TVBE November 2011 Digital Issue

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Inside: IBC2011 Wrap-Up, MAM Focus, AP High-Def Rollout

TVBEUROPE

Europe’s television technology business magazine

www.tvbeurope.com

NOVEMBER 2011

£5.00/€8.00/$10.00

First Alexa M for CPG Broadcast 3D TV

By David Fox

LNK’s new LDK 3000 cameras have been installed in the refurbished news studio. Here they are in use with presenter Lina Kairyte

Lithuania gears up for high def transmissions HD Build-Out As this Baltic state gears up for high definition television broadcast transmission, Philip Stevens talks to a broadcaster and the winner of a competitive tender for new cameras Set up in 1995, LNK TV — Laisvas ir Nepriklausomas Kanalas (‘Free and Independent Channel’) — is one of the major broadcasters in Lithuania. Operating from studios in the capital, Vilnius, the company runs four channels — LNK, TV1, LIUX!, and Info TV. Since 2006, the broadcaster has covered 95% of the country using DVB-T, with the LNK channel also available as an analogue transmission for 93% of the population. Cable is also used for all four channels.

“Our main channel, LNK, focuses on transmitting in-house and locally produced productions,” explains Ricardas Kazlauskas, technical director and a board member of the broadcaster.

“LNK has three studios — news, a small production facility and a main production studio.”

LNK Gallery: The gallery serving LNK’s refurbished news studio

Over the past several years, the company has carried out a number of major refurbishment projects. The first involved the installation of a new playout and production system for all the channels. “This was based on Grass Valley products such as Maestro, K2 Classic, Concerto, Jupiter, LDK400 cameras, Kayak 2.5 and 1.5 ME SD/HD vision mixers. We also installed Continued on page 11

Arri has delivered production prototypes of its modular Alexa M camera to the Cameron–Pace Group. The compact M was developed with CPG for use in a new smaller 3D rig that minimises cabling and offers an optimised, streamlined 3D system.

“The Arri team has been amazingly responsive to the needs of the 3D market by creating the Alexa M,” said CPG Co-Chairman, James Cameron at the recent IBC. CPG will be the exclusive distributor of the Alexa M in its Phase 1 rollout.

“The success of 3D will be based on designing technology that supports the creative process of the filmmaker; we are excited about the Alexa M towards that goal. The team at Arri has brought to the industry a great step forward toward quality 3D,” added co-chairman and CEO, Vince Pace.

The front-end of the Alexa M transmits uncompressed raw sensor data at around 18Gbps to a back-end image processor/ recorder using a hybrid fibre-optic cable that can also power the head. Weighing well under 3kg, the Alexa M head has multiple mounting points and will also be useful for Steadicam or remote use.

The camera body provides the same image processing and recording options as the standard Alexa: images, sound and metadata can be recorded onto SxS Pro cards or external recorders, including uncompressed Arriraw.

The fibre means the head can be up to 1km from the body, which “allows for some unique and extremely innovative 3D camera applications. We hope CPG will take full advantage of them in the months ahead,” said Franz Kraus, managing director of Arri Munich.

The feedback Arri receives from CPG will help develop the final production version expected early 2012. Arri will also integrate elements of CPG’s 3D rig automation technology into the Alexa M.

Global Award Winner

To learn more, please visit www.broadcast.harris.com/Selenio.

Head and body in concert: Arri’s Alexa M on a Cameron–Pace Group S3D rig

There is also a new flagship Alexa Studio camera, which has a quiet, adjustable mirror shutter and optical viewfinder. It also has a 4:3 sensor, making it the only digital camera (besides the Arriflex D-21) to boast true anamorphic capability. Many cinematographers prefer the anamorphic look, which cannot be created in post.

Arri also has a new High Speed mode allowing Alexa and Alexa Plus cameras to run from 60 to 120fps, using newly released Sony 64GB SxS Pro cards, which are about four times faster than current 32GB cards.

The 120fps feature is part of the new Alexa Software Update Packet 5.0, and has to be separately licensed. Licenses can be disContinued on page 12

IBC Wrap-Up This issue we’re very pleased to bring you an in-depth and we believe comprehensive wrap-up of key trends and themes from IBC2011. What were the lessons we can learn from the IBC experience, and what pointers for the future?

IBC analysis is provided by our writing team of Chris Forrester, David Fox, Carolyn Giardina, Dick Hobbs, George Jarrett, David Kirk and Adrian Pennington. Our 28-page IBC Wrap-Up section begins on page 14. — Fergal Ringrose

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TVBEU R O PE N E W S & A N A LY S I S

HBS grapples with 3D plan CONTENTS for World Cup 2014 coverage

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1-12 News & Analysis 1 Lithuania gears up for high definition

By Adrian Pennington Francis Tellier, the CEO of HBS, has urged patience from those calling for football matches like those at the World Cup to be simultaneously produced in 2D and 3D. “This is not Hollywood, this is a live sports production,” he stated. “There will be progress in 2014, but we have to be patient.”

Although FIFA won’t greenlight a 3D production of the 2014 World Cup until next year, it is unlikely to roll back the breakthrough it made in 2010. Cost, however, remains a considerable concern; and if it goes ahead, “3D in 2014 will be a grand experiment,” said Tellier.

While 25 matches were covered in 3D in 2010, the production was entirely separate to that of the main 2D host feed, although both were provided by HBS. Using that model to shoot all 64 matches in a country the size

Letter to the editor Dear Sir, It was good to see FOR-A receiving a Best of IBC 2011 Editors’ Award for our VFC-7000 camera in the October issue of TVBEurope. Unfortunately the paragraph title incorrectly gives the name of the product as the FC-7000 — sounds like a football club! More interestingly, my colleague David Ackroyd is re-christened ‘Dan’ in the photo accompanying the piece. He swears he’s never been called that before and can’t think how the error occurred.

Best wishes, Peter Jones FOR-A (UK) Ltd

Francis Tellier: “The next step, for 2018, will be a move to 1080p.

Super Hi-Vision is another step beyond that of course”

of Brazil would require either dedicated roving outside broadcast trucks or a dedicated 3D unit at each of the 12 stadia. The former is risky in the extreme and both are financially impractical unless FIFA media rights holders and their distributors are prepared to pay.

The Cameron–Pace Group (among others) are lobbying HBS to use its technology in 2014 and arguing that it can bring the cost down by mirroring the 2D cameras and having essentially one production.

Tellier has a track record of consistent innovation and is certainly not resistant to change, but feels 2014 is too soon to make that leap. “The productions of 2D and 3D will become ever more closely integrated over successive tournaments in 2014, 2018 and 2022,” he said.

“If we had two separate productions in 2010 then maybe we

are 1.8 productions in 2014 and 1.5 in 2018. The costs certainly have to come down, but maybe it will never be 100% integrated.”

He points to one of the key moments in his career: his decision in 2003 to produce a single high definition and standard definition production for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

“We are at a similar junction now. I had been pushing the idea of a single standard definition and high definition since 1998, but running up against a brick wall. People said that editorially the 4x3 and 16x9 aspect ratios were too different. Maybe they had a point — but from where we stand now it doesn’t matter. My argument was also that you cannot finance a double production forever. So certainly the productions will become closer and closer,” he said. www.hbs.tv

Weather timeline changes

By Melanie Dayasena-Lowe At IBC MeteoGroup’s dedicated broadcast division, MeteoGraphics, presented its newest developments in the field of realtime weather and news broadcasts. The company’s realtime software packages, WeatherPresenter and MeteoEarth, allow users to interact with the weather content, add geo-referenced weather symbols or other graphical elements, sweep the timeline back and forth or pan and zoom inside the maps.

Featuring an integrated playout system, WeatherPresenter blends content from its sister application MeteoEarth, a 3D nowcasting tool that demonstrates the progression of global

weather events and how they might affect the forecast for the coming days.

MeteoEarth displays satellite animations, precipitation fields, radar images and other meteorological elements which can be overlaid and animated to show how the weather is unfolding. The system can even be used for WeatherPresenter and MeteoEarth can illustrating non weather- offer an increased degree of flexibility and related news stories by independence to weather presenters uploading images, symbols or videos and positioning them offer an increased degree of flexiaround the MeteoEarth globe. bility and independence to weathWith the ability to incorporate er presenters, allowing them to live video as well as user- react quickly to last-minute generated videos and still imagery, changes or weather developments.

WeatherPresenter and MeteoEarth www.meteogroup.de

Philip Stevens talks to LNK TV about the channel’s refurbished news studio and the winner of a competitive tender for new cameras

14-41 IBC2011 Wrap-Up 20 The business of broadcasting An analysis of key IBC acquisition, display, studio and archiving highlights

by David Kirk

23 IBC and the digital ripple George Jarrett reports on news from the world of standards and workflows at IBC

26 IBC flesh for production workflows Adrian Pennington reflects on the latest developments in high-end acquisition, cinematography and 3D production

A M

34 Post tackles need for more content File-based workflows and cloud computing were hot topics at IBC2011. Carolyn Giardina examines trends and innovations in the post sector

40 Panasonic route to 4K and 1080p Panasonic unveiled new 3D cameras, a switcher, new LCD monitors and announced its entry into the European studio camera market at IBC. David Fox reports

42-47 Media Asset Management 43 Sharing access across RTVE Avid’s Simon Hayward outlines the MAM solution it provided for RTVE’s full-scale newsroom digitisation

47 JCA digitises for KidsCo JCA developed a five-stage digitisation programme to re-version and reformat KidsCo’s existing content, written by JCA MD Simon Kay

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48-50 The Workflow 48 AP global HD strategy Melanie Dayasena-Lowe takes a tour of the Associated Press’ new Master Control Room at its Camden office – part of the news agency’s global HD rollout strategy

50 A delivery you can rely on Melanie Dayasena-Lowe talks to Loft London Co-founder Davide Maglio and Signiant’s EMEA MD David Nortier about a smooth path for digital file exchange

www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBE_Nov P4 news_TVBE_Aug_P_news 09/11/2011 12:01 Page 4

Brought to you by

TVBEU R O PE N E W S & A N A LYS I S

Ronald Khoo, Front Porch Digital

Katsuaki Kiyohara, FOR-A Company

Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser, EBU

Steve Ellis, Telestream

People on the move

By Melanie Dayasena-Lowe Industry veteran Dave Sampson has joined AJA Video Systems as OEM sales manager. He comes from Autodesk’s Media and Entertainment Division.

Tamas Vass has joined AmberFin as the company's new EMEA sales and partner director. Vass was most recently European sales director for Image Systems (formerly Digital Vision). Ben Davenport has also recently joined AmberFin as software product manager. Before joining AmberFin, Davenport was Harmonic's solutions marketing manager.

ANNOVA Systems has welcomed Daniel Klein as a new project engineer to its team.

Previously, he worked as broadcast engineer/software developer at ZDF. John Sears has joined Argosy as senior field sales engineer, reporting to newly-appointed Director Chris Smeeton. Sears comes to Argosy with over 20 years of experience in broadcast, most recently with PAG. Roger Beck has been promoted to CTO at Bright Technologies from his position as worldwide manager of the company’s Technical Services Group (TSG). “Roger is a true

visionary, a strategic thinker and a strong collaborative leader,” stated Ed Rodriguez, Bright’s chief architect and president.

Camera Corps has appointed David Sisson to its senior technical support team. His freelance activity for Camera Corps has included technical support roles at World Cup and Winter Olympics as well as reality shows such as Big Brother, Fame Academy and I’m a Celebrity.

Clear-Com has promoted Simon Browne to director of Worldwide Product Management.

“With more than 22 years of experience in our company, Simon brings deep knowledge of our products and customers,” said Matt Danilowicz, president and managing director. dB Broadcast has announced an expansion to both its engineering and wiring teams. Mitch Honey arrives as a trainee wireman, Jack Mitchell will be assisting in the design and implementation of embedded software, while Edward Waife joins as a systems design engineer.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has appointed Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser as its first media director, starting in February 2012. She will lead the newly-formed media department, which consolidates the activities of the television and radio departments as well as news services.

Following the recent departure of Managing Director and CEO Pierre L’Hoest, from EVS, the Board of Directors has modified the composition of the Executive Committee, now composed of Michel Counson, Jacques Galloy and Luc Doneux. Under the leadership of Pierre Rion, president of the

Board, the Executive Committee will manage the technical, commercial, operational, corporate and financial functions of EVS, pending the announcement of a new management structure in early 2012.

FOR-A has named Katsuaki Kiyohara, former vice president, as its new president. He assumes his new role as chairman of the Board of Directors of FOR-A Company and continues as the CEO of FOR-A Group.

Front Porch Digital has announced appointments in three key positions: Damien Bommart as product and marketing manager for the DIVASolutions Manage category; Fabien Donato as solution architect for the EMEA region; and Ronald Khoo as solution architect for the Asia-Pacific region (APAC).

Halo Post Production has hired Roger Beck and David Turner to the roles of chief operating officer and director of film post production respectively. The appointments follow Halo’s recent expansion into film audio.

Harris Broadcast Communications has hired Marcel Tölkemeier, Mathias Kunert and Markus Kartulik. Tölkemeier joins as a solution architect for video headend systems while Kunert and Kartulik join its Nordic and central European customer support team.

Conrad Blackledge has joined HHB Communications’ technical department as technical sales support engineer reporting to Group Sales Director Steve Angel.

Dr Terry Harmer will head up the operation at Mediasmiths Forge, a new Belfast-based software research and development facility established by Mediasmiths, as general manager.

Following the appointment of Dr Harmer, a further six technical experts will join the team within the first year to facilitate growth and innovation.

Prime Focus has announced a management restructure within the London business. Broadcast Facilities Director Rowan Bray steps up to become managing director, Broadcast and Independent Film in the UK, allowing Simon Briggs to fully assume his role as group managing director in the UK. Another new recruit is Anne Marie Phelan, the former studio sales manager at The Hospital Club, who takes up a senior sales role.

Signiant’s board of directors has chosen Margaret Craig to serve as CEO. She recently served as COO of Network Services for Ascent Media Group.

Markus Kartulik, Harris Broadcast Communications

Rowan Bray, Prime Focus

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See the latest jobs at www.tvbeurope.com/jobs

Dave Payette has joined Snell as global sales director. Payette will be based in Reading and reports to Simon Derry, Snell CEO. Prior to joining Snell, Payette was managing director and head of sales at NEC UK. Telestream has created new sales management roles for Steve Ellis as vice president of Emerging Markets and Kevin McCartney as vice president of Sales for Telestream’s enterprise products.

“We’ve established our business worldwide, and now we’re poised for more aggressive growth,” said Dan Castles, CEO of Telestream.

Wohler Technologies has recruited John Terrey as the company’s vice president of inside sales and channel management. He most recently held senior sales and management roles with DK Technologies, Norterra Technologies and Eyeheight. www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBEU R O PE N E W S & A N A LYS I S

TVBEUROPE

Europe’s television technology business magazine

Three key events for 2012

EDITORIAL Editorial Director Fergal Ringrose tvbeurope@mediateam.ie Media House, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland +3531 294 7783 Fax: +3531 294 7799 Deputy Editor Melanie Dayasena-Lowe Melanie.Dayasena-Lowe@intentmedia.co.uk Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 226 7246 Editorial Consultant Adrian Pennington Associate & Web Editor David Fox USA Correspondent Carolyn Giardina Contributors Mike Clark, Richard Dean, Chris Forrester, Jonathan Higgins, Mark Hill, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Heather McLean, Bob Pank, Nick Radlo, Neal Romanek, Philip Stevens, Reinhard E Wagner Digital Delivery David Davies, Paul Watson Digital Content Manager Tim Frost Managing Director Stuart Dinsey

ART & PRODUCTION Head of Production Adam Butler Editorial Production Manager Dawn Boultwood Senior Production Executive Alistair Taylor

SALES Publisher Steve Connolly steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000 Fax:+44 207 354 6049 Sales Manager Ben Ewles ben.ewles@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000 Fax:+44 207 354 6049

US SALES Michael Mitchell Broadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY 11740 mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv +1 (631) 673 3199 Fax: +1 (631) 673 0072

JAPAN AND KOREA SALES Sho Harihara Sales & Project, Yukari Media Incorporated sho@yukarimedia.com +81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800

CIRCULATION Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 9EF, UK Free subscriptions: www.subscription.co.uk/cc/tvbe/mag1 Subscriptions Tel +44 1858 438786 Printing by Headley Brothers, The Invicta Press, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH

TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England Intent Media is a member of the Periodical Publishes Association

© Intent Media 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the copyright owner. TVB Europe is mailed to qualified persons residing on the European continent. Subscription rates £64/€96/$120.

Allow 8 weeks for new subscriptions and change of address delivery.

Send subscription inquiries to: Subscription Dept, Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 7BR, England.

ISSN 1461-4197

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Conference Preview 2012 TVBEurope has announced a new event, Fast Turnaround TV, for 13 March — and confirmed 2012 dates of 13 June for 3D Masters and 3 July for The IT Broadcast Workflow — in a three-event lineup for next year.

While both 3D Masters and The IT Broadcast Workflow are already well established in the European broadcast TV technology marketplace, Fast Turnaround TV is a brand new idea and we are very pleased to introduce this event in Spring 2012.

Fast Turnaround TV will be held at The Soho Hotel on Tuesday 13 March. What’s its raison d’etre? Quite simply, the new technologies and workflows behind big live/as-live broadcast TV productions.

Live event-driven TV programming has become the cornerstone of a broadcaster’s schedule. Despite the threat to traditional viewing from VoD and online catch-up, audiences have been sustained and even grown by major live and as-live ‘watercooler’ events, which deliver audience mass that no other media can yet match.

All of these events require rigorous planning, preparation and testing often to extremely exacting deadlines. They are all underpinned by innovation in technology and they all require the right craft expertise that will make — or break — the show.

Fast Turnaround TV uniquely exposes the constraints and complexities of these multi-faceted productions. It breaks down the new and upcoming technologies broadcasters and producers need in order to deliver innovative forms of presentation. It uncovers the specialist skills necessary to deliver a failsafe transmission and unearths the behind-the-scenes accounts of the most high profile recent live/as-live productions.

What are the keys to success? How do market leaders plan, implement, communicate and execute successful large-scale productions whether in sports, music events, topical comedy, international events or shiny-floor light entertainment? With huge pressure to raise the bar every time, what are the latest technology innovations out there that boost coverage and retain eyeballs?

Fast Turnaround TV looks at the technical deployments involved, whether for HD or 3D delivery — or both. How do you combine teams, so that main show production, news teams and digital media can share assets — across principal broadcast, incidentals, lead-ins and lead-outs and web content?

How do you set up and connect camera positions, contribution, links, storage, sound, ingest, I/O, graphics, editing, crewing and new delivery methods? Is there still a role for videotape?

What’s the optimum mix of hardware-based and software-based systems? What are the biggest delivery problems — path delays, compression limitations, profanity loops, and delivery via non-RF based technologies?

We believe Fast Turnaround TV will be a unique opportunity for peers and colleagues from around Europe to come together for one day to experience case studies that detail how events were

Introducing the programme: Editorial Director Fergal Ringrose welcomes delegates to The IT Broadcast Workflow event in July

produced, how technology and logistics were deployed, and what technical innovations were introduced to enhance the coverage.

Meanwhile, 3D Masters will return to BAFTA on 13 June 2012. We are very pleased to confirm that two of the premier societies supporting the broadcasting industry, BKSTS and SMPTE, will be key industry partners for the 2012 event. In return, TVBEurope will become a media partner for The Forum on Emerging Media Technologies, to be hosted by SMPTE and the EBU and held in Geneva next May. Ahead of the London 2012 Games next summer, 3D TV will come into sharp industry focus as the marketplace looks to establish which technologies, productions, partnerships and commercial strategies hold the key to breakthrough success. 3D Masters will be a central part of this dialogue in 2012.

The venue for the 3 July IT Broadcast Workflow conference will be the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington — moved to the west of London and closer to Heathrow Airport, the BBC and the UK vendor community by request, following its last outing at America Square in the City of London earlier this year.

Here’s what 2012 SMPTE David Sarnoff Award Winner Bruce Devlin, CTO of AmberFin, said about this year’s ITBW event: “The ITBW conference was excellent (again) and I thank you for the opportunity we had to present. The presentations were of high quality and much of the post-presentation discussion was excellent. Jeremy Bancroft did a great job (as always) of pulling the whole thing together.

One suggestion for next year might be to have a panel on topics suggested from the audience. There were enough vendors, users and industry heavyweights in the room to cope with most ITBW topics”.

We’re listening, Bruce, we’re listening! At TVBEurope we look forward to working with the community of broadcasters, production companies, equipment vendors and dealers, SIs, consultants, and key industry bodies across our three-conference programme for 2012.

2012 to be record year for OBs

By Adrian Pennington It is not just the London Olympics which could make 2012 a record-breaking year in UK outside broadcasting. A number of other events including the Diamond Jubilee are expected to make 2012 a business bonanza for the half dozen major OB firms.

The London Games in late July of course dominates the OB agenda next year with Arena and SIS Live among those contracted to the host broadcast operation of Olympic Broadcast Services.

The UEFA European Football Championship in Ukraine and Poland (from 8 June 2012) will absorb further capacity from at least two UK OB companies (Arena and Telegenic).

Then there is the Diamond Jubilee with celebrations spread over a number of days expected to make the total OB requirement (led by the BBC) three or four times bigger than for the Royal Wedding for which

the BBC, ITN and Sky fielded more than 150 outside broadcast cameras. The official Jubilee weekend is planned for the first weekend in June.

According to one source: “We are led to Barry Johnstone: “2012 is an believe some opportunity for everybody” competitors are charging rate card plus a premium for these events, (rather than rate card less a discount).” On top of all that, there is the usual bread and butter work which means OB crews will be working around the clock especially in the summer.

