Content+Technology Asia November 2014 by Content+Technology

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ASIA VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY

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

IBC2015 Innovation Awards Open for Submission

Has your company accomplished a groundbreaking achievement or implemented an advance in technology in the last year? If so, then IBC want to hear about it. The IBC2015 Innovation Awards are open and we invite you to submit your entries now. The IBC Innovation Awards are unique because they go to the end user that has taken the best of today’s technology to create an innovative solution to a real creative, technical or commercial challenge. These Awards encapsulate everything that is positive about electronic media and entertainment, highlighting collaboration and celebrating those who push the boundaries between technical partners.

We are looking for exceptional applications in three categories – most innovative projects in: • Content Creation • Content Management • Content Delivery Last year’s IBC Award winners include: FIFA TV, Wiener Staatsoper, Sky Sports, Sky News Arabia, Turner Sports

To find out more information about the IBC Innovation Awards and how to submit your entry visit www.ibc.org/awardsentry

www.ibc.org/awards 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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VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

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

Cover Story – 4K Gets a Dose of ‘Muay Thai Madness’

13 REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 03 NEWS Turner and Nine Media Launching CNN Philippines, Ideal Systems Expands, Brightcove Strengthens APAC Team, Mark Lay Appointed VP CASBAA Singapore

47 CLASSIFIEDS AND EVENTS

22 FEATURES 13 ACQUISITION ‘Muay Thai Madness’, Sony Expands XDCAM Line-Up, CION Gets Accessory Support, Updates Aplenty from ARRI

18 SPORTSCASTING Gearhouse 4K Truck

for AFC Asian Cup, PremierLeaguePass in Taiwan, Glasgow 2014 Diaries: The Final Chapter

22 NEWS OPERATIONS Jamuna TV News Goes Live with AVIWEST, High Quality Skype for Broadcast from NewTek, Vislink and TVU Team Up

26 POST-PRODUCTION Avid – Connecting Everyone, Everywhere, Helmet Revs Up Resolve, NVIDIA Releases VCA and New Quadro GPUs

30 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD RTHK Enlists DAMsmart to Digitise Archive, IMD Cloud Connects Indonesian Broadcasters, R&S Upping Storage Capabilities

34 AUDIO Dalai Lama Picks DPA, TASCAM Introduces New Recording Options, RealSpace 3D Audio Licensed by Oculus

38 RADIO Economics of DAB+: Broadcasting: Use It or Lose It, Nautel’s New Solid-State Transmitters, UK Digital Radio Report Card

41 TRANSMISSION Seven Purchases httvStream Manager, The Viettel Vision: Reaching Further with Cable, Enhancing Playout Automation,

CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN: 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel: +61-(0)2-9211 8205 Fax: +61-(0)2-9211 8208 Mob: +61-(0)414-671-811 papers@broadcastpapers.com

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SUB-EDITOR: Keith Ford PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lucy Salmon Tel: +61-(0)29211 8205 production@broadcastpapers.com DESIGN & LAYOUT: Wide Open Media Tel: +61-2-9690 2835 info@wideopenmedia.com.au PRINTING: DAI Rubicon, Singapore 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.

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

Free-to-Air Transmissions? By Phil Sandberg

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The regulatory body has released proposals to make the 700 MHz band available for mobile broadband from 2022, or possibly up to two years earlier. The proposals involve moving parts of DTT (temporarily allocated to support the transition to MPEG-4/DVB-T2 standards) and Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) services to other frequencies. 16:00

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The paper is significant because it comes at a time when governments are looking to ease budgetary pressures (through spectrum auctions) and because many policy makers take their lead from countries such as the UK. It paints a future of free television being delivered via IPTV platforms and even moots the switch-off of Digital Terrestrial Television sometime after the year 2030.

Ofcom engaged consultancy firm Mediatique to consider the possible impact on DTT platform penetration of greater consumer demand for HD content. They found that should this materialise, DTT penetration could fall following a change of use of the 700MHz band as a result of it having less choice of HD services than other TV platforms. “Nevertheless,” the paper states, “any fall in DTT penetration is, in our view, unlikely to be significant enough to undermine the policy goals achieved by FTV, particularly since many viewers may in any case choose to switch to Freesat. Furthermore DTT stakeholders are able, either individually or collectively, to take various steps in order to prevent such a decline.

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The paper does say, however, that a number of criteria that would need to be satisfied for a mass market move from DTT to IPTV. These include: a. Availability and take-up of superfast broadband: the UK Government’s current plans will make superfast broadband available to 95% of the population by 2017. b. Take-up of IP capable consumer equipment: whilst falling prices will bring more IP capable equipment into households, there is likely to be a sizeable minority of people without IP capable equipment. c. Quality of experience: significant work is likely to be needed to understand how to replicate the quality of experience currently delivered over broadcast networks. Ofcom says that while it cannot exclude the potential for radical changes in IP-rollout, consumption habits and technology, its “base case view remains that DTT will continue to be an important delivery technology for free to view TV over the next decade.” 03:00

A recent discussion paper issued by UK regulator Ofcom gives a glimpse of another future for television. Outlining changes in that country’s use of the 700MHz (UHF) band, it maps an evolutionary path for what it calls FTV (Freeto-View) television.

According to the paper, “There is a debate emerging about the potential for internet protocol TV, or IPTV, potentially combined with satellite, to provide a potential long-term alternative to DTT delivery. This is because IP delivery is becoming more important as viewers use on-demand services and because of the potential future demands on the spectrum used by DTT.”

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While much of recent discussion around the future of television has focused on viewer habits, new devices, Gen Y, binge viewing, Internet disruption and the death of appointment TV, there has been less focus on the policy and budgetary agendas of Governments.

The regulator sees two potential options for addressing those challenges, which it says are not mutually exclusive: providing more channels and services over IP through hybrid/DTT products; and upgrading broadcast compression and transmission standards.

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The call came as preparations get underway for next year’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference on spectrum where WRC15 administrations from around the world will present positions on the assignment of spectrum to different applications.

challenges for the free to view element of the DTT market: connectivity and improving picture quality.”

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THE RECENT ANNUAL ASSEMBLY of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union in Macau saw a joint call from the European Broadcasting Union and the ABU to protect spectrum to “guarantee the future of broadcasting”.

You can find the paper at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/ consultations/700MHz/ftv/?utm_source=updates&utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=ftv Let me know what you think. Thanks for Reading Phil Sandberg Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com T: +61-(0)2-9211 8205

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Turner and Nine Media to Launch CNN Philippines TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM ASIA PACIFIC and Nine Media

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Corporation have announced a joint partnership to launch CNN Philippines, a predominantly English news channel on free-to-air television, and also available 24 hours on cable and pay television. The CNN Philippines TV channel will be complemented by CNNPhilippines.com. The channel and website will be the first of its kind in the Philippines. Jeff Zucker, CNN Worldwide President, said, “The global newsgathering power of CNN combined with the local perspective Nine Media Corporation brings, enables us to provide first-class news and information to millions of Filipinos in a way that we have not been able to previously. I couldn’t be happier to welcome CNN Philippines to the CNN family.” Gerhard Zeiler, President of Turner Broadcasting International, said, “This agreement is yet another example of Turner’s commitment to growth in the Asia Pacific region. We are thrilled to partner with Nine Media Corporation – a news organization that shares our vision, mission, and values – to serve this hugely important audience.” Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon-Chua, Chairman of Nine Media Corporation, said, “By integrating local elements and content in its programming, CNN Philippines brings together world-class local and international content for Filipino audiences.”

Reggie Galura, President of Nine Media Corporation, said, “We are proud to offer our viewers a global perspective of key issues and worldwide trending stories as well as championing Filipino values and culture through locally produced content.” CNN Philippines will operate from studio facilities in Manila and will replace 9TV on the RPN network nationwide. It will offer a combination of local and international news as well as current affairs, feature programming and documentaries. Working closely with their TV counterparts, CNNPhilippines.com will offer the latest news, business, science and technology, entertainment and sports, as well as opinion and analysis, special reports, exclusive interviews, and videos. CNN Philippines and CNNPhilippines.com will officially launch first quarter 2015. The launch of CNN Philippines is part of a greater strategic effort undertaken by CNNI’s Content Sales and Partnerships Group, a division of Turner Broadcasting System International. The core business is to explore ways in which CNN can reach more consumers locally, regionally and internationally across both digital and linear platforms, including branded channels, by partnering with other leading media organisations. Visit http://asiapacific.turner.com

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NEWS + PEOPLE

CNN International Promotes Ellana Lee

VICE PRESIDENT and Managing Editor of CNN International Asia Pacific,

Co Co Ra Ra

W Ellana Lee, has been promoted to Senior Vice President of CNN International, adding international oversight of the network’s expansive roster of feature programs while continuing to manage CNN’s editorial operation across Asia Pacific. Working in close partnership with colleagues at Turner International, Lee will also be charged with developing CNN International’s business operations worldwide from the Asia headquarters in Hong Kong. Making the announcement, Executive Vice President and Managing Editor of CNN International, Tony Maddox, said it’s an important promotion and marks the first time for a senior international role to be based in Asia. “In this new role,” he said, “Ellana becomes our most senior executive outside of the U.S.. Ellana is the perfect fit for this new role. She already has an important job on her hands looking after the network’s editorial output in Asia Pacific but we’re thrilled she will now undertake an international role overseeing the network’s feature programming and spearheading business operations internationally.” Lee has had a longstanding and accomplished career at CNN, having initially worked in New York as a producer. She was named a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum, is an Asia 21 fellow as awarded by the Asia Society, and is a graduate of Harvard’s ‘Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century’ Executive Program.

Brightcove Strengthens APAC Team BRIGHTCOVE INC, a leading global provider of cloud services for video, has announced it has made four key appointments in the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen the company’s leadership in the regional broadcast, media and entertainment industries. The new hires include:  Tomer Azenkot – General Manager, Asia, and Head of Sales – Media  Radha K. Raman – Marketing Director, Asia-Pacific  Ben Morrell – Senior Technical Consultant – Media, Asia  Xavier Marle – Media Account Director, Asia Based in Singapore, the team will report to Dennis Rose, Senior Vice President of Brightcove Asia-Pacific and Japan, who leads the company’s investment across key Asia-Pacific markets. Tomer Azenkot was previously the General Manager for Asia-Pacific at Dalet Digital Media Systems where he oversaw the expansion of multiple offices across the region. Prior to Brightcove, Radha K. Raman was Head of Marketing and Communications at Grass Valley and brings with her a deep experience working with system integrators from roles at Logica and Motorola. Ben Morrell will provide technical, consultative and solution expertise to Brightcove’s customers, and also joins from Grass Valley. Ben also brings significant broadcast industry experience from prior roles at Nine Network Australia and Gencom Technology.

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Xavier Marle comes with a strong technical background and will lead sales efforts in Asia. He was previously Regional Pre-sales Consultant for Verimatrix Asia Pacific. “The deep investment Brightcove is making in the broadcast industry parallels the strong demand for our solutions and services by media companies looking to deliver and monetise compelling video experiences for consumers across every type of screen,” said Dennis Rose. “We are confident that the wealth of experience and expertise that we are adding to our organisation will help local media companies reshape the way media content is published, consumed and monetised in this region.” Visit www.brightcove.com

CNN International has also announced further key staff appointments in Asia Pacific, strengthening the network’s newsgathering and editorial capabilities in the region. Other new roles to be based in the CNN International Hong Kong bureau include: Supervising Producer Mitra Mobasherat; Assignment Editor Chieu Luu; News Field Producer Pamela Boykoff; Business Field Producer Felicia Wong; Planning Editor Bex Wright; Business Planning Editor Jonathan Stayton; Features Producer Michala Sabnani; and Associate Features Producer Alisha Haridasani. In addition, Senior International Correspondent Ivan Watson moved to Hong Kong last week and will now be permanently based in Asia. “This new structure helps us to continue delivering the outstanding editorial output across all platforms that has seen us serve audiences worldwide with award-winning newsgathering and programming. I couldn’t be happier with the team we now have in place,” said Maddox. Visit www.cnn.com/international

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Mark Lay Appointed Vice-President CASBAA Singapore CASBAA HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of Mark Lay to the newly created position of VicePresident, CASBAA Singapore. “We are excited to welcome Mark to the CASBAA family and to represent the Association in Singapore,” said CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter. “His thorough knowledge and understanding of Asia’s multichannel TV industry and successful track record in senior management will help CASBAA build its membership base and shape its future strategy.”

Reporting directly to the CEO, Mark will promote the entire range of CASBAA’s products, services and events to relevant Member companies, and ensure Members’ needs and expectations are met by the Association. As Vice-President, CASBAA Singapore, he will also maintain and expand relationships with assigned strategic and potential members and represent CASBAA in the increasingly important Singapore market. Mark gained his broadcast industry experience through previous roles in Distribution and Marketing with STAR TV and as Vice President Affiliate Sales and Relations at Discovery Channel Asia. He has also held Director level positions at Mikoishi Studios and Acme Mobile and was most recently a Private Investor at Lay Financial in Singapore. “It’s great to be back in the pay television business and I am looking forward to reconnecting with previous colleagues and clients along with forging strong connections with new players as well,” said Mark. “Working with CASBAA is a role within the industry that is new to me but one which I am very excited to embrace.” Visit www.casbaa.com

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Wohler Names Collins as APAC Sales Director WOHLER TECHNOLOGIES has announced the appointment of Alex Collins as sales director in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. In this role, Collins will focus on extending awareness and adoption of the company’s RadiantGrid Intelligent Media Transformation Platform and other RadiantGrid-driven solutions in the region.

quickly become a valuable part of our APAC team,” said Craig Newbury, vice president of sales at Wohler. Collins joins Wohler having most recently served as sales and marketing director at Megahertz Ltd. (previously OKNO-TV), a U.K.-based provider of integration services to leading broadcasters worldwide. He also has held sales and marketing roles with Evertz Technologies and Television Systems Limited.

“With experience in both sales and integration of advanced file-based broadcast solutions, and a strong track record in each area, Alex has the proficiency to support the growing interest around RadiantGrid and

Visit www.wohler.com

IABM Boosts APAC Reach with Peter Bruce

GatesAir Adds Mak and Maroun

THE IABM (International Association of

GATESAIR has appointed Jason Mak to its Singapore office as regional

Broadcasting Manufacturers) has announced the appointment of Peter Bruce to the position of director for APAC.

sales manager for the ASEAN countries. Prior to joining GatesAir, Jason’s diversified background included direct sales, business development and technology services from engineering to systems integration, with 15 years of experience in DTV broadcasting, RF and wireless communications.

Bruce, based in Singapore, will elevate the IABM’s profile in APAC, with the aim of increasing membership and lending local support to existing members in the region. Bruce will also be responsible for building a training programme for members.

Meanwhile, Jhonny Maroun has been appointed regional sales manager for the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). Based in Lebanon, Jhonny joins GatesAir at a time when many companies in the MENA region are upgrading their TV and radio infrastructure.

Bruce has worked in the region for 19 years for the likes of the Vitec Group, Thomson SA group companies, BTS, Sony, and Grass Valley.

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ASIA NEWS CHINA IMAX CORPORATION and SMI Corporation Limited, a leading Chinese entertainment and media company that operates theatres under the name Stellar Cinemas, have announced an expansion of the parties’ revenue sharing arrangement with the addition of four new IMAX theatres in China. The deal brings the exhibitor’s total IMAX commitment to 11 theatres. Visit www.imax.com

INDIA PACE PLC HAS ANNOUNCED that Radiant Digitek Network, a major cable MSO in the Rajasthan region in North India, has selected its pre-integrated middleware, conditional access and set-top box solution to deliver premium TV services to its subscribers. The solution incorporates a wide range of EPG features, including favourites, channel list management, Personal Video Recording and Parental control. Visit www.pace.com

HONG KONG THE HONG KONG COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY (CA) has been conducting a two-month public consultation exercise on the renewal of the analogue sound broadcasting licences of Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited and Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited.

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Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited broadcasts via two Cantonese Channels on the FM band (FM 88.1 and FM 90.3) and an English language service on the AM band (AM 864). Metro Radio Hong Kong, meanwhile, operates Metro Finance (FM 104), Metro Info (FM 99.7), and Metro Plus (AM 1044), as well as Metro Finance Digital (DAB+) and Metro Music Digital (DAB+). Visit www.ofca.gov.hk

SINGAPORE

LEAVING NO DELIVERY PLATFORM UNTURNED, MediaCorp recently broadcast Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally 2014 speech ‘live’ across television, radio, Toggle and channelnewsasia. com. The speech was delivered first in Malay, then in Mandarin and finally in English. The speech also voiced-over on other language channels. Video on Demand clips of the Rally were also available on channelnewsasia.com and xinmsn.com Visit www.mediacorp.sg

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TOKYO POST HOUSE, Q-TEC Inc, has invested in a turnkey Quantel Pablo Rio 4K HFR high quality colour and finishing system to provide post production services to its animation department. Q-TEC now has a total of eighteen Quantel systems in house making it the largest Quantel-based post facility in the world. Based in Akasaka, Tokyo, QTEC is one of Japan’s leading post production houses providing editing, CG/VFX production, 3D conversion, offline editing and DI services for animation projects. Visit www.quantel.com

TAIWAN GENCOM TECHNOLOGY has opened new offices in Hanoi, Vietnam, and appointed Mr. Bui Van (Andy) Bang as the Regional Sales Manager. Mr Bang will be based in the Gencom Technology Hanoi office and be supported by the Gencom Technology South-East Asia head office in Singapore. Gencom Technology COO, Meg Garrido, said, “It is a natural progression for Gencom to support its South-East Asian headquarters in Singapore through additional offices across the region. Vietnam is embarking on a program of technical advancement in the media sector and we are pleased to have Gencom in Hanoi to support these changes.” Visit www.gencom.com

KOREA L-S-B HAS ANNOUNCED Dong Yang Digital, exclusive partner in South Korea, as its 2014 Distributor of the Year. It has been an exceptional year for the DYD team, led by President Mr K.W. Lee, with numerous sales both to OB Van and Studio Applications. Customers include KBS, MBC and EBS. At the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea, in September and October 2014, DYD had VSM systems installed in seven OB vans, several flight pack systems and as the main router control system for the Incheon International Broadcast Centre (IBC). Visit www.idyd.com and www.l-s-b.de

NEW ZEALAND

AUSTRALIA THE AUSTRALIAN Commercial & Entertainment Technologies Association (ACETA) is urging wireless mic users to make sure their wireless audio devices are compliant with new spectrum requirements due to come into effect from January 1, 2015. The changes come with the re-allocation of spectrum between 694 and 820MHz for use by the telecommunications sector. From January 1, 2015, it will become illegal to operate wireless devices within that spectrum band and strict penalties can be applied by the Australia Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) for breaches by wireless audio users.

INDIGENOUS BROADCASTER Maori Television Service, with the help of Gencom, has deployed a range of products from Harmonic to launch a Video On Demand service. Viewers can now access via the channels website a backlog of programming titles for repeats of catch-up viewing. The Harmonic WFS and Carbon workflow and transcoding products work together to provide a complex workflow of taking programming assets for the linear presentation broadcast facility and publish these up as downloadable VODs. Special requirements from Maori TV included the transcoding and stitching together of multi-segment programs into single VOD entities suitable for a range of devices, together with cross-language subtitles. Visit www.gencom.com

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Ideal Systems Expands with Two New Offices

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By Keith Ford

IDEA

Ideal Systems has expanded its business in Southeast Asia with the opening of a large regional support and sales office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and a new sales office in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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IDEAL’S NEW KUALA LUMPUR OFFICE IS LOCATED in the brand new Bangsar South development allowing easy access for support of major Malaysian broadcasters such as the national broadcaster RTM, national satellite operator Astro, and the national commercial channels of Media Prima. The office, which can accommodate up to 30 engineers, has its own broadcast technology laboratory and high-bandwidth Internet connections for hosting of next generation cloud-based broadcast solutions and broadcast disaster recovery systems.

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“We feel the location is right to service the key broadcast operators,” said Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO of Ideal Systems Southeast Asia. “The office is more than just an office for Malaysia. Another key operational delivery requirement of the office was to be able to support our SoftCast platform. SoftCast, which started at the beginning of this year has been gaining momentum throughout the year, and we now have SoftCast deployed on air in India, in Singapore, and deployment’s going in at the moment in Indonesia, Myanmar, Japan, and in other locations as well. So one of the key parts that is a differentiator for SoftCast is that the support teams and the integration team for SoftCast will be centrally supported from the Kuala Lumpur office.” One of the biggest benefits for basing a central support office in Malaysia is the unique mixture of language capabilities of the engineers and the time-zone sweet spot. “A key benefit of having our support in Malaysia is the language skills that we get from Malaysia broadcast engineers. There are quite a lot of Chinese in Malaysia, so they speak both Mandarin and Cantonese. From Malaysia we can support our two offices in China. We can obviously support our Hong Kong operation, and we can support our Taiwan operation. So we have four offices predominantly operational in Chinese,” explained Mc Kiernan. “We can support India because it’s predominantly English speaking as well, so obviously we speak English. We can support Singapore in English. Also we can support, Bahasa the Malaysian language is remarkably similar to Bahasa, Indonesian, so we’ve got inherent support to be able to support our expansions in Indonesia, in the local language for Indonesia as well. “So that gives us an inter-language support capacity as well, so in time zone and in region support capacity. So it’s kind of a unique attribute of Malaysia really, which I’m familiar with from running the Omnibus office in Malaysia for a number of years.”

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A key benefit of SoftCast is that, because it is entirely software based, Ideal can support it remotely yet in region with the correct language. There’s no difference on the Softcast system if the support engineer is literally sitting in country at a machine, or using a secure connection to that machine. It’s a client server whether you’re sitting in the CAR room or you’re sitting in the support office in Kuala Lumpur. “Across the Ideal Systems group, different offices within the group carry different agencies. We have different specialisations. As a group we cover an incredibly wide spectrum of broadcast technology, but the skill sets from those specific broadcast manufacturers are siloed into specific offices. So when we’re working on system architectures, we can span across the group, we can pull those skill sets in. But the reality is just due to manufacturers’ distribution agreements that might pre-date us setting

up in a particular country; we have to work with the suppliers that can work with us, so to speak,” said Mc Kiernan. “Oftentimes we can’t carry all products across all our offices, and this gets more pronounced as we continue to expand. For the last four years Ideal has opened an office in a country each year, so we’re on a fairly rapid expansion at the moment. And every time we open an office in the country we find that some of our team manufacturers are already represented there, maybe the existing representatives have exclusive rights. So we can’t bring the same products in to every country, because when we go to the country we have to understand that the manufacturers have been there already or are represented there already. So there are agreements in place that we have to work around,” he added. “This is another core driver for Softcast. And the idea with Softcast is as a house brand we can carry Softcast equally across the entire group, and we’re training people in each of our offices on Softcast from a presales and support and installation perspective. We have a uniform capacity on Softcast across the entire group. So when a project comes up in any country we can support it from any of the offices. This enables Ideal to scale more efficiently as we grow in the future than it has been scaling in the past.” Ideal’s new Indonesia sales office in Jakarta will be equipped with full broadcast systems for conducting SoftCast technology trials with Indonesian broadcasters and will be a fully functioning sales office representing Ideal’s system integration and design services and making the products of Ideal and its partners more accessible to Indonesian operators. “We’re engaged in our first projects in Indonesia this year, and initially we’re driving with Softcast and some of our design services for studios,” concluded McKiernan. Visit www.idealsys.com

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IDEAL SYSTEMS has been selected by Globecast to build new broadcast facilities in Los Angeles and Miami, following the success of the facilities it constructed for the company in Singapore. Jonathan Morley, chief technology officer of Globecast Americas, said, “We are excited to be able to bring the proven content preparation efficiencies of our Media Factory and the cost efficiency of our streamlined play-out infrastructure to the heart of the American broadcast market here in Los Angeles. At the same time, we are establishing a brandnew facility in Miami to support the Latin American broadcast community based there. We wanted Ideal Systems on board to complete the design and build of the facilities on time and on budget. Ideal Systems offers us a unique blend of broadcast software and hardware architects and engineers, combined with the best broadcast interior design and build team we have seen.” The Globecast Media Factory replaces multiple, siloed operations, rationalising them to create a single, efficient process that handles everything from video-on-demand preparation and content formatting through to creative services, quality control, and compliance. Media Factory allows Globecast to pass on economies of scale to customers who also benefit from the greater flexibility and the ability to scale up and down as required. Key technologies being deployed at the new U.S. facilities include an integrated suite from Evertz consisting of Mediator media asset management (MAM) with Playtime automation, OvertureRT integrated playout devices, VistaLINK PRO facility monitoring system, and MVP multiviewer. Based on the same architecture as that deployed for Globecast’s Singapore and London facilities, the new U.S. facilities will have a secure, fully managed hierarchical storage platform based on EMC Isilon and Quantum technologies. The systems are fully integrated to provide a highly optimised and efficient broadcast facility with redundancy as well as proactive and predictive fault monitoring. Also included in the new facilities, and making its broadcast debut in the U.S., is the flexible and rapid channel launch capacity of Ideal System’s SoftCast. The multichannel SoftCast platform augments the overall system with the ability to play out a wide range of native formats and the capacity to reduce channel launch times dramatically. Visit www.globecast.com and www.idealsys.com

Local Focus for Advanced Broadcast Solutions LAUNCHED IN JUNE OF THIS YEAR, Singapore-based Advanced Broadcast Solutions - Asia Pte. Ltd. provides consulting and design services, systems integration, and maintenance and support for professional video, audio, and IT solutions in the Asia-Pacific region. Headed by Managing Director Dennis Breckenridge, the Singapore office marks the first international expansion for ABS which has a presence across four states in the U.S. Previously with Grass Valley and Broadcast Pix, Breckenridge has designed and delivered major projects throughout the region including the International Broadcast Centre for the 27th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar. According to Breckenridge, “Advanced Broadcast Solutions has been working worldwide on different projects, but we’ve never had a real presence within the Asia region, so it’s always hard to support the customers and everything over the long haul if you’re not here.” Taking advantage of Singapore’s corporate and logistics infrastructure, the company is focusing on South and South East Asia. “I think one of the big focuses for me is tailoring the solutions not on what we do in other places or what products we would normally sell, but what really is the client’s business plan,” says Dennis Breckenridge. “I feel more like a business consultant than I do a system integrator, but I think that’s good. What people are not doing so much in the region is really becoming partners with their clients, because it’s a long term relationship. You know, in Asia, it’s about relationships, it’s not about coming and selling something and leaving.” Breckenridge says those relationships should also benefit the local industry. “Rather than always flying in people from the outside, I would rather bring in one or two experts and then mobilise a local workforce in order to do it. It helps in cost and it helps in educating and bringing up the level of capabilities within those countries. “From the U.S. side, I see it as a cross-pollination. So, maybe they have projects, I send some of my resources to the US. That helps them understand another aspect of building and they wouldn’t have that exposure any other way so it’s a good give and take.” Visit www.advancedbroadcastsolutions.com

Qvest for Solutions PART OF GERMANY’S WELLEN+NOETHEN GROUP, Qvest Media

legacy equipment.

added to its international reach in 2013 with the establishment of an office in Singapore and the appointment of Eric Augereau as General Manager. Like its counterpart in Dubai, the Southeast Asian operation offers system design, and consulting and development services in areas such as strategy and management, information processing, technical applications, outsourcing and business support. Through its Technology Support Services division, Qvest Media also oversees a range of scalable Service Level Agreements (SLA).

“The building is a greenfield,” says Noethen, “but it’s not that way that Mediacorp will not use the materials they have now.

Qvest Media is providing consulting services to MediaCorp with an aim to link infrastructural areas within the Singaporean broadcaster. This process will see functions such as ingest, non-linear post-production, multi-channel playout and media asset management mapped out in an integral overall concept through end-to-end file-based workflows. Qvest is also responsible for the entire operational project planning, management and execution alongside the technical development and system integration.

