www.tvbeurope.com
Europe’s Television Technology Business Magazine
January 2014
VFX for TV
small screen, big spectacle Getting set for Sochi
Freelancers under fire: The Rory Peck Awards
TVBEurope 3
January 2014 www.tvbeurope.com
News & Contents
Double launch for Apple
NewBay Media acquires Broadcast Engineering assets By Neal Romanek
By Holly Ashford
It boasts PCIe-based flash storage and ECC DDR, which gives it APPLE HAS up to 60Gbps of announced that the memory bandwidth new Mac Pro is now available to order. for editing fullresolution 4K video The Mac Pro features while simultaneously the latest Intel Xeon rendering effects in processors, dual the background. workstation-class The company’s latest GPUs, PCIe-based flash storage and Mac Pro has six ECC memory. The Thunderbolt 2 ports, Apple’s new Mac pro is each with up to company has also released version 10.1 now available for order 20Gbps of bandwidth of its Final Cut Pro per device. It offers editing software. The FCP support for up to 36 highupdate features optimised performance peripherals, playback and rendering with including the latest 4K displays. the dual GPUs in the new Mac Updates to Final Cut Pro include the option to import Pro, video monitoring up to 4K media to locations inside or via Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI, outside a library, custom project and 4K content including titles, frame sizes, Project Snapshots transitions, and generators. allowing quick capture of a The Mac Pro features 4-core, project state for fast versioning, 6-core, 8-core or 12-core Intel 4K sharing to YouTube and an Xeon processors running at API for custom share operations Turbo Boost speeds up to using third party software. 3.9GHz and two workstationwww.apple.com class AMD FirePro GPUs.
TVBEUROPE PARENT company, NewBay Media, has acquired select assets of TV industry news and information source, Broadcast Engineering — both US and World editions — from Penton Media. The magazine will join NewBay’s extensive portfolio of TV and broadcast information resources, including TVBEurope, TV Technology, Next TV, Multichannel News, and the Creative Planet Network. The acquisition includes Broadcast Engineering’s trademark, web assets, and subscriber lists. In the coming months, broadcastengineering.com and tvtechnology.com will be integrated into a single web-based resource. When integrated, Broadcast Engineering will add over 75,000 unduplicated professionals to NewBay’s existing broadcast/video database, extending NewBay’s reach to over 500,000 professionals within Europe, the United States, and around the world. “We are excited to welcome Broadcast Engineering readers and
Harris Broadcast goes OTT with Imagine By Dick Hobbs HARRIS BROADCAST will acquire digital broadcast and TV Everywhere solutions company Imagine Communications. Imagine provides solutions for digital broadcast markets as well as TV Everywhere, network DVR, internet/mobile video and IPTV applications. The deal will expand Harris’ ability to offer OTT and TV Everywhere solutions. Imagine Communications uses software running in a virtualised blade server environment for TV Everywhere encoding, in keeping with Harris’s push for production
development focused on software and commercial off-the-shelf hardware. Harris hopes that Imagine’s combination of video processing, adaptive bitrate transcoding and statistical multiplexing technology will improve the bandwidth efficiency and density needed for improved TV Everywhere services. Harris Broadcast CEO, Charlie Vogt made the announcement at the IABM Conference in London. “Many of our content originator customers have been adding services for OTT and TV Everywhere, but have had to do
so with bifurcated systems for linear and non-linear services,” said Vogt. “This acquisition enables Harris Broadcast to take a leadership position in the OTT and TV Everywhere market, while laying the foundation for the first true software defined integration of sales, scheduling, automation, playout and delivery across both linear and non-linear content distribution networks. Additionally, through this acquisition, we will expand our R&D and innovation initiatives, strengthen our encoding, transcoding and ABR market position, and increase our total global addressable market.”
advertisers to the NewBay family,” said Steve Connolly, publisher of TVBEurope and TV Technology Europe. “This is a great opportunity to introduce a new audience to our market-leading brands, and to continue to build upon our goal to be the broadcast industry’s primary resource for business news and technical information.” Broadcast Engineering’s current print subscribers will have the opportunity to subscribe to TVBEurope, TV Technology, and TV Technology Europe in print, digital, or tablet formats. Subscribers will receive information on how to start their new subscriptions shortly. “NewBay Media’s goal is to be the leading information and marketing resource for the industries we serve,” said NewBay CEO Steve Palm. “We are excited to have the opportunity to bring Broadcast Engineering and its dedicated readership to our deep stable of television industry brands. In doing so, we have strengthened our commitment to — and our ability to serve — this dynamic and fast-moving market.”
“Harris Broadcast’s new leadership team, end-to-end technology and industry leading platforms ideally complement and significantly expand the possibilities for our cutting edge TV Everywhere capabilities,” said Imagine Communications CEO Richard Stanfield. “By combining Imagine technology with Harris Broadcast’s intellectual property, which already powers most of the world’s top content producers, this acquisition will transform the marketplace by leveraging Harris Broadcast’s strength and transferring it through smart integration to the non-linear, OTT, TV Everywhere world.” www.harrisbroadcast.com www.imaginecommunications.com
Contents 1-16 News & Analysis Opinion: The Year Ahead Guest opinion from industry experts, looking ahead to 2014
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The Rory Peck Awards George Jarrett reviews the annual Rory Peck Awards night, and talks to winners and Trust members 16 20 The Business Case The Fixer: Blackmagic’s Grant Petty remakes an industry in his own image The Blackmagic Design CEO gives a characteristically candid interview to Adrian Pennington 20x 23-35 The Workflow Sensor requirements loom large for lenses David Fox looks at how larger camera sensors are driving the most recent advance in lenses 23 The downhill run to Sochi Winter Olympic Games’ OB provider Panorama is preparing the way for the world’s biggest winter sports event, by Philip Stevens 29 36-42 Channel in a Box Forum Philip Stevens moderates this month’s Forum, which returns to the popular topic of CiaB and gathers together a number of those involved in the industry 36 43-48 The Workflow Think global, broadcast local: British local TV takes off UK local television is about to move forward in a big way, reports Philip Stevens 43 50 News Review A round-up of this month’s most interesting stories from the broadcast technology industry 50
4 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
Opinion
2013 saw the discussion and the theory behind 4K. This year it won’t just be theory anymore; it will start to be used in practice
The Year Ahead
4K, OTT and TV in the air Last year saw the rise of connected devices, OTT and Smart TVs becoming commonplace in the home and the emergence of Ultra HD. David Hochner, CEO of Satlink Communications, takes a look at what’s ahead in 2014 2013 HAS certainly been a year where broadcasters and providers alike have not been able to take a step back and admire their work. Instead they have taken a deep breath to prepare themselves for what the future holds. With new technologies come new challenges, and as audiences expect greater quality and greater customisation of services, broadcasters, content providers and solution providers are preparing themselves for a busy 2014. The top industry trends that we see for the next 12 months are:
4K will finally take off Last year saw the discussion and the theory behind 4K. What could it do? How can we do it? What benefits will we see? This year it won’t just be theory anymore; it will start to be used in practice. The uptake won’t be huge, with only a few channels testing the water, but this will spark the kick-off for real transmissions and productions of 4K content. The trigger for 4K content, as with many new and innovative broadcasting technologies, is sports and entertainment content such as movies. With the Brazil World Cup taking place, I would expect to see this type of content hitting some screens next summer, particularly in the European and Asian markets, which are already open to this kind of technology. One of the challenges still facing 4K is that there are no standards yet and much of this discussion is still ongoing within the industry. Yet it doesn’t have the same restrictions as 3D did, which means that it stands a real chance of taking off and becoming a part of the way we consume TV content. The uptake won’t be fast — for some emerging countries HD has still not been introduced — and it won’t reach full
It is also likely that, due to the rise of Smart TV and apps, we will start to see the demise of the Set Top Box (STB). This means that providers will need to work alongside TV manufacturers so that technology is incorporated into the standalone TV set.
Less linear consumption of TV content In a busy society, the way TV is consumed has been changing as audiences play ‘catch-up’ with their favourite TV programmes on their mobile devices, laptops and TVs. With on-demand TV and associated apps making it easier to watch TV whenever and wherever you want to, VoD platforms are competing with the traditional concept of linear TV. Whilst linear TV may remain the habit of choice for some audiences, ultimately 2014 will see the increasing rise of mobile consumption of content, and even the development of content specifically designed to be watched on a mobile or tablet device.
Watching TV in mid-air Hochner: “The next step could be live viewing up in the air, travelling on an airplane”
“The OTT customer base will be large and varied” potential until SD is removed from the picture, but 4K is accessible and meets the growing need from audiences for higher quality content on bigger screens.
OTT — No longer just a buzzword Admittedly everyone has been talking about OTT for a while. What was once seen as a faraway idea has become a very real reality as the technology is now available and broadcasters and content providers are having to adapt and change the way they provide content to their audiences. One of the biggest challenges so far with the OTT model is that businesses have not been seen to be making any money from it, particularly if you take into account issues such as distribution and rights management. However, as more and more players enter the market, particularly the content management area, then next year will be the commercial kick-off for the technology as
increasing focus is placed on it. Additional consideration will also need to be given to how to monetise this content through advertisements, etc, within the technology. The rise of OTT has also opened up the market for smaller, sometimes more niche broadcasters. There is a growing trend amongst these smaller broadcasters to make use of cloud-based managed services and offerings from specialist providers. This technology is effectively lowering the financial entry barriers to smaller and start-up broadcast and content providers as well as levelling the playing field in terms of giving smaller players access to leading edge technology that would previously have been available only to large multinational broadcasters. The OTT customer base will be large and varied. We don’t envisage it competing with the 4K market, but instead it predominately will be used to reach out to ethnic communities across the globe and those seeking more interactive content. With the US market leading the way, the African region is actually more than ready for OTT as they are able to skip previous technological incarnations and jump right into the next generation solutions that are available.
