Broadcast Tech May/June 2014

TECH Technology and technique for production, post and playout

May/June 2014

Preparing for kick off From 4K to second screen: behind the scenes of the Brazil World Cup, page 20

Why the industry’s need for experienced QC operators is greater than ever Page 14

Candid cameras: a round-up of the key cameras that were launched at NAB Page 46

Giving props to Foley: inside the wonderful world of TV sound effects Page 34

How prepared are production and post firms for the shift to file-based delivery? Page 28

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CONTENTS

Inside this month MAY/JUNE 2014

NEWS & VIEWS

20

05 LEADER Trials and tribulations of the shift to file-based delivery

07 THE BIG PICTURE The Helicopter Girls are providing a bird’s eye view

08 NEWS The latest products and news from across the industry

14 IN MY VIEW JP Dash on the need for experienced QC operators

16 PEOPLE All the latest industry moves

18 INTERNATIONAL NEWS The big tech stories from around the world

IN-DEPTH 20 FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 Tournament promises to be a milestone for 4K

24 BROADCAST ASIA A 4K feast is planned for the Singapore trade show

26 IP WORKFLOWS Innovations that are driving the move from SDI

28 PREPARING FOR FILE DELIVERY DAY Industry leaders discuss leaving tape behind

32 ELECTION TECHNOLOGY Sky and BBC’s attempts to give their coverage the edge

46

24

WORK 34 MY OFFICE Foley artist Paul Hanks reveals his tricks of the trade

36 INTERVIEW Imagine Communications chief executive Charlie Vogt

TOOLS 38 PRODUCT ANATOMY Panasonic VariCam

40 MOST WANTED

36

42

Visual Impact hire manager Peter May’s top picks

INFORM 42 ASK THE EXPERTS DoPs and hire managers assess the latest lenses

46 GUIDE TO… The latest cameras launched at NAB 2014

50 POSTSCRIPT Dalet’s Scumrun exploits and Simon Marbrook’s Q&A

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May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 3

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28/03/2014 10:56

LEADER

From the editor Issue #16

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EDITORIAL Broadcast TECH Editor George Bevir, 020 3033 4207 Broadcast Editor Chris Curtis Production Editor Dominic Needham Group Art Director Peter Gingell Contributors Michael Burns, Adrian Pennington, Andy Stout, Will Strauss Sales Sales Manager Sonya Jacobs, 020 3638 5057 Group Commercial Director Alison Pitchford, 020 3638 5058 Business Development Director Patricia Arescy, 020 3638 5063 Conference Director Charlotte Wheeler, 07702 381809 Media Business Insight, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street,London EC2A 4HJ. Broadcast TECH is published by MBI, publisher of Broadcast

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 5

News & Views

he choice of venue was a little ironic. Despite the Rada location, there wasn’t much in the way of drama during Broadcast and the Digital Production Partnership’s (DPP) discussions about the move to file-based delivery. The overriding message from the post production panellists was clear: there’s no need to panic about the looming October deadline because the DPP’s AS-11 spec is just another deliverable.

But that’s not to say everyone expects the journey towards end-to-end, file-based working to be smooth. Production companies raised concerns about storage in a file-based world, while some in post were anxious that the decision by broadcasters to no longer carry out a full QC check on programmes had led to confusion about where the responsibility lies. But the main concern among post facilities related to the automated quality control tools that can vary in their technical appraisal of a programme. Simply put: one facility’s pass can be another’s fail. So all eyes are now on the DPP to continue working with manufacturers to produce a unified profile that will help ensure there is a high level of consistency.

The real test will come when we move beyond today’s trials and tests and the volume of file-based deliveries increases.

When that happens, facilities need to be confident that the programmes they deliver as files won’t be returned en masse.

That way, the drama can remain on screen. george.bevir@broadcastnow.co.uk

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THE BIG PICTURE

Eye in the sky The Helicopter Girls Pictured with their DJI S1000 and Freefly Cinestar 8, Katya Nelhams-Wright and Emma Boswell – also known as The Helicopter Girls – are two factual producer/directors who have provided aerial shots for BBC shows Nigel And Adam’s Farm Kitchen and Bang Goes The Theory. The Cinestar 8, equipped with a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema, was used on upcoming BBC4 architecture doc Shock Of The Old.

NEWS & VIEWS

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May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 7

Product NEWS

NEWS & VIEWS

Call for users to help shape the future of JVC cameras JVC has asked the industry to help it develop its new range of 4K cameras.

The manufacturer showed off a raft of cameras at NAB, including the GY-LSX1 Elise, GY-LSX2, GW-SPLS1 along with a gimbal system.

JVC Pro product manager Gustav Emrich described the cameras as “concepts”, and called on the industry to help JVC develop them in “the right way”.

“Having bought AltaSens we can create our own sensors – we now have a Super 35mm sensor for our products. However, it takes time to develop new hardware and [the industry] has the chance to help us develop features and design for the cameras,” he said.

Emrich said JVC wanted to use SD cards – rather than proprietary storage – for its shouldermounted, PL mount GY-LSX1 device. “You can buy these cards in any shop. We do not want to use a dedicated recording system that means users aren’t able to buy more memory when they run

8 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

XT3 support extended EVS’ XT3 video production server now offers full support for Grass Valley’s LDX Hi Speed 3X and LDX Xtreme Speed 6X cameras. The cameras can be integrated into an XT3 workflow without the need for any additional equipment, with live super-slowmotion replays now controlled via EVS LSM.

Blackmagic showcase

Emrich: the industry “has the chance to help us develop features” out,” he said. Emrich also raised the prospect of attaching a second recording system, either SSD or hard drive, to the device, depending on feedback.

The GW-SPLS1 mini camera system has a Super 35mm sensor with a micro four thirds mount, which is connected via a 20m cable to a monitor and recording box that also houses the CCU. A longer, fibre connection could be added in response to initial feedback, and Emrich raised the pros-

pect of adding a built-in hard drive or a touch panel display.

JVC is also keen to add live streaming options to its 4K concept cameras. “Maybe in 4K, maybe in 2K,” Emrich said.

However, Emrich warned that “there’s no guarantee all the features requested can be included”, because additional functionality could have an adverse impact on price. “Everybody prefers kit to be cheap – me included – so we must be realistic,” he said.

Video platform Kaltura acquires Tvinci Pay TV platform provider Tvinci has been acquired by Kaltura.

Open source video platform Kaltura said the deal would provide it with a leadership position in the OTT market.

The company, which raised £27.8m ($47m) in venture capital in February, has already begun integrating Tvinci’s technology into its OTT MediaGo product.

It said the integrated KalturaTvinci platform would support live, on-demand, and catch-up services, SVoD, TVoD and ad-

Briefs

based monetisation, social interaction and personalisation.

Kaltura co-founder and chief executive Ron Yekutiel said: “The acquisition of Tvinci completes our transition from focusing on VoD assets and ad-based monetisation, to providing an equal emphasis on live and linear programming and an authenticated OTT TV experience. We are also excited to broaden our offerings for the service provider markets, and to boost our social, collaboration and personalisation tools.”

Kaltura’s clients include Sesame Workshop, HBO, ABC, Warner Bros, Paramount, Turner, DirecTV and Wikipedia.

Tvinci customers include Eutelsat in Germany, MediaCorp in Singapore, Liberty Global in the Netherlands, Solar Entertainment in the Philippines and Yes in Israel.

The company employs some 60 people worldwide, including a research and development team at its headquarters in Israel that will merge with Kaltura’s Israelbased technology team.

Blackmagic Design has built an Ultra HD demonstration vehicle to show off some of the manufacturer’s latest kit. The vehicle will showcase UltraHD, 6G SDI and 12G SDI technology in use with the company’s Studio Camera, ATEM 2M/E Production Studio 4K and Smart Videohub 20x20 to demonstrate a live production workflow.

Camera Corps’ new kit Camera Corps has added the MeerCat to its range of speciality cameras. The camera has been developed in response to demand from sport, reality and stage-show producers. The imager is a third-inch MOS sensor with 1944 x 1092 effective pixels that can be switched to deliver 1080p, 1080i or 720p video at 50, 59.94 or 60 hertz frame rate.

Foundry updates tool The Foundry has released the latest version of its 3D content creation tool. Modo 801’s features include nodal shading for complex shader building and a rewritten referencing workflow for large-scene management.

Product marketing manager Shane Griffith said: “We have updates for games and improvements to VFX workflows.”

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INDUSTRY NEWS

NEWS & VIEWS

DTG and Barb to work on ‘big data’ The Digital TV Group (DTG) is to begin working with Barb later this year as part of a cross-industry initiative to harness the power of ‘big data’ for the TV industry.

The proposed working group is one of 13 recommendations set out by the Future of Innovation in Television Technology Taskforce’s (FITT) final report, unveiled at the DTG’s annual summit.

FITT was launched in 2012 by creative industries minister Ed Vaizey with the aim of establishing how the UK’s pedigree of innovation in television technology can enable economic growth.

DTG chairman David Docherty said: “How we fund content going forward is a key issue, so we have to look at new forms of advertising and marketing based on big data, by which we mean billions of viewing seconds.

“That information has to be crunched in new ways, so we better understand how consumers behave when we sell goods and services to them. That is fundamental to content creation.”

‘We have to look at new forms of advertising and marketing’ David Docherty, DTG chairman

DTG annual summit: FITT’s final report set out 13 recommendations The DTG is set to meet with Barb and think tanks, such as the Open Data Institute, in the autumn to work out how best to tackle the problem.

Docherty said: “One of the key issues is persuading consumers to give data in ways they are comfortable with. We need to say to consumers: ‘We have this data, if you give us permission you can benefit through targeted ads, and that data won’t be misused.’

“We also have to persuade regulators, while Barb has the major

challenge of merging its data with data from viewing done ondemand and via apps. It’s not something anyone in the industry should pretend to know the answers to. It needs collective engagement.

“The data suggests viewers are still using live and that if they are time-shifting, they time-shift live.

The direction of travel is towards on-demand and mobile usage, so we have to figure out what that means for the broadcast value chain and the models by which

we pay for everything, because we still have to pay for content.”

The FITT report is the result of almost 90 industry leaders spread across a steering group and five working groups who reviewed consumer trends, the evolution of devices and applications, computing for the creative industries, data management and future networks and infrastructure.

Docherty said the overall aim was to identify what Britain was best at. “We looked hard at that sweet spot between advertising, marketing, and design, which we are brilliant at, and parts of the software stack where we still make major contributions, to ask how UK companies can be built around this sweet spot.”