“That’s the challenge for us, as far as migrating the material that they purchased in the past, is that we could still add to the equipment or add to the software. So, there is a greenfield inspiration but the challenge is also migrating a lot of the material from the old facility to the new facility.” While past projects for Qvest have included individual studios and OB trucks, Noethen says it is station design with an emphasis on broadcast IT that has proved the biggest area of growth for the company.

According to Peter Noethen, Director of Qvest Media, “We have set out complete specification of the work for the new Mediacorp building which includes all studios for news operations on their computer systems, radio, OTT services. So, all the technical structure.”

“We are very specialised in management systems,” he says, “so MAM systems, rights management, traffic automation systems. Also, in the infrastructure area of Cisco and switching, but broadcast IT is our main focus, projects that involve broadcast IT in telco and broadband and in television.”

All well as new technology, the project also involves the integration of

Visit www.qvestmedia.ae

NEWS + PEOPLE

Ideal Systems to Build New Facilities for Globecast USA

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NEWS + PEOPLE

CASBAA Faces Down Regional Challenges

By Keith Ford

THE CABLE AND SATELLITE Broadcasting

on this as well and that’s something that’s really important. One of the biggest things that as we develop, as we as an industry develop our digital offering, is to make audiences aware that it’s there, to make them aware that you can in fact access legitimate content in the digital environment.,” explained Mr Slaughter.

Association of Asia (CASBAA) hosted the 2014 edition of their annual convention in October. Ahead of CASBAA 2014, CEO Christopher Slaughter spoke about issues facing the region. Among the challenges that are being faced by CASBAA, as well as its members, is the immense diversity of the region. The Asian subscription television market encompasses a broad array of operators and countries that are facing vastly different challenges. Not every market is faced with the rapid rise of online providers, instead having different concerns. “For us we have a very heterogeneous region. There are some places that are extremely digital, there are some places that are extremely analogue. There is a pay TV operator that has tremendous aspirations in Papua New Guinea and they’re backed by fairly big money. I don’t think that we really need to have the conversation about whether or not there’s going to be massive video on-demand in Port Moresby. At this point, that’s not the conversation, whereas here in Hong Kong it’s absolutely the conversation; in Singapore; in Korea; in Japan; all over China. It’s a strange region that doesn’t literally line up that well.” “Then we look at a market like Malaysia where Astro, which is probably all of Southeast Asia, probably the biggest pay TV operator, and yet in Malaysia there are other operators who are definitely trying to compete with Astro. Yet Astro is the 800-pound gorilla. There you go. It’s an interesting dynamic, and there are so many different markets. Then you look at India where you’ve got 800 channels and the definition of TV is pay TV. It used to be Doordarshan, look where we’ve come from there in the course of 20 years. It’s a fascinating, fascinating time in the industry and it’s a very exciting time as well, even it’s a little bit worrisome from time to time.” Along with these different regions, all of which have different cultures surrounding subscription television, is different regulation from their respective governments. “There is still very much an issue of how governments look at broadcast and online. Generally speaking, they say, ‘Online, there’s nothing we can do about it; leave it alone and

pretend like the content isn’t there,’ whereas they regulate us extremely heavily. In the broadest sense, what we push forward is for less restriction. We want to have a lighter touch regulatory environment for the broadcast industry, particularly since the online industry is so unregulated. It’s a tough one - it’s a very tough one. I’d like to say that we’ve been making a huge success, and what I can say though is we have been highlighting the issue and we continue to highlight the issue and put our point of view forward,” said Mr Slaughter. “In each market, there are different issues, again, because just as we were saying before about the infrastructure environment of the market upside for various markets, it’s so widely divergent. That’s similarly true in the regulatory environment where some places have what we consider quite reasonable regulatory environments and others have a very restrictive environment, shall we say. Obviously, there are markets where we have better relationships with the regulators where we have regulators who are more open to discussions. They’re open to different perspectives and they’re actually willing to listen to what we’re saying.” This also has an impact on piracy of content. Piracy is more prevalent in some markets than others, but there are commonalities that allow CASBAA to focus their efforts in combating it effectively. This doesn’t just include working with governments of enforcing legislation, but also raising awareness of the issue with the end consumer and advertisers. “The stuff that we’re doing breaks down into just a couple of areas. We have a positive spin

“The second thing we’re doing is we continue to work with governments and one of the biggest ones is the black boxes that connect to servers. That problem is twofold. One is the websites that are hosting this illegal content are hard to pin down. Nimble and shadowy is probably the best word we can describe it. The black boxes, on the other hand, are physical black boxes. They’ve made a couple of crackdowns on the imports of these black boxes, which are essentially just a plastic box filled with some chipsets that automatically take you to the offending websites and update them using Android software, etcetera. We’re heartened by the efforts of the customs, authorities and the police in the place where we have seen crackdowns. “The other area we’re working is look at what are the legal methods that are available. Legal in the sense of what are the methods, not so much legislative but judicial methods that we have of going after the people who are running these sites. The issue is not so much with people who are resident in a particular market, but when the sites are offshore in a second country and some offshore jurisdiction, it’s harder for local authorities to take any action and that’s the challenge. The issue is not just about the odd torrent floating around, it’s about some of these sites that are running full 24-by-7 pirated channels. That’s alarming,” continued Mr Slaughter. “The fourth area is really looking at, again, the advertising trail, the money trail. What advertisers are funding these pirate websites and how do you approach them and say, ‘Look, your ad is appearing on a site that has nothing but illegal content, pirated content. Is that really what you want your brand to be associated with?’ That is another that hopefully is an effective one is that we can get brands to be responsible corporate citizens with their advertising dollars.” Visit www.casbaa.com

NEWS + PEOPLE

Lightning International Ltd have announced the launch of Australia Channel, which will present the best of Australian news, business and sport – backed by the resources of SKY NEWS Australia. Available now, Australia Channel will deliver

24/7 coverage of news, business and sport to audiences across Asia and around the globe. Former CNN anchor Stan Grant, together with many other notable Australian news anchors, will deliver coverage from Australia’s Parliament in Canberra, the commercial centres of Sydney and Melbourne, the Australian Stock Exchange, and

the nation’s most famous sporting venues. The channel will be distributed by growing content distributor and consultancy Lightning International, based in Hong Kong. Depending on territory, Australia Channel will be available as either a premium channel, or formatted for a broader audience.

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Explosion of Local Satellite Launches THE SEPTEMBER 12 LAUNCH of Flight VA218, an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle, from the European Spaceport in French Guiana has added a further three satellites to the capacity of the Asia Pacific region in the form of MEASAT3b, Jabiru-2 and Optus 10. AsiaSat 6 also launched. Malaysian operator MEASAT Global Berhad’s MEASAT-3b is equipped with 48 high-powered Ku-band transponders to support video and data services across Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Australia. MEASAT-3b will co-locate with MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a to form one of the region’s most powerful and robust orbital locations.

Meanwhile, Jabiru-2, owned by Australiabased independent operator NewSat, features 216MHz (6 x 36MHz) of Ku-band capacity which will provide highly targeted coverage across Australia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Singtel Optus Pty Limited’s Optus 10 features 24 x 36 MHz Ku-Band transponders, which are independently beam and band switchable and a coverage area of Australia and New Zealand, the Australian Island Territories and McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Following a recent postponement, AsiaSat 6, the newest communications satellite of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), successfully lifted off on 7 September

at Hong Kong Time 1:00 p.m. This is the second SpaceX Falcon 9 launch this northern summer for AsiaSat, after AsiaSat 8 on 5 August. AsiaSat 6, based on Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform, is designed to provide excellent power and region-wide connectivity at its nominal orbital location of 120 degrees East. With 28 high-powered C-band transponders and a design life of 15 years, AsiaSat 6 offers two beams, one global beam and one regional beam for a broad range of video distribution and broadband network services in the AsiaPacific region. Visit www.measat.com, www.newsat.com, www.optus.com.au and www.asiasat.com

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‘C Music TV HD’ Launching on AsiaSat 5 ASIA SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY LTD (AsiaSat) and C Music Entertainment Limited in London, England have signed an agreement to launch ‘C Music TV HD’ across Asia on AsiaSat 5 at 100.5°E from 1st November, 2014. This deal makes the classical and film music-video channel available in South East Asia, Australasia and India for the first time. The addition of ‘C Music TV HD’ will notably broaden the range of HD channels onboard AsiaSat 5. The Singapore office of French distribution company, THEMA, will exclusively handle C Music TV’s carriage in the region. Visit www.asiasat.com

Brightcove Video Cloud Used for UAAPsports.tv and ONE Fighting Championship BRIGHTCOVE INC. HAS ANNOUNCED that ABS-CBN UAAPsports.tv, an online TV channel owned by the Philippines’ largest multimedia conglomerate, the ABS-CBN Corporation, has selected the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform to power coverage of top local sports leagues from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) online. ABS-CBN UAAPsports.tv will leverage Video Cloud to manage and deliver both live and on-demand games from basketball to volleyball, football and badminton. With Video Cloud Smart Players, ABSCBN UAAPsports.tv can seamlessly deliver video in Flash or HTML5 across smartphones, tablets and more, depending on the viewer’s device capabilities.

Brightcove also announced that Singapore-based ONE Fighting Championship, Asia’s largest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organisation, will leverage the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform for live streaming coverage of its multi-city world tour, which kicked off with the Roar of Tigers event in Kuala Lumpur on October 17th, 2014. With Video Cloud, ONE FC can rely on a simple and straightforward workflow to easily deliver high-quality live video onto the Web, iOS and Android devices. Brightcove’s integration with paywall provider, Cleeng, also enables ONE FC to set monetisation conditions for live and video on demand content directly from within the Brightcove platform. Visit www.brightcove.com

EVS Provides India’s News 7 with HD News Workflow

Shiyan TV Upgrades with ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K

PRAMAYA TV, part of India’s Summa Real Media Group, has selected a high-definition news workflow from EVS for its News 7 news channel.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN has announced that

Duo monitors as part of their system.

Shiyan TV, a regional broadcaster in the city of Shiyan, Hubei province, installed the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4Ks with ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panels as the main and backup switchers for its main production studio.

During broadcasts, the chroma keyer on the ATEM switcher is used as a backup for the virtual studio system, while the blue screen feed is distributed to the virtual studio system and ATEM switcher. And in case there is a failure with the virtual studio system, operators can use the chroma key feature for keying and compositing work.

Systems integrator DOTS Techno Creative implemented the new system that facilitates acquisition, post-production, distribution, video and audio archiving, and news-gathering operations. EVS’ XS family ingests media from multiple sources and provides complete media control including live editing, multi-channel playback, playout and transfer to third-party systems. The workflow, which uses the DVCPRO-HD file format, is tightly integrated with other station components and can be managed centrally. Visit www.evs.com

At the heart of the new studio system is Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K switcher with ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel, which mixes feeds from cameras, the virtual studio system, online graphics system, media players and editing systems. Shiyan TV is also using Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub routers, HyperDeck Studio Pro broadcast decks, DeckLink cards, Mini Converters and SmartView

In the new system, the PGM out of the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K is split into two feeds, with one for a computer equipped with a DeckLink SDI card to capture to the master and the other for a HyperDeck Studio Pro SSD recorder for backup mastering. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

NEWS + PEOPLE

tes

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TECHNICAL STANDARDS www.content-technology.com/standards

ARG, OMICRON Lab, and Meinberg to Support Ravenna BRITISH NETWORK and distribution equipment specialist ARG, Austrian specialist for Smart Timing and Measurement Solutions OMICRON Lab, and German high-precision timing equipment manufacturer Meinberg, have announced their support of the open media networking standard RAVENNA. Together, ARG and ALC NetworX have tested ARG’s network equipment to provide optimal support for RAVENNA real-time media traffic. ARG’s Stagebox switch, a version of its generic Easy Ethernet Adapter Switch 2800, specifically designed for broadcast applications, features eight GbE RJ45 and two 2.5 Gbit SFP ports. It comes with all the right ingredients for optimal configuration with respect to RAVENNA’s network requirements: Not only does it offer native PTP support for best synchronisation accuracy, it also offers a wide range of configuration options for QoS and multicast support as well as comprehensive monitoring and diagnosis options. Paul Higuera, Sales Director, ARG, said, “We are pleased to be part of the REVENNA technology platform. RAVENNA is an excellent example of a real-time media IP network environment for which our Stagebox switch has been specifically designed. We are excited about the opportunity to support our customers as they transition to RAVENNA and to be part of the wider growing interest in IP Media networks.” OMICRON Lab provides precision timing equipment, which is an ideal complement to a RAVENNA real-time media network. The product in question is OMICRON Lab’s OTMC 100 IEEE 1588/PTP Grandmaster clock with integrated GPS antenna and GPS receiver, which is a compact solution for space-limited or mobile applications. The device is powered

Markus Pfitscher, Sales & Business Development of OMICRON Lab, states, “OMICRON Lab is known as supplier of Smart Measurement and Smart Timing Solutions for industrial applications. By joining the RAVENNA community, with its open technology and the strong user-base, OMICRON Lab is excited to provide IEEE 1588/PTP timing solutions for real-time distribution of audio and other media content in IP-based networks.” Meinberg, a leading provider of high precision timing solutions, has recently introduced its new IMS line, a versatile and highly configurable precision timing and frequency platform. Available as 1U or 3U units, the IMS devices offer various plug-in modules to suit individual needs. Of specific interest for professional applications is the possibility to combine GPS-referenced time distribution through IEEE1588 (PTP) and programmable studio-quality master clock generation such as AES Word Clock or video GenLock (BlackBurst etc.) in one device. “RAVENNA is a perfect example of an open standard that is clearly designed to help the industry to design products that are firmly oriented towards the requirements of end-users,” stated Heiko Gerstung, Managing Director of Meinberg. “RAVENNA’s openness and utilisation of modern, innovative technology and concepts matches our own ideas of how standards should be designed, so we are delighted to be a part of it now.” Visit http://ravenna.alcnetworx.com, http://arg.co.uk, www.omicron-lab.com and www.meinberg.de

SMPTE Publishes Archive eXchange Format Standard

Front Porch Digital Joins DPP Compliance Programme

THE SOCIETY OF MOTION PICTURE and Television Engineers (SMPTE), has

FRONT PORCH DIGITAL, a leader in cloud-based content storage management (CSM) solutions, has joined the U.K.’s Digital Production Partnership (DPP) Compliance Programme. The DPP is the industry body that is driving the U.K.’s transition to file-based production and distribution of all television programs. As a DPP Compliance Programme member, Front Porch Digital has committed to making its products adhere to the AS-11 DPP standard, which specifies delivery requirements that all U.K. broadcasters must meet.

published a standard that codifies the Archive eXchange Format (AXF). An IT-centric file container that can encapsulate any number and type of files in a fully self-contained and self-describing package, AXF supports interoperability among disparate content storage systems and ensures content’s longterm availability, no matter how storage or file system technology evolves. “When faced with the need either to consolidate archives or to migrate them to new generations of storage technology, media companies traditionally have been forced to perform the costly and time-consuming integration of archive systems and other systems,” said S. Merrill Weiss, chair of the SMPTE Working Group on AXF. “Now, by abstracting the underlying technology of digital storage, AXF not only supports interoperability among today’s discrete storage systems regardless of the operating and file systems used, but also future-proofs digital storage so that content remains available despite changing formats and storage technologies.”

TECHNICAL STANDARDS

over Ethernet (PoE) and comes with mast-mounting equipment for quick installation.

“Broadcasters and producers in the U.K. have gone to great lengths to standardise and simplify the exchange of digital files, and in a market as busy as the U.K., that was not an easy thing to do,” said Rino Petricola, COO and general manager, Front Porch Digital. “It’s now up to the industry’s manufacturers and software vendors to work within the DPP compliance scheme and adapt their tools to the new delivery standard. We joined the DPP effort to assure our U.K. customers that we’re on top of the significant changes in their market and will work with them as they modify their operations to meet the emerging requirements.”

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Designed for operational storage, transport, and long-term preservation, AXF was formulated as a wrapper, or container, capable of holding virtually unlimited collections of files and metadata related to one another in any combination. Known as “AXF Objects,” such containers can package, in different ways, all the specific information different kinds of systems would need in order to restore the content data. The format relies on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) to define the information in a way that can be read and recovered by any modern computer system to which the data is downloaded.

As part of its effort to ensure DPP compliance for its customers, Front Porch Digital’s DIVArchive CSM system — and its cloud-based counterpart, the LYNX CSM system — will fully support the AS-11 DPP format by using adapted media-centric features at the archive level, such as inline transcoding operations, partial file restore, and constant file monitoring and checksums. Another feature under consideration is the extraction, display, and editing of DPP package metadata within Front Porch Digital’s DIVAdirector media asset management system and DISTILL metadata management system.

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4K Gets a Dose of ‘Muay Thai Madness’ By Keith Ford The move to 4K Ultra HD production has been gaining pace over the last 2-3 years, seemingly taking the place of 3D as the predicted future of cinema. It has also seen huge take-up in the realms of sportscasting where a lot of the benefits can really come into play. Combining the cinematic and the sportscasting elements is Al Caudullo with ‘Muay Thai Madness’. HAVING BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY FOR 35 YEARS, Caudullo has worked in multiple aspects, beginning with display technology. He has worked on the Oscars, the Grammys, CES, and worked for clients such as Nike, Microsoft and Apple. For the last twelve years, Caudullo has lived and worked in Thailand on the production side, a large part of which was in 3D. “I’ve been involved in 3D as a hobby, basically, for about 15 years. About seven years ago I went down to buy a new camera down in Singapore and happened upon the 3DX Festival when it was down there, and I was totally entranced. Here was Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jim Gianopulos from Fox and Mark Zoradi with Disney, and they were all singing the praises of 3D and how they were going to do all their movies in 3D. I jumped in to 3D and basically for the next six years didn’t do another 2D shoot at all,” explained Caudullo. “Everything was in 3D, which did quite well. I’ve still got stuff showing all over the world. In fact, I just sold additional 3D stuff to Brazil and to China, so the market’s not completely dead. I’m doing some 3D features that are coming up. I’ve got 3D features that I’m doing and in 2016, I’m doing a production with Chuck Comisky of Avatar fame. “So 3D’s still going strong, but then again, 4K came along and I always love new and exciting, bleeding-edge kind of stuff, and so I jumped into 4K because I said, ‘This is going to be hot’. Not leaving 3D behind, but definitely enjoying - 3D is hard; it’s not easy by any stretch of the imagination. It’s easier than it used to be, but 4K just was such a pleasure to get back to it, 2D shooting and shallow depth of field and being able to play around with light more. You’re a little bit more restricted when it comes to 3D. Being in Thailand, I have done some stories on Muay Thai before and I thought the passion, the sweat, the muscles, everything about Muay Thai lends itself to 4K beautifully. So I’m now into production called ‘Muay Thai Madness’, and shot it in 4K using the Sony Z100, and also my Panasonic GH4.” Shooting in 3D comes with technical challenges, one of which is file sizes and storing the increased amount of data. 4K takes that to another level, with the higher resolution, and frame rate in Caudullo’s case, upping the file size once again.

to do some promotions for them and they’re going to be distributing a 4K show that I did called ‘Treasures of Thailand’, and they’re going to be giving an app with all of their 4K TVs along with a Thai cooking show that I did and ‘Muay Thai Madness’. So anybody in Thailand that buys a 4K Panasonic TV is getting these, so they have some content to watch,” Caudullo said. When it came to choosing the camera to use on ‘Muay Thai Madness’, Caudullo had to balance his performance needs with the practicalities of independent film-making. Picking up the biggest and the best is not always possible within budget constraints.

“From a technical side, the size of the files shooting 60p at 600 megabits per second, you fill up a 64-gig card in 13 minutes, so the files sizes were just tremendous. I used to think that I had a lot of hard drives for 3D and I’ve got 270 hard drives, basically 135 times 2 because I’d make a backup of everything. But I’d tell you, I’m just filling up 3- and 4-terabyte drives like they’re nothing,” said Cuadullo.

“Well, when I got into the 4K, I started doing some really in-depth analysis on the camera situation, and I looked at the upcoming Blackmagic. I looked at the cameras that were available on the market; and as independent filmmaker, I would love to run out and go grab a RED. But at $19,000 for just a body, it’s just not practical. So I looked for what was coming that was the best that I thought would be able to capture,” he explained. “The Z100 came out and even though the sensor is a little bit small and there are some noise issues with it, being able to shoot 60p I thought was vital for most of the shots in ‘Muay Thai Madness’. So that was my main camera.

During the early days of 3D Caudullo even acted as a consultant for Panasonic on the AG-3DA1 3D Camcorder, their first 3D camera, leading to a long-running relationship with the company.

“Then, I was very lucky that, again, given the relationship that I’ve got with Panasonic, they basically handed me a GH4 and said, ‘Hey, check this out, review it. Check, play with it.’ I like doing hands-on reviews, so consequently, I get

“I’ve been very lucky that when Panasonic’s 4K TV came out, they asked me

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ACQUISITION  Continued from Page 13 a lot of new products to test out. So I used the GH4 as my back-up camera on this production. On my next production as a matter of fact, I’m using the GH4 as my exclusive camera for that. In fact, I’ve got two of them to use. I’ve never been a big DSLR fan because I always felt like it was a still-picture camera with a video - with recording video. Now, I feel like that they changed the sensors and I really believe the new crop of DSLRs are video cameras that just happen to take still pictures. The quality has increased tremendously on them. I got to say that the GH4 shoots as good, if not better, a picture than the Z100. The GH4 is really, I think, going to revolutionise 4K for the masses because I think it puts an affordable camera in any filmmaker’s hands that he can get beautiful 4K images with and the more I use it, the more I’ve fallen in love with it.” To go along with the Z100 and the GH4 was a number of peripheral devices and mounts, specifically the Atomos Samurai Blade, edelkrone SliderPLUS PRO, and the Manfrotto monopod. “I’ve already pre-ordered my Atomos Shogun, but since I could not get one ahead of time, I made do with my Samurai Blade. I got to tell you, even though it was only recording 1080, it was my preferred screen. The 325 pixels per inch on that screen are just fantastic for being out in the field for being able to really see the detail that you need to for 4K. Because one of the things about 4K is the fact that focus is even more critical than it ever was before, so you’ve got to be spot on or you’re a dead man. You’ve wasted the file - the digital file. You might as well just chuck it away because if it’s not crisp, it’s not going to work,” said Caudullo. “Movement is another factor. If you’re breathing too heavy and you’re doing a handheld, it’s not going to work because you see every bounce. You see every shudder. So you’ve really got to be super, super stabilised and super smooth,” he continued. “I found that I’m using the edelkrone SliderPLUS PRO. It is a beautiful little tripod mounted slider that enables you to get a really good length with just being able to put it on top of a tripod instead of having to put up a couple of sticks and go through the whole thing of setting up. That’s one thing about documentary-style run-and-gun videography, you need tools that are going to let you set up quickly, move quickly and get the shot quickly because you don’t get to call for a second take. In a Muay Thai bout, when they deliver that knockout shot, you don’t get to say, ‘Wait a minute I didn’t get that. Could you turn this way just a little bit when you knock him out?’”

The post production process on ‘Muay Thai Madness’ has been a transitional one for Caudullo, changing from the process he had refined over many 3D projects to a new set-up that doen’t need to take 3D into account. This change in focus led to Caudullo becoming fully engrossed in an Adobe workflow.

“I do reviews and I’m also a beta tester for a lot of different products, and I was working with EDIUS from Grass Valley for 3D, and I think for 3D it’s the best tool on the market. But I’ve also been exposed now to Adobe Premiere Pro, and I started using Premiere in some of the later stages because I really admire their workflow. I think that the synergy between products now is so much better of being able to jump to an After Effects and then could come right back into Premiere,” explained Caudullo. “Whereas, when I would do After Effects for a shot in EDIUS, I would have to import the footage from EDIUS, bring it into After Effects, do what I wanted to do with it, output it from After Effects and bring it back in again to EDIUS. Whereas with Premiere, I’ve got to say that I’m really taken with the ability to be able to jump quickly and, again, for independent filmmakers, you’re only halfway there after you’ve got it shot. You need to be able to work quickly to be able to deliver the product because that’s when you make your money from a business aspect of things. So I’ve been working with Premiere.”

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Caudullo has also taken to 3D printing accessories to switch his GH4 between mounts. It provides a quick and cost-effective solution for hard to come by mounts and plates. “I wanted for this upcoming shoot that we’re doing in Angkor, since I’m using exclusive with the GH4, I wanted to be able to go from my Gimbal stabiliser to my slider with a small tripod head on it, over to my Manfrotto monopod, and even over to my little edelkrone PocketSHOT that I’m going to be using for some shots. I want to be able to switch the camera out without having to take out a screwdriver, and put things on and take things off. So the easiest thing, the common denominator, the only one that I can think of right off the bat was using the Manfrotto-style quick release. But here in Bangkok, there are not a lot of places that have stuff. So I went online to the 3D printing community and I found somebody who had created their own version of the Manfrotto. First the base that mounts onto the tripod, which that’s the hardest piece to find, and they even did their own quick release plate that goes on to the camera. So I printed out the bases and the plates, and now I can go from one to the other to the other to the other all with stuff that I 3D-printed,” concluded Caudullo.

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Sony Expands XDCAM Line-Up

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AN ESTABLISHED PRODUCTION STANDARD for ENG, sports and reality TV, Sony’s XDCAM range is continually evolving its workflow in response to the increasing requirements of video professionals. The XDCAM series has proven its flexibility through an ability to record and play a range of formats, including MPEG-2 HD422, and its support for efficient MXF-file-based workflows. The XAVC format is becoming a worldwide industry standard, with more than 65 companies, including hardware manufacturers, already supporting the format. In 2012, Sony introduced the XAVC format, capable of handling HighFrame-Rate (HFR) HD and 4K content. In 2013, Sony added XAVC Long-GOP encoding as an alternative to the existing XAVC intra-frame codec—offering higher compression and more efficient network-based production. The new codec enables 1080/60p (up from 1080/60i) at 50 Mbps, and supports smooth migration from 25 Mbps DVCAM. Now, Sony is adding XAVC compliance across its XDCAM range, giving users more choice in selecting a format that best suits their application. Sony XDCAM models that are XAVC-compliant include: PXW-Z100, PXW-X70, PXW-X160, PXW-X180, PXW-X200, PMW-300, PMW-400, PXW-X500, PXW-FS7,PMW-RX50, PMW-1000, PDW-HD1550, and XDS-PD2000. XDCAM camcorders support wireless workflows—including wireless control from remote devices, and wireless file transfers for networked field production. Sony’s newest XDCAM models – PXW-X180, PXW-X200 and PXW–X500 – have built-in wireless capability, while other XDCAM models support wireless through the addition of an external wireless adapter (CBK-WA100). Sony plans to add live streaming capabilities to these cameras starting in early 2015. The new PXW-FS7 is the first XDCAM camera to feature a 4K Super35 CMOS sensor and – Mount System with support for a variety of recording formats including XAVC Intra/Long GOP recording with 4:2:2 10-bit encoding as well as MPEG HD 4:2:2. It is capable of shooting 4K Quad Full HD in XAVC 4K and super slow motion in Full HD also using XAVC. Sony is introducing the PXW-X200 XDCAM handheld camcorder for videographers and broadcasters looking for outstanding operating performance. The PXW-X200 incorporates improved 1/2 inch-type Exmor 3CMOS sensors, a new 17x zoom lens and XAVC Intra/Long GOP recording with 4:2:2 10-bit encoding as well as MPEG HD 4:2:2. The results are high quality Full HD (1920×1080) pictures, high sensitivity (F13 at 1080/50i), low noise (S/N ratio of 58dB), and a wide dynamic range – essential for professionals shooting under challenging lighting conditions.