In a completely connected world, users want to be able to access content whenever they want. And when could be a perfect time to take a break and watch your favourite TV channel? Having provided broadcasting services for 20 years, and to a wide ranging selection of outlets, including live broadcasting to ships in the middle of the ocean, I think the next step could be live viewing up in the air, travelling on an airplane. Whilst this may sound crazy, it is already commonplace in the mobile telecoms market for users to expect no drop in coverage or service, even if they are mid-air. On most major US airlines it is possible to have the same service that you would expect when you have two feet on the ground. So what about taking this to the next level and being able to watch live TV content, or stream TV content, to mobile and tablet devices or even the on-air television systems? This would be a completely new media for broadcasters and content providers to adapt to, and I think that as the connected vision takes flight, the development of solutions that are available midair will be one to watch. Whilst many broadcasters are getting bandwidth savvy and selecting solutions that make efficient use of what is available, these technologies may be truly tested in 2014, and it will be interesting to see how this develops. www.satlink.tv
EDITORIAL Acting Editor Neal Romanek neal.romanek@intentmedia.co.uk Staff Writer Holly Ashford holly.ashford@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor Joanne Ruddock jo.ruddock@intentmedia.co.uk Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 354 6002 Editorial Consultant Adrian Pennington Associate Editor David Fox USA Correspondent Carolyn Giardina Contributors Mike Clark, David Davies, Richard Dean, Chris Forrester, Mark Hill, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Heather McLean, Bob Pank, Nick Radlo, Philip Stevens, Reinhard E Wagner Digital Content Manager Tim Frost Office Manager Lianne Davey Head of Design & Production Adam Butler Editorial Production Manager Dawn Boultwood Senior Production Executive Alistair Taylor Publisher Steve Connolly steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000 Sales Manager Ben Ewles ben.ewles@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000 Sales Executive Richard Carr richard.carr@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000 Managing Director Stuart Dinsey US SALES Michael Mitchell Broadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY 11740 mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv +1 (631) 673 0072 JAPAN AND KOREA SALES Sho Harihara Sales & Project, Yukari Media Incorporated sho@yukarimedia.com +81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800 CIRCULATION Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 9EF, UK FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS tvbe.subscriptions@c-cms.com Subscriptions Tel +44 1580 883848
TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN, England Intent Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association
© Intent Media 2014. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. TVB Europe is mailed to qualified persons residing on the European continent. Subscription rates £64/€96/$120. Allow 8 weeks for new subscriptions and change of address delivery. Send subscription inquiries to: Subscription Dept, Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 7BR, England. ISSN 1461-4197 Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA
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6 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
Opinion
The numbers of viewers that consume content online and on mobile devices first, instead of on-air, will only continue to grow
The Year Ahead
Adapting the art of news storytelling: Predictions for 2014 Vizrt’s CTO, Petter Ole Jakobsen, gives his thoughts about how news will change in the coming year. For him, it’s online and mobile first Technology will drive storytelling THE ART of storytelling will become more complex and more informative. Audiences are growing more diverse and get their information from a myriad of sources. If a broadcaster is going to survive they must be able to adapt to new technologies that will help them get content into and out of the studio quickly, while also remaining reactive to changes as a story happens.
Broadcaster shift to mobile and online first The numbers of viewers that consume content online and on mobile devices first, instead of on-air, will only continue to grow. Broadcasters must now approach production as not just on-air first, but also mobile and online first. When broadcasters accept this reality, a ripple effect occurs for the rest of their storytelling.
A shift to social storytelling News content is available online much more rapidly from
various sources than from traditional on-air newscasts, so the broadcaster must be able to shift gears quickly and adapt the moment the story changes. Social media management must be
the complexity of the production. At the same time, broadcasters are reducing the number of bodies in the control room running the newscast. Control room automation systems are allowing the
Another struggle broadcasters deal with is the internal sharing of content between parts of a news organisation. There is still the division of on-air news production and managing content on the broadcaster’s website. When broadcasters shift to the online and mobile first model, these lines will become
blurred. Using intelligent media management systems will allow the broadcaster to immediately make the same content available to all parts of a news organisation in the format they need – at any desktop. Editing of graphics and video takes place quickly and easily on the desktop. On the distribution side, the live broadcast and graphics are all composited live for the screen size and resolution needed for any platform. This not only saves the broadcaster time to air but also opens opportunities to have individual branding and sponsors across platforms without any extra render time needed. We will definitely see some interesting changes happen for the broadcaster over the next year. www.vizrt.com
starting to think bigger than solely broadcast organisations and will push their enriched live content further afield to press and sports clubs in the coming years. Connectivity is no longer simply about multimedia fulfilment. It’s about cost-effectively and efficiently delivering unique, enriched and engaging content services — and, ultimately, about creating new revenue streams. Another area that will see significant growth in the coming year is IP-based workflows. This has enjoyed a steady rise and will be further accelerated by the growing need for remote production capabilities. For broadcasters it’s all about keeping content delivery costs down and quality high. And remote production will be key to delivering on this vision. During 2014, 4K will really begin to find its feet as broadcasters look to provide consumers with ever better
quality. It will certainly be knocking at the door of the world’s major broadcasting networks, and they should be very eager to hear what it has to say. Even the smaller networks will want to know what 4K has to offer – in particular 4K zooming solutions that bring an improved viewing experience. If we were to pick out trends that will be a top priority for many IT/tech departments in our industry — media interoperability and file mastering are at the top of the list. Both of these are vital and need to be seamless across all production processes from creation to delivery and archive. So this simply has to remain a key focus for 2014 and beyond. Because of the growing number and variety of video sources, formats and associated metadata in the broadcast arena, solutions to handle this will be a big focus to enable speedy and efficient content delivery. www.evs.com
“If a broadcaster is going to survive they must be able to adapt to new technologies that will help them get content into and out of the studio quickly, while also remaining reactive to changes as a story happens” Petter Ole Jakobsen, Vizrt considered as the audience reacts to unfolding events.
The evolution of the control room Presenters are given tools that allow them to control the flow of a broadcast. Multi-touch screens and tablets add flexibility, but they, combined with the growing number of screens in a studio, also add to
broadcaster to have a smaller staff while expanding their capabilities, opening the door to handle a large amount of screens and rapidly changing content. What could not be done in the past with a director/technical director team and a massive vision mixer, can now be accomplished with a simple software interface and keyboard.
2014 live If there was a live event broadcast last year, chances are EVS appeared in the workflow. Joop Janssen, CEO of EVS, looks ahead to 2014 and sees multi-screen, IP and connectivity PREDICTING THE future isn’t what you’d call an exact science, but at EVS we’re pretty confident about a few of the key trends for 2014. Year after year we’re seeing a great deal more live event coverage and 2014 is sure to break all records. Advancements in broadcast technology and infrastructure mean live production of events is closer to live than ever before —
Jakobsen: “The broadcaster must be able to shift gears quickly and adapt the moment the story changes”
particularly in sport and entertainment. The significant increase in consuming live and near-live sporting action brings with it increased demand for multiscreen access. We’ve watched the appetite for second screen and connected devices skyrocket and that will surely continue well into 2014. FIFA’s recent announcement to introduce multimedia distribution through
Janssen: “There will be an increasing demand from content owners and sports federations to gain access to live recorded content for use in numerous ways” the web will further boost second screen demands and expectations. There will be an increasing demand from content owners and sports federations to gain access to live recorded content for use in numerous ways. They’ll be
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www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
Ideally, the industry would adopt 100/120fps, but the bandwidth requirements implied by such an increase in frame rate present a daunting proposition for broadcasters
Opinion The Year Ahead
2014: a 4K future? With all the buzz surrounding 4K throughout 2013, the logical question is if and when these formats will be widely adopted as a replacement for HD. As the industry looks ahead to 2014, Ian Trow, Harmonic senior director, emerging technology and strategy, offers his opinion on what to expect AS THE industry looks ahead to 2014, it is clear that the readiness of 4K to serve as an HD replacement depends primarily on the application. Consider home cinema applications, in which the 4K screens already on the market are proving to be a solid match for the demands of cinema content. With respect to factors such as resolution and frame rate, it seems clear that cinema releases can be successfully repurposed as 4K content for home theatre viewing. In fact, it has been for this particular application that most early 4K screen sales have been made. As far as content from providers such as Netflix and YouTube is concerned, it appears that 4K content will become available in the form of 4K downloads. Advances in Blu-ray technology do accommodate filmlength 4K content. A new triplelayer disc capable of storing 100GB does provide an
alternative to the bandwidthintensive delivery of 4K files, but consumers’ increasing interest in investing in streaming media or downloads rather than physical media tends to favour the former as the distribution mechanism of choice.
means of moving content from source to 4K screen. Offering an attractive solution for near-term delivery of 4K movies, this approach is helping to fuel initial market traction for 4K screens, despite the scarcity of native 4K content. As time passes, however,
rate, dynamic range, bitrate, and audio scheme. Movie content already features a frame rate and resolution displayable on the early 4K/Ultra HD screens, and work is progressing to bring bit depth, chroma sub-sampling, and dynamic range up to a
“As time passes and display manufacturers continue to refine their screens 4K must gain living room acceptance as Ultra HD” Ian Trow, Harmonic In either case, whether the 4K screen source is a disc or a download, most of the content will not be provided in a true 4K format; even content identified as having been mastered in 4K is often 1080p that has been upconverted. When HD content is streamed at a high enough data rate that subsequent upconversion is viable, this approach offers a much needed
and display manufacturers continue to refine their screens (and drive further consumer investment), 4K must gain living room acceptance as Ultra HD.
4K for linear TV? Whereas 4K differs from HD primarily in providing much greater resolution, Ultra HD aims to be a complete standard that enhances resolution, frame
standard that would allow Ultra HD screens to offer the vivid colour portrayal offered by cinema. While 4K is on solid ground and moving forward in this application, the transition from 4K for the home cinema to the delivery and display of scheduled linear television content presents a much greater challenge, especially for live sports coverage.