Barry Johnstone, MD of CTV and COO of Euro Media Group, said: “2012 is an opportunity for everybody. Although we are not working directly for OBS all of our facilities are committed in the busy summer period. On the opening weekend of the 2012 Olympics, for example, we will be up to our eyeballs covering three golf tournaments for European Tour Golf, then later in the year we will be producing the host feed of around 35-40 cameras for ETP of the Ryder Cup.” Ed Note: This article first appeared on our Sports Broadcast Europe enewsletter. To subscribe to SBE or any of our other enewsletters, just click on Newsletters at the top of our homepage, www.tvbeurope.com. www.arena-tv.com www.ctvob.co.uk www.euromediagroup.com www.sislive.tv www.telegenic.co.uk www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBEU R O PE N E W S & A N A LYS I S

3D TV making real progress Chris Forrester reports from the recent MIPCOM market in Cannes on the rude health of 3D TV — according to BSkyB, ESPN, BBC, Sky Italia, 3Net and more Market Analysis Broadcast pioneers across Europe are staying true to the 3D concept and are now creating 3D programming — despite a degree of highly vocal naysayers who suggest that perhaps 3D TV is just a flash in the broadcasting pan and not for mainstream viewing.

“Not so,” stressed BSkyB’s John Cassy. BSkyB will this year have transmitted around 150 live 3D OBs, mostly sport in the shape of soccer, rugby, tennis, championship golf and even speedway racing. “There’s absolutely an appetite for 3D out there,” said Cassy. One of Sky’s very first non-sport 3D commissions (Flying Monsters narrated

by Sir David Attenborough) was the first-ever 3D programme to win a BAFTA. Sky has transmitted live concerts, including a spectacular from Kylie Minogue, and is buying more.

Flying Monsters is being followed up with another Attenborough special, Bachelor King, tracking life in a penguin colony. Moreover, Cassy is keeping Sir David on its payroll with another breathtaking 3D series set at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, which will air next spring.

They are also backing a Meerkats series in 3D. Cassy says that while sport and movies take up the bulk of Sky’s 3D output, the natural history/ travelogue segments are also being focused upon. “They run a close third for us, and we have struck major deals with Discovery for their 3D output which is a primetime slot for us on Saturday and Sunday evenings. We will continue to invest in this genre ourselves, and brands like Discovery as well as National Geographic are natural partners for us.”

Asked what is needed to push 3D TV towards a wider audience,

Steadicam operator Dom Jackson on stage at the Royal Opera House filming Carmen in 3D, produced by Phil Streather and directed by Julian Napier

One of Sky’s very first non-sport 3D commissions (Flying Monsters with Sir David Attenborough) was the first-ever 3D programme to win a BAFTA

Cassy said it is all about chicken and eggs! “People need 3D sets, and the prices for good TV sets are now tumbling down. Those viewers then need to be persuaded to sit down and tune into good programming. And if there’s good programming, surprise surprise, they’ll watch it. It has always been this way in TV. ”

Eyeing drama The BBC is also ramping up its 3D output. It has announced that Strictly Come Dancing will have a 3D final from Blackpool, and has

also bought music concerts from the likes of Britney Spears and Alice Cooper. BBC Worldwide’s (BBCW) Director of content strategy Jo Sermon said that while natural history, some science and music form the main thrusts of 3D activity at BBC Worldwide, “we are looking for drama projects, and we are exploring our top franchises”.

Her comment might have referred to Doctor Who star Matt Smith’s very public wish, made in August that he’d love his toprated show to be made in 3D.

Doctor Who, in his assorted TV re-incarnations, celebrates its 50th birthday in 2013 and the show remains one of Worldwide’s ‘Top 5’ best ‘export’ properties.

Indeed, another top export is the BBC’s perennial Antiques Roadshow, and in September Graham Howe, one of the UK’s most experienced 3D cameramen, took test footage of the show with Sony’s brand new TD300 model. The exercise was a great success, and the regular ‘Roadshow’ crew quickly won over with the camera’s versatility.

Sermon said BBCW recognised that drama was something the BBC itself would have to tackle as part of its overall learning curve.

“The real curve for us is that there’s good 3D and bad 3D. Some of our Earthflight 3D has prompted the audience to reach out to touch what’s in front of them, it is that good. BBCW is working with James Cameron on the Walking with Dinosaurs 3D movie, and he speaks very eloquently on the good 3D vs bad 3D debate. It is good that standards are high, and that everyone is really passionate about making everything look superb.”

3D TV is also encouraging BBC Worldwide to think creatively as to how best to exploit the new technology. “3D is expensive, everyone knows that. But our strategy is to look at three or sixpart shows and make a one-hour 3D special from them. This seems to us to be an interesting way of getting the 3D element off the ground. We take the best bits — which particularly lend themselves to 3D. It seems to be a business model that works.”

Crazy world of rodeo 3Net is a 24-hour 3D TV channel in the US, which launched only in February 2011, and is commissioning or acquiring about 100 hours of original 3D material this year, and the same in 2012. 3net is also tapping into sport, but because most existing big-ticket events already have their TV rights sewn up they are looking further afield.

For example, Bullproof is focused on the crazy world of the rodeo ring (and is described as a ‘sportumentary’) and extreme man-vs-beast encounters, all shot in native 3D and which, said CEO Tom Cosgrove, “gives a sense of immersion in the action that’s simply not possible with any other video medium.”

Sony’s Professional Solutions division is helping create special 3DTV event-led experiences into cinemas and theatres. “But it is a steep learning curve,” admits Sony’s David McIntosh (SVP, Digital Cinema). Sony, with help from RealD, has helped put on live 3D telecasts of Carmen in 3D (in conjunction with the Royal Opera House), Kylie Minogue, and many others. “It is a new industry, almost a cottage industry at the moment,” McIntosh adds. “We take it very seriously at Sony because there are some really good opportunities for widening access to these events, and increasing the number of events available.”

Few expect 3D TV to match the wholesale success of HDTV channels. However, broadcasters and the TV set-makers insist that 3D will be far more than just niche services.

iQ scores with Alsumaria TV

By Melanie Dayasena-Lowe The Lebanese arm of Alsumaria TV has purchased a Quantel iQ 2K multi-resolution finishing system for its creative department. The iQ will be the lynchpin of Alsumaria TV’s intensive promotions production operation, and will also help drive the broadcaster’s channel identity design, commercials creation, post production and programme graphic design.

“We produce more than 35 different promos every week, 15 or more 3D jingles and 20 2D animations each month as well,” said Walid Melki, Antenna Management director of Alsumaria. “When you’re under that kind of pressure, you need a system which is really fast and efficient, and nothing beats Quantel in these areas. The iQ also fully integrates all the editing and graphics tools we need in a single system, which will further help speed work through the creative suite. And when Alsumaria TV moves into HD broadcasting, being a 2K capable system, the iQ will make the transition.

“As regards selecting the iQ, I knew what we wanted right from the beginning. I’ve worked on Quantel systems for many years,” Melki continued. “I started at TF1 in France on Paintbox, then Harry, Hal, Henry and Editbox. When I moved to Lebanon in 2004 I began working on Final Cut, After Effects etc, but I missed the speed and efficiency of Quantel systems.” www.quantel.com

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Continued from page 1

Aveco automation equipment,” says Kazlauskas.

This Aveco system is made up of mirrored ASTRA servers, which run under a realtime operating system (QNX). It controls the associated Grass Valley K2 videoservers, enabling a clean switch-over in the event of the failure of a server channel. In addition, it manages other Grass Valley devices, such as the Maestro master control switchers and Concerto router under Jupiter control system.

This automation controls the main programme playout as an AB roll configuration, with two K2 ports playing the output. However, backup is achieved using just one K2 port and playing the same content ‘back-to-back’. This enables 1+1 redundancy for each TV channel, while preserving K2 server output ports and the required equipment for backup transmission chain. The ASTRA Content Management System also carries out media asset management for LNK by managing videoserver storage and Diva archive.

One of the unique features designed for LNK is the ability to attach new audio tracks to existing clips. The audio files come from the dubbing studio, ASTRA picks the files, uploads to K2 and through the native protocol, attaches them to the relevant clip.

The workflow is also integrated with the archive, which allows ASTRA to retrieve a file from Diva, attach the audio and then re-archive the material.

Another development specially designed for LNK is the ability to handle sub second events. This allows LNK to air an event lasting just a few frames between two clips.

A second major reconstruction has involved the 200sqm news studio. Again, much of the equipment has been centred on Grass Valley technology — including a 2 M/E Kayak SD/HD mixer and Concerto router expansion modulars. “We selected K2 Classic for News playout controlled by Aurora Play, along with Front Porch Digital LTO Tape Library.”

Kazlauskas continues, “We use 18 Edius NLEs for news editing by journalists. They complete a rough cut using this system, although complex stories are finished in three Final Cut Pro edit suites. LNK has operated a completely tapeless workflow since 2008, with the only ‘tape’ to be found in the archives.”

Beating the competition The provision of new equipment for the refurbished news studio was put out to intensive tender. Despite stiff competition from other systems integrators — including those offering low-priced entry-level equipment — Grass Valley, through its

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local distributor Hannu Pro, won the contract to supply its LDK 3000 high definition cameras.

These were delivered in August.

“In the end there were only two manufacturers who appeared to meet our criteria,” reveals Kazlauskas. “The image quality, at first sight, was similar on both systems. But after deeper analysis using various test charts for objective parameters, several studio setups, and comparisons of different camera controls, interfaces and connections, we found the LDK 3000 was better. Its picture looked more natural, was very clear and chromakeyed images had a more detailed image.”

Looking after the project from the Grass Valley side was Pascal Demême, sales area manager, Baltics-Eastern Europe. Why did he think his bid was successful? “The customer is, of course, doing a proper job by checking the market and comparing available solutions from all approved manufacturers within the budget granted by the investment board. Apart from the fact the LDK 3000 is an ideal camera for the LNK operation, it certainly helped to have developed a good relationship with the customer over so many years.”

The LDK 3000 cameras were supplied with an integrated HD Wideband Triax transmission adapter. Also included were a base-station supporting HD and SD HQ outputs, 7-inch HD LCD viewfinders, and control panels for all five cameras.

“The OCP 400 with its multi coloured buttons and the LCD display allow for a very flexible and operator-friendly control of any function available on the camera system,” explains Demême. “The

Hannu Pro also supplied LNK’s ENG department with two Panasonic AG HPX371EJ and two AG-HPX171EJ P2 series tapeless cameras, equipped with Fujinon lenses — including an additional Fujinon ZA17x7.6BRM-M QuickZoom technology HD lens.

“With these acquisitions, LNK has been able to launch its new broadcasting season with one of the most sophisticated camera set-ups in the Baltic States,” confirms Kalvis Baumanis, general manager at Hannu Pro. LNK is using a Yamaha 02R96 audio mixer and an Inscriber G1 graphics system in the upgraded news studio. To date, there has been no upconverting of SD material, but when the need arises, LNK will probably be using its K2 playout servers.

Following fierce competition, LNK selected LDK 3000 cameras for its refurbished news studio

Moving forward

Complementing the LDK 3000s is a crane-mounted DMC 1000

camera control system C2IP uses standard Ethernet hardware with TCP/IP protocols. This allows integration into any existing Ethernet control system and allows the use of commercially available Ethernet hardware such as wireless LAN systems. All in all, this makes this camera control system extremely flexible in operation.”

Each camera is equipped with three 2/3-inch Xensium imagers.

This is the first fully digital camera imager developed for broadcast applications. It provides native HD

resolution with 2,400,000 pixels, and uses state-of-the-art CMOS imaging technology. Also included in the camera deal is Grass Valley’s SuperXpander. This allows a compact handheld LDK 3000 camera to be converted into a studio configuration for the use of large box lenses. The cameras will be mounted on Vinten Radamec tripods.

Working alongside the new cameras, and mounted on a studio crane, will be a Grass Valley DMC 1000 multi-format tapeless camera.

Like other parts of the broadcasting world, Kazlauskas states that Lithuania has been affected by the global financial situation. “Our last major refurbishment was in 2008, and we have had to wait until 2011 to upgrade our news and small production studio cameras to HD from the existing 13-year-old 4x3 Ikegami cameras. We are excited about using studio cameras with one Infinity camera and controlling all of them through IP using one MCP. This is a major development for us.”

Although the news studio is now HD ready, it will be 2012 before high definition transmissions will begin.

“During next year there will be tenders for Free To Air HD broadcasting licences and we will be ready for that growth,” concludes Kazlauskas. www.lnk.lt www.grassvalley.com www.hannu-pro.com www.aveco.com

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NEWS IN BRIEF

First Alexa M for CPG Continued from page 1

A-Stor for tape Arkivum has selected IBM to provide the tape technology required to grow its business. The archiving specialist will use IBM’s tape library and drive technology as an integral part of its ultra-dependable A-Stor solution.

According to global market intelligence firm IDC, the demand for storage worldwide is expected to grow by 49.8% a year until 2014.

A-Stor is a highly cost-effective service that uses LTO/LTFS data tape technology and open standards to deliver fast and efficient online access. “Tape is still by far the best medium for cost-effective, long-term storage and it’s exactly this that enables us to offer our 100% data integrity guarantee,” said Arkivum CEO, Jim Cook. www.arkivum.com

eStudio graphics eStudio 3D, the rendering engine from Brainstorm Multimedia, will provide the technology for the new Avid Motion Graphics platform, giving it nextgeneration 3D graphics creation capabilities. Launched at IBC2011, Avid Motion Graphics lets media enterprises create graphics and imagery while journalists and others integrate those graphics into their stories. Brainstorm eStudio 3D technology has been embedded into the Avid Motion Graphics platform, which supports both Avid and other high-demand third-party tools and plug-ins. It will enable existing Avid on-air graphics users to easily transfer existing assets from their legacy Avid Deko on-air graphics systems to the new platform. www.brainstorm.es

abled, giving rental facilities control over which cameras have High Speed mode (4:2:2 only). The 64GB cards also allow ProRes 4444 filming at up to 60fps.

Get the look Following its Software Update Packet 4.0, Alexas can now apply

with other developers planning similar applications. Creating looks based on Arriraw will be possible in a future software upgrade.

Alura lightweight zooms

Light to the Max

Arri and Fujinon have doubled their range of Alura zooms with two new lightweight models: the Alura LWZ 15.5-45 and Alura LWZ 30-80, T2.8 zooms. They are designed to match the Alexa camera, and are ideal for handheld and Steadicam work, while the two original Alura Zooms, with their much wider focal ranges, are better suited to tripod and dolly setups.

“The success of 3D will be based on designing technology that supports the creative process of the filmmaker; we are excited about the Alexa M towards that goal” — Vince Pace, CPG user-defined looks to customise the rendering of video images for different applications and individual preferences, enabling DoPs to preview images as they want them to appear in post and to embed the metadata that define the look in the media.

Look files are different from look-up tables, which change one colour space to another (eg from Log C to video), in being a purely creative tool used within the camera. They can be created by the colourist or the DoP, and allow monitors on set to give a better idea of the final look for each scene.

To create Alexa look files based on film lab thinking, with printer light settings, Arri has developed Look Creator, for Mac OS X, a new free application. Look Files can also be created using Pomfort’s Silverstack SET,

Lightweight zooms are becoming popular for 3D, as they allow easy adjustment of focal length without lens changes, rig readjustments and calibration.

“We sold twice as many as planned of the original ones, so the next obvious step is to build lightweight zooms,” said Marc Shipman-Müller, Arri product manager for cameras and lenses.

“They are optimised for digital cameras, with resolution

True Blue: The new Arri M40 open face, focusable light

Dance Studio: Arri’s new Alexa Studio

beyond 4K, and will also work with film cameras with a rotating shutter (as used on the new Alexa Studio too).” They have a 31.5mm image circle, so will cover all the digital cameras, including those with larger sensors, and will cost €16,800 each when they ship in February.

“We are the only company with a complete set of matching modern zoom and prime lenses,” he claimed.

The four Alura lenses are also compatible with the Arri Lens Data System. The optical design should ensure an evenly illuminated image on the sensor or film plane, while flares, ghosting and veiling glare are greatly reduced by Fujinon’s multilayer Electron Beam Coating.

Breathing has been minimised, as has colour fringing.

The new Arri M40/AS40 daylight fixture fills the gap between the 1800W M18 and the 18kW ArriMax. The M40 is a lensless system combining the advantages of a Fresnel and a PAR fixture. It is open face, very bright, and focusable from 19-60°, producing a crisp, clear shadow. By eliminating the need for spread lenses, it should speed up workflows on set and reduce the risk of lost production time because of glass breakage.

The same lamp head equipped with a PAR reflector becomes the AS40, replacing the current ArriSun 40/25. It is lighter than its predecessors, but has the same accessory diameter so that existing lenses, barn doors and scrims can be reused. The M40 and AS40 fixtures can be operated with 4kW and 2.5kW metal halide lamps.

Both implement Arri’s True Blue features, with disc brakes keeping the lamp head in place even if heavy accessories are used, while the electronics housing is spaced apart from the lamp housing to reduce temperatures and prolong component lifetimes. The units are ruggedised and IP23 certified to withstand rough handling and weather.

Other recently launched lights include the L-Series collection of focusable, LED-based lamp heads, with a true Fresnel light field for film and TV applications, and the ArriSun 18 Event light. www.arri.com www.cameronpace.com

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Crossing the line at IBC So what really happened at IBC2011? What were the key ‘take-away’ themes and trends, in hindsight?

Dick Hobbs leads off our Wrap-Up analysis, with the realisation that the desire to provide content to consumers wherever, whenever and however brings with it huge challenges for all European media organisations

IBC Keynote Joanna Shields of Facebook on social media: “We are shifting from the wisdom of crowds to the wisdom of friends”

One of the biggest projects currently underway is the new Sky Sports Arabia channel, with systems integration by TSL and servers from EVS. As well as supporting multi-platform delivery this also integrates incoming contributions from the internet as well as broadcast lines and feeds, for instance, to allow the use of Skype video calling on air.

Harris announced two projects at IBC. The recently completed Bid Shopping in the UK gave the company an asset management system to support both on air and online channels. The massive Turkmenistan TV project — including 13 television studios and 50 radio studios as well as all the supporting infrastructure — also includes

The message was that comment on social media drives engagement with and discovery of content. “We are shifting from the wisdom of crowds to the wisdom of friends,” according to Shields. Which means we as the media providers have to plan for a multi-screen future.

For a few years now we have been talking about the concept of providing the content the consumer wants, when they want it, where they want it, on the device they want it. Now the realisation that the ambition brings with it huge challenges is also looming over the major debating areas like IBC. According to Gabrielle Gauthey of Alcatel Lucent, in five years “70% of mobile devices will be internet-enabled, and 80% of the traffic on wireless broadband networks will be video.” She called for a new spectrum model based on innovative sharing technologies to support what looks like a 30-fold growth in demand for data bandwidth.

Roberto Viola of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group said that

multi-platform broadcasting and a clever use of digital signage technology to provide the internal ring main viewing and communication system.

The technical systems are being implemented by Turkish company Policom, with Harris the largest individual supplier holding orders worth tens of millions of dollars.

An ex-Harris stalwart, Yannick Defrenne, has now set up his own venture, Soft Vallée, to develop a business oriented asset management infrastructure. He describes Teamium as offering “a holistic overview to track multiple business processes, from management of broadcast operations to the optimisation of existing assets and personnel.

“We start from a management approach rather than a technical

Infrastructure Analysis While the IBC organisers — and star guests like James Cameron — continued to push the 3D agenda, there was little doubt about the issue on the minds of most delegates. Entirely without any drive from broadcast technologists, audiences have enthusiastically embraced a new behaviour: multi-screening.

“Eighty-percent of under 24-year-olds watch television with another screen in their hands,” explained Claire Tavernier, senior executive vice president of Fremantle Media, the company responsible for inflicting The X Factor upon us. I hate to disagree with such an industry luminary but I have to say it is not just the under 24s. My iPad may not be permanently in my hand but it is always nearby, and I miss the age group by more than a factor of two.

“Social TV is not just a buzzword: it is the future of TV and people’s desire to have a deeper engagement with their favourite content,” said Alex Blum of Kit Digital, which was majoring on its social television solution on the show floor.

“The key to success lies in developing a second screen strategy that provides control while complementing and enhancing the viewer experience,” he added.

Joanna Shields of Facebook gave the convention keynote, and she was enthusiastic about the way that comments quickly spread. The American animated series Family Guy has more than 37 million Facebook friends.

John Smith of BBC Worldwide said that more than a third of visits to topgear.com are directed there from the programme’s Facebook page.

point of view,” he said. “We offer a view of the entire chain from the content you create to how you monetise it and where you put the files.”

Some broadcasters are developing their own solutions. In Belgium VRT is tackling second screen applications through its R&D Medialab. It already has an HTML5 web app running alongside a popular television programme in realtime, allowing viewers to interact with the content as well as with fellow viewers through a social media element.

TV2 in Norway chose to base its dedicated second screen service on the Interactivity Suite product from never.no. It was first rolled out for coverage of the Tour de France cycle race, pushing up to date

“The internet will not replace traditional broadcasting tomorrow, but transformation is necessary. Whether we like it or not, IP transport will be the standard” — Roberto Viola, Radio Spectrum Policy Group broadcasters have to understand there is a need to change to accommodate IP traffic in a much more efficient way. “The internet will not replace traditional broadcasting tomorrow,” he said, “but transformation is necessary. Whether we like it or not, IP transport will be the standard, and the question is whether to have a network that is flexible enough to allow for different priorities of traffic.”

The big projects But if that is likely to dominate the debate at future IBCs, cross-platform workflows were high on the news agenda at IBC2011. The big sales stories were noticeable for their multiscreen abilities.

IBC organisers and star guests continued to push the 3D agenda — but there was little doubt about the issue on the minds of most delegates

statistics and other realtime information to iOS and Android devices alongside the live pictures. It also allowed the producers to collect feedback via polls and chat areas.

Managing Editor of TV2 Sport Morten Jørs seems to have quickly seen great benefits. “We now have a tool that allows us to add value and engage our viewers as the action unfolds,” he said. “It opens up a whole new world in terms of gaining and retaining audience share.”

Eyeheight launched what it calls the TVTweetCaster, and that pretty much sums up what it does.