IO Industries Launches Compact 4K Camera IO INDUSTRIES INC. has shown their new 4KSDI camera at IBC 2014. The 4KSDI is a single-piece 4K/UHD camera head with 3G/HD-SDI outputs for connection to separate recorders and monitors. It features a Super-35mm global shutter sensor, interchangeable lens mount, and multiple output formats to support various applications. Designed for use in professional broadcast and production environments, it also suits remote video applications with unmanned aerial or underwater vehicles. The 4KSDI is the first 4K camera designed to get the tight shots in difficult locations that are otherwise impossible with larger camera systems. Despite its size, this small form factor camera delivers the same image quality demanded by professionals. Flexible lens mount options including PL, Nikon F and Canon EF, allow familiar lenses to be used, while an integrated Optical Low Pass Filter helps remove moiré artefacts. With four 3G/HD-SDI outputs, connection to peripheral devices is made easy. Depending on the output format, either two or four cables are needed to connect the 4KSDI to a growing selection of 4K/UHD field recorders, monitors, and live production switchers. For multi-camera configurations, either stereoscopic or panoramic, precise camera synchronisation is possible using a tri-level sync reference. Visit www.ioindustries.com

The new PXW-X500 offers superior picture quality with its new three-chip 2/3 inch-type CCD image sensors and multi-format recording capability in MPEG2 HD 4:2:2, XAVC Intra/Long GOP 4:2:2, MPEG-4 SStP 4:2:2 Lite for efficient workflows, plus further flexibility with future optional support for ProRes and DNxHD formats. The PXW-X500 is designed to be a 1080P acquisition tool for a broad range of HD production applications such as TV dramas, live productions, ENG and sports. The PMW-RX50 recorder features a compact and lightweight design, and is capable of SxS recording and playback. It supports the XAVC Intra 4:2:2 1080 50p/59.94p and XAVC long 4:2:2 1080 50p/59.94p formats, as well as traditional formats such as MPEG HD 4:2:2, 4:2:0, MPEG IMX and DVCAM. It is designed as a field deck companion for XDCAM camcorders, especially in applications like field shoots and on-site location shoots. Sony’s XDCAM workflow now links shooting with recording and editing to deliver effective on-site ingest and backup. High-speed ingest solutions are now available using SxS cards capable of up to 3.5Gbps (440 MBps) transfers (with card models SBP‑64C and -128C, and SBS-32G1B, -64G1B, and -128G1B) together with supporting card reader/writers (models SBAC-US30, SBACUT100). These solutions more than double the speed of current SxS cards and card reader/writers. The SBAC‑UT100 drive also provides two SxS card slots, and offers both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt interfaces. The unit offers excellent connectivity with editing devices and supports file transfers from up to six cascade-connected SBAC-UT100 units. Visit http://pro.sony-asia.com

Timecode Buddy Launches New Timecode and Metadata Hub TIMECODE SYSTEMS IS RELEASING a new production and camera accessory – a single box solution to streamlining production workflows. It’s their most advanced, feature-packed and future-proof piece of long range RF and WiFi enabled timecode and metadata technology yet and it’s all set to be unveiled for the first time at IBC 2014. Timecode Systems has built on the proven capability of the award-winning Timecode Buddy:wifi master to create a whole new generation of timecode technology – the :pulse, a compact, multi-functional timecode and metadata hub. The first thing most people will notice about the company’s latest launch is its diminutive size and apparent simplicity. But beyond the compact and robust aluminium case lies unrivalled timecode and metadata innovation offering a single box solution to streamlining production workflows. The core functionality of the :pulse is everything you would expect from Timecode Buddy’s generate, sync and share guarantee. Use it to generate their signature brand of super accurate timecode and genlock. Sync with zero drift between units via a long range robust RF transceiver and use the integrated WiFi to share all of this information to the Timecode Buddy: pulse app, MovieSlate app or Adobe LiveLogger app. Visit www.timecodebuddy.com

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CION Support From Top Camera Accessory Manufacturers

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AJA VIDEO SYSTEMS HAS ANNOUNCED that top third-party camera

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accessory developers are on board with support for the CION camera. CION features an ergonomic design and is capable of shooting at 4K/ UltraHD and 2K/HD resolutions.

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“We are thrilled that out of the gates, so many best of breed developers have expressed interest in supporting CION,” said Nick Rashby, president, AJA Video Systems. “In addition to this great group of developers, there are many more working on unique and exciting accessories and workflows centred around CION.”

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Alphatron’s electronic viewfinder (EVF-035W-3G) will work with CION’s standard connectors, along with their full line of accessories including matte boxes, follow focuses, camera plates and a pedestal. Additionally, through Alphatron’s camRade division, the company is developing a rain cover and camera bag custom fit to CION’s specifications. Leveraging CION’s removable lens mount, MTF has announced a host of new lens adapters already in production including Nikon/G to CION, Canon EF to CION, Canon EF (electric) to CION, Canon FD to CION, ARRI Bayonet to CION and an optical B4 to CION package. Wooden Camera is also developing several alternate lens mounts for CION, while Vocas develops an array of standard camera accessories that work with

RED Digital Cinema Touts 6K RED DIGITAL CINEMA has announced the 6K RED DRAGON sensor. Boasting over 19 megapixels, a new colour science and higher dynamic range, the DRAGON sensor takes both EPIC and SCARLET to the next level – blurring the line between motion and still cameras. RED is not only breaking new ground in photography image capture – with DRAGON receiving the highest DxO Mark sensor rating ever – it is also offering more tactical options for photographers. The newly reworked REDCINE-X PRO provides RAW workflow and now features frame tagging, so shooters can mark and access specific frames while shooting. Also new

CION including matte boxes, focus controllers, cheese plates and much more. Zacuto’s newest EVF, the Gratical HD, announced at NAB 2014, along with their entire line of standard camera accessories will also be ideal complements to CION shooters. Visit www.aja.com

within this version of REDCINE-X PRO is A.D.D. (Advanced Dragon Debayer), a new algorithm for DRAGON that carefully analyses every pixel to create the best frame possible. RED has also released the RED 3-Axis Lens Control System, a turn-key wireless lens control kit for driving focus, iris and zoom. The REDLINK Bridge – a wireless module that allows apps to communicate with the DSMC through the REDLINK Command Protocol (RCP) – interfaces with the RED 3-Axis Lens Control System’s T.H.C. (TACTICAL HAND CONTROLLER) to control focus and iris on Canon and Nikon lenses. The RED Switchblade-M, a slim and lightweight interface solution that mounts to the side of your EPIC or SCARLET, will also be on display. Visit www.red.com

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Video Devices Step Into the Spotlight for First IBC Show VIDEO DEVICES, mission-critical video products by Sound Devices, made their IBC debut at this year’s exhibition. Since Sound Devices introduced its first video products, the camera-mounted PIX 240i and PIX 220i, the company has expanded on its success with a range of rackmounted, network-connected video recorders. These product additions, including the new PIX 270i and PIX 250i, have opened new markets and product categories for the company.

ACQUISITION

The network-connected PIX 270i and PIX 250i video decks offer significant advantages for production workflows, providing timesaving tapeless, file-based recording and playback with the ability to remotely control, set up and transfer high-quality files over Ethernet. The units record edit-ready Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD files and allow simultaneous multiple-drive recording, giving production staff peace of mind with their rock-solid redundancy and backup capabilities (four drives for PIX 270i and two drives for 250i). The audio capabilities includes 64 channels of both MADI audio and Dante audio-overEthernet for PIX 270i and the PIX 250i’s 16 tracks of audio. Over the next several months, the company will brand all video-related products as Video Devices, including the PIX 220i, PIX 240i, PIX 250i, and PIX 270i recorders, as well as all future video products. Visit www.videodevices.com

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Grass Valley Showcase Broadcast Portfolio Enhancements AT IBC 2014, Grass Valley showcased solutions and services designed to meet the needs of broadcasters and media companies, such as 4K/UHD and IP-enabled workflows. For 4K, Grass Valley featured a comprehensive end-to-end 4K/UHD production workflow featuring the world’s first 4K/UHD system camera with a native B4 lens mount, along with a full line of 4K/UHD-capable products including switchers, multiviewers and editing, routing and replay equipment. This 4K/UHD system camera enables broadcasters to produce 4K/UHD content with no compromise in zooming, depth of field or sensitivity. The 4K/ UHD system camera also allows broadcasters to achieve shots from POV and shoulder-mount camera positions, in addition to fixed-tripod positions. Grass Valley’s new control system technology supports both SDN (softwaredefined network) control of third-party IP switches as well as control of traditional SDI (serial digital interface) routers. With this approach, broadcasters don’t have to be locked into choosing proprietary IP switches. Moreover, they can select signal sources — whether IP- or SDI-based — from control panels and interfaces already familiar to operators. Grass Valley also introduced a new storytelling capability to the K2 Dyno Replay system: a pan and zoom interface for the LDX XS 6X replay. With this new capability, not only can slo-mo operators vary the speed of an XtremeSpeed replay using K2 Dyno AnySpeed technology, now they can use key frames to zoom in on the area of interest of any critical sports replay. Visit www.grassvalley.com

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ARRI Releases New Updates and Ultra Wide Zoom Lens ARRI HAS RELEASED ALEXA’s tenth software update, as well as updates for AMIRA, WCU-4. ARRI has also released a new Lens Data Encoder, the LDE-1, and a new ultra wide zoom lens, the UWZ 9.5-18/T2.9. The many features in Software Update Packet (SUP) 10.0 have been chosen based on feedback from numerous set visits and a continual dialogue with cinematographers, assistants, DITs, rental and post houses, and ARRI partners. The new Apple ProRes 4444 XQ codec is the ideal choice for productions that are shooting for premium image quality, or are looking to take their colour grading to extremes. This new 12 bit RGB codec supports HD and 2K resolutions as well as 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios. Its data rate of 500 Mb/s (at 30 fps 1920 x 1080) is higher than ProRes 4444’s 330 Mb/s, allowing a lower compression ratio that better preserves the superior tonal range of ALEXA’s Log C signal.

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The many movies that are already recording in the ARRIRAW Open Gate format with ALEXA XT, XT Plus and XT Studio cameras will now be able to do the same with the compact ALEXA XT M. Open Gate records the full size of the ALEXA sensor for an easy 4K up-sample or for repositioning, resizing and stabilising in post. ARRI also announced AMIRA Software Update Packet SUP 1.1, the camera’s first major software update. As well as fulfilling promises made at launch and refining existing functionality, SUP 1.1 delivers new features inspired by feedback from customers. The model of system adaptability through software updates makes AMIRA a flexible, future-proof tool.

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ARRI unveiled its new Lens Data Encoder LDE-1 and announced a software update for its Wireless Compact Unit WCU-4, both of which expand the lens data options available via the company’s Electronic Control System. ARRI’s Electronic Control System is a toolset for precise wireless remote control of cameras and lenses from any manufacturer. It also provides valuable metadata about exactly what a lens is doing at any given moment. All tools within the modular, future-proof system can be combined to provide scalable solutions for any application.

Software Update Packet (SUP) 2.0 for the WCU-4 makes lens programming easier. Through lens programming, lens tables can be generated for any lens, from vintage anamorphics to modern PL mount zooms, allowing lens data to be collected from them via the Electronic Control System. The new Lens Data Encoder LDE-1 extends the functionality of the Electronic Control System. Incorporating an encoder that delivers data indicating the position of the lens ring to which it is attached, the LDE-1 can be used in parallel with a manual follow focus unit or a third-party wireless lens control system. It allows lens data to be generated in situations when an ALEXA Plus or Studio (or a UMC-4) is being used without an ARRI lens motor or an LDS lens. The UWZ is the first super wide-angle zoom lens for the professional cine market. With an unusually accommodating image circle of 34.5 mm, it has been designed for both existing and future generations of large-sensor digital cameras, incorporating patented, cutting-edge lens technologies that overcome known problems with previous wide-angle zooms. It is available in ARRI LDS PL mount or Canon EF mount. The optical performance of this new telecentric design is comparable to, or even exceeds, that of high-end wide-angle prime lenses, offering very high resolution and contrast, and virtually no image breathing. For maximum flexibility and cost efficiency on set, the UWZ can easily replace a complete range of wide-angle primes, though it is colour matched to other current ARRI/FUJINON and ARRI/ZEISS lenses. Visit www.arri.com

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AT IBC, FOR-A HAS SHOWCASED a variety of its new video production solutions. A highlight was the FT-ONE-OPT – the newest version of the company’s 4K variable frame rate camera.

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The camera enables operators to shoot from the field with ease, allowing up to 1km distance between the unit and base station via optical cable. Capable of shooting up to 900 frames per second, the FT-ONE continuously outputs live full 4K signals and includes the ability to colour correct video output live using its 12-axis system. The camera was shown with FOR-A’s ZE-ONE 4K extraction system, which gives users the ability to frame and extract desired 4K image areas for HD replays. FOR-A has expanded its XT series of video production mixers with the introduction of the XT2000 vision mixer, which offers unique capabilities that make vision mixing more versatile than ever before. Allowing up to 40 SDI inputs and 22 outputs, the XT2000 features MELite, which gives the 2 M/E unit the power and functionality of a 6 M/E unit. MELite enables a traditional AUX bus to transform into a functional M/E with cut, mix, wipe and key control. The 4K compatible XT2000 also includes ONStage, full operator transition control, and the ability to preview a mix, wipe, or key change before it goes on air. FOR-A also introduced the FRC-9000 4K HD frame rate converter. Building on the success of the FRC-8000 unit, this new frame rate converter features FOR-A’s enhanced motion compensated frame rate conversion technologies. Visit www.for-a.co.jp

Codex Advances Motion Picture and Broadcast Workflows CODEX HAS SHOWCASED the ease with which Codex Vault Platform and Codex recording systems can be integrated with the latest production, monitoring and DI post technologies – from partners including ARRI, Panasonic, Canon, Sony, RED, Dolby, FilmLight and Leica – to deliver robust, streamlined workflows for motion picture, television and commercials production, at the Codex stand during IBC 2014. The Vault Platform is a modular workflow system providing fast, reliable transfers of camera data to internal storage, plus metadata management, transcoding to a multitude of dailies formats and archiving to LTO tape. The latest Vault Review module enables the playback of HD, 2K and 4K material for review, QC and basic colour grading – making Vault a fully-featured dailies, QC and archiving system. Codex has extended support to encompass even more digital cinematography cameras, and will highlight its end-to-end RAW recording solutions for ARRI ALEXA XT and Canon C500 cameras, as well as showing how Codex workflows, powered by Codex Vault, support the latest 4K cameras from Sony and RED. Codex now delivers ProRes UHD workflows for ARRI’s AMIRA camera, via Vault and the Codex CFast 2.0 dock for ARRI AMIRA. Additionally, Codex is partnering with Leica to showcase the latest Leica Summilux-C series lenses, plus a selection of Leica’s new Summicron-C Prime lenses. Codex is now shipping Codex Action Cam. The new product can be deployed as an Action | POV camera system on commercials, TV and movie productions, as a companion camera when regular packages are too large for the situation or location, or as a Witness Cam to capture depth information for VFX compositing or stereoscopic conversion. Codex Action Cam comprises a tiny HD camera head and a Codex Camera Control Recorder that delivers full remote control of the camera, plus the proven workflow of the industry-standard Codex. Visit www.codexdigital.com

ACQUISITION

FOR-A Shows Off FT-ONE-OPT

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Gearhouse to Roll Out 4K Truck for AFC Asian Cup in Australia LEADING BROADCAST SERVICES SPECIALIST Gearhouse Broadcast used IBC2014 to ink a multi-million pound deal to buy the first 50 of Hitachi’s new SK-UHD4000 broadcast 4K ultra-HDTV camera systems. Gearhouse Broadcast, which already has a sales partnership with Hitachi for its broadcast production cameras, expects to take delivery of the first batch of the SK-UHD4000 by December 2014. Gearhouse will use the new cameras in its new 4K OB truck which is currently being built for its Australian business, as well as a new 4K truck planned for the US. The rest will be used across its UK-based specialist systems integration, projects and rental divisions. The first usage will be at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup international football tournament which takes place in Australia in January 2015. Commenting on the deal from IBC, Gearhouse Broadcast’s CEO John Newton said, “This camera and order represents not only an investment in cutting edge technology but also sound commercial sense for Gearhouse and for our broadcasting partners around the world.” Masahiko Kato of Hitachi’s Global Sales Division added, “This highlights Gearhouse’s continued support and commitment to the Hitachi brand and its innovative broadcast products.” The SK-UHD4000 is a broadcast 4K ultra-HDTV camera system which can take the 2/3-inch B4 mount lenses used in conventional HD broadcast cameras, meaning that Gearhouse can continue to use its existing stock of Canon lenses. Equipped with newly developed 2/3-inch CMOS sensors, the camera can produce video images with high sensitivity and high resolution. It can output HD and 4K video signals separately, which means that it can be used in the current HD environment and capture archive material in 4K and be ready to transition to 4K as soon as demand arises.

EVS FLEET UPGRADED In the largest upgrade of its kind Gearhouse Broadcast is also upgrading its entire fleet of 115 EVS machines in all of its locations globally. This upgrade makes Gearhouse Broadcast one of the single largest users of the latest in EVS equipment and workflows in the world. The upgrade includes migrating all of Gearhouse’s EVS kit to the latest 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and means all of its 8-channel XT3 production

servers will have onboard low res proxy recording. All EVS equipment will also have the latest XFile 3 software enabling them to manually or automatically archive content from EVS servers to transportable hard drives, and enabling them to restore content from hard drives to EVS servers. XFile 3 also presents a simpler way of handling file formats and codecs thanks to its built-in transcoding possibilities and allows monitoring for all transfers through one single interface. Gearhouse are also investing in the first 4K licensed XT3 and all Gearhouse OB trucks will have C-Cast, the platform that enables users to maximise the value of their media by connecting live content with production teams, accredited teams and final viewers for second screen applications. C-Cast also seamlessly connects on-site TV production infrastructure to a cloudbased platform to enable content owners to either aggregate content, enrich it or instantly deliver it to any platform. The upgrade also brings additional tools to Gearhouse’s EVS equipment that includes the C-Cast Xplore live content web-browsing which improves live, near-live and post-production collaboration and efficiency across multiple, integrated workflows. Also included in the upgrade is EVS’ multi-review system and Epsio FX providing immediate access to sophisticated live effects while saving postproduction costs and the ability to add artistic replay effects and highlights enhancements for viewers by inputting simple parameters. Gearhouse Australia Sales and Marketing Director Manny Papas said, “This EVS upgrade puts Gearhouse Broadcast well ahead of the curve. We are aligning all 115 EVS machines in our fleet to the very latest EVS workflows making us one of the biggest EVS providers in the world and giving our clients access to the very best production tools available.” Executive vice president, EVS Sports Division, Luc Doneux, said, “This unique upgrade of EVS equipment ensures Gearhouse Broadcast’s customers will have the most powerful production and editorial tools for delivering content in a faster, more efficient, more polished and streamlined manner. These tools are particularly relevant in the world of live sports, events and entertainment. It also means Gearhouse will be one of the most seamless OB companies in the world with the latest upgrades and workflows.”

its successful online platform PremierLeaguePass.com, which showcases the Barclays Premier League, to Asia for the first time.

SPORTSCASTING

The introduction of PremierLeaguePass.com in Taiwan aims to make a similar impact in the way football is consumed in the market, following the successful launch of the service in New Zealand last year. Powered by the Neulion Sports Platform, the new digital destination will provide high quality coverage of the Barclays Premier League. Football fans in Taiwan can look forward to coverage of all 380 games in HD live, with on-demand options for a selection of matches as well as Highlight, Preview and Review Shows via the pay-per-view online platform. “We are proud to launch PremierLeaguePass.com in Taiwan, which is the first market to launch this innovative digital offering in Asia,” said Tim Martin, CEO of CSM. “It is one of the three countries in APAC region to have this service, and we are excited to bring Taiwanese soccer enthusiasts’

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access to the Barclays Premier League Tournament at an affordable price. From today, PremierLeaguePass.com will bring a fun and exciting streaming experience to every fan. “Following the success of PremierLeaguePass.com in New Zealand, we are confident that our digital platform will change the way BPL fans in Taiwan consume sports. PremierLeaguePass.com will give football-loving Taiwan fans the power to watch the most competitive and compelling league in the world of football when they want to; how they want to and where they want to.” The new service will immerse Taiwanese fans in over 1000 hours of Premier League action on multiple Internet-connected devices including desktop, mobile and tablet devices; Apple TV and Samsung TV (2013/14 model) Visit http://coliseumsportsmedia.com

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Coliseum Sports Media Launches PremierLeaguePass in Taiwan COLISEUM SPORTS MEDIA LTD (CSM) has launched in Taiwan – taking

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Ball Chaser “Shotgun Joystick Switcher” from Studer ADDRESSING A SPECIFIC NEED in the sports broadcast market, HARMAN’s Studer has unveiled a prototype unit designed to provide a more rewarding audio experience for television viewers. Known as the Studer Ball Chaser, the product allows broadcast engineers to use a joystick to open the shotgun microphone closest to the action on the playing area, while keeping the other microphones closed. In efforts to bring the game closer to the viewer, sports broadcasters often place 12 or more shotgun microphones around the playing area to pick up as much of the action as possible. However, leaving all 12 microphones fully or partially open for the whole match results in a lack of detail in the audio mix. Manually opening the microphone closest to the action and closing all the rest for the length of a game is virtually impossible, but the Studer Ball Chaser simplifies this complex task. Ball Chaser connects directly to any Vista console and is a simple joystick mounted on a small, portable box. The operator configures the unit with a simple web GUI interface, setting the layout of the physical microphones around the pitch (up to 24 microphones may be used) and linking these to the faders on the desk (mono and stereo faders may be controlled). During the game, simply moving the joystick opens and closes the relevant faders with smooth cross fades. The operator can simply watch the pitch events and open the necessary microphone without looking down at the joystick. Desk faders will respond in real time to the joystick movement and open only the microphone fader nearest to where the action is taking place.

Cost-Effective Telestration ROSS VIDEO HAS ANNOUNCED XPression Telestrate, a next-generation telestration tool for live sports and other types of on-screen analysis. Telestrate has no dedicated hardware but rather uses just a single layer on the output of an XPression Real-Time Motion Graphics System. Built in cooperation with Coiron Visual Developers, XPression Telestrate has a robust feature set for analysts to choose from, including lines, curves, arrows, preset shapes, custom shapes, pen styles, line weight, and colour. Users have three different ways to access their drawing tools with graphical overlay, keyboard shortcuts, or two different custom XKeys panels available from Ross. XPression Telestrate also offers optional replay server control to enable users to move backwards, forwards, and freeze on a specific frame before drawing. One of the XKeys panels offers a jog/shuttle knob providing a very intuitive way to control the replay. Telestrate operates in a client-server model, so the actual telestration can take place on a remote PC close to the talent, and the lines drawn on the touchscreen are communicated back to XPression via the local area network. In addition, keying may happen internally in XPression or externally via a Ross Carbonite or other 3rd-party production switcher. Visit www.rossvideo.com

In fact, the faders do not even have to be on the active layer of the desk, freeing up valuable fader space. The Ball Chaser link to the desk is a simple Ethernet connection, so the operator can be some distance from the Vista desk, even watching the action from the stand rather than taking space in the OB truck. A key advantage of this unit is that it allows more gain to be given to the on-field FX microphones, as the unit always has the equivalent of one open microphone to air. This “single” microphone can have higher gain without the crowd pickup swamping the overall mix. Visit www.harman.com

Quantel Launches Studio Sports Highlighting System QUANTEL HAS LAUNCHED A new studio sports highlighting system, LiveTouch. LiveTouch is a scalable system capable of supporting productions in several studios to maximise ROI. LiveTouch also offers bidirectional editor integration making it faster and easier to integrate editing and highlights operations. LiveTouch comprises three major new components: a dedicated control panel; a control application; and the new LiveTouch sQ Server. Scalability and resilience is addressed through a mid-tier layer, separating control surfaces from the servers. LiveTouch can grow to meet the needs of any size event – from a single server with six inputs to a multi-server system with more than 40 record ports. The LiveTouch architecture means any control panel can access any clip on any server and play out highlights instantly via a new inter-server streaming mechanism. The LiveTouch panel is purpose-designed to make highlights selection sure, simple and robust. It has a mix of dedicated and soft-programmed buttons with a jog/shuttle wheel for fast and accurate clip navigation and a slow motion T-bar for precision playback speed control. In developing the LiveTouch panel, Quantel has consulted extensively with sports broadcasters and their on-air operators to ensure that it exactly meets the rigorous needs of live production. LiveTouch offers an optional integrated Quantel editing desktop and can work with other editing workstations on the same storage. The workflow is two-way – editors can access the highlights, with no media movement and the panels can play back any completed sequence. For example, while the LiveTouch operator is capturing highlights on the fly and providing instant playback and slo-mos, an editor can be simultaneously editing the media recorded on the LiveTouch server, assembling the individual highlights into packages that are ready for playback from the LiveTouch panel the moment the live action is over. The media does not first need to be transferred to a separate editor with the cost and complexity that involves.

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LiveTouch works stand-alone or as an addition to Enterprise sQ – offering full editing and playback access to all media on any part of the combined system. Visit www.quantel.com

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Atos and Worldline Unveil “Live Stadium” App in Partnership with EVS ATOS, AN INTERNATIONAL IT SERVICES COMPANY has integrated C-Cast, a cloud based multimedia distribution platform from EVS into its SMART player (Sports Media Application in Real Time). Worldline, a European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, has incorporated this player into a comprehensive app designed to engage with the spectator before, during and after an event. “Live Stadium” brings the home viewing second screen experience to an on-site event – there are also extra services available to a profiled audience. Sports fans will be able to use their personal mobile devices at an event to:  Buy tickets or merchandising linked to a loyalty program;  Be guided to, from and inside the venue;  Get a clearer picture of what is happening on the field of play with control over the content. Using SMART player for live streaming synchronized with real-time results and statistics, automatic personalized recommendations based on preferences, multi-audio commentaries, key information tagged on the time-bar, and more;  Watch near real-time reviews of key actions from a choice of multiple camera angles using C-Cast, multimedia distribution platform from EVS;  Share personal experiences with friends using social networks  Visualize worldwide impact of the match through Social Sentiment Analysis, fan location and fan volume;  Pre-order food & beverages;  Play (voting, quiz, etc.),  Earn rewards and coupons with direct access to a customized e-shop The ´Live Stadium´ app is available to download now. Visit www.evs.tv

SAP, Panasonic to Work on VideoBased Sports Analytics SAP SE AND PANASONIC have announced a joint initiative, the intended goal of which is to co-innovate in the area of video-based sports analytics. Building on SAP Match Insights for Football - an analytics prototype SAP successfully developed with the German Football Association (DFB) for the soccer world championship 2014 in Brazil and which the company is now developing to commercialisation - the two companies are now planning to work on the integration of Panasonic’s video and tracking software. Panasonic delivers positional data from its video analysis and software, which is analysed by the SAP tool during a match. The ultra-wide-angle camera system, developed by Panasonic, consists of four units attached to a rig, with real-time stitching to create a panoramic video four times normal size (64:9).

