TV Technology - 0441 - September 2019

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PREVIEWING SMPTE 2019

TEST & MEASUREMENT FOR ATSC 3.0, P. 20

➤ 24

TVTechnology SEPTEMBER 2019

WWW.TVTECHNOLOGY.COM

BROADCAST • PRODUCTION • BROADBAND • SATELLITE • MOBILE

➤ LPTV & The Repack

FCC to distribute reimbursements —page 10

➤ Storage Technology At the center of scalability —page 28

➤ Equipment Guide

Audio —pages 34–39

INSIGHT RF TECHNOLOGY

Phase 4 and More: Surviving the Repack Broadcasters’ most technically challenging project enters its final year

T

he deadline for Phase 4 of channel repacking in the FCC’s incentive auction has passed and it appears to have been the most chal4 DOUG LUNG lenging one to date.

This month I’ll outline some of the Phase 4 experiences and lessons for future transitions, and provide some tips on helping viewers with rescan and reception issues.

I was on the 90th floor of One World Trade Center in New York with the transmitters on Aug. 1 when many stations in Hartford, Conn., New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. transitioned to their new channels.

The switch took place at 1 p.m., in the middle of the day and not at the 11:59 p.m. Aug. 2 deadline. Boston changed channels at 1:05 p.m. the next day.

Switching channels in the middle of the day has several advantages, the main one being more staff available to help resolve problems or answer viewers’ calls. While the FCC set the phase deadlines on Friday just before midnight, stations can transition anytime during the FCC test period before the deadline on the condition they provide proper public notice and coordinate with other stations.

REPACK, PAGE 30

Most of the New York-area TV stations have transmission facilities atop One World Trade Center.

3

www.tvtechnology.com TV TECHNOLOGY September 2019

IN THIS ISSUE

TUNE IN TO TVTECHNOLOGY.COM Want to learn more about the most important transition in our industry right now? Check out our “IP For Media” webinar series. Visit www.tvechnology. com/webinars.

SEPTEMBER 2019 ➤ TVTECHNOLOGY.COM ➤ VOLUME 37, ISSUE 9

NEWS

INSIGHT

1

Phase 4 and More: Surviving the Repack Broadcasters’ most technically challenging project enters its final year

28

At the Center of Scalability Storage Technology Karl Paulsen

8

NAB Show New York Brings Different Perspective to Broadcasters Fall gathering to address Next Gen TV and streaming

32

An Approach to Lighting With Tubes Lighting Technology Julia Swain

10

LPTVs Wait for Repack Funds, Eye ATSC 3.0 FCC releases $150 million for reimbursement

14

Opinion: Workflow Should be Getting Easier, Not Harder MAMs need to get better

20

ATSC 3.0: New Test Gear, New Procedures The new standard is nothing like the old standard— and that includes testing

24

SMPTE Reimagines Marquee Event Annual tech conference and exhibition to emphasize networking, quality over quantity

EQUIPMENT GUIDE

EQUIPMENT

34

39

User Reports—Audio Lawo, Calrec, Wheatstone, Telos

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4 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

GUEST EDITORIAL

Selling Next Gen TV

TVTechnology TVTechnology Vol. 37 No. 9

September 2019

www.tvtechnology.com FOLLOW US twitter.com/TVTechnology CONTENT

I

new technology, I would start with the in most cases, helped to push the techhave a real probcapabilities of the emergency notificanology into the products as demand was lem with ATSC 3.0 tion technology that is so important and there for the vendors to see. It’s true that and it’s not with the a great feature of 3.0. Right now in the technology was mandated and 3.0 is technology or its castate of California, their notification sysnot—but that should not matter when it pabilities. In fact I am tem has huge gaps and lacks the ability comes to giving people a reason to want excited by what I see to notify many parts of the population— something better. as an answer to many 4KEN WILKEY challenges we face tothis was witnessed in the recent wildfires.

Today, sadly about half the populaMany other states have the same chaltion, even some who are technically savday. My problem is the way it is being lenges and on the other coast, hurricanes. vy have no idea what 3.0 is all about and marketed to the people who stand to I realize this is only one feature but it is many have never heard of it. There have benefit from it the most. something people in those states can unbeen some great sessions at NAB, closed Let me start by saying many individuderstand, appreciate and welals and a few in particular have come. In another part of the devoted a lot of time and effort country you might start with a into developing and advancing different feature depending on ATSC 3.0. People like Mark Aityour audience. Start marketing ken from Sinclair might argue the most useful parts of the they have dedicated their life system—the parts that people over the past few years to this can relate to and understand new technology and I would as a benefit to them. The nice agree. Many broadcasters are pictures, sound and many othbehind the technology with er features will sell themselves large groups partnering on the once people see it. This is the technology in cities like Dallas path to success for 3.0—getand Phoenix to prove the cating it in front of the people. pabilities. The results of their This must be done now to betests have been for the most gin seeing a demand for manupart very positive. facturers to add the new techAdvocates of 3.0 and early nology to their products. adopters of the technology are It’s time for broadcastoften quoted, “Why aren’t 3.0 ATSC 3.0 sets have been on sale in South Korea since the country began broadcasting the standard in 2017. Will we see the same happen next year ers, content providers, maybe receivers being built into wire- in the United States? agencies and vendors/manuless phones?” “This stuff works facturers to join together and begin eddoors meetings, invitation-only conferso why isn’t the technology in the new ucating the public. If not, this fantastic ences and most recently at the annual products?” The answer is simple: Where technology will face a rollout that will APCO Conference, and this is all good is the demand? Yes, there is demand be slow and painful. The public has an stuff. Again, the problem: Look at the from the 3.0 technology sector but is that amazing way of responding. The people audiences for these demos and you will enough? I think not. behind the technology have brought it so see it’s government officials, broadcastSo, what is missing? If the viewer/user far; now is the time to hand it off to a ers, trade press and primarily technolis your answer, then we are on the same marketing team who can take it across ogy people. page. Those of us who lived through the the goal line and score. There is no reaThe time has come for the public to be digital/HD transition remember the exson this technology should linger and not educated. There is strength in numbers citement among our viewers when they be on a fast track to success. and I seriously believe the way to get heard about better picture quality, sound buy-in, demand and support is to show and even more channels. That was a very Ken Wilkey is a broadcast/media con3.0 to the people who will benefit from it. exciting time and a time that the viewer sultant based in Los Angeles.

While there are many capabilities to this welcomed, advocated and, I would say

Content Director Tom Butts, tom.butts@futurenet.com Content Manager Terry Scutt, terry.scutt@futurenet.com Content Producer Michael Balderston, michael.balderston@futurenet.com Contributors Gary Arlen, Susan Ashworth, James Careless, Gary Eskow, Steve Harvey, Craig Johnston, Bob Kovacs, Mark R. Smith and Peter Suciu Production Manager Heather Tatrow Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban Senior Design Director Lisa McIntosh ADVERTISING SALES VP/Media Technology Group Carmel King carmel.king@futurenet.com, 703-852-4602 SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to www.tvtechnology.com and click on About Us, email futureplc@computerfulfillment.com, call 888-266-5828, or write P.O. Box 8692, Lowell, MA 01853.

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Next Gen News Tech Takes Center Stage in Chicago Want to network with your peers and learn about the latest news technology advances? Join us for the News Tech Summit in Chicago, Sept. 24-25!

Apply to qualify today!

6 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS ➤ FOR MORE INSIGHT AND INNOVATION VISIT TVTECHNOLOGY.COM

CBSN Local to Get Full Launch by Early 2020 NEW YORK—Following launches in the last calendar year in New York and Los Angeles, CBS has announced that it intends to roll out its CBSN Local streaming news service in all 13 major U.S. markets that have CBS Television Stations local news operations.

The CBSN Local streaming service features 24/7 anchored programming, live breaking news coverage and archived, on-demand local news coverage for the respective regions.

In addition to CBSN New York, which debuted in December 2018, and CBSN Los Angeles, launched in June, CBSN Boston and CBSN San Francisco are expected to launch before 2019 ends. The other nine markets—Chicago,

Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore—will go live in the early part of 2020.

CBSN Local streaming channels are available through CBSN, on CBSNews.com and on the CBS News app for mobile devices

and connected TVs. It is also available through local CBS stations’ websites and the CBS Local mobile app. In the future, CBS expects to make the CBSN Local channels available on CBS All Access in the area they represent. of 2020.

Michael Balderston

Light Field Lab Receives $28M in Funding for Holographic Displays STUTTGART, Germany—Light Field Lab, which was founded in 2017 to develop holographic display technology, has raised $28 million as part of a Series A round of funding that was led

by Bosch Venture Capital and Taiwan Capital. The San Josebased company plans to use its new influx of funds to take its prototype technology to fully functional products that will be

available for consumers, as well as continue its goal of creating a TV that can recreate 3D holograms.

Light Field Lab’s technology is designed to enable viewers to see holographic objects without the need of head-mounted accessories. They do this by recreating the way rays of light bounce off objects in 3D space.

The initial targeted market for Light Field Lab’s products are location-based entertainment venues, including spaces that feature modular video walls for live events. Eventually, the company plans to design a consumer product with its technology, manifested as a TV screen that can be used for gaming or other forms of home entertainment.

Michael Balderston

OPINION

‘Back to School’ Takes on New Meaning for TV Broadcasters What commercial U.S. broadcaster isn’t familiar with “back to school” and all that it means? Retailers from Walmart and JCPenney to Staples and Target seem to rule the airwaves from early July to late August with ads offering everything from school clothes to calculators, computers to trapper keepers.

4 PHIL KURZ An article on TVrev.com by Eleanor Semeraro lays out just how big back-toschool revenue is. For the two-month back-to-school period, department stores shelled out an estimated $248 million last year, a 9 percent increase from July and August 2017 when the total was $227 million.

Given its annual recurrence and the size of the spend, there isn’t a commercial broadcaster alive who is unaware of the importance of back to school.

Might I propose that broadcast management not limit its thinking about back to school to the ad revenue it generates, especially today? Rather, management should start thinking about how to get schooled in a variety of new disciplines, some aligned with what they do today, and others that are not.

What’s behind this need to acquire new skills and knowledge is the rich bounty of emerging business opportunities they will be forced to deal with, or consciously decide not to touch, as Next Gen TV becomes a reality. Of course, broadcasters can always hire experts from outside, but even if they do, certain decisions always will ultimately reside with senior management. Thus, those who play hooky today do so at the peril of their station or station group tomorrow.

Years ago when Mobile DTV (A/153) held promise, I attended a one-day training session Gray Television put on at WOWT in Omaha, Neb. for many of the station engineers in the group. I still remember Jim Ocon, Gray TV’s vice presdient of technology at the time, speaking with me in Omaha about the opportunity Gray had to use Mobile DTV to reach viewers as they drove routes like I-35 and I-29. The idea was to transmit from one Gray station to Mobile DTV-equipped cars until they could pick up the signal from another Gray station or Gray repeater in the next market.

Ocon had already identified many of the technical challenges that would arise and how to overcome them. Clearly, someone in Gray Television management was also thinking about the business implications of this concept, not the least of which would be enabling the group to create a new revenue source from ads delivered annually to millions of drivers as they traversed vast distances.

We all know what happened to A/153; but 3.0 is a far different thing. It was designed from the beginning to offer robust delivery of IP video and other data to mobile devices, and do so as Ocon envisioned with A/153 by stitching together signals from multiple, dispersed stations.

Are broadcast managers schooling themselves today in the all of the implications of implementing this strategy to build new revenue streams? How about the dozens of other opportunities—many requiring entirely new skillsets—made possible by Next Gen TV? The broadcast engineering community has been busy for some time immersing itself in the technology of 3.0—learning new Next Gen TV engineering concepts and specifics with the help of SBE, IEEE BTS, NAB and others. But all of that effort will be for naught if the managers running their stations and groups don’t get back to school now and learn how best to cash in with 3.0 when the time is right.