Ian Trow, Harmonic senior director, emerging technology and strategy For higher-resolution live sports television, a frame rate of 50/60fps is the minimum requirement if 4K/Ultra HD broadcasts are to match the current HD format and gain equal footing. Ideally, the industry would adopt 100/120fps, but the bandwidth requirements implied by such an increase in frame rate present a daunting proposition for broadcasters. Even taking advantage of the HEVC/H.265 format, this approach would require significantly more bandwidth than what is now used for HD services. Considering this issue, a more feasible solution would be to broadcast 50/60fps and use temporal up-conversion at the screen to provide the viewer with the enhanced 4K or Ultra HD output. For this approach to work, the 4K/Ultra HD screen itself must boast a significantly advanced up-conversion algorithm, as well as the necessary processing power to implement that algorithm. While screen manufacturers are eager to provide consumers with screens that optimise visual quality, they may be less excited about the investment in the preprocessing necessary to achieve this quality for live 4K/Ultra HD broadcast services. With respect to viewers’ screens, both bit depth and dynamic range need to be improved to give the new format the ‘wow’ factor to succeed. Looking forward, a key question for the industry is whether ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020, which defines various aspects of Ultra HD including display resolution, frame rate, chroma subsampling, bit depth, and colour space, can displace ITU-R Recommendation BT.709, which has been used to standardise HD television since the early 1990s. This shift would offer tremendous quality improvements for both movies and television, thus providing viewers with the full benefit of their move beyond HD. www.harmonicinc.com
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10 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
“Broadcasters will increasingly be able to do their own analytics and get much more useful data”
Opinion The Year Ahead
Storing the future Last year, Quantum helped London post house The Ark revolutionise its approach to data and storage. Quantum’s head of product marketing EMEA, Laurent Fanichet, takes a look at what’s in store for storage in 2014 Time to retire the “primary” storage
supporting role in providing the underlying technologies as part of a broader effort to compete with cloud leaders such as Amazon.
WITH THE continued growth of data and increased strategic value of connecting historical data with new data, primary storage is no longer the main game in town. Getting data off expensive primary storage, while keeping it readily accessible, will take on greater importance. As a result, there will be increased focus on tiered storage, with new technologies such as next generation object storage and linear tape file system (LTFS) being widely adopted.
I’m not getting “Nirvanixed” Following the initial enthusiasm surrounding public cloud’s potential, it was perhaps inevitable that issues such as security and availability would attract more scrutiny. The collapse of Nirvanix, a US-based cloud storage provider, is giving some of those issues greater urgency. Companies will be more careful about weighing the cost savings benefits of public cloud backup against the slower recovery speeds, as well as concerns for their data’s security in multi-tenant clouds. Hybrid approaches that offer the best aspects of public and private clouds will have increasing appeal — particularly the benefits inherent in keeping a local copy on premise for quick recovery and assured availability.
Virtual machine data: “Just let me be me” Look for a greater emphasis on simplifying backup and archive for virtual machines, particularly keeping the data in its native format. With virtual environments continuing to proliferate, there will be even greater need for virtual deduplication appliances — which eliminate duplicate copies of repeating data — as well as backup software to protect data in native format as IT managers demand faster, easier restores and portability across private and public clouds.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is right: It’s all about metadata
Managed Service Providers and Value Added Resellers cloud the picture Expect more MSPs and VARs to add cloud Backup-as-a-Service and Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service to their lineup of offerings as a way to bring more value to their customers. Major storage companies will play a key
Laurent Fanichet, product marketing , EMEA, Quantum
While recent revelations about NSA spying are troubling from a privacy standpoint, the agency certainly isn’t alone in recognising the increasing value of metadata. When it comes to storage, system metadata has long been important. This is the information about a data file/object that gets stored automatically such as author,
size, date created, date modified, etc. In the next year, there will be growing demand to automate the collection of application metadata — information about a data file/object that relates to its content — connecting the data to its business value and usage.
Data migration is so “old school” Larger disk drives and petaByte-scale archives will also force the need for an alternative to traditional data migration. Migrating content with traditional RAID storage every three to five years is already painful, and waiting months or years to complete a migration is not an option for most users, to say nothing of the demands this places on IT staff to keep performance levels high. As a result, RAID will increasingly become ineffective and unmanageable, and nextgeneration object storage — with its self-healing and self-protecting architecture — will be adopted more broadly as a way to eliminate the need for migration.
Goodbye Nielsens, hello storage As TV viewing continues to move online, broadcasters will increasingly be able to do their own analytics and get much more useful data. However, bringing this capability in-house will not only increase the amount of data that must be stored and protected but also require a new approach to managing data in many cases, including developing a more robust policy-based tiered archive system. At the same time, broadcasters will be looking for solutions that integrate analytics and storage. www.quantum.com
www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
12 TVBEurope
News & Analysis
OBs await Sony before picking 4K cameras Outside broadcast companies making the move to 4K must tread very cautiously. Adrian Pennington investigates CTV, WHICH is in the process of building a 4K-compliant flagship vehicle for this May, has yet to make a final decision on the camera technology it will outfit it with. Realistically, since it is the only game in town, outside broadcast facilities companies will place their 4K bets with Sony, but say they are reluctant to commit before clients like BSkyB are satisfied. There are concerns, for example, about frame rate compatibility with high definition and also the ruggedness of a camera designed for studios rather than outside broadcasts.
“We’re putting everything into the truck that will enable us to do 4K alongside HD, but we’ve not concluded a decision on cameras,” said CTV international director and COO Euro Media Group, Barry Johnstone. “We’re waiting for manufacturers to stabilise the equipment. Most of what is out there is in beta. We could put a 4K camera in our trucks tomorrow and it will work regardless of the transmission path and it will give us better HD pictures, but we’re waiting for Sony to refine their package.”
The ‘beta’ workflow to which Johnstone refers was trialled by CTV in its first 4K live production, last October, of a Peter Gabriel concert from the O2 Arena. This paired multiple Sony F55 cameras recording RAW to F5 Recorders and HD onto SxS cards. The cameras, reconfigured from their original cinematography design to support live production, streamed Raw 4K into BPU-4000 Base Band Processor Units, which in turn output four HD-SDI streams
“We’re waiting for manufacturers to stabilise the equipment. Most of what is out there is in beta” Barry Johnstone, CTV and a separate down-converted HD output. A CA-4000 camera adaptor attached to the F55 provided familiar CCU operation such as viewfinder return, tally and
talkback to the operator. “All of this works, but we need it in a single package, not lots of bolt-ons,” said Johnstone. “Everything is there, but it needs rehousing. We are working with Sony and it’s more a matter of fine tuning.” Also weighing 4K investments is fellow OB supplier NEP Visions, where cameras are again the main stumbling block. “If we take the plunge on one type of camera, will it suffice for 1080p 60p as well as Ultra HD?” asked Brian Clark, its commercial and technical projects director. “We have to be careful as an industry that if we launch 4K we are giving the consumer a true 4K shoot rather than cut outs from 4K cameras or up-conversions. The closest we can get to 4K live acquisition is with the F55 adapted camera. It’s a working system, but to be blunt, where I struggle is having an integrated 4K system in which you can be confident of the future.” www.ctvob.co.uk www.nepinc.com/welcome/visions
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January 2014 www.tvbeurope.com
People on the move By Holly Ashford
Lipsync Post appoints head of TV Post Beverley Horne
BEVERLEY HORNE has been appointed to the newly created role of head of TV post. Horne joins LipSync Post from ITV where she has post supervised dramas over the last seven years’ including Agatha Christie: Poirot, four series of Inspector Lewis, and The Prisoner. In her new role she will be responsible for overseeing all post production work on television dramas. Lisa Jordan, facility director, said: “Beverley’s experience of working on high-quality dramas further strengthens our highly talented post team, and with the addition of our various financial offerings to TV producers, we are well placed to welcome more quality dramas.”
Keith Hayler,
Mike Rigby,
DTG
HHB
The DTG, the industry association for digital television in the UK, has announced the appointment of Keith Hayleras chair of the Technical Oversight Group (TOG). Hayler will lead the TOG as an independent chair, and will report the progress of each work stream to the DTG Council. He has 40 years’ experience in the broadcast industry, with
Michael Wright, RadiantGrid, Wohler
Lipsync Post
Anders Persson, Net Insight
an engineering career that spans DTT, satellite and radio technologies. The technical services department at HHB Communications has appointed Mike Rigby to the role of technical sales support engineer. Rigby was previously technical manager at Technical Earth, where he managed the sales, installation and upgrades of recording facilities and
venues and specialised in Avid Pro Tools systems. International Datacasting Corporation (IDC) Liam Connors, has announced a RadiantGrid, Wohler number of new executives, as well as a restructuring of its sales team to support emerging market growth opportunities. Steven Archambault has served as IDC’s director of finance and treasury since 2012 and is now the new CFO. Steeve Huin, IDC’s new vice president of products, joins the corporation from Irdeto where he worked as senior product director.
Trilogy names new chief operating officer TRILOGY COMMUNICATIONS has hired Keith Norton as chief operating officer. Norton has more than 30 years’ experience at strategic, programme and operational levels across telecoms and government programmes and was most recently CEO of Paradigm Secure Communications, a subsidiary of EADS Astrium. Trilogy CEO Mike Knight commented, “Keith has a wealth of experience with commercial and defence businesses in the UK, Europe and the US. He is therefore a Walter Capitani, previously IDC’s VP of product management, has been named vice president of marketing. IDC has also reorganised its global sales force, structuring teams on a regional basis. Executives responsible for each region include Berry Eskes, EMEA North and Berend Blokzijl, EMEA South. Net Insight has announced that Anders Persson, executive vice president and director of product development, has decided to leave the company. Persson will depart on 28 February after 13 years with Net Insight. “During his time as vice president and director of R&D, Net Insight technology and products have been sold to more than 175 customers in more than 60 markets worldwide. I wish
Keith Norton, Trilogy Communications perfect fit for Trilogy as we seek out further opportunities for our class-leading communications product portfolio.” him good luck in his new assignments”, said Lars Berg, chairman of the board. Liam Connors has been appointed senior sales executive, EMEA, for Wohler’s RadiantGrid business line. Based in Wohler’s London offices, he will be responsible for raising the profile of file-based solutions, as well as managing sales of products to both new and existing customers in the broadcast, media, and entertainment markets. Michael Wright has also joined RadiantGrid as senior sales executive, North America. Wright joins Wohler from AmberFin, where he was director of key accounts. He earlier served as the director of US sales, enterprise accounts, for Avid Technology.