It is a package to access and filter Twitter content, then insert it into a SDi stream to appear as a ticker on live content.

Continued on page 16

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Crossing the line at IBC Continued from page 16

AmberFin was promoting the integration of its iCR file-based content ingest and transcoding device into the Sony Media Backbone Conductor. The Sony system is described as a “workflow orchestration and integration platform”, and is essentially the bases for developing a service oriented architecture in a broadcast centre.

In this application the AmberFin iCR sits on the service bus to provide the buffer between the broadcaster and the outside world with its multitude of file formats.

Chyron and AP also announced a strategic alliance at IBC. The cloud-based graphics service developed by Chyron is now embedded into the ENPS newsroom automation system, allowing users to drag-and-drop graphics into scripts and rundowns, automatically reformatting them to meet the needs of online and mobile platforms.

“Customers can reduce costs and maximise productivity by using a common set of editorial and media tools, staff and workflow for all the content they publish and broadcast,” said Chyron’s Bill Hendler.

One of the traditional issues of delivering content to multiple platforms is the difficulty of streaming content live. Viewcast offered a new solution, the Niagara 7559 which is described as a plug-and-play SDI to live IP streaming device. It can output to multiple file formats and bitrates,

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and is controlled from a touchscreen interface.

Digital Rapids was showing the latest version of its streaming encoder, the StreamZ Live. It features the capability of delivering adaptive bitrate streaming for Adobe, Apple and Microsoft, as well as streaming to mobiles, tablets, computers, games consoles and more.

Grass Valley added live streaming to its established MediaFuse content re-purposing system. Again described as ‘plugand-play’, it offers dynamic live streaming in Flash, HLS-5 and Windows Media, meeting, it is claimed, 95% of the multimedia consumption devices in use today, which is a clear indication of the

Fremantle Media Senior Executive VP Claire Tavernier: “80% of under 24-year-olds watch television with another screen in their hands”

Audio loudness continues to be a major issue, with manufacturers producing practical solutions now that clearly defined and internationally recognised standards have been established complexity faced in delivering to multiple platforms.

Another challenge lies in managing the rights issue of cross platform delivery. Sintec Media added a new module to its OnAir broadcast management system.

OnRights is specifically designed to track license conditions across multiple dimensions such as territories, platforms, formats and languages.

The software platform is as applicable to content owners as it is to broadcasters and network operators. Its rules base, for example, will ensure for the content owner that exclusive rights can only be offered to one licensee in a territory, while for the broadcaster

it will prevent the scheduling of content on a platform for which it does not have permission.

Digital watermarking is now commonly used to track content.

Axon Digital Design has now implemented watermarking technology from Civolution for its Synapse modular system, meaning that it can easily be used to track usage and audience measurement across multiple platforms from a standard broadcast infrastructure.

Audio additions So far I have regularly referred to multi-platform delivery as ‘second screen’, but DTS was keen to remind IBC visitors that sound

matters — that good audio makes the pictures look better. It showed a complete enhanced audio environment, with everything from pseudo-surround sound on an iPod to real immersive sound fields delivered online, with the system adapting its capabilities to the bandwidth available.

Murraypro showed two new audio monitoring units, including one with built-in speakers. They have the capability to monitor up to 16 channels, with phase and peak error indicators.

This is a product area where TSL has been active for some time.

At IBC the company introduced a clever new unit, the Touchmix which, while sharing the 2U form factor of TSL monitoring units (and the same high quality speakers), includes a dual level 19 input digitally assignable mixer. The applications for this will continue to grow — it was developed in response to a user request from a

bravebureau.com

big UK installation which is taking 80 of them — and it is as likely to be seen in creative areas like edit suites as it is in machine rooms and master control.

Audio loudness continues to be a major issue, with manufacturers producing practical solutions now that are clearly defined and internationally recognised standards have been established.

According to Marc Judor of Junger Audio, “this move is good for the industry. Viewers’ quality expectations are not being matched, leading to viewers switching channels in search of a better listening experience.”

Young company Emotion Systems tackled loudness as one of its first software implementations. EFF (Emotion File Finish) analyses content files, models both analogue PPMs and the latest loudness specifications, and provides a seamless and satisfying correction to any audio level errors automatically.

Harris claims that its capabilities uniquely allow it to analyse, correct and verify loudness issues.

It uses DTS Neural Loudness Control, which is now implemented in both Harris modular units and in its Selenio convergence platform. It works with Videotek measurement, also part of the Harris stable, to identify problems and to report to automation systems to record corrections in the as-run log.

Linear Acoustic says that its approach turns the problem on its head, from being a compliance issue to a driver for audio quality.

Further, its loudness management product Aero Calm controls the level and dynamic range without affecting the original content, so individual consumers can reverse the correction and hear the original balance if they choose.

What caught my eye

SISVEL TECHNOLOGY OFFERS SYNDICATION OF 3D CONTENT. The syndication promoted by Sisvel Technology is open to contributions of every content provider who wants to promote 3D Tile Format technology and enhance deliverance of 3D content. The 3D Tile Format provides better-quality images for 3D content and maintains backward compatibility, allowing viewers not equipped for 3D to view the programs as 2D images on their full HD sets. The reconstructed right and left images maintain their original spatial and temporal resolution, giving viewers of both versions the full benefit of the original picture, and the transmission of both 2D and 3D can be achieved without the need for increased bandwidth (www.sisveltechnology. com). New members joining the syndication will benefit from the free exchange of 3D content among members on a reciprocity basis. The catalog of the 3DT content library can be viewed on-line at the new 3DT website www.3dt.it

www.3dt.it

Finally, the usual quick round-up of interesting products which caught my eye but do not fit into the general exhibition narrative.

Top of the list is the Presto 16 input switcher from Wohler. This is a simple use of new technology to make the world a better place. The 1U device has a row of 16 buttons on it, each of which is an Oled screen showing the video that is under the button. It makes selecting a source more or less foolproof.

Snell also has a new take on the router, the Vega. This is a 96 channel device, but it is up to the user whether to make it a 48 in by 48 out or any other combination, up to 95 in and one out. Further, for each pair of ports you can insert either fibre connectors or a miniature BNC, so it is very flexible on cable types too.

Talking of fibre, Argosy Cable has a really neat solution to keeping fibre connectors clean, when the temptation just to blow the dust away is really strong.

The tool contains a dry cleaning Continued on page 18

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Crossing the line at IBC Continued from page 16

material that removes any dust without the need for solvents so without the risk of leaving a residue.

The same tool has adaptors for male and female connectors, and a single tool has enough of the selfadvancing material to clean 525

The first part of the system puts a cut down version of the editor onto the newsroom desktop, which means the journalist has more tools than the typical and very elementary desktop editor but not so much as to be a distraction. Thanks to the IPV plug-in this can start editing on a growing file, so there is no need for the journalist to wait for ingest to be completed and a browse resolution file generated, which saves a lot of time.

Finally, the usual quick round-up of interesting products which caught my eye. Top of the list is the Presto 16 input switcher from Wohler. This is a simple use of new technology to make the world a better place contacts. Why would an engineer not have one in the toolbag?

CNN won an IBC Innovation Award for the system it has developed to handle the masses of content that pours into its newsrooms — 20,000 new clips a week typically. One of the companies working behind the scenes on this project is IPV, which developed for it, and is now offering to other broadcasters a neat way of handling content that allows Adobe Premiere Pro to be fully integrated into the broadcast newsroom.

Once the story is ready to be published it is passed to the IPV Conform Engine, which runs on a processor farm so completes the edit and delivers it to the playout server much faster than realtime, again greatly increasing the chances of getting the story on air in the next bulletin.

In a broadcast installation the newsroom computer can be just one of many cluttering up the working area. A number of vendors now offer KVM extenders — a means to get the keyboard, video

and mouse signal to a remote location (the desktop) while keeping the computer and its fans in the machine room. Most offer some switching so one keyboard, mouse and display can be routed to a couple of different computers.

What makes the Infinity from Adder different is that the KVM signals are packetised for IP so can be sent around an ethernet.

That means that potentially huge numbers of workstations can be connected to an equally vast number of processors. The Infinity units are designed for performance, so latency is virtually zero, and certainly imperceptible.

Most important, the system uses lossless run-length encoding to ensure that the video display is a pixel perfect match to the original with full 24-bit DVI resolution. Coupled with the lack of latency it means the system is fine for critical viewing applications like editing and graphics.

A new version, the AdderLink Infinity Dual, supports either dual monitor set-ups or very large screens such as the Apple Cinema Display.

Early in this review I talked about a technology area we will be forced to tackle at a future IBC. To finish, here is another.

OpenNI is an industry body that exists to promote the interoperability of natural interactions.

Gabrielle Gauthey: In five years “70% of mobile devices will be internetenabled, and 80% of traffic on wireless broadband networks will be video”

Think gesture-based control, avatars and augmented reality.

Iris Finklestein-Sagi of PrimeSense is one of the movers behind the OpenNI Arena, which is a repository for applications using the emerging concepts. “Developers are playing with the technology, experimenting to see what it is capable of. NI allows you to locate

yourself in a different environment, to add more things to that environment, and to appear as an avatar — it has massive possibilities.”

In her keynote, Shields of Facebook predicted that “all TV will be social”. Not just social but interacting socially through natural interactions — the future could be exciting.

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The key message emerging from IBC2011 came loud and clear: If you can’t beat it, eat it. Thus concludes the long and uncomfortable relationship between the monopolistic business of broadcasting and the free-entry but chaotic world of the web. Proof of this convergence was evident in the conference programme which faithfully embraced the buzzwords that currently exercise the minds of the multimedia community: hybrid broadcast broadband, multiple platform outreach, social media, cloud computing, gaming, tablet-TV, and so on.

This was no sudden change.

The conference programmes both of IBC and the NAB Spring Convention have reflected the convergence of on-air and on-line broadcasting for years. Worldwide investment in telecommunications infrastructure meanwhile continues, even if not yet literally optical fibre from door to door, both enabling and to some extent powered by the continuing rise in internet-based television viewing.

IBC felt more than usually like an action-replay of NAB this year, with Sony, Panasonic and JVC campaigning hard to raise the industry’s sights above 1920x1080 pixel ‘high definition’. The future they anticipate is 3820x2160 (4K), followed sooner or later by 7680x 4320 (8K) Super Hi-Vision. Sony and JVC displayed prototype 4K and 8K cameras at both conventions. Panasonic has meanwhile joined the increasing number of companies with prototype 8K display screens. In D-SLR-speak, 8K equates to 33 megapixels, which translates in turn to a huge display screen or extremely high resolution.

LED screen, which is the largest of its kind yet offered to the broadcast market. OLED technology is gaining increasing recognition for applications such as broadcast playout monitoring and in master control rooms.

Each pixel in an OLED generates its own light rather than merely acting as a filter.

LCDs. LG and Samsung are both developing 55-inch consumer OLED displays.

3D remains alive and well though less ‘in-your-face’ than when Philips’ autostereoscopic wall display greeted each newly arriving visitor. The various elements of the 3D production, post production and delivery workflow continue to come together. Most important of all is the increasing awareness that upgrading from standard definition to a 1080p infrastructure makes the transition from 2D to 3D a relatively easy one.

Attention is now focused on display manufacturers to produce screens that can be viewed in full 3D without need for special headware. Every direct-view television demonstration I have seen (dating back to an InterBEE show about 16 years ago) has suffered from ‘sweet-spot/sourspot’ lateral directionality. Designers of direct-view 3D displays have a choice of two left/right isolation technologies to exploit: parallax-

Designers of direct-view 3D displays have a choice of two left/right isolation technologies to exploit: parallax-barrier and lenticular filters. If neither proves up to the task, then 3D television could remain a minority-interest activity This allows deeper black levels to be achieved than with LCDs, delivering higher contrast ratio when viewed in the low ambient light common to most master control rooms.

Other virtues include very compact construction, the OLED array being wafer-thin, and exceptionally consistent performance from one display to another. The small size of currently available OLED screens appears to be a production-yield issue, as in the early years of

barrier and lenticular filters. If neither proves up to the task, then 3D television could remain a minority-interest activity until a more effective viewing system is developed.

Sony has been exploring an alternative 3D display option in the shape of its HMZ-T1 ‘personal 3D viewer’, which incorporates two 0.7-inch 1280x720 pixel OLEDs in a head-mounted arrangement feeding images independently to left and right eyes. Horizontal viewing angle is

Improving image displays The IABM bestowed its 2011 Peter Wayne Award on Sony’s BVM-E250 24.5-inch organic

Photon Beard’s Peter Daffarn (left) and Simon Larn with the Nova 270

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45˚, simulating a 750-inch cinema screen seen at 20m distance. Price of the HMZ-T1 when it is introduced in Japan this month is expected to be around £480. This device didn’t get to IBC but shows a potential direction for 2K, 4K and even 8K display development — particularly if Apple wakes up to it.

Improving efficiency As well as ensuring that their products deliver high signal quality, IBC exhibitors recognise the importance of offering customers greater efficiency in the acquisition, post production, playout and repurposing of content. A central theme in the acquisition category was the implementation of new-generation camera systems allowing wired or wireless remote control within a studio or sports OB environment, or via IP over practically any distance in situations where latency is not an issue.

Danmon Systems Group introduced a complete packaged IP-based television studio control system optimised for regional presenter-to-camera operation.

Based on integrated pan-tiltzoom HD/SD cameras, the studio can be operated using a standard internet browser from a network headquarters. All control data is carried securely via intranet or virtual private network. Video from regional site to HQ can be carried on black fibre or as JPEG2000 via IP. A reporter or guest interviewee entering the regional studio has only one useradjustable element to contend with: the earpiece volume level.

Telco-based ENG devices are not inherently new but Aviwest’s IBIS digital mobile newsgathering unit includes an interesting workaround for locations where no wireless link can be maintained: an integral recorder allows content to be captured to Secure-Digital card for later fileforwarding. The IBIS can be clipped onto a camera and used to stream HD/SD-SDI with embedded audio via multiple bonded 3G or 4G networks to a receiver (the one-rack-unit IBIS Studio).

An unusual approach to studio lighting was announced by Photon Beard whose PhotonSpot Nova 270 uses a light-emitting plasma source to achieve the claimed equivalent of a 2kw tungsten Fresnel from a power input of 273 watts. On the portable-power side, the new PAGLink from PAG allows up to eight 96 watt-hour V-Mount Li-Ion battery packs to be stacked for long-duration operation. Three linked batteries create a single power source of nearly 288 watt-hours, handling a current-draw of up to 12 amps.

Combined weight is under 2.2kg.

Power efficiency continues to be uppermost in the minds of transmitter manufacturers, notably Rohde & Schwarz whose www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

new THU9 high-power solidstate television transmitter is claimed to offer the highest efficiency in its class: up to 28% for COFDM standards and up to 30% for ATSC standards, including the cooling system. Thomson Broadcast’s Futhura Plus wideband UHF television transmitter has claimed 35% maximum transmitter efficiency.

Archiving Increasing use of file-based video and audio content capture devices, whether to disc or solid-state media, is forcing even the most traditionally-minded production companies and broadcasters to ingest their programme libraries into more easily shared digital Blackmagic Design’s £1,565 ATEM production switcher

Continued on page 22

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The business of broadcasting Continued from page 21

Roland’s £350 R-26 6-channel audio recorder

data. Then comes the question of how best to archive this data for quickest possible access and maximum security?

Staying with baseband videotape is not a serious option given the rapidly declining population of up-to-spec vintage VTRs. One option, perversely, is to continue using magnetic tape but in a format designed specifically for data archiving and therefore more likely to receive long-term manufacturing support. That was For-A’s reason for launching the LTR-

120HS archiving recorder into Europe at IBC. This uses the LTO-5 version of the Linear Tape Open format, storing 1.5TB to a single tape cartridge.

If you are twitchy about the lifetime of magnetically stored data, Sony announced at IBC the development of a file-based video archive storage system based on a cartridge housing 12 optical discs. Scheduled for introduction next year, this will be available in write-once and a rewriteable formats with various capacity options. And there is always The Cloud: remote content archiving is already an integral part of the broadcast playout business.

In the purely storage arena, Thunderbolt-compatible disc drives and RAIDs emerged at IBC in increasing numbers to meet the demand from video editors using the latest generation of Apple computers. AJA Video Systems introduced its Io XT video interface and up/down/ cross converter, which allows daisy-chaining to other Thunderbolt peripherals like high bandwidth storage and high-resolution displays via a single interface.

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Some spectacular value-for-money deals were evident on many stands, from front-end grip equipment right through the production, post, presentation and playout chain. And it certainly isn’t all software. Examples are Blackmagic’s £1,565 ATEM production switcher; JVC’s £1,890 GY-HM150E 3x1/4-inch CCD camcorder; Matrox’s US$495 MC-100 dual SDI to HDMI converter; NewTek’s £16,000 Tricaster 450 four-input virtual studio; Polecam’s £6,000 Starter Pack portable camera crane; Rode’s £450 NTG-3 shotgun capacitor microphone; and Roland’s £350 R-26 6-channel audio recorder.

For an encore, IBC exhibitor Editshare was promoting the compatibility of its networked servers with the essentially free Lightworks Open Source nonlinear video editor. And yes, the Apple community did coincide its Amsterdam Final Cut Pro User Group Network meeting with IBC, open to all comers at the Krasnapolsky from 7pm to 11pm on the Sunday.

Do trade conventions like IBC still have a role in an increasingly internet-connected world? The show’s healthy attendance figures strongly suggest that they do. Search engines have their advantages when you are hunting for new broadcast products and new technology. But it takes an IBC or an NAB show to put the whole lot into focus. IBC returns to the Amsterdam RAI Centre 6-11 September 2012. Rehearsal will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada, 14-19 April 2012. www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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IBC and the digital ripple Standards & Workflows Condensing IBC2011 into a few short summaries, broadcasters must swallow the tablets; content storage has a cloudy future; the spectrum shuffle is pure poker; public service broadcasters are an endangered species; streaming and quality broadband are the hot bets; 3D is struggling to hit consistent quality; standards bodies are playing a blinder; and, 4K and faster frame rates sit in the wings.

Analysis by George Jarrett An IBC attendance of 50,000 media professionals saw lights shone on mobile interactive social connected media, and on awesome prospects like 4K 3D movies shot at 60fps, but it was clear that demanding quantum technology jumps in every sector of the industry is a different game to identifying how they will impact exactly.

This is where tracking what SMPTE, the EBU, the DVB and key industry players gave to the event brings a bubbling — under perspective to match with the major product launches, like Sony’s 4K camera. The time has

come for the industry to drop out and see what condition it’s in, something SMPTE and the EBU plan to achieve through the scientifically inspired Forum on Emerging Media Technologies, set for 13-15 May in Geneva [for which TVBEurope will be an official Media Partner].

According to SMPTE President Peter Lude, “We will look at motion picture technology due to come out of the labs in the next five years. We are collaborating with the EBU because interoperability is the way forward. Expect newer standards after the revelations and debates. Leveraging IT technology may be the biggest trend out there.�

One of the key questions was how the forum might challenge IBC editorially. “We do not intend to compete with the IBC Conference. The forum offers a positive and valueadded event, and it also offers a

Taking the right partners

Contracts

establishing closer end user links to speed up ratification — happened at an IBC meeting chaired

by Hans Hoffmann, the EBU’s

“The digital dividend is good, but even if you used the whole broadcasting spectrum you would not match the need and demand we will have in 10 years� — Ingrid Deltenre, EBU different yet complementary perspective: a longer-term, futurist view across the digital media ecosystem to help facilitate shorterterm strategic business decisionmaking,� explained SMPTE Executive Director Barbara Lange. “We believe no other organisation has targeted this perspective, and that the forum will uniquely be able to assist business and technology leaders endeavouring to assess near-term investments for longer-term growth,� she added.

Peter Siebert on T2 Lite: “It is basically a very young child�

First formal meeting of the EBU, SMPTE and AMWA: (L-R) Lieven Vermaele, Barbara Lange, Brad Gilmer and Hans Hoffmann

The EBU and SMPTE, in tandem with AMWA, and the EBU in partnership with AMWA were responsible for two of the biggest stories to break at IBC. The first — the trio agreeing formally to co-operate on future media related software standards, and on

Content

head of media fundamentals and production technology, and also SMPTE VP of Engineering. “Our aim is to identify common points where we have issues to resolve. Digital workflows are high on the agenda, as are the evolution of media, new innovative technologies, identifying the best user input, software life cycle management, and moving the standards process to meet the demands of the market,� he said. “We need to get better and faster here,� Hoffmann added. “It is important to understand that non standards setting organisations can do good work in a rapid manner in terms of providing a spec and also an implementation.

However, normally due to the rapid implementation and work which is done it never does undergo a very detailed technical

review. This is what you need in order to maintain and guarantee interoperability, and it is the high added value that a standards body (SMPTE) brings to the game.�

Speaking for the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), Executive Director Brad Gilmer said: “As a trade association we very much benefit from our partnership with the EBU because it gives us very strong user representation. In terms of SMPTE, we highly value the pier review process it provides. “There are clear benefits that each organisation brings to the table, and when people hear about the agreement they will ask why didn’t we do it before,� he added.

The AMWA, EBU, and SMPTE management teams already have several meetings scheduled. Asked if membership responses to the partnership had been positive, Hoffmann said: “Generally speaking, the industry approves when like-minded groups agree to work together to create solutions that benefit the user community. We’re now working to facilitate means by which members of the user community can contribute to this vital effort.�

Publishing

Essential to workflows IBC saw the introduction of V1.0 of FIMS — an SOA with the full name of Framework for Interoperable Media Services — and it was industry veteran Al Kovalick, now a strategist with Avid, who described it as “totally essential for our industry to succeed in terms of making flexible, agile workflows. “I can see FIMS growing to hundreds of services because it is really a framework of plumbing to get things started,� he added.

