Scripps Networks Interactive will explain how the Knoxville, Tennessee company is expanding around Europe – the latest deal winning control of Poland’s TVN. The three “traditional” broadcasters in the opening conference session will

be joined by Thomas Riedl, head of Android TV Global Partnerships at Google in California, to explain Google’s latest forays into TV. In Thursday afternoon’s keynote ‘Is TV facing up to the Internet Era?’ Andrew Neil will be posing the big questions to industry leaders most affected by the connected era. As media companies face an increasingly fragmented viewing environment, the keynote ‘Programming With Global Ambition’ promises to offer valuable insights into how one of the biggest players, Discovery Communications, is tackling the future and redefining its business models. Sling TV’s CEO Roger Lynch will speak in Saturday’s keynote ‘Over the Top Comes of Age’ to discuss how Sling TV (part of DISH) is pioneering the nextgeneration TV service. Sunday will see BT TV MD Delia Bushell discussing how BT sees the future, how the broadcasting model is changing and how communications technology will evolve in the session ‘Telcos Tune Into Broadcasting’. Visit www.ibc.org

Leaders’ Summit to Examine ‘Leading Through a Changing Media Ecosystem’ THE IBC LEADERS’ SUMMIT is an exclusive invitation-only event for over 150 European and MENA leaders of the electronic media and entertainment industry. Now in its fifth year, it blends penetrating insights from influential speakers with independent and exclusive research, this year provided by research partner IBM Institute for Business Value, and the collaborative participation of C-level delegates in a day-long event that informs and shapes future strategy.

Highlights include ‘OTT Moving Beyond Broadcast Devices in a Strategic Plan’. Speakers including Maaz Sheikh, President, Starz Play Arabia; Michelle Munson, CEO & Co-Founder, Aspera; and Tom Burns, M&E CTO, EMC, will examine how traditional business models are set to adapt to the new age of all devices.

Finally, the IBC Leaders’ Summit delegates will move to the Forum and join the rest of the IBC Conference to participate in, ‘The Big Talking Point: The impact of the internet on TV’. Here, Bruce Tuchman, President, AMC and Sundance Channel Global; Tom Toumazis MBE, Head of Partnerships EMEA, Yahoo; Rhys Noelke SVP Strategy, RTL Group; and Erwin Jansen, President, Benelux, Y&R, and EMEA SVP of Business Development & Marketing, Wunderman Group, will discuss the impact of the connected era in a wideranging session that dissects the transformational power of the internet and looks ahead to the EU’s Digital Single Market.

‘Consumer Knowledge: The better you know your consumer, the better your

Visit www.ibc.org/leaders

IBC 2015 REVIEW

This year’s topic is, ‘Leading Through a Changing Media Ecosystem’, and once more journalist and noted broadcaster Andrew Neil will anchor the interlocked sessions at the summit.

business’ will highlight the importance of understanding consumer behaviour in the company of Christian Kurz, Senior Vice President, Research, Insights And Reporting, Viacom International Media Networks; Laurence Miall d’Aout, CEO, TV Beat; and Elisabetta Romano, VP and Head of TV & Media Solutions, Ericsson.

IBC 2015 REVIEW

High Dynamic Range Takes the IBC2015 Conference Prize THE IBC2015 CONFERENCE PRIZE is to be awarded to Andrew Cotton and Tim Borer of BBC Research & Development for their paper ‘A display independent high dynamic range television system’. The paper will be given in the IBC Conference in a session starting at 14:00 on Friday 11 September. Drawn from the technical papers section, the IBC Conference Prize is awarded by the team of peer reviewers to the contribution, which both advances the industry’s knowledge and does so in the most clear and informative way. The BBC paper looks at how high dynamic range (HDR) video can be delivered and displayed while remaining compatible with conventional systems. “This year’s winner describes a novel solution that could fundamentally influence how we perceive tomorrow’s ultra-high definition video,” said Dr Nick Lodge, chair of the technical papers committee. “In their very clear paper, Andrew and Tim explain how they brought together theory in engineering and visual psychology, along with practical experiments, to arrive at a high quality, flexible representation of high dynamic range video. This is creative technology at its very best.” Andrew Cotton will present the paper, and Tim Borer will join him to receive the award on stage as part of the Awards Ceremony on Sunday 13 September. “We are delighted that IBC has recognised our paper on a display-independent HDR television system,” they said. “We believe that the technical solution we have presented provides the best universal approach for HDR, allowing it to rapidly become part of mainstream UHD offerings internationally.” Visit www.ibc.org/awards

Calrec Debuting Fieldbox I/O and H2Hub AT IBC 2015, Calrec will debut two compact aluminium expansion units, its new Fieldbox I/O range and H2Hub switch point, that can be used to expand and distribute a Hydra2 network. The new Fieldbox range of small-format I/O units brings the advantages of Calrec’s Hydra2 stagebox to rugged environments and areas in which rack space is at a premium. These 1U half-rack units are suited for work in outside broadcast environments in which I/O must be spread over a large area, such as a golf course. Fieldboxes can be located and distributed exactly where they are needed using just two high-capacity network cables for full redundancy. To add even further distribution flexibility to a Hydra2 network, Calrec has also developed the H2Hub switch point. Using the same compact form factor as the Fieldbox, the H2Hub provides a hub or switch point for a Hydra2 network. A single connection from the router can then be switched via the H2Hub to multiple I/O units, or to multiple H2Hubs if further I/O distribution is required. At IBC2015, Calrec will showcase the first technology release developed in conjunction with DiGiCo since the formation of the Audiotonix pro audio group in August 2014. DiGiCo consoles can now integrate onto the Hydra2 network via a Hydra2-enabled DiGiCo Multichannel Interface (DMI) card. DiGiCo’s range of cards easily converts audio from one transport protocol to another and can be placed in DiGiCo’s ‘anything in, anything out’ Orange Box, or directly into the back of the company’s newest digital mixing console; the S21. Visit www.calrec.com

Emotion Systems to Fire Up ‘Engine’ at IBC 2015 AT IBC 2015 (STAND 6.C28C), Emotion Systems will feature ‘Engine’,

and WAV Media Files.

comprised of all-new signal processing modules that ensure loudness compliance plus additional features such as channel mapping and mute; Dolby encoding and decoding; upmix and downmix (i.e. stereo to 5.1 or 5.1 to stereo.) and audio description insertion. Engine modules also feature a handy replace/extract function.

According to Emotion Systems CEO, MC Patel, “Engine is a major step forward in our already considerable suite of highly effective cross-platform, file-based signal processing technologies. Our flagship ‘eFF’ loudness compliance product has been widely adopted by leading post production and broadcast customers and we look forward to showcasing even more power in our Engine at IBC.”

Cinegy Showing Version 10 Portfolio CINEGY HAS ANNOUNCED that at IBC 2015 it will be showcasing version 10 of its complete product range on stands 7.A30 and 7.A41. Cinegy Desktop is a universal production tool with real-time access to media in Cinegy Archive. Cinegy Desktop runs on a standard PC and is a power tool for logging, searching and editing. Cinegy Air PRO is a multichannel software playout and automation solution for scheduled or live operation in SD/HD or even 4K. Cinegy Air easily integrates into existing SDI infrastructure, or can be running in 100% cloud environment using IP streaming for I/O. Cinegy Capture is a multi-channel, multi-format and multi-proxy ingest solution and reinvents the acquisition and transcode process, unifying the task of ingesting material and generating edit or web proxies. Cinegy Multiviewer is Cinegy’s multi-channel video monitoring software, enables broadcasters and production houses to monitor streams from satellites, camera feeds, playout devices and other sources locally and remotely. Visit www.cinegy.com

Visit www.emotion-systems.tv

Riedel Showcasing MicroN BEING SHOWCASED AT IBC 2015, MicroN is an 80G media distribution network device for the company’s MediorNet line of media transport and management solutions. Working with the MediorNet MetroN core fibre router, MicroN is a high-density signal interface with an array of audio, video, and data inputs and outputs, including 24 SD/HD/3G-SDI I/Os, two MADI optical digital audio ports, a Gigabit ethernet port, two sync reference I/Os, and eight 10G SFP+ high-speed ports at a very competitive price point. During the exhibition, Riedel will feature the RSP-2318 Smartpanel. As the world’s first control panel designed to serve as a multifunctional user interface, the Riedel device boasts a unique feature set that includes three high-resolution, sunlight-readable, multitouch colour displays, premiumquality stereo audio, a multilingual character set, and 18 keys in 1RU. Three apps are available offering different levels of functionality. With the ‘BASIC’ app, users have 12 intercom keys and connectivity to RAVENNA/ AES67 or AVB. The ‘PLUS’ app also has 12 intercom keys and adds an analogue audio port for 4-wire integration and three GPI/Os. The ‘PRO’ app has 18 intercom keys and two analogue audio ports for 4-wire integration, three GPI/Os, and the ability to connect an independent second headset. Visit www.riedel.net

IBC 2015 REVIEW

Engine can be user-programmed to allow a wide variety of audio workflows, or it can be operated manually for use with API or watch folders. Engine can also process audio embedded within MXF, QuickTime, MOV, GXF, LXF, AIFF,

IBC 2015 REVIEW

Gearhouse Broadcast Hits the Red Light for Remote Production GEARHOUSE BROADCAST will present a live remote production

the facilities that would be present on a normal production.

demonstration at IBC 2015. The company will showcase the transporting of uncompressed video and auxiliary data through its IT-based DYVI switcher from EVS on stand 10.B39.

“Remote production’s time has arrived and it brings with it enormous creative and business benefits for our industry,” said Kevin Moorhouse, COO at Gearhouse Broadcast. “We’d been getting a lot of enquiries from clients about the feasibility of doing remote productions. There is a lot of interest out in the market already and we are delighted to be able to bring this exciting solution to IBC2015.”

At the IBC 2015 demonstration, two IP-based servers will transport HD footage from two Hitachi SK-HD1200 portable production cameras and a remote pan-tilt camera over a 10Gbit network. Audio with full control of mic levels, communications and tally signals will also be transported across this network. This connectivity will demonstrate a true remote production with all

Visit www.gearhousebroadcast.com

Thomson Video Networks’ Shows Compression Solutions THOMSON VIDEO NETWORKS will showcase new software releases

Main10 compressed stream with specific HDR information.

that boost compression efficiency for its industry-leading ViBE family of SD/HD encoding solutions as well as a new software release of MediaFlexSUITE.

Thomson will also unveil a new SingleFeed capability for both the NetProcessor 9030/40 multiplexing and transport system and the RD1100 receiver/descrambler. SingleFeed is designed to simultaneously feed DTH receivers and DVB-T2 transmitters with a single multiplex, resulting in significant OPEX savings for DTTV headend operators.

Thomson Video Networks will unveil the second release of its MediaFlexSUITE, designed to greatly simplify services management for customers operating across multiple delivery platforms. Combined with MediaFlexOS, the suite can provision branding and compression resources based on priorities for deployment speed, video quality requirements, bandwidth optimisation, and content customisation. During IBC2015, Thomson will showcase new software releases for its ViBE EM4000, ViBE VS7000, and ViBE XT1000 HD/SD encoding solutions that significantly enhance compression efficiency across all current and emerging standards, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and HEVC. Thomson will demonstrate encoding of an Ultra HD high dynamic range (HDR) TV signal in HEVC — designed for distributing live HDR content — based on the company’s new ViBE 4K real-time encoding solution. The complete solution takes a UHD HDR signal from a SMPTE 2084-compliant broadcast feed and processes it in order to provide a standard UHD HEVC

Miller Debuts Cineline 2090 Tripod System at IBC 2015 MILLER CAMERA SUPPORT will be debuting its Cineline 2090 Tripod System to the European market at IBC 2015 (Stand 11.D30). The tripod system includes a new HD Mitchell Base 1-Stage Alloy Tripod and HD Alloy Ground Spreader to complement the Cineline 70 Fluid Head. This new system provides cinematographers with the stability, plus smooth and consistent pan and tilts.

IBC 2015 REVIEW

The high-capacity leg-lock system, deploying turn-lock levers with rapid lock/release action, as well as a heavy duty base with a built-in bubble level of heavy duty HD Mitchell Base 1-Stage Alloy Tripod offer a fast and easy setup. Built with the strength and torsional rigidity to take on heavy payloads, the 2090 tripod system has a capacity from 4.5 kilograms to 37.5 kilograms, providing stability and security when supporting varying rigging configurations. Designed for rapid setup and pull-down, the sturdy HD Alloy Ground Spreader easily attaches to the Alloy Tripod.

Constructed of corrosion resistant alloy, the Cineline 70 Fluid Head offers advanced precision fluid drag control with ultra-soft starts, smooth stops and perfect diagonal drag transition, as well as counterbalance systems with ‘all-in-one-location’ control layout. Visit www.millertripods.com

Making its IBC debut, Thomson Video Networks’ new FUZE-1 Playout System offers a rich set of features for playout applications such as linear TV channel playout, ad insertion, branding, mosaic channel playout, timeshifting, disaster recovery, censorship, and EAS insertion. Thomson will announce a partnership with Expway, a leader in delivery of live content and multimedia files in multi-cast mode over wireless networks, to combine the compression performance of live HEVC video with the efficiency of LTE multi-cast distribution technology. At IBC2015, the two companies will showcase a full distribution chain that consists of live encoding by the ViBE VS7000 HD/SD encoder, Expway BM-SC encapsulation, service provisioning, and eMBMS middleware devices. Visit www.thomson-networks.com

Rohde & Schwarz Shows 4K Product Portfolio AT IBC 2015, Rohde & Schwarz will present its new products under the motto: “Rohde & Schwarz 4K: more than just resolution”. The company’s product portfolio has long supported the 4K video format. Rohde & Schwarz will present a number of new products that optimise post production and broadcast workflows. The next generation of the R&S CLIPSTER mastering station will make its debut at IBC. Based on a completely new hardware architecture, the R&S CLIPSTER will bring I/O, image processing and codec acceleration to a new level. The proven R&S VENICE ingest and production server is now even better aligned with the requirements of live studio productions. With the R&S VENICE 4K, the requirements of high-quality 4K studio productions can be met with the efficiency of HD productions. The R&S AVHE100 headend for operators of terrestrial and satellite networks is scalable from SD through to 4K/UHD. The encoding and multiplexing solution to be showcased at IBC will offer enhanced performance in an even smaller space thanks to an even more powerful equipment generation. Up to 33 MPEG-4 SD or eleven MPEG-4 HD encoders fit into only one height unit. Only two height units will hold 4K/UHD with 10-bit resolution. The R&S ETL TV analyser, the well-established reference receiver, will soon also support the HEVC standard. Rohde & Schwarz will present a technological preview at its booth. The demo will provide a detailed insight into how the R&S ETL analyses DVB T2 signals, detects HEVC-encoded video signals and outputs them over IP interfaces for external decoding and picture display. Visit www.rohde-schwarz.com

IBC 2015 REVIEW

Ross Video Solutions and Workflows at IBC

Harmonic Highlight Electra X and Spectrum X HARMONIC WILL HIGHLIGHT the latest enhancements and releases from across its portfolio of video delivery infrastructure solutions. The company will showcase the new Electra X advanced media processor family and the Spectrum X advanced media server system. At IBC2015, Harmonic will showcase its new fully converged platform for broadcast and OTT delivery of SD, HD and Ultra HD/4K content. As the world’s first encoder family to support graphics, branding and playout functionalities, as well as industry-leading video quality and full-frame UHD/4K live encoding,

solutions and workflows – showing how the Ross technology can be used to provide complete solutions for different types of production environments. The various solutions being shown are highlighted here, followed by specific product details. Automated news production runs through a full OverDrive Automated Production Control System. Inception News, the Ross News Room Computer System offering is showing ‘Idea Centric News Production’ as a single hub for news, web, and social providing the advanced tools required for the modern news environment. Sports stadium production is demonstrated as a complete solution with a 20 foot screen and ribbon board. This features the flagship Acuity Series Production Switcher and XPression Motion Graphics System. 4K is very much part of what is being shown in this area. The Acuity switcher offers enhanced processing power features. These include: full UHD (4K) production with eight keys/16 channels of DVE per ME, MultiFeed configurable program outputs with two preview and six program outputs for every ME, 36 channels of system wide Media Stores, and expanded dual head, 20 source window multi-viewers. XPression Studio 4K and BlueBox 4K bring UHD video and key graphics into production components such as switchers. Clips and real-time graphics come together in XPression Clips, an advanced IT technology production clip server with instant recall times and backto-back transitions from an intuitive user interface or via automation triggers from other devices. A companion product is XPression INcoder for file-based ingest and transcoding of material delivered for playout using multi-target publishing capability. SmartShell 4 is a single, unified control system for both CamBot and Furio pedestals, lifts, and heads. It comes with a new USB-based joystick panel to trigger robotic movements. Most importantly, SmartShell 4 now permits both CamBots and Furios to be controlled from a common interface, so studios can combine dollies on tracks, manual and free-roaming pedestals, and standalone PT heads. OverDrive Caprica is released, shipping, and on the air! Adding the OverDrive system to any control room is now possible, regardless of which existing production switcher is being used. OverDrive now controls the Ross Video Carbonite mid-sized production switcher as well as the Grass Valley Kayenne production switcher. Inception News/Social version 9.1 release has a native multilanguage spell checker, and introduces several time saving workflow features such as story templates and support for MOS redirection. Inception Live offers game day production for stadiums and sports teams through a browser-based environment. It is accessible universally, and offers a tablet-based interface that reflects changes made to scripts on the fly, as well as flexible printing options.

The new Harmonic MediaGrid ContentStore 5840 allows users of largescale Harmonic MediaGrid shared storage systems to reduce rack space by two-thirds and achieve 30 per cent cost savings on equivalent storage capacity. By integrating ContentStore 5840 storage nodes into new or existing MediaGrid installations, users can build larger, faster video file systems within a smaller footprint using fewer cable connections. With the release of the ContentStore 5840 storage node, Harmonic enables the largest media customers in the world to realise the performance and efficiency of the MediaGrid shared storage system in a low total-cost-of-ownership package. The Harmonic VOS is a software-based, virtualisable platform that unifies the entire media processing chain for broadcast and multiscreen distribution. Enabling the key functions of video delivery infrastructure — including ingest, compression, graphics and branding, packaging and delivery — on common hardware platforms, the VOS architecture leverages IT economics to enable content and service providers to simplify workflows, maximise flexibility, gain operational efficiency and lower their total cost of ownership. Harmonic’s ProView 7100 is the company’s single-rack, multiformat, integrated receiver-decoder (IRD), transcoder and MPEG stream processor to support the HEVC standard. As part of an end-to-end HEVC-based video transmission solution offered by Harmonic, the ProView 7100 enables video content and service providers to decode HEVC compressed streams up to 1080p60 resolution, maximising bandwidth efficiency for broadcast service delivery while maintaining pristine video quality. Visit www.harmonicinc.com

Mediaproxy to Showcase New LogServer Suite of Products MEDIAPROXY PTY. LTD., the industry leader for broadcast compliance logging, content monitoring and transport stream analysis is demonstrating the newest version of its LogServer suite of products at IBC 2015, version 10. The LogServer suite of product provides broadcasters with a comprehensive and intuitive set of client applications across Windows, Mac, web and mobile platforms.

The Streamline Media Asset Management System now includes a MOS engine and HTML5-based plug-in to discover and source media, browse, and link to broadcast scripts in Inception News.

Supported SD and HD input formats range from baseband, ASI, IP to OTT. Users can easily review, extract and analyse live and recorded contents across multiple channels via the simple yet powerful LogPlayer interface, while TSAnalyzer provides engineers with a leading edge UI for transport stream analysis. The robust LogServer core engine provides the highest level of reliability for hands-off operations.

Visit www.rossvideo.com

Visit www.mediaproxy.com

IBC 2015 REVIEW

THE ROSS VIDEO THEME in hall 9, stand C.10 this year at IBC is

At IBC2015, the Spectrum X advanced media server system makes its European debut. Spectrum X elevates the industry’s most trusted server platform to new levels of flexibility, efficiency and reliability. Designed for production and playout applications, the Spectrum X media server system eases the transition to IP broadcast workflows by integrating SDI and IP I/O on the same chassis.

IBC 2015 REVIEW

Grass Valley Showcasing Broadcast Solutions AT IBC 2015, Grass Valley will be showcasing its portfolio of broadcast solutions including cameras, switchers, routers, servers, multiviewers, editing software, automation, and playout. Grass Valley experts will be on hand to help visitors improve efficiency and tell better stories by leveraging 4K workflows, IP infrastructure and the cloud. LDX 86 Universe, an LDX 4K/6X HD switchable camera, in tandem with the K2 Dyno Universe Replay System, is a first-of-its-kind system that brings 4K and extreme-speed storytelling into the mainstream, enabling any camera or replay position to be set up for regular HD, 4K or extreme-speed acquisition/replay.

Consisting of two different single HD format camera heads, with 1080i50/59.94 and 720p50/59.94 support, the Focus 70 live camera offers a feature set optimised for many of the typical live studio and field applications at an affordable entry price.

Management System is a set of production tools in one application. GV STRATUS lets you manage entertainment, on-air operations and news production media workflows.

With the GV Convergent CDN solution, operators control the routing of IP signals using the same control surface they’ve been using for years to control SDI, providing transparent control in hybrid IP/SDI workflows. Part of Grass Valley’s Glass-to-Glass IP solution, GV Convergent SDN leverages proven IT technologies, such as COTS routing switches and SDN control, to maximise flexibility.

Featuring a new broadcast engine, iTX delivers simulcast for greater scalability; is better adapted for live content with the most complete real-time processing algorithms; and provides enhanced automation of ingest for streamlined workflows. Version 2.8 adds IP capability, supporting compressed inputs and outputs with DVBcomplaint MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 transport streams enabling simulcast SDI/IP playout or IP-only delivery to streaming platforms and IP-enabled multiplexes.

GV STRATUS Video Production and Content

Visit www.grassvalley.com

EVS Leads the Way in IP for Live EVS IS INVITING visitors of IBC2015 to see their future-proof broadcast technology at stand 8.B90. This includes IP technology, cloud-based multimedia distribution, live replay content management, and a new install for IBC TV. At IBC2015, EVS will present multiple IP-based live production solutions, which will unlock new perspectives for live events broadcasters and producers. Visitors will be presented with the live production possibilities offered by IP-based infrastructures including content contribution between venue and studio and remote production operations. A series of live demos integrating EVS’ new IP-based solutions with third-party leading technologies will be featured. The ‘LSM Cockpit’ which will showcase LSM Connect, MultiReview and Epsio at IBC2015,

will display a single, cohesive environment of EVS technologies which lets operators pilot live productions with the new version of server software engine Multicam. With its latest Epsio FX Reveal mode, EVS improves live story-telling by enriching live replays through the addition of synchronised data to create scoreboards and biometric graphic displays. Epsio FX Reveal integrates into any LSM live environment and makes for an unmatched viewer experience. EVS will also demonstrate Ingest Funnel, a unique processing portal that automatically transforms, legalises and masterises all ingest formats. With Ingest Funnel, content is made ready to air or configured easily for post production or archive. EVS’ IT-based DYVI switcher is maximising

Dejero Demonstrating IP Video Contribution AT IBC 2015, Dejero will demonstrate IP video contribution and cloud-based content management solutions for ENG and remote broadcasting.