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www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
News & Analysis
IABM sees a new paradigm By Holly Ashford THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCAST MANUFACTURERS (IABM) held its 9th Annual International Business Conference last month, with the theme ‘Driving Towards Change — Navigating Through the Changing Media Landscape’. The programme featured a range of speakers from industry-leading companies, as well as key figures of the IABM’s nominated board of members. On day one of the two-day event, the recurring and optimistic theme which emerged was ‘collaboration and opportunities,’ which was backed up by initial findings from the always much-anticipated IABM DC Market Study. Opening the event was Peter White, director general, IABM, who provided an overview of the changes in business trends based on the organisation’s market intelligence. The CEO perspective was provided by Charlie Vogt, president and CEO of Harris Broadcast, who compared the transitions in broadcast with those in telecoms, describing how the
Charlie Vogt, Lesley Marr, Larry Kaplan and Mike Crimp stressed collaboration as the way forward walls between linear TV and TV everywhere and multiscreen were “breaking down,” offering “lots of opportunity to collaborate”. The timing of his delivery could not have been more apt, as Harris Broadcast last month announced its intention to acquire Imagine Communications, a specialist in online video and OTT. The company hopes that Imagine’s combination of video processing, adaptive bit rate transcoding and statistical multiplexing technology will improve the bandwidth
efficiency and density needed for improved TV Everywhere services. Vogt explained how the current landscape was “fractured” and that the need to create a new landscape amongst vendors was imperative. “Telecoms are coming,” he stated, and rather than backing away, broadcast companies need to be “prepared to participate”. “There is a new vertical opportunity for us all”, with success based on collaboration. The theme of partnerships was continued in the panel discussion which followed,
featuring Vogt alongside Larry Kaplan, president and CEO of SDVI and IABM honorary member; Lesley Marr, CEO, Deluxe and Mike Crimp, CEO, IBC. Chaired by Kate Bulkley, the participants explored the implications of the new era in broadcast and media, and what resonated from the debate was — again — collaboration. The industry needs to open up, claimed Marr, and “offering services and employing geeks is the way forward”. Alliances between different sectors of the industry need to be fostered,
stressed Vogt, with collaboration key to creating the “right ecosystem” for broadcast and media companies to succeed. Exactly what needs to be done for these companies to thrive was addressed by keynote speaker Martin Guillaume, head of business development digital media at Ericsson. In his role at the company, Guillaume acts to expand both the markets Ericsson Broadcast Services addresses and broaden the nature of services it delivers. It is undeniable that there has been a dramatic increase in competition for viewer time: On-demand internet streaming service Netflix controls 66% of the market, said Guillaume, and 80% of viewer rentals are of television shows. As such, broadcasters need to differentiate themselves: “They need a unique experience.” One element broadcasters can deliver is “live experiences”, in which all viewers witness and participate in the same thing at the same time. The broadcast infrastructure is ideal for delivering live events, he believes, as long as quality of service is maintained. One of the Annual Conference’s most anticipated moments was when White came to the stage for the second time, accompanied by Joe Zaller IABM DC. Zaller is the founder of Devoncroft Partners, provider of market research and strategic consulting services to a range of digital media clients. Zaller is engaged on behalf of IABM as its North American market development officer, and appeared at the Conference to offer a sneak preview of some of the headline figures from the IABM DC Market Study. The traditional “four-year cycle” in the industry has not gone away completely, said Zaller, with simultaneous shifts to IT, file-based and IP occurring throughout the industry. The broadcast market is now larger than previously reported, with the “new ecosystem” which has emerged recently being driven by a swathe of new product categories and overall market growth. There is a need for change as the market is “in the midst of a major cultural shift”, said Zaller and the traditional cost model no longer works in this “new paradigm”. www.theiabm.org
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News & Analysis
Live dynamic range enhancement By Adrian Pennington and Holly Ashford A DANISH technology start-up is introducing an image processing system that it claims significantly enhances live TV pictures, including Ultra HD. Michael Jonsson co-founded PION with Kenneth Tang Learke and in 2009 the decision was made to set up a new project, which resulted in PION’s LiveScene technology. LiveScene addresses the image quality limitations such as lack of highlight and shadow detail, noise and poor contrast of live television broadcasts. In a demonstration of LiveScene at an event last month, a live feed was displayed of Chelsea football pitch at Stamford Bridge. The low winter lighting was manipulated and white balance adjusted to define pitch lines, as well as improve the clarity of advertising logos on the stands. In terms of an addition to a company’s workflow, the SD/HDI feed can easily be plugged in anywhere in the chain, PION explained. Whereas any similar technology to be available only in post, LiveScene allows for image enhancement in a live environment. “We are optimising the dynamic range by bringing down the highlights and extracting detail from the shadows,”
explained Kenneth Tang Laerke, PION’s CEO. “For example, when a stadium during a football match is half drenched in sunlight and half in shade, it is extremely hard to pull out highlights with current technology. We’re able to bring that into a quality, using sophisticated image processing, that is frankly unseen before.”
Triple impact The company aims to impact three main areas with the product: broadcasters, advertisers and consumers. There is a pressure on broadcasters to attract and retain viewers, and as the number of content providers increases, so does the competition. Broadcasters are also competing for “fewer advertising dollars”, so keeping advertisers happy is key to success: this means creating high-quality lighting and picture conditions onscreen so that ad logos etc, are visible. Finally, despite the growing control consumers have over content, high-quality video and audio are still of huge value to viewers. Aimed at OB and studio production environments, the LiveScene product takes the live uncompressed feed from broadcast cameras, or an inbound compressed stream from live ENG or event coverage, and enhances it in realtime.
LiveScene takes live uncompressed feed and enhances it in realtime The single rack unit, plus control panel, fits into an existing OB or studio-based infrastructure, and is said to “drastically enhance” the work and profile of the camera control unit operator or studio technician. Although claimed to be a realtime process, Tang Laerke admits to a fixed latency of two frames. “In traditional High Dynamic Range imaging you have to shoot multiple exposures or use more than one camera,” he said. “PION is similar technology-wise to HDR, but we are able to do it with one camera or a number of cameras. We have no special requirements in terms of what camera you are using, so we could achieve better image quality from even fairly low-end cameras.” Although PION wouldn’t disclose names, it said it was
testing the technology with OB companies and broadcasters. It also said the UK was its main focus given the attractiveness of the UK’s OB market. Primarily focused on the sports market for the moment, the company also revealed its interest in news production, entertainment and large-scale events such as festivals.
Addressing the issues of 4K Richard Yeowart, MD of Arena Digital, who has not seen the product, observed: “The pictures always look great in the OB truck — most of the loss/compression is down to the onwards signal transmission. You end up with a fraction of the data at home that we start with, good compression and codecs are the key.” Tang Laerke asserted that lack of detail in highlights and shadows is a major issue for
broadcasters. “One of the things consumers most appreciate is improved dynamic range, over resolution and smoothness and frame rate,” he said. “This becomes even more of an issue as the resolution gets higher. Viewers move closer to the screen and the pixel count rises so you see more of these issues.” Michael Jonsson, PION CTO, added: “With the advent of Ultra HD acquisition we believe our Live Camera Enhancement is perfectly placed to address the quality issues that capturing and processing live 4K and beyond will bring to a production.” Planned future enhancements include a product tuned to improve colour correction. There is also the possibility that the process could become more automated in the future. The cost of a single unit is around £20,000 and PION has hinted at further trials lined up, and lots of interest from customers beyond the arena of live sports production. “Commodity technology is the enabler for us,” said Tang Laerke. “We are using off-the-shelf GPU technology that only recently became powerful enough to process 30fps at 1080p, or 60 interlaced in realtime.” Tang Laerke and Jonsson founded PION this year, backed by Danish venture fund Seed Capital. The entrepreneurs previously formed Danish digital imaging photo software company Pixmantec and created the RawShooter software application. www.pion.tv
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News & Analysis
“What difference could me and my little camera ever make?”: The Rory Peck Awards George Jarrett reviews the Rory Peck Awards, given to freelancers shooting on the front lines THE DELIVERY of outstanding editorial coverage often from highly dangerous locations has always been the identifier behind the Sony sponsored Rory Peck Awards, but the 2013 finalists took the journalistic values of freelancing to astonishing new heights. Boosted by a record entry of 73 titles the nine finalists across three categories focused on three Syrian stories, two stories from Bangladesh, plus single reports from Mali, Somalia, Afghanistan
Aris Roussinos’s Ground Zero Mali: The Battle of Gao won in the news category
Roussinos: “War is inherently ludicrous”
and Kashmir. Setting the context and mood for the event, Rory Peck Trust chairman Michael Jeremy said: “It is good that freelancers are recognised, but they are not recognised enough. It is good that they have more access to
well-informed democracy should be grateful that committed freelancers exist.” The Trust is a safety net, but sometimes it has to say no. How big should it become to achieve everything that director Tina Carr thinks it must cover?
safety and protection, but they are still not safe enough.” “Often at great personal risk they produce remarkable work that plays a crucial role in shining a light into dark places. Those of us that believe in transparency and
“I think we are too small to really fulfill our remit,” said Carr. “We do not want to become an enormous organisation because we would lose our very personal touch. We just want to be big enough to be able to help maybe double the number of cases we are able to support now fully. We are mainly getting to people through social media, and that has opened up the whole thing.” Talking about the competition Carr said: “The quality was astounding. The people who were getting the stuff in just said it was the best they have seen in the 17 years of the event.”
It was kill or be killed In the news section, Aris Roussinos triumphed with his online video, Ground Zero Mali: The Battle of Gao, the product
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January 2014 www.tvbeurope.com
“The quality was astounding. The people who were getting the stuff in just said it was the best they have seen in the 17 years of the event” — Tina Carr, Rory Peck Trust
of four weeks of self-funded effort that saw him embed with Malian troops as they battled with Mujao Islamists. This was a tale of poorly trained and undisciplined troops fighting much younger and bettertrained jihadists. The full film was hosted by VICE. What led Roussinos to self-fund such a dangerous assignment? “Mali was a big story at the time, but was relatively uncovered,” he said. “When I arrived all the other journalists were French, and while there were no formal reporting restrictions, they chose to self censor.” Roussinos has vast experience of embedding with rebel groups (in Sudan, Libya and Syria), and says freelancers have developed a very specific reporting tactic. “Particularly post the Arab Spring, your only choice is to embed with different rebel groups, primarily for monetary purposes,” he said. “They basically feed you and look after you for free as long as you expose their viewpoints to the world.” Roussinos used the Canon XF105, which he had seen Al-Qaida use by preference in Syria. Was the fact that the jihadists when eventually killed proved to be children, a shock? “It was pretty bleak. I was with the French and this kid of about 15 jumps out and pointed his AK at us. A French soldier shot him and he died right in front of us,” he said. “Obviously
it was kill or be killed, but it was pretty dark realising that the people I was with were fighting children, who were better trained and were better soldiers than the troops I was with before the French stepped in. “Those soldiers they were loving it though. Clearly they all saw themselves as heroes, and they were all videoing each other to put on Facebook. War is inherently ludicrous”.