YouView set to personalise TV experience YouView is working towards delivering a more personalised service that will recommend TV shows and offer viewers the ability to create VoD playlists.

The joint venture IPTV service is stepping up its evolution after a broadly positive BBC Trust review into accessibility and cross-promotion.

YouView is keen to capitalise on the data it is collecting from its 1 million connected set-top boxes by tailoring its service.

Chief executive Richard Halton said the ambition was to create a

10 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

YouView: personal TV experience more relevant service and the platform is in the process of adding about 50 staff to its development team – an increase of

around 50%. “We are starting to think about the next generation of the user interface,” he said.

“We are looking at how we make the content discovery journey simpler and offer a more personalised experience.”

Halton added that YouView was unlikely to ask viewers to log in to receive recommendations.

“Most homes have an average of more than two people, but at 10pm the kids probably aren’t watching. So you can come up with intelligent ways of anticipating people’s needs without

having their name and date of birth,” he said.

The work, which could also result in targeted ads being served on linear TV, relies heavily on the data YouView gathers about who is watching, which channels are being watched and when.

“We have started work in that space and can provide content providers with anonymised data.

We are getting to position where we can provide Barb-like info, but with real data rather than information from a panel,” he said.

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Video Production Technology

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Facilities NEWS

NEWS & VIEWS

Platform Post grows Soho site to facilitate genre shift Platform Post Production has taken two more floors at its D’Arblay Street offices in central London as it looks to broaden the range of genres it works on.

The expansion into the facility’s ground floor and basement will increase its size by about 30%. Platform director Simon Cruse said: “It is the biggest expansion we have ever undertaken; we’re going from seven Avid Media Composer rooms to 12, and building additional online and audio rooms.”

Cruse said CBBC’s move to Salford had prompted Platform to expand its client base beyond children’s TV. It is targeting comedy and documentary programming. “We have a lot of repeat business to accommodate, but there is also a change of emphasis,” he said. “Some of the people we previously worked with in children’s programmes have moved to other genres, and that has helped convince us we could make it work.”

12 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

Ericsson finalises deal Ericsson has completed its acquisition of Red Bee Media. The deal will see 1,500 employees join Ericsson’s Broadcast Services business, however, Red Bee chief executive Patrick Tillieux is set to leave the company following a transition period. Ericsson Broadcast Services UK managing director Ian Brotherston will lead the UK operation.

SIS Live to link venues

Trying Again: Platform Post worked on the Sky Living comedy series Platform considered opening a facility in Salford, but decided that expanding in London was the best way to invest, Cruse said.

Platform is now working with AKA, Oakwood, White Mark and Wire Broadcast on the £400,000 extension of its Soho base, which it expects to finish by mid-July.

In addition to the offline suites, Platform will house four online

suites, consisting of two Flames, one Symphony Nitris with Baselight Editions and the fourth with either Smoke on Mac or Symphony Nitris.

It will also house three Pro Tools audio rooms each with a voiceover booth, a Baselight suite and a graphics area.

Platform’s credits include Trying Again for Sky Living and Hank Zipzer for CBBC.

Golden Sq joins Parity’s digital group Parity Group has acquired VFX firm Golden Sq in a pre-pack administration deal.

Parity Group is an AIM-listed business that supplies people and technology to government, industry and marketing agencies. Golden Sq has now joined the Parity Digital Solutions division of the company where it will sit alongside the firm’s Inition 3D technology and IT solutions businesses.

Parity Group chairman Philip Swinstead said the addition of

Briefs

Viasat ident: Golden Sq credit the VFX facility is part of the company’s plans to expand the group into a wider technology company through growth and acquisition.

“Minimal” job losses are expected, although Golden Sq founders Phil Gillies and Alan Young will continue to head up the Soho-based business.

They will report to Parity Digital chief executive Mark Andrews, who described Golden Sq as “a prestigious brand with an outstanding team.”

Golden Sq’s Flame, Smoke and Nuke artists work across a range of promos, commercials and short films from the facility’s Soho office.

SIS Live is commissioning high bandwidth dedicated fibre networks to key sports and leisure venues across the UK. SIS Live said it is installing fibre links to all Premier League football grounds, providing connectivity to its expanding broadcast infrastructure business. SIS Live plans to install permanent fibre connectivity to more than 100 sports venues by 2016.

CBBC show for Space CBBC series World’s End (w/t) will be the first production to be based at The Space Project.

The 36 x 15-minute children’s drama will take over stages four and five, totalling more than 19,000 sq ft of sound stage space, at the new facility in Manchester.

Timeline camera deal Timeline Television has signed a five-year deal with sport producer FilmNova.

Timeline’s first project was to supply wireless cameras for the Bupa Great Run series.

Timeline managing director Dan McDonnell said: “Our new RF10 van has been built to support Timeline’s growing RF operations to give clients the assurance of a top quality service delivery.”

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

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5/29/2014 3:18:11 PM

in my view

news & views

TC Soho: QC suite

QC can’t all be automated TC Soho’s JP Dash says when it comes to AS-ll file delivery, an experienced eye is more important than ever

T

here’s no getting away from it: filebased delivery is the most significant change the industry has seen for a long time.

At TC Soho, we’ve been fortunate to get a bit of a head start. Last September, we were asked to deliver a Channel 5 series to the DPP’s AS-11 specification. Just over eight months later, we have delivered almost 60 hours of AS-llcompliant material, spanning various genres.

Apologies for the lack of drama, but it’s all been fine. Making an AS-11 file isn’t that tricky, and if you have the technical ability to meet broadcast standards today, you are well on the way. So what are the snags?

Cost is the obvious one, and capital investment will be required for encoding equipment to create files and automated QC software loaded with PSE and R128 analysis tools.

You’ll also need adequate connectivity and secure delivery technology to get the files to the broadcaster in a timely fashion. There are good solutions for all of these on the market and vendor support is readily available.

14 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

‘Our head of technical operations jokes about a future in which we are security guards for content processing and delivery’ JP Dash, TC Soho But is this equipment enough to be confident you are delivering a programme that is technically and creatively the best it can be?

To ensure a programme is ‘broadcast ready’, a high level of technical expertise is also required. Not only is a specialist skillset needed to operate the software aiding the review process, but having the experience to understand and interpret what comes out the other end is vital.

In addition, there are a host of technical and editorial issues that software cannot assess.

Things like detection of sync issues, measuring safe areas and compliance all rely on trained and experienced eyes and ears. Now that some broadcasters have stated there will be no

technical review after delivery, absolute certainty that content is without fault is a must.

Our head of technical operations, Daniel New, often jokes about a future in which we become lowly security guards for content processing and delivery. He describes a nightmarish dystopia in which a handful of staff stand guard as a transcoding-wrappingQCing mega-computer creates and delivers content to a similarly sparsely populated broadcaster. This may be a comical exaggeration, but is there a danger we are heading this way?

The edge that broadcast TV has over other platforms is its relationship with the audience by means of a guarantee of quality. The extensive technical specifications dictate that there is a bar that we cannot fall below, but people with a passion to deliver the best have always been the driving force behind this.

As we enter this brave new world, we have to be cautious we don’t freely hand over the task to automated equipment and turn technical review into a minimum-requirement, box-ticking exercise. The need for the experienced QC eye is now stronger than ever. n JP Dash is managing director of TC Soho

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

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Maggie Maciejczek and Luke Gagin

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news & views

Sequence Post LipSync Post has appointed re-recording mixer Sven Taits to its sound team. Taits spent seven years at De Lane Lea before going freelance in 2008. His credits include BBC dramas The Wipers Times and White Girl.

LipSync Group managing director Peter Hampden said: “Sven’s diverse experience and outstanding audio skills make him an ideal addition to our talented sound team.” Taits joined the Bafta Craft Awardwinning team in mid-May.

BBC Studios and Post Production has appointed Rebecca Williams to the role of account manager. Williams joins BBC S&PP from Wimbledon Studios, where she worked for just over three years, securing shows like ITV’s Tipping Point.

She will be responsible for maintaining and growing the facility’s existing stable of primetime television programming and attracting new productions to its BBC Elstree and Elstree Studios sites.

Sequence Post has recruited Maggie Maciejczek (pictured) as online editor and technical manager and Luke Gagin as post producer. Maciejczek joins with four years’ experience as online editor and grader at Create Advertising. Gagin has worked in long- and shortform post at Station Post, where his credits include Protecting Our Parents for BBC2 and Channel 4’s How to Find Love Online.

Clear Com has appointed Nicki Fisher as director of EMEA sales. Reporting to Clear Com president Bob Boster, she will be responsible for developing tactical plans and overall sales strategy across the region. Fisher joins Clear Com from Tektronix, where she held the role of video business EMEA sales director.

Prior to that, she was European regional sales manager for Agilent Technologies, where she looked after the European communications test business.

Simon Clarke and Simon Briggs

Ian Ousey

John Colley

Andy Newham

Audio Network

Arri

Ross Video

Audio Network has appointed Ian Ousey as chief financial officer. He joins from Fremantle Media Group, where he was chief financial officer. Meanwhile, group managing director Juliette Squair has become chief strategy officer, while deputy managing director Chris Blakeston has been appointed chief operating officer. Chief executive Robert Hurst said: “Ian’s extensive experience and skills will facilitate a reshaping of the executive management team.”

Arri Lighting Rental has appointed John Colley as general manager. He replaces Tommy Moran, who retired at the end of last year.

Reporting to Martin Cayzer, chief executive of Arri’s global rental business, Colley will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the company. Moran will continue working with Arri Lighting Rental as a consultant, supporting Colley with the transition into his new role.

Andy Newham has joined Ross Video in the newly created position of EMEA business development manager for switchers and OpenTruck.

Newham joins Ross from his role as account manager at Arqiva. He has also worked for Harmonic, Harris and Omnibus Systems. As well as working with the company’s switcher product line, Newham will develop business for Ross Video’s OpenTruck OB vehicle initiative.

Coffee & TV Coffee & TV has recruited Prime Focus creative director Simon Clarke (above left) to help lead the Soho-based VFX company’s newly formed broadcast division. Creative director Clarke will focus on VFX for drama and factual programming. He joins ex-Prime Focus managing director Simon Briggs (above right), who will work across commercials, branding and broadcast.

16 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

FILE DELIVERY EXPERTS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

DENMARK

Stofa picks Elemental solutions for multi-screen Danish pay-TV operator Stofa is using Elemental video processing solutions to process, package and manage live linear channels for its catch-up TV and multiscreen video services.