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The ultra-wide-angle camera is usually suspended from the ceiling or integrated in to the roof construction of a stadium. It is connected to a computer with Panasonic software detects and collects the geographical data of the players and the ball from the video. The file containing the raw data is planned to be transferred to the SAP HANA platform, allowing accurate real-time analysis of the movement of each player and the ball. Video-based sports analytics, in combination with SAP HANA, is a promising alternative to the method that uses sensors attached to a player’s shin wear or the ball to capture data. Official regulation typically prohibits wearing sensors during a live football match, while the nonintrusive use of video equipment in proximity of the pitch is allowed. Visit http://panasonic.net and www.sap.com

EVS Brings ChyronHego Live Graphics to Epsio Family EVS, THE PROVIDER OF live video production systems, has announced the newest addition to the EVS’ Epsio range of products, Epsio Paint. EVS has developed this latest product to enable LSM operators to seamlessly insert live graphics to an action replay – including spotlights, player names, lines and arrows. Developed in partnership with ChyronHego, a leading graphic system provider, the new Epsio Paint software offers LSM operators an extended range of graphic tools from the ChyronHego graphic pallet, which is made available immediately on the live first replay. The software works in three simple steps: the operator cues the replay, adds one or several graphical tools to be placed on the pitch, and then re-cues it. Graphics can be added live or prepared ahead of time for post-game analysis. The tool is simple and fully integrated into an LSM environment removing the need for a dedicated telestration operator to draw a freehand sketch over a video image on a live production. Epsio Paint enables an LSM operator to simultaneously prepare a sequence for a second or third instant replay and add graphical tools to illustrate the action. The software is fully customisable to match each production’s graphics standards and Chromakey allows the operator to virtually draw on a pitch. Epsio Paint slots into a standard LSM workflow so there is no requirement for extra outputs from the server. This embedded technology initiative is the first step in what both companies hope will be a broader future partnership. Leveraging each other’s strengths in creation, management and distribution of live video, live graphics and live data, means opportunities for further collaboration. Visit www.evs.com

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Calrec Unveils Dante Interface and Sports Apps

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AT IBC 2014, Calrec launched a Dante interface that works in conjunction with the company’s Hydra2 network across the entire range of Calrec Bluefin2 consoles. The development gives Dante connectivity to every client on a Hydra2 network via a simple, single width 3U I/O interface card. This provides 64 audio input channels and 64 audio output channels. Connectivity is via dual-redundant RJ45 Ethernet connectors on the card’s front panel. Dante is a proprietary networking technology developed by Audinate and is currently deployed across the globe to connect many different kinds of pro-audio equipment.

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Calrec also unveiled three new assistive apps - Soccer Assist, Ice Hockey Assist and Fader Assist. The Assist suite of iPad apps take advantage of Calrec’s CSCP remote control protocol to simplify workflow and provide operators with new ways to interface with Calrec consoles.

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Soccer and Ice Hockey Assist allows operators to simplify the complex tasks of tracking audio during a game, providing an alternative approach for highly experienced operators while allowing those with less experience to create a quality mix very simply.

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Fader Assist allows operators to remotely control fader level, PFL, cut/ on and aux/main routing on all Calrec Bluefin2 consoles. The ability to remotely control these fader functions from any location within a Wi-Fi range provides a new level of flexibility and convenience for both mixing and set up. Visit http://calrec.com

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The Glasgow Diaries: The Final Chapter By David Bowers 4 August, 2014: 0200hrs That’s a wrap. Last night’s Closing Ceremony of the XX Commonwealth Games Glasgow marked the end of a remarkable two-year professional and personal journey for me. Or, perhaps not the end quite yet ... THOUGH THE SMELL AND HAZE of fireworks still hangs in the humid air, our Host Broadcaster team is already hours into de-rigging Hampden Park stadium. It’s testament to their determination and energy that they are still going full tilt: yesterday they transformed the arena from track and field events venue to spectacular ‘Commonwealth Festival’ Closing Ceremony showcase in barely 18 hours. Indeed, the final stage of our project schedule is as tight and efficient as any other: just seven weeks, and we need to be clear of the venues and International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) by 24 August. Several days before the Closing Ceremony, de-rig teams had been working through the evenings to pull-down the other finished venues. The first of our sea containers of equipment is packed and ready for the return trip to Sydney. Cabins which housed the IBC complex and infrastructure are being craned onto semi trailers and returned to the depot. And the IBC itself will soon disappear, returned to its original and permanent function as the Scottish Exhibition Conference Centre (SECC) car park. Of our hectic 121-week project schedule, the Games-time period was the most intense and, of course, exhilarating. This was the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland, and the UK’s largest since the 2012 Olympic Games, with around 6,500 athletes and officials from 71 different nations and territories competing.

Being part of this complex, vibrant and fascinating event was a career high point for me, and I’m proud to have played a role in what has been described as the best Commonwealth Games ever.

POSTSCRIPT: 1 SEPTEMBER, 2014 In the weeks since leaving Glasgow I’ve been reminiscing about my personal project highlights. The technical feats we managed were numerous – to name just a few: situating the IBC in a completely temporary facility; co-ordination of the telco circuits; accommodating rights holder broadcasters’ technical requests; radio frequency challenges (all those trees on the marathon and mountain bike courses!); and overcoming lighting angle reflections in the renovated swimming complex. Each project milestone brought our team even closer together. It is such a privilege to work alongside people who are the best in the world at what they do, and whom you can trust implicitly. The Games themselves went by in a flash. We were treated to a steady influx of VIPs keen to see how we delivered the Glasgow Games magic to the world, including a visit from the Earl of Wessex, whom I had the pleasure to walk through the IBC alongside Sunset+Vine chairman Jeff Foulser.

Our Host Broadcaster team ‘medal’ tally included:

The days immediately following the Closing Ceremony also stick in my mind.

 1200+ hours of live sport, multi-camera HD coverage to a world-wide audience, through a Games first fully-produced Games Channel and six long-form multi-sport channels

Of course there was more than a little celebrating at the wrap party.

 Daily press conference coverage  Daily highlight packages and edited previews  1650+ hours of video archive material

 17 sports, 16 venues, 27 televised fields of play (FOP) + The Opening and Closing Ceremonies

For two weeks, even the imminent referendum on Scottish independence took a backseat to the joyful celebration of multi-national sporting competition

England topped the medal table for the first time since the 1986 Commonwealth Games with 174, followed by Australia (137), which will be looking to turn the tables on the Gold Coast four years from now.

The XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were acclaimed for their organisation, attendance, and the friendly welcome and enthusiasm of the people of the city and of Scotland as a whole.

 Design, build and operation of the IBC – the hub for all Commonwealth Games broadcasting activity To achieve that we managed: 24 production control units; 16 OB vans; 8 flyaway kits; 259 cameras; 26 super slo-mo cameras; 2 ultra slo-mo cameras; 70+ EVS replay machines; specialty POV cameras on athletics, swimming and diving; 2 helicopters, 2 motorbikes and 2 lead vehicle mounted cameras for outside race coverage; 4 beauty cameras located around Glasgow City; virtual graphics on swimming, athletics and lawn bowls; 1500+ production and technical personnel at Games-time; 200+ broadcast students in the Host Broadcaster Training Initiative; 16,000+ Games-time room nights; 28,365+ Games-time catered meals.

But our Host Broadcaster team kept the Games spirit and camaraderie going, even when we continued de-rigging and de-commissioning in the days following. Head of Production Services Ian Hirst and I shared Gold position on the podium as our customary engineering/production banter kept standards high and gave the team a good laugh. Before you could blink they were pulling the podium down! There were countless fond farewells, please-keep-in-touches, and final strolls through Glasgow to soak up the atmosphere one last time. O ur Host Broadcaster team members are now settling into their post-project lives. The ritual Linked-In updates arrive daily, letting colleagues know where they have moved to, or advising they are looking for the next project. Yours truly included. David Bowers was head of engineering and technical operations for SVGTV – a joint-venture between Australia’s Global Television (part of the NEP Worldwide Network) and Sunset+Vine, which held the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Host Broadcast contract.

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NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

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Bangladesh’s Jamuna TV News Goes Live via Cellular Networks BANGLADESHI 24-HOUR NEWS CHANNEL, Jamuna Television, has deployed AVIWEST’s DMNG PRO180 and DMNG PRO180-RA 3G/4G video uplink solutions to improve the delivery of live video transmissions for breaking news coverage. Using AVIWEST’s digital mobile newsgathering solutions, Jamuna Television can broadcast live SD and HD video content over 3G/4G networks while maintaining excellent signal quality, even when the networks are congested. By eliminating the need for satellite-based OB vans, the DMNG PRO180 and DMNG PRO180-RA have also reduced Jamuna Television’s operating expenses. By deploying AVIWEST’s solutions, Jamuna Television is the first news channel in Bangladesh to rely on advanced SNG technologies for breaking news. “Jamuna Television broadcasts more than 50 live interviews each day from multiple locations around Bangladesh and across the world. Recently, we were looking to replace our OB vans with a more cost-effective and portable video uplink solution that is resilient and easy to use,” said Bilal Aman Khan, executive director of operations at Jamuna Television. “After running multiple field tests with solutions from different vendors, we found that AVIWEST’s DMNG PRO180 offers the best performance in tough environmental conditions, enabling us to provide superior-quality video streams to our viewers. Furthermore, the DMNG PRO180 is easy to set up and use, drastically reducing the number of people needed in the field.” AVIWEST’s DMNG PRO180 and DMNG PRO180-RA video uplink systems feature an ultra-compact, robust, and highly portable design with up to 10 cellular connections, including eight 3G/4G internal modems with highefficiency custom antenna arrays and two USB interfaces, plus a built-in WiFi modem. The DMNG PRO180-RA system also includes eight MCX antenna connectors that are used with AVIWEST’s QUAD wideband external cellular antenna arrays to strengthen signal transmission in critical environments such as street demonstrations, sports stadiums, or vehicles in motion. Both units include AVIWEST Safe Stream technology to guarantee the delivery of live transmissions even when there are unpredictable cellular network conditions. The units’ H.264 video encoder enables Jamuna Television to stream live HD video efficiently with minimal delay. Each video uplink system weighs about 1kg, making the DMNG PRO180 and DMNG PRO180-RA suitable for in-the-field use. Operators can seamlessly connect the units to any professional camera via V-Mount, Gold Mount, or PAGlok plates and set up a live session in less than one minute. Designed with ease of use in mind, the systems automatically

detect real-time network links. Through a user-friendly and intuitive touchscreen interface, broadcasters can configure and operate the systems, as well as talk to the studio using the IFB two-way communication channel. Additionally, the inclusion of low-latency intercom communication between the studio and camera operator enables Jamuna Television to quickly make any adjustments to the video transmission before and during a live recording. “Today’s broadcasters need to be able to transmit live video content quickly, reliably, and affordably,” said Erwan Gasc, CEO, AVIWEST. “With the click of a button, our DMNG PRO180 and DMNG PRO180-RA video uplink systems enable in-the-field broadcast journalists to deliver a crisp video image to television viewers in real time, despite varying network conditions.” Visit www.aviwest.com

Getty Images Distributes NHK HD, News, Documentary and Feature Content GETTY IMAGES HAS ENTERED into a partnership with NHK International, Inc., NHK’s video licensing business, to distribute NHK’s award-winning video content to its network of over 1.5 million global customers. The new collection, NHK Video Bank, includes NHK’s HD material, news and feature programs, documentaries, drama series and animations. The collection spans a wide variety of topics, from science and technology, nature and wildlife, to culture, lifestyle and locations. “As the innovator and global leader in visual communications, Getty Images sets the standard for superior content creation and distribution the world over,” said Jonathan Klein, Co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. “Millions of customers come to Getty Images every day for the most inspiring, innovative and powerful imagery to bring their projects to life and move the world with pictures. We are thrilled to enrich Getty Images’ comprehensive video offering of over two million unique clips with NHK’s exceptional collection of Japanese and other Asian content.” NHK Video Bank includes special collections such as the renowned Silk Road series, and features comprehensive footage of global environmental issues, from retreating glaciers to the deforestation of the Amazon Basin, as well as coverage of natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Other highlights include the world’s first HD footage of the moon’s surface captured from the Kaguya moon-orbiter, and Nippon News, an invaluable historical record of the Pacific front during WWII, available in high definition with English scripts and metadata. “Every day, the NHK Archives adds many more high-quality HD programs and news images shot by NHK to its vast stock. We are delighted that these images now reach content producers all over the world through the Getty Images network,” said Tadao Sakomizu, Managing Director of NHK International, Inc.

NEWS OPERATIONS

Getty Images also offers customers the ability to conduct deep file search to unearth historic material from the NHK Archives. The main archive in Kawaguchi and sub-archives in broadcasting stations around the country together hold approximately 850,000 programs and 6 million news clips, dating as far back as 1953. About half of these have been converted into digital format so far. The partnership follows the announcement of Getty Images’ exclusive global distribution partnership with the world-renowned BBC Motion Gallery. Getty Images offers video content from over 400 well-known collections, including partnerships with leading media houses including Sky News, Universal Studios, AFP and Bloomberg, as well as Getty Images’ own video offering. Jamuna TV in action with AVIWEST’s DMNG PRO180.

The NHK Video Bank collection is available from www.gettyimages.com

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High Quality Skype for Broadcast with NewTek TalkShow NEWTEK HAS UNVEILED TalkShow VS-100, a video calling production system designed specifically for television studios and live video producers. With TalkShow, any television or live video producer can easily reach 300 million monthly connected Skype users and incorporate them as guest speakers into live programs with full-frame Skype video calls. The turnkey TalkShow system builds upon Skype TX software from Microsoft for initiating, receiving, monitoring and managing video calls, with a unique set of live production tools not found in other video calling systems. With TalkShow, users have access to customisable settings for fully colour correcting live video calls (including features for automatic colour balancing) as well as SDI-embedded audio, and compressor/limiter, equalisation, and adjustable head-room controls for further improving audio quality. These tools allow producers to deliver enhanced video/audio experiences that are critical when producing credible, high-quality broadcast programming and are simply not possible with standard desktop video messaging products. Additionally, producers using TalkShow with Newtek’s TriCaster multi-camera video production systems will be able to route Skype video calls directly to and from a TriCaster over a network connection without tying up an additional HD-SDI input. TalkShow enables broadcasters to manage all aspects of a live Skype video call in the control room like any other video source—and adjust the visual and audio quality of each call. The low cost, integrated hardware and software solution is broadcast ready, offering dual channel Ethernet connectivity, two channels (1 in, 1 out) of HD-SDI I/O that includes reference signal, professional XLR audio support, Tally support and more. The 1RU system allows producers to easily incorporate TalkShow into any live production or studio environment and:  Access anyone they can reach online—including the rapidly growing audience of 300 million monthly connected Skype users worldwide, to include more expert analysis and perspective in their shows, without specialised networking tools, ENG clients or proprietary software to call into a live broadcast or event.  Transform any Skype video call initiated to—or from—a desktop, laptop, X-Box gaming system, Skype enabled TV, or mobile device into full-frame video—with automatic aspect ratio conversions and balanced audio.

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Control Room Solution from Vizrt VIZRT, a leading provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, has announced the release of the new Viz Opus complete control room system. Viz Opus combines Vizrt’s graphics rendering, video playout, and studio automation capabilities to create a cost-effective control room for news and sports productions in a single system. Viz Opus has four HD SDI inputs, two IP inputs, one HD SDI/IP program output and one HD SDI/IP multiviewer output. It includes integrated video switcher functionality, back-to-back clip playback and transitions, and an audio mixer. A built-in a Viz Engine renders graphics and video for the output channels. Expanded version will be available in the future. Viz Opus works with existing newsroom NRCS workflows. Rundowns created in ENPS, iNews, Octopus, Dalet News, Annova’s OpenMedia, NorCom, and others, are interpreted by Viz Opus to create a rundown that will be executed using the internal systems, mixing external video and audio inputs with internal video and graphics to create a broadcast-ready HD SDI/IP output. Viz Opus can also function as a cost-effective back up control room or even a secondary control room. Viz Opus can run alongside a Viz Mosart studio automation system and use the same NRCS rundown, keeping in sync with the show in progress and ready to take over if needed. Visit www.vizrt.com

TalkShow operators can work free of audio/visual distractions such as secondary call notifications and advertisements.  Colour balance video images—with full proc-amp controls and automatic colour correction to adjust image attributes for any lighting environment, enabling video calls with poor lighting and contrast to appear with far higher quality.  Deliver reliable broadcast audio signal quality—with SDI-embedded audio, and built-in compressor/limiter tools that keep call volumes at consistent levels and prevent audio clipping. Additionally, producers who often wrestle with scratchy audio and nasal-like midrange tone that results from small telephonic microphones can adjust overall tonality and background noise of any Skype call using the onboard graphic equaliser.  Actively monitor live Skype video calls—with full Tally support that allows operators to see when TalkShow Skype feeds are currently live in a program.  Easily manage multiple, simultaneous Skype calls—within a single, user-friendly interface that offers operator previews, continuous call quality monitoring, and automatic fallback to custom still images when unforeseen bandwidth constraints occur. Visit www.newtek.com

Quantel Fires Up Fileflow QUANTEL HAS LAUNCHED sQ Fileflow 2, adding a raft of new file handling capabilities for Quantel Enterprise sQ news and sports production system users. According to Quantel, sQ Fileflow 2 delivers more flexibility, easier IT integration, faster workflows and increased productivity. sQ Fileflow 2 comprises multiple independent engines; users can simply add more engines for increased bandwidth, speed and resilience. Enterprise sQ users can begin working with file-based media as soon as ingest commences, and export new files faster than realtime. New roles-based user accounts at user, media manager and administrator levels make system management easier. Security is enhanced with the support of HTTPS for both file and UI connections. Support for HTTPS also makes it easier to integrate sQ Fileflow 2 into security-conscious broadcast IT systems. FTP Client support enables easy file exchange with FTP and SFTP servers via Active and Passive FTP. New XAVC import and export enables easier integration with XAVC workflows and superfast import of XAVC camera files. 2K, UHD and 4K import is also supported, with automatic resizing to HD/SD on ingest. The new HTML5 UI delivers cross-browser access and support for tablets and other devices – now users can be productive wherever they are. New queue management with realtime charts and graphs enables users to check the status of their job in seconds, and access all settings and options remotely through the new Web UI. Visit www.quantel.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

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Vislink, TVU Launch Combined Cellular-Microwave IP Solution for News TVU NETWORKS AND VISLINK have announced the launch of a next-generation TVUPack with Vislink’s integrated hybrid microwave IP technology. The jointly developed TVUPack is a portable IP newsgathering solution capable of simultaneously aggregating microwave bandwidth with multiple cellular data connections to deliver unprecedented quality and reliability. The TVUPack is the first fully-integrated product to emerge from the partnership between TVU Networks and Vislink announced in April. As a result of growing demand for highly resilient and portable equipment capable of meeting new standards for mobile cellular transmission, TVU and Vislink have developed a unique joint offering that integrates the TVUPack TM8200 with Vislink’s hybrid microwave IP technology. Utilising TVU’s Inverse StatMux IP transmission protocols, the TVUPack is able to combine multiple cellular data connections with Vislink’s hybrid microwave IP technology to give broadcasters flexibility, letting them transmit HD video simultaneously over cellular and microwave connections with sub-second latency. “Vislink has long been an innovator in video transmission systems, and we are pleased to partner with TVU to provide an innovative new best-of-breed solution,” said Mike Payne, CEO of Vislink. “This integrated package is the first in the world to combine the best in cellular transmission technology from TVU with Vislink’s award-winning microwave uplink solutions. This integrated joint solution enables customers to overcome the inherent limitations of cellular and microwave infrastructure, when they are used alone. The new generation TVUPack combines both infrastructures into a

single small backpack and will significantly increase the transmission success rate in extremely challenging conditions. We look forward to working with TVU to provide additional transmission solutions in the future.”

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“Mobile IP newsgathering has become a business critical tool for broadcasters, and we are thrilled to partner with Vislink to deliver a superior hybrid solution that meets the demand for greater resiliency and flexibility. TVU and Vislink have partnered to offer customers the most powerful, robust joint cellular-microwave transmission solution available. TVU offers customers the industry’s most comprehensive IP video solutions platform, and we are proud to push the boundaries to deliver robust IP transmissions from more locations than ever before, in even the most challenging bandwidth environments,” said Paul Shen, CEO, TVU Networks. The joint solution features:  Field crews can broadcast over cellular and microwave networks simultaneously, utilising all available bandwidth to ensure a more robust and stable transmission. The system supports up to six 3G/4G/LTE connections as well as 2 or 7 GHz microwave

 Users can add or remove microwave or cellular connections seamlessly without interrupting the transmission

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 The solution is the first to offer Vislink microwave transmission functionality in a backpack, sending video signals up to 4x farther than COFDM/DVB-T

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Ross Video Gives XPression to Maps ROSS VIDEO’S XPRESSION MAPS is a broadcast mapping solution

all maps can take on the look and feel of the broadcast or channel.

built in partnership with Austrian company, ARTS Computer Technologies GmbH, a world leader in computer graphics and mapping technology. XPression Maps can be configured as a fully-featured desktop application for designers, or as a central server for templated maps creation from newsroom client plug-ins.

Complex storytelling is possible with the full XPression Maps interface in the hands of an operator or designer. Animated parade routes or flight paths drawn by a reference object like a car or plane are easily accomplished while also doing a camera move on the map itself. A customised library of objects is also available to add impact to any map animation.

“If there is one constant in television news, it’s the need for maps,” says Brian Olson, Director of Marketing Product Management for XPression at Ross Video. “Some broadcasters prefer to have designers create maps based on requests from journalists, others have decided to empower reporters and producers with basic mapping tools right in the newsroom computer system. With XPression Maps we are able to deliver to both models.” XPression Maps is powered by Microsoft Bing Maps with their vast library of satellite images, road maps, and aerial photographs from all over the world. All content is royalty free as long as the Bing watermark or text credit are displayed on air. XPression Maps is also highly-customisable, so

Most day-to-day maps are fairly simple, involving identifying a location, such as a house fire, and zooming into it. This can be easily accomplished with the XPression Maps plug-in from a newsroom PC client. A basic set of tools allows journalists to call up a pre-defined map template, type in the name of a location, add text or objects, and execute a simple 2-keyframe move with a pan or a zoom on the map. It’s all previewed from the XPression Maps plug-in, and once the completed map is dragged into an XPression template, it can be viewed in full-motion there, as well. Visit www.rossvideo.com

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VSN Unveils Social Feeds and MOS Control of CG

ORAD, the developer of interactive broadcasting solutions, and MUV, a

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provider of wearable interactive solutions, have combined their expertise to provide an interactive device, which is worn on a presenter’s finger and turns any surface into an interactive screen. Ideal in a studio environment, the presenter can stand anywhere and rotate, scale, move, drag, tap, hold, draw, highlight graphics on any surface.

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MUV’s tracking technology can identify where the presenter is pointing to, standing, which surfaces are relevant, how much pressure is applied, etc. The data from the MUV device, called Bird, is then transmitted to Orad’s Interact system, which presents the corresponding graphics on the surface. For example, the presenter can drag any image on any wall in the studio or emphasise a particular object in the video wall.

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WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT DEVELOPER, VSN and broadcast graphics company, ClassX, have collaborated to deliver MOS implementation for VSN’s graphics tool VSNCG+. The joint efforts of the two companies enables VSNCG+ to control production graphics from any Newsroom Control System (NCS) using the MOS (Media Object Servers) standard industry protocol. In addition, new implementations made on VSN’s graphic module allow the user to broadcast social media messages in real-time with 3D effects and hundreds of eye-catching layouts. The MOS implementation carried out by ClassX offers the ability to use a variety of template forms and enter new data, images or videos into pre-defined graphic animations directly from the editorial staff. The graphics templates can be accessed directly from the NCS interface using an advanced ActiveX plugin. This allows users to navigate, previsualize and edit templates in real time, at final resolution. The latest developments for VSNCG+ have also taken into account the increasing importance of social media and the new ways of communication that have developed during the past few years. Now, it is possible to present tweets from Twitter, Facebook posts and polls, all of them in real time, thanks to the integration with the Spredfast streams and the interaction with second screens through the app Parterre. SocialPlayer integrates flawlessly with the graphics playout, and gives multiple connections, push notifications and instant updates. Visit www.vsn-tv.com/en/

New Dejero Compact LIVE+ Broadcast Server

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Wearable Presenter Device ‘Projects’ Graphics on to Any Surface

“This ground-breaking solution opens the door for broadcasters who want to turn any surface into an interactive surface. Moreover, by having the sensors on the presenter’s finger, he or she can stand anywhere in the studio as opposed to standing in front of the interactive screen itself,” said Avi Sharir, CEO and president of Orad. “We are confident that this unique solution will establish a new standard for broadcasters to present their content in a futuristic fashion, with minimum adaptations to their current studios. Once we enable the presenter to easily interact with holographic content floating around him, a new ecosystem of interactive content is expected to emerge,” added Rami Parham, CEO and founder of MUV. Visit www.orad.tv

Ultra-Small Newsgathering Bonding Device LIVEU, THE DEVELOPER OF PORTABLE live video acquisition, contribution and management solutions, has unveiled a new ultra-small cellular bonding solution for global newsgathering compatible with any camera. Weighing just over 500 grams, (1 lb), the LU200 is available in a pouch or camera-mount configuration, bringing two built-in modems with integrated powerful antennas in a bonded solution for any video professional. The flexible LU200 can also serve as a stand-alone video encoder with satellite integration functionality, or be used as a LiveU DataBridge mobile hotspot for all IP applications in the field. The LU200 supports two 4G LTE/3G modems together with Wi-FI and LAN connections and includes LiveU’s proprietary antenna modules for extra resiliency. The LU200 is the latest offering within LiveU’s multi-layered live video ecosystem and can be locally or remotely managed via LiveU Central, the unified management system for LiveU’s field-units. As the hub for video ingestion, LiveU Central allows broadcasters to acquire both live and recorded content from the field, preview it centrally or remotely, broadcast it live or in scheduled programming and distribute it to any location. Visit www.liveu.tv

DEJERO HAS LAUNCHED an all-new version of its rack-mounted Dejero LIVE+ Broadcast Server in a compact, 1U form factor. The new LIVE+ Broadcast Server includes dual-redundant power supplies and RAID hard drives designed for increased broadcast reliability when receiving video transmissions from field-based transmission devices including the LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter, LIVE+ VSET, LIVE+ Mobile App, and LIVE+ NewsBook. The updated 1U LIVE+ Broadcast Server supports two live feeds simultaneously from different LIVE+ transmitters and outputs real-time genlocked HD or SD video that feeds into the playout workflow. In addition to live video, the server can also receive store-and-forward video clips,

NEWS OPERATIONS

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NEWS OPERATIONS

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Avid – Connecting Everyone, Everywhere

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Phil Sandberg speaks to Avid CEO, Louis Hernandez Jr, about the progress of its customer association, app store and the Avid Everywhere platform.

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C+T In terms of the Avid Customer Association, how are you looking at all the different standards and practices adopted by media companies meshing together? LHJ One of the first things I did when I became CEO was really trying to figure out what happens to this digital file record. What we did was we followed a digital file record in a media company from creation, how it gets created to how it gets consumed and it was amazing the circuitous route that it followed - in part because of the history of our industry and the segregation between the creative side and the business side who always had to cooperate. But now, they have to collaborate more than ever because how you create media now has a big impact on how you monetise that asset. We also looked at the top 10 consumers of technology as segments and one thing that was interesting is the media industry as a whole is a huge consumer of technology. Banking is the largest by far. It’s two to three times larger than the media spend in total on technology, but the interesting thing is that in banking they have about a third fewer vendors than media. It seems like vendors have made it an active part of their strategy to create connections that are proprietary and make it difficult for everybody. So, the burden is on actually the whole industry because it slows the rate of innovation - and most of what’s happening is the large media companies are spending a disproportionate amount of their money just trying to put all the pieces together. That’s one of the reasons why we launched the Connectivity Toolkit. And, we announced that that’s available for free to everybody. C+T Who is embracing the SDKs? Is it other vendors mostly, or is it customers?