Unpleasant and complex experiences The feature section winner was Olly Lambert for the five weeks he put into Syria Across The Lines, during which he split his time between Sunni Muslim fighters and regime-supporting soldiers a single village away. His comments started with some hard truths. “Award ceremonies are good fun, but they always strike me as uncomfortable because they are a world away from the process that one goes through in order to get there,” he said. “I have done 10 films in areas of conflict that involved living for quite a long time in different places and I am very aware of a habit I have, and I think many others have, which is when you get back you convert what was quite an unpleasant and complex experience into a simple and rather adventurous narrative, and there is a dishonesty about that,” he added. “So when I was in Syria I kept a very detailed diary. I was trying to
send a message to myself in the future, not to forget the reality of the experience, which is that it is not only dangerous, but it is miserable, lonely, isolating and difficult.” Lambert questioned whether he had it in himself to do justice to this enormous tragedy. “What difference could me and my little camera ever make?” Upfront he spent months looking for the right Syrian fixer. He eventually spoke to Abdul via Skype, and then met him in Istanbul. “We spent months preparing for the shoot, and looking for the right fixer was one of the key tasks,” he said. “He taught me so much about the world I was in. He would translate not just what people were saying, but the meaning of our situation.” At one point a sniper shot at Lambert when he was with a farmer, but he lived to pull off an interview with the guy who tried to kill him. “I had lived with the rebel side first and it was four weeks later that I ended up on the other side of the valley,” he said. “I cannot be certain he was the exact person who shot at me, but I suggested that I interview the commander in the sniper position, and while we were there I zoomed the camera in down the road and could see the very ditch I hid in a few weeks earlier. “There was an awkward moment when I asked him does he ever fire on farmers, and he said no. Obviously I knew that
News & Analysis
Lambert: “Award ceremonies are good fun, but...they are a world away from the process that one goes through in order to get there” he does fire on farmers,” he added. “I could not have planned for that moment, but by being able to show both sides of that event tells the world that war is depriving a whole community of farmers of livelihood and work. They can either stay at home to protect their families or risk their lives to look after their crops.”
Life expectancy of 50 The Sony Impact Award went to Soumen Guha and Dipak Chandra Sutradhar, for Hazaribagh: Toxic Leather, an eye opener on a tannery where life expectancy is 50 due to variable cancers. A French crew went after the same story, but was arrested. How did Soumen and Dipak succeed? “We are well known in our country and we said: ‘We are filming for your
personal interests, and airing it will represent everybody who is involved with this industry’. Bangladesh is a third world country and just like everywhere else there are politics, but everybody has to do their best to help their industry become big and professional,” he said. He shot for 15 days and had moved onto another job when the production house wanted something extra and Sutradhar joined him and added four days of story rushes. “When I shot my footage the environment was so dirty I went home and vomited,” said Sutradhar. The most telling shot in their film is when fishermen cast their nets in a river, and catch not one minnow. “The river is totally dying because of chemical pollution,” he added.
Could have engaged better Olivier Bovis, head of marketing, Sony Professional Solutions, said: “Reflecting on being a judge for the impact category for six years, I have seen an increased quality in terms of editorial content.” Sony backs the Trust for ethical reasons, but Bovis admitted: “From a kit point of view what we’ve learnt is not as much as we should have. We could have engaged better with freelancers to help us design the camcorders for the next generation and the one following.” www.rorypeckawards.com
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20 TVBEurope
The Business Case
Until recently, Petty was involved in every aspect of every single product, including writing all marketing copy
how to get UHD 60p down a conventional channel. UHD at low frame rates is doable but even so it will emerge pretty rough on transmission. The problem is that 4K is being driven by organisations pretending that low frame rate UHD is good enough. That’s a press release, not a workflow.” Expressing admiration for ARRI and Chyron, Petty has harsh words for most other manufacturers. “Most vendors are stupid, not smart. They don’t care about the product. Their only goal is to extract as much from the business as they can. It’s incredibly short termist, and greedy.”
Healthy work ethic
The Fixer: Blackmagic’s Grant Petty remakes an industry in his own image Blackmagic Design CEO Grant Petty gives a characteristically candid interview to Adrian Pennington about being in business to change companies and fix broken products TO UNDERSTAND what makes Blackmagic Design tick, it’s important to understand that its driving force, Grant Petty, was a post production engineer and to large extent still sees himself as one. “I could be kicking back in the Bahamas, but I just want to invent things,” he says. “When I was at facility houses my job was to help the creative guys making TV and commercials do the best possible job, to make the suites profitable and to make the whole thing work. Blackmagic is an extension of that.” After spending his high school years assisting live theatre productions, he worked in his native Australia — then in Singapore — systems integrating, trouble shooting and shooting the breeze with colourists and fellow techies, working through the night fixing problems and becoming increasingly frustrated with tech suppliers. “What really annoyed me was the quality of the equipment,” he recalls. “It was often not very good. Cintel machines, for example — which I can talk about now that we own it — had terrible quality of construction. Few suppliers were doing what we wanted, instead tying facilities up in long-term contracts. It got to a point where I felt I just had to fix the broken supply side.”
This took the form of Petty’s first invention, a capture card for getting high-quality video in and out of computers. Blackmagic Design expanded its portfolio of DeckLink, Intensity and Thunderbolt I/O devices before changing tack and acquiring lossmaking Da Vinci Systems in 2009. “It was amazing how critical the big Hollywood studios were of us at the time,” says Petty. “We said ‘You’ve got to trust us’, and we trebled the number of engineers on it. DaVinci’s customers had been asked to sign
vision mixers, video processing firm Teranex, and then the intellectual property of ailing UK TK developer Cintel, though Petty admits he has yet to find a use for the patents. “We’ve got some pretty radical ideas for it but I also wonder why we are playing with this since the future for film itself is pretty uncertain.” What was needed to be fixed about the digital cameras market, TVBEurope wonders? “I wanted more colourists in the world,” says Petty. “Most people
the thinking was, why not introduce the emotional track for everyone?” Petty says he made initial approaches with the idea to camera manufacturers, but was beaten back, “They wanted to do their own thing.” In 2012 it unveiled a digital HD cinema camera with 13 f-stops for just £1500 and followed that up with the BM4K super35mm camera, just shipping, costing £2500 and a digital super16mm variant dubbed the Pocket Cinema Camera.
“Most vendors don’t care about the product. Their only goal is to extract as much from the business as they can. It’s incredibly short termist, and greedy” Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design up to support plans and were promised these amazing features which were not delivered. The company was in such a bad way.”
Acquisition trail Blackmagic re-designed Resolve, launching a software-only version, number 10 of which can be downloaded by existing customers for free. After fixing DaVinci, Blackmagic acquired Echolab, maker of the Atem
involved in professional video had the picture and the sound but the emotional track, which a great colourist can deliver, was missing. I thought it a tragedy that only the biggest post houses could afford grading kit. We got Da Vinci out and then it hit us that some of the most creative people were using DLSRs but that these cameras had next to no dynamic range. The Alexa was awesome, but expensive, so
“The entire world will buy Ultra HD at some point,” predicts Petty. “The increasing pixel density of screens make it logical. In Europe, Ultra HD is important because broadcasters have been hobbled by electing 1080i rather than 1080p HD, so the jump in resolution to 4K will be felt. “However, the computer industry will send 4K to the home before broadcast does. Broadcasters have to figure out
“I’m stunned at what is wrong with companies when we acquire them and we can examine them internally. There are so many pressures on businesses just to be bland, never to take a risk. We’ve never taken any outside investment at Blackmagic and we have no debt. As soon as companies do that they are beholden to a new master.” Instead, Petty describes his 350-employee company as having a “healthy work ethic” and claims not to be interested in building market share. “What’s healthy is working hard and feeling you did something rather than just sat in meetings all day,” he says. “We are not psychotic about making money at all costs and hardcore sales. We are unashamedly geeky. We want to be friendly and be of service. Call that nerdy if you like.” Until recently, Petty was involved in every aspect of every single product, including writing all marketing copy. “My job is to bind it all together and set the culture,” he says. “I wish I could do more. I don’t have any grand vision and I’m surprised and delighted when it works. “When we announce something that surprises the market at a trade show, it’s often because we ourselves have only made the decision to go for it a couple days earlier. You get really nervous when you do something creative because you can get it utterly wrong. Sometimes I’ll have an idea and I can’t sleep for weeks, wondering if it will work and if we can get it out the door before someone else does. I constantly feel we are not good enough, that there are so many things to fix, and not enough time. But I am overwhelmed and grateful that people like what we do.” www.blackmagicdesign.com
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Lens technology changes slowly, because (except for some low-end plastic lenses) it uses glass, which takes time
The Workflow
Sensor requirements loom large for lenses The biggest advance in lenses recently has been driven not by some new type of glass, but by larger camera sensors. David Fox reports “THE BIG change in lens requirements in recent years is due to the move from 2/3-inch 3-CCD cameras to large format, single sensor cameras,” says Stefan Czich, general manager, Broadcast and CCTV Products, Pyser-SGI (Fujinon’s UK and Ireland distributor). “The growth in demand for 35mm PL glass has been predominantly driven by the camera manufacturers,” agrees Sebastian Kanabar, sales manager, Prokit, UK distributor for Schneider-Kreuznach’s Cine-Xenar III PL- or EF-mount prime lenses (available in 18, 25, 35, 50, 75 and 95mm focal lengths). “Six years ago there were a mere handful of cameras with a Super 35mm sensor. The Red One was the most affordable option, but even that involved an investment of tens of thousands of pounds. Alongside that were the ARRI D21 and the Sony F35, which required a greater investment.” Today more than a dozen different video cameras have a ‘large sensor’. “For the lower value cameras, the Sony EA50, Canon C100, Blackmagic Cinema Camera, clients often opt to go for stills lenses, usually due to their budget. For the higher value systems clients appreciate the need for better glass. Around the launch of the Red One and ARRI Alexa, we saw a huge surge in demand for high-quality cine glass. And in the last 24 months, with the launch of the Canon C300 and C500, and the Sony F5 and F55, this has just continued. Next year the launch of the Amira should maintain the demand,” adds Kanabar. “The biggest change in lens technology is the resolution of the sensor,” agrees cameraman Steffan
Open wider: ARRI’s new UWZ 9.5-18 Ultra Wide Zoom
Pollitt: “The super-wide angle 35mm Stadium Lens is ideal for a Red or Alexa” Hewitt, founder/director, Polecam, which supplies miniature lenses to fit the small cameras often used with its system. But “it’s not always about pure resolution. Look at Cooke Optics. It’s not necessarily the best image, but it is the right image,” he adds. At 4K, cameras are starting to push the boundaries of traditional lens systems, although “you do find a lot of people going back to 16mm and other older lenses, because they actually were fantastic quality”. Lens technology changes slowly, because (except for some low-end plastic lenses) it uses glass, which takes time. “To physically make a lens still takes just as long as it did 20 years ago,” says Hewitt. “If I order lenses today from Resolve Optics [which makes the world’s smallest zoom for miniature cameras, the Z10], it still takes 12 weeks, because it takes that long to grind glass.” Just like the rest of the industry, the small cameras he often works with are moving to larger sensors — from 1/3-inch to 2/3-inch chips, “which means we can access a range of HD prime lenses that
compliment the sensor”, he says. The tiny C-mount camera can be used with Kowa’s small new 10 megapixel prime lenses. “I’ve just come back from Dubai shooting the Ladies European Tour Golf Finals with a lovely wide-angle prime that really complements the Antelope Pico high-speed minicam.” He used a Polecam and Pico with the new
Prime time: The new Canon CN-E35mm T1.5 L F lens
In for a long stretch: The 40mm is one of Cooke’s new Anamorphic/i range
Kowa 5mm wide-angle (85º field of view) lens, which gave him “massive depth of field” at 280fps (which turned a two second shot of teeing off into 15 seconds of analysis — “the commentators loved it”). Single 2/3-inch sensors are now fitted to many small cameras (Indiecam, IO Industries, LMC and LMP), and the 5mm gave negligible distortion,
compared to the “huge distortion” of the equivalent 2.5mm lens on a three-chip 1/3-inch camera. It also opens to F1.6, compared to F2.2 on the 2.5mm.