IBC 2015 REVIEW

Making its IBC debut, the LIVE+ EnGo is a compact camera-mounted or wearable transmitter that encodes H.264 video and transmits it over multiple IP networks – delivering extremely low latency.

LIVE+ Multipoint is Dejero’s all-new professional video-over-IP distribution network for costeffective exchanges of HD-quality, low-latency video from location to location, at any time, anywhere. The cloud-based solution enables broadcasters and media organisations to send a broadcast-quality live stream from a source

location to multiple locations simultaneously, with known and controlled latency at each end point. Dejero will showcase LIVE+ Control, a nextgeneration cloud-based management, monitoring, and reporting tool that simplifies IP video workflows used in remote broadcasting productions. LIVE+ Control manages all Dejero LIVE+ video transmission solutions including EnGo, GoBox, VSET, NewsBook, and Mobile App. By accessing the intuitive LIVE+ Control interface from a Web browser, broadcasters and video professionals can geolocate and remotely control their entire fleet of field transmitters. Dejero will showcase its new strategic technology partnership with small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) manufacturer Aeryon Labs to provide secure, real-time distribution of HD video, captured by Aeryon sUAS, through the Dejero LIVE+ platform. Visit www.dejero.com

creative resources as the convergence of IT and broadcast infrastructures draws nearer. The switcher-like hybrid solution combines an easy to use operational interface with high-end functions and makes the system ideal for any studio with a number of control rooms or multivenue campuses. Showcasing how stakeholders can monetise enriched live video content, EVS will be presenting a global ecosystem concept based on its multimedia distribution platform C-Cast. IBC TV will once again be deploying an EVS news solution for its live news programming for the seventh year at the show. It will use EVS technology including XS live production servers and an IPDirector software suite. Visit www.evs.com

Quantel and Snell to Unveil New Branding QUANTEL AND SNELL will be out in force at IBC 2015 with a new stand, a new brand and a new vision, all of which will be unveiled when the show opens. They are also showing major developments across the product range. New developments on show include: A suite of technologies and solutions to enable broadcasters and media organisations to transition to IP and 4K infrastructures. Virtualised media workflow management and delivery, enabling the Software-Defined Channel. Unique technology that enables intelligent monitoring across the media production chain to provide joined-up, error free content delivery to multiple platforms. Support for next-generation display technology with HDR production systems. Visit www.quantel.com and www.snellgroup.com

ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition

George Gittoes Shoots Snow Monkey Doco with Sony PMW-200 RECENTLY, DISTINGUISHED WAR ARTIST, filmmaker, photojournalist and Sydney Peace Prize winner, George Gittoes shot his latest documentary Snow Monkey with two Sony PMW200 cameras over a one year period in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Gittoes is enthusiastic in his choice of and love for the cameras that have made so many of his projects look and feel so special as he explained, “I have been using Sony cameras since I switched to tape from 16mm film in 2003 with my film Soundtrack to War. Over the years I moved on to the Sony HVR-Z1 HD and HVR-Z5 cameras. “Snow Monkey is the last in a trilogy of three films starting with Miscreants of Taliwood and it is fantastic to know viewers will be getting the full detail of the amazing medieval world of Jalalabad with its many characters in their exotic cloths and environments thanks to the Sony PMW-200.” Working on the trilogy of the three movies required Gittoes to train Afghan-Pashtuns to use all his equipment. He continued, “They had all used Sony equipment in the past for

their dramas and found it easy to adapt to the upgraded models of cameras which I provided. With all of my movies I always shoot with two or more cameras simultaneously, on Snow Monkey it was two PMW-200 cameras. I do this as I seek an immersive experience. On Snow Monkey we also had a small Sony digital camera and often shot with a fourth camera by using one of the Z5 cameras.” In his earlier years Gittoes was one of the pioneers of laser holography making some of the first ever colour holograms at Sydney CSIRO and he has always been obsessed since. Gittoes says that using multiple cameras to simulate the viewing experience is as close to ‘being there’ as possible, even more so than viewing with 3D glasses. He continued, “Being able to share the footage at the end of the day with both the crew and participants was always a joy. Also, being in a war zone it was crucial to do good back up so we made three versions of all our footage on separate 2TB hard drives. We had about twelve

of these drives with us and would send drives back to Australia by DHL after every few weeks to ensure the safety of the material and get tech checks done by the editors. The whole PMW-200 workflow was particularly straightforward and very efficient.” Gittoes added, “It is clear from watching it on the big screen at Trackdown during the mix as we have been doing over the last week that it will look that good. I can honestly say the PMW-200 cameras used on Snow Monkey have delivered the best picture quality in any of my movies so far.” An upgraded model, the PXW-X200, which boasts all the features of the PMW-200 with a larger 14x to 17x zoom lens and additional codec recording choices, has now superseded the PMW-200. Visit h ttp://pro.sony-asia.com

Mojo Media Solutions and Achtel Launch TrueBlue Filter for RED Cameras

Pawel Achtel MSc, an Australian Scientist and multiple ACS Award Winning Cinematographer, has combined his skills in mathematics and optical science to create a custom designed optical filter that significantly reduces the magenta looking blue colours seen in imagery shot using the popular RED digital cinema cameras. In an un-modified camera, the problem is easy to see on bluescreen material, skies, under water, and anywhere where cool colours need to be preserved. The reason is that the red photo-sites on the camera sensor are also sensitive to blue light, as can been seen in the quantum efficiency graphs measured under controlled conditions at Achtel’s laboratory. This contamination gives rise to magenta looking blues and cool colours that cannot be removed, even in post-processing. By adding Achtel’s TrueBlue filter in the RED camera itself, the problem is virtually gone. Leaving the Cinematographer, Director and Colourist free to create beautiful looking images without constantly fighting to remove unwanted magenta.

RED Dragon Sensor Native Response

The TrueBlue filter is supplied as a complete kit including an OLPF caddy, and is available for RED Epic and RED Dragon digital cinema cameras. It is simple to install or remove as required.

analysis and delivering measurable results. It does exactly what it says on the box. The day we announced TrueBlue’s availability via social media we had near immediate responses from the US and Europe, and took our first orders that same day.”

“Our partnership with Achtel and the global launch of TrueBlue marks a very exciting time for us at Mojo Media Solutions. As a Sydney based company we regularly do business into Asia, but the partnership with Acthel and launch of TrueBlue has now turned us into a Global supplier,” stated Stuart Monksfield, Managing Director and Founder of Mojo Media Solutions. “TrueBlue is a genuine home grown Australian product created with passion, using scientific

Mojo Media Solutions will be showcasing TrueBlue during the SMPTE15 exhibition in Sydney [Booth D4], where customers will be able to review sample footage shot with and without the TrueBlue filter. Visit www.achtel.com and www.mojomediasolutions.com

ACQUISITION

MOJO MEDIA SOLUTIONS PTY LTD and Achtel Pty Ltd have together launched TrueBlue, a sophisticated optical filter that significantly improves separation of blue colours from unintended red contamination.

ACQUISITION

Mark Zdunnek Road Tests the Sony HXR-NX100 PROLIFIC GERMAN PRODUCER/DIRECTOR, Cameraman and Sony ICE Mark Zdunnek, M.A. was recently in Singapore for BroadcastAsia. In between seminars and soaking up the sights of this lovely city, he put the new Sony HXR-NX100 through its paces. In the following Q&A session he shares his observations. C+T: What’s your first impression of the HXR-NX100, right out of the box? MZ: I have to say I am impressed. The made in Japan NX100 with its 1.0inch sensor certainly scores top marks for its compact design, features and usability. Clearly designed for diverse shooting conditions, the NX100 is great for entry-level users or as a back-up camera. Describe the shooting scenarios. I had the pleasure of using the NX100 for a whole day for both production and post-production. Singapore has so many beautiful and colourful places to shoot. Shooting Gardens By the Bay with its rich flora and Clarke Quay in the evening provided me with ample opportunity to test the limits of its 1.0-inch sensor in both sunny and low-light conditions. I also filmed human beings and objects against daylight – almost like a contre-jour shot. I also created focus transitions with open iris and huge focal changes to get an impression of its bokeh, shallow depth of field and ability to control the line of vision of the viewer – all of which the NX100 performed admirably. What’s your take on the 1.0-inch sensor on the HXR-NX100? I found the 1.0-inch Exmor R CMOS sensor really makes a difference. The beautiful camera bokeh gives cameramen plenty of creative freedom in focal decisions. The film-look like shallow depth of field offers a very convenient line of vision control. How would you rate the ease of use of the HXR-NX100?

offers XAVC-S at 50Mbit up to 60fps with Full HD. Did you make any surprise discoveries during the course of shooting? I have never believed in any type of digital extension or digital zoom. But I was totally surprised when I used the 24x Clear Image Zoom and 48x Digital Extender on the NX100. I would like to emphasise the following advantages and virtues: I feel the zoom factor offers you an incomparable freedom of frame choices, more than a regular user would probably ever make use of in a camera of this category. At the same time, it feels like you have access to multiple lenses, because in comparison the competition usually only has 12x in zoom.

My findings while conducting the review are, that the product was ready for all of my tests. It is ultra-portable, light-weight, easy-to-use and extremely compact while at the same time very common and intuitive in its handling, even while on a tour boat along Clarke Quay.

How would you rate your overall experience with the HXR-NX100?

Another highlight is the built-in 4-step ND-filter that makes it very convenient to set the correct exposure and control depth-of-field in bright environments, very much like the conditions cameramen face everyday.

I get asked a lot to help people, choose the right product for their needs. The NX100 is definitely a product that is very versatile if you are entering the professional product line (entry-level), stepping up from consumer products, are ambitious or a YouTube film creator, or if you want to switch over from tape to memory recording – all without breaking your budget.

What format did you shoot in? My preferred format is Sony’s new XAVC codec that is now widely featured in Sony camcorders and accepted by professionals worldwide. The HXR-NX100

I would like to point out that the NX100 delivers amazing quality for its price range. It has exceeded my expectations in terms of the sensor, format, handling, Clear Image Zoom, detail depiction and image quality.

Visit http://pro.sony-asia.com

Rock Star Hotel Builds 4K Live Streaming Workflow with Blackmagic ROCK STAR HOTEL IN OSAKA CITY has built a full 4K broadcast workflow, which is built around three Blackmagic Studio Camera 4Ks and an ATEM Production Studio 4K, to stream live events from the hotel. Rock Star Hotel offers a unique hospitality concept based on Rock’n’Roll themes and interior design befitting the lifestyle of legendary rockers. The hotel famously throws parties promoted by director Takuho Asanuma, who brings in top DJs and crowds. “We organised a big party at the Rock Star Hotel, using whole floors of the hotel. As a challenging way to publicise the hotel, we live streamed the party. We received positive feedback so we decided to install a complete broadcast system enabling us to stream parties regularly, with superb quality,” said Asanuma.

ACQUISITION

Rock Star Hotel installed three Blackmagic Studio Camera 4Ks, ATEM Production Studio 4K, HyperDeck Studio Pro, ATEM 1M/E Broadcast Panel, SmartView Duo, SmartView HD, UltraStudio Express, HD Link and Mini Converter.

“The great thing about the Studio Camera is its big monitor on the back,” said Asanuma. “It does not have many buttons to push, so it is simple to use. We think giving the audience the sense of presence at the party is more important than worrying technical aspects like focus and exposure.”

While live streaming parties, Asanuma controlled the ATEM switcher, real time audio adjustments, and maintains overall quality control of the stream. “The Studio Camera 4Ks allowed me to control focus and gain remotely from the ATEM. It worked exactly as I wanted it to. It was very handy that I could monitor the audio level from ATEM.” He also uses the ATEM Camera Control’s real time colour correction capabilities with ATEM Camera Control software. “It is not realistic to colour correct hours of footage from scratch. It is great advantage that ATEM allows me to colour correct live. I made a look for one of the cameras, and copied the setting. I brought down saturation and add orange to gamma, and turned lift to more blue. Then I pasted the setting to the rest of the camera with paste to all. When the lighting condition changed during the party, I adjusted the colour while switching. If I make sure the audio sounds fine, the program is almost completed without editing, saving a lot of time and cost to create content,” he said. Rock Star Hotel’s live streaming project using Blackmagic Design’s system is not limited to dance parties in the hotel. They recently recorded The Star Festival, an outdoor music festival held in Kyoto in May. They are also planning to create their own new music program. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

ACQUISITION

CANON HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of a new addition to the Company’s Cinema EOS System lineup of professional digital cinematography products, the EOS C300 Mark II digital cinema camera, capable of shooting 4K-resolution video. The new EOS C300 Mark II employs a range of features, including Canon’s newly developed CMOS sensor and imaging platform technologies and, offering a significant upgrade in performance over its predecessor, enables the capture of 4K-resolution video and an expanded dynamic range to make possible high-image-quality video. The EOS C300 Mark II incorporates a Canon-developed Super 35 mmequivalent approximately 8.85-megapixel CMOS image sensor and the Company’s latest imaging platform, Dual DIGIC DV 5, which offers exceptional processing power. In addition to newly employing Canon Log 2, the Company’s proprietary gamma setting, the EOS C300 Mark II is equipped with Canon’s new XF-AVC video format to realise an expanded dynamic range compared with its predecessor. Visit www.canon.com.au

Sony Launches HXR-NX100 Handheld NXCAM SONY HAS ANNOUNCED the

Sony’s Wireless Solution Offers High-Quality Live Streaming at Low Cost SONY CONTINUES TO DEVELOP efficient, file-based wireless workflows to support the rapid response requirements of news production. Sony’s offerings include camcorders with built-in wireless capabilities, and wireless adapters that can relay video and audio directly from field locations via 4G/ LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Sony’s new PWS-100RX1 Network RX Station serves as a core component of solutions that deliver efficient, low-cost and high-quality live streaming. The PWS-100RX1 is compatible with XDCAM camcorders currently used by broadcasters throughout the world, and is very simple to connect and set up. The compatibility means that broadcasters can continue using their XDCAM assets while gradually migrating to wireless workflows. For operational flexibility, the PWS-100RX1 is equipped with SDI outputs for concurrent dual video streams. The PWS-100RX1 network RX system comes with pre-installed Connection Control Manager software, which enables easy connection to camcorders as well as routing to SDI outputs, and it delivers efficient handling of live video streams received via 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi and wired connections. Sony’s wireless streaming solutions can be implemented starting with a camcorder, a 4G/LTE or Wi-Fi dongle and a network RX Station, PWS-100RX1, located at the broadcast station and the SNG/OB vans. Visit http://pro.sony.com.au

HXR-NX100, the latest addition to its NXCAM range of professional camcorders with high technology and cost performance.

4K PTZ Camera from Panasonic

The HXR-NX100 features a 1.0-inch Exmor R back-illuminated CMOS Sensor with 20 megapixels. The sensor delivers high resolution, low noise and stunning picture quality even in low light conditions, as well as offering more depth of field contro. A fixed Sony G lens, offering 12x optical zoom from 29mm angle of view at wide end that can be increased to 24x with Clear Image Zoom, further ensures picture quality.

US InfoCOMM show, the Panasonic AW-UE70 integrated 4K PTZ camera delivers 3840 x 2160 resolution at 25p via HDMI, and is capable of 4K IP streaming and in-camera 4K recording.

Further extending the recording flexibility of the Sony NXCAM range, the HXR-NX100 is able to record in AVCHD, DV and XAVC S 50Mbps. Visit http://pro.sony.com.au

Tiffen Highlight New Steadicam M1 TIFFEN INTERNATIONAL will highlight the new top of the range M1 Steadicam and the Lowel PRO Power LED light at IBC 2015 along with other new products across the range. The M-1 Steadicam is the result of seven generations of experience, innovation, engineering skills, technological advances and invaluable feedback from the users. The ‘M’ stands for modular, and this is the most modular Steadicam ever. You can start with the simplest post and upgrade later to the full rig. The new M-1 camera stage is built around strength and high load precision with centre drives for superior rigidity with an optional vernier fingertip tilt adjustment – no tools needed. Also headlining on the stand is the Lowel PRO Power LED, a compact focusing light available in hi-CRI tungsten or daylight colour, with impressive output and a wide fresnel 8:1 focus range. It is comparable to a 150w tungsten-halogen fixture with similar optics. Dimmable without colour shift, the light works with both AC power and its special DC accessory battery system, which can clamp-mount to the stand or be used with a shoulder strap for handheld lighting. Visit www.tiffen.com

UNVEILED AT THE RECENT

The UE70 offers key features aimed at production such as genlock, Optical Image Stabilisation (O.I.S) and remote switchable ND filters. The camera comes with 3G-SDI as well as HDMI video outputs and incorporates a 1/2.3-type MOS sensor and advanced processing. It also boasts direct from camera audio/video streaming up to 2160/30p and in-camera video and audio recording to a microSD card at 2160/25p or 1080/50p. IP, RS-422 and RS-232C in/out interfaces are included, as well as a built in web server which enables both browser control and IP-live preview, for up to 16 cameras, from PCs, Macs and mobile devices. RS-422 Serial or IP control is available using Panasonic’s AW-RP50, AW-RP120G controllers, AK-HRP200G paintbox and the AW-HEA10 control assist camera, as well as appropriately programmed systems from Crestron, AMX, Winnov, and other manufacturers. The UE70 includes many other features that expand the capabilities of professional video system users. In addition to Panasonic’s Dynamic Range Stretch (DRS), advanced Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) and an ingenious High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode means good images, even in extreme contrast and lighting conditions. The UE70’s Night Mode makes it possible to shoot in “virtually total darkness”, by automatically switching to high-quality, HD monochrome video with the use of an optional IR illuminator. Visit http://pro-av.panasonic.net

ACQUISITION

New Canon EOS C300 Mark II Supports 4K

ACQUISITION

Ikegami Maintains Focus on Broadcast Innovation IKEGAMI, a leader in the development and manufacture of broadcastquality cameras and production equipment, will show its wide range of systems and technologies at IBC2015. Broadcast innovation will be a major theme of the exhibit. Ikegami’s Unicam UHD 4K-native 3-CMOS 2/3-inch camera provides the deep focus required for broadcast operation combined with ultra high quality colour reproduction. Ergonomic and operational features are the same as a conventional Ikegami Unicam HD camera. A 2/3-inch B4-mount allows direct docking with conventional lenses plus a focusassist function. Compact and light in weight, the Unicam UHD camera is designed for easy integration into 4K studio and 4K field/OB truck systems. Uncompressed RGB 4:4:4 baseband is delivered from the camera head to the control unit to ensure the highest possible transmission quality. Also making their first IBC appearance are the Ikegami BS-98/CCU-980 hybrid 2K/4K rack-mountable optical-fibre transmission links. When used in combination with current Ikegami Unicam HD cameras, the BS-98/CCU980 can deliver HD and 4K processed UHD signals simultaneously. The Ikegami HDK-97ARRI broadcast-style production camera with digital cinema characteristics and HDK-97A 16-bit full digital 3G HDTV portable camera will be exhibited with the BS-98/CCU-980 hybrid 2K/4K optical fibre links in a demonstration of 4K live pictures. Ikegami introduced the world’s first generation 8K UHDTV camera in 2002 as a collaborative project with Japan Broadcasting Corporation NHK. A second generation Ikegami 8K camera followed in 2004 and third generation model in 2010. This year, through further technological innovation and collaboration with NHK, sees the demonstration of the SHK-810. Ikegami’s fourth generation 8K camera, the SHK-810 is one tenth the size and weight of the 2002 model and offers significantly improved operability. Also on show at IBC2015 will be a robotic camera system based on a combination of the Ikegami HDL-45E head mounted on a pan/tilt unit. Camera and pan/tilt unit are both controlled via an Ikegami iHTR-100 fibre-optic transmission link. Visit www.ikegami.co.jp

AR+ Unveil ARCAM TV AR+ WILL DEMONSTRATE its automated TV studio system at IBC 2015, booth 11.E40c.

ACQUISITION

From silent studio operation to fluid and accurate motion, ARCAM TV is built to exceed the most demanding environments. It boasts a space-saving compact and lightweight design for portability, making it easy to deploy on location, even in confined spaces. Fast to set up and use it automates the process of using remote-control cameras, which means that a single operator can handle up to eight ARCAM TV simultaneously. ARCAM TV can be controlled using a joystick controller, remote iPad app, or pan-bars.

Adjustable to any camera up to 10kg, this system can be programmed using AR+ intuitive ARCAPTUR software, which facilitates a wide range of settings including zoom, iris aperture and focus and expertly manages from the simplest to the most complex camera trajectories. ARCAM TV comes with a 35,000 working-hours warranty, and 24/7 support and training. Visit www.ar-plus.com

Polecam Gets Clever with Ronin and Excels with Toshiba POLECAM SYSTEMS will exhibit a new Polecam remote head at IBC2015, a winning combination of Polecam + gimbal, extending further the range of remote head options for their lightweight, portable single operator crane system. Polecam will be on show on stand 10.C49 with a Ronin M gimbal fully interfaced to the crane system, offering a new dimension and extending Polecam’s shooting capabilities now even further. This innovation will bring further benefits when using zoom lenses on a rig and when operating in difficult weather situations. Also on show will be the very latest Toshiba minicams. Polecam Systems was recently appointed by Toshiba as their European Centre of Excellence for their range of broadcast products. The Toshiba IK-4K minicam is the world’s smallest 3-chip UltraHD 4K video camera providing 8Mp 3840 x 2160 output and showing extraordinary detail with up to 1600 TV lines resolution. Video output is switchable between 4k, 1080p and 1080i formats to configure to any HD display and application – all in the world’s smallest 3-chip C-Mount package. There will also be the flagship IK HD5H 3CMOS camera head, which not only features Toshiba’s signature Microprism technology but also native HD 1080p/i resolution in every channel, twice the sensitivity and 25% improved S/N ratio in a ultra-small housing. The extended resolution offered by these latest cameras needs a high resolution lens that matches their performance and on the stand you can see the latest offering from Fujinon, the Fujinon TF4XA-1, a perfect match for the Toshiba Cameras. Finally, the Antelope Pico High Speed Camera, a minicam that delivers spectacular extreme slow motion and previously unrevealed details from vantage points where no other camera has gone before. Antelope PICO records with up to 520 frames per second in native HD. Visit www.polecam.com

Bluebell Opticom Introducing New Robotic Camera Interface AT IBC2015, Bluebell will introduce the BN385 remote robotic camera interface. The BN385 features two 3G-SDI paths from the camera position with an optional genlock return, plus a dual-port GigE link on two monomode fibres with optional single-fibre operation. The interface is suited for links to robotic/POV cameras, and a typical application would use one of the HD paths for PGM video, the other for viewfinder overlay/menus, and the GigE link for camera control and pan-tilt-zoom camera operation. Also making its debut at IBC2015 is the TDM750, a rack-mounted module for single-direction transport of HD-SDI and 100BaseT ethernet signals. Requiring only two fibres with an option for single-fibre operation, the TDM750 is perfect for smaller robotic/ POV camera systems that require only a single video path and bidirectional data via ethernet. First demonstrated at the 2015 NAB Show and now available for shipping, the BC364 multiformat interface takes in multiple optical signals and retransmits them at wavelengths that can be inserted into a CWDM mux. On the other end of the link, the signals are returned to their individual state. This functionality, coupled with Bluebell’s ShaxX power insertion technology, is what makes camera multiplexing possible. Visit http://bluebellcomms.co.uk

SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide

www.content-technology.com/sportscasting

KBS Korea Broadcasts “Olympics for Uni Students” with VSM WITH 20,000 PARTICIPANTS from 170 countries competing in 21 sports, South Korea hosted the “Olympics for university students” – Universiade Gwangju 2015 from July 3 to 14. Host broadcaster KBS took care of all broadcast technology to deliver the world feed. KBS relied on the VSM Broadcast Control and Monitoring System from L-S-B Broadcast Technologies to manage all workflows and signals within the International Broadcast Center (IBC) and for several OBs at the venues. The bi-annual Gwangju Universiade is one of the biggest international sporting events taking place in 2015. As host broadcaster the organising committee commissioned Korean public broadcaster KBS (Korean Broadcasting System). KBS took care of all broadcast infrastructure at the venues as well as in the IBC to cover all the sport events and to provide the world feed. The long term relationship between KBS and L-S-B again resulted in this cooperation, after partnering successfully for Daegu World Athletics Championships 2011 or 2014 Incheon Asian Games. In the IBC at Universiade Gwangju KBS installed several production areas to establish the whole distribution and transmission workflow. The VSM system by L-S-B provided the solution for KBS to combine the Control and Monitoring requirements of the various production areas into a single seamless workflow. The main tasks of the VSM system was to provide all router control requirements of the International Broadcast Center as well as offering monitoring and control of essential equipment and signal feeds in the transmission path. Further workflow streamlining was provided with VSMs built-in scheduler, which was utilised to automate the daily distribution and transmission routing tasks for simplicity and speed. A combination of hardware and software control panels provided the operations and engineering staff with simplified and ergonomic user interfaces focused to their different work tasks. Overall, a streamlined and simplified workflow solution was created to support the essential control requirements of this large-scale sport event. Within the International Broadcast Center (IBC) several rooms were established for dedicated tasks. In each room, several L-S-B hardware and software panels were used.