8 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS

NAB Show New York Brings Different Perspective to Broadcasters Fall gathering to address Next Gen TV and streaming

BY MICHAEL BALDERSTON NEW YORK—The most obvious difference between NAB Show New York and its spring predecessor is the location, trading in the Las Vegas Strip for the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan. The scenery may not seem overly important as a differentiator, but as the theme of the 2019 NAB Show New York suggests— “Now Casting New Perspectives”—the change in location brings about something new to the fall conference. “[The theme] represents the unique experience attendees and exhibitors can expect at NAB Show New York,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president of Conventions and Business Operations for NAB. “The one-of-a-kind event, by virtue of its location and timing, offers distinctive content, experiences and perspectives—even compared to NAB Show in Las Vegas.”

While covering popular industry topics like Next Gen TV, streaming and more, the show uses New York’s media community—a mix of media, production, advertising and digital brands, as well as a range of diverse and talented speakers—to provide “a more intimate and tailored experience,” as Brown describes it, than the globally focused conference in Las Vegas.

NEXT GEN TV ARRIVES IN NEW YORK One of the major announcements coming out of Las Vegas was the news that 61 markets across the country, including all of the top 40, would begin

will be able to get new and in-depth insight on some of the plans for the implementation, including from station groups and consumer electronic companies that are launching Next Gen TV sets and receivers.

But what if you’re from one of those stations still working on your plan and attempting to figure out if you’re ready for the 2020 transition? That’s where ATSC itself plans to come in. The organization behind Next Gen TV is hosting

While smaller in size than its Las Vegas sibling, NAB Show New York brings offers its attendees a more focused showcase of the latest industry trends.

its own booth and panel to address the question: “Am I ready?”

Though the standard has been stable since it was finalized in 2018, as its deployment gets closer, stations are now beginning to contemplate more of how ATSC 3.0 will impact them.

“With little kids, the best time to give

“The one-of-a-kind event, by virtue of its location and timing, offers distinctive content, experiences and perspectives—even compared to NAB Show in Las Vegas.”

—Chris Brown, NAB to broadcast using the ATSC 3.0 standard by the end of 2020. We will be six months closer to that becoming a reality when NAB Show NY opens, so how will the next-gen standard be addressed?

Sam Matheny, NAB’s executive vice president of technology and chief technology officer, expects that attendees

standard as the deployment gets closer.

I think people are ready to learn more about what’s happening.”

And the ATSC-run panel will attempt to do just that, providing a deeper look into the weeds of what the standard offers users as compared to the 10,000foot level that has been done in the past, Noland added. For this particular session, that will include specifics on con-

them information is when they ask because that’s when they’re ready to receive the information. I think it’s also true in our adult lives,” said Madeleine Noland, president of ATSC. “The folks who attend the trade shows, and our ecosystem in general, are getting more receptive to more facets of the ATSC 3.0

tent production and how to protect that content with ATSC 3.0.

Check the NAB Show New York web site at www.nabshowny.com to find out when the ATSC session, “Producing and Protecting Content in ATSC 3.0,” will take place.

A pair of other panels will also cover ATSC 3.0: “Investing In and Capitalizing on ATSC 3.0” on Wednesday, Oct. 16, and “ATSC Ad Targeting Update: Deployment Timetable and Monetization Potential” on Thursday, Oct. 17.

ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE ON STREAMING Returning to NAB NY after its debut last year, the two-day Streaming Summit, Oct. 16-17, is another example of the show capitalizing on its New York setting, taking a look at some of the actual practices being put in place by broadcasters and ad agencies for streaming services.

“My goal … is to provide content where people can apply that informa-

tion into their businesses immediately the next day—actionable intelligence,” Dan Rayburn, chairman of the Streaming Summit, described. “So we don’t have sessions on the future of OTT advertising; we don’t need to talk about the future, we need to talk about the problems that people are having today and how we solve them, how they monetize better, how they do better targeting and how they do better reach.”

One way that Rayburn plans to achieve this is by conducting focused “fireside chats” with vendors who faced and solved these problems themselves.

This year will include talks with executives from WarnerMedia/HBO and Amazon, but will also look outside of the United States as, Rayburn emphasizes, many streaming services are now operating at a global scale.

The Streaming Summit will also offer networking sessions and co-host a day of workshops with Amazon featuring Amazon developers on “tricks of the trade” for deploying video. The Amazon workshops will be free for all show attendees.

One future-focused topic that the summit will address will center on millennials, in which five 20-somethings will take a look at how millennials consume videos—what they like, what they don’t like and what their friends are saying about their streaming options.

With more than 200 exhibitors setting up shop during NAB Show NY and an educational lineup that covers most of the pertinent issues facing the industry, attendees have the chance to not only catch up on the latest news and technologies, but also get a glimpse at what is coming down the road as the calendar year comes to an end. Also, with new features like the Pop-Up Marketplace and Theater, attendees can catch a glimpse at the offerings of brand-new exhibitors in different areas, including the “Startup Podcast,” Oct. 16 and “Podcasting Startup,” Oct. 17.

The 2019 NAB Show New York takes place at the Javits Convention Center.

For more information, visit www.nabshowny.com.

10 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS

LPTVs Wait for Repack Funds, Eye ATSC 3.0 FCC releases $150 million for reimbursement

BY JAMES CARELESS ALEXANDRIA, VA.—Money is on the minds of America’s low-power TV station owners these days.

With the FCC announcing last month that it is now taking applications for repack reimbursement funds from the TV Broadcasters TV Relocation fund, LPTVs who have paid heavily to switch frequencies under the FCC’s spectrum repack are anxiously awaiting the check in the mail. These LPTVs and others are also looking to ATSC 3.0 and the opportunities it might bring to their broadcast sector—and some believe that these opportunities are huge.

MIXED FEELINGS Many LPTVs are having to change channels under the spectrum repack; a process that is compelling them to invest heavily in new/rebuilt transmission infrastructure.

In some cases, changing channels can leave the LPTVs with poorer coverage than they had before. Such is the case for Mike Tonges, owner of the northwestern Ohio LPTVs WIVM39 (Canton), WIVX13, WIVD22, WIVN29, and W27DG-D 27.

Tonges started with WIVM in 2001, which eventually moved to Canton. Today, due to the twists-and-turns of the spectrum auction and the resulting repack, his expenses have piled up while his LPTVs’ coverage area has degraded.

“Our original Canton, Ohio Channel 39 had a very good omnidirectional signal covering our area,” said Tonges.

“Now with all five of our stations combined on VHF channels and crowded UHF channels, we will barely have our previous footprint.”

as cost-effectively as possible. I would suspect the majority of low-power owners are in the same situation.”

The FCC announced a 60-day filing window for $150 million in LPTV relocation funding on August 15. “Once all of the filing and qualification forms have

Mike Gravino, managing director of the Next Gen TV Coalition LPTV industry group announced the formation of the organization at the 2019 NAB Show.

Meanwhile, “we currently are bearing the cost of displacement due to the spectrum auction completely on our own,” said Dean Marini, general manager of Tonges’ five LPTVs. “While reimbursement is promised—and a plan announced—we’re not sure when that money will be given or exactly how much, so we need to do what we can to get the stations onto their new channels

been submitted, the FCC will first qualify them [prove they were on the air nine of 12 months before the auction started], and then see how much of the $150 million has been asked for,” said Mike Gravino, director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition. “Actual release of the funds could start in later Q1 2020 or Q2.

There will be about 1,500 [or less] LPTV and translators which may qualify for

the funds, so the average will be about $100K, but will widely vary depending on each unique relocation situation.”

Other LPTVs have had an easier time—for instance, Meredith Local Media Group owns WHSM-LD, a Class A LPTV in Springfield, Mass., which has to move from Channel 21 to 20 due to the repack. But WHSM hasn’t had to move yet, because “there is another channel that was going to displace us has elected to go dark for now,” said Tom Casey, Meredith’s vice president of engineering and technology. “So we haven’t made the transition to date.”

Univision Communications owns 14 Class As; nine of which have been affected by the spectrum repack. But the move, which cost Univision $600,000, “has actually been positive,” said John Buergler, the company’s senior vice president of Growth Initiatives/Local Media.

“This is because a lot of our Class As are redundant, and can be used for other purposes,” he said. “For instance, we already have two full-power stations in Dallas, So we moved our Class A transmission site to a new location and increased the power, so that we now cover the core of Fort Worth/Dallas/Arlington.

This has turned into an economically viable asset that we can use.”

OPPORTUNITIES IN NEXT GEN TV ATSC 3.0—which combines broadcast LPTV, PAGE 12

12 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS LPTV CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

and IP—offers data-carriage capabilities that excite many LPTV owners, who believe the new standard offers them real money-making opportunities.

The reason many LPTVs believe this has to do with the law, according to Gravino.

“Unlike full-power TV broadcasters, LPTVs don’t have to simulcast in ATSC 1.0 when they turn on ATSC 3.0 services,” he said. “We can cut to 3.0 right away, and lease whatever bandwidth we don’t use for broadcasting content, to transmit data on behalf of third-party customers.”

For LPTV owners, the true datacasting potential of ATSC 3.0 occurs when they combine their LPTV channels together into big swaths of bandwidth. This approach allows them to maintain HDTV service while creating multi-megabit channels for paid third-party carriage. “The question right now is what’s the business model?”

Gravino mused. “How will it work?”

One possible money-maker: Providing software updates to today’s cars and trucks. “Today’s vehicles are basically huge computers,” said Dave Folsom, retired CTO of Raycom Media and now a

consultant with the Pearl TV Group. “They need updates on a regular basis. It would be far more cost-effective for manufacturers to send these updates via ATSC 3.0 with its one-to-many reach, compared to using one-to-one on 4G cellular or taking

John Buergler, senior vice president of growth initiatives/local media for Univision Communications

the vehicles into dealerships.”

Cars and trucks aren’t alone in requiring software updates. Computer-controlled systems in the emerging world of

IOT (internet of things) can be found in all areas of business and consumer technologies, and many could use ATSC 3.0

datacasting possibilities and is one of the reasons why WatchTV applied and received the first ATSC 3.0 LPTV license

“We currently are bearing the cost of displacement due to the spectrum auction completely on our own.”

—Dean Marini, LPTV GM to keep these systems up to date.

Offering paid data carriage using ATSC 3.0 appeals to Larry Morton, owner and manager of KTV Media, which operates 12 LPTVs in Arkansas.

“One of our transmission sites in northwest Arkansas has five LPTVs together, and has 18 MHz of contiguous bandwidth available, with 30 MHz of bandwidth in all,” Morton said. “At the same time, we want to wait to pick the best opportunity we can. So we’re not in a rush to try things with ATSC 3.0; we’re local broadcasters content to let the bigger players lead.”

Gregory Herman, president of WatchTV, which owns/operates LPTV KOXO-CD on Channel 20 in Portland, Ore., is bullish about ATSC 3.0’s paid

in the United States last spring.

At the same time, Herman sees ATSC 3.0 as being not only “the best digital broadcast standard to date,” but one that “eliminates the coverage issues experienced by conventional LPTVs, which gave full-power stations an advantage,” he said.

“With 3.0, the playing field is level, both for broadcasting and datacasting.”

If these LPTV ATSC 3.0 advocates are correct, this new standard could be the break they’ve been waiting for since the FCC started licensing LPTVs in 1982.

In the meantime, these same stations are waiting for repack reimbursement checks to arrive from Washington, so that they can get ready for the next stage of broadcast television.

IP INTERCOM SOLUTION THAT HAS EVERYONE TALKING THE

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14 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS

Workflow Should Be Getting Easier, Not Harder

BY NAMDEV LISMAN Remember when we were told we would stop using paper because of computers? When we’d all have flying cars? And how technology in broadcast and media was supposed to make things easier? It seems like none of these promises of the future— made in the past—have come true. Why? I won’t dive into paper usage or flying cars (I’ll settle today for a good electric car), but media management really should be easier. So why isn’t it?

Is it that we now deal with an ever-increasing amount of media? Is it that today’s media includes a ton of metadata or not enough? Is it that we now have so many formats? The answer is a resounding “yes” to all of these questions… and others.