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LHJ What I expected was to have to go out and recruit essentially competitors and third party’s clients on why they should use this tool to connect, and we had the opposite. Literally thousands of people have signed up who want to use this Connectivity Toolkit, so we’re actually backlogged right now. We’re going to be announcing the first group of 20 at IBC. It will be a cross-section of clients of third party vendors, of competitors, to demonstrate that anybody can really take advantage of the efficiency of the most open platform in the world by using this Connectivity Toolkit. C+T How do developers get on board? LHJ What they’ll have to do is be certified. They’ll be listed on our marketplace as a certified partner, then you can go to them. They can, or we can, connect, but if you had something you wanted to connect to, third party hardware or software, you can certainly come to Avid. We’ll use the Avid Connectivity Toolkit to complete that service for you, but you’re welcome to do it yourself or a competitor can do it or a reseller

can do it. Those dollars that you would have spent on customising, you can spend on something more productive. We expect to be wrapping up the automated certification process probably after IBC. C+T And the marketplace, where that’s up to? LHJ If you remember, the platform which is a bunch of shared services, like your operating system on your phone, on your IOS device, and then apps sit on top of it. So, regardless of who creates the application, Avid or somebody else, they all share these common services. This platform has been doing extremely well since it was announced because of the indexing capability. You can index third party storage, including ours, as though it were in the same place. You have a common accessibility regardless of network, device or operating system and then you have the marketplaces. With the private marketplaces, we saw clients who were sharing files during the production or distribution process in a wide range of ways from discs, to taxis, to bikes, to Dropbox, to Gmail accounts, to proprietary networks. So, this is something we created which it is a cloud based encrypted way for you to share selected assets based on authentication keys. On the public marketplace, this is a way for you to collaborate for creating assets, post finished assets and there’s also an app store on there. We’re starting with the finished assets component, so if you and I create a song and we don’t have anybody to play it, we have no distribution, we’re using the same tools that any large media company is because it’s all done on the platform. We post that asset there, we would have to sign a licensing agreement, but any of the broadcasters around the world can go onto the Avid public marketplace, select that asset with the comfort of knowing that the licence agreement has already been agreed to and everything else about that file is as though they created it themselves and any of the metadata tagging, any of the protection algorithms, any of the analytics or the multi platform distribution capabilities that they would apply, apply to that file record. C+T Lastly, is Avid Everywhere getting everywhere? LHJ Avid Everywhere is built on about 200 of our existing patents. In the last 12 months, we’ve filed for an additional 28 patents. Ten have been granted. None have been rejected. The point here is that much of the technology that we’ve deployed on Avid Everywhere can only be gotten through Avid unless somebody were to breach one of our patents, so this is real innovation, serious capital we’ve spent on a lot of mathematics behind the scenes to make it easier to run a media company, so a lot of people were surprised at some of the things we were able to do, literally wanting to see it over and over, hitting the button over and over because they didn’t think it was really working, but it’s because there was some tremendous innovation that occurred in the Avid Everywhere design.

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Helmet Revs Up Resolve for Mitsubishi Outlander TVC TOKYO-BASED PRODUCTION and post production company Helmet Inc. has graded the latest television commercial for Mitsubishi’s hybrid car, the Outlander PHEV, using Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve. Founded by Horibe Toshi, Helmet also used Blackmagic Design’s SmartScope Duo monitor and UltraStudio 4K capture and playback device to complete the commercial, which is airing throughout Japan. . Outlander PHEV is the latest crossover SUV from Mitsubishi and is the world’s first 4WD plugin hybrid SUV. Helmet, a boutique production company known for its visually stunning commercials and music videos, showed the power and elegance of the new PHEV by featuring the SUV driving through the majestic landscapes of New Zealand. “The goal for this commercial was to show the audience the coolness and power of the car. People have the impression that a hybrid car is a family or city car. However, we wanted to emphasize that the hybrid car is not just for city use by showing it driving around rough mountain roads. We shot in New Zealand for three weeks, and we shot in 4K or 5K so that we could resize in post production,” explained Takashi Chiba, cinematographer at Helmet, who shot and color graded the commercial. “I took a lot of care to make the car look really cool,” said Chiba. Many car commercials for family or city use tend to have a soft and less contrasty look, however, with this commercial Helmet tried to show a sharper image of the car. “I tried to create a look which is sharper and more contrasty look so that the car looked powerful and classy.” He continued: “When we went back to our hotel after each day’s shooting, we picked the best takes. We then applied gamma for the cameras we used for shooting and exported as ProRes 422 LT for offline. We did the offline edit when we came back to Japan using XML files to pass around data with Resolve.”

Takashi Chiba, cinematographer at Helmet.

When grading the commercial on DaVinci Resolve, Chiba had to reproduce the body color of the car and the natural colors in the nature. “I used Power Windows to make masks and added more contrast to the pale blue color of the body. Also I used Resolve’s sharpen tool to make the edge of the car more obvious, which gave a cooler look to the car. Also, since some of shots were done on cloudy days, the backlit shots tended to make the color green a bit too dark, so we used Resolve’s curves functions to bring some green back.” Chiba and his crew also used an UltraStudio 4K for monitoring DaVinci Resolve’s output, as well as a SmartScope Duo for waveform monitoring in their Tokyo offices. And they use a wide range of Blackmagic products, such as Audio Monitor, Teranex 2D Processor and Mini Converters, in their day to day work. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

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Blackmagic Design Acquires eyeon Software BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED its acquisition of eyeon Software, Inc., a leading developer of high end digital compositing, visual effects and motion graphics software for the feature film, commercial, television and broadcast industries. eyeon, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Blackmagic Design. eyeon’s Fusion 7 is one of Hollywood’s leading visual effects compositing and motion graphics tools and has been used on thousands of feature film and television projects. Most recently, Fusion 7 has been used on feature films like Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Captain America, Gravity and more. “We’re really excited about the acquisition of eyeon,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Fusion compositing, 3D and motion graphics software has been used on some of Hollywood’s biggest visual effects blockbusters. When used together with DaVinci Resolve for editing and grading, Fusion also gives customers the world’s most advanced tools for 3D compositing, visual effects, motion graphics design and more.” “Blackmagic Design is the most progressive company in professional post production today,” said Steve Roberts, CEO and founder of eyeon. “With their focus on developing the best solutions and a global network of offices, Blackmagic gives customers the products and services they deserve. The acquisition of eyeon will provide greater development and support of Fusion and Generation, where customers will now have more dynamic, comprehensive, and faster solutions for their creative needs.” eyeon will continue to support its customers and expand its sales channels with the added strength of the Blackmagic Design organisation. eyeon will also continue developing solutions for the VFX and post production industries, including its flagship application, Fusion. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com and www.eyeonline.com

Darkroom Asia Illuminates Pakistan with Mistika PIONEERING POST HOUSE Darkroom Asia recently won a major contract with Pakistan-based ARY Films as a strategic partner in providing post production and VFX-related services, as a direct result of its investment in an SGO Mistika 4K system purchased from reseller Pixelution. Darkroom Asia is the first facility in Pakistan to host a cutting-edge Mistika 4K suite to support its television commercials and feature film projects. Salman Hasan, CEO of Darkroom Asia, said, “Our decision to make Mistika our first choice was simple. The tools and real-time RAW image and other native workflows are superior to any other system out there, and we wanted to be the first company in Pakistan to have a fully equipped Mistika 4K system which would provide a one-stop solution, in real-time, for our film and commercials industries.” Darkroom Asia completed the first commercial film titled ‘Main Hoon Shahid Afridi’, an action-drama sports film, produced by Six Sigma Entertainment, with the entire post production, including colour grading, completed in Mistika and shot with RED Digital Cameras. “Mistika helped us immensely throughout this project,” explains Ubaid-ur-Rehman, Technical Director and Partner at Darkroom Asia, “especially with handling real-time RAW workflow for R3d files which really made this project possible in Pakistan. All other camera formats were placed in Mistika’s timeline in real-time without any conversion required or the usage of any other systems, which was a real advantage. Colour grading was also achieved simultaneously, which was an added bonus.” Visit www.sgo.es

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Colorfront Transkoder 2014 Goes 8K COLORFRONT, a developer of high-performance, dailies and transcoding systems for motion pictures, high-end episodic TV and commercials, has announced the Colorfront Transkoder 2014, an automated, standalone system for high-quality digital file conversion, now featuring real-time 8K and 3D 4K capabilities. At IBC, Colorfront also showed the shipping 2014 versions of its On-Set Dailies and Express Dailies systems at IBC. Colorfront Transkoder 2014 is available on Mac, PC and the cloud for many key tasks: editing RAW film data, converting material to various output formats, plus conforming, colour grading and rendering 2K/4K/3D4K/8K/ UHDTV materials in various high-end delivery and mezzanine formats. Colorfront has successfully collaborated with NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Japan, using Colorfront Transkoder 2014 on 4K/60p broadcast programming, originated with Sony F55 and RED cameras, and also at 8K/60p on NHK’s Super Hi-Vision/ UHDTV project, with processing and real-time playback of 8K/60p footage from various RAW formats. Along with NHK, Colorfront has already sold multiple Colorfront Transkoder 2014 licenses to broadcasters and post facilities worldwide, including Deluxe, Technicolor, Fotokem, MGO and the BBC. Along with real-time UHDTV 60fps/4320p/8K and S3D/2160p/4K capabilities, key features of Colorfront Transkoder 2014 are: a brand new, easy-to-use interface; a multi-track timeline; EDL conform editing tools; support for subtitling; automatic watch folder processing; plus extended support for the latest digital cinematography camera formats. Supporting the workflow is Colorfront Engine, an automatically managed, wide-gamut, high dynamic range, colour pipeline, bringing true plug-and-play simplicity to today’s complex multi-source, multi-deliverable production needs. Visit www.colorfront.com

Avid Everywhere Creates Resolution Independence AVID (OTC: AVID) HAS INTRODUCED new and upcoming

FILMLIGHT HAS EXHIBITED a broad range of new functionality for the first time at IBC2014, designed to seamlessly integrate with today’s evolving workflows. Daylight, the new near-set colour grading tool, was featured on the FilmLight stand. IBC2014 saw the official launch of Daylight, a comprehensive solution for on-set and near-set production. Daylight is designed as a compact yet powerful grading decision tool to help DoPs and directors establish looks and visualise what they have shot, on set or on location. FilmLight has shown early development versions before – a Baselight variant for dailies – and Daylight pushes the possibilities even further. Available to purchase in Q1 2015, Daylight encompasses a number of new features, including: AJA SDI output; shot filtering and sorting; HTML report generation; RED GPU decoding; media consolidation tools; multi-format deliverables; and, just like Baselight, support for the latest camera codecs. Visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk

KONA 4 Support for Adobe CC AT IBC 2014, AJA Video Systems announced that its KONA 4 professional desktop video and audio I/O card now supports the latest versions of Adobe’s flagship video applications in Adobe Creative Cloud. Device driver and plug-in software is available as a free download from AJA’s website, allowing users of Adobe video applications, including Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Adobe After Effects CC and Adobe SpeedGrade CC, to take advantage of KONA 4's unparalleled features for managing 4K, UltraHD, 2K and HD pipelines.

Powered by the MediaCentral Platform’s underlying shared media services, connectivity, and orchestration capabilities, Avid Resolution Independence will give customers the freedom of choice and unmatched flexibility to work the way they want. Professionals will be able to work with 4K media and other high-res formats anywhere in the world, fluidly shifting between native and proxy media, leveraging the newly introduced Avid DNxHR codec. Whether on premises or in the cloud, the workflow will enable customers to ingest, store, orchestrate, edit, secure, analyse, and distribute SD, HD, 4K media and beyond within their existing infrastructure.

“With this latest support, Adobe Creative Cloud users can tap into KONA 4 to streamline ingest, monitoring and management of multi-format 4K, UltraHD, HD and SD files while maintaining top image quality,” said AJA President Nick Rashby.

The next phase of this third-party developer program now gives partners access to the resources, documentation, certification, and services they need to create products and solutions that integrate with the Avid MediaCentral Platform ecosystem. Visit www.avid.com

Visit www.adobe.com and www.aja.com

Pronology Panel for Premiere Pro CC PRONOLOGY, a developer of tapeless workflow solutions, has demonstrated its new Pronology Panel for Adobe Premiere Pro CC at the 2014 IBC Show. The Pronology Panel integrates Pronology files and metadata for editing in Adobe Premiere Pro CC. “The Pronology Panel allows Adobe Premiere Pro CC users to access the Pronology management system content files instantly, enhancing production turnaround times,” says Mike Shore, co-founder of Pronology. The Pronology Panel offers three essential tools for Adobe Premiere Pro CC projects. It allows an Adobe Premiere Pro CC user to browse Pronology folders directly, browse Pronology Bins for clear organisation of media and have drag-and-drop access to reference media and metadata in an Adobe Premiere Pro CC project. Visit www.adobe.com and www.pronology.com

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innovations for the Avid MediaCentral Platform – an open, extensible, and customisable common services foundation that delivers on the Avid Everywhere strategic vision for the media and entertainment industry. The company announced plans for resolution independence across the platform and the next phase of the Avid Connectivity Toolkit.

“Today’s media professionals face unrelenting pressure to handle high-res content with the same ease and agility as with HD and SD,” stated Chris Gahagan, senior VP of Products and Technology. “Additionally, the constant evolution of technology coupled with the lack of standardisation has resulted in tremendous fragmentation. Avid Resolution Independence will provide a holistic, platform-centric approach that puts no limits to the resolutions customers can capture, edit, and output.”

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FilmLight Boosts On-Set and Near-Set Production

6/11/2014 6:29 pm

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NVIDIA Releases VCA and Updates Quadro GPUs By Keith Ford NVIDIA have recently released the latest versions of their Quadro GPUs – the K5200, K4200, K2200, K620, and K420. These new GPUs join the K6000, NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line card, which was released at the back-end of 2013. NVIDIA also announced their Visual Computing Appliance (VCA), which dramatically accelerates ray tracing, enabling users to interact with high quality computer models to reduce or remove the reliance on 3D physical prototypes “DATA COMPLEXITY IS GROWING EXPONENTIALLY. It’s not just the size of the data, but the complexity of the data,” said Sandeep Gupte, Senior Director, Professional Solutions Business, NVIDIA. “If you look at Hollywood and content creation, just a few years ago, we were all getting settled in with HD - loved our HD sets, and then along comes 4K; that’s 4x the data handling capacity now. Not only that, you’ve got customers who are already transitioning to 6K. So the data complexity is continuing to go up even in Hollywood, so movie productions and visual effects and so on are driving this demand phenomenally.” In order to help post-production companies deal with the increase in data, the new GPUs have come with significant increases in performance across the board. Regardless of whether it is the entry-level K420 or the high end K5200, the whole range has been upgraded. “What we have done in this generation is that we have equipped it with almost double the GPU memory across the board. So lots more memory,

bigger GPUs, faster performance, so when you run traditional industry benchmarks, we’re seeing performance, on average, at least about 40 per cent faster performance generation over generation,” explained Gupte. “So really compelling performance advantage in this generation over the previous one. We have also implemented some new optimisations in our software layer so that we can take traditional local workflows and seamlessly extend them to the cloud.” “The number of cores has gone up phenomenally here across the entire line. Out of all these cards, two of the cards, this K2200 and the K620, which is the midrange and the entry level cards, the real volume part of the market; those are based on Maxwell GPUs. The others are all Kepler-based cards,” Gupte added. “It’s our first generation Maxwell GPU; phenomenal performance-per-watt advantage with Maxwell, and that GPU is ideal for the midrange. So you are positioned in the midrange because it is perfect in terms of its power consumption, performance, and everything; that’s the sweet spot for it.” The NVIDIA VCA is essentially a way of accessing additional compute power on an as-needed basis. Having a rig with eight K6000 cards is probably overkill for most needs, even at the very high-end. That doesn’t mean there won’t be occasions that require extremely intensive Iray rendering, but it would only really be needed for a small time frame. This is where VCA comes in. “We have taken our standard Iray local workflow and built this cloud bridge so you can access these other GPUs that are inside the VCA,” said Gupte. “It’s a rack-mount chassis that holds up to eight K6000 class cards. You can take those and you can have a whole array of them. You can stack a number of them. They could be sitting in the room next door.” The cluster used for a demonstration was in Santa Clara, California, thousands of kilometres away from Sydney. Using standard internet available in a hotel, NVIDIA connected into this cluster and had that cluster do the heavy lifting in a live environment. Visit www.nvidia.com

‘Gone Girl’ Takes Post to 6K with NVIDIA and AJA AS THE FIRST FULL-LENGTH FEATURE FILM to be shot in 6K, David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl’ faced some unique challenges in post production. Among the solutions that were employed on the production were the first NVIDIA K5200 GPUs, which were provided ahead of their official release, as well as AJA’s IO 4K device. The production system and workflow for ‘Gone Girl’ is the most advanced technical design of any feature film to date. The filmmakers opted to shoot in 6K using RED Dragon cameras, but frame for 5K to have an ability to reframe and stabilise, with greater resolution than before. They also wanted to retain control over a majority of the postproduction in-house to improve turnaround and reduce overall costs. “Shooting in 6K, we had a large amount of RED media content to be converted and reviewed,” explained Jeff Brue, Post Engineer. “This, combined with a need for an ability during editorial for every shot to be reframed, posed a unique challenge.” “We gave Jeff Brue and the guys at ‘Gone Girl’ the first K5200 card several months ago and they were just blown away with the performance,” explained Sandeep Gupte, Senior Director, Professional Solutions Business, NVIDIA. “They immediately put that into their production pipeline and they did everything using the card - absolutely loved it. Loved the performance, love the fact that it had 8 gigabytes of GPU memory really helped them compress that workload.” On the back end of the workflow, the NVIDIA GPU-based production

system enabled up to 50 times faster transcoding of 6K files to DPX over CPU. This was a huge time-saving benefit that accelerated the project workflow for delivery to VFX. AJA Video Systems’ Io 4K device for professional video and audio I/O was used to facilitate 4K playback for VFX review on ‘Gone Girl’. “AJA’s Io 4K was used as a reference grade device as it allowed us to playback DPX frames without any tearing or artifacts when reviewing VFX shots,” explained Brue. “The Io 4K was ultimately chosen for the quality level, absolute sync and also for the fact that it can operate in 10-bit.” AJA Io 4K connects to any Thunderbolt 2-enabled device, and offers a broad range of professional video and audio connectivity, supporting the latest 4K and UltraHD workflows. For ‘Gone Girl’, Io 4K was connected to the Thunderbolt 2 output from an HP Z820 workstation running Adobe After Effects CC and Adobe Premiere Pro CC, which was used to edit the entire film. “When you’re working on a feature film project with this high of a data rate, you have to have a cohesive system to manage all of the 6K, from storage to the playback device. You have to know that everything works together and that the peformance is reliable. AJA Io 4K provided that reliability along with absolute frame accuracy, which was a necessity,” concluded Brue. Visit www.nvidia.com and www.aja.com

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM Radio Television Hong Kong Enlists DAMsmart to Digitise Archive DIGITAL MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT company DAMsmart has been appointed by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) to digitise and upconvert 21,000 hours of the broadcasters videotape library. The project will make RTHK’s production archive available in an HD digital form to coincide with the introduction of digital terrestrial television service by RTHK. The project will result in significant increases in production efficiencies for the broadcaster, reduced risk, storage and access overheads inherent to physical videotape and, importantly, ensure the content is secured for future generations.

ingest into the broadcaster’s storage infrastructure and files that are ready for immediate use in production.

RTHK is Hong Kong’s public service broadcaster. Established in the 1920s, RTHK is responsible for producing independent public affairs, education and entertainment content, initially for radio and then for television from the 1970s. Up until this year, commercial free-to-air providers have been responsible for broadcasting the television content produced by RTHK. The video archive represents a significant cultural record of Hong Kong’s recent history.

“The General Dynamics Mediaware solution was chosen by DAMsmart due to its single pass workflow, frame accuracy and lossless editing process,” said Garrick Simeon, managing director, General Dynamics Mediaware. “With our software, DAMsmart is able to significantly accelerate the archival process, avoid a transcoding process and maximise the quality of the file.”

2014 marks a new era for the broadcaster with the introduction of its own digital terrestrial television channels. Having its own channels now means RTHK is responsible for both producing content and broadcasting content. This shift in operations has seen RTHK look to leverage its extensive production archive to meet its programming needs, however, RTHK first needs to digitise the archive as the content currently sits on physical videotape formats. After identifying a need to outsource the digitisation of its tape library, RTHK went through a thorough open tender process and the contract was finally awarded to DAMsmart. The total project will consist of 21,000 hours of content across as many as 40,000 individual Betacam cassettes. Up to 30% of the collection presents signs of deterioration such as mould, which will require meticulous attention to ensure all content is recovered. The collection will be temporarily relocated from Hong Kong to Canberra, Australia, in 8 batches. DAMsmart will be undertaking an intensive cleaning and preparation program to address those carriers that are in poor condition. The company will be digitising the collection using a mix of automated and semiautomated workflows that will include SD to HD up-conversion to create two file types, XDCamHD 50 and MPEG4. Post-digitisation the files will enter a workflow to address program segmentation requirements prior to going through rigorous QC testing. The process will result in DAMsmart delivering RTHK a collection that is ready for

General Dynamics Mediaware is providing frame accurate, lossless editing solutions to DAMsmart, a, to assist in the editing of the 21,000 hours of videotape from Radio Television Hong Kong’s (RTHK) archive. General Dynamics Mediaware’s integrated compressed editing platform will be used as part of the solution being deployed to enable RTHK to realise significant increases in post-production efficiencies, and reduce risk in the storage and access overheads inherent to physical videotape.

As it is expected to take a year to complete the digitising and archive process, ingest speed, quality and editing accuracy were all important factors in DAMsmart’s choice of solution providers. By using the General Dynamics Mediaware editor in conjunction with a Mediaflex Media Asset Management (MAM) suite from TransMedia Dynamics, DAMsmart will avoid the timeintensive task of an additional decode-re-encode step. “By segmenting the original content, quickly and frame accurately, General Dynamics Mediaware’s software is doing the heavy lifting in this project and interacts seamlessly with our workflow solution,” said Joe Kelly, general manager, DAMsmart. “Compared with baseband alternatives, General Dynamics Mediaware’s solution edits up to 30 times faster without generational loss allowing us to speedily move forward with preserving the thousands of hours of video. “RTHK is another exciting broadcast project for us and represents a significant milestone as we continue to grow our offerings in Asia. It’s refreshing to see that broadcasters are making the right moves to mitigate the ever-growing risk associated with maintaining fragile and obsolete tape libraries by embarking on large-scale digitisation programs. This project will be challenging; the logistics of moving 40,000 tapes, mouldy carriers, upconversion and healthy metadata requirements will require us to draw on all our expertise to enable us to achieve another great result.”

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The project is due for completion by the end of 2015. Visit www.damsmart.com.au and www.mediaware.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

IMD Cloud Digitally Connects Indonesian Broadcasters IMD HAS SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTED its end-to-end digital ad delivery solution with all Indonesian broadcasters. A pioneer in the ad delivery market first, IMD is the only Indonesian supplier in this field. “We’ve been working very closely with Indonesian broadcasters for the past two years to cut analogue workflows,” says Joshua Rea, IMD’s Director of International Development. “We’ve completed deep integration with the Traffic, Engineering, MCR, ICT and Sales departments of every broadcaster in Indonesia. We’re extremely proud of what the team’s achieved.” Advertisers have relied on Betacam SP tapes for the past 20 years. With global advertisers focusing more and more on the rapidly growing market, tape’s were frequently sent from London, Singapore or Shanghai into

Indonesia. Often caught in customs, significant delays could occur. Through IMD’s cloud-based delivery platform, advertisers and agencies can now deliver from anywhere in the world directly to more than 40 Indonesian broadcasters country-wide within 2 hours, 24/7. In the process, IMD have also integrated and connected most Indonesian Post and Audio houses, as well as major Media Agencies with their collaborative online workflow. “Lead times are decreasing, costs are reducing. transparency and quality is increasing. It’s a great change to witness for the market,” says Carmine Masiello, IMD Asia-Pacific and Middle East CEO. Visit www.imdindonesia.com

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

3 & 4 March 2015

Australian Technology Park, Sydney

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Early bird ends 1st Dec - SAVE $100 - Why Pay More? The original and most respected event in the broadcasting industry is back for 2015

By attending, you will:

The Australian Broadcasting Digital Media Summit has been the meeting place for the industry’s head honchos since it began in 2002. Each year, the who’s who in broadcasting get together at this, the only event of its kind for TV, radio and digital content platforms in Australia.

• DELVE into the ‘future of TV and content’ and the technologies changing the way we reach the consumer

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World Renowned Speakers Marc Watson Former CEO BT Vision (UK) Gill Whitehead Director of Audience Technologies & Insight Channel 4 (UK) Michael Ebeid CEO & Managing Director SBS Richard Finlayson Director of Television ABC

• HEAR from the game-changers in broadcasting on the latest trends and challenges facing the industry

• EXECUTE a more robust second screen startegy and develop more forward thinking monetisation methods • INCREASE audience engagement with all your content and channels • DISCOVER the ‘ones to watch’, as the way content is consumed evolves and dictates the changes in

broadcasting

Featuring 3 dedicated streams on Day 2 1. Business Strategy 2. Technical 3. Digital Design, Integration and Execution

Sponsorship Enquiries

Blandina Macfarlane P: +61 2 8908 8514 E: blandinam@acevents.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

R&S Upping Storage Capabilities ROHDE & SCHWARZ DVS’ storage solutions have been further developed to store the increasingly more typical quantities of data from 4K and even 8K production environments. Instead of the usual 24 disks, the new R&S SpycerBox Ultra TL now has 48 SATA drives each with 6 TB of storage capacity – equalling 288 TB of capacity in a 4U chassis. The nearline solution comes equipped with dual 10 GigE interfaces as standard, making it perfect especially for mastering environments. The R&S SpycerBox family’s high levels of performance and robustness are known across the industry. It is available in different versions and integrates seamlessly into any NAS or SAN storage infrastructure thanks to its vast array of optional interfaces. Boasting 36 TB in just a single 1U chassis, R&S SpycerBox Cell represents an exceptional combination of performance and functionality. In this regard, the system’s scalability plays a key role – followed by a data throughput of up to 3 GB/s per unit and maximum reliability thanks to a unique failover system. R&S SpycerBox Cell is an excellent solution when rack-space restrictions and energy saving requirements are key considerations. R&S SpycerBox Cell and R&S SpycerBox Ultra also complement each other. While R&S SpycerBox Cell supports formats up to 8K, the main focus of R&S SpycerBox Ultra is its capacity to handle compressed formats. Customers who opt for a combination of R&S storage solutions will enjoy an extremely robust synthesis of density and stable performance in a tiny footprint. The devices from the R&S SpycerBox family are all equipped with web-based management software. The SAN Remo GUI makes it easy and straightforward for users to configure their hardware and software components – SAN Remo also enables the devices to be easily configured in clusters, allowing system-status monitoring as well as performance- and bandwidth-statistic analysis. Visit www.dvs.de

VideoScanner Ingest and Normalisation Solution NOA HAS ANNOUNCED VideoScanner, an ingest and normalisation solution that creates lossless video archives in a format to suit longterm access and preservation strategies.