The infrastructure allows Stofa to customise 150 TV channels, including 38 in HD, for delivery to the broadcasters’ subscribers.

Stofa offers its broadband subscribers multi-screen services including StartForfa for catch-up TV and WebTV for viewing

live content on iOS and Android devices. It uses Elemental Live to transcode live linear TV channels, Elemental

Stream to package content for multiscreen delivery and Elemental Conductor to manage live streams across the network.

Stofa chief technology officer Thomas Helbo said: “Due to the growing success of our multi-screen services, it is critical that we continually enhance our system to support new devices and video profiles. The flexibility and scalability of the Elemental platform allows us to do that.”

NEWS & VIEWS

LITHUANIA

LNK upgrades Front Porch Digital systems LNK has upgraded its Front Porch Digital DivArchive CSM and DivaDirector media asset-management systems.

DivArchive drives the file-based workflow for LNK, Lithuania’s largest private television network.

LNK IT manager Vilius Šumskas said: “The Diva systems empowered us to add three additional channels at almost no technical and human resources cost. Now that we need a cost-effective way to

increase our storage capacity, upgrading DIVArchive was a no-brainer.”

Upgrades to the broadcaster’s DivaDirector MAM system (pictured) will accommodate more users and add functionality.

LNK is shifting to DivaArchive version 7.1 to coincide with its transition from LTO-4 to LTO-6 technology, a move that will give it three times the archive capacity.

The broadcaster will also upgrade to version 5.2 of DivaDirector.

PERU

EVS workflow eases TV Peru’s migration to HD Peruvian state network TV Peru has selected a file-based workflow from EVS for its news, entertainment and cultural programming.

The tapeless workflow is based on the manufacturer’s XS production server. The four-channel XS server will aid TV Peru’s migration to HD by playing out in HD and down-converting other channels to SD, until TV Peru has completed its HD upgrade.

18 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

“The connection between different areas of our workflow, and administrator and quality control management access make

for a fluid, easy system,” said TV Peru technical director Cesar Otero.

The new workflow also includes XTAccess, EVS’s gateway software that facilitates media interchange with thirdparty tools and creates low-resolution versions of all clips, which are stored on a near-line system and available for browsing through an IP connection.

TV Peru also selected the six-channel XTnano HD/SD slow-motion replay server for its OB van.

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FIFA World Cup 2014

Rio kicks off the 4K era If the four years since the last World Cup have been a long time in football, they have been a geological age in broadcast technology, writes Andy Stout

A

t the South Africa World Cup in 2010, Sony bankrolled the production of 25 games in stereo 3D. This time around, not a single frame will be captured in the format as attention switches to 4K. There is plenty of innovation elsewhere too, notably in the areas of remote production and second-screen content.

For host broadcaster HBS, the start of the tournament on 12 June will represent the culmination of four years’ meticulous planning. Given the sheer size of Brazil and the potential problems in moving equipment around between the dozen venues, HBS decided on a new model of production for the 64 matches.

Twelve identical containers (plus a spare) have been kitted out by SonoVTS in Germany, which worked with Sony and Harris Broadcast (now Imagine Communications). For security’s sake, they were transported by dif-

20 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

ferent ships to South America, where they will be completed to an identical specification.

It’s a kit-heavy method of operating – EVS has shipped out 234 of its XT3 servers: 16 for each venue plus the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Rio de Janeiro, while Sony is supplying 288 HD cameras, mostly HDC units – but it’s a safe strategy, and one that acknowledges the increased flexibility of moving people rather than equipment. That said, around 4.5 tonnes of camera gear will have to be moved between matches.

In all respects, it’s an international effort.

The companies Sony is working with to produce its coverage include Presteigne Charter, Studio Berlin, CTV Outside Broadcasts, Belgian firm Outside Broadcast, AMP Visual TV and Broadcast RF. Directors, meanwhile, choose their own teams and 66 nationalities will come together to

produce the HBS coverage, with national quirks carefully ironed out via an extensive training programme, even involving a match simulator, in an effort to produce homogenous coverage.

Camera increase The standard camera plan for Brazil 2014 increases the number of cameras per game to 37, including ultra-slow-motion camera systems from NAC and DVS, and the aerial and cable cams that were only an option in South Africa in 2010. In contrast, the main camera plan for the 2010 tournament allowed for 32 cameras.

The match day set-up will be augmented by the efforts of 41 ENG teams, 32 of which will be based at the training centres of the 32 teams, with nine further roving crews around the country to capture the ambience and crowds in different cities.

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BroAdCAST TECHNoloGY

4K One year on from the Confederations Cup

37

Maracanã: 4K was tested at the stadium for the Confederations Cup

All in all, HBS plans to produce 5,000 hours of coverage from Brazil, a huge increase from the 3,500 hours captured in South Africa. All of this will be held on the Fifa Max system – essentially a cluster of different types of servers and storage located at the IBC in Rio. It will hold material in AVC Intra HD and H.264 proxy formats.

Six EVS XT3 servers will manage the ingest of up to 28 feeds simultaneously, which is less overkill than might be imagined, given that nine feeds (clean, dirty, tactical, player A, player B and so on) are being produced from each match and transmitted by diverse links.

Material will be logged as it comes in using EVS IP Director. Between 70 and 80 IP browse stations at the IBC will allow MRLs (media rights licensees) access to the content on the server. There are also 36

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‘These events are so much bigger than just TV nowadays, for us it’s about joining up the different platforms’ Phil Bigwood, BBC Adobe Premiere suites on site, spread between HBS’s own teams and MRLs. What is truly different about this World Cup is that the same access to the Fifa Max server is granted to anyone with the appropriate licence anywhere in the world, which represents a coming-of-age for remote production technologies.

Around 75 MRL licenses have been distributed to broadcasters at the IBC in Rio, with more than that number granted to production teams planning on logging onto the server from their home cities.

The matches will probably represent the most populated camera plan of a 4K production yet, with 12 Sony F55 cameras (pictured) equipped with Fujinon lenses earmarked for each game. A number of the speciality cameras from the standard HD broadcast will also be upconverted on the fly for the occasion.

The workflow allows for much more than a simple cutting of the nine feeds too, relying on EVS’s C-Cast system (the same one that drives second-screen apps) to allow remote directors to choose from a range of camera angles and slo-mo highlights not included in the world feeds.

This is being used both ‘internally’ and ‘externally’ by HBS, with C-Cast also being used to link the dozen locations around the country with the production teams at the IBC. Material from each venue will be transcoded, transferred into an Amazon cloudbased infrastructure, and will hit the central servers in around 45 seconds.

The servers automatically generate proxy files, allowing the remote teams to access content at low resolutions, create clips and then import a high-bandwidth version.

Much of the extra 1,500 hours of content from this year’s tournament will be swal-

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 21

IN-DEPTH

Cameras used per game, including ultra-slow-motion systems from NAC and DVS and aerial and cable cams

Initially destined for a post-tournament souvenir online release, Fifa has since made indications that “more than one broadcaster” will transmit the 4K World Cup feed, though no names had been announced as Broadcast TECH went to press.

Three matches – a quarter, semi and the final – will be captured in 4K, all from Rio’s Maracanã Stadium (pictured), the same venue where Sony conducted trials in the format at last year’s Confederations Cup. It’s a large stadium and the 4K production can occupy its own camera positions without incurring seat kill penalties, while also chiming with the ‘move people not kit’ paradigm of the rest of the tournament.

The Confederations Cup tests significantly advanced production techniques in the format, helping to ensure they were robust enough to be considered for the World Cup. However, the Telegenic OB unit they relied on is busy this summer and the matches will be routed through a newly refitted 4K-capable Globocast truck, albeit with a Telegenic crew.

FIFA World Cup 2014

lowed up by the second screen, with Fifa estimating that up to 50 million people worldwide will download its official app.

A range of packages are available to MRLs, starting with a white-label app to which broadcasters can simply add their own logo. Picked up by more than 100 worldwide so far, it allows viewers to access up to six live camera angles, clips and key action from a game, and statistics supplied by Deltatre, the data partner for the tournament.

IN-DEPTH

Universal challenges C-Cast Central manages the availability of material via APIs, which means that beyond the whitelabel systems – plus a customisable web player based around Deltatre’s Diva software – many major broadcasters around the world are folding the C-Cast streams into their own apps.

There are different routes to follow: ITV will concentrate on feature material within its app, while others are focusing on live footage.

BBC Sport director Barbara Slater wants Brazil to be the broadcaster’s “first truly 24/7 World Cup”, delivered via traditional and digital platforms.

BBC Sport executive producer Phil Bigwood says: “These events are so much bigger than just TV nowadays, for us it’s about joining up the various different platforms. We’re building on what we’ve done with social media on Match Of The Day around the live games, and are planning to do more.”

Bigwood says the main challenges have been around the infrastructure, the bureaucracy and the logistical challenges of working in Brazil.

“I’ve done a few World Cups and this one has definitely thrown up more challenges than most. But as ever we’re cracking

22 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

Second screen: Deltatre will provide statistics for all 64 games at the World Cup

Viewing figures Fifa estimates that coverage of South Africa 2010 reached more than 3.2 billion people, or 46.4% of the global population.

In the UK, a peak audience of 17.9 million watched Germany thump England 4-1.

on with it and as we sit here now it’s all looking good,” he says.

The BBC and ITV are both using a fairly standard Avid/EVS production set-up in Brazil, with ITV sport technical director Roger Pearce promising a few “innovative tricks up our sleeves that will enhance the way we tell the big stories”.

The main technical challenge has been the 60Hz to 50Hz frame-rate conversion, which is why the BBC

and ITV are both operating as full 1080i 59.94 operations in Brazil, with standards conversion occurring on the fly.

For ITV, all production is located in Brazil, with Gearhouse Broadcast delivering additional facilities in the IBC, including production office, master control room and transmission gallery.

ITV has also commissioned a studio located on the iconic Copacabana beach and full talkback capability between the two sites.

The BBC, meanwhile, has partnered with HBS for the main presentation and production areas, and is primarily based at the IBC. “It’s a recognition of the challenges that everyone’s facing,” says Bigwood.

The BBC is also using a split production model that balances the cost of having people on site with the considerable cost of

‘We’re experienced in coping with England’s rockstrewn path to glory’ Roger Pearce, ITV enhanced connectivity back to the UK. The primary part of the network output is based in Brazil, while all the BBC’s multimedia operation, including red button content, highlights and news, will be based in Salford and put together via remote access into the Fifa Max and the BBC’s own servers.