Prime directive Kanabar believes that “the single biggest determiner for lens design in the next few years will be the advances in sensor
Lenses square up to inertia METADATA HAS been an approaching technology in lenses for several years, but even when the lenses can deliver it, it is either not being captured or nothing is being done with it in post. Cooke Optics is now working with other companies to make lens data, such as its /i2 Technology, more relevant to what users do in post and to make it simpler to capture. “/i2 Technology is the next generation of our intelligent metadata system, augmenting normal lens metadata (iris, focus) with the inertial movement of the lens. So, if you are tracking a shot and someone walks in front of the marker, the inertial data software will automatically find that track,” says
Les Zellan, chairman and owner, Cooke Optics. Cooke has worked with Pixel Farm, with its PF Track, “to assist them in either making a solvable track more accurate or, if it loses the track, making the two ends meet,” he explains. “This is a big issue. Tracking software is very accurate on 97% of shots, but on the 2-3% it can be expensive.” Cooke is also working with Codex Digital on recording the metadata. “Although there are several /i2 cameras (ARRI, Sony and Red), they all treat the data differently. They all can record our lenses, but what they do with it is out of our control.” To avoid this data going astray, Codex is also making a small
Zellan: /i2 Technology should ensure you don’t lose track of tracking data stand-alone metadata recorder that will plug into the lenses and also record timecode. It will also be usable with non /i2 cameras.
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The Workflow Broadcast control for cine lenses
Fujinon’s 85-300m, 19-90 and new 14-35mm Cabrio lenses with detachable ENG-style servo control
technology. A higher resolution sensor will either require a higher lens resolution, or a lens able to cover a larger area. We’ve already seen 8K capture technologies tested, and if these come into the mainstream, lens resolution will have to increase exponentially. The Red Dragon sensor captures 6K, but over an image circle of 33.5mm, larger than the image circle of Super35, which is 31.5mm. There are a limited range of cine lenses that cover that sort of image size, and the ones that do, don’t have the ability to resolve 6K. If the Red trend continues, we’ll see lenses that have to cover an increasingly larger and more demanding sensor.” The Cine-Xenar III lenses have a 31.5mm image circle suitable for sensors of up to about 5.5K, but Kanabar claims they “bear comparison to ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Primes or Cooke S4s. They have a similar build, size, weight, and image quality, but they are less than half the price. They also have that certain ‘look’ to them that is so cherished by many.” Before being appointed distributors Prokit tested the range. “We knew from our experience with Red, just how demanding the lens requirements for 4K sensors can be. Glass that looks great on film, or a 2/3-inch sensor, gave unpredictable results on a digital chip. With the CineXenars we were looking for glass that would resolve around 200lp/mm in the centre, be free of chromatic aberrations, and not breathe while focussing. Most of all, we were after glass that gave consistent, repeatable results on a digital sensor. We had calls from clients who, after upgrading their camera, were dissatisfied with the results they were getting from their 35mm stills glass. The Cine Xenars seemed to be a good option,” he says. Schneider-Kreuznach has also developed a new range of fullframe primes, both for DSLR cameras with full-frame sensors
NEW ENG adapters from cmotion allow operators to use familiar broadcast controllers for focus and zoom when using external motors mounted on cine-style lenses. The adapters create an interface between Canon and Fujinon broadcast style controllers and components from cmotion’s new and existing lens control system. When used with some broadcast cameras and cmotion’s camin, the iris motor can be controlled automatically by the camera’s internal sensor. It is also possible to synchronise this for 3D broadcast. It’s new cforce motors can also be daisy chained and then connected
Force fed: cmotion’s cforce motors are controlled via a single cable from the ENG adapter
to an ENG adapter through a single cable. When using systems such as Telecast Fibre, the iris scale can also be controlled from an OB truck or studio using a cvolution knob solo. Also new is the Compact LCS, cmotion’s first budget lens control system, which can offer precision control for up to three motors, whether wireless or hardwired, through an ergonomic, easy to use hand unit. It uses new cforce motors developed with ARRI that are claimed to provide outstanding performance while being virtually silent (less than 20dB).
An 18mm Schneider-Kreuznach Cine-Xenar III on a Blackmagic Production Camera 4K
Perfect for the JJ Abrams look: Shenk with the ARRI/Zeiss MA100
Tee shot: Hewitt used a Polecam and high-speed Antelope Pico with the new Kowa 5mm wide-angle lens
and cine cameras. The Xenon T2.1 colour-matched lenses include seven fixed focal lengths: 25, 35, 50, 75 and 100mm, with a macro lens and further focal lengths to follow. They can be fitted with F, EF or PL mounts, and have: identical external dimensions and control positions; circular aperture with 14 blades; manual focus settings with a 300° angle of rotation; larger focus and distance scales for easier focussing even with greater distances, readable on both sides; and a M95 filter thread. Canon’s new CN-E35mm T1.5 L F prime lens takes its range of EF Cinema primes to a total of six lenses. The CN-E35mm has been developed in response to strong demand from Cinema EOS users, and has a compact design that promises fast performance, which Canon believes makes it ideal for shooting in challenging low-light conditions. The 35mm lens is designed for 4K production, with full frame coverage, and is colour matched to others in the range, as well as featuring the same form factor and uniform markings, making it easy to switch between lenses when on a shoot. Cooke has extended its miniS4/i range of primes to
include 40mm, 65mm and 135mm focal lengths, with a 21mm also in development. This will grow the range to 10 lenses (the S4/i range has 18 lenses from 12mm to 300mm). The miniS4/i lenses are all T2.8 (compared to the T2 of the S4/i and T1.4 of the 5/i range), which makes them considerably less expensive. “The real thing you are paying for is speed. The faster the lens, the higher the price, and with the increasing speed of cameras, T2.8 is often fast enough,” says Les Zellan, chairman and owner, Cooke Optics. A new entry to the video market is Samyang Optics, which is known in the photography market for good quality lenses at reasonable prices. It now hopes to do the same for video with its V-DSLR cine lenses. The new 16mm T2.2 is €420, but should rival lenses costing at least double that from higher-end manufacturers for quality, claims its product manager, Piotr Madura. The V-DSLR lenses are rack compatible with Follow Focus systems, and promise smooth, noiseless rotation of the aperture ring. They are available for Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A
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The Workflow and Sony E mounts. The Fish-eye (180° diagonal) 8mm T3.8 and the 16mm T2.2 both cover an APS-C/Super 35mm-size sensor, whereas the 14mm T3.1, and 24mm, 35mm T1.5 and 85mm (all T1.5) are full frame. Prices range from €379 for the 8mm to €650 for the 24mm. Future models will include a 50mm and a 135mm T1.8.
Super wide The new Abakus 35mm Stadium Lens can bring an all-encompassing 202º view to Super35 sensor cameras. The £11,500 9mm T2.8 PL-mount lens is very compact, and weighs just 1.6kg. Although called a stadium lens, it is also useful in confined spaces, such as on a car dashboard, where it can show the view from both side windows, which has the effect of making the car look as if it is going faster. “We’ve put in an internal filter holder, because you can’t put one on the curved lens at the front, however, there is a front protector you can fit, for use on helicopters or exposed locations, that uses a plastic that is really good optically and doesn’t attract dust,” says Abakus founder, Dr Ken Pollitt. Also new for Super35 or full-frame 35mm sensors is the Abakus XL borescope/periscope, which will come with five lenses (10, 14, 20, 28 and 40mm) for about €48,000. The lenses incorporate controllable LED lighting for especially close-up subjects, with rear controls and a filter holder for accessibility.