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

NOA’s VideoScanner uses a combination of mathematically lossless formats based on royalty-free open source technology to create lossless encoded files in native source pixel formats (8bit 4:2:0 – 10bit 4:4:4). Future access to these formats is assured indefinitely, and decoders are available today for every computer operating system. VideoScanner imports most MXF OP1a and AVI files in a wide range of codecs (AVC Intra50/100, VC-3 [DNxHD], XDCAM HD 422, IMX D-10, FFv1, FFvHuff, etc.) together with up to 32 audio channels to produce the normalised archive. The lossless base format guarantees that copies subsequently created in production formats will be supplied at the highest quality, without suffering from lossy-to-lossy transcodings. To streamline the ingest process and further future-proof the archives created, VideoScanner creates a shot-detected index of the content and extracts all relevant technical metadata including timecode and source format properties. When users need to store additional technical metadata information which is not supported by the AVI container format, the data is stored in an openly-accessible standard IT database. Designed to run in conjunction with NOA’s MediARC systems, VideoScanner is available as a software licence for installation on standard IT hardware, and integrates fully with NOA workflows. Visit www.noa-audio.com

DAC Launches EX-60 Expansion Chassis for ALTO DISK ARCHIVE CORPORATION has launched a new expansion chassis for its ALTO tapeless long-term storage system. The EX-60 Storage Expansion for the ALTO Archive and Content Library meets the growing demand for larger capacity and more densely packed media storage. ALTO’s disk-based cold storage solution can accommodate up to 275 TB of storage in each 5RU module, with an exceptionally low power dissipation of around 1 watt per Terabyte. By adding the new 4RU EX-60, ALTO users can increase this capacity by up to 340TB per EX-60 chassis, and each ALTO can support two EX-60s for a possible 955TB per node. The EX-60 can be populated with locally sourced off-the-shelf disks on a buy-as-needed basis, with any mix of disk size and vendor in any slot, making ALTO a practical, competitive, and future-proof system for large-scale storage of infrequently accessed material in content libraries and archives. Visit www.diskarchive.com

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Xytech MediaPulse Cloud XYTECH, THE DEVELOPER OF facility management software for the broadcast, production, media services and video transmission industries, has introduced MediaPulse Cloud which delivers the complete functionality of Xytech’s flagship MediaPulse platform in a secure, managed solution operating 24/7/365. With Xytech’s scalable cloud offering, the company says customers will no longer need to purchase, maintain and upgrade their own IT infrastructure. Compatible with any IT environment, MediaPulse Cloud works with Windows PCs and tablets, Macs, iPads, and Android tablets. Users are set up with unique databases to ensure security, and MediaPulse Cloud is supported by industry best practices. Meanwhile, the latest version of Xytech’s installed on-site MediaPulse platform, MediaPulse 2014, delivers asset management, order management, resource management and financial management in a configurable, platform-independent, browser-based application. SKY 2014, the platform-independent and browser-based interface for MediaPulse, has been upgraded to include a complete graphical scheduling application, real time dashboards for user-defined KPIs and a form editor to modify all screens. Media Order and Transmission Order modules have also received significant enhancements, enabling users to create complex order profiles with a simple click. MediaPulse 2014 features new adapters for Miranda, Telestream, Avid AirSpeed and Avid Capture, expanding integration capabilities and facilitating automated workflows involving a range of third party systems via Xytech’s Digital Order technology. Clients can also add any hardware platform to the MediaPulse ecosystem using our unique MediaPulse Adapter technology and new SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) tool. Xytech’s new MetaVault MAM (Media Asset Management system) provides a complete content backbone for the creation and storage of files, proxies and metadata. This new functionality makes integrating multiple MAMs, including those from other vendors, into a comprehensive, federated solution a reality. MediaPulse 2014 includes a host of fully supported Language Packs to facilitate global usage. Visit www.xytechsystems.com

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Amarin Thailand Picks VSN for MAM, MCR and News Solutions THAI CHANNEL AMARIN has chosen VSN´s technology to improve the efficiency of its workflows and increase its productivity. With this purpose, it selected, in a first phase, the MCR and MAM solutions, the former based on VSNMULTICOM, software that automates all the technical processes of a TV’s continuity, and VSNEXPLORER, VSN´s MAM, that is now the centre of the whole Thai channel’s system. VSNMULTICOM allows HotSwap redundancy with two DVS channels and controls BrandMaster Pixel Power for logo insertion and as broadcast source keying. It also controls CG auxiliary events, that are sent to VSNCG+, where Amarin’s users can create their own graphic templates for branding. VSNMULTICOM REC is in charge of contents ingesting for continuity, controlling up to four ingesting channels. For legal compliance of the contents broadcasted, VSN has provided Amarin with VSNBROADREC that records the broadcasted signal 24×7. VSN’s MAM, VSNEXPLORER, becomes the central system of content management and cataloguing by providing ingest workflows and content validation (QC) for the different production departments. VSNEXPLORER allows for defining several levels of custom metadata, and prepares the assets to be sent to Youtube and WebTV, with automated transcoding to MP4. It also takes care of cataloguing and archiving asset material. VSNEXPLORER also controls two different storages, one for content preproduction and the other used for production and as a temporary cache before sending the material to be broadcasted. This was a specific need Amarin had, which was fully fulfilled from a single interface, VSNEXPLORER’s, which dramatically reduces learning the curve for the system’s users. In the second phase of the installation, VSN has provided the Thai channel with its News & Live Production solution, which is flexible and scalable, and covers the entire workflow for its journalists. This solution is based on VSNNEWS TERMINAL, platform where journalists can create and edit text and/or video news, publish rundowns via MOS, create and automatically register assets of projects and news in the MAM, and register the final pieces in the news video server. For Live Production tasks, VSN has installed VSNLIVECOM, through which the PCR (Program Control Room) operators can display the rundowns which have been published via MOS from the studio, see the registered clips and control the playback of events for each program. Also, thanks to VSNPROMPTER, the operator can also list and load a given program’s rundown via MOS from VSNNEWS TERMINAL, and see real-time changes made in the rundowns. Visit www.vsn-tv.com

DAMsmart Launches File Clipping Service DAMSMART HAS INTRODUCED a new file clipping service that targets the problem of segment clipping; a costly and problematic process associated with digitising compile tapes. The service provides a fully automated clipping workflow, which is completely integrated into DAMsmart’s comprehensive video digitisation solution. The service delivers individual TX or production-ready files for each segment on a compile tape as opposed to the traditional approach of capturing the entire tape as a single file. The speed and quality of the service are a highlight, as DAMsmart leverages the benefits of MPEG2 and MXF to create individual clips in a lossless fashion – no additional transcoding or file conversion – retaining the same quality as the original. Broadcasters and content owners stand to benefit most from reduced timelines thanks to the sophisticated automated workflows used to create frame accurate clipped files. The other notable advantage of the new service is multiple custom quality checks embedded in the workflow to continually monitor the segment creation process protecting the integrity of the file. The inclusion of this service as part of a DAMsmart digitation project can mean an end to resource intensive clipping of master files prior to TX or production work post encoding, and no more clumsy partial file restore processes from digital archives. It has long been standard practice for broadcasters to compile segments of content onto a single videotape master, including sporting highlights, program inserts or news stories. Now that videotapes and VTRs have reached end of life, broadcasters need to make archival content available in a file-based environment through mass digitisation of their archives. However, apart from the challenges of the digitisation process itself, one of the important decisions is how to treat compiled content. For many libraries and archives, the most effective outcome is the creation of individual files that represent each segment on a tape. This enables better control and does away with the requirement for more complex MAM workflows such as partial file restores, and generally requires less data storage when compared to a traditional 1 tape-1 file process. Restore times from data tapes are reduced, and the volume of data transferred across networks is also reduced. Visit www.damsmart.com.au

MAM for the Connected World TMD HAS UNVEILED new capabilities for its Mediaflex platform and integrations with leading industry vendors throughout the entire MAM workflow cycle. The modular and scalable suite of Mediaflex business software applications enables organisations to manage the lifecycle of media content and deliver an integrated solution incorporating comprehensive business and operational workflow management. New product enhancements include: Cloud based enhancements – The latest enhancements include support for Amazon S3, Windows Azure and Dropbox cloud storage as well as encoding.com for cloud transcoding. Integration with Akamai has been added for the publishing of content and metadata on the Content Delivery Networks. Media Fulfilment – Automated intelligent decisions are now made about the relevant content that needs to be sent to third party vendors who provide subtitling, captioning, audio dubbing and other services.

Content from these vendors is automatically checked-in with workflows being automatically triggered to process it. Integration to third party work-order systems are provided, including Screen Systems MediaTrack Broadcast Manager. Mediaflex Cache Manager – Mediaflex Cache Manager builds on existing MiSR (Missing Stuff Reporting) functionality that tracks missing content, including components, and transfer to the cache when pre-configured requirements are met. It significantly reduces the need to re-cache when new components are received, reducing errors and maximising the use of valuable system resources. Mediaflex Post Production – The new Mediaflex Gateway enables operators’ direct interaction of editing & post production into broader business-driven workflows. New functionality includes Project Lists for commissioning projects and follow up Production List to allocate projects to creative services resources. Visit www.tmd.tv

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

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The Dalai Lama Presents Kalachakra Prayer with DPA Earlier this year, His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet hosted Kalachakra, a religious event that takes place at various locations around the world every few years. With a now 79-year-old religious figure at the helm for the nearly two-week long Kalachakra 2014 prayer meeting, high importance was placed on finding a microphone that would project his voice to the nearly 200,000 followers who attended. The solution was found in DPA Microphones’ d:fine™ Dual-Ear Cardioid Headset Microphone, which was supplied from the company’s US office. THE MICROPHONE was such a success that it is now the preferred microphone for His Holiness for all of his speaking engagements. As the sound company of choice for the Dalai Lama, Reynolds Sound & Lighting Services supported this year’s prayer ceremony, which was held in Ladakh, up in the Himalayas, nearly 5,000 meters above sea level. In addition to braving the treacherous travel to the location, the audio team from Reynolds was also faced with properly miking a person who would be speaking for long periods of time and whom they themselves could not physically contact.

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“One of the biggest challenges for us was that the Dalai Lama would speak for about five hours every day, so we needed a high quality microphone that would provide excellent gain before feedback, excellent off axis rejection and low noise floor,” explains Felix Remedios, owner of Reynolds Sound & Lighting Services. “This event focuses on His Holiness speaking to a crowd of 100 to 200 thousand people over a period of 10 to 12 days. This would be stressful on anyone’s voice, and required the assurance of long-term comfort and the ability to maintain critical placement. The DPA d:fine made it possible for us to ensure that his voice was loud and clear, and that all of the attendees could hear every word he spoke.” The Kalachakra 2014 event was held in a field equivalent to the length of four American football fields, with the audience almost a kilometer away from the stage. “We had to be

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really careful to ensure that his voice was heard across the whole venue,” explains Remedios. “In addition to needing perfect reliability, given only one mic for a large audience, there was a high level of stage monitoring requirements for the surrounding Monks. I had contacted my friend and colleague Ron [Lorman] in New York, and explained that I was unsure that my previous mics would have the amount of gain that I needed. We additionally discussed the unique monitor needs for this event, as it was mandatory that the source element provided a flat response with substantial rear rejection. Ron recommended the d:fine products and he put me in touch with the company during a visit to the US. DPA Inc. supplied me with four mics to try out, which I brought back to India. My team was extremely happy with the quality.” Once the mics traveled up into the Himalayas, Reynolds’ audio team, led by Sound Engineer Suresh J, were able to put them to the test for the first time. “We chose to use the cardioid version of the mic for the Kalachakra,” adds Remedios. “We had never used DPA mics before, but one of the first things we noticed was that there was no coloration in the signal. His Holiness’ voice sounded extremely natural and transparent, and we were able to get the gain levels we wanted. The DPA d:fine is certainly a big quantum leap from what we are used to, both in signal levels from the mic and overall quality of the design.” In addition to the location of the prayer

meeting, the overall setup of the stage and personal preferences of His Holiness also provided a unique set of challenges. The Dalai Lama sits on a high throne, surrounded by several senior monks both in front of and to each side of him. “Since we have worked with him for several years, we know that the microphone must always be placed beside him on stage so he or a member of his team can put it on him,” continues Remedios. “In order for a mic to get the perfect amount of gain it must sit exactly in the correct position. Luckily, the DPA d:fine is designed in a manner that even an untrained person can affix the mic. The Dalai Lama’s media team representative, Jigme Tsering, was able to fit it onto His Holiness each day. It worked out so well that on the last day the Dalai Lama put the microphone on himself and was very pleased.” His Holiness wasn’t the only one impressed by the DPA d:fine Headset Microphones. “The Dalai Lama’s media team was so pleased with the quality of the microphone that they asked to keep it for his smaller prayer meetings,” concludes Remedios. “Of course we obliged and gifted them one. We also decided to follow suit. As one of the largest audio rental companies in the country, we work with the biggest corporate houses for several important, large-scale events. We plan to use DPA on all of them. It is definitely going to be our microphone of choice moving forward.” Visit www.dpamicrophones.com

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TASCAM Introduces New Recording Options

VISISONICS CORPORATION has announced its RealSpace 3D Audio engine has been licensed by Oculus, a virtual reality technology company and creator of the Oculus Rift.

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VisiSonics’ RealSpace 3D Audio Software Licensed by Oculus

RealSpace 3D Audio enables the virtual placement of sound anywhere in a 3D space with pinpoint accuracy, creating the perception of real source direction, distance, depth, and movement relative to a listener when heard through standard stereo headphones. It re-creates the auditory ambience of an environment, creating a completely immersive audio experience. “Audio is an essential ingredient for immersive virtual reality,” said Brendan Iribe, CEO at Oculus. “The technology that the VisiSonics team has developed is a great start towards developing a fully-featured VR audio solution, and we’re incredibly excited to be licensing their work to drive VR forward.”

TASCAM RECENTLY ANNOUNCED the US-16x08 audio interface, with 16 mic and line inputs. Eight Ultra-HDDA microphone preamps deliver up to 56dB of gain. An additional eight line inputs are provided, two of them switchable to instrument level for direct guitar or bass recording. Eight balanced line outputs are also available, two with a level control on the front panel for monitoring. Built into the US-16x08 is a DSP mixer for low-latency digital mixing. Each channel has four-band EQ and compression. In addition to interface mode, the US-16x08 can be used as a standalone mic preamp. Mac and Windows drivers are provided, as well as USB Audio Compliance 2.0 drivers for iOS compatibility. MIDI input and output are also available on the rear panel. The solid, metal case was designed by designbox studio in Germany, and includes a pair of removable ‘bio-cell’ side panels. The side panels angle the interface towards you on a desktop. Rack ears are also included. Tascam is also releasing the DR-10X, which clips on to your interview mic, turning it into a self-contained ENG recording system for interviews, news, and sports. Two new recorders for lavaliere microphones have also been announced: the DR-10CL and DR-10CS. These models fit Lectrosonics and Sennheiser microphones, and option cards are available for Shure, Sony, and RAMSA mics. Visit the TASCAM website for more information and images, or download the DR-10X and DR-10C press releases. TASCAM’s new HS-20 is built for installers and contractors who need a network-ready recorder. It can be automated to record on a schedule, then upload the recording as soon as it’s finished without supervision. The CD-240 is both a reliable CD player and a DLNAcompatible network audio player for installation. TASCAM has updated its recorder for use with DSLR video to the DR60DmkII. The four-channel recorder gets new microphone preamps with up to 64dB of gain for recording quiet voices on set. The DR-60DmkII is a portable recorder designed from the ground up for DSLR filmmakers. The design of the DR-60DmkII contains a tripod mounting screw on top and socket hole on the bottom, integrating with cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, and others. The camera output attenuates down to mic level before passing the signal to the camera to prevent distortion. A pair of XLR microphone inputs feed TASCAM’s latest HDDA microphone preamps and provides phantom power for condenser microphones. The preamp gain and other controls are easily accessed from the front panel with physical controls instead of software menus for quick adjustment. A second pair of inputs can be patched to wireless receivers or other sources for four-track recording. These preamps far outshine the camera audio, and individual headphone and line outputs allow an additional feed on-set. Four channels can be recorded or the unit can be set to Dual Recording mode, which records a safety track at a lower level to prevent distortion. Visit http://tascam.com

Based on ten years of research at the University of Maryland, RealSpace 3D Audio models the transformations sound undergoes as it travels from a source to a listener’s ears in an environment, using a combination of head-related transfer functions, room models and head-tracking, as well as their interplay. “We are excited to see our RealSpace engine technology as part of the future of Oculus’ virtual reality systems,” said VisiSonics Founder and President Ramani Duraiswami. “We believe we are at a threshold for physics-based personal audio rendering in virtual reality. Oculus’ innovative technology is poised to catalyse the industry, and we are incredibly happy to play a role in this.” Visit www.visisonics.com and www.oculus.com

Antelope Audio Introduces MP32

AS PART OF ITS PRODUCT UNVEILING during the AES Convention, Antelope Audio announced the MP32, a 32-channel, console-grade microphone preamplifier with integrated software control. Housed in a 2RU space, MP32 is designed to complement Orion32’s precise conversion and ensure even greater transparency while recording. The combination of the Orion32 and MP32, totaling just 3RU in space, make it a solution for studios and live recording where rack space can be a precious commodity. The new MP32 expands on the analogue preamplifier circuit design of the recently launched Zen Studio, which includes 12 studio-quality mic preamps. Each of the class-A preamps on the MP32 feature phantom power and four of them can operate as high impedance instrument inputs. By using the MP32’s control panel (compatible with both Mac and PC), users can manipulate each of the unit’s input types and mic gain levels remotely. Even more, audio engineers are able to save and easily recall their own presets for various situations, making workflow more efficient. The individual V/U style metering provides instant signal confirmation at the glance of a computer monitor. Each preamplifier on the MP32 was designed to be open and transparent, introducing an increased level of sonic realism in recorded material. The unit offers excellent headroom and up to 65dB of gain in 1dB steps – more than enough power for even the most demanding ribbon mics. Visit www.antelopeaudio.com

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CEDAR Advances Noise Suppression and Audio Restoration

Dynaudio ‘AIR Control’ for Mac, PC and Windows-Based Tablets

AT THE 137TH AES CONVENTION RECENTLY, CEDAR Audio unleashed its latest developments in noise suppression, audio restoration and speech enhancement for post, broadcast, live sound, mastering, archives, and forensic audio investigation. Demonstrations included the DNS 8 Live as well as the CEDAR Studio 6 suite of AAX and VST plug-ins. In addition to these, CEDAR also demonstrated its flagship Cambridge V9 workstation. This boasts many new features and tools for restoring vast quantities of audio for broadcasters, archives and libraries, for homing in on the tiniest blemishes for music, film and TV remastering, and for obtaining the maximum intelligibility for audio forensic investigation. Developed in response to requests from national sound archives and libraries, there’s the XML Extension with its enhanced reporting capabilities, and internationalisation, which allows dealers and users to customise their systems for local languages, plus numerous improvements to a number of existing modules and tools. In addition to all of this, CEDAR Cambridge V9 offers two new facilities – Track Loudness View and Track Loudness – which allows determining of whether audio conforms to a given loudness standard and, if it doesn’t, correct it. To ensure compliance, a report can be generated for every track, and to ensure productivity, myriad tracks can be batch processed in a single operation in a tiny fraction of the time necessary using other methods. Visit www.cedaraudio.com

HARMAN’s Studer Debuts D23m I/O System FEATURING ENHANCED channel count architecture that allows customers of its Vista X and Vista V digital consoles to transfer a huge number of channels; HARMAN’s Studer demonstrated the new D23m I/O system at IBC2014. The D23m integrates with Studer’s new Infinity Core and A-Link interface technology. The D23m is fully compatible with D21m systems already in the field. All existing D21m I/O-cards are fully compatible and can be used in the new D23m frame. Plug-and-play features like automatic card detection are also available with D23m. The audio between the mixing console or router system and the D23m connects via the A-Link interface. The A-Link HD card hosts a powerful processor to operate all required patching and may be used as the sync master to the system, or may be slaved to a variety of external synchronisation signals. The D23m can host up to 12 I/O cards with a total of 1,536 inputs and 1,536 outputs, dependent of the I/O cards fitted. HARMAN’s Studer has also announced the first MADI I/O card specifically designed to fit in the new D23 frame. The card may also be used in the Vista 1 I/O card slot. The new I/O card is a dual slot card fitted with two redundant MADI interfaces and provides up to 128 channels of inputs and 128 channels of outputs on the two fully redundant interfaces. SFP modules are used for the front panel MADI interfaces and these hotpluggable devices are available in a variety of optical and electrical formats.

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Each of the two MADI interfaces provides dual outputs (with the same audio and control data). MADI channel count to the D23m backplane may be set for both interfaces in eight channel steps individually from eight channels to 64 channels. Visit www.studer.ch

AIR IS A NETWORKED SOLUTION for critical monitoring found in thousands of studios globally. Dynaudio Professional’s new AIR Control software gives complete editing, saving and preset-based recall of room adaptation DSP, precise timing and SPL calibration, bass management and monitor control in Air systems configurations spanning 2.0 to 7.1. Dynaudio Professional unveils a new AIR Control application for Mac and PC, allowing users to carry out advanced calibration and alignment of their AIR monitoring system. The software provides access to advanced tools and features inside AIR monitors and subwoofers including timing and SPL calibration and parametric EQs for each monitor. Air Control allows users to define and store custom setups and presets with selective parameter locking, and a special measurement mode provides EQ line signal out from selected monitors. “AIR Control will be available as a free download, and we are very excited to offer our current and future AIR users the advantages of this intuitive software that easily and intuitively unlocks all the power of their AIR monitor systems,” says Fred Speckeen, Global Business Manager for Dynaudio Professional. “AIR systems are an industry standard, and have been so for over a decade. It is chosen by ear by the world-leading film, music and broadcast production studios. AIR Control is designed to meet their accelerating project and workflow demands where minutely accurate adjustments and configurations must be easily made, saved and quickly recalled.” AIR Control replaces Dynaudio Professional’s original ‘TC PC-IP’ installer software that was developed for professional installers. The new AIR Control application design is easier to use and an even more efficient way to fine-tune a complete, digital AIR monitoring system. The new AIR Control runs on Mac, PC and Windows-based tablets. Visit www.dynaudioprofessional.com

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Solid State Logic C100 HD PLUS and C10 HD PLUS

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SSL SHOWCASED its new C100 HD PLUS and C10 HD PLUS digital broadcast consoles to the European market for the first time during IBC2014. The new ‘PLUS’ versions of the C100 and C10 consoles bring together innovative features and the added value consolidation of SSL Production Assistant software to offer users the most powerful and flexible systems SSL has ever produced. The company also demonstrated how IP audio networking can deliver significant feature and cost optimisation benefits in audio routing systems for broadcast production. The demonstration showed how SSL’s product line and new ‘Network I/O’ broadcast audio interface range can be interfaced with devices from more than 75 different manufacturers using a Dante IP Audio Network. Visit www.solidstatelogic.com

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TC Electronic Introduces aNorm

CEDAR Audio Grants Licence to Sonic Studio CEDAR AUDIO LTD AND SONIC STUDIO have entered into a non-exclusive licence agreement that enables Sonic Studio to use IPR contained within CEDAR Audio’s US Patent No. 7,978,862 ‘Method and Apparatus For Audio Signal Processing’. The patent refers to a method of displaying and editing audio content in a spectrogram interface as utilised in Sonic Studio’s proprietary audio restoration technology, and this information can provide professional audio engineers with a means to find problems such a noise and other artefacts in recordings and remove them without affecting the surrounding audio. “Like CEDAR Audio, Sonic Studio has built a legacy of innovation and technology for audio restoration, and we look forward to a long relationship with them,” said Gordon Reid, Managing Director of CEDAR Audio Ltd.

‘ANORM’ IS A NEW, original and innovative approach to loudness adjustment that learns the incoming program on the fly and adapts to hit user-defined Targets for Program Loudness and Loudness Range (LRA). It delivers audio that has not been dynamically processed unless requested. In most cases, setting the Targets is all that aNorm needs to achieve a greatsounding result that stays within the boundaries of international broadcast standards and legislation. In other words, it has never been easier to integrate, setup and use intelligent loudness processing that doesn’t destroy delicate balances set in production. During IBC2014, TC Electronic debuted a new Loudness Processing Meter as part of aNorm – The Butterfly Meter. This interface displays content pre and post loudness normalisation using a graph that instantly provides an overview of how and why incoming audio is adjusted. Both the Program Loudness and Loudness Range parameters are reflected visually – not just as numeric values. The sheer look of the meter is just as astonishing as it is intuitive and informative. Thomas Valter, VP for Broadcast & Production, said, “We are proud to offer second-generation loudness normalisation and new loudness processing metering to all audio-conscious broadcasters,” says TC Electronic’s Thomas Valter, VP of Business Management, Broadcast and Production. “aNorm adapts seamlessly to your content to achieve a transparent result where delicate production balances aren’t washed out. aNorm is also easy to use – It even leads to new transition processing never before possible.” The new aNorm algorithm and loudness processing meter are part of the new LoudnessWizard II license for TC Electronic’s DB6 Broadcast Audio Processor. DB6 comes with the original LoudnessWizard that covers loudness correction, upconversion from stereo to 5.1, downconversion from 5.1 to stereo and lip sync delay. Visit www.tcelectronic.com

IRCAM Launches IRCAM Lab ‘TS’ THE INSTITUTE FOR Research and Coordination in Acoustics and Music (IRCAM) has announced the launch of ‘TS’ (Transpose/Stretching) a stand alone application that revolutionises the way audio signal can be processed. Unlike other time stretching applications, ‘TS’ uses an advanced phase vocoder engine (SuperVP) as for the analysis/synthesis functionalities of ‘AudioSculpt’. Phase vocoder technology provides high-quality sound processing in real-time and offers impressive results even when used to transpose or stretch audio waveforms radically. It is able to transpose and/ or pitch a WAV or AIFF audio file with extremely accurate results and minimal artefacts.

“We are delighted to be have access to this technology so we may support our customers with the best restoration tools available,” said Jonathan Reichbach, President and Chief Engineer at Sonic Studio. “We look forward to continuing to innovate and deliver the very best audio restoration toolset available to mastering professionals everywhere.” Visit www.cedaraudio.com and www.sonicstudio.com

Prism Sound Releases SADiE Version 6.1 PRISM SOUND HAS ANNOUNCED the release of SADiE Version 6.1, an update to its SADiE Version 6.0.0 recording and editing software. With no dedicated proprietary hardware requirements the SADiE v 6.1 software packs are application based and focus on the core SADiE expertise of mastering, radio production, TV/Film post, archiving and restoration, and high level sound design. SADiE’s newly introduced WAV Master feature allows users to create WAV files for an entire album, using PQ marks to define the start and end of the WAV file for each album track. Track Titles, Artist Name and other information is automatically incorporated into these files. As a further extension of its WAV Master feature, SADiE has also introduced a new high quality Sample Rate conversion algorithm. Prism Sound has also incorporated ISRC in BWF into SADiE’s new WAV Master option. This feature is included as part of the Mastering Suite and Sound Suite packs. Created and standardised by the European Broadcasting Union, Broadcast WAV (BWF) is an extended WAV format that allows ISRC data to be embedded in the file. Every song released, and every version of that song, is allocated a unique ISRC by the record label. ISRC is then used to ensure that the correct files are used for playback and replication. It also ensures that artists and recording professionals who stand to benefit financially from any playback or replication are identified and compensated. There is also an extension to SADiE’s Wav Master functionality with support for reading and writing a WAV file’s LIST-INFO chunk, and for Track Name and Artist metadata (included in Mastering Suite and Sound Suite packs). Prism Sound has also incorporated 32bit floating point format for recording or bouncing to WAV or BWF, thus allowing engineers to work at the highest possible resolution throughout. There is also the option of creating a profile when making a DDP Image or importing one.

IRCAM Lab ‘TS’ also includes real time MIDI remote control and a live editing export feature. That enables users to export totally original sounds created in ‘TS’ as easily as clicking the mouse. A DJ’s dream come true...

In addition to these upgrades, Prism Sound is now including SADIE MTR (Multi-Track Recorder) software in the SADIE6 installer. This will run without license when using an LRX2 or Prism Sound Lyra, Titan, and Atlas, interfaces, and requires a license for native operation.

Visit www.plugivery.com

Visit www.sadie.com

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Economics of DAB+: Broadcasting: Use it or lose it By Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE media landscape means radio, like all other media, must fight hard to keep increasing its audience and attract advertising dollars. The Australian commercial radio industry has loyal listeners and a solid revenue base. The industry introduced DAB+ digital radio to secure its future and ensure it continued to innovate. DAB+ allows the industry to continue to compete when presented with the challenge of competition. Reliance Purely on analogueonly limits radio’s ability to innovate online streaming cannot replicate or replace the reach of large broadcast radio to large audiences simultaneously. Radio must be available across all platforms – AM, FM, DAB+, online, in mobiles, on tablets, in cars and any other new device that comes to market.

of the radio industry both public and private broadcasters to work together on policy and regulation. One industry voice is much more powerful than a splintered approach when talking to government and regulators. When developing industry policy, broadcasters must insist on access to spectrum and transmission powers that allow effective broadcast across the whole market and ask for incentives. One of the incentives for Australian commercial broadcasters was that each existing commercial analogue station was given 128 kilobits free as a basic entitlement. If a radio broadcaster had two stations they were given 256 kilobits. The only restriction placed on it was you had to use it or lose it.