The structure of the IBC, included: ¡

CDT – Contribution, Distribution, Transmission Contribution: Reception of the international signal feeds from all venues. Distribution: Signal distribution to right holders (broadcasters) Transmission: Sending the international signal to the telecom/ satellite farm and sending the return signal to each venue.

LDR – Line Distribution Room: Additional signal distribution to right holders which are located not in immediate proximity to the CDT. Signals are monitored and – if needed – re-clocked to ensure the best signal quality over the long distance.

BOC – Broadcast Operation Centre: Booking of the right holders and control for the Chief Engineer. Customised router control and monitoring within the IBC.

PQC – Program Quality Control: Quality control of all program feeds in terms of content and technical requirements.

CSC – Commentary Switching Centre: Distribution and management of commentary audio.

Archive: Recording all international signals and store in file format adding metadata & file classification.

Editing Room / Off-Tube / Daily Highlight: Provide the service of editing content and create daily highlight material as well as adding English commentary.

Central Apparatus Room: Heart of the IBC with routers and all relevant hardware. The main goal in developing the VSM system design was the required flexibility to control and monitor the complete signal paths in the IBC with individually designed user interfaces. In close cooperation with the customer, the L-S-B engineers developed several user GUIs that fulfil the customers’ demands for flexible and easy to use workflows. Due to VSM’s overall system design, workflows could be changed easily, even during production. L-S-Bs contribution to the project included the consulting during preparation, the close cooperation during the project phase as well as the support during broadcast of the Games. Visit www.l-s-b.de

BROADCAST SOLUTIONS GMBH, a specialist in building outside broadcasting tools, will deliver an OB Van to South Korean broadcaster KBS. The assignment covers the construction and delivery of a 12 camera HD OB Van. The OB Van which will be named HDTV2 will be the second live production vehicle that Broadcast Solutions has built for KBS.

Solutions to build their new OB Van. This second order once again proves, that – with our expertise and the quality we offer – we are able to deliver OB Vans to satisfied customers around the globe. This second order shows our competitive advantage through the years,” said Stefan Breder CEO at Broadcast Solutions.

In close cooperation with local partner DYD, the German-based company will deliver the HD OB Van in 2016 – the project planning for HDTV 2 is in progress. HDTV2 is the second Broadcast Solutions van for KBS following its first van delivered in 2011.

“Again it becomes evident that the close cooperation with our local partner DYD and the long term relationship to the customer KBS – an approach we always considered to be very important – resulted in this new project,”, Breder added.

“We are very happy that KBS once again show their trust in Broadcast

Visit www.broadcast-solutions.de

SPORTSCASTING

KBS Korea Orders 12-Camera OB Van from Broadcast Solutions

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MediaCorp Teams with Sony to Deliver the 28th SEA Games in HD SINGAPORE-BASED MEDIA COMPANY, MEDIACORP has successfully delivered full high definition coverage of the recently-concluded 28th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). As host broadcaster and media partner of the 28th SEA Games, MediaCorp provided the largest sporting event coverage ever undertaken in the history of Singapore, with 11 countries competing in 36 different sports. The 28th edition of the SEA Games was especially significant for Singapore given that the games coincided with the country’s 50th year of independence. It was an ideal opportunity to showcase to the region the great strides Singapore has made as a young nation. As host broadcaster, MediaCorp needed to ensure that its comprehensive high definition coverage of the games was smoothly delivered to a wide spectrum of viewers – locally via its dedicated SEA Games channel, okto, as well as across the Asian region via Channel News Asia and daily updates on its other channels and digital platforms. To undertake such a massive project, MediaCorp chose Sony for its proven technology in supporting major global sporting events. Among the wide range of Sony products deployed by MediaCorp for its 28th SEA Games coverage included MVS-series video switchers, Full HD LCD monitors, XDCAMTM system cameras and professional disc recorders. For smooth coverage of the sporting events at the SEA Games, an International Broadcast Centre (IBC) was built close to the Singapore Sports Hub cluster of venues. The venue was used by all the major TV networks from the participating countries as well as independent sports channels. For the largest sporting event coverage ever undertaken in Singapore’s history, MediaCorp pulled out all the stops and decided to build from the ground up its very own two-storey broadcast centre within the IBC compound. MediaCorp’s dedicated SEA Games broadcast centre ensured efficient and seamless operational capabilities for its live coverage of events as well as ENG content.

Globecast Provides Distribution Services for the 28th SEAGames GLOBECAST HAS SUPPLIED distribution services for ten broadcasters covering the recent SEA (South East Asian) Games. Globecast was contracted by HBS, the Production Partner of MediaCorp, official media partner and host broadcaster to provide distribution. The 28th occurrence of the Games saw this major sporting event return to Singapore after a 22-year gap. 36 sports and 402 events featured in the eleven-day spectacle including more unusual sports like wushu, sepak takraw, and wakeboarding. Globecast facilitated the distribution of ten channels to regional host broadcasters across Asia, creating two multiplexes onsite at the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), one with six channels (in 36 MHz) and one with four (in 24 MHz). These were then uplinked via a 4.5m dish at the IBC dish farm using NS3 modulation.

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HBS Project Director Daniel Wlochovski, said, “Since the start of the project, it has been a pleasure to work with an experienced team who are always responsive and solution-oriented. We initiated the discussions with Globecast with a very open scope, due to our lack of reference in the requirements for this type of event. But we managed, during the development of the project, to design with them an operation that meets the technical and operational constraints while offering sufficient flexibility to cater for latecomers. The satellite set-up put in place offers, for the first time at the SEA Games, full HD transmissions through a cost-effective approach.”

Liz McParland, Commercial Director Contribution at Globecast, says, “As well as the highly effective distribution technology, we also supplied an onsite technical team, a mix of engineers from the UK and from Asia as well as a coordinator. We are very pleased to have been chosen by HBS for this venture as events on this scale require a level of technical and logistical expertise that we have honed over many years. We are glad that has been recognised.” Visit www.globecast.com

“We selected Sony as a major provider due to their strong on-the-ground support. Sony sent their engineers to assist with the configuration and installation. They were also on stand-by to ensure operational readiness. Another advantage with choosing Sony was that our crew was already familiar with Sony’s equipment and workflow, both at our studios as well as OB vehicles,” said Kin Boon Tong, Senior Principal Engineer, Production & Post Support, at MediaCorp Technologies. The 12-day event coverage was not without its challenges, especially with the high number of live events happening concurrently. Besides the iconic Sports Hub and its supporting venues nearby, some events were also held at other venues across the island. “Besides getting feeds from different locations, we also used equipment from various manufacturers. One of the key challenges faced was ensuring that the equipment was all integrated and working smoothly together. The Sony MVS-6530 switcher’s intelligent tally functions were critical in overcoming this challenge. Multiple on-air and recording tallies were easily programmed on the switcher system, and the Sony switchers integrated well with third-party multiviewers, with no additional need for parallel tally,” Kin added. “The broadcast requirements for a sporting event of this size always increase the scope and complexity when it comes to coverage and distribution. With the eyes of the region on Singapore and the SEA Games, it was only prudent for MediaCorp to work with a trusted company like Sony,” Kin concluded. Visit http://pro.sony-asia.com

MediaCorp Creates SEA Games Clips with Actus Digital ACTUS DIGITAL, a developer of Cloud based broadcast monitoring platforms for recording and cross platform content repurposing, has announced that Singapore’s MediaCorp has implemented the Actus Platform monitoring solution supplied by local SI partner Magna Systems and Engineering for the SEA games. MediaCorp is using the Actus broadcast monitoring solution to record the SEA games broadcasts and for creating clips for its OTT platform. Actus’ solutions are are designed for cross-organisational content analysis and content repurposing. They include purpose-built tools for acquiring, viewing, analysing and repurposing transmissions from channels around the world. Actus CEO, Sima Levy, comments, “Actus provides several components in one platform, answering the full scope of MediaCorp’s requirements: from ingest of live feeds with SEA content, through automatic or semi-automatic clips marking, and up to delivery of multiple profiles of clips in various bit-rates, resolutions, into various OTT devices, all done in parallel, fast, and reliably.” “MediaCorp is pulling out all the stops to provide comprehensive coverage of the 28th SEA Games,” said Joe Igoe, Chief Technology Officer, MediaCorp. “We needed a solution that would support our coverage on Toggle, our over-the-top Internet video service, for viewers anytime, anywhere and on any device. Magna Systems and Engineering Singapore presented us with Actus, a reliable, easy-tointegrate and cost effective solution. We were also impressed by the team’s ability to turn around specific developments to customise the solution in record time, ahead of the games.” Visit www.magnasys.tv

SPORTSCASTING

Surf Videographer Geordie Tarren “Hangs Three” with Miller Tripods

He was first introduced to Miller tripod systems by cohorts in the Australian corporate film industry when he was involved in camera assisting on projects for major international and domestic brands like Pernod Ricard, Coca Cola and Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications and media company. “It was obvious to me from the very beginning that Miller’s tripods were designed and constructed at an exceptionally high standard, and, of course, I wanted one,” he says. “When I found out about the Miller Air Tripod System, I was intrigued and thrilled to be able to get my hands on one.” Tracking the movements of pro surfing’s elite can be very challenging at times. To create the most enveloping video experience, Tarren finds that shooting with longer super telephoto lenses, up to 800mm, provides the best results. Tarren’s camera of choice is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4, which he attests is well-suited to his style of videography due to its great image quality, internal 4k at 100mbps, 96fps slow motion at 1080p and a highly mobile form factor. “I like to frame as close up as possible so that the wide shot is rarely used,” he says. “At this extreme focal length, it is essential to own a high quality tripod and that is how the Miller Air Tripod System has taken my footage to

China’s Letv Sports Announces Collaboration with MP & Silva CHINESE DIGITAL SPORTS BROADCAST COMPANY, Letv Sports, has announced a strategic collaboration with MP & Silva, a leading international sports media company, to showcase sports content in China. The partnership comprises Letv Sports’ acquisition of a comprehensive variety of top football properties in the region, including the Italian Serie A TIM, French Ligue 1, The Emirates FA Cup, Sky Bet Football League Championship, Capital One Cup, Scottish Professional Football League, Belgian Jupiler Pro League, the Brazil National Team Global Tour matches, the England National Team and Under-23 Home Friendly matches, and the recently concluded Copa America 2015. A majority of these rights have been acquired on an exclusive basis. With the goal of serving passionate football fans across China, Letv Sports plans to broadcast an unprecedented number of more than 1800 live hours of top football matches per season on its digital broadcast platform with content from MP & Silva. The strategic partnership also includes an additional scope for developing joint projects in the future, which are currently under negotiation. Mr. Lei Zhenjian, the CEO of Letv Sports, applauded the partnership, stating, “As the fastest growing sports company in China, Letv Sports is always looking to establish itself as a leader in this industry and invest in the world’s most compelling sports media rights. We are honoured to establish a close cooperative relationship with MP & Silva and aim to bring the best coverage of sports from around the world to Chinese sports fans. We’re delighted to have MP & Silva as an important strategic partner to help us to realise this goal.” Marco Auletta, Chief Executive Officer of MP & Silva, also commented on the partnership, “Letv Sports has made impressive strides towards being a major player in the sports broadcast industry, and both our companies share a lot of synergy for potential growth, as well as the same enterprising spirit, ambition and drive for innovation. We look forward to complement each other with more collaborations in the future from this long-term strategic partnership.” Visit http://sports.letv.com and www.mpsilva.com

the next level. Since shooting with the Air, my work is now being celebrated at the highest possible level. I highly recommend it.” Tarren’s goal in his work is to use tripod mounted camera movements that are ubiquitous and subtle, and that enhance the connection between the subject and the audience. “The Air Fluid head is ultra smooth for panning and tilting, and since working with this system, I’ve found there to be a vast reduction in stabilization requirements in post production and a greater success rate when shooting in high winds,” he adds. Overall, the Air Tripod System’s light weight and portable mobility enable it to be the perfect fit for Tarren during his surfing shoots. “It ticks all the boxes for payloads under five kilograms,” he concludes. “It has fantastic stability, portability, ease of movement and a silky smooth fluid head that doesn’t stutter on take-off or halt a camera movement on either axis. It’s perfect for fast moving objects. Additionally, I did a little research and was delighted to discover that the founders of Miller invented the viscosity fluid head, the greatest innovation in tripod history. The Miller Air Tripod System is the result of 60 years of commitment to three legged excellence.” Visit www.millertripods.com

World Baseball Softball Confederation Awards Japan TV Rights THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION (WBSC) has announced that Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) and TV Asahi have been awarded broadcast rights in Japan for the new WBSC Premier12 world baseball flagship event that is set to debut in Japan and Taiwan from 8-21 November, 2015. The WBSC Premier12 will be the top international baseball event of the year – offering a $US multi-million purse and the biggest payout of world ranking points – and will unite the men’s professional National Teams from the Top 12 countries in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings for the first time ever, battling for the pride of their countries and their position in the baseball world. The agreement with TBS and TV Asahi covers free-to-air television delivery of the WBSC Premier12 global baseball tournament. The agreement follows the recent announcement of the full schedule, tournament bracket and list of venues of the inaugural WBSC Premier12. “The WBSC is thrilled to partner with TBS and TV Asahi to showcase this new and very exciting Premier12 global baseball platform,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “Matching the WBSC Premier12 with two of Japan’s premier broadcasters like TBS and TV Asahi ensures the most comprehensive and highest quality coverage possible for Japan’s national audience, who are some of the most discerning and enthusiastic baseball fans in the world.” Expanding on the agreement, broadcast rights in Japan for the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup – to be staged in Osaka, Japan from 28 August – 6 September – were awarded to TV Asahi. Visit www.wbsc.co

SPORTSCASTING

AS A VIDEOGRAPHER covering the World Surf League (WSL), Geordie Tarren travels to some of the planet’s most beautiful beaches to document all of the heart-stopping, exhilarating aquatic action. In order to capture the challenging imagery of the competitions, Tarren relies on his Miller Air Tripod System to help create the most immersive video experience possible.

SPORTSCASTING

Globecast Delivers Action from French Open GLOBECAST WAS ONCE AGAIN central to the coverage of this year’s French Open from the iconic Stade Roland Garros via services for MP & SILVA, the international media rights company. As the second major of the year, following on from the Australian Open, Roland Garros is considered the pinnacle of clay court tennis. Globecast provided contribution and European satellite distribution services for coverage of the tournament. In total, more than 1400 hours of feeds were transmitted over the 15 days of the tournament. For this year’s tournament, Globecast provided an end-to-end service, including encoding (HD MPEG 4), contribution and distribution services. Live signals from each of the seven main courts at the stadium, as well as the international Super Signal of daily highlights and a number of unilateral ad hoc signals, were provided to MP & SILVA. Globecast also handled the aggregation and multiplexing of two muxes (one with signals from four courts and the other comprising three), an SCPC signal for the international Super Signal and the daily highlights. The latter was via its UK facility. Contribution was supported via two fully redundant fibre paths; signals were fed through to Globecast’s national switching centre at Serte, Paris then on to the London teleport at Brooksman Park for satellite uplink. Globecast provided a full 72 Mhz transponder on Eutelsat 7B to maximise the reach of the distributed content.

Net Gains for XPression at Roland Garros ROSS VIDEO HAS ENJOYED a working relationship with pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport since early last year, and the Ross XPression platform now powers all of Eurosport’s graphics content across 54 countries in 20 different languages. This year’s coverage of the French Open from the Roland Garros stadium in Paris had a slightly different look and feel, and Eurosport took advantage of XPression’s 3D and augmented reality capabilities to create eye-catching content to complement the live tennis. ‘The Coach’ – a twice-daily segment in both English and French where a top tennis coach analyses the playing style of one of the day’s competitors – drew particular praise for its use of on-screen graphics that seamlessly blend with the physical set. According to Eurosport’s Head of Graphics, Richard Lievre, simplicity and creativity have both been key factors for the channel. “We needed to evolve from our previous graphics system and we felt that XPression would be the right platform for us; it’s been easy to adopt, simple to use and augmented reality has opened up a great many creative possibilities for our team,” he said. Patrick Jeant, Head of Post Production at Eurosport, agrees, “XPression allows us to work with one single graphics package across all of the different domains within Eurosport where graphics are required – set up once, deploy everywhere. We’ve been one of the first broadcasters in France to use Ross’ augmented reality solution.” Visit www.rossvideo.com

The entire project was set up and managed by a dedicated team of Globecast staff, including four senior engineers and project managers to handle set up, pre-tournament tests and the provision of service for all the duration of the event. During the tournament, an additional team from the Serte MCR was assigned to the project. Alessandro Alquati, Managing Director of contribution at Globecast, said, “Being involved in such an iconic event like Roland Garros is always an honour. As with every major tournament, there is the drive to deliver bigger and better coverage each year and this is what we helped MP & SILVA provide to its broadcast customers.” Visit www.globecast.com

Production Analysis and Telestration Toolset CHYRONHEGO HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of Paint 6.0, a major new release of the company’s industry-leading analysis and telestration toolset. Designed to meet the specific requirements of sports broadcasters, Paint 6.0 now includes a Mac OS X version designed to run natively on the MacBook Pro. In addition, the latest release includes a variety of upgrades and new features including movable players, editable clip export, and advanced in/ out effects.

SPORTSCASTING

“Paint brings game play to life by giving sports broadcasters the ability to generate dozens of telestrated clips that can be created live or stored at the ready for near-live replays or postmatch analysis. We call the resulting combination of replay, graphics, and analysis ‘Illustrated Replay,’” said Johan Apel, president and CEO, ChyronHego. “With version 6.0, we’ve made the Paint family even more robust and versatile. Its feature-rich toolset and sheer simplicity of use enable anyone on a sports production team to create high-impact telestrations that enhance fans’ understanding and enjoyment of a match.”

The new movable players, or cut-out, effect within Paint 6.0 allows the commentator or operator to move players to different positions on the pitch or field. The players may be highlighted with a glow or removed from the field, and they can also be scaled in size. In addition, Paint 6.0 includes an editable clip export feature that enables clips to be shared between Paint servers in an unflattened state. Visit www.chyronhego.com

Thomson Enables Live 4K Streaming of 2015 French Open THOMSON VIDEO NETWORKS has announced that the company’s new ViBE 4K high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) encoder successfully enabled live 4K streaming of the 2015 French Open tennis championship. Launched at the 2015 NAB Show, the ViBE 4K HEVC real-time encoding solution allows media enterprises to leverage HEVC for delivering an optimal video experience to consumers, with live compression of UHD sources at up to 60 frames per second (FPS) and in 10-bit colour for Ultra HD (UHD) broadcasting. At the French Open, France Télévisions in partnership with FRANSAT, the French DTH platform operated by Eutelsat, used the ViBE 4K to broadcast live UHD pictures in H.265 format on the Francetvsport Ultra HD television channel. The broadcast was available to any viewers with 4K-compatible displays. “As the latest addition to our robust portfolio of UHD solutions, the ViBE 4K is also the industry’s most compact live 4K encoder at only 1RU. It’s the ideal complement to our ViBE VS7000 multi-screen and HEVC video encoder, which has already been deployed successfully by major global satellite operators as a file-based HEVC encoding and playout solution,” said Eric Gallier, vice president, marketing, Thomson Video Networks. Visit www.thomson-networks.com

NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

MediaCorp Singapore Installs Octopus Newsroom, Expands LiveU Capabilities

Octopus was awarded the project after an extended period of testing to assess its core functionality, multi-lingual proficiency. This was particularly important as MediaCorp serves an audience that is exceptionally diverse. Octopus Newsroom has native support for non-Latin scripts, making it suitable for multi-lingual environments. One key stipulation for the MediaCorp installation was support for a software suite that enables its journalists to create, edit, convert and publish Tamil content on Windows and Mac OS X operating environments. Octopus is now integrated with the broadcaster’s other third party editing software, and MOS-compliant systems, including automation, graphics, subtitling, archive and video servers. Supplied, installed and integrated by Benchmark Broadcast Systems, the new system is now on-air. The Octopus7 system caters to its studio-based news journalists and operators. Mobile clients are also being supplied to enable remote production, publishing, and rundown access. As a next-generation solution, Octopus has Twitter and YouTube connectivity, analysis and interactivity built-in. This will enable MediaCorp and its journalists to engage with audiences throughout the region both in terms of journalistic research and multi-platform delivery. The Singapore installation was also the first to benefit from Octopus’ enhanced Facebook connectivity which allows journalists to post stories and clips to Facebook pages and to receive status messages and updates from within the newsroom software. Octopus Newsroom also gives MediaCorp users the ability to create a Quick

Imagine Upgrades Digital Production Facility for TNN IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS has implemented an end-to-end newsroom solution built around its Nexio NewsForce platform for the Thai News Network (TNN), part of the True Corporation. TNN provides 24-hour rolling news coverage in the Thai language both in Thailand and to international markets. It also broadcasts news and feature programming from CNN. Working with local distributor B.E.C. Co. Ltd. and systems integrator Advanced Broadcast Corporation, Imagine Communications implemented the major upgrade which also included central storage for ingest, asset management and playout on a Nexio Farad high-performance online storage network with intrinsic mirroring for content security. The project also involved the addition of Velocity editors, integrated alongside the existing Final Cut Pro edit suites. The workflow includes MOS playlist management, which will be integrated with TNN’s newsroom computer network. Content infrastructure includes a Platinum router, with an integrated Predator II-GX HD multiviewer for monitoring and control, and Selenio 6800+ and X50 signal processing including loudness control. “Our original news platform was unreliable under pressure, so to expand our offerings we needed to look at a system that delivered complete robustness and stability,” said Vichai Sernvongsat, chief technology officer, TNN. “Imagine Communications was able to demonstrate a complete solution from a single vendor, with reference sites doing just what we needed." Visit www.imaginecommunications.com

Story to add a news item to an existing rundown. With the rundown open, journalists can drag and drop a Quick Story to the rundown, without having to open, edit and manage the rundown. While the newsroom solution maintains communication between online journalists, the system also enables users to send assignments, notifications, messages and story updates to offline users.