If England progress beyond the group stages and into the knock-out part of the tournament, broadcasters will have to react quickly.

“We are reasonably experienced in coping with England’s rock-strewn path to glory,” says Pearce.

“It is essential to have good basic systems in place to cover all outcomes and be prepared for a lot of fast and complex operational replanning.”

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Broadcast Asia

Singapore’s 4K feast World-first 4K product launches and cutting-edge technology from the likes of Sony and Canon await visitors to Broadcast Asia 2014. Michael Burns explores what is on the menu

IN-DEPTH

t

he Asia Pacific region is forecast to become the single largest market for 4K TV by 2016, so it’s no surprise that the 19th Broadcast Asia show promises to be a feast of 4K technology. Held alongside ICT show CommunicAsia, the 2013 event welcomed more than 51,000 trade attendees from 100 different countries.

Big themes at Broadcast­Asia 2014 include broadcast IT networking and automation, file-based management systems, multi-screen streaming, social media, OTT, sportscasting and video content delivery networks.

Canon, EVS, Grass Valley, Quantel, Red, Sony and more will be among the firms showcasing 4K and UHD products.

Orad will be highlighting its new tapeless broadcast graphic and video server technology: Blend 4K Channel and Morpho 4K. Blend is a real-time 4K channel-in-a-box solution, offering a 4K clip server in XAVC and XAVC-S formats, which also enables live video insertion in 4K and HD resolutions.

Real-time video wall solution Morpho uses Orad’s canvas

Meeting point: Singapore will be a showcase for 4K solutions concept to arrange 4K outputs in different aspect ratios and layouts to fit the video wall.

World firsts The worldwide launch of the VH-4000 4K multi-standard video decoder from Village Island Asia, which offers 4K 50/60p in real-time, is also on the bill, as is the demonstration of Space SSD Ultimate, a shared RAID storage system from GB Labs that allows online editing of Super Hi-Vision files.

Touted as the world’s first shared storage for 8K graphics, editing and grading workgroups, the 6,000MB/s system can handle up to 44 streams of

uncompressed HD, 10 streams of 4K DPX or four streams of 8K video, with multiple work­ stations addressing the storage over 40Gb Ethernet connections.

Photon Beard will showcase Platinum Blonde, the UK firm’s first HMI-focusable floodlight.

The company says the open-face 1,200W HMI linear lamp is designed for any application where raw output is required, and is ideal for use as a bounce

‘Canon, EVS, Grass Valley, Quantel, Red and Sony will be showcasing 4K and UHD products’

Disruptive tech takes centre stage The Broadcast Asia 2014 conferences will discuss trends such as disruptive technologies in the broadcast and digital media markets.

The welcome address by StarHub chief technology officer Mock Pak Lum will be followed by the keynote address – A Global Perspective on

24 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

How OTT is Changing the Competitive Landscape of the Broadcasting Space – which will explore the opportunities and challenges faced by broadcasters in Asia.

On day two, Twitter vice-president for Americas, Asia Pacific and emerging markets Shailesh Rao will deliver

a keynote address – You Matter: Asians Shaping The Pulse of the World – which will examine the significance of social media in society.

Meanwhile, the Creative Content Production Conference 2014 will focus on content creation and distribution, and technical aspects of 4K.

light, or for piercing diffusion to create a softened daylight source.

The new control options for the Safire 3 real-time chroma keyer from Crystal Vision will be making its regional debut, alongside its MultiLogo three-layer logo keyer, which provides internal storage for up to 500 graphics and advanced audio features.

Crystal Vision will also introduce the ADP 310, which provides discrete audio processing.

LiveU will demonstrate its 1kg LU500 uplink unit for delivering broadcast-quality live HD video, available in backpack or camera-mount configurations.

Cambridge Imaging Systems will showcase its Imagen MAM and publishing system, which works in tandem with Quantum’s StorNext 5 to create custom VoD or catch-up TV services. It will also demonstrate a combination of Unlimi-Tech Software’s FileCatalyst Direct point-to-point file-transfer solution and Imagen to deliver remote reporting capabilities.

Broadcast Asia takes place 17-20 June at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

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WOrKFlOW

Going live via IP Broadcasting over IP is now well established, but adoption by outside broadcast firms is still in its infancy.

Adrian Pennington reports on how the latest innovations are simplifying the process and reducing costs

T

he transition to internet protocol (IP) technology in non-real-time production is already well-established, with filebased workflows, contribution and distribution being achieved completely in the IP domain.

Delivery network Level 3, for example, is offering broadcasters video over IP transport from events such as Wimbledon and the World Cup in Brazil direct to studios. Feeds are also being converted into IP direct from the camera, via technology like BBC R&D-devised Stagebox, which was used at last year’s Glastonbury Festival and for coverage of the recent local elections.

However, the use of IP for live or near-live acquisition within an OB truck or studio facility is still very much in its infancy. “It’s difficult to identify any production that has been achieved completely with IP,” says Mark Scott-South, business development director of L2Tek, the sole licensee of Stagebox.

When signals enter a studio facility as IP, they are normally taken straight back to HD-SDI baseband video, largely because the technology, introduced as SD-SDI in 1998, has yet to be

26 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

surpassed. It is uncompressed, never drops a frame, delivers nanosecond latency and is non-proprietary.

“I don’t think anyone really believes that SDI is dead right now, yet momentum is building towards IP due to its potential advantages in cost and flexibility,” says ScottSouth.

The opportunity to build future production environments solely based on commodity infrastructure, such as ethernet switches and packet networks, rather than specialist broadcast equipment and interfaces, could facilitate greater production efficiency and reduce costs.

“SDI routing systems are bespoke,” says Snell managing director for live TV Robert Rowe. “We make and sell a lot of them into a £180m global market. But with enterpriselevel IP routers, you’re looking at a £6-7bn annual market. So you can imagine the economies of scale you’re going to get.”

Not only will basic infrastructure be cheaper but the talent pool of skilled operators will grow. For example, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has 6,000 members, but there are more than 26,000 Ciscocertified internet experts.

Stagebox: BBC R&D device (below) was used at last year’s Glastonbury Festival (above)

‘I don’t think anyone really believes that SDI is dead right now, yet momentum is building towards IP’ Mark Scott-South, L2Tek

Vendors and broadcasters alike are attempting to migrate from a traditional SDI base to a more virtual, standard IT platform. Snell’s solution is to partner with Cisco.

“This is a big deal for Snell [which recently merged with Quantel],” says Rowe. “What we espouse are off-the-shelf, highbandwidth, highly redundant routing networks that broadcasters can wrap with our control systems to offer a familiar broadcast interface. We make an IP routing system look like a standard SDI router for operators, who can control both in much the same way. It’s a neat way to transition from SDI to IP.” Other vendors, such as Sony and Imagine Communications (previously Harris Broadcast), have chosen a similar path. And, according to Imagine chief technology officer Kerry Wheeles, the tipping point has been reached already.

“I’d say 50% of the major [US] greenfield broadcast sites are going IP. If a facility already has 30-50 IP connection points, for either incoming or outgoing feeds, then it will be more cost-effective to build an IP infrastructure and convert for legacy content than to build new SDI-based infrastructure and convert to IP.”

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brian marks

IP delivery

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Stagebox, which was used for BBC Red Button coverage of last year’s Glastonbury and this year’s local elections, is being positioned as a system that will make live webcasts more affordable. The product’s website highlights smaller music festivals such as Beijing Pop in China or Beirut Nights in Lebanon, which could now reach wider audiences with remote production.

Snell: IP routing solution is being trialled by UK and US broadcasters

Video over IP standards The next logical step is to produce and play out everything in the cloud with entire workflows that transport streams rather than files. The catch here is that IP, and by extension cloud technology, does not behave in the deterministic, time-critical fashion required for linear broadcasting. This is being addressed by SMPTE, the European Broadcasting Union, and the Video Services Forum in a Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM).

The aim is not only to replicate the time-synchronous functionality of SDI, where a frame of video will be

processed in a very short and entirely predictable timeframe (along with associated elements such as audio) but to ensure interoperability of packet-based media between networking, equipment and software.

The building blocks include IEEE 1588, a networked precision time protocol that SMPTE has adapted for broadcast as ST-2059.

Another specification is SMPTE 2022, first introduced in 2007 and now being considered by the task force for encapsulating uncompressed HD-SDI for transport over IP within a studio (as 2022-6).

While the hitherto unrivalled capability of SDI has rendered the live environment inert to change, conservatism within the industry has also meant broadcasters have been slow to adopt IP. “The biggest hindrance to making the jump is the traditional broadcast engineer’s lack of IT knowledge,” says Imagine’s Wheeles. “There’s a mindset that were anything to go wrong, they wouldn’t know how to debug and manage it. That said, there are still tonnes of legacy devices with SDI connections out there, so traditional skills will be needed for some time.”

While the scale of the IT infrastructure means that unit costs should be lower, LZTek’s Scott-South cautions that, at least in the short term, the industry will be disappointed if it expects a dramatic cut in the cost of its core studio facilities.

“Perhaps a different way of thinking about this is that you can at least expect to gain more for the same cost, and receive better value from your capital expenditure,” he says.

“What you quickly realise is that users are seeking a complete solution, with every piece of the puzzle ready to slot into place.”

Snell’s IP routing solution is being tested at UK and US broadcasters ahead of a 2015 launch, while Sony will add IP to its products next year.

It will include CCUs and servers, for users to choose between SDI and IP interfaces as part of a comprehensive live IP production system.

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 27

IN-Depth

There are also immediate benefits for the OB sector. Since fibre-optic cable can carry more signals than copper cable, there is a huge difference to the cost of installation, not to mention a physical reduction in space and weight.

“As we move to 4K, the cost of wiring is extremely high,” explains Sony chief technology officer for broadcast and production systems Hugo Gaggioni. “We need four coaxial or triaxial cables [4 x 3G HD-SDI] to support a single 4K signal, making the cost prohibitive.

The only way to negate this is to move to an IP infrastructure.”

One 10-Gigabit link has sufficient bandwidth for 4K at 25p but for 4K sport broadcasts, where the frame rate will be upped to 60p or more, the signal will need to be compressed or carried over more expensive pipes.

The ability to virtualise OB studios to a remote controller in a facility elsewhere not only enables cost-saving reductions in personnel on site but also a much quicker post-production workflow as the availability of content for editing is near instantaneous over LAN (local area network) or WAN (wide area network).