At present FIMS only supports ingest, transform, and transfer, and Gilmer hinted at its beta status and the inspiration for the SMPTE/EBU/AMWA partnership when he said: “The industry will not wait in this area for some huge standard that takes three years to write. There is a lot of demand for a framework and for some common service definitions right now, so the approach we are taking is putting a stake in the ground,� he added. “We are going to establish some fundamentals, and we have also released a second request for technology.�

The result of this will drive phase two of FIMS. “We are going to turn the crank,� said Gilmer. “My whole point is that rather than taking several years to write some huge monolithic standard, we are going to publish and iterate, increasing the richness as we go along.�

Asked if adopting the Autodesk model of multiple software releases over years will work, Kovalick provided reassurance. “I cannot see any other solution on the drawing board that even comes close to what FIMS promises,� he said. “The fact that it is vendor neutral is great for the whole industry.�

The DVB’s Lite Version The DVB had a great IBC with Sony agreeing to manufacture a DVB-C2 modulator and Russia announcing that it will adopt DVB-T2 nationally. Biggest interest focused on T2 Lite, published on 7 July as a subset of the 1.3 version of the DVB-T2 standard. “It is basically a very young child,� said DVB Executive Director Peter Siebert. “It offers all the elements relevant for a mobile/portable Continued on page 24

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service without having to build out an entire new network.”

The part of the trial that drew most questions was the BBC’s assessment of how many fill-in transmitters would be needed to close gaps. “You would not cover the whole country with a mobile service with our existing broadcast network,” agreed Mitchell. “One of our main aims is to identify how many fill-in transmitters we would need, and the cost implications.”

Phase 2a 3DTV promised

Ingrid Deltenre: “We have to talk and we have to find solutions together to solve demand for linear and nonlinear media usage”

IBC and the digital ripple Continued from page 23

environment, and it also puts a restriction on the bit rate. The resulting consequences are that the chipset for implementing T2 Lite can be significantly smaller than the chip set for the base standard.”

T2 Lite is kind to mobile battery life. Best of all — or worst of all according to some people worried about the bitrate implications — it is easy to integrate with existing broadcast networks.

“Together with the down selection and restriction of T2 Lite it makes it very easy and cost efficient to build up a mobile network based on an existing infrastructure, said Siebert. “As with T2, Lite is a very spectrum efficient transmission scheme.”

The subset has two additional code rates required for forward error correction management.

T2 Lite was the subject of an excellent BBC R&D demonstration fronted by Lead Engineer Justin Mitchell, who explained that the BBC had begun test transmission and reception trials on 7 July from White City. No published results are expected though until March.

“There are lots of ways of configuring T2 Lite. The normal UK mode is about 40Mbps and we reduced that down to 33Mbps for the R&D base, which probably costs you one HD service,” Mitchell said.

“We then use those 7Mbps to get 1 Mbps of mobile service. The reason it is 7:1 is that the mobile service needs to be much more robust.

“We use QPSK and code rate half whereas the base T2 service uses 256 QAM rate two 2/3,” he added. “T2 Lite might enable you to start transmissions of a mobile

On the last day of IBC, the DVB commercial module group looking into a Phase 2 3DTV standard met to consider ideas it has been considering, starting with sharper pictures through full L/R HD quality. The other main new element was Depth Range Control — an adjustment that consumers would select from their remote control device. This would require the transmission of two depth maps, which raises bit rate issues.

The commercial module, chaired by EBU Deputy Director David Wood, also looked at preferred picture quality based on Bluray technology (for service compatibility) as well as the MVC element of Blu-ray. It also considered the use of top up signals by broadcasters with a Phase 1 system in place.

Wood reported: “On 13 September we agreed the draft requirements for a Phase 2a 3DTV broadcast system, which will be service compatible. This means that although a new receiver or settop box will be needed for Phase 2, existing HDTV receivers will see a normal 2D picture. We are asking for this specification to be available

by June 2012. In the meeting, we understood that at least one

broadcaster will use it as soon as it is available. We continue work on a Phase 2b system, which will add a top up signal to a Phase 1 signal to give full bandwidth L and R images.”

Don’t mention the spectrum war It was Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, who identified that, “The biggest issue without question is the availability of spectrum.”

Interviews in the IBC Daily Executive Summary cover a number of vested interest viewpoints on spectrum management, and the potential uses of white space, but during IBC it was EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre who cut to the chase and called for 3GPP to work

closely with broadcasters, and rethink its shunning of the DVB back in March.

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The digital ripple Key contributors to and IBC in retrospect discussion were SMPTE President Peter Lude, Howard Lukk, VP of digital production at

BBC R&D’s Justin Mitchell said the BBC had begun test transmission and reception trials in July from White City

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integration,” Deltenre said. “We need a quantum leap.”

“The digital dividend is good, but even if you used the whole broadcasting spectrum you would not match the need and demand we will have in 10 years. The growth is there for tablets and smart phones, and it will grow rapidly. Broadcasting and mobile broadband networks have a future together,” she added. “It is not about fighting against each other and trying to weaken one to the advantage of the other one. That’s not going to happen.”

Walt Disney Studios, and Chris Johns, chief engineer, Sky. Lukk chose the choice between shooting 3D natively and converting from 2D. “I think it is a lame argument to compare the two any more. It is like the old argument of do we shoot on film or digital. It is two different tool sets and looks, and people should start to look at them as separate options,” he said.

“You do one or the other, and actually look at a combination. I think conversion is fine if you spend the money and time properly, to the same level as shooting with two cameras. It is something we should stop arguing about,” he added.

Asked what he sees across the industry, he said: “A massive paradigm shift to the whole digital world. There is a digital ripple all the way through the whole filmmaking process.”

Johns went for context. “If you look just over three years ago 3D was not a twinkle in anybody’s eyes, and where was the iPad? Nowadays, if you don’t have an entertainment system that supports iPad, telephony, broadband and 3D you are behind the times,” he said.

“A quantum leap is required, and the digital age is going to mean that things happen so fast that there will probably be other huge great steps that suddenly happen that we cannot even start to envisage now,” he added.

Lude also went for context.

“Look back 10 years and manufacturers were pretty clearly defined. Now we are moving towards commodity tools. The question comes down to where in www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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Triax goes the distance An account of extra functionality in transmission distances being achieved by Draka, Fischer Connectors and Grass Valley

By David Stewart

Gary Shapiro: “The biggest issue without question is the availability of spectrum�

our systems can we take advantage of high power GPUs,� he said.

A lot of opinion pointed to 4K being the next impact technology, and Lude was the most gung ho. “4K is already on the surface in cinema and I think it is heading that way for consumers. There are no standards in place for making 3D in 4K, and I think how quickly that happens depends on market acceptance,� he said. “There is a debate right now about should we do 3D in higher frame rates, should we do 3D in 4K, or should we do both? There is going to be a very interesting decision over the next six months.�

During the IBC2009 show in Amsterdam, Oli Hentschel from Draka and Mark Richards from Fischer Connectors in the UK decided over a beer and chat to improve the transmission distances for triax cables in the predominant ‘HD-Ready’ environment at the time. The concept: an optimised cable, not much thicker than a triax 11 cable, that is still easy to transport and doesn’t take up any additional space on the cable reel.

With it an adapted triax plug that matches the current Fischer 1051 A004-9, without the extra expense of developing a new housing.

With fibre as the promise for the advancing HD roll, Triax’s weakness until a couple of years ago was that of transmission distances. Back in 2009, triax cable with an HD camera (such as the GV LDK8000) was only capable of transmitting up to a maximum distance of 800m without a repeater. On the other hand, even at that time a SMPTE cable

could easily do 5km with virtually no loss.

Draka and Fischer decided to level the playing field. From an informal exchange of ideas, and a review to treat the issue from a ‘total connectivity viewpoint’ the first cable and plug drawings were prepared in cooperation between Draka and Fischer in February 2010. In April the two companies put together a test setup with a cable length of 1,500m. The calculated damping values promised a theoretical performance sufficient for 30% more cable length. But would this work in the field?

Gregor Mucha of Magic Media in Leipzig organised a special broadcast vehicle test. The results were well within the initial target range — and in some ways even better.

Enter Grass Valley. Draka and Fischer first introduced the new Triax HD Pro+ solution to this camera manufacturer. With its camera, a model LDK8000, they also achieved the outstanding performance values over lengths

Oli Hentschel from Draka (pictured) agreed with Mark Richards from Fischer Connectors to improve the transmission distances for triax cables in the predominant ‘HD-Ready’ environment

of 1,500m. In fact, an optimum image quality could even be achieved over a distance of 2,000m with the help of a triax repeater.

In August at Sony UK, the range was even 50% greater with the company’s triax camera. After

these successes, Draka and Fischer sensed that the triax market would experience a mid-life kicker (not bad after 70 years or more), and that this old mainstay of sports TV and OB connectivity had the chance to become a competitor to fibre in HD broadcast environments. (Incidentally, in a previous life, Grass Valley was one of the early inventors of Triax cables as far back as the 1940s).

Last year at IBC2010, the TRIAX HD Pro+ connectivity solution brought Draka and Fischer a ‘TVBEurope’s Best of IBC2010 Editors’ Awards’ award for innovation and cost-effectiveness. As well as Grass Valley, Sony, Hitachi and Ikegami were also upbeat about the new solution. In April this year Grass Valley, with its new 3G digital triax camera, the LDK 8000 3G, was able to demonstrate that superb transmission over distances of 1,500m is achievable.

During the summer of 2011, Grass Valley, Draka and Fischer hit the road together to show broadcast pro’s that triax will continue to play its part in 1080i, 720p, 1080p 50/60, and keep camera crew in their comfort zone with good, reliable triax cabling that does the job up to 1,700m. They are convinced that far greater transmission lengths can still be achieved and the partners are comfortable about beating the 2,000m benchmark.

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IBC flesh for production workflows Adrian Pennington reflects on the latest developments in high-end acquisition, cinematography and 3D production from Amsterdam Since vendors tend to gear their big releases for the US market every April, IBC organisers wisely decided to take its conference line-up more centre stage. That’s certainly true for IBC2011 where the headlines were generated by keynote acts with few technology surprises on the showfloor. IBC remains, though, the pre-eminent place for Europeans to get a first chance to see kit trailed at NAB. “We view NAB and IBC as complimentary in that we announced many new developments in April but at IBC you are seeing them fleshed out with a fuller spec, pricing and imminent shipping dates,” spelled out Olivier Bovis, general manager for content creation, Sony Professional Europe. “Our developments in OLED, digital 35mm, 3D and 4K are all about extending the ‘beyond HD’ story and we aren’t just talking about it — they are all ready to go from here.”

Sony’s F65 CineAlta, which samples data from its 20 Megapixel sensor to 4K, is priced at a competitive €38,000 with 70 pre-orders worth nearly €7 million taken at the show. Band Pro Munich acquired 50 (to go with the 70 its US operation ordered) while Top Teks and CVP Group will bank 10 each.

Top Teks has since added another 10 selling onto hire companies Movietech, Ice Film,

IBC Production Village: At the top of the scale boasting 16 times the ‘K’ of HD is Super Hi-Vision, still pushed as a broadcast format by NHK

Films@59 and Cineworks, which have TV clients. “The initial requirements are in feature film and commercials but due to the F65’s pricing and feature I would see that coming down to television,” observed Top Teks MD Mike Thomas.

Sony was able to flesh out the F65’s workflow. The 16-bit linear RAW is recorded to the dockable SR-R4 deck which accepts 256GB-1TB SRMemory cards which in turn can write the tremendous amount of data

generated by the camera at speeds of 5.5GB a second. Those cards can then be plugged into an SR-PC4 transfer unit from which a laptop or tablet can be used to select material for speedy ingest into a dailies system or post house for finishing. Sony has released an SDK which a number of third parties have taken advantage of including AJA, Apple, Avid, Filmlight, Fotokem, Assimilate and Pixel Farm to take files from the SR-PC4 into post applications.

“It means production teams and post houses can incorporate F65 directly into the workflows they are accustomed to,” said Peter Sykes, Sony’s strategic marketing manager for digital cinematography who notes that the camera can also be switched to shoot HD. While a RAW 4K acquisition will get delivered as 1080p on HDCAMSR to broadcasters and will be further crushed on transmission, interestingly Thomas sees a future of such high end imagery in TV on-demand.

“More programming will be delivered to home media centres as downloads where it is not restricted by transmission and data rates,” he said. “This is why we see 4K being effectively the new HD and that requests for higher and higher image quality will grow.”

The F65 launches in January into a digital film market dominated by Red and Arri, both cameras strongly favoured in 2D and 3D features and, increasingly, broadcast drama. Films@59, for example, has supplied a dozen Alexas to the sets of Doctor Who and Casualty. Roger Deakins selected the camera to shoot the in-production Sam Mendesdirected Bond movie.

The latest in the range, shipping December, is the Alexa Studio which features an optical viewfinder for higher resolution, higher contrast image and a 4:3 sensor, which Arri Product Manager, Cameras and Lenses, Marc Shipman-Mueller said makes it the only digital camera

to boast anamorphic capability.

Anamorphic lenses create a unique look, and cannot be created in post. Orders from 24-7 Drama (part of Visual Impact) and Take 2 are among the first for the unit.

The Cameron–Pace Group (CPG) has taken exclusive delivery of multiple prototypes of the Alexa M, dubbed ‘Marie Antoinette’ by the Arri team because the ‘M’ is an Alexa, which has had its optical head divorced from its body to facilitate greater mobility for 3D work.

“The ‘M’ has been developed

by Arri with heavy input from CPG while CPG has devised a rig with heavy input from Arri,” said Shipman-Mueller pointing to a CPG rig mounted with Alexa’s on the stand and possibly the only CPG kit in IBC. CPG is working to integrate the Fusion 3D system with the camera and, while not confirmed, it would seem to be earmarked for shooting the Avatar sequels.

Show debuts Two genuine IBC debuts are designed to offer high-end digital film capture and hi-speed recording in the same unit. They both seem to have emerged from the same brainstorming session at P+S Technik/Weisscam, but with the participants disagreeing on final execution. P+S Technik’s PS-Cam X35 can record Super35mm quality synced with sound as well as frame rates from 1-450fps for shooting motion effects such as time-lapse or slow motion.

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of any project on a main camera (Alexa, Epic or F3 for example) and then bringing out the high speed cameras for those few special shots that we know we just can’t get any other way,” explained filmmaker Joel Bergvall who has tested the product. “The idea with the X35 is that this will be your A-camera, capable of shooting your entire project at 24fps (or 23.98, 25, 30, 60 or whatever standard you like) as well as all your high speed shots.

If your A-camera can do 450fps you probably won’t need to bring an extra camera out for the high speed stuff.”

It is the first camera that is a 100% P+S Technik product and costs €59,900 for 9GB memory or €76,900 for a 36GB version. It previously co-developed high speed cameras with Weisscam which had a prototype of a remarkably similar concept displayed on the Band Pro booth.

The T-1, due this winter, has a 2/3-inch CCD with a B-mount for sports and broadcast and can record 1-350fps. A 4K version with PL mount is also being readied.

“It is much smaller than the P+S model, more suitable for crane, steadicam and 3D work,” said Seth Emmons, marketing manager for Band Pro. Apparently Vince Pace of CPG fame had stopped by and showed interest in the broadcast product.

At NAB Sony had put great stress on the amount of special ‘K’ its new camera’s sensors could record. In contrast the Alexa is nominally 3K-3.5K and the PSCam X35 ‘just’ HD 1080p.

However image capture at this range is about far more than sampling raw resolution and often comes down to the subjective ‘look’ of the pictures in the eyes of a cinematographer.

“In the run up to the Alexa’s development we asked many respected cinematographers what

“There is a lot of discussion about resolution but what we found when we showed F65 pictures to cinematographers is that they look at the overall quality of latitude, detail, highlights and low light, colour rendition and noise performance,” said Sykes.

“It is not just about resolution but overall performance.”

At the top of the scale boasting 16 times the ‘K’ of HD is Super Hi-Vision that continues to be pushed as a broadcast format

by NHK. Live transmissions

“More programming will be delivered to home media centres as downloads, where it is not restricted by transmission and data rates. This is why we see 4K being effectively the new HD” — Mike Thomas, Top Teks is more important for them: more Ks or better latitude (dynamic range) and more sensitivity and their answers were unquestionably: more latitude, wider colour gamut, more sensitivity,” said Milan Krsljanin, Arri’s director of group business development.

“Some manufacturers are driving their offerings in that direction (greater K) perhaps believing that the higher resolution capture will improve their competitiveness.”

It’s a point that Sony is also now keen to de-emphasise.

from Broadcasting House were shown alongside an 8-channel switcher and slow-motion replay system making a live production of sports events such as the Olympics 2012 a possibility.

3D broadcasting Thanks to the presence of James Cameron who, with Vince Pace, made at least six public appearances, 3DTV broadcasting was arguably the main theme at the show. The central message was that if 3D is to go mass

market then a hardboiled business model needs cementing.

The emphasis at IBC was on the production aspect of that model in acknowledgement that without practical and inexpensive technology and workflows the content gap needed for 3D channels will not be filled.

“The current phase of 3D began with the clunky, cabled and complex approach,” noted Sony’s senior VP of engineering and SMPTE President Peter Lude in a conference session examining 3D’s future.

“We are now into phase two which is about greater automation and computer analysis with the aim of making it easier to use rigs, correct errors and reduce manual convergence.”

He continued: “It should be possible for a computer system to network together multiple cameras arrayed around a stadia and to toe-in those cameras at the same time to keep the object at the same convergence point so that when cutting there is no discomfort for the viewer.”

That is something that CPG, 3ality Technica and others are working toward in the outside

broadcast environment although the substitution of all convergence ops and stereographers by machines, which appears to be CPG’s line in the interests of economic efficiency, is one bone of contention.

“Just as you wouldn’t replace the creative skill of a camera operator who is framing a scene in accordance with the context of the action in front of them, so a convergence puller’s critical judgement can’t be easily replaced,” insisted Stereographer Richard Hingley. “The skill of a

Sony’s F65 CineAlta, which samples data from its 20 megapixel sensor to 4K, received 70 pre-orders worth nearly €7 million taken at the show Continued on page 28

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Sony’s first professional integrated camcorder, the shoulder mounted PMW-TD300 is also shipping priced around €25,000 and with an optional wireless link permitting remote control by MPE-200 processor. Devised by Broadcast RF, the link will make pitchside steadicam action more feasible, and is something that Panasonic does not yet offer.

Presteigne Charter made the first purchase in Europe of this unit and will put the RF functionality to test.

According to Sony’s 3D sports expert

IBC flesh for workflows Continued from page 27

convergence puller comes from using their own eyes to judge whether the vision is comfortable.”

Evolutionary ladder Greater automation and more agile kit is needed and inevitable and there is an argument, acknowledged even by their manufacturers, that stereo rigs are a rung on an evolutionary ladder.

“Rigs are large, cumbersome and heavy and a greater degree of electronics will help streamline the systems but quality stereo work can only be achieved using top of the range imagers and mirror systems which give a wide range of interaxial distance and control,” observed Florian Schaefer, product specialist at P+S Technik.

The counter argument can be heard from companies like Meduza Sales, which has begun taking orders for its dual lens 4K-capable imager although cinematographers have yet to provide public feedback.

“It’s clear that rigs have a limited lifespan,” claimed CEO Chris Cary.

“Today’s S3D rigs are great cousins of the ones invented in 1905. The industry needs to move on and find

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Marc Shipman-Mueller pictured with Alura lenses: “The ‘M’ has been developed by Arri with heavy input from CPG while CPG has devised a rig with heavy input from Arri”

the next generation, which in our view is portable, high resolution, truly flexible systems. The camera can be configured according to the electronics in the head,” he explained.

“So we can configure a 1080, 180fps version, for example, with output via HDSDI or fibre just as easily as a head that can shoot 4K.” Panasonic says it has no interest in allying with a rig developer and is also strategising for a day when rigs become obsolete. “Our starting point is to make 3D acquisition easy and mobile,” European Product Manager Rob Tarrant stated.

“That’s what we are doing with our first generation of integrated 3D

cameras. With our range you get easier operation, mobile operation and truer 3D because the interaxial distance mirrors what we naturally see.”

Panasonic now has three integrated camcorders on the market, the latest of which the HDCZ10000 prosumer unit includes a ‘black box’ technology which makes it seem like the interaxial distance between the fixed lenses are adjusted during the shoot.

“One of the issues with twin lens cameras is the fixed interaxial which this macro convergence function helps overcome,” Tarrant added.

“With it we can shoot objects as close as 45cm from the lens.”

be integrated with Sony’s MPE-200 and HDFA-200 fibre multiplexer so that all the rig parameters including power, sync and genlock can be managed by a single cable.

Fellow European rig vendors were also showing expanded ranges usually with lightweight versions for steadicam and sturdier ones for mounting heavier camera configurations. As one IBC visitor put it the EU manufacturers “are finally starting to pull themselves out of the hobby market, to build a few rigs and rent them into a proper business world.”

“By using the link, the camcorder effectively looks to a convergence operator in a OB truck as if it were a 3D rig. This is something that live 3D sports productions in particular have been crying out for” — Mark Grinyer, Sony Mark Grinyer: “By using the link, the camcorder effectively looks to a convergence operator in a OB truck as if it were a 3D rig. This is something that live 3D sports productions in particular have been crying out for.”

Rig design Rig manufacturers continue to tinker with design to aid ease of use. P+S Technik was showing an adjustable riser as an accessory, which enables Freestyle rigs to be tilted up and down. For live OBs the rig can now

For example, the Production Rig from Germany’s Screen Plane is now being manufactured and sold by Austrian lens control specialists Cmotion with a compact Stead-Flex rig available from year end. Similar to the P+S riser, the tilt angle of the Production Rig can be adjusted from the rig’s centre of gravity in increments of 2.5˚. It can also be side-mounted on an accessory devised by Italian firm Cartoni for even greater tilt range.

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Binocle’s Brigger I and its bigger brother Brigger II are well respected but still largely confined to the French feature and TV market. They are being put to use on an ambitious semi-fictional feature in the Amazon.

After two years R&D, Bournemouth’s Teletest launched the Binorig, at €10,000 claimed to be the world’s most affordable.