MEDIACORP EXPANDS REGIONAL LIVEU DEPLOYMENT Following on from its newsroom refit, Mediacorp is also increasing its groupwide deployment of LiveU solutions, based on its successful use of LiveU over several years. MediaCorp is equipping all its news bureaus in the region, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and other locations, with LU500 backpacks as well as LU-Smart mobile apps. LiveU’s products are supplied and supported by LiveU’s Singapore partner Media Architects. LiveU’s portable transmission technology is used extensively by MediaCorp’s news division, which produces programs for channels, such as Channel NewsAsia, Channel 8, Channel 5, Suria and Vasantham. Over the past year, MediaCorp has used LiveU for global news events coverage in the region, including the MH17 Air Asia plane crash, protests in Hong Kong and the passing of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father. In one of MediaCorp’s largest projects to date, LiveU was used to cover the vigil, the wake and state funeral of Lee Kuan Yew. LiveU’s global units and services are connected via the LiveU Central management platform for easy preview and remote control using any computer or tablet from anywhere around the world. MultiPoint is fully integrated into the LiveU Central cloud-based platform. Visit www.octopus-news.com and www.liveu.tv

BBC World News Asia Selects Quicklink Skype TX for Broadcasts BBC WORLD NEWS recently chose the Quicklink Skype TX solution to be used in Asia. The Skype TX Solution will be located in South East Asia and will allow quality video and audio broadcasts to be sent through a single, integrated production grade system. Quicklink Video have been chosen by Microsoft Skype to manufacture and distribute a high quality Skype hardware/software solution designed specifically for broadcasters. The Quicklink Skype TX is a 19inch 1U rack mounted hardware solution that converts Skype calls into a professional quality SD/HD video/audio signal. Quicklink have recently released a free software named Bondio. Bondio delivers improved bandwidth by bonding a combination of internet connections together to create one super connection. Networks such as Wi-Fi, 3G/4G USB dongles, WiMAX and Ethernet connections can be automatically bonded together to enhance the video bandwidth connection. This can provide a more stable connection, resulting in better quality video/audio for a professional transmissions. The software is available to download free for use with a Windows 8.0 PC/ Laptop, when combined with purchase of the Quicklink TX. Visit www.quicklink.tv

NEWS OPERATIONS

SINGAPORE’S LEADING MEDIA COMPANY, MediaCorp, has selected Octopus7 to be at the heart of its multi-lingual newsrooms. The new production system went live in February 2015, replacing the previous ENPS system. The installation was overseen by Octopus and local distributor, Benchmark Broadcast Systems.

NEWS OPERATIONS

Socialising with the News Desk Tony Shepherd, International Business Development Manager with SocialNewsDesk, gives the lowdown on TweetTalking audiences and not getting off your Facebook. SocialNewsDesk is the only social media management tool built specifically for news organisations that allows users to centralise control of social media accounts, makes them secure, and enables their monetisation. ACCORDING TO TONY SHEPHERD, International Business Development Manager with SocialNewsDesk, “You connect your social media accounts to our system. You have very robust strong passwords that make hacking virtually impossible, and then you allocate the users that you put onto the system to those accounts. Each user account can be setup with different account access. And because you’ve made that connection between the accounts and the users, you can actually track who is posting and when. You can also measure the success of those posts on an individual post basis, as well as over accounts. So, it’s the only system out there that allows you to fully secure your accounts and to manage and analyse your accounts.” How would you say it differs from something like Hootsuite?

“The other way is you can output it via the normal file transfer to any one of the mainstream graphic systems. So, SND On Air is a really simple way to create social media content for use on air.”

“As well as that, ours is designed as an OPEX product. It’s not like a computer product where you add users and you add more cost or you add a particular App and you add more cost. We’re about selling you the system that is complete. So for the one monthly cost we provide unlimited users, unlimited accounts, and any new updates you automatically get as part of your monthly subscription service. It’s really designed for media use and budgets.”

“We run applications on Facebook that allow you to monetarise through sponsorship advertising. So, you’d run a competition for giving away an iPad or giving away a phone or whatever, then part of that would be the sponorship advertising.

“We have two levels of analytics. There’s at post level. You go into the post manager and you can see individual posts, both in Facebook, Twitter and Google+ - which are the three platforms we support, and see the performance of each individual users posts.” “We also have this unique feature which is once again specifically designed for media, which is a social news report. It takes a snapshot of the last 24-hour period. So, it’s like an overnight ratings report for social media. It gives you a breakdown of who were your top post publishers - if you’ve got multiple people over a network posting to your social media channels, you can actually see who’s posting so you can easily measure and manage your team. “ “You can also see analytics such as what’s the most successful post, what’s the best one in terms of impressions, what’s the best one in terms of click-throughs. So, it’s a really good snapshot for your manager to see if your social media strategy is working or not.“ “Then, you can go into the detail, and you can actually see the details of the post and you can see this person’s done a really good post, this has got fantastic click-throughs and you can ask, ‘What did they do right?’ Let’s do that again. Or if the user does a bad post you can identify them and manage them.” Can you also perform topic searches and pull up a range of tweets, for example, to re-broadcast on air?

NEWS OPERATIONS

“So, you do all that on the web, and then you can output it in two ways - you can either create a full HD resolution, on-air graphic full HD on a computer. That’s just a full page of a web browser, if you’re a small broadcaster. This has been very successful with smaller broadcasters in the US who probably don’t have a big graphic systems available. You can position the posts however you like. You can change the background, with the keys all done internally within our system.“

TS: “We have a similar dashboard in some ways, but our product is specifically designed for media. So, it’s a unique, secure package, and we have the whole package - the way of posting, the way of measuring. We also have media specific applications that go with it., such as a news tips application.”

So, the analytics tools can help to refine social media posts or to see what people are actually clicking on?

“You can take posts, create a playlist and edit that playlist, so you can move those posts around. You can edit posts to remove content etc. You can hide the Avatar. All the things you would need to do to a post before you put in on air.”

“The second part of our product is SND On-Air. This is a way of taking a post and getting it fully ready for on air. You select a post on your SND dashboard, whether it be a generic post that you’ve searched or whether it be actual user generated content from your users who are talking and engaging you on your social media channels.” “

So, what’s the approach to monetisation?

“It’s a good way of generating revenue, but it’s also a good way of generating a database. And, we have set up applications that you can just tick all the boxes about all the information that you need, and then that will be filled in by the viewer. It is really easy to use. Our US customers are writing good revenue from social media.” And, independent of Facebook’s revenue stream? That’s exactly right. And there’s obviously rules around that, which we can advise you on…” Which keep changing? “Absolutely. But, it’s certainly been very successful and no doubt will become more successful in the future with Facebooks enormous growth. We have a unique relationshio with the key social media companies as we have 600 customers in the U.S. who are using our systems and we need each other.” Visit www.socialnewsdesk.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

Ross Video Introduces Carbonite Black

axle Cam Introduces Simple Camera-to-Computer Workflow AXLE VIDEO, developer of media management tools for video production, broadcast, and news-gathering has announced the release of a new product that resolves the most persistent problem faced by videographers today: managing complex camera media.

CARBONITE IS NOT ONLY ROSS VIDEO’S most successful switcher ever; it is the market leader in mid-size production switchers world-wide. At NAB 2015, Ross introduced a new Carbonite family member – the Carbonite Black. This new Carbonite switcher addresses the needs of larger productions at a low price point. The Carbonite Black frame is small – just 2 rack units and has 36 inputs and 22 outputs, perfect for those larger production environments. It also has AES outputs to play out audio from the internal Media Stores. The 2RU Carbonite Black frame is available with 2 or 3 MEs, plus 4 MiniMEs and Multiscreen processing – in any signal format – including 3G, UHD (4K) (Quad link). Remarkably, when set to 3G modes – nothing changes, there is no reduction in switcher functionality whatsoever. All of the Keyers, DVEs, MiniMEs and MultiScreen features remain. A 2 ME system can be upgraded to 3 ME. The Carbonite 3ME 32-button panel is a complete re-design with the styling concepts created for the Acuity series of switchers exported over to this new panel. The CB3X panel has Acuity style faders and dedicated 32 button source select rows, it also has dedicated ME row selection buttons for instant control of any ME or MiniME on any row as well as 8 Custom Control bank select buttons. Up to 256 Custom Control Macros can reside on the panel for direct selection at any time. The CB3X panel connects to Carbonite frames via Ethernet, which provides control over much greater distances.

Shown for the first time at InfoComm 2015, axle Cam is a low-cost camera ingest application that streamlines the process of acquiring, organising and sharing media from today’s most popular video cameras and DSLRs. For the first time, axle Cam affordably resolves organisational issues caused by multiple file formats, bitrates, file wrappers and folder structures. The software automatically detects, imports and organises camera media. Users are then able to instantly access, edit and share files through a simple user interface that leverages axle’s radically simple media management technology. The product supports DSLRs and HD cameras made by Sony, Panasonic, Canon, JVC, Nikon and GoPro. The company is developing specialised modules to support higher-end cinema cameras, though release dates have not been announced. “axle Cam is the missing link between the camera and the computer,” says axle Video CEO, Sam Bogoch. “It eliminates the countless hours video professionals now spend in processing and organising camera files before they can be used by others.” axle Cam is a comprehensive and versatile solution. During ingest, camera files are rewrapped with no reduction in image quality, and low resolution H.264 proxy versions of camera media are created for use in editorial and review. The application also features a suite of integrated media management tools, including an interface for displaying media in browsers or mobile devices, a search function for technical and other metadata, and a dashboard grid layout that makes it easy to designate sources and select actions.

With 3 MEs and 4 MiniMEs, Carbonite Black effectively has 7 fully available MEs and a total of 23 keyers.

“DSLRs and video cameras generate dozens of files and folders, which, for the majority of users, are needless clutter,” notes Bogoch. “It leads to more workflow steps, more errors and misplaced shots, and less time for creativity.

The Carbonite series offers a choice of 5 different processing engines and 9 control panels to match a broad range of requirements. Carbonite and Carbonite Black components are interchangeable.

"axle Cam provides an elegant, automated solution. It cleans up incoming files, makes H.264 proxies, grabs the metadata, and displays it in a browser/mobile interface.”

Visit www.rossvideo.com

Visit www.axlevideo.com

AFP Launches Live TV Service AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE (AFP), a global news agency delivering fast, accurate, in-depth coverage of world events from conflicts to politics, sports, entertainment, and the latest breakthroughs in health, science and technology, has announced the launch of “AFPTV Live”, a new service for television networks which offers more than 500 live videos a year.

in 2012. Dozens of hours of live video have been broadcast in 2015,

With this new offer, AFP significantly increases its live video production, which is tripled from June 2015. The service, available by subscription, meets the highest market standards for live feed transmission.

attack on the Bardo museum and the elections in Israel.

AFP’s live video coverage has greatly increased since the initial trials

crash in the Alps. Live broadcasts have now been extended to all countries, from the New Year fireworks in Hong Kong to the inauguration of President Muhammad Bihari in Nigeria, the demonstrations in Tunisia after the “The launch of AFPTV Live marks a decisive moment in the development of video, which is a strategic priority and the leading driver of growth for AFP,” said AFP Chairman Emmanuel Hoog. “By continuing to meet the ever increasing demand for live content, AFP has yet again strengthened the quality of its service to clients and demonstrated that it has become a leading agency for video.” Visit www.afp.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

Thanks to the Agency’s network in 150 countries, subscribers will have real-time access to international news, major sporting and cultural events, as well as a selection of institutional feeds, for example during international summits and special events.

including during the January events in Paris and after the March plane

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

MediaCorp Achieves Enterprise-Wide MAM with Dalet and Qvest DALET DIGITAL MEDIA SYSTEMS, a leading provider of software-based solutions for media organisations, announced that Singapore national broadcaster MediaCorp is now advancing onto the second project of its Dalet-driven enterprise Media Asset Management (MAM) installation. The project will see the entirety of the MediaCorp content archive managed within Dalet and feature the powerful Dalet Workflow Engine for even greater operational efficiencies. Spearheading the project is business partner and broadcast systems integrator Qvest Media Pte. Ltd. The second project of the broadcaster’s ambitious MAM strategy, the Content Media eXchange (CMX), will take MediaCorp to the next level in multi-media ingest and file-based efficiencies. The CMX program is designed to standardise ingest of material across 20 ports of the Dalet Brio servers, as well as harmonise the archive workflow for the entire MediaCorp facility under command and control of the Dalet Galaxy platform. CMX is further intended to enhance the broadcaster’s enterprisewide workflow with all the functionality of the latest Galaxy tools. The project takes advantage of being built from the ground-up at

The Dalet Workflow Engine will be at the core of the new MediaCorp installation. Tight integration with Orchestrator by Aspera gives MediaCorp control over a pool of shared resources to manage transcoding, QC and HSM services while open, extensible framework of the Dalet Galaxy platform supports other key third-party systems like Avid Interplay. Visit www.dalet.com

India’s Shalini TV Using Volicon Observer

THE NEWS LENS, a Taiwan-based news media startup, has selected

VOLICON HAS ANNOUNCED that India’s Shalini TV, a Tamil-language entertainment television channel in Chennai, India, is using a Volicon Observer video monitoring and logging system for compliance monitoring and ad verification.

“The News Lens’ mission is to provide relevant, balanced, and engaging news content to our on-the-go audience, and video is essential to deliver that,” said Joey Chung, CEO and Co-Founder of The News Lens. “As we publish more and more rich video content, the Brightcove video platform enables The News Lens to deliver on our brand promise to extend our reach and engage with a new generation of viewers across multiple screens.” Visit www.brightcove.com

Tedial Provides Doordarshan with MAM and Archive Solution

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

“Dalet is proud to have the trust and confidence of MediaCorp in leading this important project,” says Raoul Cospen, general manager Asia Pacific at Dalet. “Built on open standards with SOA-compliant Web Services APIs and several data exchange protocols, Dalet Galaxy unifies multiple, complex systems for broadcasters to produce streamlined workflows and increased productivity.”

The News Lens Selects Video Cloud Brightcove to power video for its news site for consumers in Hong Kong and Taiwan. With Video Cloud, The News Lens can easily extend the reach of its growing library of self-produced, advertising-supported videos to viewers across laptops, smartphones and tablets.

MediaCorp’s New Media Complex, a brand new plant at Singapore’s One North technology park, to which it is relocating from the Caldecott Broadcast Centre. A key objective of the project is to exploit the broad experience Dalet has in multi-site collaboration and workflow to ensure a smooth migration to the new site and decommissioning of the old system.

TEDIAL HAS ANNOUNCED a major sale of its Tarsys enterprise MAM system to Indian public service broadcaster, Doordarshan. The Tedial system, installed at Doordarshan’s Kolkata facility provides its operators with core and browser-based desktop media tools as well as a fully integrated archive system, able to scale in volume and throughput. The Tedial archive will connect to Doordarshan’s sites in other regions as well as its central archive in Delhi. As well as delivering a fully equipped archive, Tedial’s Tarsys MAM will enable Doordarshan to ingest its existing U-matic, Betacam SP, DVCPR050, and XDCAM HD422 programme content stored on tapes and optical disc media, into the system in both high and low resolution formats. Tarsys is fully integrated with 30TB of HP Online Storage and a 48-slot HP LTO6 tape library as well as Tektronix Cerify QC. Visit www.tedial.com

Volicon’s Observer system continually and automatically captures, stores, and streams on-air feeds, offering multiple simultaneous users around-theclock access to live and recorded broadcast content from desktop computers or smart devices. “Compliance and ad verification are critical elements of broadcast operations, and Shalini TV is among the television channels and networks worldwide that have effectively made the Observer the de facto standard for these applications,” said Russell Wise, VP of global sales at Volicon. Visit www.volicon.com

VTV News Deploys Etere Solution ETERE ANNOUNCE THAT VTV I-NEWS, a news production group part of Vietnam TV, has chosen an Etere solution to archive material for broadcast in Vietnam. VTV I-News recently brought in Etere systems to archive and restore files edited with Avid software, such as news, television programs and other editing projects. The Etere transcoder helps VTV convert Avid Video from MXF OPAtom to MXF OP1A or MPG4 for lower-res browsing. The Etere Transcoder is a robust transcoder based on the powerful conversion tool and has functions to decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux and filter almost any media used in the broadcast industry. For transcoding, the MXF OP1A is distributed to all the potential users of VTV. Most importantly, Etere also controls a large LTO library for long term archiving with our data solutions. The broad suite of Etere modules includes Etere MAM to provide lifecycle content and metadata management with comprehensive and customisable layouts aimed to streamline content cataloguing and distribution. Visit www.etere.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

EDITSHARE, the developer of networked shared storage and tapeless, endto-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV and film industries, has added to its range of solutions for managing media from ingest to archive. Headlines include XStream EFS, the company’s new distributed, redundant “scale out” storage system that brings enterprise-class features to a broad range of facilities at breakthrough prices, and the latest release of the company’s integrated media asset management platform, EditShare Flow 3.2. New to EditShare’s shared storage product line, XStream EFS is an affordable enterprise-class, distributed and redundant “scale out” storage platform, offering unmatched performance and resiliency for real-time workflows. XStream EFS gives mission-critical media workgroups an open storage platform with smart collaboration features, such as project sharing, combined with blazingfast performance, multiple levels of redundancy and tremendous scalability. EditShare Founder and CEO, Andy Liebman, comments, “In addition to EditShare’s core high-bandwidth architecture, the new XStream EFS system offers multiple layers of redundancy that can tolerate the failure of multiple drives, even an entire node. With XStream EFS, you have an intelligent, highly scalable media storage platform that’s rock-solid and affordable – the best of all worlds.” Based on EditShare’s proven media management tools, the new EditShare XStream EFS solution was specially architected to support high-bandwidth, high-volume media ingest, transcoding, online collaborative editing and multiplatform distribution of HD, 2K, 4K and beyond. Flow media asset management platform provides a powerful toolset for the creative control of all files during the production process, and is included with every EditShare XStream storage solution. The latest Flow 3.2 release features new format support, remote collaboration and automation capabilities, a “High Availability” database option, and other enhancements that help facilities build a more efficient production pipe. Topping the robust feature list are: expanded support for 4K codecs and single-file-per-frame formats such as DPX and CinemaDNG; download capabilities that expand the remote collaboration power of AirFlow, the web-based portal into Flow; and fully automated transcoding and delivery workflows. Visit www.editshare.com

New Version of Catapult from XDT THE LATEST VERSION OF XDT’s flagship Catapult suite of products includes simplified fast access to cloud-based storage via NFS and CIFS. Catapult Bridge offers direct access to cloud-based or remote storage via NFS and Samba protocols. Eliminating the use of custom client applications or watch folder workflows to transfer data over WAN networks, Catapult Bridge provides a seamless path over latent networks. Catapult Server is a powerful solution for corporate, broadcast and post production users, and is in use at such post-production facilities and broadcasters such as 20th Century Fox, EFilm Australia, Deluxe, Method Studios, and OmniLabMedia. It offers a fast and secure software-based data transfer application that works over any existing WAN and LAN network; allows highspeed transfers to remote locations or cloud based storage; provides a comprehensive feature set for syncing, data migration, backup and disaster recovery; and offers support for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating platforms across all server and client applications. It is a perfect fit for all frame-based workflows with its sequence-aware transfer protocol. Visit www.xdt.com.au

Viaccess-Orca Shows New Voyage Console VIACCESS-ORCA’S vision to engage viewers starts with protecting premium content, continues with enabling smooth delivery of content to users — at any time, on any device, while personalising the content according to users’ preferences, and ends with an immersive user experience. Viaccess-Orca’s anti-piracy solution helps content service providers protect their TV services against new forms of piracy, such as Web streaming and peer-to-peer content redistribution. Eye on Piracy includes a suite of services targeting TV content on illegal sites and the illegal redistribution of live events, such as major sports matches, providing smart analysis of pirated content and helping service providers and content owners in the fight against piracy. Viaccess-Orca’s new backend management console for TV Everywhere, Voyage Console, enables service providers to manage multiple users, device types (e.g., smartphone, Android tablet, iPad, PC, TV with STB), and content rights and offers (e.g., VOD, SVOD, live TV, nPVR, movie cards) through a single unified system that supports all delivery networks. The console includes advanced search and filtering capabilities that enable operators to track issues easily and perform bulk actions. For example, if content preparation of media files starts failing, the console can be used to filter through the content library and locate assets whose preparation has failed. After identifying such files, the console simultaneously retries the content preparation, allowing for a speedy resolution. Voyage apps, powered by Viaccess-Orca and Zenterio, enable seamless synchronisation between devices, extending the personal experience from a mobile device to the TV. Through the apps end users can easily interact with content, switching between a second-screen device to the TV screen, in addition to viewing advertisements on second screens. Visit www.viaccess-orca.com

ETERE Teams up with FileCatalyst ETERE HAS ANNOUNCED a partnership agreement with Filecatalyst for accelerated transfer speeds inside ETERE workflow. The ETERE system handles high volumes of large format media files. Users may encounter difficulties sending and receiving bigger files and large file quantities can become very slow or unreliable to send, especially over large geographical distances. To transfer files at the highest speed possible, says Etere, there is therefore the need for an integrated and workflow-driven solution. The integration of Etere and FileCatalyst enables users to send files at maximum rates, without being impeded by network impairments, such as latency and packet loss experienced with TCP/IP. The FileCatalyst integration accelerated file transfer protocol offers incredible speed versus traditional methods, allowing user transfers faster than FTP. The FileCatalyst-Etere MAM integration takes advantage of the advanced accelerated file transfer capabilities offered by FileCatalyst, allowing for more seamless media workflows while minimising the impact on network bandwidth. This integration is capable of intelligently triggering and monitoring FileCatalyst-driven transfers between storage locations, based on workflow occurrences and decisions within the Etere MAM system. The result is the efficient management of digital content that is stored at an accelerated pace, thus enhancing productivity. Visit www.etere.com and http://filecatalyst.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

EditShare Tackles “EnterpriseClass” Storage with X-Stream EFS

POST PRODUCTION www.content-technology.com/postproduction

Margaret Sixel Drives Mad Max: Fury Road to Success with Avid Everywhere MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the fourth film in veteran director George Miller’s Mad Max franchise, and the first Mad Max film in 30 years. Set in a stark desert landscape, the film stars Tom Hardy as “Max” and Charlize Theron as “Furiosa.” The two team up to face a relentless enemy as they try to escape the desert wasteland on the “Fury Road.” An intense eight-month shoot in the desolate Namib Desert in Southern Africa was followed by more than two years of post production. To cut the film, Miller’s longtime editor Margaret Sixel and her team had to weave together more than 470 hours of location footage into what would eventually become the final 120-minute film. Sixel and her team relied on cutting-edge creative tools built upon the Avid MediaCentral Platform. By embracing Avid Everywhere, they were able to overcome immense challenges, including harsh production environments, limited Internet bandwidth, and great distances between creative teams to deliver one of the most innovative and exciting films of this generation. The majority of Mad Max: Fury Road revolves around an intense road battle, with dozens of vehicles, hundreds of extras, and mind-boggling stunts. To create these sequences, the team shot with up to 20 cameras at one time – from ARRI Alexas to Canon 5Ds—that were often fixed to moving cars and trucks. The editorial team on location needed to process 10 to 20 hours of footage on a daily basis—from ingest through transcoding to clearance—before finally sending media to the cutting rooms in Sydney. Furthermore, the more complex stunts had to be processed first to meet the shooting schedule and ensure they had been captured properly. “All of the footage had to be flown back to Australia, which took at least three days, with essential material uploaded to Sydney daily,” explains post production supervisor Matt Town. “Unfortunately, the limited and inconsistent Internet bandwidth in Namibia made this extremely difficult. With over 470 hours of film, including 90 minutes of complex stunt work, the complexity of managing and sharing such a massive amount of In order to meet these challenges, the team turned to Media Composer and ISIS shared storage. The system was comprised of nine Avid Media Composer stations running off a 44 TB ISIS system, including three Media Composer | Nitris DX systems to provide editors with highest performance for editing real time effects. Assistant editors used six additional stations to cut the film, with one running remotely in an in-house DI suite to facilitate greater integration with the DI process.