IT’S A MESS The majority of today’s “modern” media environments are often inefficient and disor-

ganized, costing you time, money and peace of mind. Assets aren’t properly organized and tracked, probably taking up space on expensive near-line storage (or even sitting in a file room somewhere) and causing delays in production.

Is your facility one where archives are spread across tape and cloud, and locating the files you need is time consuming and cost prohibitive, especially with cloud egress fees when you move the wrong file? At times, do you have so many assets coming in that you can often miss the details your teams need in order to create better content? Are workflows spread across systems that can’t communicate?

That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.

So, what should your media world look like?

That’s a question worth answering.

There’s a saying when it comes to media— I don’t know who said it first, but they were right: “Your media is useless if you can’t find what you’re looking for.” And you’ve got more and more media every day.

WORKFLOW, PAGE 18

Getty Images/Sean Gladwell

MAMs need to get better

18 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS WORKFLOW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

MAM—media asset management—is supposed to make all your painful media issues disappear. But that hasn’t been the case. So, let’s design a MAM system that deals with all the pain points of handling media today, tomorrow and into the future.

POINTS TO PONDER Here are some guidelines. You can think of it as a shopping list, or a comparison to what you have today or even a wish list.

Let’s start with the media itself. You need to be able to handle multiple resolutions (from proxy to 4K and potentially higher), as well as a multitude of file

wrappers. Whether you convert to an inhouse file format is a choice each facility will need to make on their own, the pros and cons are too exhaustive for this article. But what do you do with all that media? Where should it live?

While you might think that the answer depends on if your organization is in one or multiple locations, that’s really not the

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case. If assets are potential revenue drivers, the safest place is in the cloud, where backups exist. In that way, you can take advantage of cloud-based workflows to better unify and provide the flexibility to work from anywhere, and several other advancements that the MAM can take advantage of, like having a single place to search for everything.

Metadata should be easy to create, from simple names, dates, locations and topics all the way up to entire transcripts, where AI can play a massive role. And that leads us directly into storage that is searchable, efficient and flexible; with a variety of ways to search. If you’re looking for that one piece of footage among thousands (or millions), you need to be able to find it fast. And not everyone is great at coming up with search terms (how many times have you had to reword a Google search to find what you were looking for?). That’s a place for more AI. Here’s an example: Let’s say that you needed to find every instance of when every senator said a specific phrase, going back to 2016. That would be an insane search, were it not for the transcript included with the metadata. Too many results; limit by party affiliation or timeframe. Not enough; expand the timeframe.

Have the ability to not only archive media—(which is only half of the equation)—but to be able to restore that media intelligently.

Make sure your MAM plays nice with your other systems and workflows. You want a clean process, not roadblocks. It may be hard to believe, but some operations still rely on sneakernet.

Have the right creative tools that seamlessly interface with your MAM so that producers, directors and editors don’t have to think about the process, they only have to think about being creative.

I’ve mentioned AI above, and it deserves an explanation. Today, while AI may seem like something we’re still waiting for (unless you’re Google or Amazon), it’s perfectly suited to work in a MAM. AI is simply any technique that enables a computer to do a rules-based task just as a human would. Add some AI machine learning and AI gets better at doing that task. Add deep learning to machine learning and speech and image recognition becomes commonplace for AI algorithms.

That’s where a MAM should be today. To paraphrase from an old 1970’s TV show: MAM should be better than it was before. Better. Stronger. Faster. But it shouldn’t cost six million dollars.

Namdev Lisman is executive vice president of Primestream.

8/6/19 10:43 AM

20 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS

ATSC 3.0: New Test Gear, New Procedures The new standard is nothing like the old standard—and that includes testing

BY BOB KOVACS ALEXANDRIA, VA.—Now that broadcasters soon plan to deploy ATSC 3.0, there needs to be test equipment and procedures to ensure accurate transmission. Manufacturers are working to develop gear that will measure the new parameters that are important to maintaining a clear ATSC 3.0 signal.

One feature of ATSC 3.0 that pushes the limits to measure reliably is its layer-division multiplexing (LDM), one of a few techniques to pack as much data into the standard as possible. However, being a state-of-the-art standard makes ATSC 3.0 a state-of-the-art measurement challenge.

“ATSC 3.0 is a very practical standard that gathers the most recent coding techniques and experiences of its predecessors,” said Vladimir Anishchenko, president and chief technology officer for Ontario, Canada-based Avateq Corp., manufacturer of the AVQ1022 RF signal analyzer. “That is why the challenge is not in a particular measurement but rather in a number of measurements creating a whole picture of the signal quality.”

Anishchenko noted the difficulty that ATSC 3.0’s LDM technology adds to the mix.

“Compared to MER/SNR measurements in the DVB/

Avateq AVQ1022 RF signal analyzer with an ATSC 3.0 spectrum plot

ASTC 1.0 standard not using the LDM technique, physical layer pipe [PLP] MER measurement is not a trivial task for ATSC 3.0,” he said. “In ATSC 3.0, actually two PLP MERs exist in a case of LDM: a) MER of PLP calculated over a superimposed core and enhanced PLPs, and b) MER calculated for LDM ‘decomposed’ PLPs, i.e., for each LDM super-positioned PLP.”

WHERE BROADCAST, BROADBAND MEET Although digital broadcasting has existed worldwide for several decades, ATSC 3.0 is something of a departure from older digital standards. That has an effect on the way it is tested and measured.

“ATSC 3.0 is at the meeting point of broadcast and broadband, more tailored to viewers’ needs but much more challenging for the operators,” said Jean-Pierre Thomas, test and monitoring director for France-based Enensys, a manufacturer of ATSC 3.0 gateways and SFN synchronization systems. “Permitting both indoor and mobile reception for the same TV channel implies configuring an LDM-based transmission, meaning the combination of a basic and robust QPSK with a complex but high-quality NUC 256QAM. The other main topic, such as multi-PLP, is something DVB-T2 operators are already familiar with, but is now adapted to ATSC 3.0.”

Broadcasters have seen a shift to IP for years, and ATSC 3.0 continues that trend. Components that used to be discrete blocks of hardware are disappearing in the IP world, which has implications on test and measurement.

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22 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS TEST CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

“The move to an all-IP infrastructure is also a challenge, with software-based and virtualized major components such as a gateway (scheduler) or even a modulator,” Thomas said. “With ATSC 3.0, it only uses hardware parts when necessary, such as when dealing with analog signals.”

To accurately measure ATSC 3.0 signals, “first you need to know whether you are receiving a good-quality signal, therefore you need to measure the usual RF parameters,” Thomas said. “[That includes] the signal level of course, but also the MER and BER values, which should be measured for every PLP received, as they provide the quality of the modulation.

“If not, when a frequency interleaver is used these values can be estimated based on the L1 (basic/detailed), as the pilots are spread over the spectrum,” Thomas added. “These measurements should be done in the field, as seen by a common receiver. The operators can then generate coverage quality maps, logging RF measurements with GPS location.”

ATSC 3.0 is a very dynamic environmen that puts complex demands on

a test environment, said Johan Craeybeckx, business line director at Eurofins Digital Testing International in Belgium.

“In order to ensure the accuracy of a device under test, Eurofins Digital Testing has built an ATSC 3.0 broadcast environment allowing tests to be created in a real-world and reproducible way,” Craeybeckx said. “When there is a particular challenge to measure, Eurofins Digital Testing has designed specific hardware to make measurements, such as a hardware device that measures the accuracy of audio-to-video synchronization at frame-accurate levels. This reduces the time and costs associated with validation and conformance to ATSC 3.0 standards.”

ONGOING ACCURACY An ongoing concern for test systems is their accuracy over time. With ATSC 3.0 needing novel and highly precise measurements, what is the probability that test equipment will remain calibrated and continue to produce accurate results?

“I am not sure if the reference is to the crystal in the RF card or clock on the analyzer,” said Ralph Bachofen, vice president for sales and marketing for Triveni Digital.

“As for the clock on the analyzer, it can

be configured as PTP or NTP on Linux, or NTP on Windows. The crystals on the RF receiver cards are highly accurate and don’t really need recalibration these days.”

Not all manufacturers suggest a handsoff approach. “Although our gear is thoroughly calibrated at the factory to provide reasonably accurate power and time-related measurements, the accuracy might degrade mainly due to the gear component aging and parameter variations,” said Avateq’s Anishchenko. “We would recommend recalibration each year.”

Software measurement tools depend on the timing of the devices they run on, which in turn are connected to networks that use precision timing systems.

“A lot of solutions will actually be software-based, or virtualized,” Thomas said. “The gear will then rely on standard or professional-grade servers provided by third-parties. As for the RF measuring gear, after purchasing the equipment, it is usually standard to recalibrate the device once every other year, in order to prevent time and weather-induced artifacts on the main components.”

The transition to 3.0 from 1.0 is moving slowly, with just a handful of stations committed to the new standard. Ba-

chofen recommends simultaneous testing of both standards to keep the broadcast neighborhood clean.

“In the early deployment phases, it is important to analyze all demarcation points in the broadcast chain to minimize anomalies and issues that might arise,” he said. “We believe that during the simulcast timeframe, it is imperative to analyze both the ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 standards simultaneously, and possibly on DMA-wide scale, as channel sharing is required in most scenarios.”

As Bachofen points out, ATSC 3.0 is about as different from ATSC 1.0 as ATSC 1.0 was from analog. “ATSC 1.0 is an MPEG transport stream over 8-VSB, so that is a completely different standard compared to ATSC 3.0,” he said. “DVB has some similarities as part of the physical layer based on COFDM. However, everything else in ATSC 3.0 is different and fortunately IP based.”

This means that there will be new testing gear and procedures, and it may take time for the best practices to sort themselves out. In the meantime, some familiar companies and some less-familiar ones are making the gear needed to ensure that ATSC 3.0 transmissions are delivering pristine signals to viewers.

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24 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

IN THE NEWS

SMPTE Reimagines Marquee Event Annual tech conference and exhibition to emphasize networking, quality over quantity

BY PHIL KURZ LOS ANGELES—Some rather significant changes are planned for this year’s edition of the SMPTE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Oct. 21-24.

Returning to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles, the event has been “re-imagined,” in the words of the society, promising several shakeups that will be noticeable to anyone who has recently attended the gathering.

For example, the conference will see the presentation of far fewer technical papers –40 vs. more than 70 last year— chosen via a new vetting process set up to emphasize quality over quantity. There also will be tighter integration between the conference venue and the exhibit area; daily primers on technical topics to help early career professionals or those looking to tackle new subject matter; more networking opportunities; and extended lunch breaks with “TED”-like talks to enrich attendees’ experiences.

SMPTE has made these and other tweaks to ensure that this year’s event is “more exciting than in the past” and one that “attendees will remember,” says Sara Kudrle, SMPTE vice president of education and newly named director of marketing at PESA, who along with Thomas Edwards, vice president of engineering & development at Walt Disney Television, is co-chairing this year’s conference.

SAYONARA SMPTE SYMPOSIUM Gone is the SMPTE Symposium, a one-day event preceding the official conference opening devoted to technologies on the not-too-distant horizon that promise to have a major impact on the M&E industry.

In its place, SMPTE will open the conference on Monday, Oct. 21, with sessions on machine learning and AI in content creation and advancements in

and founding chair of TC-25CSS (cinema sound systems).

The former session will explore the ways sound designers deliver the audio that help to make real a director’s vision for a movie, while the latter will examine the design parameters theater and sound stage audio systems must meet so that their sound production is true to modern, digital soundtracks.

Monday will also see the first of three

Sara Kudrle, SMPTE vice president of education, and Thomas Edwards, vice president of engineering & development at Walt Disney Television, are co-chairing this year’s conference.

compression techniques as well as two special new features: hands-on training using AWS cloud services and applications put on by Amazon and an AES-organized workshop with two 90-minute sessions.