“We designed a complete package contained in two flight cases for stereographers or cameramen with little experience shooting S3D,” said MD Nick Rose. “It produces images which are as good as those produced by rigs costing 10 times the price.”

The star wattage of Cameron–Pace’s IBC presence masked the fact that CPG

wasn’t actually exhibiting. It inadvertently masked a little of what could have been IBC’s biggest 3D news, which was the merger of 3Ality Digital with Element Technica announced just a week before.

The benefits of the marriage, which unites ET machining with 3Ality software engineering, was demonstrated with Sony F3s mounted on a ET Pulsar connected to a SIP and showing a wide range of data.

“It’s great for our customers who have been mixing the two technologies anyway, but they had to integrate them themselves.

Now we can offer them fully integrated technology,” said 3ality Technica CEO Steve Schklair.

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Howard Lukk: “There are enough things for the DoP, director and camera operators to track on the set as it is, without having to track interaxial and convergence”

3D: Cameron, Pace, Lukk, EVS, Fraunhofer and picturestitching

By Adrian Pennington In the show’s biggest news impacting Outside Broadcasters (signed literally a day before IBC), CPG flagged a partnership with Grass Valley which will see them jointly develop equipment and equip new scanners. CPG runs three dedicated mobile units and has a stock of 100 3D camera systems in the US but its GV pairing will enable it to export its Shadow systems and business model into Europe. [Ed Note: See also David Fox’s GVG story, page 31.]

“Our message is that you can use our equipment for 3D just the same as for 2D — there are no special bolt-ons,” said Grass Valley 3D specialist Lyle Van Horn. “For example, we have internal flipping of the image, standard on our LDK 8000 series cameras, so there is no external processing needed to flip the image and put another kink in the chain when mounting on a beam splitter rig.

“The Kayanne and Karrera switchers process each eye as two separate 2D streams paired, so an operator is using the same standard set of buttons for both 2D and 3D. 3D is complex enough without adding a separate set of equipment to do the same job which is why we have the only Super Slo-Motion system, which again handles both 3D and 2D sources with the same hardware (a combination of the Summit server and Dyno replay control system),” said Van Horn.

The view that 3D rigs have a limited lifespan for non-live projects at least was given heavyweight support by Walt Disney Studios’ VP production technology Howard Lukk. “There are enough things for the DoP, director and camera operators to try to track on the set as it is, without having to track interaxial and

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convergence,” he argued. “We are making it more complicated on the set, where I think it needs to be less complicated.”

Lukk suggested a hybrid approach that would supplement a 2D camera with smaller ‘witness’ cameras to pick up the 3D volumes, then apply algorithms at a VFX or a conversion house to create the 3D and free the filmmaker from cumbersome on-set equipment. It is something that Disney is researching.

Related developments include picture stitching in which images from multiple HD cameras are ‘sewn’ together to generate a panoramic view of a field of play that can then be ‘zoomed’ into by an operator, or potentially by individual viewers.

Fraunhofer HII, Sony and Belgium startup Carmargus were all demonstrating variants, with Sony’s the most advanced and now integrated with data tracking software.

The enriching of live feeds with realtime data over IP will be an increasingly regular feature of televised sports.

Viewers will also soon be able to interact with the action directly via tablet by selecting to watch views and replays from half a dozen point of view cameras ringed around stadia.

The technology is already possible, as EVS demonstrated of an Australian Rules football match it produced for Channel Nine and arguably only requires a solid business model for it to spread. HBS, the host broadcaster for FIFA, is examining the concept.

These initiatives could break the pattern of sports broadcasts established and unbroken for 60 years by providing genuinely immersive viewer involvement. In that context the new wave of 3D looks a little prosaic since it still hinges on a broadcaster calling the shots.

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Grass grows through acquisition, investment out workflow as each tool (server, graphics, master control, and the automation system) is integrated and built to work together.

However, this is more than just a simple channel-in-a-box, as it can cope with even the biggest multichannel operations.

PubliTronic started in 1997 developing some of the earliest integrated playout systems, primarily for the European market, and saw its revenues double in each of the last several years. Its systems now range from small disaster recovery solutions to addressing the needs of large multichannel service providers. It has an installed base of more than 800 on-air channels, with customers such as Red Bee Media, Encompass, Nickelodeon, the BBC, and Turner. It sees its main competitors as Miranda’s iTX and Snell’s Morpheus ICE for larger facilities, and PlayBox for smaller installations. All of its 32 employees have joined Grass Valley.

Leading Edge Alain Andreoli is focused on mainstream live production and playout

Following its acquisition by Francisco Partners on 1 January, 2011 has seen a resurgent Grass Valley focus on expansion through investment in R&D and its own acquisitions, most recently of playout specialist PubliTronic. David Fox analyses the varied and ambitious IBC-time moves from GVG Grass Valley has a new CEO and a new confidence after recent years of uncertainty as it waited for someone to buy it from Technicolor. While it will remain a mainstream broadcast business, it has identified key growth areas and strategies that have already resulted in new offerings.

GVG saw a huge opportunity in integrated playout, as 90% of facilities that could use such systems

have yet to buy them, and Alain Andreoli, president and CEO, believes such systems will become the norm within the next five years.

So, in October, Grass Valley bought PubliTronic, the privately held Dutch-based provider of multichannel automated playout systems.

“When we decided to expand our playout offerings to include an integrated approach, we had a choice: do it on our own or invest through an acquisition,” said Andreoli.

He had evaluated several companies as possible takeover targets, but concluded that PubliTronic offered the most modern approach and had core technology that could be used in other products.

“As we learned more about PubliTronic’s technology and

people, it became very clear that a combination of our talents and resources could allow us to offer innovative and compelling products to our customers quickly,” he said. Its first product, the K2 Edge server, “is a sophisticated and very powerful multichannel, integrated, automated playout system that delivers benefits to our customers from day one.”

While admitting that there are benefits for some facilities invested in traditional playout automation to continue with that approach, Grass Valley argues that it is too expensive and unnecessarily complex for many. A fully integrated system not only offers a lower initial capital cost, but total cost of ownership is reduced by streamlining the play-

The new K2 Edge will be the centrepiece of Grass Valley’s integrated playout systems. The 1RU device costs from $25,000 and is a Linux-based system with a purpose-built, high-availability architecture for 24/7 playout.

It will be available in three versions: K2 Edge Express, for entry level channels with minimal graphics needs; K2 Edge Pro, for main-line channels with more sophisticated graphics such as picture-in-picture; and K2 Edge Elite, offering switching for up to four HD sources and multichannel 2D and 3D graphics complete with DVE moves including credit squeeze. Customers can migrate via a software license to any level of capability.

Each K2 Edge system includes two features developed by PubliTronic: the K2 TX/MAM

asset management system, with a central database, and Cobalt playout automation software.

The MAM server uses a webbased GUI to control all assets including video clips, audio clips, captioning, metadata, and graphic elements. Cobalt manages all on-air events and, for increased reliability, runs independently of the database.

To help create the on-air look of a channel, Grass Valley Channel Composer (formerly PubliTronic Channel Director) is optional software that manages the import and animation of 2D and 3D graphics, creates animations, and links graphics templates to data sources for realtime on-air presentation. It is a fully-integrated channel graphics composition and management tool, running on Windows or Mac, and is integrated with the K2 TX/MAM server where templated graphics and a data stream can be defined and then referenced together as live elements in the onair playlist.

“The K2 Edge server gives Grass Valley an immediate market-leading position in the integrated playout segment,” said PubliTronic’s Founder, Harold Vermeulen, now Grass Valley’s VP Media Playout Solutions. “With its purpose-built and mission-critical architecture, service providers and broadcasters of all sizes will immediately be able to benefit from the cost savings and operations benefits of the K2 Edge multichannel, integrated, automated playout solution.”

Plus points: Marcel Koutstaal with the new LDK 3000+ camera

“The integrated playout market is not just about adding a PC to an existing automation system for clip playout,” added Charlie Dunn, executive VP, Products and general manager, Editing, Servers & Storage Product Group for Grass Valley. “To address our customer’s needs, we wanted to take a more integrated approach, especially in the area of on-air channel design with the management of all onscreen elements. That’s what we liked about PubliTronic — their system was integrated and built from the ground up, not some ‘lite’ version cut out of a high-end playout system.”

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Evolution not revolution Grass Valley may be best known for hardware, but its future lies as much in software and services. “We are not moving from hardware to software, but to blended solutions,” in areas like media asset management and multi-channel playout, said Andreoli.

“It looks very much like an IT wave taking the industry by storm.

That means the same ingredients: software and services.” Which means that Grass Valley is no longer selling products but solutions, primarily targeting live sports, live entertainment, studio productions, news and playout.

Although it will continue to make flagship systems, “we also need the volume product for every customer. All the technologies have improved. You don’t need more performance, but need a product that is good enough at a price,” said Andreoli.

“The critical part is to have the right products for the emerging markets,” where there are more likely to be greenfield projects that are more open to moving to new ways of working, but where cost is an even bigger factor.

One way it is addressing this is through Evolution, the touchscreen specialist it acquired earlier in the year. It created the touchscreen interfaces for the Kayenne and the new Karrera, and Grass Valley will use the technology for other products, enabling it to hit lower price points, with further announcements at NAB. It has shown the first iteration of a backup switcher on a touchscreen, “after years of telling people you need the buttons, so you can watch the action and intuitively know where to put your hands. But there may be applications for simpler interfaces using a GUI,” he said.

“I believe the switcher is the critical piece of hardware in live production. As the leader in this market, we want to stay there, so we have to think laterally as to where switchers will go — such as touchscreens. We want to cover completely the switcher space, because that is the hook for everything else for live production.”

CPG and GV form 3D alliance

By David Fox The Cameron–Pace Group (CPG) bestowed its star power on several companies at IBC, such as Arri and Calrec, but probably its most important announcement was the formation of an alliance with Grass Valley to accelerate the broadcast industry’s move to 3D stereoscopic production and to end the need for separate 2D and 3D crews to cover an event.

CPG and Grass Valley will be “working together to bring better 3D workflows to broadcast, developing new products for the market, and to advance and promote more efficient and effective production solutions in the live 3D sports and entertainment broadcasting arena, which is going to benefit all production and content creation companies involved in 3D,” explained Grass Valley Executive VP Jeff Rosica.

“The future of 3D is in broadcast and it’s really going to explode over the next couple of years, so we’re scrambling to stay ahead of the rising curve of demand,” said James Cameron, CPG’s co-chairman.

“It’s a little bit daunting staying ahead of the rapid rate of technology change, so we have to have powerful alliances with people who are major players in broadcast in order to really be able to fulfil this future and supply the kind of quality 3D enter-

Karrera advancement The new Karrera live production switcher is the long-term replacement for the mid-market Kayak, and will come in 4RU or 8RU frames with 1M/E to 4.5M/Es. Either can be combined with a choice of 2- or 3M/E control panels as well as a 1M/E soft-panel GUI. It includes features from Kayenne, such as source rules, RGB buttons, key chaining, bus linking, DoubleTake and FlexiKey. “We’re bringing highend functionality to a mid-range price point,” said Scott Murray, Grass Valley’s senior VP, Live Production Solutions.

The Shadow alliance: James Cameron and Vince Pace announce the new Cameron–Pace Group deal with Grass Valley at IBC

tainment that people are going to demand,” he added.

CPG has already been involved in about 140 sports productions in 3D and 27 feature films, and “we’re on a relentless path to grow the 3D business. It’s very exciting what we’re going to be able to do together, in terms of creating new products and integrating them into the workflows. We’ve been working together for a long time and this just formalises the relationship.”

The big question for CPG’s other Co-Chairman and CEO, Vince Pace, is: “How are we going to get all the way through this challenge of making 3D more Its multicolour buttons allow users to assign different colours to cameras, replay or VTR sources, for ease of use, while source rules would permit a remote camera, for example, to be linked to a key signal, and both come up at once. “This idea of multiple events together in one button push has been only available on Kayenne so far.”

With pressure to reduce costs, especially in mid market, Murray claims that Karrera will allow people to operate more efficiently.

For example, with multi-language production, the Karrera allows users to do two versions with one truck, where everything is the

reads the 2D telemetry (the focus and the subject distance) and incorporates it in the 3D result.

“This is a very cost-effective solution,” and makes it easier to tell the whole story, with all the cameras, in 3D as it would be in 2D. It was used on the US Open Tennis, where the production for CBS used 14 camera systems, nine of which were Shadow rigs.

“We’re not going to increase your crew size, we’re not going to increase your dependency on additional personnel, and we’re going to manage those costs so that when you compare them to the revenue delta, they make sense to you, and that is good business for us,” he added.

CPG is incorporating Grass Valley technologies, including the Kayenne switcher, K2 servers and K2 Dyno replay controllers into its 3D production truck.

“It’s a little bit daunting staying ahead of the rapid rate of technology change, so we have to have powerful alliances with people who are major players in broadcast in order to really be able to fulfil this future” — James Cameron, CPG cost-effective and making it more similar to the 2D approach?” One way is through alliances like this and CPG’s work with its 5D truck, which shoots 2D and 3D at the same time using a Shadow rig with 2D and 3D cameras controlled by a single 2D operator.

“The similarity is the point of interest. We all want to see the same story.” The Shadow rig same but the graphics, while DoubleTake lets the M/E channels be split. It can also be integrated with other Grass Valley equipment, and be used to control aspects of its LDK cameras, or work with K2 servers for multiple Clip Store channels.

Workflow management Beyond switchers, Andreoli’s next priority is workflow management. “Everything is digital files, so how do you manage them?

How do you distribute them?

How do you automate this so it costs very little?” He sees Stratus, its media workflow management

“Our customers want to be ready for 3D, but to do it with the equipment and the people they already have. That is the only way 3D is going to work and make sense in the television business,” said Rosica, who promised that Grass Valley’s current products will support 3D with just a simple upgrade. www.cameronpace.com

system (part of the K2 platform), as the key to this and is focusing a lot of energy on developing it further in the coming months.

Today, systems at many of its customers operate like islands, and he wants to link them all, particularly with Stratus, which has application programming interfaces to open it up to Avid, Final Cut Pro and other applications, to allow it to exchange files easily with all areas of a production chain, from editing to playout. “This is what we are doing already with several cusContinued on page 32

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Grass grows Continued from page 31

tomers,” but it will take time for the industry to move. It has just launched version 2.0 of Stratus “and will keep upgrading it until it becomes the one tool to connect you.”

Sky Racing, Australia, already uses it to help manage more than 70,000 horse and greyhound races each year, integrating K2, Dyno and Stratus for clip highlights, rough cut edits and playback in an open system integrated with its existing MAM. Because there is just one application to install, learn, and maintain, Stratus can reduce costs of entry and enable users

to do more. It allows simple configuration, reduces hardware requirements and shortens training cycles.

Media clips can be scheduled for ingest and stored in different locations, and then played back in realtime from anywhere on the Stratus network, from a single software interface. It can also be scaled down to accommodate a single user, with a single PC and a K2 Summit server.

It is also tightly integrated with such applications as the Edius NLE, to allow realtime edit-inplace and rendering of effects, as well as automated playback.

For news production, Grass Valley is introducing new Stratus plug-ins for AP’s ENPS and Avid’s iNews systems that allow users to access Stratus through the newsroom computer.

“Stratus builds gateways between different worlds that were once a room or a building apart,” said Dunn. “Now they can all be brought together at the same user level very easily. This allows one staff member to handle multiple tasks, which is becoming more appealing to media companies, large and small, in all markets.”

Its Service Oriented Architecture should allow Grass Valley to develop and install new tools and capabilities quickly and costeffectively — often a simple software download. This will also enable third-party developers to write new applications for the Stratus framework.

Added functionality Adding more to existing equipment was a big part of Grass

Valley’s offering at IBC. Its decade-old Trinix NXT routers can now be fitted with a high-quality, fully integrated

multiviewer supporting up to 3Gbps. This provides up to eight SDI multiviewer monitor outputs per card — including the ability to monitor audio for each source.

Green choices drive DutchView OBs

By David Fox DutchView, the Netherlands’ leading broadcast and facilities company, is building two new 3D-ready, 3Gbps outside broadcast trucks designed with the environment in mind.

The 12m 12-camera trucks, with dual expanding sides, will each cost €2.3 million (excluding cameras), with the first due to enter service this month — the other will be delivered next summer.

It has also signed a five-year exclusive vendor contract with Grass Valley for cameras, switchers, routers, and servers, which includes up to 70 cameras, with 24 LDK 8000 Elite cameras already delivered for the trucks, which will also use the new 3G Transmission system. “We’ve been a Grass Valley customer for many years,” said DutchView CTO, Dave Nijmeijers. “We have been working for many years with Grass Valley switchers and routers, and still think they are the best for different types of programmes.”

The trucks will be fitted with the new Karrera 3Gbps production switcher, chosen partly because it is 3D ready, plus a Multiviewer-equipped Trinix

Going green: Dave Nijmeijers is working to make DutchView more sustainable

NXT router, which he said is “stable and easy to set up.” They will also have 62-channel Studer Vista 9 audio consoles, plus Riedel wireless and wired intercom systems, which he called “the best intercoms at the moment.”

It is also using a Riedel MediorNet, chosen because many of its productions have to be set up and rigged quickly and the single fibre design of the MediorNet makes it simple to get video, audio and

intercom from a stage to the truck. “It’s very handy and smart to use it. It’s very stable, fast and easy to set up,” he said.

DutchView took delivery of the MediorNet in August and used it for the first time at a huge music festival, with four OB trucks and three audio trucks covering five stages. “It was a good experience,” he added.

For its monitor wall, it is installing Penta monitors and Sony OLED displays for reference

and grading, bought partly for their low-energy use.

The trucks will have lowemission engines using a blend of LPG and gasoil, to reduce emissions by about 30%. It will gain a further 30% saving on air conditioning, using separate circuits for equipment and production staff (with heavy, sustainable, insulation between them). Its coachbuilder, D&MS, is making all furniture from sustainable materials. It is also moving to a fully tapeless workflow, recording to EVS or Avid servers.

They will also be 3D ready.

“We didn’t decide which equipment we use for stereography” (such as Sony’s MPE-200), but will wait for demand for 3D production to build before making a final decision.

“There is no requirement for 3D in the Netherlands at the moment, and we can always rent the equipment if there is,” explained Nijmeijers.

“We make our [OB trucks] as general as possible, for all types of TV programme. They are big enough for sports and big entertainment productions,” he added. www.dutchview.nl

Mid-market mixer: Grass Valley’s new Karrera switcher

It “is the perfect solution for facilities and outside broadcast vans with limited rack space,” said Karl Schubert, Grass Valley’s senior VP & CTO. “With a fully integrated solution, no additional rack space and cabling are needed, making the Trinix Multiviewer a very elegant solution.”

Power consumption for eight outputs should be under 75W, and it features: two MADI inputs for discrete AES audio monitoring in addition to embedded audio monitoring from any source; sophisticated graphics, tally (TSL and Image Video), and UMD support; signal monitoring, status, and alarming functions; and support for Grass Valley control systems. By using the card’s cascade capability, the system can support up to 128 images on a single output without rescaling the cascaded signals. Users can also set up a single image to span multiple monitors.

LDK 3000+ adds CLASS GVG’s camera business has grown by 20% this year. “We are probably the fastest growing camera company at the moment,” claimed Andreoli at IBC. The new LDK 3000+ camera is based on its successful LDK 3000, with additional features, but at the same price. It adds secondary colour correction and CLASS (Chromatic Lens Aberration and Sharpness Solution) for improved image quality. “It delivers about 40% uplift in sharpness, especially in the corners,” explained Marcel Koutstaal, SVP and GM Camera Product Group.

A typical LDK3000+ configuration lists at €60,309, including camera head, triax camera adapter, 2-inch view finder, base station, OCP400 and tripod adapter. Existing LDK 3000 owners can add all the plus points for about €3,000 as a field upgrade.

There is also a new €14,499 9-inch LCD colour viewfinder (LDK 5309/10) for its LDK cameras. For fine focus it can zoom to pixel-for-pixel size. It also has three rotary controls and four buttons (assignable for different camera controls), plus more flexible mounting options. www.grassvalley.com

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Post production tackles need for more content File-based workflows and cloud computing were hot topics at IBC2011.

Carolyn Giardina examines trends and innovations in the post sector

The IBC Special Award went to Atlantic Productions (CEO Anthony Geffen holding Award) with Sky 3D, Onsight and SGO Mistika for the overall production of Flying Monsters 3D with Sir David Attenborough

Post production As IBC attendees explored the future of the multi-platform electronic media business, they simultaneously addressed various post production topics. As the lines between production and post continue to blur, such themes included file-based workflows and cloud computing.

Summed up Avid Technology’s CEO Gary Greenfield: “It’s really about the tremendous need to create more and more content.”

Announcements from the IBC exhibition floor flooded in, but as AJA Video Systems President Nick Rashby observed: “There were multiple technology trend themes discussed at IBC, but they all revolved around solving the same complex problems that face video professionals: workflow, speed, flexibility and space management.

“One noticeable trend is a greater demand for providing video editors with flexible options — for example with an upcoming

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firmware update, all of our Ki Pro Mini customers will have the option of using the device to record to various flavours of either Apple ProRes or Avid’s DNxHD codecs depending on the demands of a given project or workflow.”

Related, Atomos said its newly launched HD-SDI Samurai 10-bit Apple ProRes field recorder, monitor and playback/playout device would gain optional DNxHD support. Avid’s DNxHD is an existing feature for Codex, which at IBC placed emphasis on its ability to support 60fps ArriRaw capture on its onboard recorder.

Adobe said its Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium and Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection “are expected to gain a comprehensive set of tools so video editors can manipulate colour and light for any type of content, including professional film and television.” But Roberts offered: “We think that the tasks of audio, effects, finishing, editing should all have dedicated interfaces and the workflow should be simple and seamless and lossless between the applications. Historically that is what we have done and there should be no change going forward as we start to integrate this technology.”

space with its Lightworks open source initiative. At IBC, the project added codec licensing through a new membership programme, as well as editing features, 3D capabilities, and expanded third-party support. In the coming months, it will introduce the Lightworks editor for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X platforms.