POST PRODUCTION

“For the most part the film was shot chronologically, which proved very useful,” Sixel explains. “Throughout the eight month shoot in Southern Africa, I was in Australia building the cut. It was important to create decent cuts of the film early, so I could give George feedback and discuss pickups.”

The Media Composer system on location had its own separate ISIS system containing a copy of all the footage, which helped the teams overcome the difficulty of uploading cuts. Avid bins containing sequences were sent via email, which allowed them to turnaround sequences in as little as an hour—from the cutting rooms in Sydney to the desert of Namibia. The Avid systems never failed or faltered in the two-year post-production process, including the time spent in the heat and dust of the Namib Desert. “Throughout the entire process, Media Composer and ISIS allowed us to handle a massive amount of footage with ease,” says Town. “The ability to share bins enabled us to spread the load of sorting and arranging the footage across multiple assistants, so it could be easily reviewed. This is the bedrock upon which the whole editorial process stands. If you can’t find footage easily, you simply cannot edit it.”

“Our Avid workflow handled it brilliantly. It’s really the whole Avid package that makes it the only choice for professional editors,” says Sixel. Once the dust settled on the Namibia shoot, the real challenge for Sixel and her team began. Sixel spent countless hours experimenting, reexamining material, and searching for overlooked gems to provide Miller with as many creative choices as possible. The team created an enormous number of comps to build hundreds of shots, often combining up to eight layers. For example, they added missing vehicles, flames, muzzle flashes, extra war boys on the War Rig, and different backgrounds. “‘I try to be as prepared as possible before George steps into the room, and I know what he expects,” says Sixel. “This was not an easy film to cut, and the overall orchestration was more challenging than any one scene. I created multiple versions of each scene and ordered them in terms of my favourites. Some of it looks deceptively simple, but the variables were enormous. Every sequence had a huge number of hours put into it, and every scene had to earn its place. No fat. No repetition.” Once Miller was happy with a scene, Sixel asked the assistant editors to string together every available option for every shot, including numerous comp options. To create the alternate comp versions, the editors varied the timing of elements, used different takes, and experimented with alternate backgrounds. Miller and Sixel would then review all the alternatives and refine the cut further. “It was wonderful having all of this stunning material, but it could be mindboggling at times,” Sixel says. “The number of possible variations was daunting, and we constantly returned to the original scene bins. When you first put a scene together, you look at a particular piece of footage one way. But as the film matures, you might look at the same material differently and see a new way to use it. We worked the material to death.” The team’s relentless work ethic paid off. Sixel says that although the process was very time consuming, it is very satisfying to see the amazing results. She compares the process to creating a mosaic work of art or a musical composition—subtle rearrangements can have a potent effect on the final cut. “Editing is not merely a technical exercise—it is intellectual, emotional and ultimately, like all artistic endeavours, intuitive,” concludes Sixel. “Editing the film on Media Composer made the creative process very straightforward and intuitive. I could sleep easily at night knowing that our Avid systems would keep track of the hundreds of edit decisions we made every day.” Visit www.avid.com

POST PRODUCTION

A Conversation with Eric Whipp Senior Colourist on Mad Max: Fury Road Eric Whipp was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and brought up in Australia. He started work as a colourist in the mid 1990s. Specialising in movies, he worked on the 2007 Academy Award winning Happy Feet. Today he is co-founder and senior colourist at Alter Ego in Toronto, Canada’s leading colour and VFX facility. When not in his Baselight suite he is out making pictures. His still photography has won him commendation in the International Photography Awards, and his 2001 documentary feature Rainforest: Beneath the Canopy won him a gold Australian Cinematography Society award.

C+T How did you meet George Miller? EW I first met George on Happy Feet back in 2005. I had never graded an animated film before, and was pleasantly surprised that we treated it as if it was a live action film. We just jumped in and started grading it. I then worked with George again on Happy Feet 2, and at that point we started talking about Mad Max. What was the workflow? Fury Road had a very unusual post-production pipeline in terms of colour. We had the luxury of a very long post period which was great for look development and for the ability to re-visit grades.

What was the look for the film? How much was done in camera and how much in Baselight? The original Mad Max was one of the first post-apocalyptic films to be made. For thirty years George has watched dozens of films in the same genre and noticed that they all seemed to use the same de-saturated, bleached look. He was adamant thatFury Road should have a saturated, sharp and graphic novel quality to the image. The challenge became how to get that rich graphic look out of essentially two colours: sandy beige and blue sky. All the art direction and costume design specifically put everyone in very neutral tones, removing saturated colours from the palette. It was difficult to push the image to appear vibrant without it looking ‘cheap’, and often we found that the key was to have a rich sky to contrast against the warmth of the sand and the characters.

I started setting looks on early cuts of the film in February 2014, with George in Sydney. I then essentially took the film back with me to Alter Ego in Toronto where I worked on it over the next year.

Luckily, Cinematographer John Seale shot an amazing digital neg on the Arri Alexa with so much range.

We would do interactive grading sessions with George over our StudioLink system. This worked amazingly well and enabled George to sit in a theatre in Sydney and interactively grade with me at Alter Ego in Toronto.

Apart from the challenges in creating a hyper-colourful, rich and graphic look; John knew that lighting continuity wasn’t perfect. The shoot was over six months – and ran at a frantic pace – so the grading process was used to iron out some of the daylight differences between shots to help cut between a sunny day and a cloudy day, for example.

There were three Baselight systems set up at Kennedy Miller Mitchell, the production studio in Sydney. We have five Baselight systems at Alter Ego, so we set up a remote server where the project files could be stored and accessed in either city. It meant that I could call on our team of colourists at Alter Ego to help rotoscope and track shots that were going to be complicated. I would then work on a scene and simply save it, and it could be opened in Sydney for review. As the look developed, we realised that it was crucial to view VFX shots under the grade. George wanted a very stylised and pushed look for the film, which would often show up issues in VFX shots. I tried to keep a current grade on the whole film even as cuts and shots were changing so that this process would work. The new Baselight for NUKE plugin is actually the perfect bridge between VFX and finishing, and it is definitely something we would implement for any future films like this. How did you, director George Miller and cinematographer John Seale work together? Fury Road was a colourist’s dream. I was given a strong brief from George Miller and the most amazing images from John Seale, and then a year to just play and grade the way I thought would work best for the film. Then we would re-group and tweak from there.

What were the key challenges in creating the look?

George is also a strong believer that an audience should focus on character’s eyes. We spent a lot of time ensuring that the attention in any given shot guided you towards the eyes or whatever the important action might be in the frame. Tell us more about the day for night scenes. The film features about half an hour of ‘day for night’, where the scenes were shot 2-3 stops overexposed in full sunlight. We dropped the exposure of the shot overall, gave it our stylised blue night look, but then dug anything we wanted out of the shadows without excessive noise and grain. After that, we had to replace almost every sky. It required a lot of detailed roto work around characters and focal points, but the end result is a really interesting graphic night look. You’ve worked on an incredible number of sky replacements… I’m not sure of the total count, but we must have done hundreds of sky replacements in Baselight. To get the rich look, we often found that some kind of blue sky helped make the image more graphic, particularly when a cloudy shot is cut next to a sunny, blue sky shot.

Continued Page 32 

POST PRODUCTION

MOST RECENTLY he has been re-united with George Miller, director of the animated Happy Feet movies, for a very different project – Mad Max: Fury Road.

POST PRODUCTION Continued From Page 31 Using the tracking in Baselight, I was able to add skies to so many shots with relative ease. The main reason for doing these in the grade instead of VFX is that the sky could be changed at any time and adjusted with the grade as the look was developed. This development began very early on in the postproduction process. How did you find compositing in Baselight? The compositing features on Baselight worked really well for sky replacements. I was able to key a sky, roto and garbage mask if needed, track the new sky to the shot and then grade and position the sky exactly where we wanted it. There were some shots where there was almost nothing to track, just flat sand desert and a white sky, but the area tracker often surprised me with how it managed to lock to the movement of the shot. How did you collaborate with VFX? The main VFX studio was Method in Australia, with another great team of artists under VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson at Kennedy Miller Mitchell. With Baselight systems also at the production studio in Sydney, we found that the combination of VFX and colour worked really well together. Often we would come across a troublesome shot that we couldn’t get over the line, and working with George interactively in colour on the shot would solve the issue so we could move forward. We ensured that we got mattes for all VFX shots, so that I could adjust the elements in the grade. This was hugely beneficial, as once the strong, contrasty grade was applied, it would often crush away detail in the VFX. Using the mattes, I could control the elements and keep information without having to manually roto. Was there a specific scene you found particularly enjoyable or challenging? All of Fury Road was enjoyable to work on. The day for night was probably the most challenging, but in the end I think we have a unique look. I think almost every eyeball has been roto’d and tracked in the film too! What were the deliverables? The movie was delivered in 2D digital, 3D, IMAX and even good ol’ 35mm print.

POST PRODUCTION

The 3D was a post-conversion done by Stereo D. The work is quite amazing: not a cardboard cut-out conversion, but a very real-looking 3D. This of course

meant that once we were finished with the 2D grade, we had our DI team rather painstakingly go back and offset every shape and keyframe on every layer for the 3D version. What sets Baselight ahead of its competition? The colour for Fury Road is not a basic balance. The stacks are huge and we went into great detail on many shots. It might be adding a tiny light ping to someone’s eyeball, or working with layers of mattes from VFX, all the way up to replacing and tracking in a new sky. The Baselight grading system is probably the only system that could do what we wanted at the fast pace we needed. Visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk

Shooting RAW Fury MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the first digital film for cinematographer John Seale (Mosquito Coast, Witness, Dead Poets Society, Rain Man). Seale and his crew chose to shoot principal photography with ARRI Alexa cameras and capture on Codex Onboard recorders. Seale’s crew was outfitted with six ARRI Alexas and a number of Canon 5Ds, with the latter used in part as crash cams in action sequences. The Alexas were supported by 11 Codex Onboard recorders. The relatively large number of cameras and recorders helped the camera crew to remain nimble. While one scene was being shot, the next was being prepped. In order to provide maximum image quality and flexibility for postproduction manipulation, Seale and his crew chose to operate the Alexa cameras in ARRIRAW mode recording onto the Codex recorders. Shooting digitally with Codex offered an advantage over shooting on film as it avoided the need to reload cameras with film negative in the blowing winds of the Namibian desert. RF interfaces were used with the Alexa cameras to transmit images to a command vehicle for monitoring by director George Miller. Miller was not only able to review shots, he could edit material to determine what further coverage was needed. Visit www.codexdigital.com

POST PRODUCTION

Free 4K Demo Footage HARMONIC HAS PRODUCED an array of HD and Ultra HD demo footage, as well as short downloadable 4K clips. Both are available without charge, to qualified companies, for commercial use. Harmonic’s Demo Footage Center provides sample 1080p versions of content that is available in either HD or 4K Ultra HD format, and also provides details on how to obtain the footage. The 4K Clip Center, meanwhile, includes various short Ultra HD test clips that are available for immediate download. Harmonic is inviting other companies to its Harmonic-branded footage for testing, internal demos, and external demos at trade shows and other venues. All footage is available in either HD or Ultra HD format, and reels are available in 25, 30, 50, and 60fps. Harmonic encourages the download of any or all of the its short 4K Ultra HD video clips for testing purposes. Each of the free Ultra-HD clips are 3840 x 2160, 30fps, and are licensed under a Creative Commons license. Visit http://www.harmonicinc.com/resources/videos/4k-video-clipcenter#4k-clip-center

Alchemist OD Turnkey Solutions SNELL HAS ANNOUNCED that its Alchemist OD format and framerate converter is now available as a choice of fully configured, Snell-supported turnkey solutions, as well as continuing to be available as software-only. The new turnkey systems combine Snell’s industry-leading media processing software with carefully selected, state-of-the-art hardware to deliver outstanding performance and reliability out of the box. There are two choices of hardware configurations for Alchemist OD – Professional and Enterprise. The Professional package utilizes high-performance commodity components to create a highly cost-effective conversion solution for standard use; the Enterprise package incorporates enterprise grade components for heavy 24/7 usage, including data center applications. With additional features such as ECC memory, redundant power supplies and increased CPU processing power as well as the option to install a high speed host bus adapter, the Enterprise solution enables fast connectivity to remote NAS/SAN storage. Both systems are delivered in a versatile 4U chassis and come with Windows Server 2012, enabling support for the Apple ProRes family of codecs. Alchemist OD turnkey solutions can be purchased via the worldwide Snell sales and reseller network or direct from the Snell online store website http://snellondemand.com/products/turnkey-solutions

Public Beta of Houdini Engine for Cinema 4D SIDE EFFECTS SOFTWARE and MAXON have announced the

use, speed and dependability.

availability of a public beta of the Houdini Engine for Cinema 4D. The Houdini Engine was introduced in 2013 on SideFX Labs and is designed to allow Houdini’s procedural technology to work inside other digital content creation applications. Studios can build custom effects using the Houdini Engine API and give access to artists using MAXON Cinema 4D.

Especially in studio environments, complex parts of the workflow are tasked to technical directors who create elaborate assets and define the required parameters for use by less technically-oriented artists. This is where the integration of the Houdini Engine in Cinema 4D builds the bridges that help accelerate production and successfully complete production.

The connectivity of the Houdini Engine with Cinema 4D brings two applications together with individual strengths in different sectors and will significantly boost comfort and performance for all users. Houdini offers completely new possibilities for Cinema 4D users for simulations, creating and using complex digital assets and procedurals, and nodebased workflow. Houdini users will benefit from Cinema 4D’s intuitive workflow, interoperability with industry-leading applications, ease of

Optimised effects and objects for Cinema 4D are available for free from Side Effects in the Orbolt Store – the online marketplace for Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs). Artists with no experience working with Houdini can access these assets directly so they can see which possibilities this new integration has to offer. Visit www.maxon.net/products/houdini_integration.html

Blackmagic DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI

DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G has native 12G-SDI connections for working with the very latest high frame rate 4K equipment over a single, high speed SDI cable. Older, first generation monitors and projectors have quad link 3G-SDI connections that require 4 SDI cables. The new DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI mezzanine card bridges the gap so customers can now have both high speed 12G-SDI connections and four 3G-SDI connections, all on the same card. Now with DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI a colourist working with DaVinci Resolve in a grading suite or theater can directly connect to older monitors and digital cinema projectors that have four 3G-SDI connections, without needing to buy additional external converters. In addition to Quad SDI support, the DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI card also adds a built in hardware down converter for outputting 1080p60 video from 12G-SDI 2160p60 sources.

The new Quad Link SDI mezzanine card fits in the mezzanine slot on the DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G, replacing the standard HDMI card that normally occupies the slot. The mezzanine card is easily replaceable and can be installed directly by customers. Installing the Quad Link SDI mezzanine card gives customers quad link 3G-SDI capture and playback on their DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G card. The DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G capture and playback card onto which the Quad SDI mezzanine card gets installed is an extremely fast, 8 lane PCI Express Generation 2 card that lets customers capture and playback dual stream video at resolutions up to 2160p60. This super-fast, high performance card allows dual stream 3D, as well as the capture and playback of simultaneous fill and key, even when operating in Ultra HD at 60 frames per second. Blackmagic has also released Desktop Video 10.4.1 software update. This update supports DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI, and also adds 12bit RGB 4:4:4 support for 2160p30, keying in 1080p60, and deep colour support. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

POST PRODUCTION

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G – Quad SDI, a new mezzanine card that lets customers connect older Ultra HD and 4K equipment that use quad link 3G-SDI connections to their computer through their existing DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G video capture and playback card.

POST PRODUCTION

Iloura Creates a Toxic Storm for Fury Road By Keith Ford

The making of George Miller’s reboot of his post-apocalyptic Mad Max series was a long one, even for a movie as ambitious as Fury Road. Providing the bulk of the visual effects work for the film was Australian VFX studio Iloura. “IN LATE 2011 I was approached by Andrew Jackson, who’s the overall visual effects supervisor for Fury Road, and he told me Fury Road was back on and he was heading out to Namibia in May 2012, and would I like to join him on set as an additional supervisor, so obviously I jumped at the chance. So I headed out to Namibia and became the second unit visual effects supervisor, or – actually, during the shoot we called it the action unit, because it was just so much more descriptive, which was a wild ride,” explained Dan Bethell, Second Unit Visual Effects Supervisor and CG Sequence Supervisor at Iloura. “Once we wrapped principal photography, I was lucky enough to segue into a role at Iloura, which was the main visual effects vendor on the show, and I got to see some of the shots that I’d seen the genesis of, through to completion in post, which was a fantastic and somewhat unique opportunity.” The ability to get a first hand sense of what was intended during shooting gave Bethell much greater insight when completing it came time to complete the VFX. This was particularly helpful when it came to stunts, an aspect of the film that Miller wanted to utilise practical effects as much as possible. “I would say every department on this film, apart from being at the complete top of their game, got on so well. And every department had a real respect for each other, and the fact that some shots were going to be more visual effects-heavy; some special effects, some stunts; so to get specific with special effects guys whenever we needed photographic elements, they were always happy to provide us pyro or dust or flame throwers or bullet hits,” explained Bethell. “Some shots that were very stunts-driven, I could advise which equipment would be best for post; and in other situations where I knew a CG element might be going in, I might work with the director to instruct the stunt performers where to fall or where to move your head, or you’re getting hit by a bullet from this side, so this is your reaction.”

POST PRODUCTION

Simply looking at the number of effects shots, which came to over 2000 with 1695 completed by Iloura, would lead to a belief that the

commitment to practical stunts had been abandoned in favour of CGI. This was definitely not the case. “Apart from two key sequences that are very heavily CGI, the majority of the shots, they were complicated, but they were composites of, as much as possible, photographic elements. In order to give that sense of reality and that everything was captured in camera, we tried to – even when there were multi-part composites, and sometimes you do many, many layers, we tried to capture as much of every frame as we could in camera,” said Bethell. “Maybe not all at the same time, so a lot of my work was looking at the main photography that was captured, working out what background plates we would need to shoot, what special effects elements, and then going out later in the shoot with a breakaway camera unit to pick up these backgrounds, but we always tried to photograph as much as we could in camera, and then rely very heavily on compositing in post to bring all these together into a seamless shot.” The two sequences that did require large amounts of CGI are also, perhaps not coincidentally, among the most spectacular moments in the film. The first of these is the ‘Toxic Storm’. “It’s towards the end of the first act and the vehicles head into a massive sandstorm, which is so big it kind of generates its own electrical energy, manifested in lightning. It has these massive twisters with small twisters around them. The entire environment, even though it’s just a large expansive plain, had tonnes of atmosphere; sand and grit flying past the camera; it’s a very visceral sequence,” said Bethell. “Through the shoot, we just captured, essentially, the vehicles on a large desert plain and did a lot of work at Iloura in post to bring the live action photography together with these massive smoke and particle simulations and heavy compositing work as well, to make everything sit together. It’s a beautiful sequence and one we’re very proud of.” The second of the largely CGI creations is the Immortan Citadel, a large geological structure in the apocalyptic wasteland where Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, who also played Toecutter in the original Mad Max) set up his stronghold. “We had to create these three large towers, and they had to look just like they were formed from the earth. And in order to do that Andrew Jackson (visual effects supervisor on Fury Road) actually took a helicopter up to the Blue Mountains and photographed loads of cliff faces, which through various techniques, including photogrammetry, we used to create these towers. So even though they’re fantastical, they’re really based in some form of reality, which goes for pretty much everything in Fury Road,” added Bethell. Visit www.iloura.com.au

POST PRODUCTION

Adobe Unveils 2015 Creative Cloud Release ADOBE HAS ANNOUNCED the 2015 release of Creative Cloud which includes major updates to Adobe’s desktop tools, including Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, Premiere Pro CC and InDesign CC; as well as new connected mobile apps for iOS and Android. The company also shipped Adobe Stock, a stock content service to be integrated directly into Adobe’s range of tools. In addition, Adobe has announced an expanded Creative Cloud enterprise offering that includes enterprise-grade administration, security, collaboration and publishing services. At the heart of Creative Cloud is Adobe CreativeSync, a signature technology that intelligently syncs creative assets: files, photos, fonts, vector graphics, brushes, colours, settings, metadata and more. With CreativeSync, assets are instantly available, in the right format, wherever designers need them – across desktop, web and mobile apps. Available exclusively in Creative Cloud, CreativeSync means work can be kicked-off in any connected Creative Cloud mobile app or CC desktop tool; picked up again later in another; and finished in the designer’s favorite CC desktop software. With the 2015 release of Creative Cloud, Adobe magic and Mercury performance provide speed and technology breakthroughs across 15 CC desktop applications, including: Premiere Pro CC adds the Lumetri Colour panel for powerful colour corrections using intuitive sliders and other simple controls; and Morph Cut, which makes it easier to deliver polished interview content by smoothing out jump cuts in talking-head shots to create a cohesive, polished sequence. After Effects CC now has Uninterrupted Preview to allow artists to adjust a composition’s properties and even resize panels without impacting playback. Also, Adobe Character Animator brings 2D figures to life using a webcam to track facial movements, record dialog and apply movements in real time onto a pre-configured character. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Photoshop CC introduces Artboards, enabling the design of cross-device user experiences in a single Photoshop document and quickly preview them on a device; and a preview release of Photoshop Design Space, a new work environment focused on the needs of mobile app and web site designers. Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC both gain the new Dehaze feature, which appeared first as a MAX sneak peak in October 2014. Dehaze eliminates fog and haze from photos, including underwater shots. Haze can also be added to a photo for artistic effect. Illustrator CC is now 10 times faster and 10 times more precise than CS6. Powered by dramatic boosts to its Mercury Performance Engine, users can now pan and zoom smoothly without delays. With the new Chart tool (preview), designers can also create custom charts and share them with others via CC Libraries. InDesign CC gets its own Mercury performance surge with zooming, scrolling, and paging through complex documents now twice as fast. InDesign now also allows users to publish and distribute documents with a single click.