“Ultimately, IP will be used to deliver a much wider range of live events,” suggests David Atkins, technical director at Suitcase TV, one of the companies working on Stagebox. “As costs come down, production will be easier and we’ll see more and more niche media channels streaming live events.”

FILE DELIVERY: DEADLINE DEBATE

The delivery challenge With the deadline for file-based delivery looming, Broadcast partnered with the DPP for two panel discussions at Rada in London to discover if the industry is ready for the change. George Bevir reports

F

rom October, ITV and Channel 4 will join Channel 5 in no longer accepting programmes delivered on tape.

The same month, the BBC will start its own move to file delivery.

Opening the Broadcast debates on the subject, Digital Production Partnership chair Mark Harrison made clear the scale of the change. “I can’t think of another occasion when the whole industry made a change together at the same time. Even HD came in quite gradually. For us to be focused around this is quite exciting and feels wonderfully collegiate,” he said.

For production companies, one of the biggest challenges relates to late-delivery programmes, due to the time it takes to create and deliver an AS-11 file for TX. A prime example is Lime Pictures’ twice-weekly constructed

28 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

reality show The Only Way Is Essex, which is delivered only a few hours before transmission.

Head of operations David Boyle said Lime does not want the move to file-based delivery to adversely affect the editorial or creative process of producing the show.

Exceptional circumstances “We have discussed with ITV about delivering The Only Way Is Essex on tape until the technology [to create a file] catches up with the demands of this type of show,” he said. “Ultimately, we want to comply with the requirements, but there are some genuinely exceptional circumstances.”

Production company The Garden is about to start shooting the latest series of 24 Hours In A&E for C4. It was keen to continue delivering on tape, but the broadcaster has insisted that

‘A file is just another production deliverable, I can’t emphasise that strongly enough’ David Klafkowski, The Farm both new series – 31 hours of content – are delivered as files.

“The biggest problem with 24 Hours In A&E is not creative changes, it is consent changes,” said production executive Steven Hunt.

“The nature of a medical documentary series is that a contributor may change at the last minute. We don’t want a situation where we have to make a new file, so will plan for a longer offline schedule to allow us an extra week of consent checking.”

Although programme budgets in a file-based world are likely

to remain the same, there are additional costs to file-based delivery, said Hunt.

“It comes down to the relationship with our post house and how we negotiate with them.”

However, Harrison said he couldn’t see any reason for programme budgets to change. “There are costs and savings and, as far as I can tell, they are roughly in balance.

Over time, file working will probably become slightly cheaper,” he added.

For Boyle, the real savings will come at the end of the investment cycle for VTRs. “We expect to be cost-neutral in terms of process because it may take slightly longer, but the kit is considerably cheaper than HD video-based infrastructure and equipment,” he said.

The message from post facilities to production companies

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Manufacturer zone sponsored by

Post panellists (left to right) Andy Tennant

ITV Studios technology director and DPP board member

Owen Tyler

Kate Robson

Head of operations at Prime Focus

Ian Beushaw

Evolutions operations director

Head of digital media at Deluxe Media

Shane Warden

David Klafkowski

Matt Goble

George Bevir

IMG Studios general manager Senior solutions architect at Re:fine

Joint managing director at The Farm Broadcast TECH editor (chair)

IN-Depth

Q&A: the post-production community outlined storage as an area of concern

about the impending October deadline for file-based delivery was simple: ‘don’t panic!’

“It’s just another production deliverable, I can’t emphasise that strongly enough,” said The Farm joint managing director David Klafkowski. “Your master is intrinsically your flattened timeline file, so the creation of the AS-11 file is just that distribution content.”

Quality control The main area of uncertainty for post relates to the profiles of automatic quality control (AQC) systems. “We received a programme for ITV recently that was DPP spec from end to end and had been signed off as passing QC. But when we ran it through a Cerify check, we found it was way out of gamut in a lot of places,” said Deluxe Media’s Ian Beushaw.

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“Because of that, we need to have a unified profile that you can download from the DPP so that we will all use the same.”

Re:fine senior solutions architect Matt Goble asked if manufac­turers would seek to provide compliant profiles too.

“The tool itself could be compliant but if it’s not set up correctly, it won’t give the right results,” he warned.

Evolutions operations director Owen Tyler raised a similar concern about photo-sensitive epilepsy devices.

“It’s frustrating that a test can be compliant but a broadcaster using another device could suggest otherwise,” he said.

The DPP is in the process of setting up a compliance programme that is an extension of its quarterly manufacturer interoperability days, which provide manufacturers with

Production panellists (left to right) Mark Harrison

DPP chair and business lead for the BBC’s End-to-End Digital Programme

David Boyle

Head of operations, Lime Pictures

Steven Hunt

Production executive, The Garden

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May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 29

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an opportunity to spend time assessing how compliant their DPP files actually are.

DPP board member and ITV Studios technology director Andy Tennant said the scheme would help to give the industry some level of certainty that products that claim to be DPP compliant actually are. He said: “We are setting up a test lab and a compliance programme at the moment. We are a couple of weeks away from being able to produce a final test. We are also trying to do an end-to-end test to help manufacturers, and hope to make more concrete announcements on that in about four weeks’ time.”

Taking responsibility

finding that quite focusing.

There’s actually nothing different about that. If you look at the contracts, it’s always been the case.

We’re removing the repeated technical quality control by broadcasters, but editorial responsibility is the same.”

IMG Studios general manager Shane Warden said freelance editors, upon whom the industry relies, need to be fully aware of the wider changes. He revealed that IMG Studios has started to draw up a roster of DPPproficient editors who understand the broader aspects of filebased production.

“As a facility, we are starting to challenge productions to do a little sanity check,” he said. “It’s almost as though we need a cycling proficiency-style badge to say that a freelance editor understands the responsibility, and by doing their job in a thoughtful way they can see off some of the problems.”

Prime Focus head of operations Kate Robson said that one of the priorities for post was to look at automating certain processes. “File delivery allows us to do that on a much larger scale than in the tape world, so it comes back to how AQC is progressing and how we move

Seeking an archive solution During the production discussion, a question from the floor raised the issue of how to manage a filebased archive.

Although production companies have been acquiring and postproducing content as files for some time, it seems the move to file-based delivery has made the need for a robust archive solution more pressing, with a greater desire for a more managed approach to enable content to be retrieved quickly.

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DPP chair Mark Harrison revealed that archive is an area on which the DPP is “very focused”.

Although it’s not yet clear whether the DPP will produce a standard or a set of guidelines, post-production firms are looking to provide production companies with a solution by offering fixed-term storage over a few years at a similar price to the cost of producing an HD Cam SR tape which, from October, will no longer be required by UK broadcasters.

IN-depth

During the post-production question-and-answer session, it was suggested that the shift to filebased delivery – and in particular broadcasters moving away from carrying out a full QC check – had led to confusion over who was responsible for a programme.

Harrison was clear that this was one area that had not changed. He said: “The emphasis is being placed on production taking responsibility for the readiness of a finished programme for transmission and people are

File Delivery: Deadline Debate

Discussing the issues: attendees and sponsors meet up after the debate assets throughout the company,” she said.

With changes to quality control and post-production processes now inevit­able, facilities are trying to ensure the process isn’t too disruptive and dissimilar to that of the tape-based world.

Simplifying the process “The main thing for us is holding the hands of our clients and to help them understand the different timings,” said Tyler.

Although we are in the middle of a period of significant change and upheaval, the benefits are

just around the corner, according to Klafkowski. “When we deliver an AS-11 file with a document to say it has been watched and this is what the production company wants, that will then TX,” he said.

“It is a verified and 100% copy – not a tape that’s been on a courier bike, sat on the train and had a cup of coffee poured over it. It will be exactly what we intended.

“As a facility, that is so refreshing. It might not seem it at the moment, but [file delivery] is simplifying the process.”

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 31

ELECTION COVERAGE TECHNOLOGY

Wooing the swing viewer A year of local, national and European elections will see broadcasters employ all manner of technological innovations to give their coverage the edge – and without a swingometer in sight. Michael Burns reports

IN-DEPTH

T

he local English and Sky News: data tickers Northern Irish council dominate the lower elections and the European third of the screen Parliament elections at the end of May signalled the start of a year-long election season.

“There’s the hugely important Scottish Referendum in September, followed by what looks like the least predictable and most exciting General Election we’ve had in years,” says Sky News executive producer Nick Phipps.

“A lot of the technology we’ve been rolling out in May will still be in place as we approach the 2015 election. The big change in recent elections, which we feel producer control over which Sky News has driven, is that elements to display on screen, as data is king. What viewers want well as the ability to add editorial is information as quickly and comment or breaking news lines.” clearly as possible. We’re far It’s a far cry from the election more interested in delivering coverage of the 1960s, which that information than the relied on locked-off shots of traditional approach of lots of printers churning out election men in suits sitting around results, and the blocky graphics talking to each other.” of the 1970s and 1980s.

For Sky, the lower third Now, Sky News’ studio is of the screen furniture equipped with a 4K screen delivers results and the that can be used to impart numbers of seats as more information than its they change. on-screen furniture, says “Our lower thirds are Phipps. “[The screen] designed on Vizrt’s can be used to Viz Artist and zoom into individplayed out on Viz ual councils and Engine,” explains look at the crucial Brent Jones, head results of the of VFX at Sky night, such as Creative’s news losses by a design team. “The particular party data tickers are or the impact of controlled via a UKIP, which was a custom-built key political story Vine: presented results in-house application, at both of these from a virtual studio which gives the elections.”

32 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

‘The big change in recent elections, which we feel Sky News has driven, is that data is king’ Nick Phipps, Sky News These graphics are also designed using Viz Artist and played out via Viz Engine. Jones says: “As data, these sequences also show live video feeds. The presenter has full control of these non-linear sequences through a bespoke iPad app developed in house and a custom-built production web interface.”

BBC drills down BBC News’ coverage of the local and European elections came from New Broadcasting House and BBC Studios and Post Production’s Elstree Studio D, which was used to increase its broadcast capacity.

Presenter Emily Maitlis was able to drill down into particular

geographical areas of the country with the aid of a 103-inch touchscreen, while Jeremy Vine presented from a green-screen virtual reality environment within the studio, showing the results and projections in graphical form.

“We used Star Tracker, a new development from Mo-Sys, which enables tracking of the camera pedestals using targets fixed to a grid,” says BBC Studios and Post Production resource manager Andrew Breaks. “The targets act the same as a constellation in the night sky: an upwardlooking camera analyses what it can see, and works out where it is in the studio. This information is then sent to a computer to render the correct viewpoint, with lens information and pan and tilt to create the picture.