On the finishing side, many major finishing systems showed upgraded features in terms of 3D tools, workflow efficiencies, and/ or support for the latest digital cinematography cameras. SGO’s Mistika — whose version 6.5 was demoed at IBC — also generated news at the IBC Awards for its contributions to Atlantic Productions’ and Sky3D’s Flying Monsters 3D with Sir David Attenborough, which was shortlisted in the content creation category for its post production and won a Special Award for the overall production.

For Resolve, Blackmagic Design is planning support for ACES (Academy Colour Encoding Spec), initiated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ committee to create a way to maintain colour consistency throughout post production. “The end result of ACES is to get accurate colour

“There were multiple technology themes discussed at IBC, but they all revolved around solving the same complex problems that face video professionals: workflow, speed, flexibility and space management” — Nick Rashby, AJA

Editing and finishing

Steven Poster: “There has been a need to address the idea of an end to end, device-independent colour management system…”

As IBC opened, word was travelling that Adobe bought Iridas, maker of the SpeedGrade finishing system, for an undisclosed sum. “The ability to deal with HDR workflows and also their stereoscopic pipeline — those are two areas where we wanted to accelerate our efforts… Iridas

fit,” said Bill Roberts, Adobe’s director of video product management. “We also saw a very big shift in colour grading. It seemed like a good time to bring the two organisations together to help us to go faster and meet the needs of the pros.”

Commenting on Adobe’s news, Avid’s Greenfield said: “I think its great that they have some interest — having good competition keeps the market honest. I think there is a long reach between products that work well in a corporate environment and work well to produce major motion pictures.”

Avid hosted a technical demonstration of future tools for Media Composer. This includes DNxHD 4:4:4, AVC HD support through Avid Media Access (AMA), support for Epic, new 3D capabilities and integration with ProTools. Avid also introduced its new Motion Graphics system.

EditShare is looking to shake up the professional post production

from any camera and easily pass those colour changes down through a post workflow for a universal and open interchange and processing of colour,” said Dan May, president of Blackmagic.

“Resolve is a huge part of the colour process for all levels of film and video makers, so support of ACES opens up our customers to use the format seamlessly in their workflow. This gives a seamless colour workflow from camera to Resolve.”

International Cinematographers Guild President Steven Poster, ASC, addressed this issue in the IBC Daily Executive Summary. Poster said: “There has been a need to address the idea of an end-to-end,

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device independent colour management system that will allow artists and technicians to indicate from the point of exposure… what the intent of any ‘look’ is for the story, and how to get there.”

Key news from The Foundry includes a new Nuke application called Hiero, which is a shot management, conform, and review tool. “Nuke is already a powerful compositing tool,” said CTO/ Founder Bruno Nicoletti. “Hiero provides the missing link functionality currently dealt with either by expensive tools, inhouse scripting or a cumbersome manual process.”

material from multiple sites.

“Multi-sites was one (feature) that we asked for because we already have multiple sites across Canada,” said Frank Bruno, VP engineering for Rogers Media.

Chyron revealed that Sky Sports News would be the first broadcaster in Europe to implement its Axis World Graphics cloud-based graphics creation

(Right) Hiero ‘provides missing link functionality currently dealt with either by expensive tools, in-house scripting or cumbersome manual process’

platform. At Sky Studios, BSkyB’s new West London headquarters, Axis World Graphics has been added to a production infrastructure Continued on page 36

Face on The Cloud In looking at ways to improve areas such as workflow, speed and flexibility, cloud computing was a frequent topic — though it remains a term that means different things to different people. Said Mike Nann, Digital Rapids’ director of marketing and communications: “For premium media organisations — whether the studios, post production facilities, media services providers, broadcasters — we see the value of the cloud model as an elastic extension of their onpremises capabilities.

“It isn’t about a wholesale move of their media processing operations to external infrastructure as a service or platform,” he continued.

“Instead, the cloud provides a means of rapidly and dynamically expanding and managing their media processing capacity, allowing them to handle peaks in demand — bigger projects, or more simultaneous projects — without making significant capital investments that may be subsequently underutilised.”

Underscoring that vision, Digital Rapids’ new Transcode Manager 2.0 was featured at IBC with new software features, built on the Kayak application platform, with integration between onpremises and cloud-based media processing. “This hybrid on-premises and cloud approach lets (customers) leverage external cloud services where they make sense, expand their capacity as-needed with better cost predictability, and manage the cloud resources seamlessly alongside their on-premises media processing infrastructures,” said Nann.

Underscoring the interest in cloud-based workflows, Canadabased broadcaster Rogers Media and its Quantel’s QTube workflow was an IBC Innovation Awards finalist. Rogers transmits news, sports and entertainment channels both nationally and regionally across Canada, with major production bases in five cities and reporters generating content across the country.

With QTube, journalists in the field can review and edit proxy files, with the full HD edit conformed and rendered at the transmission site. At IBC, Quantel showed added functionality, giving QTube the ability to integrate files that sit on generic storage, as well as to access and combine www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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The need for more content

devices, such as our UltraStudio 3D and Intensity Extreme, is an absolute must in order to support all levels of our customer base.”

Matrox and Promise Technology showed how Thunderbolt technology could be used in post production with a demonstration of multi-layer realtime editing of uncompressed HD projects, using the Thunderbolt interface.

Matrox’s MXO2 LE MAX video I/O and Promise Pegasus RAID storage were connected to an Apple iMac as part of the demo.

Meanwhile Sonnet Technologies showed Thunderbolt-enabled RAID storage and its Echo Express PCIe

Continued from page 35

that includes Chyron’s CAMIO graphics management servers, iSQ remote monitoring and playout application, HyperX systems that support streamlined graphics creation and playout for on-air graphics.

Said Darren Long, director of operations at Sky Sports News: “Our operators have found Chyron systems to be very userfriendly, and features such as integrated order management have made it very easy for our staff to order graphics from the desktop, view the graphics, and request or make any necessary changes.”

Avid put a focus on the cloud with a demo and the release of a white paper. The company also announced that it was near completion of a €4.5 million installation of a tapeless workflow at regional German broadcaster, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).

The four-year project is based around Interplay production asset management, ISIS shared storage and Media Composer finishing.

The goal is to enable journalists in WDR’s regional studios to centrally access, edit and play out its news and current affairs

Chyron revealed that Sky Sports News would be the first broadcaster in Europe to implement its Axis cloud-based graphics creation platform

programming. Said Greenfield: “It is going to be working from 13 different locations and will be using their media, distributed in a remote environment that is in essence a private cloud.”

Concluded Greenfield: “The first (cloud application from Avid) is in news broadcasting. In the next 12 months you will start to see applications that will impact post production.”

Prime Focus Technologies used IBC as an opportunity to highlight what it refers to as its ‘Domain Centric Cloud’ (DCC) infrastructure, which it offers to connect broadcasters, content suppliers and playout origination centres. Highspeed file transfer business Aspera is showing Aspera Orchestrator, a

web-based application and SDK platform for creating and managing automated Aspera file transfer workflows including third-party media applications and services (both on-premise or cloud-based) such as transcoding, quality control and digital marking.

Tracking Thunderbolt A number of post production technology manufacturers featured Thunderbolt-enabled devices at IBC. Said Blackmagic’s May: “Thunderbolt is a technology that supports high resolution displays and high performance data devices in a single port, and that is going to be used on set, in the field, in mobile trucks. Being able to support that technology with capture and playback

2.0 expansion chassis. Sonnet’s Echo Express PCIe 2.0 enables users to plug in PCI Express 2.0 adapter cards — such as full-sized video capture cards, 8Gb Fibre Channel cards, 10Gb Ethernet cards — to any computer with a Thunderbolt port. Sonnet’s Fusion D800TBR5 eight-drive RAID 5 desktop storage system featuring Thunderbolt technology includes an internal RAID controller that supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and JBOD. Both products offer two Thunderbolt ports to support daisy chaining.

AJA introduced Io XT, an I/O device that also has two Thunderbolt ports to support daisy chaining.

The purpose of IMF

By Carolyn Giardina While tackling content creation, the industry is also looking at the challenges of mastering for different platforms. SMPTE’s IMF Working Group believes the Interoperable Master Format, or IMF, could simplify that issue.

“IMF is intended for worldwide, professional applications, and originally was loosely based upon Digital Cinema standards. You can think of it as a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) for home video/television masters,” said Disney’s Annie

Chang, who chairs SMPTE’s IMF Working Group.

“The purpose of IMF is to create a high-quality, standardised and interoperable file framework for finished content. IMF allows for flexible versioning so that multiple language versions and edits can be put together without the need to create full linear versions of each language/edit.”

Chang encourages post production hardware and software manufacturers to get involved.

Reflecting that message, at IBC DVS demoed IMF support for its Clipster post production system.

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The broader significance of major displays from NHK and NDS

IBC Big Screens carry the message forward Display Technologies

By Chris Forrester IBC is always full of surprises, and while visitors will always head for their favourite Halls to seek out the latest re-invention of this or that piece of kit, for me the two most fascinating exhibits concerned screens. On the one hand there was NHK’s ‘milestone’ screen in the shape of a Sharp 85-inch prototype LCD designed to handle 8K transmissions of its spectacular Super Hi-Vision/Ultra HDTV technology.

The other equally impressive ‘screen’ was NDS’ magnificent video wall which stretched across a 3x2 mosaic of six NEC X551UN 55-inch edgeless flat-panels (each delivering 1920x1080, and with just a 5.7mm content gap), of which more in a moment.

In many respects NHK’s spectacular demo wasn’t simply the 85-inch LCD, or the even more impressive 275-inch projection screen, or even their never-less-than amazing test footage, which this year showed the final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor captured in May, and which rumbled right into your body helped by the 22.2-channel surround sound system.

Their other key test footage was taken from the colourful Copa America soccer finals in Argentina in July, and managed to totally capture the infectious enthusiasm of fans — and the on-pitch action. Live action

The image quality from NHK was like that of an open window, such was the depth of realism achieved

came from the BBC’s Television Centre and the most mundane of images, that of Wood Lane, and London’s red buses and tube trains trundling to and from Wood Lane station! The image quality was like that of an open window, such was the depth of realism achieved.

All this was truly extraordinary. But for me the even more important message was in the progress made by the Japanese over the past year. Dr Keiichi Kubota, head of NHK’s science, technology and research laboratories, talking at the show said significant

developed jointly by ourselves and Sharp.

Our goal now is to move onto a secondgeneration set, probably at 70-inch but with finer, reduced-size pixels.”

Dr Kubota said the Super-HD camera’s lens had also been dramatically reduced in weight, and size, from 80kgs in its firstgeneration to today’s third-generation lens at “just” 20kgs. Images from London came into the theatre at 250Mbps having been compressed using H.264 algorithms. Dr Kubota added that while development work continued on all of the key elements in the video chain, the next major thrust is further compression with a target of around 100Mbps using the emerging High Efficiency Video Coding, (HEVC) which is expecting to be an MPEG standard within the next year or so.

HEVC is truly a vital component in the NHK system. Although the BBC’s Dirac Professional system was used in early work

by NHK, they are now waiting for the joint ISO/IEC Motion Picture Experts Group and the ITU’s Video Coding Experts Group to resolve and fix the standard, with a first draft scheduled for February 2012 and a Draft International Standard likely to emerge by about July 2012.

It is this work which, on the current timetable, should see a ratified standard in place by January 2013.

In other words, the joint NHK and BBC efforts to capture images from next year’s 2012 London Olympic Games might be ‘pre-standardisation’ in terms of video compression. But Dr Kubota was enthusiastic

In other words, the joint NHK and BBC efforts to capture images from next year’s 2012 London Olympic Games might be ‘pre-standardisation’ in terms of video compression technical progress has been made in the year, especially in image displays. “Up until now almost everything that we have done has been projected onto screens and in darkened theatres. For broadcasting we need directview displays such as Plasma or LCD units.

We now have an LCD working at 85-inch,

about the opening and closing ceremonies being filmed, and that NHK’s cameras (they have only two UHV cameras at the moment) would be working hard in and around the London Games, and beaming their signals to crowds of viewers in some UK city centre locations by the BBC. To date, NHK has been working to a very structured timetable with scheduled test transmissions to start in 2020. Dr Kubota says the official target “has not been changed — yet. But our management is pushing very strongly to start the experiments in 2015. It is a possibility, but many elements have still to come together.”

For broadcasters this is an incredibly short timescale. There were plenty of senior broadcast engineers and studio equipment vendors at September’s IBC who are already responding to RFP’s that extend well beyond a fouryear timescale. Even allowing for the ‘experimental’ aspect of NHK’s commitment, and extending that by another four-to-six years, this suggests that perhaps in 10 years from now we might see the first non-Japanese deployments of Ultra High-Definition, probably by the likes of DirecTV or BSkyB.

NDS: Surfaces The other stunning display on show was the NDS 3.5m across ‘video wall’, officially called ‘Surfaces’. One commentator accurately said he was “blown away” by the demo, and others used “breathtaking” and ‘’amazing” in a similar vein. What truly was staggering was the amount of wholly contextual information that was drawn together by the NDS kit, and using existing metadata.

In other words, everything they showed could be achieved today.

The NDS team, led by Simon Parnell (VP/Technology), has recognised the 38

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inevitable adoption of ever-larger screen sizes — and as they grow they end up ‘displaying’ a huge acreage of black nothing when not in use. There’s also the quite real prospect of almost wall-sized displays, as well as video-capable flexible screens and ‘wallpaper’ perhaps within the next five years or so.

NDS has a solution. First, in this particular version, they matched the room’s wallpaper on the screens, making the display almost invisible! That was neat, but there was more.

The real advantage of any giant screen is having real estate to play with. A Hollywood 4,000-line movie or HDTV drama might well fill all six screens, but for dayto-day use the NDS team see different elements coming into play on the screen, with social media’s speech ‘bubbles’ popping up, or news/weather reports and connected home applications each potentially playing their part.

Indeed, it is those existing Apps that make ‘Surfaces’ so intuitive and desirable. Using a lightweight wireless tablet as the control device, NDS has ‘Mum’ switching on the radio, but where the video wall then draws down the radio station’s ID and playlist, a clock, and upcoming audio temptations as well as the latest news headlines. The on-screen data says that a celebrity is about to be interviewed on a breakfast TV show, and ’Mum’ decides she wants to watch it.

The ‘radio’ shrinks away to be replaced by the network’s video feed. NDS has engineered what it describes as an Immersive Bar on

the tablet, similar to a volume control, and this permits the viewer to decide how immersive they want the video experience to be. Slide it ‘up’ and the screen image gets bigger. Slide it ‘down’ and the screen can shrink back to any desired size. And what’s more the whole concept takes about a nano-second to ‘learn’, it is completely intuitive.

With this demo NDS has taken the TV experience beyond video, exploiting the immense variety of Apps out there, along with text and image-based news feeds and data — as well as supplementary media sources and programme-specific additional information. The assembled result depends on NDS’ Service Delivery Platform for functionality, plus a bit of extra computing.

What is spectacular is that this treatment could be supplied today.

Nigel Smith, NDS’ VP/CMO while admitting that this might be a costly investment, said that in a few years this could easily cost less than today’s higher-end displays.

“Surfaces means there’s no TV set filling up the lounge,” he added.

My view is that whatever the cost of today’s Surfaces concept

there are plenty of well-heeled buyers out there who would immediately buy into the technology. In my viewing group just about everyone said if they had the cash they’d write the cheque there and then! Five years from now Surfaces might be well past the early-adopter phase and be near mainstream.

It’s that good.

The NHK spec G G G G

85-inch LCD Ultra HighRes (7680x43209 pixels) 250Mbps signal compressed using H.264 BBC-IBC Fibre links used NTT’s Academic Network 8-channel video switcher/ slow-motion unit

The NDS spec Hardware: G Quad core CPU PC G ATI Eyefinity 6 Graphics card G 6 x NEC X551UN 55-inch panels (1920 x 1080, 5.7mm content-content gap) G iPads Software G Large Surface: HTML5 application running in Google Chrome Web Browser G Companion: HTML5 application running in Apple Safari Web Browser G Large Surface & Companion application synchronised using WebSockets G Contextual metadata from NDS SDP Web Service API

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AVC Ultra is Panasonic route to 4K and 1080p Panasonic unveiled new 3D cameras, a switcher, new LCD monitors, and announced its entry into the European studio camera market at IBC. It also discussed plans for how it will enhance its AVC codec for future file-based products.

David Fox examines its IBC moves With its new AVC Ultra codec, Panasonic plans to extend its H.264-based AVC Intra compression scheme to cover 1080p recording and visually-lossless master quality 12-bit 4:4:4 and 4K resolution, and also to reach into the low bitrate segment.

“This is really a big differentiator and a big milestone for the industry. With AVC Ultra, we can offer customers the choice to record from 25Mbps 4:2:2 10-bit up to 400Mbps,” said Christian Sokcevic, Panasonic’s director of Professional AV, Europe.

It will launch AVC Ultra products in 2013 (probably starting with a mid-range model), but showed a comparison of different versions at IBC, notably uncompressed vs AVC-Ultra 200 Class, and MPEG-2 50Mbps vs AVC Ultra 25, which shows no difference in quality, but twice the efficiency from the new codec, representing cost savings on storage and bandwidth. The EBU has already tested the AVC Ultra 200 Class, which records at up to 400Mbps for 4K or 4:4:4. The bit rate depends on the resolution and sampling rate, but should allow visually lossless, file-based mastering.

“We believe that the intrabased codecs are the most suitable for quality-conscious productions,” said Sokcevic.

3D camcorders The new HDC-Z10000 is the first integrated twin-lens 2D/3D camcorder that is officially compatible with the new AVCHD 3D/Progressive standard. It has two sets of 3xCMOS sensors recording 1920x1080 50p 2D and 3D images, manual operation, and is aimed at bridging the gap between amateur and professional in both quality and cost.

“It provides a macro function at 45cm distance, which is the closest of any integrated 3D camcorder yet,” said Sokcevic. The F1.5 lenses go as wide as 32mm for 3D or 29.8mm for 2D (where it can shoot as close as 3.5cm), with a 10x zoom for 3D and 12x for 2D. It records Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound or stereo and has two XLR audio inputs with 48v phantom power.

Also new is the AG-3DP1 HD shoulder-mount camcorder with 40

that it hopes to expand on. “For us, as a European organisation, we need to get closer to our customers and understand their requirements so we can implement their requests in our future products,” he added.

Panasonic showed two new LCD displays at IBC: the 21.5-inch BT-L2150 (1920x1080, €1,600) and the 15.4-inch BT-L1500 (1280x800, €1,400). Both have two HD-SDI inputs and LED backlighting, and are aimed at lower-budget users than its previous BT-LH models.

They also have HDMI, analogue component (Y/PB/PR, BNC×3), PC (D-SUB 15P) and analogue composite (BNC×1) inputs are provided, plus a single 2-channel analogue audio (pin jacks×2) input and embedded audio via the SDI and HDMI inputs. Other features include: tally lamps; markers; blue-only display; colour adjustments (colour temp., sharpness, RGB white balance); and GPI remote control.

Live switching

Eye popping: A visitor checks out Panasonic’s new HDC-Z10000 twin-lens 2D/3D camcorder

The new AV-HS410 all-in-one 1ME switcher will include stereo 3D support in a rack size (48.26cm) model. Its standard configuration takes nine multiformat signal inputs (eight SDI

The 3DP1, plus the AG-3DA1, will be used to produce about 10 hours per day of 3D content for Olympic Broadcasting Services during the 2012 Games in London

Focused on the studio: Sokcevic with Panasonic’s AK-HC3500 camera

10 bit, 4:2:2 1920x1080 AVC-Intra recording at 50 or 100Mbps to P2 cards, twin 17x zoom lenses, two sets of three 1/3-inch CMOS sensors and a 20-bit Digital Signal Processor. It has variable frame rate recording, with 20 variable frame steps between 12 and 60fps in 720p mode.

The camcorder has dual HD-SDI outputs, 3D-compatible HDMI output, and two XLR connectors, plus genlock and timecode inputs for multi-camera operation. It also has a remote terminal for focus iris, zoom, REC start/stop and convergence point, 3.2-inch LCD tht can display Left, Right or overlay image for reviewing depth information.

It will ship in December, with a list price of €27,000.

The 3DP1, plus the AG-3DA1, will be used to produce about 10 hours per day of 3D content for Olympic Broadcasting Services for the 2012 Games in London. It will

include the opening and closing ceremonies, and selections from athletics, gymnastics, diving and swimming, plus some sports that have never been covered in 3D before.

Studio too Panasonic will enter the studio camera market in Europe for the first time with the introduction of the AK-HC3500 early next year, with further studio-type cameras promised later in 2012.

The AK-HC3500 is a onebody 1080i camera, with three 2/3-inch 2.2-megapixal IT-CCDs, 14-bit A/D converter, 38-bit digital signal processor and spatial offset processing for greater sensitivity. The DSP includes dynamic range stretch for detailed, high quality images when shooting in a high contrast environment.

It also has fibre output.

Although many broadcasters have a triax infrastructure, Sokcevic believes that triax is

showing its limitations in an era of 1080p and 3D. “Fibre-optic is surely the future proof system.

We understand that customers have an existing infrastructure, but I’m confident we will find some sort of solution to integrate our cameras with them.”

The AK-HC3500 has two HD SDI connections, plus teleprompter and AUX outputs, and microphone, intercom and genlock inputs. The 4.7kg camera also has a shoulder pad for stable EFP shooting, and an SD memory card slot for storage and retrieval of various camera settings.

Panasonic has been selling studio cameras in other markets for years, but the European Union’s former anti-dumping levy made it uneconomic to supply such cameras here, and introducing the €36,000 AK-HC3500 will allow it to gain a foothold

inputs and one DVI-D), expandable to 13 (HD/SD switchable). It can also have up to 10 outputs.