“The Nuts and Bolts of Designing Today’s Movie Soundtracks” and “The Nuts and Bolts of Designing the Cinema/Dubbing Stage Sound System For Today’s Soundtracks” are being organized by Brian Vessa, executive director of audio mastering, Sony Pictures Entertainment,

daily sessions as part of the new “Early Career Track.” “The first day [of the Early Career Track] will offer information on maximizing your career opportunities through networking and building relationships,” says Joel Welch, SMPTE director of education.

One panel presentation put on by professionals in early and mid-career positions will look at what they did to advance their careers, he adds.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Early Career Track will present tutorial sessions

offering a primer on technical topics to be covered in papers presented later in the day. The goal is to offer industry newcomers and established professionals wanting to learn about something outside their normal sphere a fundamental understanding of a topic before taking the deep dive during the papers presentation.

“These sessions will kind of ‘level the playing field,’ and help people who are new to a topic to feel more comfortable,” says Kudrle.

TECHNICAL PAPERS AND EXHIBITS Over the first three days of the events, 40 technical papers will be presented on topics including: • Putting SMPTE ST 2110 into practice • Using the new IP standard in live productions • Security strategies for PTP networks • Security for discovery and connection management of ST 2110 media devices • Securing distributed content creation • Cinema processing and projection spaces • 8K, 4K, UHD, HDR and high frame rates • Perceptual color quality metrics • New production workflows, and • Access and the global community of technology Unlike last year, there will only be two concurrent conference tracks, not three. “With the three tracks running simultaneously, it was too hard to decide which to attend at times,” says Kudrle.

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IN THE NEWS SMPTE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

“That was too much, and we believe it is just better to focus on two tracks.”

While limiting the number of conference tracks to two leaves fewer time slots for papers, it also is affecting the exhibition portion of the gathering. Space at the Westin Bonaventure devoted last year to a conference track is this year being allocated to exhibits, thus more tightly integrating the exhibition into the overall event.

The event’s 85 exhibitors (as of this writing) will be moved from the lowest level of the hotel (where they were last year) to immediately adjacent to where papers will be presented. Some will even be in the lobby outside the conference rooms.

NETWORKING AND SOCIALIZING The SMPTE conference has always offered a great opportunity for attendees to socialize and advance personal and professional relationships. This year, SMPTE is taking networking opportunities to a new level with a variety of special events, such as the “Opening Night BBQ and SMPTE Jam,” pop-up happy hours, and extended two-hour rooftop buffet lunches.

The event’s 85 exhibitors (as of this writing) will be immediately adjacent to where papers will be presented. Some exhibits will also be in the lobby outside the conference rooms.

Besides opportunities to network during those lunches, SMPTE is also offering a new track that Welch likens to “TED Talks.” Dubbed “SMPTE Storytellers,” two speakers will each take about 10 to 15 minutes to relay a story, personal or technical, that Welch hopes will prove to be “engaging, motivating and inspiring.”

As in years past, the conference also will host the HPA & SMPTE Women in Technology Luncheon and the annual Awards Gala, which will see a record number of women receiving awards from the society, as well as the rooftop after party.

THE NEXT FRONTIER Thursday is “Space Day” at the SMPTE gathering, and in honor of the 50th anniversary of man setting foot on the moon, SMPTE will host Todd Douglas Miller, producer and director of “Apollo 11,” according to Kudrle.

While the anniversary planted the seed for Space Day, says Welch, it was the response Miller received to his keynote during the Future Cinema Conference at the 2019 NAB Show that cemented the decision to devote a day to space.

Beyond Miller’s discussion of the doc-

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umentary, the day will offer attendees a diverse set of sessions devoted to space and media.

“It’s all about imaging from space,” says Welch. One session will examine restoring historical space mission film.

Another will explore what is required to capture images from the moon, Mars and even deep space missions.

“Then we are going to bring it back home to Earth,” he says. “We’ve invited some folks to tell us what it takes to create believable sights and sounds for space travel right here on earth, but in a simulated environment.”

While the re-imagining of SMPTE’s marquee event reflects the desire of those in leadership positons to make the gathering exciting and memorable, it also demonstrates a growing familiarity with the Westin Bonaventure as a venue.

“I think this year, we are coming at it [the event] with a lot more knowledge and experience of how to work within this space and how to make it as interesting, entertaining and compelling as possible in the space we have,” says Kudrle.

To register for the event, visit www. smpte.org.

28 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

INSIGHT STORAGE TECHNOLOGY ➤ FOR MORE INSIGHT AND INNOVATION VISIT TVTECHNOLOGY.COM

At the Center of Scalability S calability is generally attached to the concept whereby a system can expand from one particular “size” to another.

Often the perception is that the top dimension 4 KARL is undefined—bring PAULSEN ing to mind: “Just how large can this system expand to?” If you think about organizations (e.g., eBay, Amazon), there probably is no perception of the end point. Yet when applied to media asset management (MAM), the limits may be perceived by the number of records the system can handle, a capacity bounded by storage (not including the cloud), or by the effectiveness of the database to manage, search and retrieve the assets when needed and in a reasonable time period.

All this is quite ambiguous, to say the least. So, let’s put another descriptive term in front of scalability: “seamless.” Sometimes this becomes part of a marketing effect and sometimes the term is built in reality. In the case of the cloud the actuality probably can’t be identified regardless of the application—because “everything” is seamless in the cloud.

“Seamless scaling,” widely used to infer a system’s ability to expand to some level, is not necessarily a new term. Applicable models for the architecture are typically applied to networks, IP video streaming, CDNs, data storage and to MAM solutions. And most of these need to scale “seamlessly.”

When used in the “architecture” scenario, resources—and their usage—are, hopefully, scaled linearly against the load placed on the system by its users. For example, in compute operations, the load

size. Scalability then becomes the “shape of the price-performance ratio curve,” as opposed to its value at any one point in the curve.

A price-to-performance ratio typically refers to a system’s (or product’s) ability to deliver performance for the price, capability or desire to pay. This falls into the proverbial “open checkbook” model, where cost becomes no object. However, there is a point where throwing in a boatload of cash ceases to deliver the performance desired in the time required. These factors impact the shape of that price-performance curve. See Fig. 1, where “time” can also be “performance.”

cur and before the checkbook is opened or the bank account runs dry. It’s easy to let an unconstrained operational model go “cloud-wild” without implementing a set of checkpoints that help decide whether or not the practicality of going down this path is returning the value needed to reach the intended goal.

While the system (MAM, storage or network) may be able to scale seamlessly and linearly to a point without notice or consequence, users need to clearly put binders around the system that meets the goals in the time needed and without bankrupting the farm. Think again; perhaps the workflow storage solution is better kept at home.

“Super scaling” has been attached to hyper-converged compute platforms for at least a decade. Super scaling evolved from converged architectures as databases and analytics—regardless of their user applications—continued to demand realtime analysis for the delivery of its information and best performance.

Practical growth in these spaces previously relied heavily on massively parallel processors set into a clustered structure.

The inhibiting force to this approach, in other than cloud, was the ability to access

LINEARITY AND LATENCY “Linear scaling” is sometimes Fig.1: Price to performance, also similar to time, depicted as a “straight line” model, showing acceptable regions compared to unacceptable. its slope being determined by mulEssentially, there are limitations where costs don’t equal the value of improvements in performance. tiple factors—speed, throughput, latency, etc. In reality, systems uticould be measured in the amount of user lizing technology simply won’t sustain a traffic; it could be set against input/output linear scaling model ad infinitum. operations (IOPS); or may be related to Linear models will usually run at a given slope up to the point they fall data volume and more. over, dramatically change slope, become unstable or turn into a PRICE/PERFORMANCE CURVE Resources must be balanced with per- curve (Fig. 2).

Whether in a cloud or an onformance. Here scalability is about resource usage associated with a single unit prem datacenter, one variable imof work. Scalability, in this model, is about pacting scalability is latency. Lowhow resource usage and costs change latency performance for workloads when units of work grow in quantity or must be balanced with consistency.

When latency dramatically changes, the net-net performance value is lowered (Fig. 3). Latency change is countered based upon design, system size, architecture, and the demand placed upon other servic- Fig. 2: Linear (peaked), flattened (capacity limited), and instability (unpredictable) states depicted as “scalability” es sharing the same resources.

—shown as system size—versus capacity, also related to One metric in cloud comput- overall performance. ing is its ability to deliver scalable access to a large pool of computational, the storage at an I/O rate that matches the storage and network resources, common- power of the combined processors, withly known as infrastructure-as-a-service out latency or choking.

In terms of basic storage statistics and (IaaS). With functional workflows for storage, asset management, and databas- specifications, the rotational speed of the es moving more into the cloud, services HDD, areal density of the bits, and the leveraging machine learning and artificial ability for data to be placed (written) or intelligence make better owner/operator removed (read) from the storage matesense when they’re not built on premises. rial itself is not the whole story. Findings Before the factors of price-to-perfor- show other factors constraining scalability Fig. 3: System benchmark latency impacts against throughout per the number of nodes clusters and core totals. For example, a 16-node cluster with 16-core servers (256 cores in total) achieves about mance are put into the model, a reality and performance for the storage system.

72,000 transactions per second (tps) with 20 msec of latency.

Solid-state drives (SSD) built on flash check about value proposition should oc-

29

www.tvtechnology.com TV TECHNOLOGY September 2019

INSIGHT STORAGE TECHNOLOGY technologies, have changed the storagedimension from what it was when only HDDs were available. Today, modern applications continue to push the envelope of storage I/O, capacities and processing. Seamless scaling now occurs in multiple dimensions aimed at supporting demand, change, data growth and adaptive user/workflows, all the time driving the question “cloud or datacenter/on-prem.” For the enterprise, direct attached SSDs (DAS) relay data to and from its servers, which strive to support an ever-expanding requirement set of transaction processing, data analytics and more.

DEMISE OF LEGACY DAS DAS is successful because of the way it connects flash SSDs via PCIe, and continues to be a mainstream choice spanning over a dozen years. Unfortunately, the DAS+SSD scalability limit is nearly on the doorstep, to be relieved only by the comparatively recent technologies of non-volatile memory express (NVMe). Nonetheless, new methodologies still hold the constraints DAS had from infancy. Technically, if you only added a “shared-storage” model, then the value-proposition for NVMe became significantly diminished. Advancements in bus and I/O speeds changes that perspective, incorporating the principles of clustering and parallel processing for the storage environment.

Highly parallel, scale-out clustered applications require low-latency, high-performance shared storage capabilities. The latest change developed to address this weakness is that of the now standardized NVMe over Fabric (NVMe-oF). Fabrics, such in Fibre Channel or SANs, are software-defined resource topologies shared through interconnecting switches.

While all-flash arrays (AFA) changed storage models forever, its use of PCIe SSDs showed performance limitations when directly employed in application servers. Resources in this model became under-utilized to say the least—according to some, the net storage utilization averages between 30% and 40% and lower, in some cases.

Another issue in performance scaling is consistency. Some services, when run on a clustered server environment, can bring applications to a crawl. As services perform snapshots, cloning or other actions commanding CPU cycles, their functions take resources away from storage management activities—slowing data I/O and transfers.

Coupled with excessive data movement, complex operations and poor performance from large-footprint silicon

devices—the negative impact on storage management cycles means that storage I/O becomes uncontrollable or variable to the point where errors develop, read/ write cycles fluctuate or data becomes unavailable or worse, corrupted.

Recent improvements in scalable architectures, including storage, are supplementing advancements in physical stor-

age footprints improving the capabilities to deliver data at the rates needed for workflows such as ultra-high definition (UHD), HDR/SDR and even the potential for uncompressed, high bitrate IP-flows (ST 2110) on servers and virtual machines.

In future storage articles, the depths of NVMe-oF will be expanded. In the meantime, if you’re looking at a storage refresh,

investigate the (relatively discreet) manufacturers who are leveraging these new bus and data management technologies.

Karl Paulsen is CTO at Diversified and a SMPTE Fellow. He is a frequent contributor to TV Technology, focusing on storage and workflows for the industry. Contact Karl at kpaulsen@diversifiedus.com.