“We also use encoders from Mo-Sys on the Technocrane, making it virtual reality-capable, and a Shotoku remote head. This offers the director a wide range of virtual reality shots.”

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To participate, exhibit, advertise or sponsor please contact Peter Rhodes on 020 7528 0086, peter.rhodes@reedmidem.com

MY OFFICE

PERIOD SOUNDS Da Vinci’s Demons was a great series to work on because it needed lots of big, over-the-top sounds.

Parts of the characters’ period costumes, like the armour, were made out of materials such as plastic, so to create a more authentic sound, we used real chain mail and breast plates and walked in time with the characters, mimicking their movements.

A prop sword won’t make a lot of noise when it’s drawn from a sheath but the viewer expects to hear a certain sound. So we do things to heighten the impact of the image on screen, such as run a glove along the blade. That creates a nice ringing sound.

PROPS We have a huge array of props that have been collected over the past 25 years. As a Foley artist, you never throw anything out. For example, we have hundreds of pairs of shoes, from slippers to football boots and everything in between. When you are in a studio every day, you get to know all of your props, but it’s only by playing around with things that you find out what they might be good for. We used the rug for David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive, manipulating it in time with the movement of one of the computer-generated birds.

34 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

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Make some noise

PETER SEARLE

PAUL HANKS – FOLEY ARTIST

Universal Sound in Buckinghamshire is the only dedicated Foley studio in the country, providing sound effects for TV, film, commercials and computer games.

Foley artist Paul Hanks reveals some of the tricks of his trade

SOUND CAPTURE

BLOOD AND GORE SENSATION OF REALITY Anyone can grab a sound from a library, but it can sound cold. Foley creates a more interesting and real sensation – it adds a human element. Da Vinci’s Demons is a complicated show at the upper end of the scale for TV, so each episode might be three days work. Modern drama is easier, because you can use real items to recreate the sounds of things such as computers and mobile phones. But shows that are set hundreds of years ago take a bit more time.

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We’re working on the second series of Utopia at the moment. Because it’s a hyper-stylised series with lots of blood and gore, it really suits Foley. We might use a water melon to replicate the sound of an exploding head, or if someone has their arm broken, we could have layers of four or five tracks of things like celery snapping and a knuckle cracking.

One of our more unusual sessions was creating the chocolate FX for Tim Burton’s Charley And The Chocolate Factory. We wanted to create a gloopy, gungy sound for the rivers of chocolate, so we ended up filling a paddling pool with water and food thickener. It worked really well – but was a nightmare to clear out of the studio.

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 35

WORK

We use a Sennheiser MKH60 shotgun mic to capture the sounds we create. We also use an AKG C414 XLS mic to capture ambient sound, which helps to place it in the room. If we are recording Foley for an outdoor scene, we wouldn’t colour it with any ambient sound.

We record to Pro Tools, which means we can label and store effects in a library. For a show like Da Vinci’s Demons, we have maybe eight tracks of footsteps for the different characters and eight tracks of props.

Other tracks might be dedicated to things like the sound of cloth moving for a woman’s ball gown. The session is usually sent to the client via FTP.

Interview

Forward thinking The chief executive of Imagine Communications and Gates Air talks to George Bevir about splitting the company in two and the similarities between TV and the telecoms industry

Fact file Charlie Vogt Career highlights Jul 2013-present Chief executive, Imagine Communications and Gates Air (formerly Harris Broadcast) Sep 2004-Jul 2013 Chief executive, Genband Apr 2002-Jul 2004 Chief executive, Taqua Nov 1999-Nov 2000 Vice-president sales, Accelerated Networks Jan 1996-Nov 1999 Vice-president sales Ascend Communications Hobbies Spending time with family, playing golf, boating, hiking.

Watches Re-runs of Friends, Resurrection, Scandal, Revenge and ESPN “until my eyes shut”.

C

harlie Vogt put his stamp on Harris Broadcast in March, when the Harris moniker was dropped and the company was split into Imagine Communications and Gates Air. Appointed in July last year, Vogt joined Harris from software and infrastructure firm Genband, and his pedigree is clear in the changes he instigated at the broadcast equipment firm.

At the time of the split, he said that although Imagine and Gates Air shared common customers, they “innovate on different ends of the technology spectrum”. According to Vogt, the future of the media and entertainment markets will be defined by IP, software, the cloud and TV everywhere, and splitting the company (Harris acquired OTT and mobile video technology firm Imagine Communications in January this year) will allow them to focus more closely on their areas of expertise.

Vogt ruffled a few feathers when he spoke at the IABM annual conference at the end of last year, when he suggested that the broadcast equipment sector could learn some important lessons from the telecoms industry. But for Vogt, the future of the vendor sector is clear.

“Somebody said it seems like I came back from the future, and it feels like I have seen this movie play out once already. In the late 1990s, the telecoms industry was trying to embrace IP as enabling technology when the traditional TDM infrastructure was the prevalent means of how voice and data was developed. It took a decade to get to a place where there was mass adoption of IP as a protocol,” says Vogt.

36 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

What that meant for the telecoms sector, Vogt says, was a faster and more flexible means to get to market; lower-cost infrastructure; and software and hardware firms could develop on a standard platform.

Vogt says that as in telecoms, there will be early adopters: large networks that see the value of IP and getting content to private or public cloud as quickly as they can.

Smaller broadcasters will also adopt, he says, because there may be less risk. But a band of broadcasters in the middle might be nervous about moving to the technology, despite the inevitability.

Since Vogt joined what was Harris Broadcast, he has surrounded himself with a few familiar faces.

Around half the senior management team was replaced when he joined the company. New recruits include chief technology officer Steve Reynolds, who joined from Comcast, and chief financial officer Skip Sorenson, along with the “core group” from sales and marketing at Genband, including president of global sales Pablo Gargiulo.

“I think I had a pretty big influence over the past decade leading the [telecoms] industry through transformative change, and what excites us is that media broadcast will go through a similar trans­ formation over the next decade.

Changes in IT and telecoms in the past decade have put us in the right kind of light,” Vogt says.

One of the main ways for the industry to advance is through the use of off-the-shelf computing platforms, he adds. To emphasise his point, Vogt says that over the next six months, the company will make a series of announcements about large broadcasters moving to IPbased architecture.

Technology evolution “IP is the enabling long-term technology evolution, but that doesn’t mean we are abandoning SDI and baseband technology, absolutely not,” he says. “There is a three to 10-year evolutionary path, and the only way we will get there is if companies the size of Imagine invest aggressively in IP-based technology. So IP is a huge theme in this company.”

Like many leaders of broadcast technology vendors, Vogt bemoans the lack of common standards in the broadcast industry. “Every one of our customers asks us to do something a little bit different,” he says.

“It makes it challenging to get ahead of the tech­nology curve when you are doing so much custom development work. If we can get to an underlying IP architecture and common standards, we can leverage common computing platforms.”

What that means for Imagine is that over time, it will become less

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Charlie Vogt

NAB 2014: Vogt was encouraged by talk around IP at the trade show

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‘It feels like I have seen this movie play out once already, in the telecoms industry’ Charlie Vogt

and encoding solutions are now being combined with Imagine’s encoding, adaptive bit rate transcoding technology and content delivery network software to create an end-to-end system for file-based and live video streaming.

Complementary business “Digital Rapids had products that were on our roadmap, but we were 18-24 months away from getting ours to market. It is a company that

Charlie Vogt on...

Management

Sales and marketing

“I’m about as high-octane a person as you will meet. My management style is very fast paced and ‘now’.”

“The experience of spending half my almost 30-year career leading a sales organisation has helped because everything starts and stops with an order.”

4K “We’re supporting it, but pushing 4K and 8K content through the network is not the challenge – I don’t think consumers are ready for the buying spree that consumer electronics manu­facturers would like.”

Work “I’m blessed in that I don’t think I have ever gone to work; for me, it feels extracurricular. Being surrounded by colleagues, building and creating something is so rewarding for me.”

really complemented what we were doing on the encoding and transcoding side of the business,” says Vogt.

“For second screen, there are different packages and form factors that the industry will have to comply with. The whole notion around second screen or multiscreen is something we are investing heavily in and Digital Rapids complements that part of Imagine’s product portfolio very well. Their engineering and support team is also just five miles down the road from our Toronto facility, which helps from a people perspective. And we have a lot of common customers.”

Vogt says Imagine will continue to be “ambitious about complementing the portfolio where we have time to market gaps”.

He points to dynamic ad insertion, data analytics and traffic and scheduling as areas where he could look to bolster the company’s existing products. “Our road map is pretty well aligned with what we think the industry needs, so we have to ask if the technology out there aligns with our vision, and if it will get us to market faster.”

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 37

WORK

of a proprietary hardware manu­ facturer and more of a software developer. “It’s where we – and the industry – ultimately need to go,” he says.

Vogt was encouraged by the themes that emerged at NAB in April. “There was a lot more talk about IP as an underlying protocol that the industry needs to adopt, and the public and private hybrid cloud virtualisation model. But I didn’t see as much about networks defined by software. That is an area where we are leading, and I prob­ ably didn’t see as much because companies are not as well prepared as we are. And clearly the multiscreen and TV everywhere theme was present at the show.”

It was at NAB in Las Vegas that Imagine continued the recent theme of mergers and acquisitions, with the announcement that it had acquired IP and file-based mediaprocessing firm Digital Rapids.

Vogt says the reason for the deal was to boost Imagine’s TV everywhere portfolio.

Digital Rapids’ software-based workflow management, transcoding

ADVERTORIAL

Panasonic VariCam Taking pride of place on Panasonic’s booth at this year’s NAB was its new 4K broadcasting solution: two modular VariCams, aimed at high-end filmmakers, episodic productions and live events.

The most striking aspect of the new models is their modular design. Both are equipped with a recording module unit, which is interchangeable with a 4K front end and a 2/3-inch camera module.

The high level of interest in the cameras at NAB was demonstrated by the VariCam HS and VariCam 35 both picking up awards for technical innovation

and excellence. Panasonic Professional Camera Solutions broadcast manager Nigel Wilkes says: “Our customers have been waiting a long time for the launch of the VariCam 35 and HS. The feedback we have had from the industry is that many DoPs want to expand their creativity, and the new VariCam will deliver exactly what they want.”