Steady state: Fujinon’s new XA55x9.5BESM HD lens with built-in stabilisation
Zoom with a view
“The single biggest determiner for lens design in the next few years will be the advances in sensor technology” Sebastian Kanabar, Prokit
ARRI’s new UWZ 9.5-18 Ultra Wide Zoom is claimed to be “the first super wide-angle zoom lens for the professional cine market.” The UWZ 9.5-18/T2.9, has an image circle of 33.7mm and uses
patented technologies to overcome problems with previous wide-angle zooms. Its optical performance is claimed to be comparable to, or even exceed, some
Focus on value: Madura with the new 16mm T2.2 V-DSLR lens
high-end wide-angle prime lenses, and it is optimised for the requirements of VFX applications. Distortion is less than 1% at 9.5mm and less than 0.1% at 18mm, so
that straight lines stay straight, even at close focus. A new multilayer, antireflective coating, means that flare and veiling glare are minimised, while exchangeable matte box interfaces ensure adequate sun protection whether filters are in use or not. The telecentric optical design of the UWZ should give it highly uniform field illumination, while ARRI Lens Data System functionality outputs lens metadata for zoom, focus and aperture settings.
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The Workflow Fujinon has a range of 4K HK Premier cine lenses aimed at high-end cameras that covers 14.5mm to 400mm using four lenses with overlapping focal lengths, but of most interest to broadcast users is its new Cabrio range. This combines 4K PL-mount optics in a compact housing “with a zoom and focus servo unit that is familiar to ENG camera operators, a large
OB or studio configuration, including remote control of iris settings. Fujinon and Pyser-SGI have been involved with tests of both 4K sports programmes and 4K high frame rate recordings. Both of these will be key to successfully rolling out 4K production for broadcast.” The new Cabrio ZK2.5x14 14-35mm/T2.9 wide angle is the latest addition to the range, which
family, the CZ.2 15-30/T2.9, by NAB. It will join the lightweight CZ.2 70-200/T2.9 and CZ.2 28-80/T2.9 lenses, which proved so popular that Zeiss had to double its production capacity in order to reduce the lead time from six or seven months to three to four months. “Our Compact Zoom family is the only cine-style zoom with full frame coverage [24x36mm],
“There’s a huge demand for anamorphics. Digital makes anamorphic use a lot easier than film did, but digital can also look boring, while anamorphic adds texture and feeling” Les Zellan, Cooke Optics
Full-frame zoom: Lenhof with the new CZ.2 15-30/T2.9
rotational angle for zoom and focus, and T-stop markings that those from a film background expect,” says Czich. “The servo is easy to detach and refit so the lenses may be used cine or video style. We have found that one of the key benefits is that using the servo package the lens can be used in
now covers 14-300mm with three lenses. Without the servo drive unit, the lens can be used in the traditional cinema manner, with or without external cine motors for zooming and focussing. The lens includes a Macro Function for shooting as close as 33cm. Zeiss will release the third and widest of its Compact Zoom lens
and we are the only ones with the interchangeable mount system [for PL, EF, F, MFT and E mounts],” claims Helmut Lenhof, Zeiss product manager for Digital Cinema. Despite the fact that lenses get bigger as their image area increases “this is still light [2.5kg] and compact,” he adds. Full frame
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The Workflow coverage means they can also be used on DSLRs, and they can create a sweet spot effect and a uniformity of illumination when used on Super35 sensors. Price for the CZ.2 15-30 should be similar to the other Compact Zooms (about €14,900) and they will be exactly colour matched (as they are with the ARRI/Zeiss Master Prime and ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses). The CZ.2 15-30 will replace the discontinued Lightweight Zoom LWZ.2. The new Angénieux Optimo 25-250 DP T3.5 zoom lens may be more affordable than the 28-340mm and 24-290mm Optimo DP zooms, but it is comparable in quality, significantly lighter (at 7kg instead of 11kg) and more compact. “Optically it is really high performance, and mechanically it is very strong,” claims Jean-Yves Le Poulain, Thales Angénieux product manager for cinema/TV lenses. There is 32mm sensor coverage with “close to 6K” resolution. It meets the DCI specification for 4K projection, so is very flat. Minimum focus is 1.2m. It comes with a PL mount as standard, but can be fitted with Panavision, Canon EF or Nikon F mounts. It boasts good flare correction, so it can work without a shade, while filters, even gels, fit at the back of the lens at a point where dirt on the filter won’t be critical. There is also a Cooke /i technology interface for metadata. The lens will cost €39,000 when it ships next month.
Mount up Schneider Optics’ new 1.4x Century Extender for PL-mount cameras can increase the range of a lens by 40% with just a single F-stop loss in light. The Century 1.4x MK II PL to PL Extender mounts between a PL-mount
Field of view: There’s an App for that LMC’s NEW LensView App uses an iPhone to simulate a camera’s field of view so you can see what all Fujinon and Canon broadcast lenses will look like for any 2/3-inch or 1/3-inch broadcast camera. “When you use LensView during your site survey, you will not have any headaches when you arrive on site at your actual production, because you already know what your cameras are going to see,” explains TV director, Felix Marggraff, CEO of LMC (LiveMotionConcept). He promises that the app, which costs €8.99/£6.99/$9.99, will be updated with new lenses as they emerge and that data for lenses from Angénieux, as well as ARRI, GoPro, Phantom, Red and other cameras “will follow soon”. Other updates promised include: comparison screen shots within the app (currently you can camera and lens, and allows zooming while maintaining focus. It also allows mount clearance of up to 14mm from the PL mount flange. Schneider Optics has also introduced a new In-Camera Filter System developed by Clairmont Camera for the ARRI Alexa. It uses custom assemblies that hold interchangeable Schneider filters in front of the Alexa’s sensor. Denny Clairmont, CEO of the rental house, says the camera’s high light sensitivity (600 ISO and beyond), makes use of neutral density filters particularly important. “One of the things cinematographers appreciate most about the ARRI Alexa is the excellent light sensitivity. Working at higher ISO ratings can lead to lots of ND if you want to shoot wide open.”
Beauty is in the eye of the filter holder: Le Poulain demonstrates the Optimo
Field research: The view from LMC’s new LensView iPhone app take a screenshot that is saved to the camera roll); and forwarding of screenshots straight from the app — by email, mms, etc. “We want to The kit includes a magnetic filter holder that replaces the Alexa’s light baffle. It also comes with shims (to precisely compensate for the focus change resulting from the behind the lens filter), a filter installation tool, and seven mounted Schneider ultra precision multi-coated in-camera filters: Clear, IRND .3, .6, .9, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8. When no filtering is needed, a clear filter is used to maintain focus, and filters can be changed in minutes. The kit can be used with most PL lenses but is not compatible with Zeiss T2.1 16mm, 24mm, 32mm, ARRI Macro 16mm, 24mm, or 32mm, or the Cooke Series II and III 18mm, 25mm and 32mm lenses. Lens extenders may also interfere with the filters.
keep the app simple though, as we all know that during a site survey you want quick results and easy operations,” he adds.
Anamorphics give digital personality Anamorphic lenses have seen a surge in popularity recently, with the introductions of new lenses from ARRI/Zeiss, Cooke and Angénieux. Cooke Optics is introducing seven Anamorphic/i lenses: 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm and 135mm, all T2.3. “There’s a huge demand for anamorphics. We have orders stretching long into the future,” says Zellan. “Digital makes anamorphic use a lot easier than film did,” but digital can also look boring, while anamorphic adds texture and feeling, he argues. “One reason Cooke lenses remain popular is that they have a personality that people like.”
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The Workflow It is working with Thales Angénieux to ensure that both their ranges of anamorphic lenses are compatible. “Cooke primes and Angénieux zooms have always complemented each other in terms of look and colour. They are frequently used together on feature films,” says Zellan. The Angénieux anamorphic zooms, starting with a 56-152mm T4, will have a unique optical design combining spherical and cylindrical elements in the same group to deliver exceptional sharpness and low distortion. “The entire line will perfectly match with the new Cooke primes and will be friendly, usable, compact and lightweight,” says Pierre Andurand, CEO and president, Thales Angénieux. Both ranges will be available this year. There will soon be seven ARRI/Zeiss Master Anamorphic lenses available. Four have already started shipping (the MA35, 50, 75 and 100mm), with the MA40 and 60 due in February, and the MA135 in April. They were designed and
built by Carl Zeiss to meet ARRI’s specifications. The low-distortion lenses have a fast T-stop of T1.9, for shallow depth-of-field work, which can be used “with any focal length, at any distance, without sacrificing image quality; gone are the days when anamorphic lenses had to be stopped down to T4 to get an acceptable result,” says Stephan Shenk, ARRI’s general manager, camera division. Skin tone rendition is promised to be “pleasing and film-like, while colours are crisp and natural”. Image quality should be consistently high throughout the frame, with no drop-off towards the corners. The lenses also have 15 iris blades, to give a pleasing look to out-of-focus highlights.
Measure for measure Cooke has also introduced a new Metrology line of testing equipment “to raise industry standards.” Its first model is a new lens test projector that is
through lenses that are faster than T2. It has an interchangeable lens mount to work with any lens and can be used to check lens performance, match lenses, and set the lens up correctly before it goes out on a job. There will also be a T-Stop Machine, “for measuring how accurate the T-stops on a lens are, to make sure it’s really a T2 and not a T2.4,” says Zellan. It too will work with any brand of lens.