30 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

INSIGHT RF TECHNOLOGY REPACK CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The Phase 4 deadline was not the trainwreck many feared, but not all stations were able to operate with their final facilities. In at least two markets, New York and Boston, many stations were not able to transition to their final antenna or power because work could not start on the final facilities until the old channels were shutdown. In both cases, however, this had little impact on coverage.

ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER UHF stations at One World Trade Center were all operating on the upper antenna (RFS PEP40 panel array) on their old channels at reduced power while the RFS combiners (two are necessary to achieve variable polarization) associated with the lower antenna (RFS PEP96L) were tuned to the new channels. You can see a snapshot of the job configuring and tuning the One World Trade Center combiners for the new channels in Fig. 1.

On Aug. 1, One World Trade Center UHF stations switched to the lower antenna andLYNX combiner system. For some GM HALF PAGE HORIZ-2-OL.pdf 1 5/30/2019 stations, this was the antenna authorized

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in their construction permit, but even though they were able to test individually at full power they had to reduce power before all the UHF stations (WCBS-TV, WLIW, WNBC/ WNJU, WNYW, WWOR-TV, WPXNTV) could operate on the antenna with a good safety margin. The impact on coverage from use of the One World Trade Center lower antenna and power reduction is minimal, thanks to the overall height of the antenna.

The channel changes occurred on time without incident thanks to the cooperation between all sta- Fig. 1: One World Trade Center combiner work tions involved, including those outof-market stations receiving interference struction.

An easy way to check whether a staduring testing. Kudos to the tireless work

by Joe Giardina and his team at DSI, tion is operating at its final power level along with the engineers from RFS, con- on its licensed facilities is to use the LMS figuring the combiners and Durst Broad- search feature under “Technical Data” for casting’s John Lyons management of the the station (https://enterpriseefiling.fcc. project with what seemed like 24/7 avail- gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicSearchLanding.html or www.rabbitears.info). ability.

On www.rabbitears.info, a nonprofit In Boston, UHF stations on a tower owned by American Tower switched to a website that tracks broadcast RF developshared auxiliary antenna system, which ments, “DTV-STA” indicates the station is closely matched predicted coverage from operating under FCC special temporary 9:28:23 AM the main antenna system now under con- authority, usually at reduced power or

height. “DTV-LIC” indicates the station is licensed while “DTV-PL” indicates the license is pending. “DTV-CP” indicates the station still has a construction permit for the final facility. For Phase 4 stations, the CP expiration date was Aug. 2, 2019. Stations that were unable to complete construction of their final facilities were allowed a six-month extension of the construction permit to Jan. 29, 2020.

In my last column I described the importance of testing facilities before transitioning. At some of the stations I was working at, this turned out to be a valuable step as problems were discovered (and fixed) prior to the transition that would have caused major problems if they occurred after the switch to the new channels.

In situations where the channel was already in use in the market, the only way extended testing was possible was for the testing station to carry the ASI stream from the current channel occupant during the testing, avoiding any impact to that station’s viewers. Unfortu-

31

www.tvtechnology.com TV TECHNOLOGY September 2019

INSIGHT RF TECHNOLOGY nately, post-transition I saw some problems arise that were not caught during testing. Fortunately, the ones I’m aware of did not take the stations off the air for extended periods of time, but did result in some power reductions and temporary loss of coverage. Extended testing, for as much time as possible, prior to the transition date, should be a priority.

RESCAN REMEDIES With channel changes comes the need to rescan. What happens, however, if during the first rescan the viewer is unable to receive the channel, perhaps due to the new channel operating at reduced power or height? Here are some tips that may help these viewers.

For technically savvy viewers, some TV sets have a signal quality indicator. If other stations are transmitting from the problem station’s location, optimizing the antenna using this signal meter may allow a rescan to pick up weaker stations.

Viewers that are less technically savvy are likely to be confused by this solution.

A simpler option, which can avoid the need for a complete rescan, is to tune the TV set to the RF channel and program number (“Physical Channel” in the Rabbitears listing) of the station. For example, in the case of WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., the RF channel is 34 and the

Fig. 2: Rabbitears Seach Map

program number for NBC is 3. Punching in 34.3 on a TV set’s remote should take the TV direct to NBC, and, once locked, the displayed channel will change to 4.1.

Channel up to see the other subchannels. If there is no reception, the TV set should stay on 34.3, and the viewer can move the antenna to try to find a location or orientation where the signal can be received. Note this only works in markets where the RF channel and program number combination are not in use as a virtual channel by another station that’s been previously scanned. This should work on most TV sets, but I’d appreciate hearing from readers on the results of using this direct tuning method, noting the

IS YOUR VIDEO MICROWAVE

WPVI’s Channel 6 signal in Philadelphia make and model of TV if during testing there. There are other anpossible. tennas that have more gain and will do a For many broadcast better job at UHF and VHF, but none I’ve engineers, www.rabbitefound that are as small as this one—easy ars.info is the first stop to hang on a wall; easy to throw in a car for information on TV trunk with the mast connected; easy to stations. The site prosupport on an extendable pole. vides excellent coverage One thing I’ve noticed, as have some maps showing contours on www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtvand field strength as pretechnical, is that the antenna performs dicted using the Longmuch better than the specifications and ley-Rice terrain sensitive patterns from Winegard would indicate. model. The site has a I hope Winegard continues to manufacnew feature in beta—the Fig. 3: Rabbitears Search results (partial) ture it.

Rabbitears Search Map— available at www.rabbitears.info/search- available at some Home Depot stores.

As always, I welcome your comments This is the antenna I’ve been using map.php. You can enter an address in the box on the lower left of the map, for field strength measurements as it is and questions at dlung@transmitter.com. then use the “Move Pushpin to Center of small, works well on high-VHF, and even Responses may be delayed if I’m busy, Map View” to put a marker on the exact does a passable job on low VHF. I was bug me again if you don’t get an answer location, as shown in Fig. 2. An example surprised how well it worked picking up in a week or two. of the output is shown in Fig. 3.

In markets with stations using mechanical beam tilt on antennas on high mountains, such as Los Angeles, the results from the Rabbitears Search Map will be much more accurate than those from other coverage prediction sites like www.tvfool.com and even the FCC’s DON’T REPAIR. REPLACE WITH MOSELEY DON’T REPAIR. REPLACE www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvDON’T REPAIR. REPLACE WITH WITH MOSELEY MOSELEY DON’T REPAIR. DON’T REPAIR. REPLACE REPLACE WITH WITH MOSELEY MOSELEY maps. The reason is that many of the antenna patterns stored in the FCC’s DON’T REPAIR. REPLACE WITH MOSELEY database for antennas with mechanical beam tilt are based on the horizontal plane radiation pattern—the power going straight out from the antenna and never hitting the ground. This is why FUTURE PROOF: REPACK & ATSC 3.0 READY the antenna patterns for Mt. Wilson stations appear to be aimed at Lancaster FUTURE Replace yourPROOF: aging microwave link3.0with powerful PROOF: REPACK & ATSC 3.0 READY FUTURE REPACK & ATSC READY FUTURE PROOF: REPACK & ATSC 3.0 READY FUTURE PROOF: REPACK & ATSC 3.0 READY rather than Los Angeles.

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DTV Replace •your aging link with powerful tern rather than the highly Data Rates to video 155 Mbps •Link-A 1.5 – 13 GHz frequen technology for less thanmicrowave theup cost of repair.

DTV Link-A STL/TSL is an economical digital video microwave link STL/TSL is an economical digital microwave link STL/TSL is an economical digital video link Replace your aging microwave linkmicrowave withLink-A powerful distorted horizontal plane Ethernet to and from your HDTV transmitter site.

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DTV STL/TSL is an economical digital video microwave linkDTV that delivers DVB - ASI streams together with Gigabit that delivers DVB --1+1, ASI streams together with Gigabit antenna pattern, resulting that delivers DVB ASI streams together with Gigabit • 1+0, 2+0, 2+2 redundancy and technology for less than the cost of repair.

DTV that delivers DVB ASI streams together with Gigabit STL/TSL is an economical digital together linkLink-A isdelivers perfect for upgrades, transporting bothcomplex config that DVB - future ASI streams with Gigabit Ethernet to Link-A andEthernet from your HDTV transmitter site.video DTV microwave in a much more accurate to and from your HDTV transmitter site.

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DTV that delivers DVB - ASI streams together with Gigabit Ethernet to and from your HDTV site.

DTV STL/TSL isand an economical digital video microwave link & SNMP representation of signal on the ground. Link-A is perfect Ethernet to and from your HDTV transmitter site.

DTV ATSC ATSC 1.0 •simultaneously.

Built intransmitter Web Server Interface for 3.0 future upgrades, transporting both Link-A is perfect for future upgrades, transporting both Link-A is perfect for future upgrades, transporting both Ethernet to andfor from yourupgrades, HDTV transmitter site. DTV Link-A is perfect future transporting both The Rabbitears Search Map should be Link-A is perfect for future upgrades, transporting that delivers DVB - ASI streams together withboth Gigabit ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 simultaneously.

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•Ethernet DVB-ASI, 4xGigE 2xE1/T1 Optional DVB-ASI + SMPTE 310 HDTV8x transmitter site. DTV viewers with reception problems as ATSCto 3.0and andfrom ATSC your 1.0 simultaneously.

• DVB-ASI, 4xGigE •• DVB-ASI, 2xE1/T1 •4xGigE Optional 8x DVB-ASI + SMPTE 310 • 2xE1/T1 • Optional 8x DVB-ASI + SMPTE 310 they can enter the address into the map • DVB-ASI, 4xGigE •155 2xE1/T1 • Optional + 310 • Data Rates up tofor Mbps •upgrades, 1.5 – 8x 13DVB-ASI GHz frequency Link-A is perfect future transporting both • DVB-ASI, 4xGigE • 2xE1/T1 • Optional 8x DVB-ASI + SMPTE SMPTE Bands 310 • DVB-ASI, 4xGigE •13 2xE1/T1 • OptionalBands 8x DVB-ASI + SMPTE 310 and see what stations the viewer should • Data Rates up to 155 Mbps • 1.5 – GHz frequency • Data Rates up to 155 Mbps • 1.5 – 13 GHz frequency Bands •• DVB-ASI, 4xGigE 2xE1/T1 • Optional 8x GHz DVB-ASI + SMPTE 310 Data Rates up to• 155 155 Mbps • 1.5 – 13 frequency Bands ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 simultaneously.

• 1+0, 1+1, 2+0, 2+2 redundancy complex configurations • Data Rates up to Mbps • 1.5 –and 13 GHz frequency Bands be able to receive and at what signal • Data Rates up toto155 Mbps • 1.5 – 13 GHz frequency Bands • 1+0, 1+1, 2+0, 2+2 and complex configurations •redundancy Data Rates up 155 Mbps • 1.5and – 13 GHz frequency Bands • 1+0, 1+1, 2+0, 2+2 redundancy complex configurations • 1+0, 1+1, 2+0, 2+2 redundancy and complex strength.

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IS YOUR VIDEO MICROWAVE

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DON’T BE A DINOSAUR

ODDS AND ENDS Finally this month, I have heard from some sources that Winegard has discontinued or will be discontinuing my favorite indoor/outdoor antenna, the Winegard Freevision FV-30BB. I hope that is not true. The antenna still shows up on Winegard’s website for $39.99 and remains

• Built in2+2 Web Server Interface & SNMP 1+0, 1+1, 2+0, redundancy and complex complex configurations • Built in• Web Server Interface & SNMP • 1+0, 1+1, 2+0, 2+2 redundancy and configurations • Built in Web Server Interface & SNMP • Built in Interface SNMP • DVB-ASI, 4xGigE • 2xE1/T1 • Optional 8x& + SMPTE • Built in Web Web Server Server Interface &DVB-ASI SNMP • •Built Interface&&SNMP SNMP BuiltininWeb Web Server Server Interface

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32 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

INSIGHT LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY

An Approach to Lighting With Tubes F ilm lighting tubes are becoming more common in lighting packages as they become more versatile.