The cameras are set to launch in the autumn, with a suggested list price of under £41,000 for the VariCam 35 and under £36,000 for the VariCam HS.

INTERCHANGEABLE FRONT ENDS The VariCam is a modular camera with the option of having two interchangeable front ends. The VariCam 35 features a PL mount capable of shooting 4K at 120fps and the VariCam HS is a 2/3-inch lens camera for HD, 240fps recording. This allows DoPs to change the front end of the camera to best suit their creative needs.

UMBILICAL CABLE The modular system can be expanded with the use of an umbilical cable between either the VariCam 35 or VariCam HS and the AVC-Ultra recorder, providing ‘box’ camera functionality for jibs, cranes and other remote camera needs.

38 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

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IMAGE SENSOR The VariCam 35 incorporates a newly developed super 35mm MOS image sensor, which complements the company’s current AVC-Ultra family of video codecs. Images can be handled in multiple formats, including 4K/HD/Proxy simultaneous recording with AVC-ULTRA and variable frame rates up to 120fps.

The new imager boasts an impressive 14+ stops of latitude, and faithfully captures high-contrast, wide-dynamic-range imagery without any compromise.

TOOLS

EXPRESSP2 CARD Specifically designed to capture 4K images, the new expressP2 card offers fast transfer speeds of up to 2.4Gbps, meaning an hour of 4K footage can be transferred within around 10 minutes. The expressP2 card contains a flash memory error correction system, equivalent to a RAID system, to recover from a failure in a sector, page or entire block.

CODEX V-RAW RECORDER Codex Digital, an industry leader in RAW recording and workflow, has worked closely with Panasonic to develop a dedicated recorder that will capture uncompressed 4K VariCam RAW (V-RAW) at up to 120fps, bolstering the VariCam 35’s suitability for high-end cinema applications.

The Codex V-RAW recorder will directly connect with Panasonic’s VariCam35 camera, eliminating cabling completely to facilitate greater efficiency and higher mobility.

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PRO RES 4444/422 The new VariCam offers Apple ProRes 4444 and ProRes 422 HQ support for HD recording.

Given the prevalence of ProRes as a popular editing format within the production community, its inclusion in the VariCam 35 firmly positions the new camera and recorder within a well-established and widely accepted HD workflow.

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 39

MOST WANTED

Top hires Visual Impact Rental hire manager Peter May picks the most in-demand kit of the past few months

2 5 1

Canon C300 EF

TOOLS

The C300 is proving popular with productions from fast-moving primetime TV shows to film and even corporate videos. Key to that is its value for money. It can be hired at a relatively low cost, yet it produces smooth, low-noise, high-dynamic-range images. The C300 is extremely versatile, and with the vast array of lenses available, it delivers a superior large-sensor look.

3

4

2 Sony PMW-200 The first in its class to be equipped with three 1/2-inch Exmor back-illuminated CMOS sensors for excellent sensitivity and enhanced depth of field. It offers recording in full HD422 at 50Mbps.

40 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

3 Sony NEX-FS700 The 4K-ready, high-speedcapable, super 35mm camcorder allows for recording up to 200fps at 1920 x 1080 PAL. Our kit comes with the Sony 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 lens, E-Mount lens and Metabones adaptor, which lets productions use EF lenses.

4 Sony PMW-F5 The PMW-F5 CineAlta camera shoots spectacular images with its 8.9 megapixel Sony 4K image sensor. Options include the amazing precision of 16-bit linear RAW 2K/4K recording and high-speed shooting at up to 120fps without cropping.

5 Sony PMW-500 Sony’s first XDCAM HD422 camcorder with solid-state recording has three 2/3-inch Power HAD FX CCD sensors that deliver the same quality and performance as the PDW-700 and PDW-F800, but records onto solid-state SxS media.

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ASK THE EXPERTS

Focus on lenses With NAB over for another year, Broadcast TECH asks four experts in the field of lenses to share their views on the latest trends and what innovations caught their eye at the show

Dan Studley

What caught your eye at NAB?

Technical director, HotCam

We ordered the new Canon CN7X17 lens, which we will hopefully be taking delivery of soon. We would also love to try the Zeiss retrofit handgrip for their CZ.2 lenses. There was plenty of talk about it on the Zeiss stand but it is only a concept at the moment.

What lenses are in vogue at the moment?

Our Cooke MiniS4 Primes are very popular and were used on Britain’s Got Talent (above) for the first time this year. The producer [Thames] took production to a new level by shooting on the Sony F55. Along with the MiniS4s, they used Zeiss CP.2 Primes and CZ.2 zooms to give the show a cinematic feel.

Also popular are HDx35 adaptors. These give users of PLmount cameras, such as the F55, and EF-mount cameras, such as the Canon C300, the flexibility of using ENG-style lenses like the HJ22, HJ14 or HJ40. This is a flexible and cost-effective way of working, and the on-board servo use is an added bonus.

42 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

What advice do you offer clients when it comes to choosing lenses?

With all our cine work, we try to have a chat with the production company first to get an idea of what they are trying to achieve before we advise. For a fast-moving, shouldermount camera, we will recommend the Fujinon Cabrio, the CN7X17 or an HDx35 adaptor with an HJ lens. For a slower drama or features set-up, we recommend more precise lenses like our Cooke MiniS4 prime lens set, although that is usually at the request of the DoP.

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ASK THE EXPERTS

Cooke S4i prime lenses: range from 12mm to 300mm

INFORM

Jake Polonsky

some quality to the image. I’ve just started filming Cucumber for Red and Channel 4, written by Russell T Davies. There is a real desire to have a ‘classic’ quality so we are shooting on Cooke Xtal Express lenses supplied by Panavision. They are anamorphicised versions of the lenses I own.

They have an amazing heritage, having been used on Blue Velvet and Return Of The Jedi. It is very exciting to see what they add to the work.

DoP What are your preferred lenses for shooting TV drama?

There is no one right type of glass for every job but I am a fan of older lenses as they help to lessen some of the aggressive sharpness of modern digital cameras. I recently bought a set of old Cooke Series 2 and 3 lenses, breaking my long-held rule of not owning any lenses. They are small, lightweight, relatively fast and very close focusing.

I like my lenses to have personality. I don’t like lenses that don’t flare or impart

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When choosing your lenses, what factors do you take into consideration?

Speed is one. Do I want to work at very low light levels and with narrow depth of field? If so, then I might reach for a set of Zeiss Superspeeds, which are very good at wide apertures.

Another factor is speed of working. Do I want to work predominantly on zooms and save time on lens changes? If so, the Angenieux Optimo range is excellent, especially the 17-80mm and 24-290mm. What look am I going for? Is it period? If it is, older lenses

‘I am a fan of older lenses as they help to lessen some of the aggressive sharpness of modern digital cameras’ Jake Polonsky might give it a softer look more appropriate to historical stories. If it is it contemporary, then I might want crisp modern lenses to provide that look.

Has anything new caught your eye?

The truth is that the laws of physics dictate many factors limiting lens design. A fast lens with close focus will have to be a certain size and weight if the image quality is going to satisfy discerning cinematographers. Recent innovations like the Fujinon Premier series have pushed the limits of what we might want from lenses – a T2 18-85mm zoom is amazing, but at the same time, it’s so expensive that it’s a luxury item. 

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 43

Ask the experts

Andra Motion Focus: autofocus for multiple cameras

Mark Moreve Lighting cameraman What lenses are you using at the moment?

I’m shooting a lot of stuff on Super 35 large-frame cameras like the Sony F5 and the Canon C300, using a set of Canon Cine Prime lenses that I own.

These are not the stills ones, but the video ones with the external iris. I bought them because the skin tones you can capture are very beautiful and they are very fast when you open them up. Also, the external iris enables me to do an exposure pull, something that is virtually impossible with a stills lens.

Does using stills lenses for video work create other issues?

Jon Howarth

IN-DEPTH

Director, Shoot Blue What lenses are popular at the moment?

DSLR format lenses have always been a strong area for us. One highlight is the vintage Leica-R series Primes, which are a popular choice with clients shooting on the Canon 5D and the Canon C300. Leica lenses have a very three-dimensional look and a colour reproduction that is very different from many of the more modern DSLR lenses.

At the higher end, we own one of the few sets of Cooke S5i prime lenses. Because of their speed and the ‘Cooke look’, cinematographers tend to immediately fall in love with these lenses. We also have the Fujinon Cabrio series zoom lenses which, because of their lightweight design and the ENG-style servo handgrip, are very much a crossover lens. Their appeal will only increase now that the Arri Amira has been released as it is featured on most of the promotional material for that camera.

Have any new lenses impressed you?

The focus barrel on a stills lens is very short, which is fine for stills.

But for video, if you’re holding someone in focus while they are walking towards you, then you need movement and a longer barrel turn. With documentary, traditionally we have a 180-degree barrel turn. With drama, you have a 300-degree barrel turn. With stills, it is only 90 degrees. They are a compromise.

Has anything new caught your eye?

PL-mount lenses like the Fujinon Cabrio and the new Canon CN7X17 17-120mm zoom (pictured below) are very interesting. The latter is an awesome piece of kit, and exactly what we have been asking for, but it’s very expensive. If I bought one, to get my money back on it, I would have to charge producers more for it than I would for the use of the camera itself.

The downside to the Fujinon lens is that they brought out a 2K version and then a 4K variety. They should have just released one, especially as they are even more expensive than the Canon lens.

With many large-sensor ENG/documentary cameras on the market, like the Arri Amira, is there an impact from a lens perspective?

What people don’t realise is the importance of 2/3-inch B4-mount lenses. What makes all these new cameras an ENG or documentarystyle camera is the B4-mount lens. To have that shuttle servo zoom handgrip on the right-hand side, and to be able to move your fingers though the focus, the zoom and the iris, enables you to be in the documentary/ENG situation, not the camera.

With the Fujinon Cabrio and now the Canon CN7X17 17-120mm zoom, many lens manufacturers are offering PL zoom lenses with ENG-style servo handgrips. With zooms, it’s usually less about the aesthetic and look of the lens, and more about the practicality and efficiency it provides for shooting. It’s good to see manufacturers responding to the requirements of more mainstream, broadcastcentric shooting rather than digital cinema production.

Did any innovations at NAB catch your eye?

One technology that impressed us was the Andra Motion Focus system. It’s like an autofocus system for either single or multiple cameras that could potentially have a wide range of applications.

It’s a product we are following closely.

44 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

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GUIDE TO… NAB CAMERAS

Candid cameras NAB 2014 was awash with new cameras, with a few manufacturers entering the fray.