Dreamweaver CC has new responsive web design capabilities that let designers quickly lay out and build production-ready web sites that adapt to any screen size. Adobe Muse now includes instant access to premium fonts from Typekit. Since Creative Cloud was introduced in 2012, Adobe has championed the idea that mobile devices should be integral to the creative process, with free companion mobile apps working seamlessly with CC desktop tools. To that end, Adobe has released Brush CC, Shape CC, Colour CC and Photoshop Mix on Android for the first time, bringing connected mobile workflows to millions of creatives worldwide. Adobe has also updated many of its Creative Cloud mobile apps for iPhone and iPad, including Adobe Comp CC, Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Sketch, Illustrator Draw, Brush CC, Shape CC and Colour CC. In addition to these updates Adobe has debuted Adobe Hue CC which provides an easy way to capture and share production-quality lighting and colour schemes – for video, film and broadcast – by using an iPhone camera and then applying these light and colour moods into a Premiere Pro CC or After Effects CC project. According to Adobe, its Creative Cloud is evolving into a “vibrant global marketplace”. Adobe Talent, introduced in 2014, connects the creatives with work opportunities from major brands and agencies; and now the company has launched Adobe Stock, the first stock content service to be integrated directly into the creative process and the tools that creatives use every day. Now creatives can jump-start projects, with access to 40 million images, right within tools such as Photoshop CC, InDesign CC and Illustrator CC. Adobe has also announced it will offer “industry-leading” rates to photographers and designers contributing content to Adobe Stock. Adobe has also announced major enhancements to Creative Cloud for enterprise: a solution for large commercial, education and government customers. This edition includes all the product features from the Creative Cloud 2015 release, plus expanded security options and deep connections with Adobe Digital Publishing Solution (DPS) and Adobe Marketing Cloud. Two new security capabilities ensure protection of corporate assets, including customer-managed encryption keys and a new managed service hosting option, which offers dedicated storage behind a customer’s firewall. Creative Cloud for enterprise also supports an upcoming release of DPS, empowering existing teams in organisations to rapidly design and publish mobile apps without writing code. A public beta of this major update to DPS is now available this week, with more information available at http:// blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/dps2015-au. Content from Creative Cloud for enterprise also syncs with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), a key component of Adobe Marketing Cloud, to accelerate marketing campaigns by streamlining creative-to-marketing workflows. Visit: https://www.adobe.com/au/creativecloud.html

Grass Valley Unveils EDIUS 8 with Major Upgrades version of its editing platform designed for production and broadcast news. Version 8 features multiple new capabilities, including refreshed GUI, Canon XF-AVC support, a new workflow clip management tool, accelerated 4K H.264 playback and an aggressive development program to introduce many new creative tools over the coming months.

providing editors with super-fast H.264 export capabilities—great for dealing with smartphone footage and repurposing for uploads to social media channels, including YouTube—and amazing playback, even when editing 4K material.

EDIUS offers camera support to allow editors to concentrate on the story, not the technology. Plus, EDIUS 8 is the first nonlinear editing system to support Canon’s recently announced XF-AVC video format which is at the heart of the new 4K XC10 camcorder. EDIUS 8 also includes a new GV browser tool to manage video and still image content on your PC, prior to importing into EDIUS for editing.

EDIUS 8 will be available in two versions, EDIUS Pro and EDIUS Workgroup. EDIUS Pro is targeted at production professionals looking for flexible editing that offers speed and the ability to handle any file format with a range of creative tools. EDIUS Workgroup is aimed at collaborative news and sports editing for broadcasters, and can be fully integrated with the GV STRATUS video production and content management system, or other third-party media asset management tools and server offerings.

EDIUS delivers exceptional performance using Intel’s Quick Sync Video—

Visit www.grassvalley.com

POST PRODUCTION

GRASS VALLEY, a Belden Brand, has announced EDIUS 8, the latest

AUDIO Digital soundwaves

www.content-technology.com/audio

Sound Devices Goes on a Wild Ride with ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ essentially in a rusty box, so RF reception had to be rethought, making repeaters sometimes necessary. The crew set up three multiplex systems (which Ben designed with assistance of RF experts) with RF combiners and high-powered transmitter boosters to maximise the range of 1-to-3 kilometres, not only for recording purposes but also to aid communication behind the scenes. “As we travelled long distances, the walkie talkie repeater towers were often out of range,” Osmo said, “so I was asked to provide my comms in the Lectrosonics radio mics and IFB systems to Director George Miller and First AD and CoProducer, PJ Voeten, as they also often were great distances apart—at least 500 metres to 1.5 kilometres—and they were able to have hands free communication. Cinematographer John Seale and two of his operators were on this system, and the first AC camera people, as well.”

AS THE TITLE IMPLIES, Mad Max: Fury Road is a mad and furious, high-action post-apocalyptic film set in a desert wasteland. The plot calls for a warlord’s harem to race across the sandy landscape in a desperate, high-speed bid for freedom from his ruthless henchman. Both escapees and their pursuers form an “armada” of armoured vehicles. Hidden within that sandstorm were members of the audio crew, trying to capture every bit of dialogue and sound effects, all while in motion. Faced with such a monumental challenge, veteran Production Sound Mixer Ben Osmo and Vehicle FX Recordist Oliver Machin turned to Sound Devices’ 7-Series of digital audio recorders.

AUDIO

“I used four 788T-SSDs plus four CL-8s, and did mix down to each recorder, plus a two-track mix down to a 744T for dailies,” said Osmo. “I also had a 788T rigged in my sound cart and kept that in a larger truck for a couple of months, next to video split.” In addition to that equipment, Oliver Machin brought a sixth 788T in a bag to record extra vehicle FX when necessary.

Osmo said, “The use of multiple 788Ts became necessary when the challenge was to record multiple tracks under extreme conditions. The 788Ts were very versatile. As well as ISO tracks and mix downs, we were able to set up mix minuses with AUX sends into a monitor mixer. We had available 42 channels of radio mics. This was because of the repeater systems and different RF blocks in play, so we could pre-rig vehicles ahead of time, and in my van, I would then cross over to the correct receiver blocks once they were in action.” Machin said, “It was kind of ridiculous trying to

keep track of that many transmitters. We were planting mics on the vehicles…and Mark Wasiutak would also travel with a boom mic to grab the slates and sync effects at the time with the shots.” There was also a separate action unit sound team, using a more simplified system, still pursuing the action and providing usable guide track dialogue for future automated dialogue replacement (ADR). Microphones were hidden in the cabin and on the principle cast, in the engine bays, near exhausts, on top of the “War Rig” (the main characters’ get-away vehicle), and on a vast number of supporting cast members in other vehicles. Capturing all of that audio would be a major task on a normal sound stage, but portability requirements for Fury Road would not allow for a typical film-studio audio setup, so the crew had to get creative. “We had a 4×4 vehicle,” said Machin, describing Ben Osmo’s van they dubbed the Osmotron. “Instead of having sound carts traditionally…that wasn’t going to cut it on a road movie traveling at 80- or 90-miles an hour across the desert. Nobody was going to keep up, so we built into his vehicle huge racks of radio mic receivers.” “It was lucky that I had all SSD 788Ts,” Osmo said. “So, even though most of the filming was off road, they performed exceptionally well under extreme vibration.” Separately, a 744T was suspended in a pouch so it could absorb the shocks of the Namibian desert during the six-mouth-long production schedule. “They never skipped a beat, especially when travelling and recording on very bumpy and dusty terrain.” Adding to the complexity, the cast members were

Comms were also used to feed audio to IFB receivers for cast members. As sound mixer, Osmo also had to feed a musical mix to musicians armed with ear wigs to aid them in keeping time to the beat while riding atop the “Doof Wagon” vehicle, and playing instruments, such as drums and a flaming guitar. When the action call came, only the camera tracking vehicles, SFX, and the lonely sound van were in pursuit. Mark Wasiutak, key boom operator, travelled on the hero vehicles when cameras were on board. He was able to troubleshoot with assistance from the rest of the sound crew whenever the armada was stopped for checks. “It was like a whole armada,” Machin said. Once it stopped, “Every department was jumping in their 4x4s and travelling to assist. I mean literally they would be going five, six, seven kilometres across the desert, turn around and come back again, or go farther.” The whole unit relocated to new technical base camps, then waited for the cue to go again. “It was quite a feat to make that happen.” Another benefit of the 788T is its reliable timecode jamming capabilities, making it right at home in complex multi-camera sync-sound productions like Mad Max: Fury Road. Although the 788T has an on-board, high-accuracy Ambient timecode generator, while on location for Fury Road, the crew used Ambient master clocks with GPS antennas set to Greenwich Mean Time. All cameras were supplied with Lockit boxes and Deneke slates with Ambient Lockits. Osmo said, “My 788T recorders and the 744T were jammed from the same Ambient master clock. All the recorders synched up beautifully and never missed a beat.” Visit www.sounddevices.com

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Calrec’s industry-leading Hydra2 offers a simple, intuitive solution for managing this potential without unnecessary complications, enabling full integration with the wider broadcast community. Provided as standard on Apollo, Artemis and Summa consoles, Hydra2 is yet another reason the world’s most successful broadcasters rely on Calrec.

2 190x264mm_C+T_Network.indd 1

ARTEMIS

ARTEMIS 07/08/2015 19:47

ARTEMI

AUDIO

Syncing Mad Max: Fury Road Timo Klinge interviews Ben Osmo, Production Sound Mixer and Oliver Machin, Sound Department Coordinator & Vehicle FX Recordist about Ambient Lockits getting put to the test in the desert of Nambia, Africa during the production Mad Max: Fury Road. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is one of the most successful features this year. Without telling too much about the story, we can say that it is a hell of a ride with a lot of fantastic war cars chasing each other through a post-apocalyptic desert. Timo: How much fun was it to deal with all those special effects? Ben: Most of it was purely visual. There were some real TNT explosions with rocks, which was a huge day for the action unit, but a lot of the action scene explosions were mainly just pops, except for the real crashes. So it was really more trying to get the dialogue while establishing and maintaining the communication, which was our mantra. At the end of the filming in Namibia, Oliver went on with a crew on his own to do dedicated car sound recordings. For all this work, the Ambient gear was invaluable because often times cameras could’ve been 3-4 kilometres away from where we were. Particularly when I was travelling in a small van, the Lockit boxes placed on each camera were irreplaceable. Oliver set them up in the morning, and it was set and forget.

unexpectedly ran out during the second day of use it was not a disaster. As it was they seemed to do two full days without issue providing I remembered to change the batteries or they didn’t get left on over night! Timo: You really had Lockit boxes on the slates? Ben: Yeah, we had Lockit boxes on the slates as well. I had Denecke slates as it was requested by the camera department for some strange reason (laughing). I think, they had already made the templates, but I already owned three Denecke slates anyway, so we just had to buy one more for the production. Knowing that we won’t be able to resync them during the day, we placed a red Lockit Box (ACL203) on each slate so they would constantly be in sync with the rest of the system. Oliver: Additionally, some camera units sometimes didn’t shoot for hours, so with a Lockit box

AUDIO

So often we were so separated that once we’d set up, we were hoping to God that the gear was still going. We were also a bit over enthusiastic about battery changes in the morning, but I can’t even remember if we ever had to change batteries on the Lockits, did we Ollie?

Oliver: No, we were using Energizer Lithium batteries and were initially a bit overly conservative with them. So I made tests and found out that Lockits work at least three full shooting days on one set of AAs. The old ACL203 Lockits were a bit thirstier, so I put them on the slates so that if the Lithium Energizer batteries

At the end of the day Oliver collected all Lockits again and double-checked with the controller if the timecode was still good, just in case that somebody switched it off or something else happened. This way, we would have known exactly which camera on which shooting day had what issue or drift. Luckily that never happened. Timo: So Ben, you were not daisy chaining all 788Ts, but you simply jam synced them all in the morning, right?

All units departed and were sometimes kilometres away from each other during the day, so there was no chance to react if something went wrong. We placed Lockit boxes on each camera so they were constantly synced from external. This way camera department could change batteries and even shut off the cameras for several hours. As soon as they repowered the cam, it was back in sync without having them to do anything. Even if they would have been closer, once they were on the camera we couldn’t get access to them. Most of the cameras were either on the edge arm vehicles, which is like a techno crane on top of a 4-wheel drive with a remote head, so you put the Lockit on that camera and away they go. They’ll just go anywhere directed via radio communication. So they could get tracking shots behind the armada a few centimetres above the ground travelling at 60-70 km/h, then ramping up to 80-90km/h, and then going around to the side of the vehicle to get a close up on the driver while capturing the dialogue.

with Oliver setting up the three Controllers to sync to GMT time via GPS during our 30min pre-call. In the meantime we had breakfast. Afterwards, he passed one to me, and one to the action unit. Everybody jumped into their drive and off everybody went in all directions. I then used mine as master-clock in the sound vehicle to jam-sync all recorders. Ollie synced up all the Lockits and placed them on the cameras and stayed with the main unit. The VFX unit, who often were with the action unit, were developing a GPS positioning logging device that was mounted on each camera. For this reason the VFX department wanted the camera to use the UTC time information from the GPS satellites to as the time reference for the time code on the pictures so that the GPS positioning data could be cross referenced with the pictures. Thus, we needed to establish this three-Controller workflow as we had the technical base camp 2-3km away from the main unit. The action unit left every morning often to different locations than main unit. Thus, Ollie stayed with his controller with the main unit while I was working with the technical unit.

Ambient's Lockit timecode & sync generator.

attached to it, they could simply switch off the slate for that time. Also, if they run flat on batteries, they didn’t have to come to us to re-jam it. Ben: Of course, we had Mark Wasiutak, our boom operator travelling with the war cars. He was our long arm to the set. So if anything was with the wireless, lavs or slate, he often was able to solve it while we were kilometres away. In fact, I often didn’t even have a picture, and if I did, it was about 2 seconds delayed. So we all had to rely on wireless audio. So having a setup not needing permanent monitoring was crucial. Timo: I saw the picture of a huge amount of Lockit boxes. Can you recall how many you used in total? Oliver: I was trying to work that out because the picture is just showing half of them. Ben: We had 4 on the slates, 1 on each of the 11 Alexa cameras, some on the additional crash cams. So I reckon that we probably had about 18 Lockits and 3 ACC501 controllers each equipped with a GPS antenna. Timo: Wow, together with the four Sound Devices 788T and one 744T, that makes a total of 26 synced Lockit circuitries. Ben: We set up a certain workflow, which started

Ben: Yes and they were dead perfect, never had a problem. It was just fantastic. We had a great crew of post people with us who were constantly checking and giving us feedback. The worst they ever reported was a quarter of a frame difference between our up to 26 individual running units after a full shooting day, which still was incredible. They found out afterwards that it was not because of us but because of some cameras working off speed. Anyway, we double checked the tuning and never heard another word from them about sync, and they were happy as Larry. Timo: That might have been a great production for the ACN network which was implemented with Firmware Version 3.0, but I think it was not out yet. Ben: No, the ACN firmware was still in development. It definitely would’ve been great to have full remote control of all Lockit units, and I guess VFX and Post would’ve loved the line sync accuracy between all devices and the great new metadata workflow– but the circumstances made it impossible to use the ACN anyway. As said before, camera units were sometimes 7 kilometres away in another valley. The air was filled with desert sand containing metallic parts, additionally decreasing wireless range – Not to forget that some cameras were dug deep inside the full metal cars. That’s why we decided to use the Lockits in first place. I used to wirelessly transmit my timecode before, but this is such a better system. Oliver: If we get the chance to do another Mad Max, I would love to implement the full ACN network with the new Master Lockits on the Alexa.

AUDIO

Thus, editors, post-production mixers and VFX artists can spend less time going through paperwork and spend more time making creative decisions. Timo: So with all the nasty environment & weather conditions, did you ever face any issues with the system? Ben: No, never. They never skipped a beat they were fantastic. Of course, we were pretty meticulous and gave them a dust off and cleaning every evening. The only thing we had to exchange afterwards were the leather pouches, as the plastic look through front part cracked thanks to the dry desert heat. Timo: Did you do any particular preparation on sync before you started the production? Oliver: Yes. The benefit of using an Ambient Lockit system is that you can recalibrate or tune all devices to one speed. As we used Lockits from different generations and Sound Devices recorders, it was a must for what we wanted to achieve in accuracy to tune them before we started. This was even more important as all of these circuitries were tuned in different temperature zones before, so it was pretty realistic that the different units would have drifted against each other. To avoid that, I tuned the ACC501 controller to the atomic clock of the GPS satellites. Now I used this as the time reference, and tuned all other Lockit circuitries on set to the same time reference. I know it sounds complicated, but the truth is it’s an easy 5 minute job to tune all 28 units, and it can prevent hours of work if something goes wrong. Timo: Did you get any feedback from post after you finished on Mad Max? Ben: I know from the editor, Margie (Margaret Sixel), that with sometimes 12 cameras for one shot, they ended up with 250 hours of footage. So it would’ve been a major problem if only some of the material would not have been in sync. But as said before, they were all as happy as Larry with what we delivered. Visit http://ambient.de

DPA Microphones Help Capture the Sound on Fury Road PRODUCTION SOUND MIXER on Mad Max: Fury Road, Ben Osmo, chose DPA’s d:screet 4063 Miniature Microphones with low sensitivity and low voltage to record dialogue during the shooting of action scenes that involved fast, furious and bumpy chases across the Namibian desert. He also used DPA d:screet 4062 Miniature Microphones with extra low sensitivity for cabled recordings of various vehicles, and these were held firm inside each vehicle by DPA magnet mounts. “I love DPA mics because they have a transparent sound and are the best for wind noise,” Osmo says. “For this film, Leon Hart at DPA’s Australian distributor Amber Technology, suggested I use d:screet 4063 Miniature Microphones because they matched the voltage outputs of my Lectrosonics SMV and SMVQ transmitters. I have been using DPA lapel mics for many years because they have the most transparent sound of any lapel mic currently on the market.” On Fury Road, vehicle noises often drowned out the dialogue, particularly if actors were in the vehicles or standing near them, so Osmo close mic’ed everyone to get usable guide tracks.

Inside the “Osmotron”

The “Osmotron” van equipped with huge racks of radio mic receivers.

“We used low sensitivity d:screet Miniature Microphones for the eight principle cast members who were inside the War Rig cabin and these provided all dialogue and all transmitted sound FX,” he explains. “At the same time we placed a lot of hidden DPA d:screet mics in the cabin for FX and for catching the action. We also positioned them around the engine bay, near the exhausts and transmission and up on the top of the War Rig, and they were used in other vehicles and on the vast supporting cast.” Costume ‘genius’ Andrea Hood was responsible for placing the DPA Miniature Microphones inside the actors’ costumes so they remained invisible.

Lockit network diagram.

“She was an immense help because she sewed the mics into costumes and made small pouches on the key costumes, especially those worn by the wives and Furiosa,” Osmo says. “We came up with a couple of interesting positions to place them in Max’s jacket and inside his t-shirt. We couldn’t tape them to his outfit because it was covered in oil and dirt, so Andrea sewed them into the back of his shirt. Location Assistant Brendan Allen and Andrea came up with suggestions of where we could place the DPAs in his jacket and we trialled them all, with

me listening for rustle and wind noise. Finally we decided to place two Miniature Mics on each side of his jacket so that when he turned around he would still be on mic. The high wind fluffies were also used and these were instrumental in keeping the wind at bay.” Filming an action movie in a place as inhospitable as the Namibian desert did present some issues for the sound equipment, but Osmo got round this by placing most of the hardware in temperature controlled road cases or inside his van. But the radio mic transmitters and DPA and Boom mics were always out in the elements, all being hidden inside costumes or blimps. “We never lost a mic due to the environmental conditions – they performed very well,” he says. “Overall, the DPA d:screet 4063 Miniature Microphones were definitely the best choice for dialogue. I’ve been using them for a few years and they are fantastic. In fact, since finishing Fury Road I have used DPA mics to record two television mini-series in Australia – Return to the Devil’s Playground and The Kettering Incident. Both these projects have required minimal ADR.” Visit www.dpamicrophones.com

AUDIO

Metadata is becoming increasingly important in feature productions. Now that we can start to electronically link all metadata produced by Sound and Camera with the metadata created by Script, Continuity, DIT, VFX, I can see that the ACN and LockitNetwork will be the glue, that brings all this information together and speed up postproduction workflows.

AUDIO

KBS Korea Gears Up with Lawo mc² consoles

CEDAR Launching Cambridge Series IV TO MEET THE ever-increasing desire for greater efficiency and faster throughput, CEDAR Audio has announced CEDAR Cambridge Series IV, which comprises two new versions of its CEDAR Cambridge hardware. An 8-core system with 16GB of RAM provides all the power of the previous Series III models, while an expanded 16-core version with 32GB of RAM will be even better suited to batch processing large bodies of audio, as well as for use in forensic laboratories that use extended chains of processor-intensive adaptive filters. Both versions will support multiple instances and multiple users more efficiently than before and, depending upon the number of processing paths and the number of processes running in each, this can lead to significant increases in productivity.