Whether they are from Quasar Science, Astera or NanLite, tube lights 4 JULIA can be very useful for SWAIN narrative, commercial and music video formats. They come in different lengths and have many wireless and color capabilities.

FLEXIBILITY AND CAPABILITY Tubes can be easily rigged almost anywhere and don’t require a stand like a large fresnel would. They can be placed up above on ceilings with clamps or even tape depending on the tube, helping to hide them out of frame. Grouping many together can create a large source, and if you are able to rig many for a top light, you can then rig a large rag of diffusion underneath to create a large soft overhead source without needing any stands. When it comes to giving talent flexibility in blocking, being able to light from above and not have to avoid stands and other grip equipment on the ground is very helpful.

Tubes can also be placed in the frame purposely. We have seen this so much in music videos, but even more natural uses are things like uplighting or accent lighting in rooms. They fit into many things naturally, from kitchen spaces—like under cabinetry for a little separation—to practically being featured in things like fish tanks. You can use them in tight spaces such as cars, though softening them to look less “source” can be tricky if you don’t have a lot of room.

One aspect that is now pretty cru-

cial for time and ease of implementing tube lighting is their DMX capability. On my last feature film, I found Astera Titan Tubes to be very useful with some practical lighting effects we had for the

PRODUCT SHOTS I recently shot a commercial for a new wine product where tubes came in handy for creating shapes on the bottles.

Being so slim and specific, lighting tubes

For a wine commercial the author set the Asteras to different colors so all the lines were not the same.

climax of the film. We were able to connect through Astera’s mobile app and then group and control different tubes.

As our lead actress raced down a corridor of complete darkness, my gaffer was able to cue different sets of lights to illuminate different parts of the space as she moved.

Settings such as timing between cues and color temperature can all be changed for the needs of each shot and all without having to hop on a ladder and physically dial anything in on the tube. Everything is done from an iPad. We did tests with different tubes and lighting units to see what worked best—which I highly recommend—especially if you are going to see them in the frame.

space. Placing many of the longer ones together can create a nice big source and throwing up a single long tube can serve as a great backlight on talent.

LED tubes like Asteras and Quasars are also efficient in terms of power, especially over fluorescent tubes, which a lot of filmmakers started with and still use.

Because they use less energy, they also run longer. They are also rechargeable and you can charge several at a time.

You can dim them to quite a few different stages and if you have tubes that are not RGB and only bicolor, you can easily wrap them with any gel to create a color effect. If you plan on seeing them in frame though, I would be prepared to wrap in ND gel, as even at the lowest dimmed stage, tube lights spot read quite hot on camera.

Manufacturers will continue to make advancements in tube lighting, and their uses will continue to expand. I would say that they are great to have in your lighting rental for almost any job because they

Tube lights can be very useful for narrative, commercial and music video formats. are great for product shots. Sometimes they can make it quite easier to create lines on shiny products like bottles and handheld devices.

On this particular wine commercial we even set the Asteras to different colors so all the lines were not the same. Pointing tubes at talent or in a space will have them spread light all over, but when pointing at a surface of something like a shiny product, they’re very specific. They are easy to hide just out of frame too. They come in different lengths as well, from 12 inches to 8 feet to serve many purposes in the

work great for big overhead rigs and light gags, but they also come in handy randomly when you’re in a pinch. You can group them together or use a single tube for many different scenarios, and their quality and color are getting better and better.

Julia Swain is a cinematographer based in California, whose narrative films include “Killing Animals,” “Jilted” and “Cassidy Red.” She continues to shoot on a variety of formats, seeking to create compelling visuals for every story and brand. She can be contacted through TV Technology.

NETWORKED AUDIO DANTE PATCHBAY PATCH 32A WWW.BITTREE.COM

34 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

EQUIPMENT GUIDE

AUDIO

➤ FOR MORE INSIGHT AND INNOVATION VISIT TVTECHNOLOGY.COM

Lawo Brings Audio Over IP To HyperX Esports Arena

BY ALEX MARKLEY Chief Engineer Allied Esports International LAS VEGAS—Allied Esports has multiple esports venues and content production facilities across the world, with HyperX Esports Arena in Las Ve-

USER REPORT gas being one of the primary locations.

Part of what we do is host people coming together to play friendly matches against one another. It’s exciting to oversee the many different 1 kinds of DAC_TVt_Sept2019.pdf 19/07/19 technology required.

At the Las Vegas arena we have three floors housing our audio equipment. We use three Lawo Compact I/O stageboxes on these floors, which are tied to the main core of our Lawo system. This setup lets us control everything from two separate services across our compound: one in the back in the production area and one in the front of the house.

their power and price point. The power inside the system enables us to shift through multiple floors in our venue using fiber that connects everything to one core and two mc²36 consoles.

We get a lot of functionality out of what we feel was a very good investment.

Lawo core as our primary audio router.

It’s really important for us to be able to navigate through it directly and effectively from the mc²36 console.

With a specific bank of knobs, I can control and select anything, and it comes up on the screen. For instance, when I select a given PC, I immediately see all my gains displayed in a pop-up window.

Basically, I just grab something, and all relevant information pops up right in front of me.

When we expand our facilities to global operation, we’ll need the ability to connect all locations together

GOOD BANG FOR THE BUCK Creating good sound in this fastmoving environment is only possible with very powerful tools that are easy to use. We chose Lawo mc²36 consoles 09:51 and Compact I/O stageboxes because of

Alex Markley says that the mc²36 units allow for HyperX’s audio operators to manage all three floors of the arena.

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The mixing desk is an important element for creating efficiencies: We have up to 12 players competing simultaneously in a broadcast scenario. The mix engineer must be able to work through multiple pages and have backup scenarios for every single pod on stage in the event of failure in the middle of a competition.

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MIX AND MATCHING SIGNALS One of the biggest challenges is mixing player intercoms. Through different mix zones, players can hear both the intercom and game playing. Players can control those items independently— hence the challenge.

I spend a lot of time using the mc²36’s auxes and sums to control and shift audio streams around our arenas. The summing function is a quick way for us to achieve multiple zones of action because we can route different feeds by simply touching different features.

Being able to move signals via digital patch field is a major benefit. Almost anyone can intuitively navigate through the system’s signal functions. We use the

and have one central point of control for multiple simultaneous competitions.

That’s where I can see the true power of wide-area-network IP and a native IP console. The ability is there, which is why it makes sense for us to keep investing in Lawo.

I can even log into the mc²36 console remotely and mix a sequence or route signals, which is pretty cool. It’s also exciting that when someone needs help, I can reach out and mix from home. I can’t wait for the ability to grab resources from one location and make them available elsewhere.

The Lawo mc²36 console is powerful at a good price, easy to use, and featurerich. And that’s what I need.

Alex Markley currently serves as chief engineer at Allied Esports International, and is responsible for the technical activities at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. He can be reached at info@ alliedsports.com.

For more info, visit www.lawo.com or call 888-810-4468.

35

www.tvtechnology.com TV TECHNOLOGY September 2019

EQUIPMENT GUIDE

Working Smarter, Not Harder With Calrec Brio, Summa

BY CHRIS BUCHANAN Vice President of Engineering Liberman Broadcasting Inc.

Chris Buchanan has spent more than 30 years in television broadcast engineering. He was hired as the assistant chief engineer for KRCATV television in 1991 and was later promoted to chief engineer. When Liberman Broadcasting purchased the station, Buchanan remained on as the chief engineer and was promoted to vice president of engineering in 2005. He can be contacted at LBIinfo@lbimedia.com.

For more info, visit www.calrec.com or contact 661-877-9775.

BURBANK, Calif.—As the largest privately held, minority-owned Spanishlanguage broadcaster in the United States, LBI Media Inc. produces more

USER REPORT than 50 hours of original television programming at our Burbank Television Studios each week. Our Estrella TV programming catalog consists of more than 7,500 hours of original, Spanish-language television programming available nationally in genres such as talk, drama, comedy, variety, reality, music and more.

As a professional broadcasting company, with facilities nationwide and production studios in California and Texas, one of our main goals is to easily produce creative and engrossing broadcast audio as cost-effectively as possible. Our news studios’ fast-paced environments must be adaptable, quick to set up, easy to operate and able to shift focus as rapidly as the news itself. To accomplish this, we rely on Calrec Audio’s Brio 36 and Summa digital audio consoles, which enable us to work smarter (not harder) without compromising audio quality.

NEWS STUDIO UPGRADES AND BUILD-OUTS We chose Calrec based on the company’s reputation within the industry and also to serve as a complement to the rental trucks we use, the majority of which come standard with Calrec consoles.

We purchased the Brio 36 earlier this year for LBI’s newly launched news operation in our Dallas office, while the Summa was acquired last year as part of the much-needed upgrade at our Burbank facility. When we replaced the existing console in the video control room in our Burbank facility, the audio engineers there immediately noticed a difference in the quality of the audio. Calrec delivers a pristine sound, which we were unable to attain with our previous console.

During the initial installation, Calrec also delivered top-notch technical support and training, which brought our team up to speed quickly and without

which are built into the surface, making the console ideally suited for the broadcast environment.

Both Calrec consoles have proven to be powerful, with great networking capabilities and the ability to scale to a large number of inputs and outputs.

They are easy to drive, flexible and full of assistive features that allow us to concentrate on what’s coming up next.

The Brio 36 was acquired to assist with LBI’s Dallas facility’s news operation.

interruption. I haven’t needed to speak to anybody at Calrec since; and, in all honesty, that says a lot about a company in my mind.

FAST-PACED PRODUCTIONS REQUIRE QUALITY EQUIPMENT Smooth workflow is incredibly important to the successful operation of any broadcast operation, especially when going live. At LBI, we continually rely on both consoles for live programming for our local and national news shows, which include “Alarma TV,” “El Mameluco,” “iTestigo,” “Noticiero Cierra de Edicion,” “Noticiero Estrella TV” and “En Vivo.”

With the fast-paced nature of a live news broadcast, having Brio’s dedi-

cated broadcast capabilities—such as scalable and managed I/O, comprehensive monitoring, surround sound and high-bus quantities—greatly improves workflow. This, in turn, ensures that LBI and its affiliate stations are producing top-notch content for viewers around the country.

SMALL SIZE, BIG (AUDIO) PUNCH As with any studio, real estate is important in our production spaces. The compact form-factor of the Calrec Brio makes it an ideal general-purpose workhorse that can be used when needed; its connectivity with the company’s Hydra2-compatible equipment makes it even more versatile. Brio 36 even provides analog and digital I/O and GPIO,

Q4 2019

BUYERS GUIDE CALENDAR OCTOBER

Cloud Solutions NOVEMBER

Video Monitors/ Test Equipment & Signal Monitoring DECEMBER

Station Automation/ Digital Content Management

BUYERS BRIEF Cobalt Digital 9934-AUD-PRO-DSP Available as an openGear card or standalone appliance, the 9934-AUDPRO-DSP 3G/HD/SD-SDI advanced audio processor provides a DSP-based platform to support multiple audio DSP options. Standard features include downmixing, flex mixing and full AES and balanced analog audio embed/de-embed.

Bulk and per-channel audio delay controls address lip sync issues, while the optional +TTS provides high-quality text-to-speech synthesis by directly converting EAS text-to-digital audio speech. Audio proc options include Dolby Real-Time Loudness Leveling, Dolby encode/de-

code and Linear Acoustic UPMAX automatic upmixing.

For more info, visit www.cobaltdigital.com or call 217-344-1243.

36 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

EQUIPMENT GUIDE

PBS39 Taps Wheatstone for Audio Over IP

BY JONAS BOWEN Audio Technologist & ANDREA CUMMINS CTO, WLVT-DTV

endless audio possibilities.

The system quickly proved its worth.

A USB input is a highlight when first facing the faders. You can also plug and play your preloaded playlist or news

The functionality and utility of the Blade system cuts out the previous patches and hard routes needed to jump special audio needs room to room. Two 5.1 busses, two stereo busses, plus mul-

BETHLEHEM, Pa.—In 2011, PBS39— WLVT-DTV, serving the Greater Lehigh Valley in Eastern Penn. and Western N.J.—moved from their legacy

USER REPORT studios on the grounds of Lehigh University to a state-of-the-art facility at the base of the iconic Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces. Along with the move came a new Wheatstone D-10 5.1 console that served us well for many years.