All input channels feature a builtin frame synchroniser, there are up-converters for four channels and video processing circuits for eight channels. Five HD-SDI outputs and one DVI-D output are provided in the standard configuration, plus four Aux busses (Aux 1 comes with a mix transition function).

Support is planned for switching stereo 3D, with four 3D inputs (expandable to five). Primatte chroma keyer compositing will be also supported. The AV-HS410 will cost less than €11,000, and the optional support for 3D is scheduled for spring 2012 (requiring installation of the AVHS04M7D board and an upgrade of the AV-HS410). www.panasonic-broadcast.com

3D potential: The AV-HS410 all-in-one 1ME switcher

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Transmitter offers energy efficiency

By Michael Burns Rohde & Schwarz launched the R&SÂ THU9 high-power transmitter at IBC this year, boasting the best energy efficiency values for solid-state TV transmitters, according to the company. The transmitter can handle all common digital and analogue TV standards, reducing energy costs by offering efficiencies of up to 28% for COFDM standards and up to 30% for ATSC standards including the cooling system.

With the THU9, Rohde & Schwarz has significantly reduced attenuation throughout the whole RF chain, while the amplifier integrates advanced efficient power transistors in 50V LDMOS technology.

The liquid cooling system also boosts efficiency, while specially developed power supplies allow the transmitter control unit to optimise the transistor supply voltage, which results in further design efficiencies.

With 15kW total output power for COFDM standards in a single rack, the R&SÂ THU9 provides significant power density. The maximum output power per rack is 18.5kW for ATSC and ATSC Mobile DTV, and 30kW for analogue TV. If necessary, they can be combined into an N+1 system. When configured as a single transmitter, the pump unit and the bandpass filter are integrated in the rack. The new R&SÂ TCE900 transmitter control exciter can be configured as a transmitter control unit or as an exciter using plug-in boards, and can be software-switched from analogue to digital TV standards.

The ergonomic operating terminal is easy to access, featuring a display unit with touchscreen that can accommodate a wide variety of viewing angles. Intuitive menus also add to the ease of use.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a real milestone for us,â&#x20AC;? said Axel Menke, Rohde & Schwarz product manager for Terrestrial Transmitter Systems. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very modular design â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a bit like a toolbox, really â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you can pick out whatever

you like. The graphic interface operating concept is also new and easy to navigate; although other manufacturers do use touchscreen, ours is a unique and intuitive design.â&#x20AC;? www.rohde-schwarz.com

Axel Menke: The R&S THU9 offers reduced energy consumption

SWR purchases first 1238CFs

By Paul Watson At IBC Genelec announced it had sold the first batch of its new 1238CF monitors to German public broadcasting station SWR, which purchased more than 40 of Genelecâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1238CFs at the back end of 2010 for its new facility thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s currently being built in Stuttgart.

SWR has a longstanding relationship with Genelec and was involved in the development of the 1238CF, which newly appointed Managing Director Siamak Naghian says has been particularly beneficial. â&#x20AC;&#x153;SWR worked with us on the listening tests when we were developing the product,â&#x20AC;? he explained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of designed for them, really. We have a very strong working relationship with SWR; they were able to come to us and propose certain requirements, and we were able to give them what they wanted.â&#x20AC;?

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Frankenstein or sleeping beauty?

What to look for in a broadcast MAM solution for 2012 and beyond MAM Opinion

By Russell Grute Working as an independent consultant, specialising in media management and workflow development, I was recently asked by the CEO of a growing broadcaster “if we could start from scratch next year how should we improve our MAM strategy?” An apparently reasonable question I thought. Yet despite having worked through successful MAM-based projects over the last 10 years with clients including ESPN Star Sports, NRK, Channel 4, MTV Northern Europe, HBO Asia, Al Jazeera and SBS Networks, I admit I struggled for an easy answer.

At IBC in September around 400 technology vendors, partners and integrators offered a MAM capability as part of their value proposition. Improved content creation, repurposing and distribution workflows to increase broadcast and new media revenue were promised by all.

With such wide choice has MAM now matured and are clear choices are easier? Perhaps our CTO’s ‘reasonable question’ can be answered by sharing what has worked for others so far. And by looking at better solutions architecture and integration, and the skills and motivations required to deliver improved media asset management.

Solutions architecture There is a wider range of solutions architectures than ever before to improve any scale of media management. Today’s island subsystems in production, post production, graphics and playout are potentially now so performant that for some cases I question if a separate MAM system is necessary.

The interoperability of content, its metadata, projects and libraries, while still a delicate area, is now mainstream. Ironically, many manufacturers champion their compatibility and interoperability with partners (and competitors) as much as their own core value proposition.

Avid, EVS and Grass Valley, as examples, regularly vie with each other to be the most compatible with Apple’s Final Cut. Recent ‘X’ rated news has clouded this somewhat but I hope it makes the point; keep an eye on Adobe too.

Other technologies manage high volume incompatibilities throughout the content lifecycle. Harmonic or Telestream for example, can transform any legacy file and send it anywhere; often unnecessarily in a poorly designed workflow. As a result thousands of duplicate file copies going nowhere now infect many broadcasters’ storage systems. End-to-end media lifecycle management is just one reason to consider better enterprise MAM. Other reasons include: helping staff across the business to search and access material to collaborate more efficiently and, sharing and monitoring both content and infrastructure. Where multivendor technology needs to be integrated to improve workflow many MAM vendors have progressed, or been forced, toward software systems integration.

This is evident in multichannel playout systems where often only the MAM vendor can properly integrate channel management systems such as ad sales, traffic, and scheduling and increasingly new media distribution. Only by durable long term integration between MAM and channel management systems can media distribution businesses now succeed.

Whether islands and/or enterprise are required, a technological economy of scale can now only be gained by having the right software integration capabilities and partnerships.

Issue Focus on Broadcast MAM At TVBEurope we regularly return to the ever-evolving topic of Media Asset Management. Why? Because new technologies and file-based workflows are constantly moving the goalposts in terms of broadcast operations, ROI, functionality and plain ease of use. Our MAM columnist Russell Grute hits the nail right on the head in his first paragraph: ‘I was recently asked by the CEO of a growing broadcaster “if we could start from scratch next year how should we improve our MAM strategy?” An apparently reasonable question I thought…’ Indeed: but not so easy to answer! In the following pages, please find further MAM opinion and two case studies from France, one from Spain, one from the UK and another from further afield. — Fergal Ringrose These skills are now the key enablers in achieving secure solutions architectures, which comprise generic integration platforms, virtualisation and distributed cloud-based services.

Quiet beautiful integration While investment over the next three-to-five years could be dramatically lower on technology costs there will be increased investment in specialist services. Today’s flexible software driven systems based on IT offer higher performance, more flexibility and resilience but require careful handling. Those key individuals that understand properly the use cases and potential workflow improvements, who can also liaise with technologists, are currently still a rare breed. Software integration, ongoing workflow development and flexible operational support are the key new disciplines required to maintain a strong MAM ecosystem.

A clear danger sign early in a MAM project is when a few smart

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people on the client’s IT side, often focused on in-house IT access or the scheduling system, start talking ‘in code’ with supply-side developers.

A short-term boost of well-intentioned technical problem solving is often followed by a Frankenstein integration with too many hidden and poorly documented technical workarounds. Structuring wider review of these early decisions and risks by involving key users, the project manager and the support team can avoid problems with ongoing workflow improvement, scalability in adding new services and operational support.

Many clients admit they are sometimes slower in delivering their in-house project commitments than specialist technology suppliers, due to limited in-house expertise and capacity. This is a key reason to engage an SI and specialist third-party integration partners.

Motivation for success By 2012 MAM is not new. Broadcasters continue to look at reorganising their talent, operations and technology using MAM and better workflows. Some broadcasters are looking for a second or even third time at MAM to drive enterprise efficiency. Carefully balancing new job roles with high volume media processing is a key success factor when delivering improved media asset management.

To achieve this balance and to help heads of operations work effectively with their CTO’s team and technology suppliers it’s helpful to use a vision statement. For example: ‘What will we do when the business asks us to deliver increased programming, or launch twice as many new channels, with no increase in staff?’

So which MAM strategy would I recommend for 2012 to help our CEO streamline content creation, repurposing and distribution? Regrettably this short story doesn’t offer a ‘happily ever after’. The improved ROI using MAM, which has eluded many so far, was caused in part by a weak vision, inaccurate scope and poor integration. Somehow if we stitched enough IT and broadcast parts together and added enough volts many hoped the vision would come to life.

In 2012 perhaps we’ll create less clunky misunderstood monsters and instead take the opportunity for some restful beautiful integrated efficiency. www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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Sharing access across RTVE

By Simon Hayward, regional sales director of Northern and Southern Europe, Avid With its seven television channels and six radio stations spread across Spain, news represents one of Spanish Radio and Television (RTVE) Corporationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main pillars. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Canal 24 Horas (24/7 news channel), its Teledeporte (sports channel) and telediarios (daily news bulletins) have generated leading audience market shares over the last few years.

Because of this growing consumer thirst for quality programming, RTVE has seen substantial increases in the volume of content created by its channels. And this was the catalyst to exploratory investigations to invest in an enterprise-wide media asset management system.

No mean feat as it had to meet RTVEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stringent requirements of storing hundreds of thousands of hours of footage but also be sufficiently flexible and reliable to provide media access from multiple locations.

end-to-end Avid workflow. With the concepts and designs for the digital workflow in place, work began. The plan: to eliminate the daily use of videotape, bring the group fully into the world of file-based workflow, speed up and improve the quality of production, and generally make it a slicker, more professional operation.

To meet the tough challenge of implementing a media asset management solution across diverse environments and locations, while at the same time incorporating remote access, media sharing and transfer facilities, a close working partnership was essential. We recommended Avidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s asset man agement solution, Interplay, to sit at the heart of the integrated news workflow. The other key components making up the end-to-end news solution comprised of ISIS 7000 shared storage, AirSpeed Multi Stream servers, Interplay Assist, NewsCutter, iNews Instinct and iNews Command.

The plan: to eliminate the daily use of videotape, bring the group fully into the world of file-based workflow, speed up and improve the quality of production, and make it a slicker, more professional operation A challenging brief

The rollout

As Spainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest and most influential multimedia group, RTVE needed an expert in media asset management to advise, implement, transition and train staff on the mammoth task that is full-scale newsroom digitisation.

RTVEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall objective was clear: to implement a file-based workflow capable of increasing the flexibility, speed, productivity and quality of their entire news production system.

After evaluating a wide range of offerings on the market, RTVE decided the answer to their challenging brief was an

As with any large-scale project, we approached it one step at a time. The master control centre at TorrespaĂąa was the first site to go entirely file-based, and after that success, RTVE asked us to follow up with similar projects in its MĂŠrida, Las Palmas and Sant Cugat Del VallĂŠs (Barcelona) facilities. Each of these sites included an ISIS 7000 shared storage system and Interplay production asset management system for ingest, archiving, coding, transcoding and transfer.

The creation of news bulletins is a fundamental function in RTVE, and we helped to advise them on the

iNews Instinct was picked as the journalistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tool primarily because it allows RTVE to work with text, video and audio in one application

Ingest and playout is handled by AirSpeed MultiStream servers

best tools to get bulletins to air quickly and efficiently. Avid iNews Instinct was picked as the journalistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tool primarily because it allows them to work with text, video and audio in one application. To help contributors find the right clips and accelerate the editorial process, Avid Interplay Assist was chosen to allow them to add locators, comments, annotations and personalised notes.

To support the key journalist iNews Instinct editing stations, Avid NewsCutter craft-editing systems were installed to ensure the visual quality of stories before playout.

For master ingest and playout, RTVE contributors put in AirSpeed

MultiStream servers. And for regional centres, playout of daily news programmes is handled by iNews Command with its dynamic playlist management.

Accessing content With the end-to-end Avid workflow in place, RTVE can now connect its seven regional production centres. And it has allowed them to optimise access to legacy assets, data stock audiovisual archive, and all the recently acquired material used in news and post production.

The new production infrastructure has enabled staff across all

areas of the news production chain to access content. This brings many benefits. It enables contributors to edit the most recently acquired video at their own workstations while the same material is made available across the rest of the organisation. It allows locally stored content to be accessed from any production centre. It makes online media at TorrespaĂąa, the heart of the RTVE network in Madrid, available to regional centres. And it establishes a protocol to access legacy content (deep historical archive), which currently stands at about 250,000 hours.

Currently, the number of workstations with simultaneous access to online material at the TorrespaĂąa centre exceeds 300 licenses. The spectrum of solutions installed as part of the digitisation project now allows any professional to access a wealth of media from a single workstation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; using advanced browsing and editing tools in a shared environment. This has truly revolutionised the way RTVE employees access, manage and share their content, and the company is now beginning to reap the rewards of a full-scale file-based news operation.

Transmit-Route-Receive

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Paris-based TV channel CANAL+ i>TÉLÉ has undergone a major MAM upgrade

A news factory in Paris With the MAM, everything is in one place and all the metadata is linked directly to the video and immediately available to the journalists

By David Stewart All-news outlet CANAL+ i>TÉLÉ is omnipresent, available free on the terrestrial TNT television channel satellite and cable, the web and mobile devices.

Having delivered more than a decade of reliable TV news programming, the Paris-based channel was due for a major upgrade of its aging technical infrastructure.

The technology-savvy channel had added new media services as they became available, but the teams generating content for the extended platforms tended to be ‘add-ons’ to the main newsroom rather than fully integrated into the workflow.

With an upgrade on the drawing board, management saw an opportunity to create a truly collaborative, multimedia ‘news factory’.

“We envisioned this modernisation project as something much bigger than an equipment purchase. We wanted to rethink everything in order to improve productivity and to create a model for multiplatform news production that would last well into the future,” explains Pierre Fraidenraich, CEO of i>TÉLÉ.

“We planned a significant revamping of the editorial roles, responsibilities and workflows.

That kind of major change is difficult to implement in practical and in human terms.” As part of their internal process, i>TÉLÉ performed an extensive analysis and identified many redundant tasks and roles. They developed an extensive RFP that included

detailed requirements for new hardware and for a software solution that would deliver a unified system with state-of-the art production and distribution tools.

Xavier Bodin Hullin, director of Operations for i>TÉLÉ, says the project scope required an integrator who could expertly address the technical issues as well as the change management considerations. “We wanted to minimise investment and maximise results. In choosing an integrator we sought a partner who could work well with our team and other vendors. We would need to train our 200-strong staff and an additional 150 parttime contributors, so training was also very important as we wanted the staff to feel confident and fully engaged to achieve a successful transition,” says Bodin Hullin.

management) and a separate system for clip-editing. It was discordant. We generated three different rundowns depending on your role — producer, presenter, director — and they were not linked together.”

Now everyone is on the same system and uses the same tools.

Everyone sees the same rundown and version of the show. “All the necessary information is centralised and visible on the rundown whether its video, VOs, packages, scripts, or graphics”, explains Angotti. “There’s much better organisation and fewer errors.”

Dalet News Suite also met the requirement for integration with other broadcast and storage systems including Omneon Spectrum video servers, production storage from Quantum Stornext and Data Direct Networks, Apple Final Cut Pro NLE’s, VizRT graphics, the in-house archive and publishing systems. Dalet Professional Services was chosen as lead integrator for the modernisation project.

agencies or camera crew right at the point of ingest. We enter all the essential metadata using Dalet’s asset management forms. We also select the best and most relevant shots,” he explains.

With the MAM, everything is in one place and all the metadata is linked directly to the video and immediately available to the journalists. The consistency of metadata entry greatly improves the workflow and also adds tremendous value to the archive, making it far easier to search, find and retrieve content.

“We are at least 50% more efficient when compared to our old method which depended on paper notes handed from person to person and media stored in different places,” says Michel. “During breaking news, we use chat windows and send links to best clips to speed production. The system gives us great flexibility.”

In addition to managing metadata schemes, the Dalet MAM also controls user workflows

Training team

All from one desktop CANAL+ i>TÉLÉ selected Dalet News Suite to provide a unified and fluid workflow for its multimedia newsroom. News Suite is built on the Dalet’s Media Asset Management platform and includes a complete set of NRCS tools within a single user interface, allowing journalists to perform all their essential tasks from one desktop.

“This was a major improvement for the journalists,” says Fabrice Angotti, chief editor of i>TÉLÉ.

“In our old workflow, journalists would work on two computers — one with office tools, internet and email; and another with a NRCS (wires, scripting, rundown

Dalet News Suite includes an integrated editor that allows journalists to drag high resolution clips directly to the timeline for fast editing, simple effects such as blurring, voiceover creation and CG placement

Control tower i>TÉLÉ leveraged the capabilities of the Dalet MAM and integrated newsroom production tools to transform its workflow making it far more productive and collaborative. The MAM capabilities of News Suite provided an important foundation for the change.

Luc Michel manages the newly created Media Coordination Team, which he compares to a control tower. “We receive and review all incoming media, whether from

throughout the production process from planning through playout and new media publication including notifications, chats, editorial statuses, approvals and task assignments. “We want to be as fast as possible, but also accurate. The validation process is very important,” says Angotti.

More than 150 workstations are deployed at i>TÉLÉ. In addition to the traditional NRCS functionality, Dalet News Suite includes an integrated editor that allows

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journalists to drag high resolution clips directly to the timeline for fast editing, simple effects such as blurring, voice-over creation and CG placement.

There’s no need for a CG operator in the control room as Dalet automatically triggers CGs during playout which allows an unburned version of the story to be saved for the archive. Simultaneously, an additional timeline track can be used to apply burned graphics.

Playout is also controlled by Dalet.

All of the news packages are created with Dalet Media Cutter.

Final Cut Pro systems are principally used for post production. The new workflow also allows graphic artists to focus on sophisticated animations and complex designs rather than simple graphics. In the studio, Dalet controls teleprompters, VizRT graphic engine and playout video servers.

Dalet allowed i>TÉLÉ to drastically simplify the processes to edit a story and distribute it on any platform. Angotti credits Dalet for the workflow improvement. “There were questions about how to adapt graphics that can be played out on air, but not on a mobile phone, for instance. Dalet answered those needs with automatic repackaging and burning of graphics,” he explains. “Overall, there are fewer manipulations and the new media people are more involved as they are working with the asset right from the start — they can search, dragand-drop the video file into a category and the system manages the distribution to iPads, internet, mobile and so on, it’s very automatic.”

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All the i>TÉLÉ staff agree that the new system significantly improved productivity with streamlinedworkflows and greater collaboration that embraced new media production as an integralpartof i>TÉLÉnewsroom. “Dalet allows journalists to work faster and better. It was remarkable how fast users grasped the tools, and we thank the training team,” says Angotti. “There was a training plan and several dry runs, andwhenwewentlivethere were-no mistakes.” The underlying MAM platform in News Suite also provides metadataandmedia managementfromingest through to archiving and multiplatform publishing.

MaintenanceManagerBenjamin Ghez likes the fact that that the technical aspects of the system are transparent to users. “There are several bricks involved with many complex integrations,” he explains. “As lead integrator Dalet managed all this, andasaresultallthesepartsworkas one.” He also appreciates the open, IT-basednatureof theDaletsystem which makes it more cost effective, easier to maintain and more adaptable for future innovations.

Bodin Hullin says the modernisation project achieved its goals.

“On D-Day all the i>TÉLÉ staff agreed that the new system significantly improved productivity with streamlined workflows and greater collaboration.” www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBEU R O PE M E D I A A S S E T M A N A G E M E N T

Distributed system links Luxembourg and Paris playlists

AB Television taps SI Media for golf and poker channels

By David Stewart SI Media was recently selected by AB Television, one of the main private television operators in France, as the supplier of a system consisting of two HD channels. The system manages the emission on-air of two thematic channels: AB Golf Channel and AB Lucky Jack Channel.

This involves a distributed system, with the main playout carried out in a datacentre in Luxemburg, while the disaster recovery system, capturing and the preparation of the playlists are carried out in Paris in the main branch of AB Television Company.

The playout occurs in 1080i HD and the chosen containers for clip management are MXF and GXF. Indeed, the choice of GXF format is necessary due to the enormous existing archive, all in SD and GXF. The adopted video server is based on a custom solution that foresees a local cache in Raid-5 and a Matrox board. Another two video servers with the same configuration operate in Paris. These

SI Mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MAM system is capable of distributing the clips planned by the playlists in the three video servers; archiving new clips in the central archive; and recovery, if need be, of clips into the video servers

intervene in case of a fault at the main video server, but are also used as the ingest channels from live sources and/or tapes both operating in XDCAM-HD format.

The MAM supplied by SI Media distributes the clips planned by the playlists in the three video

WHATSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;On allows me to plan multimedia content on all channels and platforms from within one single system.

servers; archives new clips in the central archive; and recovers, if need be, clips into the video servers.

Other than the ingestion from external sources (lives and tapes), it is also possible to import clips from watch folders, take advantage of the MAM capacity, to recognise

the new clips and recover the necessary metadata.

The playlists are created with traffic Karina developed entirely

by AB Television. This large interfacing project from both parts has allowed Karina to connect to the SI Media database thanks to a gateway (MediaLinker) developed

by SI Media.

Aside from the three video servers and numerous clients, the system involves two Hitachi Central Archives (one of 40TB in Luxemburg and one of 120TB in Paris), 4 Cast Genie CG and logo generators supplied by Anywhere Video (two main and two backup), and Harris routers.

The SI Traffic, Automation, MAM and Newsroom systems are available for deployment either as stand-alone solutions, or integrated in a harmonic and homogeneous workflow. The solutions will easily interface with popular archiving systems, video servers, CGs, subtitle inserters as well as other traffic and automation systems.

All solutions developed by SI Media are field-proven, based on the .NET platform using MS SQL database engine in high availability clustering environment.

With experience gained from the deployment of 180 medium to large sized broadcasters (238 channels on-air 24/7) the SI Media Automation solution interfaces with almost any broadcast device and video server.

New Genesix for playout

By Fergal Ringrose As a result of continuous development, Stryme launched the next generation of its IT-based Genesix playout solution at IBC. Genesix V2 offers new features and improvements like client/ server architecture, enhanced scheduling, character generator, fully automated workflows and traffic management on new redundant server hardware.