Australian radio broadcasters recognised they needed to be in the digital broadcast space. DAB+ digital radio is powerful, spectrum efficient and offers broadcasters worldwide the ability to give listeners greater interactivity, more programming, better sound, plus scrolling text and slide show to complement the audio.

The roll out of DAB+ digital radio provides new, greener transmission infrastructure. Analogue broadcasters own and operate their own infrastructure and transmit on individual frequencies, DAB+ digital radio technology can combine up to 32 radio services in a single ensemble using shared infrastructure, lower power and only one shared frequency.

In Australia we had the benefit of learning from a number of digital radio rollouts worldwide and the economics of investing in the radio industry’s digital future was clear. The long-term benefits outweigh any initial investment outlay.

A single transmit antenna can be used for around 18 DAB+ services instead of generally individual antennas and frequencies for each AM and FM service causing congestion on towers or requiring multiple tower sites.

Benefits for broadcasters include: keeping analogue spectrum, shared costs and all of industry work together, free spectrum and broadcasters to hold the spectrum licence, no new entrants until market established (Australia 6 years), high powered robust indoor and mobile DAB+ signal, ability to generate new content, and a joint marketing to promote DAB+ as an industry to benefit all

DAB+ offers drastically reduced infrastructure costs compared to analogue – instead of needing a transmitter per service, a single DAB+ transmitter can be used for a whole ensemble of services saving the same proportion of costs for floor space rental, power, spares and maintenance costs.

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An incentive offered to broadcasters in Australia to encourage them to invest in DAB+ was to not allow any new digital licences for a period

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 of six years. This is to protect the investment, while broadcasters are carrying two costs of broadcasting – analogue and digital and allows time to move listeners to digital radio and find new revenue to cover costs. Radio broadcasters were also given the first opportunity to own and operate the multiplexes. In Australia, joint venture companies were set up by the commercial and public broadcasters in each city to own and operate their multiplexes.

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It is also important for broadcasters to understand how new content can drive uptake of digital radio and grow revenue streams. New sponsor driven DAB+ pop up or event stations can create new revenue.

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And finally, the shared cost of a carefully planned industry marketing and awareness campaign is essential. This makes sure listeners know about digital radio and what benefits it offers them – fundamental to winning their support and buy-in. In Australia, the industry has been very pleased with the uptake of DAB+ digital, without the impetus of an AM or FM switch off. The investment in digital radio has already proved to be prudent and the full financial benefits will be realised ultimately when analogue radio is no longer simulcast with DAB+.

Cars Drive Digital Radio Figures to Five Year High

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OFFICIAL DATA RELATING TO DAB+ digital radio in Australia was released by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) in the 2014 Digital Radio Report, showing nearly 100,000 (97,177) new vehicles have been sold with DAB+ digital radio and digital radio listening is at an all time high with almost 2.8 million people tuning in each week in the five metropolitan capital cities alone. The report shows extensive growth of digital radio in vehicles, with 16 different Australian vehicle brands now offering DAB+ as either standard

or an option. The number of vehicle brands has doubled in Australia since 2013, when only eight manufacturers supported DAB+ digital radio. In the five years since the launch of DAB+ digital radio in metropolitan Australia, research shows consumer awareness and sales continue to outperform expectations. Nearly 1.7 million (1.677 million) digital radio devices have been sold and when combined with the increased uptake in vehicles and the 2.8 million people listening each week, PwC have reforecast digital radio house-

hold penetration to 23.3%. The report includes a section on why broadcast digital radio is important, consumer attitudes, progress on in integration into mobile phones and an update on uptake internationally. Share of DAB+ listening each week in the five state metropolitan capitals is 21.3%. Household penetration of DAB+ is tracking ahead of forecast at 23.3% Visit www.digitalradioplus.com.au

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High Power Solid-State FM Transmitters Nautel Limited NAUTEL LIMITED has released HAS released the new, themore new, more compact compact GV30,GV30, the latest the model latest model in the in GVthe Series GV Series of Digital of Digital FM transmitters. FM transmitters. The GV30 The GV30 provides up provides to 33 kW up to of 33 analogue kW of analogue power or power 27 kWor of 27 analogue kW of analogue power in power -14dB hybrid in -14dB mode, hybrid and mode, is more andthan is more 20%than smaller 20%and smaller is even andmore is even efficient more than efficient its predecessor. than its predecessor. GV products offer audio management and processing tools previously unavailable in high power transmitters. Features such as MER instrumentation, HD PowerBoost, SNMP support, SHOUTcast and IceCast streaming input, PUSHRADIO with scheduler and play lists, Axia Livewire IP audio support, MPX over AES functionality, and optional Orban Inside onboard audio processing are available to users. Other features of the GV Series include:  Up to 15% improvement in efficiency over digital technologies introduced only 5 years ago  A new Spectrum / Efficiency Optimizer which automatically monitors the transmitter and dynamically adjusts parameters to meet the spectrum mask while maximising efficiency  RDS PS scrolling for song title and artist displays (fed via RS232 or IP), with 25 positions available in the alternate frequency table  Automatic audio loss switchback has been added to audio loss switchover, allowing automatic return to the desired audio source once it recovers  Sophisticated control via the award-winning AUI, with definable security/access levels  A new oscilloscope view for the AUI which monitors audio source signals in the time domain

Multi-Channel IP Stream Logger EARLIER THIS YEAR, Sonifex bought the Australian broadcast audio manufacturer and distributor Innes Corporation, based in Sydney. As part of the purchase, a number of products transferred to Sonifex with one of them being the Flashlog audio logger. The new V8 logger software has a number of new features, the biggest of which is the ability to log multiple IP streams. The Flashlog is a configurable, ultra powerful multi-channel logger which uses the Sonifex Auricon and Digitorc sound cards, IP based line inputs (Axia or Wheatstone), radio capture cards and internet radio streams, in a rugged, reliable 4U chassis to continuously log up to 2 years of radio broadcasts or audio. Applications include compliance logging, air checking, content reuse and the monitoring of competitors. Flashlog is able to record up to 64 stereo line channels, 32 stereo FM stations, 32 AM stations, 4 DAB+ ensembles and 32 internet radio streams with the number of logging days independently set for each line, DAB+ ensemble, internet stream, AM or FM channel. It is available as a ‘software only’ purchase, or built into rugged PC rack hardware. The V8 software can log up to 32 internet radio streams using Shoutcast, Icecast and RTMP protocols. It supports MP3 and HE-AAC audio encoding and also records the metadata. There is a software driver which supports up to sixteen stereo Axia Livewire inputs and playback outputs and also up to sixteen stereo Wheatstone WheatNet inputs and playback outputs. Additional V8 features include the ability to increase or decrease the number of logging days on each line, AM, FM channel or DAB ensemble, full Unicode support for international use, SNMP and FM RDS decoding, SNMP reporting of RDS RadioText and DAB DLS text, as well as DAB MOT and DLS status, MP3 option when saving audio segments, dynamic calendar control showing the range of recorded days and a number of other features. Visit www.sonifex.co.uk

 Site control functions have been added for monitoring and control of items external to the transmitter, such as doors or generators

IP Signal Monitoring from GatesAir

 Along with MER measurement, a full suite of digital radio instrumentation is available with a spectrum analyser and constellation view, supporting Nautel HD Reliable Transport

GATESAIR HAS INTRODUCED Intraplex LiveLook, a real-time interac-

 Built-in Industry-leading PAPR/Crest factor reduction  Robust cabinet and module designs for easy installation, hot swap of power modules, extensive redundancy and field repairable amplifier pallets  90-265V power supplies help keep transmitters on the air even in brown-out conditions The GV Series includes models ranging from 3.5 kW to 80 kW. Visit www.nautel.com

tive monitoring solution that works in conjunction with Intraplex IP Link codecs, optimising performance for mission-critical audio contribution and distribution networks. LiveLook provides time-based graphical analysis of network statistics, including burst packets and other performance-related measurements that adversely affect IP signal transport. Built-in data mining algorithms automate packet analysis and subsequent report generation, recommending optimal techniques for error mitigation. This streamlines the setup, configuration and optimisation of IP networks to reduce complexity and improve overall network performance. Broadcasters further benefit from analysis of both live and logged data. The graphical nature of LiveLook, in conjunction with log clock association, gives users better insight into performance trends over periods of time. Additionally, the continuous logging of IP packets ensures that broadcasters can easily pinpoint and analyse statistics from a specific time window to review and troubleshoot known performance issues. Ultimately, Intraplex LiveLook is a value-added complement to reliability techniques already built into IP Link codecs, including dynamic stream splicing, an application that provides hitless recovery of dropped packets via seamless convergence of main and backup streams. GatesAir has also announced support for the EBU 3362 specification which, in part, covers the use of standard SIP and RTP protocols to establish audio streams. This compatibility allows IP Link codecs to seamlessly mix with other hardware codec vendors across large broadcast networks, as well as software codecs used on various smartphones and tablets.

Support for SIP, or the Session Internet Protocol, is especially attractive for remote broadcasts and similar contribution applications. Instead of requiring a remote encoder, a broadcaster can call into an IP Link receiver at a radio station using an iOS or Android phone, for example, to contribute an on-air feed. Additionally, a listener or guest with a SIP phone or application can similarly contribute to a broadcast call using a common mobile device.

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Visit www.gatesair.com

RADIO

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UK Issues Digital Radio Report Card WITH 2015 MARKING THE 20th anniversary of the launch of DAB digital radio broadcasting in the UK, that country’s regulator, Ofcom, has released its fifth annual digital progress report.

FRONTIER SILICON has launched Verona 2, a new DAB digital radio module based on its 4th generation Kino 4 chip. The Verona 2 module is based on a chip which integrates RF, baseband, application processor, audio decode and DAC functionality on a single piece of silicon. The key benefits of Verona 2 are:

UK Digital radio services are available through a number of platforms – DAB, digital TV and internet – but coverage varies. On DAB, there are three types of multiplex, each of which provides a range of services: BBC national, commercial national and local multiplexes. The BBC national DAB multiplex covers 95% of households, while the national commercial digital multiplex reaches 90%. Services on local digital multiplexes are estimated to reach 73% of homes. Digital television services which also carry digital radio services can be received by 99% of households, while digital radio via broadband internet is available to almost all, and taken up by 78%.

 50% lower power consumption than Verona 1

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The number of local DAB digital radio services available varies across the UK. In total there are 198 radio stations broadcasting on DAB. The highest availability is in London, where there are 60 services, while other regions have as few as 25 available stations.

Frontier will also introduce a range of new functionality based on its Kino 4 solution – with a particular focus on automotive aftermarket products (especially, automotive adapters).

In terms of take-up, almost half of UK adults (48.5%) claim to own a DAB digital radio set. Take-up of DAB sets varies across the UK with the highest ownership in Cambridgeshire/Peterborough (58.1%) and the lowest in Northern Ireland (26.7%). Compared to Q2 2013, sales of DAB digital radio sets were down by 9.1%, with 1.7 million being sold in the year to Q2 2014. Total radio sales were down by 11.3% over the same period. DAB sales continue to represent around a third of all radio set sales. More than half of new cars (54.8%) are now fitted with DAB as standard. This is an increase of 16.5 percentage points year on year in newly UK-registered cars that have a DAB digital radio as standard. While in previous years there has been consecutive quarterly growth in digital radio’s share of total listening hours, quarterly figures from RAJAR show that between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014 it has remained broadly stable. However, over the full 12 months to June 2014, digital listening (including DAB, DTV and online) accounted for a 36.3% share of all radio listening hours. This is an increase of 2.4 percentage points on the previous 12-month period, and an increase of 10.4 percentage points since 2011. Two-thirds of digital radio listening is through a DAB set. In the 12 months to June 2014 the most widely-used method of listening to digital radio was via a DAB set (65.3% of digital listening), while 16.3% of digital listening was online or via apps. Digital TV accounted for 13.8%. BBC stations accounted for over half of digital listening (55.6%); of which simulcasts of analogue BBC radio services contributed the most. Five digital-only radio stations had an average weekly reach of greater than one million listeners in the year to June 2014. BBC 6 Music is the most popular digital-only service, with an average of 1.86 million listeners, followed by BBC Radio 4 Extra with 1.65 million listeners. Absolute 80s was the most popular commercial digital-only station, with an average weekly reach of 1.17 million listeners.

RADIO

Frontier Silicon Launches Verona 2 DAB Module

Visit www.ofcom.org.uk

 lower cost than previous solutions  modular form factor for shorter time to market  UK Digital Tick compliant The Verona 2 module will power all major categories of consumer DAB digital radio devices – in particular, portable radios (with entry level models retailing at under US$30), clock radios, docks, home audio systems and radio receivers with Bluetooth connectivity.

Anthony Sethill, CEO Frontier Silicon, said, “Digital radio is making strong advances across Europe and beyond. As the global market matures, it is critical that technology solutions continue to drive this progress. “With Verona 2, we have delivered a solution with lower cost, greatly reduced power consumption and improved performance – whilst retaining the reliability that is a hallmark of Frontier’s solutions.” Visit www.frontier-silicon.com

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Sonifex Telephone Hybrids THE DHY-04 AND DHY-04G automatic digital hybrids from Sonifex both feature AES/EBU and analogue autosensing I/O together with an Ethernet port for control and configuration. The DHY-04 telephone hybrid is a redesign of the existing DHY-03, the best quality telephone hybrid in the world, with 76dB typical line balance rejection offering superb performance and crystal clear audio. It is automatic in operation, with auto answer, auto disconnect and auto ducking, adapting to varying line conditions with fully adaptive echo cancellation. The DHY-04 has all the features of the DHY-03 plus some useful additions. The front panel has four front panel speed-dial buttons for dialling internally preset phone numbers and a Redial button for redialling the last number. The audio input is an auto-sensing combined analogue or AES/EBU XLR input, accepting sample rates up to 24 bit/96kHz. The output is configurable as analogue or AES/EBU. There is an Ethernet port for remote configuration via a web browser GUI and this also provides remote dialling, line hold control and the ability to generate SNMP Traps for SNMP management systems. Additionally the DHY-04 has DTMF dial tone recognition for reporter remote access – a journalist can dial into the unit which can recognise a pre-programmed DTMF numeric password to automatically connect the journalist on-air. The DHY-04G is a digital GSM hybrid which has all features of the DHY04 but uses a quad-band 2G/GSM cellular connection instead of an analogue POTS line, converting the GSM call to the 4 wire audio signal to and from a connected mixing console. The DHY-04G is suitable for studios in remote locations, for OB vans and trucks on the move, and in emergency situations where a telephone landline can’t be guaranteed. The DHY-04G has some additional front panel indicators. There are two LEDs, one for SIM enabled and one for GSM Network availability. Additionally there is a push button which allows the GSM signal level to be displayed on the meter LEDs.

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Seven Network Purchases httvStream Manager from Magna AS PART OF THEIR ONGOING MOVE into HbbTV, Australia’s Seven Network recently purchased a High Tech TV (HTTV) httvStream data streamer and real-time multiplexer and an HTTV Broadcast Application Manager from Magna Systems and Engineering. Seven Network General Manager – Group Technical Services, Trevor Bird, said, “Seven Network approached Magna Systems and Engineering for the supply of a new httvStream carousel for the generation of the Application Information Table (AIT) in preparation for the launch of HbbTV across the Seven Network. Magna assisted greatly with the provision of a test system prior to purchase so we could satisfy ourselves that this product

Globecast Partners with WinMedia for Satellite TV WINMEDIA, A LEADER in content management software solutions for broadcasters, and Globecast, a content contribution, preparation and distribution company, have signed an agreement to integrate and distribute their technologies. The tools to prepare, plan and playout the content encompassed in WinMedia solutions have been combined with Globecast’s satellite delivery platform. Six leading TV channels in North and West Africa already benefit from the end-to-end package. The deployed solutions feature a vast array of WinMedia Traffic tools for ingest and scheduling, which is installed in the broadcasters’ premises, as well as a WinMedia Playout system, set up in Globecast’s technical operation centre in Paris. “This innovative remotely controlled solution enables broadcasters to run their channel playout operations from their own premises, controlling costs and enabling them to be completely handson with their channel,” explains Wenping Jiang, product manager at Globecast. “Thanks to WinMedia TV comprehensive suite, broadcasters quickly prepare and preview their playlists, add any number of upper/lower third graphics using the intuitive WinPublish module and send their programming to the fully redundant playout system in Paris,” adds Pascal Cima, CEO at WinMedia Europe. Each playout server can broadcast up to four different channels in HD and/or SD formats along with the relevant CGs that project the style and individual look of each program and channel. The channels are sent via satellite to a Globecast teleport for uplink onto the satellite platform. Visit www.winmedia.org and http://globecast.com

met our needs. Although currently used to simply produce the AIT, it paves the way for Seven to carousel data and take triggers from presentation automation if required.”

operators and broadcasters. httvStream generates DSM-CC Object Carousels and the necessary application signalling information including AIT and descriptors.

httvStream is a DVB data streamer and real-time multiplexer for all types of HbbTV applications including interactive advertising, quizzes and TV games, and for set top box software updates. httvStream supports numerous files types from a variety of media sources, as well as dynamic content updates and outputs the DVB MPEG transport stream through an ASI, IP or modulated interface. httvStream is available for both production or preproduction and is aimed squarely as a datacasting product for broadcast network operators, pay-TV

The HTTV Broadcast Application Manager (BAM) is an added-value module for httvStream users. The BAM enables the Seven Network to manage several HbbTV services and to optimise the associated workflow during the lifecycle, from creation to broadcast. The HTTV BAM also offers Seven a management view adapted to each player of the cycle, whilst consolidating all actions for the play-out system.

Rohde & Schwarz Installs 4K Transmitter Network in Korea SEOUL BROADCASTING SYSTEM (SBS) in South Korea has opted for a 4K system from Rohde & Schwarz. Rohde & Schwarz delivers all the equipment for the transmission path of this high-resolution video format. The goal of private broadcaster SBS was to be able to broadcast the FIFA World Cup of 2014 and the soon to follow Asian Games. The Rohde & Schwarz solution includes the ‘Clipster’ mastering station for editing, handling and playing out 4K data in realtime. The R&S AVHE100 headend then processes the 4K content in realtime. This system solution provides realtime encoding of 4K/ UHD at 60 frames per second using HEVC and a DVB-T2 gateway. The first R&S THU9 liquid-cooled high-power transmitter with 5kW was put into operation in May on Kwanak Mountain. SBS uses the R&S ETL TV analyser as the T&M reference for DVT-T2 analysis and demodulation. SBS operates one free TV and two radio stations as well as six cable TV stations. The broadcaster chose Rohde & Schwarz because the company offers solutions for a complete workflow, which makes it easier to integrate 4K data. Mastering station, headend, transmitter and TV analyser were installed in May 2014. Come the end of June, the events are broadcast fully in 4K format. Visit www.rohde-schwarz.com

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Ericsson 5G Delivers 5 Gbps Speeds 5G IMPLEMENTATION in commercial mobile networks is expected in 2020, but Ericsson has already achieved speeds of 5 Gbps in live, overthe-air demonstrations of the company’s prestandard 5G network technology. NTT DOCOMO and SK Telecom senior management witnessed Ericsson’s achievement at Ericsson lab in Sweden. Seizo Onoe, Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at NTT DOCOMO, says, “5G promises significant performance enhancements to support future new applications that will impact both users and industry. To proceed with our joint project on 5G field trial further, we are very glad about Ericsson’s success in demonstrating the real potential of 5G radio access technologies at this early stage.” Alex Jinsung Choi, Executive VP and Head of ICT R&D Division at SK Telecom, says, “SK Telecom plans to take the lead in 5G wireless services so we are pleased to see the progress that Ericsson has already made with their live demonstration of 5G performance. 5G will build upon the investment that we have made in Long Term Evolution and expand our service offering.” The live demonstration employs a new radio interface concept and advanced Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology to achieve the record-breaking results. Ericsson 5G network development activity includes new antenna technologies with wider bandwidths, higher frequencies and shorter transmission time intervals. Radio base stations built with baseband units and radio units are being developed specifically for 5G trials. Small cells in a heterogeneous network environment, new frequency bands (including 15 GHz) and high-speed, high-capacity backhaul transmission are also key 5G focus areas for Ericsson. Visit www.ericsson.com/au

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The Viettel Vision: Reaching Further with Cable

By Ward Hansford, Head of Asia Pacific TV, Ericsson

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With a population of almost 90 million, Vietnam is an attractive market to conquer, and the TV industry has not failed to recognise this. Despite the steady improvement of infrastructure across the country, which has inevitably led to greater consumption of online media and internet TV, traditional television viewing still remains extremely popular. Around 85 percent of households own a television and in 2012 the Ministry of Industry and Commerce estimated the revenue generated by pay-TV to be USD 2.5 billion, with 97 percent of that being drawn from cable TV packages. IT THEREFORE COMES AS NO SURPRISE that the Vietnamese cable TV landscape is intensely competitive. There are currently around 40 companies fighting to have their TV services used and preferred by consumers across the country, and, as of 2013, Viettel has bumped this number up even further with a major new project in collaboration with Ericsson. VIETTEL’S STORY Viettel enters this busy marketplace from a unique position of strength, having already established itself as a household name in the TV space, albeit via a different model. Viettel is one of the world’s fastest growing companies, having built up its business in markets from Asia to Latin America and amassed a customer base of over 60 million worldwide. In Vietnam, it is the nation’s largest mobile operator, and here it has a strong reputation for making telecom services available and affordable to all, transforming telecom to a commodity for all social classes and to all rural and remote areas. In line with this vision, Viettel finalised its strategy in 2013 to become the most prominent player in Vietnam’s TV market, with the launch of cable TV services alongside its existing IPTV offering. Through this ambitious project of expanding services to include cable delivery, Viettel is taking a necessary step towards building a fuller TV services portfolio, and ultimately increasing market share and ensuring reliable TV services with high picture quality in the region. Ericsson will be supporting the company throughout this fast-paced journey.

ENHANCING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Historically, the deployment of IP-based services in Vietnam has enabled Viettel to build up a sizeable audience, by providing a flexible and interactive service to its viewers, and granting consumers greater control over certain aspects of their viewing experience. Nonetheless the rollout of a cable offering will offer new ways to reach viewers and improve brand loyalty, by addressing the central challenges associated with providing a pure IPTV service.

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One such challenge revolves around the strict minimum speed requirements needed to successfully deliver IPTV, so that limitations in connection speeds or bandwidth can impact quality of experience for consumers. In today’s world where viewers are no longer willing to tolerate less-than-perfect visuals, the need for reliable bandwidth is essential in order to ensure that viewers will not abandon video content, or migrate to platforms that provide a smoother visual experience. Viettel’s cable TV strategy has been designed to overcome this obstacle associated with IPTV by guaranteeing the highest quality video at all times. Viettel chose to partner with Ericsson, which could provide the optimised, scalable architecture needed to ensure a consistent high-quality experience and allow Viettel’s customers to enjoy discernably better picture quality than they had previously. Through prioritising stability in its offering, Viettel

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cements its position as a frontrunner within the Vietnamese pay-TV market. Furthermore, Viettel is pursuing a solution that puts multiscreen at the heart of its offering, giving more choice to people when it comes to their content decisions. Ericsson’s September 2014 ConsumerLab report found that since 2012, the number of people globally that are prepared to pay for accessing TV content on any device has increased by 25 percent, which indicates the real thirst for these services. In a society where connected devices are increasing and becoming more varied, the ability to package content for delivery on multiple devices – even those in the remotest provinces – will be a key differentiator to Viettel in years to come.

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Another key challenge for all Vietnamese TV players alike is increasing market share in an already crowded space. Central to this is availability and accessibility, which is why Viettel has constructed bold targets to reach the nation, aiming to have its service launched within a year and available in all 63 provinces within three years. The company has been granted a five-year TV license from 2013, and as a result of this license agreement it needs to be servicing two million customers by 2015. To advance these major ambitions, Viettel can rely on its already existing 200,000km fibre network, and succeed by establishing partnerships with TV companies to share content and infrastructure. In areas without other cable TV players in operation, a fixed network provides a serious competitive advantage. However in order to transform existing infrastructure into a working TV service, Viettel needed a video processing system with both scalable architecture and reliability for multiple subsystems of linear cable and Over the Top (OTT) services, including monitoring, multi-viewers and subtitling among others. In light of this complexity, Viettel required a partner with long-standing technical expertise as well as full systems services and support, and therefore chose Ericsson for implementation of the strategy. The rollout centers on the deployment of the Ericsson Multi-platform Video Processing Solution at the core of the solution, with the AVP family of system encoders taking a pivotal role, including the AVP 4000 Systems Encoder powered by Ericsson’s first ever professional video processing chip. The compression product range was utilised extensively, constructing the blocks for mezzanine encoding, content reception, video processing, multiplexing and OTT transcoding, and forming the head-end of Viettel’s system. Ericsson’s Compass was also responsible for system control and management, ensuring the most efficient delivery. Through implementation of this end-to-end service, Viettel is staying true to its vision to strengthen its foothold in the Vietnamese TV market and maintain this position for years to come. The rollout of a solution optimised for scale and with no single point of failure will be central to the acquisition of a new audience, and consolidate Viettel’s reputation as one of Vietnam’s most reliable pay-TV providers. Additionally, Viettel’s inclusion of the latest generation of chipsets means a future of easy upgradeability and low system maintenance costs, allowing it to build a sustainable model that will have a long-lasting effect on the way Vietnamese consumers enjoy TV services.