Fast forward to 2019: WLVTDTV received a windfall of funding due to the FCC spectrum auction.

Upgrades began immediately by The Blade-3 system at WLVT connects with an adjacent building that the station uses for live events. replacing the D-10 and its network tiple auxiliary and sub mixes are all part clips in a standard Windows format durwith an updated Wheatstone Blade-3 of the setup. ing any event. system and a Dimension Three TouchIn 2011, contractors set up an Ethscreen 5.1 console. ernet pipe between our studios and a STUDIO-WIDE APPLICATIONS huge arts complex next door, but they Our plant features three main shootKEEPING UP WITH UPDATES had not been connected until this past ing locations, all of which can now be Audio over IP has improved greatly in May, when we brought an eight-channel used at the same time from the Dimenthe past decade and a multitude of demic Blade to the arts complex and fision Three console. In studio A, we track velopers have jumped into the mix. Hownally connected the buildings. We used a news interview being recorded on the ever, the decision to stick with Wheatthe fiber haul for the cameras and the fly. Jump to the rental event in studio stone was a no-brainer. The Dimension mic Blade for the audio. We were able B with a presenter and PowerPoint with Three Touchscreen, a WheatNet-IP audio to produce our athlete-of-the-year event embedded videos going seamlessly over networked console, has the durability live, no audio delay, no problems. the house speakers. In studio C, local and service of Wheatstone products we On the video side, the HD/SDI dedignitaries drop in for a satellite shoot like; and now with AES67 compatibility embedder Blade was a huge help, effecwith CNN/FOX/MSNBC. across the industry, the future is full of

tively integrating de-embedding of the audio channel directly into the Dimension Three. That alone eliminated extra wiring and the breakouts we needed with the old AES de-embedder.

The ability to spill a 5.1 channel is a lot better on this console as well. The satellite feeds from PBS send standard eight channel SDI audio. With the Dimension Three spill button, we can hear all eight or isolate a few of those channels easily. We call it “5.1 quality control in a button.”

With this new sound board, we have gone from the routing cages and crossover cables of 2011 to onerack unit audio over IP control. As a sound designer and media transmission engineer, I am sleeping sound in a dream come true.

Jonas Bowen is a former iHeart Radio DJ and engineer whose career spans five markets, including D.C. & Philadelphia. He now works in public broadcasting in Bethlehem, Pa. He can be reached at jonasb@wlvt.org.

Andrea Cummis is the CTO of WLVT. Previously, Cummis served as the managing partner of AC Video Solutions, senior vice ppresident of Engineering and Operations at Oxygen Media, and director of Network Operations for USA Networks. She can be reached at andreac@ wlvt.org.

For more info, visit www.wheatstone. com or contact 252-638-7000.

BUYERS BRIEFS Audinate Dante Domain Manager

Logitek JetStream Plus JetStream Plus is a 240-channel, high-density audio router, now with a Dante interface option.

The Dante module provides 64 I/Os and automatically updates its list of sources from the network for selecting Dante inputs without a PC application.

The JetStream Plus interfaces directly to

many TV routers, edit systems and program automation control systems, and includes 24 mix-minus busses along with 12 GPI inputs and 12 GPI outputs. Also available are eight insert points to connect with Dan Dugan Sound Design automixers. Up to three Logitek consoles may be operated from a single JetStream Plus.

For more info, visit www.logitekaudio.com or call 713-664-4470.

Designed as a management solution for Dante systems, the Dante Domain Manager allows users to create Dante Domains made up of specific AV device groupings, with a single domain able to encompass multiple network subnets.

A virtualized application with an intuitive and responsive web interface that runs on desktop and server platforms, it provides security measures that include user authentication and encrypted control, role adminis-

tration and integration with Active Director/LDAP. There are also suites of dashboards, audit trails, alerts, remote monitoring, automatic discovery and SNMP support.

For more info, visit www.audinate.com or call 503-224-2998.

38 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

EQUIPMENT GUIDE

Telos Infinity Rocks Lollapalooza Brazil

BY DANNY LITTWIN New York Digital NEW YORK—New York Digital is a provider of media production and distribution for the U.S. and Brazil. Recently, we worked closely with The Telos Alliance

USER REPORT

remotely and changed instantaneously.

While matrix technology does let you make changes remotely, you need a lot of space for the racks and peripherals.

In this case, we had only 1RU worth of equipment, including a half-rack Axia xSwitch and a half-rack Telos Alliance Mixed Signal xNode. This was the only equipment in the van; everything else

ZERO LEARNING CURVE I had to leave the concert for several days so it was important for me to be able to set up the system easily, then instruct the chief and communications engineers on how to operate it in my absence. I taught them how to launch the Infinity Dashboard software, how to manipulate the system and turn it on

and Visom Digital to spec the Telos Infinity IP Intercom system for this year’s Lollapalooza Brazil in São Paolo, April 5-7, helping the event attain seamless communications on a matrix-free IP backbone.

Globosat—a division of Rede Globo, the largest broadcaster in Latin America—needed to tie all the stages and production center of Lollapalooza Brazil together. We consulted with Globosat’s lead engineer, Fabio Costa de Almeida, to specify the Telos Infinity as the principal interface between various and disparate systems, pulling together communication sources from across the entire event into the Infinity Telos Infinity systems took up minimal space while enabling easy communication with all of the event’s stages. ecosystem. and off. was remoted to other places.

One of the most common questions We set up the Infinity system with MATRIX-FREE DESIGN was “How do I add an expansion panpartylines for Lollapalooza’s on-air diSTREAMLINES PRODUCTION el?” You simply take a cable, plug it into rectors and producers, for clear and I chose Infinity for its matrix-free dethe switch, plug it into the head, allow a instantaneous communication with the sign, giving the event’s producers more few seconds for the new piece of equipevent’s stages. The Infinity equipment flexibility to add expansion panels easment to be recognized and you’re ready was very resilient, even when the temily and on the fly while taking up less to go; no need to add a card or expanperature in the truck went up to 120 space in the truck. We needed a comsion slot. degrees. pact solution that could be controlled

LABELING SAVES THE DAY Small details like how Infinity panels are labeled proved to be lifesavers for the team. The color-coded switches allow you to color the panels by groups— we had a group for director, lighting, stage and production, all with different colors.

Text labeling was very easy to read—we had two crew members named Rodrigo, and we never got them confused. Labeling is extremely important because the people using the system may not have a lot of technical aptitude and they need to make snap decisions and push buttons very quickly. You can program the buttons all from the Dashboard GUI, too, so it’s easy.

Will I use the Infinity IP intercom system again? Absolutely—installation is minimal and because it’s all IP-based, it’s very “plug-and-play” with none of the problems associated with matrix systems. That’s a very big plus.

Danny Littwin is the Emmy and Grammy-award winning director of New York Digital, which provides production and technical management, space segment sales and facilitates television production in Brazil and U.S. Littwin can be contacted at admin@ newyorkdigital.com.br.

For more information on Telos, visit www.telosalliance.com or call 216-2417225.

BUYERS BRIEFS Shure TwinPlex

Comrex BRIC-Link II

TwinPlex is a line of subminiature (5 mm) omnidirectional lavalier and headset microphones that provide audio at both high and low frequency.

It consists of four lavaliers—TL45, TL46, TL47 and TL48—and a light and adjustable headset microphone that features a dual-diaphragm omnidirectional design for off-axis consistency and low self-noise.

The TwinPlex cable is available in 1.1-mm and 1.6-mm options and paintable colors; the headset microphones and lavaliers are also available in multiple colors. They also have superhydrophobic coating and interchangeable sweat-resistant frequency caps.

For more information, visit www.shure.com or call 847-600-2000.

Comrex’s BRIC-Link II is a point-to-point IP audio codec featuring two channels to provide stable connections over networks. A new firmware update, 4.3p9, introduces a new HTML5-based user interface, replacing its previous Flash-based interface. It also offers improvements to the platform’s CrossLock monitoring interface, which is capable of monitoring each data connection individually, as well as apply error correction, recovery or concealment techniques.

Additional features for the BRIC-Link II include HotSwap, which lets users select a network that will only be engaged if the primary network fails.

For more information, visit www.comrex.com or call 800-237-1776.

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www.tvtechnology.com TV TECHNOLOGY September 2019

BUYERS BRIEFS Solid State Logic S500m The latest console surface from the System T range, the S500m provides the main feature set of the System T S500 in a unit designed for OB and flyback applications. The S500m comes in a 32- and 48-fader version with turnkey flight case solutions, or larger customer surfaces of up to 96 faders.

It features a modular meter bridge functionality for the unit to be deployed with or without an extended meter bridge. There is support for Next Generation Audio, as well as a range of formats including ATSC 3.0, Dolby Atmos

Studio Technologies Model 348 Intercom Station

and MPEG-H. For more info, visit www.solidstatelogic.com or call 212-315-1111.

The Dante-based Model 348 Intercom Station offers eight talk-and-listen audio channels that can be configured for intercom, talent cueing and REMI/At-Home applications. The eight Dante audio inputs are controlled with eight rotary controls to adjust headphone and monitor speaker outputs. Each channel can be independently configured. There are also two GigE connections to support both switched and redundant Dante operation.

The unit’s operating parameters are configured with Studio Technologies’ STcontroller software application, which is compatible with the Windows operating system.

For more info, visit www.studio-tech.com or call 847-676-9177.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES SHOWCASE

PREVIEW

40 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

MARKETPLACE

PRO CONVERT ENCODERS

THUNDERLINK NS 3252

The new Pro Convert devices from Magewell offer plug-and-play capability to bring HDMI or SDI sources into and out of live, IP media networks using NewTek’s NDI protocol. Among the available products are a Pro Convert HDMI TX, Pro Convert SDI TX and an NDI Decoder.

The ATTO Thunderlink NS 3252 Thunderbolt 3 to 25Gb Ethernet adapter is designed to provide users scalable, flexible connectivity for high-bandwidth content creation applications. The unit’s connectivity expansion works with Apple’s Mac Pro, iMac Pro and Mac Mini.

It also comes with the ATTO 360 Tuning, Monitoring and Analytics software, an Ethernet network optimization tool designed for creative professionals to get the most out of ATTO Fast Frame and Thunderlink adapters.

The standalone Ultra Stream SDI platform combines the company’s Ultra Stream HDMI with 3G-SDI connectivity. This device is designed for livestreaming and recording video with one-click operation via on-device buttons, a browser-based interface or smartphone app.

Find out more at Magewell’s IBC stand, 8.A84, or at www. magewell. com.

Find out more at ATTO Technology’s IBC stand, 7.A26, or at www.atto.com.

SAM-Q AUDIO MONITORS A range of new modes for TSL’s SAM-Q audio monitors will be front and center at IBC 2019. The SAM-Q monitors allow users to control and visualize their audio content based on application, environment or personal preference.

New modes of operation include audio phase, loudness monitoring and peak latch modes. The monitors also now have the capability to add MADI monitoring to the SAM-QSDI through a license, enabling SDI, AES, analog and MADI sources to be monitored and mixed simultaneously.

ENTRANSLATE TRANSLATION SYSTEM ENCO’s enTranslate automated translation product combines the low-latency speech-to-text engine from ENCO’s enCaption open and closed captioning system with Veritone’s translation technology to enable translations of live or pre-recorded content for multilanguage captioning and subtitling.

Find out more at TSL Products’ IBC stand, 10.B41, or at www.tslproducts.com.

Currently able to support 46 languages, the system uses artificial intelligence and linguistics modelling to provide translations based on the context of surrounding words. It’s available as an on-premise unit or in the cloud, and can output translations in standard caption file formats, embedded as closed captions or keyed as open captions.

Find out more at ENCO’s IBC stand, 8.A59, or at www.enco.com.