Will Strauss rounds up some of the most interesting announcements

Blackmagic Ursa What is it? An upgradeable 4K digital film camera

Features

Sony Alpha A7Ss What is it? A mirrorless full-frame 4K digital camera

Features - New 12MP full-frame sensor - Shoots 4K video without line skipping, pixel binning or downsampling - Ultra-high sensitivity, up to ISO 409,600 - High colour fidelity - 4K HDMI video output - Requires external recorder - Palm sized

Ideal for Documentary-makers and low-budget indie film-makers

Price £1,485 ($2,500) Shipping July

- Super 35-size global shutter 4K image sensor - Four sensor and lens mount options: EF, PL, B4 or HDMI (pictured) - Two built-in recorders (recording RAW and ProRes) - Weighs 16.5lbs with the default Super 35 4K sensor block

- 10-inch fold-out on-set monitor - Separate five-inch screen for settings, camera status and scopes - Broadcast version will include UHD (Ultra HD) sensor, B4 lens mount and 12G-SDI input and output

Ideal for High-end features, television and commercials

Price £3,785 (EF mount); £4,095 (PL Mount) Shipping July

Blackmagic Studio Camera What is it? A live production camera that can be configured for either HD or UHD

Features - 10-inch HD viewfinder - Micro four-thirds lens mount - Four-hour battery - Built-in talkback, tally indicators and stereo mic - Phantom powered XLR microphone connections - Built-in optical fibre and SDI connections - HD and UHD versions

Ideal for News, sport and studio shows Price £1,275 (HD version); £1,895 (UHD version)

Shipping Now (HD); June (UHD)

46 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

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GUIDE TO… NAB CAMERAS

JVC GY-LSX1 4K What is it? 4K shoulder-mount camcorder

Features - Super 35mm CMOS sensor (13.6MP) - PL lens mount (and optional converters for 2/3inch B4 and other mounts) - Shoots 4K (4096×2160 or 3840×216) at up to 60p or HD up to 240p for super slo-mo

JVC GW-SPLS1 What is it? A two-piece mini 4K camera with associated gimbal

Features

Ideal for Digital cinematography Price TBA Shipping TBA

- Genlock and timecode - Includes five-meter tether cable; - Foldable seven-inch monitor on recording unit - Compatible with new wireless gimbal system (GW-GBLS1); - Prototype only at present

Ideal for Remotely controlled television news operation on a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) when operated with the GW-GBLS1

Price TBA Shipping TBA

Codex Action Cam What is it? A tiny remote head camera and recorder Features - Packaged with the Codex Camera Control Recorder - For 2D or 3D - Shoots 12-bit RAW up to 60fps - 2/3-inch CCD sensor and 14-bit image processing - Can be synced with other main unit cameras - Camera head operation and white balance, exposure index and frame rate adjustments from recorder unit - Output to ProRes, Avid DNxHD, uncompressed and H.264

Ideal for Action or POV (point-of-view) shots including VFX shots Price TBA Shipping Summer

AJA CION What is it? AJA’s first-ever camera Features - 4KK APS-C sized CMOS sensor - 12 stops of dynamic range - PL mount - Shoots to ProRes (4444, 422 and Proxy) up to 60fps and AJA RAW up to 120fps

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

- 2KK and HD are hardware scaled from the full 4KK sensor - SSD-based Pak storage - No proprietary connectors - Thunderbolt connector

Ideal for Both ENG/field production and studio use

Price £5,344 ($9,000) Shipping Summer

May/June 2014 | Broadcast TECH | 47

INFORM

- Super 35mm CMOS sensor (13.6MP) - Micro four-thirds lens mount - Shoot 4K to SDHC/SDXC cards - Live output via quad HD-SDI or HDMI 2.0 - IP control and viewing

- Records to SDHX, SDXC UHSI memory cards in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 422 codec - Four audio channels - Four outputs via quad HD-SDI or HDMI 2.0 - Genlock and TC in/out - IP connectivity for remote control and streaming - Prototype only at present

GUIDE TO… NAB CAMERAS

Digital Bolex D16M What is it? Black-and-white version of the D16

Features - New Kodak Monochrome Super 16mm-sized CCD sensor - Global shutter and 12 stops of dynamic range - Super 16mm (2K), 16mm (HD), and Super 8 (720p) options - No OLPF filter, maximising fine details

Panasonic GH4

INFORM

What is it? A mirrorless 4K

Ideal for Documentary makers

Features

and low-budget indie film makers

Sony PXW-X180 What is it? Handheld solid-state memory HD camcorder

Features - Three 1/3-inch Exmor CMOS sensors - New 25x optical zoom Sony G lens with 26mm wide angle - Shoots MPEG HD422 at 50 Mbps - XAVC Intra and Long GOP, MPEG HD420 at 35 Mbps, AVCHDTM and DV also possible - Records to SxS memory cards, XQD

48 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

Ideal for Black-and-white cinematography

Price £2,377 ($4,000) Shipping Now (eight to 12 weeks from order)

- OLED monitor and live view finder - Optional interface unit for SDI-Out - Silent mode

micro four-thirds digital camera - Digital live MOS sensor (16.05MP) - 4-CPU Venus engine - Shoots video and stills to SD cards - Micro four-thirds sensor and lens mount - Captures 4K at 30p/24p, cinematic DCI 4k at 24p and HD at 60p - Weather-sealed magnesium alloy body - Built-in wi-fi

- ISO 100, 200, 400, 800 - 500GB hard drive - Shoots to 12-bit CinemaDNG RAW - Internal 24-bit 96 kHz sound - Dual CF card slots - Interchangeable lens mount

Price £1,008 ($1,698) Shipping Spring

Panasonic Varicam 35 What is it? A 4KK version of the Varicam camcorder

Features

cards, SD cards and Memory Sticks - Electronic variable ND Filter - 3G/HD-SDI and HDMI output - Wireless file transmission and remote control - XLR audio inputs

- Super 35mm MOS sensor - Shoots 4K, UHD, 2K and HD - High frame rate, variable speed 4KK recording up to 120fps - Modular design with dockable recording unit - Umbilical cable provides ‘box’ camera functionality for jibs, cranes and other remote camera options

- Switch between Super 35mm and 2/3-inch camera heads - 14+ stops of latitude - Proxy recording for in-camera on-set colour grading - New OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) with optical zoom - PL mount - Two expressP2 card slots

Ideal for High-end features, commercials and television, as well as live 4KK events

Price Under £41,000 Shipping Autumn

Ideal for Newsgathering, documentaries and events

Price £3,561 ($5,995) Shipping August

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

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POSTSCRIPT

NEED TO...

TECH Q&A

Simon Marbrook

In Focus

FOLLOW

How did you get into the industry?

Pure nepotism: my father and stepmother were both in postproduction, so it seemed like a natural career path to take.

Mike Thornton The sound designer and audio producer works across TV, digital and radio. As deputy editor of the Pro Tools Expert website, he is a fount of knowledge about the Avid audio platform. @MikeProTools

INFORM

Watch

Walley POS-86 What do you mean you haven’t heard of the Walley POS-86?

With its 27-minute battery life, stereoscopic viewfinder and two-channel audio, it’s the most advanced camera ever built!

Unfortunately for Canon, the couple behind the fictitious camera decided to make a film poking fun at the world of camera marketing following a spot of research into their purchase of a C100, but they could have been inspired by many of the camera manufacturers out there. vimeo.com/93325163

Listen

Talking TV The latest edition of Broadcast’s fortnightly podcast includes a round-up of commissioning and production news, and an interview with A Very British Airline producer James Rogan.

Soundcloud.com/broadcastnow or via iTunes

50 | Broadcast TECH | May/June 2014

A team led by Dalet’s Ben Davenport opted for something decidedly more uncomfort­able than sitting in a bath tub full of beans to raise money for charity: four days in a 1989 Volvo. The trio of University of Surrey Tonmeister course alumni joined 100 other cars on the 3,000 mile Scumrun to raise cash for Tommy’s pregnancy and baby charity. To donate visit: teamyovo.org.uk/sponsor-us diary Dates

InfoComm 2014 What is it? A professional AV show that promises to gather the best and brightest of the professional audio-visual communications industry. Previous shows have attracted 950 exhibitors and 34,000 attendees from more than 90 countries.

When is it? Saturday 14 to Friday 20 June Where is it? Las Vegas, US Website infocommshow.org Twitter @InfoCommShow

Broadcast Asia 2014 What is it? The exhibition and conference covers audio, acquisition, post-production, asset management and delivery.

Speakers include StarHub chief technology officer Mock Pak Lum and Twitter vice-president for Americas, Asia Pacific and emerging markets Shailesh Rao.

When is it? Tuesday 17 to Friday 20 June Where is it Marina Bay, Singapore Website broadcast-asia.com Twitter @BroadcastAsia

What is the one tool/piece of kit you couldn’t do your job without, and why?

All the tools I use are so dependent upon each other, but if I had to choose one piece of kit, it would be the Phoenix Finish. It can do almost everything that all the bits of kit in our building can do.

What do you wish you’d invented?

Cats Eyes.

What everyday gadget can’t you live without, and why?

My iPad – it makes my commute bearable.

Which app do you most regularly use and why?

Kindle for iPad – countless books and even instruction manuals for work that I can read during my commute.

Broadcast Digital Awards What is it? This year is the tenth anniversary of the awards, which celebrate the best digital innovation and content crea­ tivity in broadcasting. Last year’s winners included ITV2, which picked up the Channel of the Year Award, and Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube, which scooped the prize for Best Original Web Channel.

When is it? Tuesday 24 to Wednesday 25 June Where is it London, UK Website broadcastdigitalawards. co.uk Twitter @BroadcastDigi

Which shows are series linked on your PVR? Game Of Thrones.

What is your go-to website?

My cricket club’s website, Ockhamcc.play-cricket.com.

Where would you put a webcam?

Maybe not a webcam, but I’d like to stick a mic in the England football team’s dressing room at the World Cup this summer to find out what’s going on.

Simon Marbrook is head of restoration at Premier

www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils

SAVE THE DATE

1 JULY 2014

Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG This one-day event brings you face-to-face with the biggest names in broadcasting as well as new digital players that have the power and pounds to get your shows made.

Last year’s event sold out in 3 weeks, check broadcastnow.co.uk for details of when tickets go on sale Join the conversation @MBIEvents #CFF For sponsorship enquiries please contact Sonya Jacobs: sonya.jacobs@mb-insight.com | 020 3033 2935

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