PART OF AN ONGOING MODERNISATION PROCESS, Korean national broadcaster KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) has chosen Lawo to supply and install digital equipment – following the earlier upgrade of KBS’ master control room with 16 Lawo Nova17 MkII routing systems and VisTool workplaces for visualisation and control. For the broadcaster’s news studio and a new OB truck, KBS decided on two mc²66 digital audio consoles equipped with latest RAVENNA/AES67 Audio-over-IP interfaces. While the news studio has been on-air since the beginning of 2015, the OB installation will be concluded by September 2015. Soundfox International, Lawo’s partner in Korea for Broadcast Audio & Video, is overseeing all of these KBS installations. From previous experience with custom Lawo digital systems, and after considering all relevant options, KBS awarded the modernisation of their news studio for KBS News1 (NS1) to the German manufacturer in autumn 2014. The project began in October, and an mc²66 console was installed and ready for news production in December. Ho Gun Lee, KBS News Director, states, “The Lawo mc²66 system is very stable and easy-to-use. The reasons for selecting the mc²66 include its stability, and the long history and expertise of Lawo as a manufacturer. Another feature is the simple and fast routing via the console, and errors can be monitored and analysed by the real-time display of the current status of the whole system through the central main screen.” Besides modernising the fixed installations, KBS is also modernising its OB fleet. For this, a new mc²66 console is being set up, configured and customised in Germany. The concept includes the use of Lawo stageboxes using RAVENNA technology. Visit www.lawo.com

TASCAM Introduces DP-24SD Portastudio TASCAM HAS INTRODUCED the DP-24SD, a 24-track Digital Portastudio that’s simple to use to keep musicians creative. The latest model records to rugged solid-state media – economical and expandable SD Cards. Eight XLR mic inputs with phantom power provide enough preamps to record a full band, and each input has available compression and limiting during recording. A colour LCD display, channel control strip, and a range of effects make the DP-24SD the ultimate production station for musicians.

AUDIO

Built into the DP-24SD are three types of effects. Up to eight dynamics effects can be routed to any or all inputs during recording for polishedsounding tracks. A multieffects processor provides amp simulation, delay, chorus, and more, ideal for using with the direct guitar input.

Visit www.tascam.com

The expanded CEDAR Cambridge Series IV will (with additional video cards) support up to six DVI monitors, which makes it even easier to set up, view and control multiple instances of CEDAR Cambridge on the same host hardware, with all of their signal analysis, processing paths, metadata, and report generation windows comfortably laid out and visible simultaneously. Visit www.cedaraudio.com

Audio Tests Made Simple with dBbox2 THE DBBOX2 FROM CTP SYSTEMS allows monitoring, metering, and generation of analogue, AES/EBU & SPDIF audio from a pocket sized box with cable tester and 4 wire interface. The unit features a simple five key menu interface to make any test as simple as possible. It allows you to monitor mono or stereo line level analogue inputs with the use of an in-built speaker ¼ inch or 3.5mm headphone jacks. Undertake meter readings using either PPM or VU scales, which can also be achieved with the stereo phase meter. Monitor AES/EBU balanced or unbalanced inputs using the built in speaker or headphones. Meter using -18dBFS, -20dBFS, PPM or VU scale with stereo phase meter. The unit also allows you to monitor microphone level analogue inputs, with or without 48v phantom power, using the built in speaker or headphones. Run meter tests using either PPM or VU meter scale with stereo phase meter. The AES analysis sample rate feature enables the user to check status and data errors. Tone generator frequency is adjustable in third octave steps, with level from +10 to -60dBu in 1dB steps. Generate steady tone, tone sweep, GLITS, EBU, left only, right only, on both analogue and AES/EBU outputs. The Audio tester allows the user to generate pink noise and send to left/ right/both outputs in both analogue and AES/EBU with a choice of levels in 1dB steps from +10dBu to -60dBu. The unit can send its external mic to analogue and AES outputs with gain adjust and phantom power. The MIDI receiver has an identifying channel, note on/off and note number. The dBbox2 can be used as an analogue to digital or a digital to analogue converter with adjustable gain in 1dB steps, a limiter and HF, LF and Midrange equalisation. The unit also includes a mono or stereo microphone amplifier with 48v phantom power and analogue, AES/EBU or SPDIF output. This includes adjustable gain in 1dB steps, a limiter and HF, LF and Mid-range equalisation. CTP Systems are working on software to allow the dBbox2 to be used as a ‘test hub’ allowing it to be controlled by both PC and Mac software with test sequences and results available on the computer screen. Visit www.papeople.com and www.ctpsystems.co.uk

RADIO The original broadcast media

www.content-technology.com/radio

Media Prima Upgrades with HARMAN MEDIA PRIMA, Malaysia’s leading integrated media investment group, recently purchased five HARMAN Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital audio consoles for its Fly FM Radio commercial production studio. Media Prima purchased the consoles from Mahajak Trio Electronic Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s local HARMAN distributor.

other, more expensive boards. “The EQ on the Si Expression sounds incredible compared with my other consoles,” Lee noted. “We also purchased one Soundcraft Compact Stagebox for PA usage. This makes for even faster setup and configuration time. We also purchased eight JBL EON610 loudspeaker for our PA system.”

According to FLY FM’s Engineering Manager, Simon Lee, the Si Expression 2 is feature-packed and highly versatile. “I’m very impressed with the compact design, flexible fader configuration, and built-in Lexicon processors,” he said. “Its scalability makes it suitable for use in our production studios, recording suites, or for live PA.”

According to Mahajak Trio Senior Manager, Sales & Project, Lee Chin Kah, the Soundcraft Si Expression console is very user-friendly and easy to teach, suitable for all applications where audio mixing is required, including broadcast, PA, houses of worship, music venues, recording and tour sound. “People with less experience in sound mixing can learn it very fast because of its intuitive design,” Chin Kah noted. “The expansion slot also allows many digital option formats.”

“The Si Expression 2 consoles also reduce cable clutter and are the right fit for modern DAWs. The pricing is very competitive based on its features and meets our tight budget. Thanks to

Mahajak Trio for providing support and training for our users. It’s a Soundcraft, so we can’t go wrong,” Lee added. Despite the Si Expression’s affordability, the sound quality is world-class and holds up to

Visit www.harman.com

Radio Industry Welcomes Government Digital Radio Report COMMERCIAL RADIO AUSTRALIA (CRA) has welcomed the release of the Digital Radio Report by the Department of Communications and looks forward to joining the recommended planning group to commence planning for the rollout of DAB+ broadcast radio to regional Australia. Joan Warner, chief executive officer of CRA, said, “CRA is pleased to note the signal of support for regional DAB+ rollout in the report, with its recommendation for the establishment of an industry planning group. This means that regional Australians will not suffer a digital divide in relation to free to air broadcast radio but will eventually be on an equal footing with their metropolitan counterparts.”

Australian radio listeners have demonstrated strong support for DAB+ digital broadcast radio. Since the launch of DAB+ digital radio in metropolitan Australia in late 2009, DAB+ digital radio listening continues to outperform expectations, with 3.2 million people or nearly 25% now listening to radio each week using a DAB+ digital radio in the five metropolitan capitals. Twenty six vehicle manufacturers in Australia now include DAB+ digital radio and more than 190,000 vehicles with the technology have been sold. Ms Warner said, “The radio industry has invested in a robust reliable future broadcast technology

that is easy for listeners to access, remains free, live and local with additional choice and content. Broadcast radio plays a vital role in metropolitan and regional areas with the provision of local news and local emergency services information, so it is very important we continue to provide free to air broadcast radio services into the future.” DAB/DAB+ is fast becoming the global standard for broadcast digital radio as it rolls out across Europe and parts of the Asia Pacific. DAB+ provides a robust reliable, free to air signal as well as the opportunity for broadcasters to offer more choice and diversity to local listeners. Visit www.commercialradio.com.au

AlanDick Broadcast to Display DAB Technologies at IBC “IBC is a show we look forward to each year, as it gives us the opportunity to demonstrate our solutions and advanced technologies to the international broadcast market and meet with these broadcasters on a one-on-one basis,” says Alex Perchevitch, President of ADBL. “This year, we’ll be showcasing two of our most popular antennas – the Shared Aperture FM Crossbow and the FM Spearhead – specifically developed to meet environmental concerns and zoning and planning restrictions. With a full range of offerings, we expect another great show this year.”

The FM Crossbow antenna provides an omni directional horizontal radiation pattern from an array of four panels mounted around a square structure. The FM Spearhead is ideal for triangular structures and provides an excellent omni directional radiation pattern from a selection of three panels. The DAB antenna elements were designed to be fitted onto the existing FM antennas without disturbing its installation or performance. The systems were range tested to optimise the RF performance of the combined DAB/FM antennas. Visit www.alandickbroadcast.com

RADIO

ALANDICK BROADCAST is bringing its full range of DAB solutions to the international broadcast market when it exhibits at this year’s IBC show in Amsterdam. In stand 8.B94, the company will demonstrate how several of its antennas address the needs of broadcasters with economic and space concerns, and will share a number of customer success stories with attendees that show results for some of the world’s most renowned broadcasters and broadcast signal providers. In addition to the DAB antennas, ADBL is also showcasing its VHF BIII Mask filter/combiner and UHF and FM units and towers.

RADIO

UK Trials ‘Small Scale DAB’ UK REGULATOR OFCOM has announced that around 60 stations will begin broadcasting on digital radio for the first time using ‘small scale DAB’. This new approach could provide a more affordable way for smaller stations to broadcast on DAB digital radio. The trials, a further step in the development of this new technology, are designed to test how it operates and understand how smaller radio stations could work together. If the trials are successful, UK listeners could benefit from hundreds more local and community radio stations on digital radio in the future. Ofcom has awarded ten trial licences for radio ‘multiplexes’ – discrete chunks of the airwaves used to broadcast several radio services. This will enable groups of community, online and local commercial radio stations to work together and bring new stations to local areas from Norfolk to Glasgow and Cambridge to Manchester. The stations are expected to begin broadcasting on DAB digital radio from the summer for a period of nine months. Each successful applicant has 12 weeks to launch its multiplex. Ofcom will then work with Government to decide on the next steps for the new approach to radio broadcasting. Currently, the cost of broadcasting on DAB is beyond the reach of many small radio stations. But, a new approach, pioneered in the UK by Ofcom engineer Rashid Mustapha, means that small scale radio stations could start broadcasting on DAB radio for a fraction of current costs.

The new approach is cheaper than current systems because it uses software freely available from opendigitalradio.org and equipment that costs around £6000 (AUD$12,300). While stations also have to budget for running costs – such as site rental, maintenance and electricity – small scale DAB is a much more affordable way for smaller stations to broadcast on digital radio. The UK’s first experimental small scale DAB multiplex was set up in 2012. Ofcom engineer Rashid Mustapha was granted a test licence and installed a low power digital radio transmitter on a Brighton roof-top. The test successfully delivered a reliable, high quality digital radio broadcast. The test transmission was an audio track of squawking seagulls. The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport is funding Ofcom’s work on how small stations could access DAB digital radio and the equipment available for these trials. Almost half of UK adults (48.9%) say they now own a digital DAB radio set and 39.6% of all radio listening is digital. The first national commercial DAB multiplex, operated by Digital One, now carries 14 digital radio stations, and a second, national commercial DAB multiplex is expected to launch early next year. The BBC also operates its own digital multiplex, carrying the BBC digital stations. As well as increasing the capacity for national digital radio, Ofcom is supporting the Local DAB Expansion plan, which will bring local DAB radio services from commercial broadcasters and the BBC to even more UK homes. Visit www.ofcom.org.uk

Remote Encoder Lite for Low-Cost Content Management STREAMGUYS, a pioneering content delivery network and streaming media provider, has unveiled a low-cost, multi-format encoder for the streaming of radio broadcast and in-store media content. Branded as Remote Encoder Lite, the feature-rich software-as-a service provides a simple platform for ingest of file-based content, and creation of live linear channels. StreamGuys developed Remote Encoder Lite as an alternative to expensive encoding solutions that are suitable for large stations and networks, but overkill for more modest streaming operations. Remote Encoder Lite trades off the bells and whistles of “premium” encoding solutions for a less expensive solution that retains the most important features for professional, broadcast-quality operations. Remote Encoder Lite supports a variety of formats for content ingest (m3u, RSS, etc), transcoding content for output as Ogg Opus, ACC+ and other high-quality codecs. The system additionally supports direct ingest from file directories without the need for a pre-established playlist. In either configuration, Remote Encoder Lite automatically reloads playlists as new playlists or files are uploaded. This feature is suitable for retailers,

supermarkets and other businesses with in-store media streams that lack live audio segments or are not continuously curated. Remote Encoder Lite integrates cleanly within StreamGuys’ cloud-based architecture, and interoperates with the company’s dynamic, server-side ad insertion service for automated placement of targeted ads; as well as its innovative SGrecast platform for the creation of side channels. The tight integration of SGrecast with Remote Encoder Lite ensures high-quality yet low-cost encoding and playout for multiple live and on-demand streams, which are created for immediate playout on the fly; or for later playback on a scheduled basis. While Remote Encoder Lite offers a low-cost alternative to more expensive systems, the feature set remains impressive on a technical level. Broadcasters are assured that playlists are updated with useful metadata if native tags are missing or require an override, eliminating the time-consuming process of manually entering detailed annotations for each file. Furthermore, enhanced digital signal processing offers normalisation and limiting filters on every generated stream, whether the configuration is single- or multi-channel. Visit www.streamguys.com

Frontier Silicon Signs Co-Development Deal with Google

RADIO

RADIO RECEIVER DEVELOPER Frontier Silicon has signed a codevelopment agreement with Google which will see the inclusion of Google’s Cast-for-Audio technology in Frontier’s next generation connected audio solutions – due to ship in the first half of 2016.

Cast-for-Audio is an online content delivery platform which allows users to stream music services, such as Deezer, Pandora and Google Play Music, directly from the cloud to Cast-enabled speakers – all controlled by the user’s mobile device. The key advantage of the system is that it allows users of multiple music services to stream audio through any set of Cast-enabled speakers, without being tethered to the mobile device. Cast-for-Audio uses the same technology which supports Google’s established Chromecast video streaming platform and is a key component of Google’s home media

streaming strategy. Frontier Silicon’s turnkey technology solution allows consumer audio brands to build connected audio devices, such as Wi-Fi speakers and soundbars, quickly and easily. Reliance on in-house engineering teams is reduced and speed to market is improved. The inclusion of Cast-for-Audio in the company’s next generation solutions is a significant addition to its product portfolio. The market for Wi-Fi connected audio devices is expected to grow nearly threefold in the next three years – from 14 million units in 2014 to 40 million in 2017. From 2016 onwards, a growing number of consumer audio brands will include Cast-for-Audio in their devices. This agreement will enable Frontier Silicon to address this market directly. Visit www.frontier-silicon.com

CONTENT DELIVERY Terrestrial, Mobile, Broadband

www.content-technology.com/delivery

Digital TV Labs First Approved Lab for Malaysian DTT HbbTV MEDIA AND DEVICE TESTING SPECIALIST, Digital TV Labs, has received official accreditation from the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) to become the first lab facility for the Malaysian Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Broadcast Service Receiver Specification, including the interactive HbbTV profile. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) mandates Type Approval (TA) certification for imported digital TV devices and has assigned SIRIM the authority to enforce these rules, so that all imported DTV devices meet the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcast Service Receiver Specification (SKMM MTSFB TC T004).

Digital TV Labs is ISO17025 accredited to perform the DVB-T2 and HbbTV tests that conform to the SKMM MTSFB TC T004 specification. Testing time is minimised by using the automated features of the Ligada iSuite for HbbTV test suite and test harness. The new DVB-T2 Malaysian DTT network is being rolled out by MyTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd during 2015. Andy Hickman, CEO of Digital TV Labs, commented, “We have a long experience of providing DTT receiver conformance testing services globally for a number of networks. Our Ligada iSuite HbbTV tool suite enables our conformance testing services for the UK, New Zealand, Australian, Spanish and now Malaysian HbbTV roll-outs.” Visit www.digitaltv-labs.com

Transvision Indonesia Partners with Irdeto, Samsung and SMiT launch of the first broadcast Direct-2-TV (D2TV) system for the Indonesian market that does not require a set-top box. With this new solution, Indonesian consumers can enjoy Transvision TV packages easily through the integration of Irdeto’s Keys & Credentials service and Conditional Access System (CAS) with SMiT’s USB Conditional Access Module (CAM) and a range of Samsung TVs that do not require IP connectivity. Through the partnership, Transvision, one of Indonesia’s most innovative pay TV operators, can provide a unique experience for consumers – an STB-free pay TV service. Not only will it take up less space in a consumer’s home, it also provides a superior viewing experience that allows consumers to access both TV and USB CAM through a single remote control. Consumers can simply purchase one of the following Samsung TV models; 32J4120, 40J5120 and 48J5120 – to enjoy this service.

Transvision is now offering special packages with favourable installment schemes to allow consumers to enjoy the service. “We are pleased to be working with partners like Irdeto, Samsung and SMiT, to bring the world’s first set-top box-free broadcast D2TV system to consumers in Indonesia, a promising market that is rapidly growing and highly competitive and where its population’s income per capita is constantly rising. This partnership provides operators like ourselves excellent mobility to introduce a pay TV service to customers who want a simple to use solution and still receive great content,” said Hengkie Liwanto, CEO, Transvision. Irdeto’s security solutions comprising its Keys & Credentials service and CAS will help cover the security management for Transvision’s managed device ecosystem. Visit www.irdeto.com

VTVCab Vietnam Launches SmarDTV Module for Access Via Samsung TVs

VNTA Commissions Rohde & Schwarz Broadcast Test Center

VTVCAB, Vietnam’s leading cable operator; SmarDTV, a Kudelski Group company; and Samsung Electronics, have announced that they will combine to bring to market a new solution to provide access to VTVCab PayTV services. VTVCab subscribers can now enjoy content directly on their new Samsung Cable TV model without using a set-top box by simply inserting the newly developed CI Plus Instant Access conditional access module (CAM) from VTVCab. This CAM replaces the role of a traditional set-top box and provides an alternative to new subscribers as they migrate to digital services.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ and Viet Nam Telecommunication Authority (VNTA)

“We hugely appreciate the trust and support shown by VTVCab to promote and deploy our CAM solution. SmarDTV Instant Access modules ensure that channels are directly accessible on integrated Digital Televisions (iDTVs) using one single TV remote control and that neither extra cables nor additional power is required,” commented Gregory Laloy, APAC Sales Director of SmarDTV. “VTVCab is pleased to work with Samsung and SmarDTV, two world leaders in the Digital TV industry. Using this integrated digital TV + CAM combination gives us more flexibility to promote our attractive content in High Definition (HD) and future 4K compression,” said Nam Bui, CTO of VTVCab. “Samsung is delighted to work with VTVCab the leading Cable Operator in Vietnam, to bring users the best experience in HD quality picture in the country,” said My Nguyen, Head of Samsung Vietnam AV Marketing Communication. Visit www.vtvcab.vn, www.samsung.com and www.smardtv.com

set up the first Digital TV receiver compliance test lab in Hanoi, Viet Nam, with R&S BTC Broadcast Test Center and R&S AVBrun test suite. This newly commissioned test lab will be able to conduct compliance test for QCVN.63 standard and pre-compliance test for all major receiver standards in Europe. “R&S BTC is the most powerful digital TV receiver compliance test solution, providing RF full automation for STB and iDTV,” said Eric Li, Regional Manager for Rohde & Schwarz Broadcasting Solution. “As Vietnam grows to be the next World Factory for consumer electronics product – from mobile phones to TVs, the demand for highly professional test and measurement system is expected to increase in the coming years. Rohde & Schwarz is committed to continue working with VNTA to build up excellent test facilities.” Rohde & Schwarz also works with StreamSpark to provide customised test suite for PSI/SI, Video and Audio, as well as report management tools for VNTA. “We are glad to be involved in this project,” said Brad Wu, Sales Director for StreamSpark. “StreamSpark had built up comprehensive test suite database for all digital TV receiver standards across world since 2011. Our PSI/SI test suite has been proven as accurate and simple tools by major chipset solution provider, OEM or TV brand manufacturers.” Telecom Technology Center (TTC) – the official test lab in Taiwan – provided technical support and shared lab management experience with VNTA. Visit www.rohde-schwarz.com

CONTENT DELIVERY

IRDETO HAS ANNOUNCED, in partnership with Samsung and SMiT, the

CONTENT DELIVERY

Satellite Resists C-Band Spectrum Crunch The future of C-band spectrum will head agenda items at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2 to 27 November 2015. Under pressure from the increasing spectrum demands of International Mobile Telecommunications, the satellite industry is itself banding together to resist changes to the existing regime. C-BAND COVERS parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves, that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band (4 to 8GHz) and its slight variations contain frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications transmissions, some Wi-Fi devices, some cordless telephones, and some weather radar systems. For satellite communications, the microwave frequencies of the C-band perform better under adverse weather conditions such as rain fade in comparison with Ku-band (11.2 GHz to 14.5GHz) frequencies. Speaking at the recent CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum in Singapore, Ethan Lavan, Director of Orbital Resources with satellite operator Eutelsat, describes the impending standoff between the two industries as one “… which has major consequences for the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people.” According to Mr Lavan, “There is the battle for C-band, but behind the battle for C-band there is the battle for all our spectrum, which the IMT industry would gladly take away from us.” The Eutelsat Director of Orbital Resources says he has seven messages for the satellite industry, the IMT industry and delegates at WRC-15. “First message - we have to fight invasion, but let’s be clear, we are not fighting mobile services. In fact, it surprises some to hear that mobile operators in tropical zones, including here in Southeast Asia, widely use C-band satellites for back-hauling, in order to extend their networks. So, ironically satellites in C-band and satellites in general are key enablers of mobile communications worldwide. “We are not so obtuse as to dispute the fact that demand for mobile services is expanding rapidly worldwide. What we are challenging is the simplistic assumption that mobile growth automatically implies the need for an additional spectrum.

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“Second message - in most of the world, including in Asia, less than 50% of the spectrum already identified by the ITU for IMT has been licensed. At the minimum, we are talking here of hundreds of megahertz of unlicensed spectrum, spectrum that is just sitting there useless, not used. Actions must be taken to make it available. Also, less than 80% of the spectrum licenced to mobile operators is actually providing services to users. In other words, IMT has abundant room to grow before anyone starts lobbying more spectrum.