9992-DEC DECODER Part of the openGear line of products from Cobalt Digital, the 9992-DEC is a new series of HEVC/AVC/MPEG-2 decoders. The units offer support for resolution up to 4K and include a complement of audio decoding capabilities.

Similar to Cobalt’s 9992-ENC encoders, this series of decoders features payas-you-go licensing, which allows users to pay for features as needed.

The 9992-DEC series includes two models: the 9992-2DEC dual-channel decoder and the 9992-DEC-4K-HEVC with single-channel 4K or dual-channel 2K and support for H.265.

Find out more at Cobalt’s IBC stand, 10.B44, or at www.cobaltdigital.com.

ASCENT SRT GATEWAY Ascent SRT Gateway, GatesAir’s latest application for the Intraplex Ascent transport platform, manages video and audio content for point-to-multipoint distribution.

Featuring support for video over IP transport, Ascent manages real-time, IP-based broadcast video protocol, as well as ATSC 3.0 and DVB-T/T2.

With DSS software, Ascent supports duplication of SRT streams with video and embedded audio over separate network paths, using a single stream-splicing buffer for hitless protection against errors and failures.

It also features video bandwidth speeds up to 200 Mbps at its base level.

Find out more at GatesAir’s IBC stand, 8.D60, or at www.gatesair.com.

41

www.tvtechnology.com TV TECHNOLOGY September 2019

EQUIPMENT EXCHANGE A u d i o • C a m e r a s • C a m e r a A c c e s s o r i e s • E d i t i n g / G r a p h i c s • E m p l o y m e n t • M e d i a • R e c e i v e r s • Tr a n s m i t t e r s • V i d e o P r o d u c t i o n TV Technology’s Equipment Exchange provides a FREE listing service for all broadcast and pro-video end users. Brokers, dealers, manufacturers and other organizations who sell used equipment on an occasional basis can participate in the Equipment Exchange on a PAID basis. All free listings run at the discretion of the publisher. Call 1-703-852-4610 for details. Submit your free listings on your letterhead and state the make, model number, a brief description, sale price and complete contact information and mail it to: TV Technology, 5285 Shawnee Rd, Suite 100, Alexandria VA 22312

AUDIO WANT TO SELL Gentner Digital Hybrid I, call; JK Audio Digital Hybrids, call; Lawson L47MP tube microphone, xlnt cond, $1149/BO; ADC patch bays, ¼” & Bantam, start at $39; Hotronic AU51 audio delays, call; Sound Ideas CD Efx library, call; Rane AVA22 delay, $195. Tom, 856-222-0636 or info@ bibbteck.com or www.bibbteck.com.

Yamaha PM5000 52-chnl audio mixer, $4900. 908-879-9590 or www.mccom.tv.

WANT TO BUY Wanted: real plate reverb. abgrun@gmail. com.

CAMERA ACCESSORIES WANT TO SELL Vinten Fulmar & Hawk pedestals, repair, service, buy, sell and rent. Call Laurie or Jennifer for assistance. 800-9955427, Camera Support, Inc. Tripods by Miller, O’Connor, Manfrotto, please call; Varizoom Pro L LANC cntrlr, $169; Fuji focus controls, and focus blocks, call; Portabrace cases C-BVV5, $29; CO-PC cam case, $99, MO8044 monitor case, $29, RS-33 rain shield, $69. Tom, 856-222-0636

or info@bibbteck.com or www.bibbteck. com.

INTERCOMS WANT TO SELL Clearcom MS-808A, $389; Clearcom KB111, call; RTS 2-chnl stations, some parts, call. Tom, 856-222-0636 or info@ bibbteck.com or www.bibbteck.com.

MISCELLANEOUS WANT TO SELL Selling TV audio soundtracks from the 50’s through the 70’s. Variety shows, talk shows, etc. Call 925-284-5428 for details.

AJA IoLA, $89/ea; AJA C10, D5D, $75; Apogee Ensemble Interface, $699; Degaussers: Aerovox, Garner, please call; Blonder Tongue processors, modulators, combiners 30+ pcs, BO; Ross DAC-9213PVM SDI to RGB, $199. Tom, 856-222-0636 or info@bibbteck.com or www.bibbteck.com.

WANT TO BUY I’m looking for complete American Bandstand shows from 1969-1974. If possible, I would like for these shows to have been originally recorded off of video tape as opposed to film. I will pay for DVD copies. My phone number is 925-2845428. Thanks, Ron

TRANSMITTERS

2” plastic “spot” reels 6.5 or 8” diameter, as used for quad video. Wayne, Audio Village, 760-320-0728 or audiovlg@gte.net.

WANT TO SELL

Gentner TS612 gear, cntrl surfaces, frames, Sony BVM/PVM monitors, Philly So. Jersey area. Tom, 856-222-0636 or info@ bibbteck.com or www.bibbteck.com.

RF CONNECTORS WANT TO SELL RF CONNECTORS & GADGETS – Parts, Products & More! www.W5SWL.com

SWITCHERS WANT TO SELL Panasonic AV-HS6000 2ME, 32-input HD switcher; Panasonic AW-HS50 switcher demo; Panasonic AJ-PCD2500 P2 demo, call; Panasonic AG-HPD24 P2 rcdrs, call. 908-879-9590 or www.mccom.tv.

VIDEO PRODUCTION WANT TO SELL Sony HDW-2000 HDCAM call; Panasonic AJ-PD500 P2 rcdr, Panasonic AJ-PG50 P2 rcdr; Sony DVW-M2000, call; Sony MSW-M2000 VTRs, call; Sony DVR-28, call; Fast Forward Video 2-chnl Omega HD rcdr, BO; Panasonic AJ-HD3700B, call.

908-879-9590 or www.mccom.tv.

ADVERTISERSINDEX PAGE

ADVERTISER

WEBSITE PAGE

ADVERTISER WEBSITE

WEBSITE

24...............360 Systems ........................................... www.360systems.com

7.................Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd........... www.hitachikokusai.com

2.................AJA Video.......................................................... www.aja.com

27...............IBC Exhibition ............................................... www.show.ibc.org

39...............Avateq..........................................................www.avateq.com

30...............Kino Flo Inc....................................................www.kinoflo.com

5.................AWS......................................................www.aws.amazon.com

14...............Lynx ..........................................................www.lynx-usa.com

19...............Bitcentral .................................................. www.bitcentral.com

09,11...........LAWO............................................................. www.lawo.com

32...............Bitree............................................................www.bitree.com 43...............B&H............................................................. www.bandh.com 12...............Cobalt Digital ..........................................www.cobaltdigital.com 39...............Computer Modules - DVEO Division......................... www.dveo.com 1.................Comrex Corporation......................................... www.comrex.com 34...............DAC System ....................................................... dacsystem.ch 23...............Dalet Digital Media Sys........................................www.dalet.com

21...............Mediagenix.................................................www.mediagenix.tv 31...............Moseley Associates.....................................www.moseleysb.com 20...............Phabrix Limited.................................................. www.avbb.net 16,17,44.......Ross Video LTD........................................... www.rossvideo.com 22, 39...........Mobile Studios ......................................www.mobilestudios.com 39...............Tactical Fiber............................................www.tacticalfiber.com

3.................Enco Systems, Inc.............................................. www.enco.com

26...............Teradek........................................................www.teradek.com

29...............GatesAir...................................................... www.gatesair.com

10...............Telos Alliance......................................... www.telosalliance.com

18...............Gelia-Media Inc.................................................www.gelia.com

33...............TVU Networks.......................................... www.tvunetworks.com

13...............Grass Valley ............................................ www.grassvalley.com

37...............Video Show .......................................... www.thevideoshow.com

15...............Guntermann & Drunck GmbH.................................. www.gdsys.de

25...............Vizrt................................................................www.vizrt.com

While every care is taken to ensure that these listings are accurate and complete TV Technology does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors.

ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES U.S. & CANADA: VYTAS URBONAS 845-678-3956 Fax: 630-786-3385 vytas.urbonas@futurenet.com

PETE SEMBLER 650-243-7849 Fax: 650-238-0263 peter.sembler@futurenet.com

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA: RAFFAELLA CALABRESE +39-320-891-1938 Fax: +39-02-700-436-999 raffaella.calabrese@futurenet.com

JAPAN: EIJI YOSHIKAWA +81-3-3327-2688 Fax: +81-3-3327-3010 callems@world.odn.ne.jp

U.K.: RICHARD GIBSON +44 07583 091759 richard.gibson@futurenet.com

ASIA/PACIFIC: WENGONG WANG +86-755-8386-2930/40/50 Fax: +86-755-8386-2920 wwg@imaschina.com

PREVIEW

42 September 2019 TV TECHNOLOGY www.tvtechnology.com

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

MARKETPLACE

PRISMON.CLOUD

MD9200 ENCODERS/DECODERS

Rohde & Schwarz’s PRISMON.cloud monitoring-as-aservice platform has been enhanced with new features, including the ability to monitor SMPTE 2110 on-premise streams in the dashboard, incident notification via email and an REST (Representational State Transfer) API for integration of status data in network management systems.

Designed for use in linear broadcast/production and streaming media workflows, the MD9200 range of encoders and decoders provide strong bandwidth efficiency while maintaining signal integrity and visual quality, as well as being compatible with MultiDyne’s entire openGear product line.

MD9200’s encoder models enable secure streaming for one or multiple destinations and support a mix of streaming protocols. The decoder models optimize 1080p AVC and 1080i MPEG-2 compression, and have optional support for 2160p HEVC UHD streams.

R&S’ entire PRISMON line now has increased capacities for SDI/ASI-I/Os, enhanced configuration for PTP and support for extended color spaces with SMPTE ST-2110-based input signals.

Find out more at MultiDyne’s IBC stand, 11.D40, or at www.multidyne.com.

Find our more at Rohde & Schwarz’s IBC stand, 7.B21, or at www.rohde-schwarz.com.

VISION REPURPOSE Qligent’s Vision Repurpose is an integrated content repurposing feature for the company’s Vision QoS/QoE media quality assurance platform that streamlines the recording, trimming and transformation of off-air video into clips.

Vision Repurpose’s key components include burned-in timecodes to verify compliance; ability to manually or automatically record and schedule videos in multiple resolutions and formats; export clips directly to a nonlinear editing platform or a server or cloud-based storage system; and the ability to customize the dashboard for filing and searching of content.

INTELLIGENT COMPLIANCE PLATFORM Actus Digital’s Intelligent Compliance and Unified Media platform provides cross-organizational benefits for the operations, marketing and research departments of broadcast and media organizations. The platform is designed to provide monitoring and support for multiple deployment environments, including on-prem, virtualization, the cloud and hybrid combinations.

Find out more at Qligent’s IBC stand, 8.E47, or at www. qligent.com.

Specific enhancements made to the platform include additional AI options and extended automation related to compliance, clips creation and exporting to social media; there’s also new content monitoring and analysis capabilities.

Find out more at Actus Digital’s IBC stand, 3.C69, or at www.actusdigital.com.

PRO3 VIDEO UPLINK SDCX SAAS PLATFORM A batch of new capabilities designed to simplify secure content exchange between companies has been added to Signiant’s SoftwareDefinied Content Exchange software-as-a-service platform. These new capabilities will first be applied to the company’s Signiant Jet product.

With a focus on assisting broadcasters in capturing and delivering live 4K, HD and SD video over multiple IP networks, AviWest has announced a series of updates to its flagship PRO3 series video uplink system.

Jet’s SDCX SaaS is also used with Signiant’s Media Shuttle system, which provides a large footprint to connect thousands of on-premise and cloud storage endpoints. New features specifically for Jet include new content exchange capabilities with a mechanism for a secure cloud handshake to simplify intercompany transfers.

The PRO3 is now incorporated with a hot folder and high-speed data hotspot feature. The hot folder enables automatic real-time file transmission over unmanaged networks. Also, when using a transmitter’s internet connection, the PRO3 can act as a router and hotspot.

Find out more at Signiant’s IBC stand, 14.B23, or at www. signiant.com.

Find our more at AviWest’s IBC stand, 2.B31, or at www.aviwest.com.

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