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Mongol TV Upgrades with PlayBox MONGOL TV HAS upgraded the PlayBox Technology system at its HQ in the Mongolian capital. New playout servers and integrated software were installed by PlayBox Technology Asia Pacific. “Two AirBox servers in main and redundant configuration have been performing successfully at Mongol TV right from the network’s commencement in 2008,” says Iulian Ionescu, Regional Sales Director at PlayBox Technology APAC. “These have been replaced with the latest versions which provide extra features such as automatic control over the on-air playlist.” The PlayBox Technology AirBox is a content playout and streaming system capable of operating both in standard-definition and high-definition. Designed for 24/7 unattended operation, it can be connected easily to third-party devices. AirBox supports MPEG1/2/H.264, HDV and DV streams from practically any production platform capable of providing AVI, MPEG, MXF, QuickTime or WMV content. Files from third-party servers such as Leitch or Seachange are natively supported. A new feature integrated into the system at Mongol TV is AirBox MPO (Multi Parallel Output), which can be used to deliver HD-SDI, SD-SDI (with real-time rescaling) and IP streaming, or (for example) output H.264 (MPEG-4) plus MPEG-2 at the same time. Changes to the AirBox playlist can be made while on-air. Every listed clip except the one which is currently playing can be trimmed, edited or repositioned. Playlist order can be changed on-the-fly with commands such as skip-to-next or jump. Order changes are performed seamlessly without interrupting the current playout session. Live productions are controlled via a Live Show Clipboard. Visit www.playbox.tv

Pebble Beach Systems Announces Multiple Innovations AUTOMATION, content management and integrated channel specialist, Pebble Beach Systems, has announced a series of innovations at the IBC exhibition. Pebble Beach Systems’ new suite of Web Client tools was launched at the show; from straightforward monitoring of a single playlist, up to highly granular remote control of multiple Marina automation systems and Dolphin integrated channel devices across geographically dispersed locations. Created using HTML5 and the latest Web Server technology, these tools are designed to offer high visibility and access to systems of all sizes and architectures on PC or tablet devices using Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers. The suite also incorporates a proxy streamer that provides a view of multiple IP streaming outputs within Marina’s web access environment. Designed to alert Marina operators clearly and unambiguously to upcoming problems, Lighthouse is the new dashboard display tool that monitors by exception. It aggregates all lists within the system, displaying a dashboard of the next problem on any list, and enabling early intervention in the case of, for example, validation errors, timing anomalies or missing media alerts. Pebble Beach Systems is adding a new plug in to deliver affordable real-time advanced 3D branding. This new ClassX graphics inserter is automatically populated from the Marina playlist, even if late breaking changes are made close to air. At IBC, the plug in was shown generating Now Next Later graphics with video, as well as tickers, bugs and other animated channel branding devices. Optimised for small scale systems of up to 4 channels, Marina Lite is based on the company’s flagship Marina automation platform which currently controls in excess of 300 channels at leading broadcasters and service providers worldwide. Visit www.pebble.tv

MultiDyne Shows SilverBACK Range MultiDyne has showcased its range of fibre-optic-based video and audio transport solutions designed specifically for pro A/V and broadcast applications at IBC2014 At IBC2014, MultiDyne demonstrated significant new features for its SilverBACK family of camera-mounted fibre transport solutions, including a new operator control panel that offers intuitive, user-friendly controls and displays. The SilverBACK family now includes four models: the flagship SilverBACK-II, the SilverBACK-II-L for multicamera production, the SilverBACK II-4K, and the SilverBACK-II 4K-L, which includes ethernet support and a video option for viewfinder or monitor viewing in the field, enabling camera operators to turn any 4K camera into a true Ultra HD multicamera production. Another key demonstration at IBC2014 was the MultiDyne LightningSwitch, a 48×48 optical-to-optical routing switch that simplifies the routing of fibreoptic signals within broadcast infrastructures by eliminating the need for fibre patch panels. The MultiDyne SMPTE-HUT universal camera transceiver is now compatible with Sony’s HSC-100/300 family of camcorders and Panasonic’s AK-HC3800 line of professional studio cameras. Designed to increase the transmission distances of HD cameras that can be limited by hybrid copper/fibre cabling, this high-performance transport system is suited to remote broadcasting, sports, shared control rooms, campus facilities, arenas, and stadium applications. MultiDyne also showcased the recently introduced Dingo. Dingo supports a range of camera signals — 3G HD-SDI, composite video, analogue or digital audio with cross-conversion, intercom, serial data, and Gigabit ethernet — over a single fibre-optic cable. Available in three interoperable formats, Dingo brings flexibility to all aspects of fibre transport, supporting multiple applications including broadcast, A/V, sports, OB, ENG, POV, and multicamera shoots. MultiDyne is now shipping the BullDog, a field fibre transport system. Using the BullDog, professional camera operators can extend the transmission distance of multiple camera signals, including HD-SDI video, audio, intercom, control data, ethernet, GPIOs, tally, and power. In addition to transporting any camera signal over a single fibre cable, the BullDog can transport up to eight HD-SDI signals in any direction. Visit www.multidyne.com

Thomson Broadcast Launches New Transmitters at IBC2014 Thomson Broadcast has announced the launch of a new low-power ultra-compact transmitter range. Available from 20W to 150W RMS, and designed to adapt to any field situation, the low-power range provides dualcast DVB-T/DVB-T2 coverage extension and benefits from multiple options such as a built-in 1+1 configuration. The low-power series is based on the same design and concepts featured in the company’s new line of environmentally-efficient transmitters and benefits from the advanced features and performance gains seen in recent major digital deployments by Thomson Broadcast. The compactness of the low-power range — 1RU up to 80W and 2RU up to 150W — allows broadcasters to achieve valuable savings on infrastructure rental costs. The transmitters are suitable for any MFN or SFN network, and all configurations are available with multiple options including a DVB-S/DVB-S2 receiver, and built-in 1+1 capability, to provide redundancy within the compact form-factor, and without requiring additional modules. Available for rapid deployment in indoor or outdoor locations, the lowpower range is easy to install for a quick plug-and-play solution. The transmitters guarantee consistency of performance through advanced real-time Digital Adaptive Pre-correction to address linear and nonlinear distortions. Visit www.thomson-broadcast.com

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Sony Launches Networked Media Interface SONY, IN COLLABORATION WITH 10 of the world’s leading broadcast used the recent IBC show in Amsterdam to launch the Networked Media Interface. The new AV-over-IP interface delivers low latency and noise-free switching of HD and 4K video, audio and metadata as part of IP-based networking. The Networked Media Interface packetizes video, audio and metadata, enabling real-time transmission between video-production products via standard network infrastructures. This technology will further enhance Sony’s IP Live Production system by increasing efficiency and reducing cost for the broadcasting of live studio and sports production. Sony is developing Low Latency Video Codec (LLVC) technology, which supports the video compression required for 4K 60p transmission over 10 Gbps Ethernet. The creation of SMPTE Registered Disclosure Document (RDD) for this codec technology is currently in process. Sony has also adopted SMPTE ST 2022-6 and ST 2022-7, a technology which transports uncompressed HD-SDI over IP network. Sony has played a major role in the driving take-up of IP-based networking and has taken significant steps to enhance its interoperability throughout the professional video production industry. Sony is contributing to standardization of SMPTE 2059, a Precision Time protocol that permits the seamless switching of different devices over IP to achieve broadcast quality IP genlocking. Sony is also working with SMPTE, VSF and JT-NM1 to create a unified future standard. To promote the widespread use of the new AV-over-IP interface across various video-production products, Sony plans to initiate licensing of the Networked Media Interface in the near future. This licensing will entail developing tools

and technical specifications that enable the deployment of related products. The new Networked Media Interface combines the latest IP network technologies with a current SDI standard interface to support any resolution of video transmission. While conventional systems require multiple different types of cables to carry various signal types (video, audio, reference, metadata and control data), the Networked Media Interface requires only a single standard network cable passing through conventional network switches. Sony has combined unique new technology with already established standards to achieve reliable, scalable and stable transmission. This new solution supports direct connection of numerous types of production devices onto the IP network via an existing Layer-3 IP switch infrastructure. Furthermore, it enables simultaneous transmission to multiple points and real time noise-free source switching, handling SD, HD and 4K video resolutions together. The new IP Live Production system has been designed to be flexible and scalable, since users have the ability to migrate to greater numbers of devices and higher video resolutions including HD to 4K over time.

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Ten leading companies have formally announced their support of Sony’s effort to promote the Networked Media Interface, including: Altera Corporation; Cisco Systems; Evertz; Imagine Communications; Juniper Networks; Macnica Americas; Matrox Electronics Systems; Rohde & Schwarz DVS; Vizrt; and Xilinx. Visit www.pro.sony.eu/ibc.

Mediaproxy Releases v9 of LogServer Suite Mediaproxy the developer of broadcast compliance logging, content monitoring and transport stream analysis solutions has released version 9 of its LogServer suite of products. The latest version is delivering a new core encoding engine and newly designed user interfaces across the entire range, that are raising the standard to provide modern simplicity and efficiency. The LogServer suite of product provides broadcasters with a comprehensive and intuitive set of client applications across Windows, Mac, web and mobile

Norwia Rings the Changes NORWIA AS HAS USED IBC2014 to demonstrate how the versatility of its miniHUB optical platform enables broadcasters to contribute video and audio over a fully redundant ring structure with ease. The demonstration showcased Norwia’s AutoSFP technology, which simplifies the operation of fully functioning broadcast redundant ring structures. The platform consists of a fully flexible optical blade with the next generation miniHUB interface. It is configurable as a multiple fibre solution or a multiplexed backbone structure that provides redundancy in both main and redundant fibre paths. This means that the fibre can be utilised in either direction and still provide signal integrity.

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Strengthening the resilience of the miniHUB ring structure allows for total power outage at any site, while other locations will still receive and send signals between each other. Norwia’s AutoSFP technology ensures that signal capacity can be easily added without having to worry about difficult calculation of bandwidth. The miniHUB optical platform is built around a single card that adapts to the individual function a ring structure needs. All other manufacturers require a series of cards for each function while the miniHUB platform is dynamic, as it only needs one card to deliver all functionality through simple configuration. SNMP is available for integration into larger media control systems through the RCONmini surveillance system to provide seamless monitoring locally and remotely. Visit www.norwia.no

platforms. 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 newly engineered LogServer core engine provides the highest level of reliability for hands-off operations. Visit www.mediaproxy.com

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Versatile H.264/AVC Codec NEVION HAS LAUNCHED the NX4600 H.264/AVC Media Gateway. Designed primarily for contribution networks, the NX4600 offers highquality H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoding and decoding with flexibility, density, ease of use and cost-effectiveness. The NX4600 unit can include up to 4 codec modules, each of which can be used either as an encoder or a decoder, providing up to 4 encoders or 4 decoders in a single RU. A module can be switched from encoding to decoding and vice-versa without need for hardware changes. This versatility and compactness means that the NX4600 can fit into most environments, particularly where space is at a premium, like outside broadcast trucks, or rented space in data center or telecom facilities. The NX4600 has an easy-to-use control interface and is integrated with Nevion’s management solution, VideoIPath, which makes it easy to manage traditional and IP-based media networks by hiding the underlying complexity.

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The NX4600 includes in-built monitoring capabilities that help anticipate and correct any network issues. It is also ready to support Nevion’s trademark advanced protection mechanisms for the real-time transport of professional media. Designed to function with Nevion’s existing range of media edge adapters, the solution can work alongside existing offerings from the Ventura product line.

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Enhancing Playout Automation – Towards the Channel Without A Box By Karl Mehring, Senior Product Manager for TV Everywhere at Snell Playout automation has come a long way in its short history. Thirty years ago its primary function was to manage frame accurate cueing and playing of video cassettes in robotic libraries. yet low-cost infrastructure. It depends upon applications migrating towards software capable of being run on a standard computer. In the case of playout automation, we already have the idea of the “channel in a box”, like the Snell ICE. This puts the functionality of a video server, a graphics engine, switching and effects and playlist management into a single device, usually contained in a 1U box. The economics of channel in a box are compelling. The use of standard IT hardware makes the capital cost relatively low. By its very definition, a channel in a box is a plug and play solution, without the need to manage integration with equipment from multiple vendors nor to install complex wiring.

That makes it very fast to deploy, so it is good for getting channels on air quickly. Broadcasters can market test a new concept in weeks or even days, without significant investment. It also allows broadcasters to offer the popup channel. You can add extra channels for short periods to meet special needs. It could be a World Cup channel, or a summer music festival channel, for example. To really meet this requirement to scale up and scale down rapidly, the logical next step is to take our IT-based channel in a box and virtualise it. If we can implement everything we need in software then it no longer needs even the 1U dedicated box of today’s version: we just take the processor cycles we need from the blade servers in our existing data centre.

We have a channel without a box.

TODAY, WE EXPECT AUTOMATION SYSTEMS to provide a great deal more functionality, from multiple-layer events to the automatic population of graphics templates. We also expect systems to be able to control tens, and perhaps even hundreds, of separate channels and channel variants. This has been made possible by the increasing power of standard IT technology. It makes sense to continue to seize upon the advances from the IT industry to make operations simpler and smoother. User interfaces can be implemented in web browsers rather than dedicated terminal software. This then allows qualified staff to check on progress, and even interact with playlists, remotely. A channel manager could log into the playlist from home, for example. If decisions needed to be made and the manager was offsite, there is no longer any need to wait for a physical journey: changes can be made from anywhere, subject only to appropriate authentication procedures. Given low latency connections, that could even apply to direct control, even for complicated channels involving live events and sports. A browser could present the same key controls – such as take next or hold – as a hardware panel. Through a simple app, users could access playlists or search the asset management platform using a tablet. This could be useful, say, for a producer to approve a new set of promos, delivering them to the tablet and allowing comments, wherever the producer happened to be.

VIRTUALISATION Using a standard browser – installed on every connected device – as a control surface seems like such an obvious idea, as we all use browsers every day, completely intuitively. But, it is driving a revolutionary change in the way that broadcast processes like playout automation are controlled. The other IT innovation which has the power to bring disruptive change is virtualisation, the use of a powerful processor farm which can share tasks around according to user-defined priorities. It makes for a highly responsive

LICENSE For the broadcaster, adding a channel simply means paying the license fee and entering the relevant software key. If the channel in a box means you can put a new channel on air in days, then the virtualised version can be on air in hours or even minutes. The longest part of the process will be setting up the content flow in and out, and in a software-defined network that too could be no more than a couple of clicks of the mouse. This is a huge shift for the vendor, too. No longer are you selling physical devices which have a clear and visible value, and which auditors can count. Now the vendor is selling a license, which might be for a relatively short period. There may be a business case in offering pay while you use licensing. In the case of the pop-up channel, the broadcaster would only license that instance of the software while the channel is on air. In turn, that makes it easy for the broadcaster to identify the economics of the pop-up channel. The potential for new revenues can be quickly defined, evaluated and enacted.

CLOUD If something as technically demanding as television playout can be virtualised in on-premises hardware, can it be done in the cloud? It is an obvious question, and the answer is that, at least in theory, it can be. The cloud service is essentially a very large and rapidly scalable version of the in-house data centre. The same software will run and deliver the same results. The limiting factor at the moment is that we deal in very large files, and moving those files to and from the cloud is a challenge. We need a big pipe, of course, but just as the processing has to be scalable so too does the transfer. Television audiences expect channels to work all the time without freezes or jumps, black or silence. So, the capacity of the connections to-andfrom the cloud have to be reliably large enough. We also need the transfers to be secure - we do not want malicious hackers

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service with tailored regional content. That will both attract more viewers because of increased relevance, and increase advertising revenues through better targeting and greater appeal to local businesses and services.

It is also the route to provide catch-up services and to monetise video on demand. These tend to be very variable in their demand for processing: But these are issues that will be overcome in the near future. The biggest many programs will be available cloud providers – and Amazon Web for transcoding and repackaging Services is the biggest – will be in advance, but live events like the able to offer dedicated, firewalled main evening news will call for a cloud space, and they will work not just about Virtualisation and the cloud are huge amount of processing power with content delivery networks to reducing opex. They also enable new services to produce multiple versions as provide the dedicated bandwidth. quickly as possible. While it was not used for the

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broadcast content, the extensive online services and streaming from the 2014 FIFA World Cup were processed in the cloud. Dedicated fibre circuits carried the content from Brazil to Amazon in Dublin, Ireland where they were transcoded, processed and delivered to internet users worldwide.

and functionality, such as the local insertion of content and commercials, so existing channels can be more closely tailored to sub-demographics. What was once a single channel can now be a fully localised service with tailored regional content.

According to content delivery network Akamai, at its peak the demand for streaming services was 6.9 terabytes a second. Clearly a great deal of effort was put into ensuring that this one-off effort was successful. As a proof of concept, it suggests that there is a promising future in managing content in the cloud.

NEW REVENUES Virtualisation and the cloud are not just about reducing opex. They also enable new services and functionality, such as the local insertion of content and commercials, so existing channels can be more closely tailored to subdemographics. What was once a single channel can now be a fully localised

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Virtualisation is ideally suited to this sort of lumpy demand. Smart software, from companies like Snell, allow live programs to be recorded as they are transmitted and processed in real time. To handle the peaks in demand you simply allocate more processors to the task, either in the on-premise server farm or ultimately in the cloud.

The IT industry continues to advance, thanks in no small measure to the continued effectiveness of Moore’s Law. We should also acknowledge that the IT industry is an order of magnitude larger than broadcast, and spends commensurately more on R&D. The result is that we have reached the stage where virtually all of the requirements of a broadcast station can be accomplished in software running on generic hardware, while meeting our expectations of quality and reliability. Smart vendors are developing those software products to take advantage of this new processing and connectivity power. Visit www.snellgroup.com

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GatesAir Touts Capabilities of LTE Mobile Offload THE IBC2014 SHOW marked the first integrated demonstration by GatesAir of LTE Mobile Offload, a hybrid model for supplementing capacity for live TV and other popular video services for bandwidthconstrained mobile networks. The advanced model benefits both broadcast and mobile operators, maximizing spectrum use and cultivating new revenue models and business relationships; and reducing costs, expanding reach and preserving bandwidth. Developed by the Technical University of Braunschweig’s Institute for Communications Technology in Germany, the emerging innovation leverages the traditional broadcast model’s efficient use of wireless spectrum for one-to-many delivery, supplementing the mobile network bandwidth and congestion challenges of deploying live TV and other video content across multiple peer-to-peer connections. Broadcasters benefit from a new way to increase viewership and monetize spectrum given the rapidly growing number of consumer mobile devices in use worldwide.

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In addition to overcoming previous barriers to HD video delivery over mobile devices, LTE Mobile Offload allows broadcasters to reach a highly nomadic viewing audience with existing standards and technology, while creating synergistic, revenue-generating partnerships with mobile network operators through spectrum leasing and other opportunities. Mobile network operators benefit by offloading video content to High Tower High Power (HTHP) transmitters from GatesAir, ensuring a seamless user experience for consumers through optimal spectrum utilization. Since TV and video content is delivered “out of band,” network congestion is eliminated and services are optimized—without the costs of securing spectrum and building out new networks. This creates the dual benefit of satisfying consumers while saving costs and generating revenue, since the content is still technically delivered

to subscribers over the mobile operator’s network. Importantly, the groundbreaking initiative is developing at a time when UHF spectrum is in high demand for wireless broadband use worldwide. Once commercialized, broadcast network operators could leverage their existing spectrum to simultaneously deliver fixed and mobile services over the air. GatesAir is working with the Technical University of Braunschweig to commercialize the technology. “LTE Mobile Offload represents a breakthrough opportunity for sharing wireless spectrum, and we see it as a natural progression of UHF broadcasting,” said Rich Redmond, chief product officer, GatesAir. “Broadcasters, network operators and mobile service providers can reap a common benefit with this model. The advanced architecture of LTE Mobile Offload boils down to spectrum efficiency and the lowest cost means of delivering video content to larger audiences. The use of wireless spectrum no longer has to be an either/or proposition. We are empowering our customers to take advantage of consumer trends and a quickly evolving market.” LTE Mobile Offload is proven to work using the DVB-T2 broadcast standard today. DVB-T2 includes Future Extension Frames (FEFs), which support the delivery of non-DVB-T2 signals inside the data stream. This opens a lane inside the DVB-T2 standard to deliver the signal type (LTE-A+) that 3GPP-capable mobile devices can receive and play out as video. Similar possibilities exist for incorporation into ATSC 3.0 and other digital TV standards. The GatesAir solution modulates the DVB-T2 and LTE-A+ signals, using a hybrid exciter platform and over-the-air transmitters to deliver simultaneous digital TV and LTE content to all devices from a broadcast tower.

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Broadcasting Digital Media Summit Call for Speakers THE 2015 Australian Broadcasting Digital Media Summit is now open for you to Apply to be a Speaker at the 2015 event! If you're an END-USER and have got a story to tell in: – Production and content creation – Programming, content scheduling and distribution – Second screen applications and online broadcasting platforms – Broadcasting operations and technical support – Data analysis, research, content management then the organisers, AC Events, want to hear from you! Apply to be a speaker today, call Elaine McFadden +61(0)2 8908 8547 elaine@acevents.com.au or visit http://acevents.com.au/broadcasting/apply_speaker.html

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union to Enable Change “Smartly” THE 2015 ABU Digital Broadcasting Symposium will address how broadcasters could secure spectrum for future broadcasting by enabling changes smartly while making use of latest opportunities to emerge due to Over-The-Top (OTT) and Integrated Broadband Broadcast (IBB) services. The various sessions of the Symposium will address issues relating to the diversity of media audience, UHDTV new delivery mechanisms and future transmission technologies, among others. There will also be panel discussions on whether spectrum is essential for future broadcasting.

what’s on NOVEMBER

FEBRUARY

CONTENT AND COMMUNICATIONS WORLD

BVE EXPO

12 - 13 November Javits Convention Center, New York www.ccwexpo.com

24 - 26 February Excel London Exhibition and Conference Centre www.bvexpo.com

IBC CONTENT EVERYWHERE MENA

MARCH

18 - 20 November Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai www.ibcce.com

INTER BEE 19 - 21 November Makuhari Messe, Chiba City, Japan www.inter-bee.com

JANUARY INTERNATIONAL CES 6-9 January Las Vegas, Nevada, USA www.cesweb.org

BES EXPO 15-17 January New Delhi, India www.besindia.com

IBC CONTENT EVERYWHERE MENA

The 2015 ABU Digital Broadcasting Symposium will take place from 3-6 March 2015 at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

20 - 22 January Dubai, UAE www.ibcce.org

Visit http://www.abu.org.my/Event-_-dbs2015.aspx

CONVERGENCE INDIA

BroadcastAsia Conference Calls for Papers THE BROADCASTASIA2015 International Conference seeks to address the critical commercial and technical issues that the industry faces as it moves into an era where the lines of traditional and over-the-top content delivery are blurring, and where broadcasting has now become a two-way street. The Call for Papers is now open, and will close on 9th January 2015 (strictly no extension). If you have a revolutionary idea or unique case study to share at the 2015 edition of BroadcastAsia International Conference, you are invited to submit your paper for consideration. Potential speakers should be senior-level executives, thought-leaders, innovators, or experienced industry experts from the broadcasting space, who are able to effectively communicate their knowledge and experience to a global audience through panel discussions and/or individual speaking slots. The conference organisers are seeking papers on a number of topics, including:  OTT  Social TV  Second Screen  Multiplatform Distribution  Advanced Broadcast Solutions  Distribution Network / Infrastructure (e.g. CDN, SDN, NFV etc.)  Cloud Broadcasting  Radio Broadcasting

 DVB  Next Generation TV Technologies  PayTV Solutions  Video Delivery Over IP  Viewer Data Analytics  Quality Monitoring  Next Generation Workflow Management (File-based Workflow, Asset Management etc.)

For more information, visit http://www.broadcast-asia.com/conference/call-for-papers/

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING DIGITAL MEDIA SUMMIT 3-4 March Australian Technology Park, Sydney www.acevents.com.au/ broadcasting

ABU DIGITAL BROADCASTING SYMPOSIUM 3 - 6 March Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur www.abu.org.my/Event-_-dbs2015. aspx

CABSAT 10 - 12 March Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE www.cabsat.com

CCBN 26 - 28 March China International Exhibition Center Beijing, China www.ccbn.cn/en/

21 - 23 January International Exhibition and Conference New Delhi, India http://convergenceindia.org

IBC Content Everywhere MENA IBC HAS ANNOUNCED that registration for IBC Content Everywhere MENA is now open. The event will take place in Dubai on 20-22 January 2015 at the Madinat Jumeirah. Pioneering an entirely new way to do business and with unprecedented networking opportunities to penetrate the region, IBC Content Everywhere MENA will provide a unique forum for the vibrant media sector of the Middle East and North Africa to interact with technology companies and service providers dedicated to opening up global opportunities for online content distribution – ‘content everywhere’. With the whole of the Middle East as well as major media centres in North and East Africa, Central Asia, India and Pakistan all within four hours flying time, this ground-breaking event is an exceptional opportunity to obtain exclusive insights into the consumer behaviours, business models and technologies driving the growth of content everywhere. IBC has already secured ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union) as a Gold Supporter, Dubai Media City and Etisalat as Host Sponsors and a list of exhibitors which includes Cisco, Nvidia, Quantel, Aspera, Irdeto, Vimond and Content Wise alongside the players who have shaped the regional media landscape. In addition, NHK will give the first display in the MENA region of images taken by its 120Hz frame frequency 8K Super Hi-Vision camera. Visit www.ibcce.org/MENAreg

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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

Ad Bookings:

30-01-15

Ad Artwork:

04-02-15

Editorial Submissions:

09-03-15

Ad Bookings:

13-03-15

Ad Artwork:

16-03-15

Editorial Submissions:

27-04-15

Ad Bookings:

04-05-15

Ad Artwork:

11-05-15

Editorial Submissions:

09-06-15

Ad Bookings:

15-06-15

Ad Artwork:

22-06-15

Editorial Submissions:

10-08-15

Ad Bookings:

17-08-15

Ad Artwork:

24-08-15

Editorial Submissions:

19-10-15

Ad Bookings:

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

+D igital Asset Mgt Solutions +C ontent Delivery – RF, Fibre, Wireless and more.

+ Preview: NABshow15 (April 11 – 16)

3rd Week May

+L oudness Solutions +C loud Solutions

+ Preview: BroadcastAsia2015 (June 2-5)

3rd Week July

+4 K Solutions +S ports Production Solutions + I P-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

+S portscasting

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

Editorial Submissions:

27-04-15

Ad Bookings:

04-05-15

Ad Artwork:

11-05-15

Editorial Submissions:

27-07-15

Ad Bookings:

03-08-15

Ad Artwork:

10-08-15

Editorial Submissions:

28-09-15

Ad Bookings:

05-10-15

Ad Artwork:

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

PUBLISHING ++ ADVERTISING ADVERTISING CONTACTS CONTACTS PUBLISHING PUBLISHER: PHIL SANDBERG papers@broadcastpapers.com or +61-2-9211 8205.

3056.40 C+TASIA_SEP-OCT_pp26-48_BACK.indd 48

CO-FOUNDER: LUCY SALMON production@broadcastpapers.com or +61-2-9211 8205.

For artwork specifications visit www.content-technology.com

6/11/2014 6:30 pm

ENABLING CHANGE SMARTLY Beyond HD resolution in pictures, enhanced quality in sound to match pictures and high fidelity devices in media industry challenge media stakeholders to be smart and adaptive in responding to market trends and user demands. The key to performing well, sustaining and thriving in such a dynamic and challenging media environment requires stakeholders to be receptive to change and enable it smartly, mitigating inherent resistances. This year ABUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Digital Broadcasting Symposium will address how broadcasters could secure spectrum for future broadcasting by enabling changes smartly while making use of latest opportunities emerged due to Over-The-Top (OTT) and Integrated Broadband Broadcast (IBB) services. The various sessions of the Symposium will address issues relating to the diversity of media audience, UHDTV new delivery mechanisms and future transmission technologies, among others. There will also be panel discussions on whether spectrum is essential for future broadcasting. The ABU, together with its stakeholders and sister unions, will continue to participate actively in spectrum studies that lead to efficient use of the radio-frequency bands, that can continually be used for distribution of broadcast media content, both assigned and associated with broadcasting. Enabling Changes Smartly can not only help broadcasters in securing spectrum but also to achieve production and distribution efficiencies that could make a marked difference in the performance of a media organisation.

10/2014 18:21

Your partnership, participation and fruitful discussions during the Symposium will help shape this new and dynamic media environment to the benefit of the broadcasting industry in the Asia-Pacific. Join us and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s succeed together.

Principal Sponsor

SAVE THE DATES 3-6 March 2015 Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur

Contact: Dr Amal Punchihewa amal@abu.org.my www.abu.org.my/dbsymposium

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6/11/2014 6:16 pm

Broadcast. Products. Solutions. Tedial

FileCatalyst Direct

• Media Asset Management (MAM)

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• Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM)

• Thousands of times faster than FTP

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MED

• Transcoding and media distribution • Proven technology allows broadcasters to take full advantage of file-based workflows by optimising & automating operational processes

• Easy integration into media workflows • Reliable and secure

Vantage®

Aurora 5 file-based QC

• World-class video transcoding

• Unrivalled, scalable speed with guaranteed QC capacity and GPU acceleration

• Intelligent workflow automation • Pristine image quality

Digimetrics File-Based Test & Measurement Solutions

• Up to 8 x faster manual review with frame-accurate player, Review Bar & graphic overlays

• Accelerated video processing • HEVC & 4K support

• Market leading QC and review from 4K to ABR

• Fast provisioning in the cloud • Agile file-based solutions

• Smarter actions with automated workflows and QC analytics

TVUPack TM8200

Play to Air on Cloud

• Transmits professional-quality live HD video to television or web audiences

• MSV G: CiB supports up to 4 play-to-air HD/SD branding channels in a 3U box

• Supports multiple 3G/4G/LTE, WiFi, Satellite and Microwave

• UML N16: Storage with high performance, reliability and simultaneous NAS and SAN connectivity.

• Resilient picture at sub-second latency • Starts up in seconds

• CloudAqua: Cloud storage platform features at intelligent content management and fault tolerant playout.

Media Excel

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• Leader in advanced video encoding technology

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• Rights management, media management, programme planning, traffic, advertising sales

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www.magnasys.tv Contact your local Magna Systems & Engineering office today and see how we can provide you with the best products and solutions available.

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Jakarta +62 8181 43923

Singapore +65 6282 3613

Sydney +61 2 9417 1111

Email sales@magnasys.tv 6/11/2014 6:15 pm

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