“Message number three. The car industry offers a powerful analogy. Those of you who remember the time when there were more and more cars, cars were larger and larger, and used more and more gas. Then came the oil crisis and the two oil shocks. Since then, major R&D efforts have enabled car manufacturers to develop and market cars that are much, much more gas sober. This is the kind of improvement that IMT can generate if it puts its best brains on how to use less instead of more bandwidth. “Fourth message - we are not fighting with the ITU. Satellites are essential for helping the ITU achieve its core mission, which is to connect the world. Satellites connect remote areas in Asia and many parts of the world where

terrestrial gives up. And, our sector keeps investing billions to do this better and better. As you know, C-band plays a tremendous role in this connectivity. “Today, more than 180 geostationary satellites with more than 2000 C-band transponders provide services. More than 60% of the satellites active in Asia carry a C-band payload. And, the fill rate of C-band satellites in Asia is over 80%. So, my fourth message is that the ITU and satellite operators have the same ambition, connect the world. “Message five - there isn’t a dollar value to the social benefits of irreplaceable services provided by satellite C-band. In other words we are not just talking here about business. Many critical communications in Asia, Africa and elsewhere, and not only in tropical zones, rely heavily on satellite C-band. What is the value of lives saved as a result of communications re-established by satellite within hours of an earthquake? The tragic earthquake in Nepal is a recent and vivid reminder of this. Taking a decision in WRC based on pure mercenary considerations would be short sighted and a shocking disservice to humanity. “Message six - for decisions to be made on spectrum and location in WRC to a one size fits all principle would be a huge mistake. A solution which is appropriate for one part of the world like Europe where C-band is not intensively used, is inappropriate for other parts of the world like Africa and Asia, where many vital communications heavily rely on the unique characteristics of satellite C-band. Geodiversity must absolutely be taken into account in the decision making process of the WRC. “Message number seven - in order to reach the right decisions at the WRC, we need to ensure two elements. One is ITU neutrality. We truly understand that the ITU cannot advocate for a no change position on the C-band which is akin to the satellite position. However, we do have the right to expect the ITU to avoid appearing to favour the IMT community by making public speculations on possible WRC outcomes such as country footnote locations or compromises, similar to what were reached at WRC-07. “The second condition is that we must build the highest level of awareness by decision makers in all the ITU member states we can reach. Each will define his position. Some states are still hesitating on spectrum allocation issues. We must do everything we can to ensure they are alerted to fallacious arguments by which it is claimed that each administration will maintain its sovereign right to choose between satellite and mobile in adopting new footnotes identifying IMT spectrum in C-band. We must ensure that the choice for satellite C-band is protected for the countries and regions that rely on it. Again, this means, let me be clear, no more footnotes identifying IMT in C-band, and especially not in the 3.6, 4.2 gigahertz band. “This isn’t someone else’s challenge. It’s our collective challenge as an industry, and if we don’t fight it well today, then we’ll only be back for more tomorrow.” Visit www.itu.int and www.casbaa.com

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NBTC of Thailand Selects Rohde & Schwarz for DVB-T2 Rohde & Schwarz collaborated with StreamSpark to provide integrated DVB-T2 receiver compliance solution for the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) of Thailand. The combination of R&S BTC RF test automation system with StreamSpark PSI/SI test suite not only empowers NBTC to roll out DVB-T2 ahead of its counterparts in ASEAN region, but also enables smooth transmission of HD contents over T2 networks in major cities such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai. “The newly installed R&S BTC RF automation test system will save up to 70% of testing time compared to manual testing prior to deployment, thus enabling the authorities to meet the increasing demand for compliance test,” said Eric Li, Regional Manager for Rohde & Schwarz Broadcasting Solution. According to NBTC, receiver testing is paramount to a successful digital TV switchover. As such, the Thai government provides a coupon of THB690 for receivers with NBTC logo and NBTC shall guarantee the quality and performance of each receiver model, ensuring smooth DVB-T2 roll out at consumers’ end. Upon implementation, all receiver products with built-in T2 demodulator shall be tested against NBTC standard and granted with NBTC logo before sale. Telecom Technology Center (TTC) – the official test lab in Taiwan – provided technical support and shared lab management experience with NBTC.

AsiaSat Defends C-band Spectrum with Online Resource Centre REGIONAL SATELLITE OPERATOR ASIASAT has launched an online resource centre and whitepaper to recognise the importance of C-band for Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) and identify the threats that Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) pose to spectrum used by C-band Satellite Networks. AsiaSat is calling all administrations to action to say “No” to any further IMT identification in C-band at November’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) in Geneva, to protect the vital FSS services operating in C-band and safeguard against the detrimental impact from BWA/IMT. As well as underlining the importance of C-band satellite, the AsiaSat whitepaper discusses ways to mitigate interference effects in countries where licenses have been extended in the C-band to BWA/IMT. An update on the C-band licensing situation in the Asia-Pacific countries, how to register C-band earth stations and its regulatory benefits and site mitigation through proper pre-LNA/ pre-LNB waveguide filter selection are also covered. Visit www.asiasat.com

Visit www.rohde-schwarz.com

9X Media Expands TV Network with Broadstream Solutions music channel using its existing OASYS integrated playout system from leading broadcast playout automation specialists, BroadStream Solutions. “When it comes to a new channel launch, all we have to do is literally ‘plugin’ the software and play,” said Nikkhil Shirodkar, VP Network Operations at 9X Media. “It is the fastest and most easily scalable playout system in the market today and has saved us an incredible amount of time and resource.”

system than OASYS,” added Shirodkar. ”We’ve even developed our own in-house automation based completely on XML which enables a producer to change the entire look and feel of the channel by simply filling in an Excel based form.” OASYS provides 9X Media channels with extensive onscreen graphics, including lower thirds, tickers, squeeze backs, picture-in-picture and many more. Data sources include RSS feeds and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

“When it comes to integrated graphics capabilities, I haven’t seen a better

Visit www.broadstream.com

Jak-TV Indonesia Upgrades to PlayBox

Bright Lights Media Selects Globecast and MEASAT

JAK-TV, A LEADING TELEVISION CHANNEL located in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, has invested in a Channel-in-a-Box broadcast playout solution from PlayBox Techology. The system was provided by Horizon Global Media, the PlayBox Technology reseller for Indonesia.

GLOBECAST HAS ANNOUNCED that it has been selected by Bright Lights

The station is accessible via terrestrial analogue in Jakarta and via First Media cable. It is also transmitted via DVB-T2 to expat viewers in Doha, Qatar.

Globecast is supplying Simply Money with an end-to-end media management solution from its media centre in Mediapolis, Singapore. The solution includes fully managed playout, content preparation and quality control. Globecast is also providing regulatory compliance review and editing to ensure that content is compliant with regulatory requirements for distribution across Southeast Asia.

“Jak-TV were looking to replace existing third-party equipment with a new system,” comments Desmon Goh, Country Manager, PlayBox Technology, Asia Pacific. “The channel’s management were impressed by the greatly improved operational efficiency that could be achieved using an integrated Channelin-a-Box approach from PlayBox Technology. The solution chosen centred on our AirBox with an integral ListBox to simplify the process of pre-transmission scheduling. The new system comprises main and backup Channel-in-a-Box units to provide full one-plus-one redundancy. After scheduling for playout, programmes and interstitial clips such as promos and commercials are automatically assembled for playout.” Designed for 24/7 unattended operation, the PlayBox Technology AirBox forms the core of a turnkey Channel-in-a-Box playout solution for TV channel broadcasting. It integrates all the elements needed to keep a channel on-air by combining automation, playout and interactive graphics within one box. It can provide SDI or IP streaming connectivity for applications including broadcast and cable TV as well as other applications. Visit www.playbox.tv

Media to provide a comprehensive suite of services for the launch of Simply Money, a new HD pay-TV channel in Southeast Asia.

The HD channel is being carried on the MEASAT-3 satellite, which is colocated with MEASAT-3a and MEASAT-3b at 91.5°E. Simply Money launches first in the Philippines with plans to roll out more widely across Southeast Asia in the coming months. Anshuman Misra, CEO of Bright Lights Media, says, “We are very pleased to engage with Globecast, using a range of its services to ensure both high-quality output as well as a cost-effective result. Globecast has a clear understanding of what we are trying to achieve and has helped us to develop our content management and playout and distribution plans.” Yew Weng Soo, Managing Director of Globecast Asia, says, “This deal reinforces Globecast’s position as the complete media services company with our highly evolved global expertise across the content and channel preparation sectors.” Visit www.globecast.com and www.measat.com

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MUMBAI-BASED TV NETWORK 9X Media, is set to launch a new regional

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Amagi Showing Broadcast 2.0 at IBC THE GLOBAL BROADCAST ENVIRONMENT is changing rapidly, driving TV networks to look for innovative technologies that optimise the delivery of additional channels to new regions around the world. Keeping the evolving nature of the industry in mind, the theme at Amagi’s IBC2015 stand will be “Broadcast 2.0.” Amagi will demonstrate the latest enhancements to its channel playout, regionalisation, and OTT platforms that enable TV networks to increase monetisation at a fraction of cost of traditional satellite and fiber delivery methods. Set to debut at IBC2015, Amagi’s next-generation managed playout service simplifies video content preparation, management, and delivery for broadcasters. Utilising the end-to-end, cloud-based service for content delivery, playout management, ingest, asset management, archive management, quality control, traffic and scheduling, and 24/7 monitoring, broadcasters can dramatically increase workflow efficiency, reduce CAPEX and OPEX, and provide a superior television experience to viewers. At IBC2015, Amagi will demonstrate seamless, personalised mid-roll ad insertions in linear and on-demand OTT content utilising its patented watermark detection technology. Amagi’s watermark technology enables TV networks to better monetise mid-roll breaks within linear and on-demand OTT feeds without requiring any integration on behalf of the broadcaster. At IBC2015, Amagi will showcase CLOUDPORT 2.0, the company’s flagship cloud-based channel playout platform. CLOUDPORT 2.0 provides TV networks with end-to-end broadcast workflow capabilities on the cloud, including media asset management, quality control, subtitle editing and management, and automation and scheduling features. A key highlight at IBC2015 will be Amagi’s STORM regionalisation platform. The platform is ideal for TV networks wanting to insert local advertising and local content, without using separate satellite feeds, to match viewer preferences, abide by complex broadcasting regulations and content rights obligations, and monetise regional markets by attracting local advertisers. Amagi will also demonstrate its CLOUDPORT OTT platform at IBC2015. CLOUDPORT OTT is a feature-rich playout platform that is reliable, secure, and flexible, enabling TV networks to create 24/7, Internetspecific linear TV channels with a broadcast-grade playout experience, available via network-branded apps and browsers. Visit www.amagi.com

Qligent Integrates Multichannel Visualisation into Vision QLIGENT, a specialist in cloud-based, enterprise-level media monitoring and analysis, has developed a new multichannel visualisation application for its Vision platform. The new application extends the depth of Qligent’s flexible multisite monitoring and analysis capability, offering a highly dense and intuitive way to monitor many channels on a single screen. Vision is Qligent’s enterprise-level system for monitoring broadcast and media quality through the entire delivery chain. It can be deployed onpremises, in the cloud or via Qligent’s Oversight managed service, the broadcast industry’s first true monitoring-as-a-service (MaaS). Oversight delivers the same benefits of Vision but reallocates the tactical day-to-day monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting responsibilities to outside experts. Using Qligent’s customised video widgets (Vidgets), users can combine any monitoring parameters to quickly visualise performance issues that matter most to the user, determine impact on the viewer and drill down to the root of the problem. Beyond offering an overall status view, the new multichannel visualisation application crosses Qligent’s two major monitoring dimensions: Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS). The QoE dimension provides visualisation of all audio and video streams (and associated data), giving users clear insight into current and historic performance of all channels across each delivery platform. The QoS dimension allows users to objectively measure transport and physical layers to ensure standards are being met. Visit www.qligent.com

Video Clarity Showing New RTM 3G AT IBC2015, Video Clarity will showcase a smaller, lighter, rack-mountable version of its RTM 3G real-time monitoring device. This new, portable 2-RU version incorporates SSD technology, which saves space and creates higher reliability. RTM 3G is used for short or long-term quality monitoring of live and prerecorded 3 Gbps content to detect subtle or intermittent errors. RTM 3G features DMOS, a full-resolution, full-reference-quality human perceptual measurement performed in real time. DMOS allows users to view a channel’s quality without the complexity of setting up one or more recordings first. When video or audio runs outside of preset quality measurement thresholds, RTM 3G will automatically record the unacceptable clips and log the quality scores. IBC2015 attendees will be the first to see Video Clarity’s newly engineered RTM Manager. Visit http://videoclarity.com

Starfish Technologies Launching TS Splicer at IBC

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STARFISH TECHNOLOGIES, a company pioneering innovative

General Dynamics Mediaware Demonstrating InStream

technologies and systems in the field of regional television and ad insertion for broadcasters, will feature its next-generation TS Splicer product at IBC 2015 (Stand 8.D88).

GENERAL DYNAMICS MEDIAWARE, experts in compressed domain digital television technologies, have announced plans to showcase their HEVC ready ad insertion platform at IBC Show 2015.

TS Splicer is a complete media insertion system that combines multiplechannel, frame-accurate transport stream media splicing with media storage and SCTE 35 opt-out signal decoding.

Mediaware will be demonstrating its HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) 4K UltraHD InStream Splice – a unified end-to-end play-out and ad insertion solution capable of frame accurately splicing at all resolutions up to Ultra HD 4K, thereby reducing the operational costs involved in the launch of new and localised HEVC services.

TS Splicer, which runs on a generic, enterprise-grade hardware, provides simultaneous splicing of more than 20 HD or SD video services on a single sever, with support for MPEG-2 and H.264 encoded media. Moreover, its frame-accurate approach to splicing preserves the quality of video input signals. Audio splicing is also catered for, with the ability to splice AC-3 and MPEG-1 Layer II streams. Visit www.starfish.tv

Demonstrations on stand 5.A26 will also include the regional debut of the Mediaware Technology Matrix. Matrix enables operators to unite Mediaware’s real-time stream processing technologies in a modular, scalable chassis to deliver high quality video over ASI and IP. Visit www.mediaware.com.au

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Volicon Introduces Distribution Monitoring Solution VOLICON HAS INTRODUCED their new Distribution Monitoring solution, which leverages the company’s Media Intelligence Platform (MIP) to facilitate efficient and cost-effective end-to-end path monitoring for every point across both linear broadcast and OTT service delivery. The solution provides users with a unified compliance and monitoring interface for content being distributed in any format, on any platform, to any location. Volicon’s Distribution Monitoring solution addresses all variety of distribution mediums, whether linear or OTT feeds. By performing automated monitoring by exception across the full distribution path and full channel lineup, the solution radically reduces the amount of operator intervention required to identify and address issues with a program or channel. The path monitoring solution addresses the full signal- and programgeneration workflow, with a fleet of low-cost systems performing monitoring at different points of this process. By comparing signals across key points, the solution can identify anomalies, track faults back up the distribution chain, and identify the source of the issue rather than the many resulting errors downstream. The Volicon solution is unique in that it captures a full recording of content, which in turn gives technical staff the flexibility to target priority problems first and then use stored audio, video, and metadata to examine and deal with past or intermittent issues.

The Future of Video Becomes Reality with Elemental ELEMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES, a leading supplier of software-defined video solutions for multiscreen content delivery, has announced plans to showcase disruptive innovations to help content providers address next-generation video complexity at IBC2015 (Stand 4.B80). In addition to its full product suite, Elemental will highlight the industry’s most advanced MPEG-DASH implementation, automatic provisioning of live channels in the cloud, CDN-independent ad insertion, “secondgeneration” 4K with high dynamic range (HDR) and workflows for better optimising content monetisation. Elemental demonstrations at IBC2015 include a variety of live and filebased 4K and HEVC streaming applications, virtualised and cloud-based services, and linear video workflows featuring high-quality encoding integrated with advanced system management and the industry’s only 4K HEVC statistical multiplexing solution. Elemental Delta demonstrations highlight just-in-time packaging, ad insertion, DRM for multiscreen video distribution, live-to-linear VOD and timeshift capabilities, such as catch-up TV, start-over TV, nPVR and delay TV. Elemental Delta demonstrations also focus on enhancing services and monetising content with advanced capabilities such as solutions for ad blocking and faster time to replays. Visit www.elementaltechnologies.com

Visit www.volicon.com

TERACUE EYEVIS GMBH, a manufacturer of IPTV and IP video systems, has announced the launch of the new ENC-400 H.264 fanless video encoder and recorder during the upcoming IBC (Stand 9.B24). The core of the new ENC-400 is the dual channel H.264 encoding and recording engine. It is able to deliver multiple streams in multiple bitrates and protocols to multiple destinations. The build-in frame synchroniser guarantees stable signal processing. Both inputs provide loop through outputs and can be used for redundancy switching.

DEV Systemtechnik To Unveil New 8² L-Band Matrix Switch AT IBC 2015, DEV Systemtechnik, a Quintech Company, will unveil its new 8² Distributing Matrix product, which offers outstanding flexibility in 1 RU. With the launch of the new 8² Distributing Matrix, DEV/Quintech’s Matrix product family now offers a full range of next generation RF matrix switches designed to meet a variety of sizes, from small to extremely large.

Besides the latest in H.264 encoding technology, the ENC-400 features MJPEG for legacy as well. Addressing both broadcast and webcast use, the ENC-400 lets the user decide between different transmission protocols that fit the job best: UDP/RTP Transport Stream for ultra-low delay pointto-point connections and Multicast IPTV, RTMP/RTSP or HLS for webcasts in combination with a streaming server.

For small configuration environments such as SNG vehicles, the compact 8² Distributing Matrix offers an ideal mix of cost and performance — plus unique advantages. The new 8² Matrix’s optical inputs, unique redundancy options, LNB powering, full colour display user interface, and dual redundant field replaceable power supplies give cable, satellite and broadcast facilities the most reliability and flexibility available on the market. The 8² is available in sizes 4×4, 4×8, 8×4 or 8×8, and easily field-upgradeable to the maximum size of 8×8, without any disruption of service.

Visit www.teracue.com

Visit www.dev-systemtechnik.com

Newtec Debuting Dialog 1.2 AT IBC2015, Newtec will debut Newtec Dialog 1.2, an updated version of the multiservice platform, which guarantees optimal modulation and bandwidth allocation, whether it is being used for broadcast, enterprise, mobility or HTS networks. Newtec’s engineers have achieved this by inventing Mx-DMA, a new return link technology. Also on-show will be the Newtec MCX7000 Multi-Carrier Satellite Gateway – a new dense DVB-S2X multi-carrier satellite gateway for efficient distribution and contribution broadcast applications. The MCX7000 increases bandwidth efficiency by up to 51%. Finally, delegates will be able to view the MDM6000 R3.1, which incorporates Newtec’s Bandwidth Cancellation (BWC) technology which allows transmission between two carriers in an overlay fashion and which provides record-breaking spectral efficiencies and throughputs. Visit www.newtec.eu

Hiltron to Exhibit Latest HMAM HILTRON COMMUNICATIONS will exhibit the latest version of its HMAM high-precision motorised satellite antenna mount at IBC2015. Designed for two-way VSAT communication or receive-only downlink applications, the antenna mount can be used for a wide range of applications including broadcast and telecommunication downlinks. The HMAM will be displayed in compact form for up to 2.4 metre diameter dishes. Making its first exhibition appearance will be a new motorised feed changer, which allows the head to be moved quickly to a new position for switching between two different frequency bands. The system comes complete with professional-grade drives for azimuth and elevation plus a high-accuracy polarisation drive. The Hiltron HMAM-IOT variant incorporates inclined-orbit tracking. To conserve guidance propellant, older satellites are allowed to drift further from their nominal target position than during their main service life. Visit www.hiltron.de

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Teracue Launching New ENC-400

ASIA

+ANZ

MEDIA PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY As well as the features below, EVERY ISSUE of Content+Technology contains features on the following:

C+T AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND FEATURES + DEADLINES 2014  Image Acquisition  News Operations  Sportscasting  Post-Production & VFX

 Media in the Cloud  Digital Asset Management  Audio  Radio

 Content Transmission & Delivery  Signal Distribution  Command & Control – Automation, Monitoring, Systems Management.

C+T AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND FEATURES + DEADLINES 2015 ISSUE

EDITORIAL + AD DEADLINES

Jan – Feb

Mar-April

May-June

July-Aug

Sept-Oct

Nov-Dec

Editorial Submissions:

23-01-15

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30-01-15

Ad Artwork:

04-02-15

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09-03-15

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13-03-15

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16-03-15

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27-04-15

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04-05-15

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11-05-15

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09-06-15

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15-06-15

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22-06-15

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10-08-15

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17-08-15

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24-08-15

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19-10-15

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26-10-15

Ad Artwork:

02-11-15

PUBLICATION DATE

PRODUCT ROUND-UP

SHOW COVERAGE

2nd Week February

+ HbbTV + Multi-screen Delivery + Social Media + Channel-in-a-Box Solutions

+ Preview: Australian Broadcasting Digital Media Summit (March 3-4)

4th Week March

+ Digital Asset Mgt Solutions + Content Delivery – RF, Fibre, Wireless and more.

+ Preview: NABshow15 (April 11 – 16)

3rd Week May

+ Loudness Solutions + Cloud Solutions

+ Preview: BroadcastAsia2015 (June 2-5)

3rd Week July

+ 4K Solutions + Sports Production Solutions + IP-based Production

+ Preview + Official Guide: SMPTE Australia (July 14-17)

1st Week September

+ ENG/Newsroom Systems + Encoding, Transcoding Solutions

review: IBC Amsterdam +P September 10–15

2nd Week November

+ OTT/IPTV Solutions + Sports Production Solutions

portscasting +S

C+T ASIA FEATURES + DEADLINES 2015 ISSUE

EDITORIAL + AD DEADLINES

Mar-April

May-June

Aug-Sept

Oct-Nov

Editorial Submissions:

27-01-15

Ad Bookings:

02-02-15

Ad Artwork:

09-02-15

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27-04-15

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04-05-15

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11-05-15

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03-08-15

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10-08-15

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28-09-15

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05-10-15

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12-10-15

PUBLICATION DATE

PRODUCT ROUND-UP

SHOW COVERAGE

3rd Week February

+ HDTV & Digital Transition Solutions + HbbTV + Multi-screen Delivery + Social Media

+ Preview: ABU Digital Broadcast Symposium (Mar 3-6) + China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN)March 26 - 28 + Preview: NABshow15 (April 5 – 10)

3rd Week May

+ Channel-in-a-Box Solutions + OTT/IPTV Solutions + Sports Production Solutions

+ Preview: BroadcastAsia2015 (June 2-5)

3rd Week August

+ Loudness Solutions + Cloud Solutions

+ Preview: BIRTV (August 26-29) + Preview: IBC Amsterdam (September 10-15)

3rd Week October

+ Cable & Satellite Delivery + Digital Asset Management Solutions + OTT/IPTV/HbbTV Solutions + Multi-screen Delivery

+ Preview: CASBAA + (Cable& Satellite Broadcasting Assoc of Asia) + Preview: + InterBEE, Japan

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RAI Amsterdam Conference 10-14 September : Exhibition 11-15 September

IBC2015 Discover More

IBC stands at the forefront of innovation, drawing more than 55,000 creative, technical and business professionals from over 170 countries. It couples a comprehensive exhibition covering all facets of today’s industry with a highly respected, peer reviewed conference that helps to shape the way the industry will develop. Also, take advantage of a variety of extra special features included as part of your registration at no extra cost: • Touch & Connect IBC’s simplified networking tool for all attendees, structured to keep you connected year round • IBC Awards celebrating the personalities and the organisations best demonstrating creativity, innovation and collaboration in our industry • IBC Future Zone a tantalising glimpse into the future of tomorrow’s electronic media

www.ibc.org IBC Third Floor, 10 Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1BR, UK t. +44 (0) 20 7832 4100 f. +44 (0) 20 7832 4130 e. info@ibc.org

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• IBC Big Screen Experience providing the perfect platform for manufacturer demonstrations, ground breaking screenings and insightful, free to attend conference sessions focusing on the latest developments in digital cinema • IBC Content Everywhere Europe Featuring: - IBC Content Everywhere Hub - IBC Content Everywhere Technology in Action Theatre - high quality exhibition

at r w no giste r te g/re s i r g Re ibc.o w. w w 01/06/2015 20:54

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