Through the improved calendarstyle scheduling user interface, programme planning becomes as easy as creating appointments in Outlook. Beside the improved interface, scheduling now offers programme planning on daily and weekly bases.

The new automation feature provides functions like automated gap-filling, GPI- and CG-triggering or logo insertion. The traffic management service keeps the local video storage of the playout server up-to-date and fetches the required content files from central storage automatically. With the integrated character generator it is now much easier to put title, banner, news line, stocks and weather information into the video stream. www.stryme.com

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www.mediagenix.tv www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBEU R O PE M E D I A A S S E T M A N A G E M E N T

Supporting digital workflow and multiplatform operation

By Christophe Carniel, Chief Executive Officer, Netia The shift from tape-based media operations to digital file-based workflows has opened up new opportunities for media distribution and monetisation. For broadcasters and telecom operators, it also has introduced greater competition and a variety of new technical and operational challenges.

Digital workflows have facilitated a significant rise in the number of distribution platforms and outlets through which broadcasters and telecom operators, as well as content owners, can deliver and monetise their digital assets with the promise of offering content anywhere at any time. In today’s media marketplace, relative newcomers such as overthe-top (OTT) portals are working closely with content owners and providing the IT-based technologies required to sell and deliver content directly to consumers cost-effectively.

As a result, the premium programming once available only from

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terrestrial broadcasters and cable and satellite operators now is being offered to consumers via OTT services and internet-connected TV sets.

Effective media management Coincident with the convergence of the traditional broadcast and telecommunications sectors, along with the advance of IP-based video transmission technologies, the entry of new players into the marketplace is driving the growth of multiplatform media delivery. Of the new technical demands facing broadcast and telcos seeking to launch multiplatform services, efficient media management is among the most important.

Rather than establish multiple

parallel content preparation and delivery workflows, media companies must create streamlined content management (CM) models that support their multiplatform publishing activity. Within such models, MAM systems are proving essential to managing production and delivery of content for IPTV, the internet, VoD, and mobile platforms. Creation of a single comprehensive workflow and elimination of duplicate processes and storage saves media companies both time and money while simplifying overall operations.

Sophisticated MAM solutions today support workflows incorporating all key processes. Offering users control through a single interface and customisable task-oriented GUI, such MAM solutions simplify the handling of multiformat media and provide powerful tools for leveraging metadata associated with content. Consequently, broadcasters and telcos can more easily manage their stored images, audio, video, and

text throughout their operations.

CM begins as media enters a facility, where the MAM system interfaces with ingest, production, automation, and storage applications to automate acquisition of high-resolution media and associated metadata from sources ranging from post houses and production facilities to traditional TV and radio broadcasters. During this process, the MAM system enriches media with metadata that later will help staff to employ search engine capabilities to locate and access specific content with speed and ease.

Automation Equipped with partial-restore functionality, the MAM system enables users to access and restore just the high-resolution media they need.

Easy-to-use click, mark in/mark out, and drag-and-drop functions gives those users, regardless of their technical know-how, the ability to enter precise search queries and to find and retrieve a particular piece of

content. Automation of other key functions, such as speech-to-text processing, transcoding, and quality control, aids in cutting production times while improving the accuracy of media handling.

As content is prepared for delivery, the MAM system guides and performs key tasks including transcoding, quality checking, image processing, and subtitle management. Tapping into the MAM system’s desktop interface, users can access tools for content packaging, metadata tagging, and rights management.

The MAM system ensures the consistency of metadata and organises this information in categories developed to support the company’s business model and workflow. The preservation of metadata related to digital rights enables the operator to ensure that programming can be delivered to particular outlets.

A series of configurable rules directs the delivery of content to the appropriate service provider and ensures that it meets the requirements of the target platform and application, whether it be VoD to a set-top box, catch-up TV, or an internet portal.

By implementing comprehensive yet straightforward MAM systems, these media companies can expand their business models and maintain their competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBEU R O PE M E D I A A S S E T M A N A G E M E N T

Media asset management overcomes format, language, geographical and time zone barriers

JCA digitises for KidsCo

By Simon Kay, managing director, JCA

Digital delivery

As UK-based broadcasters continue to expand into new markets and territories around the world, the demand for an effective, simple and streamlined solution for collecting content in varying formats and transforming it for marketing, distribution and international and broadcast delivery has become increasingly prevalent. The way we share and distribute content has also changed dramatically over the past decade and highlighted the importance of investment in digital, tapeless workflow solutions and an effective media asset management system.

Nowadays we shoot digitally, post digitally for both film and TV and broadcast digitally, so why don’t we distribute digitally? Rights/ content owners have long been reluctant to move from using tape to digital files, but now more and more distributors are embarking on mass

The easiest way for broadcasters and distributors to navigate these parameters is to ensure that all their content exists in digital form. This not only reduces distribution costs, it also makes the delivery process quicker, simpler and more accurate. That said the appropriate support mechanism of a MAM system is key to this because it provides broadcasters and suppliers with complete control of their content — so they can easily manage and access their library 24/7 and track the material flow; to transmission, VoD population, an online player or simple digital file delivery.

These bespoke systems can hold vast amounts of metadata relating to each item, including timecode capture for transmission, clip management and ancillary data about specific programmes. This metadata can then

The compliance view system within the MAM allowed details of changes to be circulated among the compliance team and KidsCo

computers to pre-prepared content such as complete programmes, promos, images and scripts, broadcasters can eradicate the need to rely on couriers or mail deliveries, meaning deals can be negotiated faster and more efficiently.

While it can be argued these systems do provide content/rights owners and broadcasters with greater control of their content, there are some, that find it limiting and time-consuming because files have to be re-versioned to suit the desired platform. Previously content owners would have simply sent the tapes and not worried about it. However, while this may be seen as a negative by some, it does allow content to be delivered safely and presented in the way it was supposed to be viewed.

Digitisation programme International children’s television channel KidsCo needed a system that could distribute its schedule of content to different broadcasters with the right languages, in the right format

digitisation projects in a way we’ve not seen before. This, combined with increasing levels of competition and technological advancements, has resulted in new business opportunities emerging, as well as new distribution channels, for broadcasters to exploit and use to enhance international growth strategies.

be tracked and referenced internally and externally via a web browser providing end-to-end management for all client content.

The other added benefit of an effective MAM is that it helps speed up the sales process for broadcasters. By giving prospective platforms access from their

For the international children’s television channel, KidsCo, which is available in nearly 100 territories across Europe, Asia and Africa, media asset management is a big issue. KidsCo required a system that could distribute its schedule of original productions, classic content and interstitials to different broadcasters with the right languages, in the right format, and overcome geographical and time zone barriers.

To solve this problem, the JCA team developed a five-stage

digitisation programme to re-version and re-format KidsCo’s existing content and deliver it for broadcast through a bespoke MAM system which could manage regional playouts and enhance their international expansion plans into new and emerging territories.

The first stage in this process focused on the re-formatting and standardisation of KidsCo’s content to fit its master file specifications. During this stage all of the digitised content was also made available to the client for general viewing but also to facilitate the second stage process of compliance viewing. The compliance view system within the MAM system also allowed details of changes to be circulated among the compliance team and KidsCo so that speedy decisions about content amendments could be made.

The third stage in this process was concerned with the establishment of multiple language feeds to satisfy KidsCo’s different territories.

The MAM system would control the distribution and receipt of language files such that multi language content could be distributed prior to transmission. Once these three preparation stages had been completed the pre-delivery process was undertaken to ensure that video and relevant multiple audio elements were compliant and in sync.

New British PBS service launched

By Melanie Dayasena-Lowe Myers Information Systems, a developer of broadcast traffic, business and content management software, has implemented a metadata delivery platform that will enable the airing of PBS content to audiences in the UK. The platform was developed for PBS Distribution (PBSd), a joint venture of PBS and WGBH, Boston’s public television outlet, www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

with international rights to a significant library of public television titles. Myers has supplied metadata for the programmes identified by PBSd, enabling the new British PBS service — which launched this month on Sky channel 166 — to populate its traffic and scheduling system.

“Myers’ long-standing commitment to PBS, coupled with an in-depth understanding of our

operations, made the company an ideal partner for this unique outreach project,” said Tom Koch, vice president of PBS Distribution.

“We look forward to a successful collaboration with the Myers team as we extend our programming to new audiences overseas.”

“As this project demonstrates, the ‘information systems’ part of our company name grows increasingly relevant — we’re engaged

in much more than traffic and billing solutions,” said Crist Myers, company CEO and president.

“PBS presented us with an exceptional opportunity to contribute our expertise to this project and help them extend the reach of PBS programming into the UK multichannel market. I strongly believe in the mission and values that PBS promotes and it brings me great pleasure to know that

On demand Once ready this was flagged within the MAM system and all the content was then delivered to playout centres electronically and formatted according to the transmission schedule for the designated regional markets. The final stage in the project was to implement a system to fully use the digital content library for video-on-demand platforms with the appropriate language dub.

These material assets were then tagged to various promos, sports, scripts and marketing materials to allow the programme assets to be fully monetised in order to improve upon the on-going sales process.

Paul Robinson, Global CEO, KidsCo says: “We are delighted with the work JCA have done for us in developing a bespoke system through which we can manage all our programming, marketing, and promotional material. As KidsCo continues to grow and move into new markets and territories all around the world it is becoming increasingly important for us to be able to deliver content to platforms, in varying formats with different language tracks instantly. Our media asset management system streamlines this process and provides us with the ability to develop and negotiate new business opportunities both simply and effectively.”

Although the benefits of a digital MAM system are clear, there are still some distributors who remain resilient and unconvinced by a fully digitised distribution model. The key to this is maturity. Digital distribution is still relatively new and at present an untapped opportunity. It also depends upon broadcasters and content/rights owners’ distribution models, content libraries and overall requirements.

For some a digital solution at present is not suitable or a worthwhile investment. However, for broadcasters who deal with international partners it’s an essential businesses requirement which can ultimately reduce costs, delivery times and streamline the content management process for all parties. For distributors who wish to participate in exploiting their content in the VoD world it is an absolute must.

Myers Information Systems is playing a small, albeit important, role in helping to launch this exciting new venture.”

Myers’ flagship suite, ProTrack, is available in both radio and television editions. It offers scheduling and business management for individual, multichannel and multistation facilities. Actively used by more than 226 media outlets, supporting more than 1,300 channels, ProTrack provides a highlevel of structure and scalability, without sacrificing flexibility, for today’s rapidly evolving media environments.

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TVBEU R O PE T H E W O R K F L O W

AP rolls out global HD strategy

The news agency selected ATG as its SI for the new MCR in London

Melanie Dayasena-Lowe takes a tour of the Associated Press’ new Master Control Room (MCR) at its London office in Camden — part of the news agency’s global HD rollout strategy The Associated Press has put an aggressive HD rollout strategy into action, starting with its London hub. This year the global news agency will complete its HD rollout at nine international locations and 25 in 2012.

In a multi-million dollar upgrade, the AP is transforming its video business by switching its entire newsgathering, production and distribution systems to HD, forming the largest rollout of HD by any news agency globally. This investment will provide AP customers with a wider range of options in how they receive video content, both in the traditional broadcast market and on digital platforms.

The AP began rolling out HD in phases, beginning with entertainment news on 11 November 2011, to be followed by sports news via its joint venture with Sports News Television (SNTV) in January 2012. The completion date for the main breaking news service will be June next year. “2012 was the tipping point for HD because of the Olympics and the US presidential elections,” explains AP’s Nigel Baker, VP, Business Operations, EMEA and Asia. AP took the decision to go HD to “keep ahead of the competition,” he adds.

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Baker believes there is an appetite out there for HD: “The most recent research we’ve done with our entertainment customers would indicate a third of them are

formed to accommodate HD with customers able to download broadcast quality and HD footage from its website.

Also part of AP’s HD strategy involves the upgrade of SNG mobile trucks and flyway units to HD, the introduction of a new production system and the upgrade of its internal connectivity for moving HD video around.

AP Director of Global Video Technology David Hoad says: “The magnitude of this project is such that we are upgrading all our infrastructure right from the camera lens to the distribution technologies and everything in between. We recognise in today’s information driven world it’s all about choice and getting the information you want, when,

was a logical choice for the project given its successful track record in designing and installing comparable systems for major broadcasters in many countries.”

“With organisations of the calibre of Associated Press making the transition to highdefinition, 1080-line is now clearly the benchmark resolution for broadcasting,” comments ATG Broadcast Managing Director Graham Day. “We designed a complete multi-seat MCR and transmission facility that can accommodate five operators plus a supervisor. It is fully equipped for 1.5Gbps operation but with a core that can easily be upgraded to 3Gbps as or when required.

The project includes connection to existing architecture and

“The most recent research we’ve done with our entertainment customers would indicate a third of them are going to be HD within the next 12 months” — Nigel Baker going to be HD within the next 12 months. It’s actually keeping faith with the major customers and also ensuring that we take the lead in the marketplace. It doesn’t mean that customers who are still SD are disadvantaged as we’ll be providing the files in both HD and SD.”

Upgrading technology The move to HD will see the AP change the way it gathers, produces and distributes news to its customers, involving a series of upgrades, including the introduction of over 200 HD cameras, upgraded mobile satellites and enhanced backhaul capabilities to handle the HD signal. Video news bureaus around the globe have also been upgraded to the latest generation of video editing, compression and transmission technologies and state-of-the-art HD Master Control Rooms (MCR) are being constructed in more than 20 locations including London, New York, and Washington. The AP’s extensive video archive will also be trans-

where and how you want it. As such, we’re upgrading our technology to make it simpler than ever for customers to receive and use our video footage.”

AP’s London hub has a brand new HD MCR, which moved from the third to the first floor to accommodate more space for additional operational positions.

The physical control room is three times the size of the old MCR and the technical infrastructure is twice the size.

The news agency selected ATG as its systems integrator for the new MCR, which features furniture from Custom Consoles.

The six workstations in the MCR have been designed to be identical. “The new MCR is part of our HD infrastructure upgrade, providing a state-of-the-art video infrastructure for AP’s video operations” explains AP Senior Technical Lead Peter Watson.

“The control room provides enhanced video monitoring and ergonomic workstations for the operational team. ATG Broadcast

David Hoad: “As we continue our HD journey, more feeds in here will be originated in HD and we’ll phase out the old SD infrastructure”

Derl McCrudden: “We’ve also put in place some new kit, LiveU units, which help with our live delivery of content”

migration of live services to the new area.”

Hoad explains the challenge AP encountered at its Camden site during the construction: “The Interchange is a Grade II listed building so there was a lot of work with English Heritage and Camden local authority to get the appropriate approval. It was helped by the complete 2007 refurbishment of the building that we carried out so they got to know us.

They quite like the contrast of very new against very old; it shows up the heritage of the building by that complete contrast.

“As we continue our HD journey, then more and more feeds in here will be originated in HD and we’ll phase out the old SD infrastructure,” he adds. The rollout of HD does mean some of AP’s workflows will need to be changed or adapted. “One of the bigger challenges around HD workflow is the speed of content gathering and some retraining for the camera people to understand the differences of shooting for HD as opposed to SD. It is a good opportunity for us to reflect and challenge existing workflows. HD is a great catalyst to open up the can to look at how we do it. There must now be a better way of doing things.”

Getting close to the news The newsroom at AP’s London bureau is excited about the move to HD, says Derl McCrudden, head of newsgathering for AP. “If you look at some of the key stories we’ve done this year, clearly it’s been dominated by the Arab Spring and we were exclusively inside the Gaddafi compound. In the future the prospect of having those kinds of images in HD I think is a very tantalising prospect because if news is stories about individuals and people, the sense of taking people to the story is really great.”

He explains that there has been an investment on the technology side, matched by an investment on the editorial side reflected by the recruitment of new video journalists in Asia, south and central Europe and the Nordics. “We’ve also put in place some new kit, LiveU units, which help with our live delivery of content. These are small mobile units using the GSM data network and allow us to be live in places that previously you would have needed a lot of kit and expensive people to do that. So it gives us a lot of flexibility and the new units are also HD capable. It’s all in the step of HD,” McCrudden explains.

The new HD strategy also builds on the success of AP’s Global Media Services (GMS), which has been providing HD transmission to international broadcasters from major news events for several years, most recently including the UK Royal Wedding. www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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TVBEU R O PE T H E W O R K F L O W

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A delivery you can rely on Content Exchange Melanie Dayasena-Lowe talks to Loft London Co-founder Davide Maglio and Signiant’s EMEA MD David Nortier about a smooth path for digital file exchange provided

by Signiant software Hailing from a small start up in a loft space in SE11 in 2007, privately owned Loft London has grown into a well respected media facility for the broadcast industry. It counts Sky, Channel Four, Red Bee Media and On Demand Group among its client base.

At the start, the firm worked exclusively for Red Bee Media supplying services to its clients such as Virgin Media and Channel 4. Co-founder of Loft London Davide Maglio says: “Channel 4 had a large and aging library where a lot of the formats were becoming extinct such as D2’s, D3’s, D5’s, Beta SP’s and 1-inch C’s. We were asked to create digitised masters for Channel 4 to repurpose on their 4oD platform. We grew from there.”

Over the years, Loft London has developed a close working relationship with a US-based international broadcaster and they have seen the level of engagement grow from channel migrations to content preparation for broadcast and VoD platforms in the UK, Europe, Nordic territories and the Middle East.

Loft London has grown its facilities in the UK by moving to a 6,500sqft premises in Chiswick last year. The original office in SE11 has been kept as a DR facility for business continuity. There is also an office in Los Angeles, an operational hub being built in Lisbon and ongoing plans to open up in Singapore. The company now boasts 25 staff in the UK. The Chiswick location is perfectly situated to service its large UK client base. Due to its high speed and uncontended connectivity, Loft London can distribute and provide a complete file-based workflow for

Davide Maglio: “Channel 4’s aging library had a lot of formats becoming extinct such as D2’s, D3’s, D5’s, Beta SP’s and 1-inch C’s”

customers. This is where software specialist Signiant comes in.

The media services company has expanded its Signiant portfolio of products. Signiant connects both internal and external partner sites to facilitate simple collabora-

years ago, and I had been impressed with its capabilities for digital file exchanges ever since,” says Maglio.

“Our largest media client has been using Signiant as its content exchange backbone for at least six years, and many of its playout providers are also Signiant users, so there is a great deal of momentum in the industry for the solution.

“Until companies such as Signiant opened in Europe, moving content involved laying it to tape or you’d FTP it. But running an HD FTP workflow is fraught with risk. With packet loss and session time outs, you’d have to employ a team to manage the FTP distribution and servers alone.” By comparison, Maglio reveals that the beauty of Signiant is the ease of use and reliability: “Whereas with [Signiant] your Media Managers can set it all up in the morning, trigger a sequence of tasks and Signiant makes sure the content gets to its destination.”

Maglio explains that every time a process touches a piece of content an expense is incurred,

“Until companies such as Signiant opened in Europe, moving content involved laying it to tape or you’d FTP it. But running an HD FTP workflow is fraught with risk. With packet loss and session time outs, you’d have to employ a team to manage the FTP distribution and servers alone” tion and content exchange. When deployed, a managed B2B content network is created with simple automated movement, ensuring all transfers are centrally managed, monitored, and reported. Signiant is ideally suited for use during the production, capture, or creation of content where multiple sites need to exchange data quickly, securely, and reliably with tight transmission deadlines.

“I became familiar with the Signiant solution when the company’s products first became available in Europe five or so

Signiant is suited for use during the production, capture or creation of content where multiple sites need to exchange data quickly

which is why it is essential to speed up the process to air. “Timeliness to air is essential. With Signiant we can provide an accurate picture to the client of when material reached its intended distribution points and with that data, all parties can target areas where efficiencies can be improved.”

All of our clients have transmission service level agreements that make it imperative for them to receive their content on time.

With Signiant, we have complete visibility into the entire transaction, and the system generates a delivery confirmation receipt that ensures that the media has arrived at its destination in good working condition. That’s just not possible using FTP or more traditional WAN accelerationonly tools,” he adds.

“The software is aimed directly at enterprises such as Loft London, companies with up to 15 delivery locations that need the central management of content transfers,” says David Nortier, Signiant’s managing director, EMEA. “With features such as the Signiant Acceleration Protocol for fast, reliable, and secure movement of files over a WAN, as well as centralised network management to ensure that all

Loft London at a glance: Signiant software with distribution points in Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles & Warsaw. Scheduled points in Istanbul, Lisbon & Moscow G 2 x 1 GB uncontended fibres for distribution G Automated ingest facilities G On-site storage facility for 30,000 tape assets G 15-20 Final Cut Pro stations G 250TB Edit Store plus access to 3.5PB archive G Plans to build two ProTools suites and two Smoke suites in 2012 processes and transfers are controlled, monitored, tracked, and reported, Signiant is becoming a content exchange standard for multi-site media operations.”

The components of Signiant’s Content Distribution Management software includes a Manager that performs administration, control and reporting of all system activity; Media Agents installed on remote computers and responsible for jobs such as file movement; and Relay Agents for firewall transversal and isolation of content from an external network.

Secure transfer Nortier explains how the workflow operates: “You can have a physical agent installed at the client and one installed at Loft London. Historically the client would send a long form movie by putting a tape on a plane from LA to London with someone picking it up from the airport at the other end. Now with Signiant software that is all done using the internet.

“Some of the benefits of that over the long distance from LA to London is that the internet has inherent problems of call latency, which makes it impossible to transmit that size of data in a timely fashion. But with Signiant software it takes away that latency, therefore accelerating the transfer and securely so it can’t be pirated at the same time while in transit. Then it lands at Loft.”

The Central Manager can be used to locate where the package is at any point in time throughout the process. “When it lands at Loft it doesn’t necessarily have to stay in an inbox. The workflow that sits side-by-side with the manager logs that the file has come in, alerts the relevant people, performs a quality check and transcodes it to a mobile device, for instance.” This also means more automation for processes that were manual in the past. www.tvbeurope.com N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 1

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