On the box
Full on: The new Xenon 75mm/T2.1 full-frame prime designed for today’s fast lenses and is so bright that it can be demonstrated in daylight (although it is dimmable), making it much easier to discern flaws and artefacts in fast lenses. Many current projectors cannot pass a beam correctly
Fujinon’s new XA55x9.5BESM HD telephoto box lens is “the first in its class to include an optical image stabiliser. This will allow for rock steady images to be produced even when the camera is moving due to wind or an unsteady base, this feature has only been found in longer, more expensive lenses until now,” says Czich. The 2/3-inch format 55x zoom is fitted with an integral camera/lens support, a cost saving compared to buying a
separate cradle. “This integral cradle also reduces camerarigging times. With quick rigging and competitive pricing this lens is aimed at areas such as religious broadcasts, concerts, party conferences and sports events,” he adds. The lens has a 16-bit encoder to output precise zoom, focus and other lens data, and can be used with virtual systems that combine CG images with live pictures. Its focal length is 9.5mm to 525mm (plus 2x extender). Maximum relative aperture is F1.7 up to 308mm and F2.9 at 525mm, minimum object distance is 3m, and the lens weighs 24.8kg. www.abakus.co.uk www.angenieux.com www.arri.com www.canon-europe.com www.cmotion.eu www.cookeoptics.com www.fujinon.de www.livemotionconcept.de www.polecam.com www.prokit.co.uk www.pyser-sgi.com www.samyang-europe.com www.schneideroptics.com www.zeiss.com/cine
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Many of the personnel manning the production units have come from the extensive training programme that Panorama HD established three years ago
The Workflow
The downhill run to Sochi The 22nd Winter Olympic Games commence next month in Sochi, Russia. Philip Stevens investigates how OB provider Panorama prepared the way for the world’s biggest winter sports event SEVEN YEARS ago, the Black Sea resort of Sochi in the Russian Federation was chosen as the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Although this is the first occasion a location in Russia has been selected to host these games, the name of Sochi is set to become quite familiar. As well as the forthcoming Olympics, the city will be the site of the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 until at least 2020, and it is one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. To prepare for the extensive television coverage demanded by these events, ANO Sports Broadcasting (now better known as Panorama) was established in 2009 as an autonomous non-profit organisation by Russia’s Channel One, VGTRK, NTV-PLUS and the RIA Novosti news agency. It will provide the national signal for the Olympics (OBS provides the international feed) and international signal for the Paralympics.
Panorama will also cover the Paralympics from Sochi starting in March One of Panorama’s first moves was to order 12 outside broadcast units from Sony. Complementing these OB units was a mobile master control room to integrate the output from the vans and other sources, and combine them into one production unit.
A Robycam system was installed to enhance ice skating coverage during the run up to the Games
Test runs Using that impressive inventory of vehicles, the company has been involved in numerous projects in preparation for the upcoming games. It acted as host broadcaster for 17 Olympic test events in the 2011-2013 winter seasons that took
place in Sochi. These included the Figure Skating Grand Prix at the Iceberg Winter Sports Palace and the Ski Jumping World Cup. Both events were transmitted to a worldwide audience. “The Iceberg Palace of Winter Sports was the first commissioned Olympic
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The Workflow
The configuration provides eight HD-SDI feeds from the IBC to the studio centre and three return feeds
OKNO-TV’s Olympic infrastructure The trial events provided a chance for a full dress rehearsal for the cameras
The run up to the Games provided an opportunity to check locations for parking OB vans
WHILE PANORAMA HD is providing the bulk of the broadcast facilities for the Sochi Olympics, Moscow-based systems integrator OKNO-TV has also been heavily involved in the runup to the games. “We were included in the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee expert group a few years ago and participated in the consultations involving the various stadia, and we developed the concept of a temporary infrastructure at the Competition Venues and International Broadcast Centre,” explains Andrei Kretov, OKNO-TV’s head of Sport Broadcasting and Infrastructure Department. “Since then, my colleague Oleg Anakovskiy, OKNO-TV’s head of special projects
“Tests helped to identify potential problem areas — especially where extremes of weather are concerned”
department, who had previously worked for over two years in the Sochi Organizing Committee as head of broadcast system division, and I have been involved with Panorama in its Media Office project and its virtual graphics development plans.” Part of that preparation centred on technical software test events in 2012 that took place in the Krasnaya Polyana and Imiritinskaya Dolina areas. These locations are designated to host all Olympic and Paralympic Competitions, and include the Fisht Arena – the venue for the Opening and Closing ceremonies. In effect, the set up provided a useful dress rehearsal for the real thing in February.
Andrei Kretov, OKNO-TV “We provided a temporary deployment of infrastructure for sports production services,” states Kretov. “LED screens and sound systems were installed, all the connections to the television compound were provided, and the intercom system and base stations configured. In addition, a cable television network serving more than 30 locations around the area was installed at the ski jump venue, Russkie Gorki. Also, we were providing intercom and sound system at the Aizberg Ice Arena.”
Adverse weather
He continues: “These tests helped to identify potential problem areas — especially where extremes of weather are concerned. There were particularly heavy rain storms during the tests, and although that affected the progress of some work, the technology stood up and there were no disruptions to the test broadcasts.” Since those trials, OKNO-TV has been working with Russian Rights Holder Broadcaster, VGTRK, to provide equipment for its use at IBC in Sochi. “We were responsible for modernising equipment for VGTRK in readiness for the events. Much of this equipment will be placed in the technology office of the broadcaster within the IBC. In addition to this updating project, we have been working to deliver communications equipment based on Net Insight on its Nimbra platform for networking to form a unilateral indemnity programme for broadcasts from Sochi.”
A number of broadcasters utilised the Nimbra platform at the 2012 London Olympics for transport solutions that deliver the required realtime, low latency content with 100% QoS. “Three network Communication Nodes are planned, two of them are at the facilities in the IBC in Sochi, one at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Moscow. Indemnity scheme provides 100% redundancy. The configuration provides eight HD-SDI feeds from the IBC to the studio centre and three return feeds, with compression at jpeg2000.” In addition, a new intercom system based on Riedel Artist 128 MTX is being supplied by OKNO-TV especially for the Games. Kretov explains that another of OKNO-TV’s clients, Russia’s Channel One, has been charged with the responsibility of televising the opening ceremony and plans to offer the coverage in 4K. There are no plans for 3D transmissions from the Winter Olympics. www.ru.okno-tv.ru
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The Workflow facility,” explains Sergey Revin, Panorama’s CTO. “The camera work here was also something new for the creative and production team of Panorama. Alongside the conventional cameras, we utilised a Robycam system to enhance the coverage for the rights holding broadcasters.” Robycam, which was developed in Moscow by Movicom, is one of the few aerial cable systems which provides the ability to move the Sony HDC-P1 camera fitted with a Fujinon HA14x4.5BERD wide angle lens in almost any direction in 3D. The technology involves using a specially developed mathematical model that serves as a base for realtime control of four automated winches. The system incorporates advanced gyro-stabilisation and motion control techniques. “This equipment allowed us to show some unusual, and extremely spectacular, angles of the skaters on the ice,” adds Revin with some enthusiasm. He goes on: “For the Ski Jumping World Cup we used both a 10-camera and a 16-camera HD OB to ensure the most comprehensive coverage of this important event.”
Training the staff Many of the personnel manning the production units have come from the extensive training programme that Panorama HD established about three years ago. “We selected and trained over 1200 people from all over Russia in our own multi-stage programme. This was unprecedented in scale for modern Russia — for both resident training and e-learning in 27 specialties. The residential course took place in Moscow, partly at the Skolkovo School of Management.” Revin reports that the best Russian and foreign TV production professionals shared their experience with the students. During the breaks between the two full-time courses the programme participants underwent e-learning. Having successfully completed the course, the participants received state-recognised advanced training certificates. As part of that training programme, the company developed a mobile application featuring an English-Russian/ Russian-English broadcasting glossary comprising 16,000 word combinations.
Learning the lessons Another part of the preparation for Sochi involved a team from Panorama visiting Ruhpolding, Germany to view how the host broadcaster, Bayerischer Rundfunk, covered the Biathlon World Cup.
“The intensive preparation work that we have undergone at Panorama will enable us to set a new standard in the coverage of such high profile events” Sergey Revin, Panorama
“Our colleagues from Germany were helpful by allowing us to watch the entire set-up process right from unreeling the cables to viewing the production from the OB vans.” The lessons learned were put into practice in March 2013 when
COMING MAY 2014
Thursday 29th May 2014 • BAFTA • 195 Piccadilly
VOD, OTT, IPTV
are expanding broadcast content beyond the TV n Broadcasters’ Solutions to Growth of TV Anywhere, VO D, OTT, & IPTV Content n Reaching Broader Audiences in an Evolving Multiplatform Ecosystem n Second Screen & Connected TV: Changing Viewer Habits n New Products to Deliver TV Content to Gaming & New Video Device Platforms WHO SHOULD ATTEND n n n n n n
Commissioning Editors Technology Suppliers Analysts Digital and New Media Companies Ad Agencies Brands
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Venture Capitalists Media and Entertainment Executives Film & TV Producers Cable Operators Broadcasters Content Buyers
In Partnership With
For sponsorship information contact: Steve Connolly: +44 (0) 207 354 6000 , steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk Ben Ewles: +44 (0) 207 354 6000, ben.ewles@intentmedia.co.uk Richard Carr: +44 (0) 207 354 6000 , richard.carr@intentmedia.co.uk Louis Hillelson: + 1 917 281 4730, lhillelson@nbmedia.com
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Content App Developers Talent Agencies International Content Distributors Consumer Electronics Companies Social Media Business Development Executives
Supported By
For speaking opportunities, contact Arthur Schweitzer: +1 212 203 6273 , arthur.schweitzer@gmail.com For ticket enquiries contact: Sarah Harris: +44 (0) 20 7354 6001, sarah.harris@intentmedia.co.uk
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The Workflow Sergey Revin, Panorama’s CTO
From Salford to Sochi: the BBC at the Winter Olympics Broadcasters from all over the world will be converging on Sochi. Philip Stevens talks to the BBC about its plans.
the following Biathlon World Cup took place at the Laura Cross-country Ski and Biathlon Centre to the north-east of Sochi. Panorama again was working as the host broadcaster, providing the international HD signal of the event. However, not everything ran according to plan for the overall coverage. Due to the ongoing road works in the area, the OB units could not get to the Centre and had to be parked about 8km away from the competition tracks. To enable TV production to go ahead, the signals from all camera positions located along the 10km race tracks were transferred via dark fibre lines to the Technical Operations Centre at the broadcast compound in Laura – and then on to the OB truck. From here the cameras on the track were operated remotely through Telecast systems. The Panorama team was using the fibre lines already installed for the cross country events in February. “The whole operation was a tremendous success, despite the problems surrounding the site,” reports Revin.
Software solution One significant solution that Panorama has installed at Sochi is its Media Office system. This is a versatile platform that allows ingesting, editing, logging, storing, searching, and
delivering digital content to multiple users in realtime. Feeds coming from any source — OB or DSNG vans, or ENG crews — are captured and stored in a single archive. Utilising EVS’s IP Web-browser technology, the Office enables fast search and retrieval of relevant video content from anywhere in the world. “This is an innovative tool that allows up to 100 users working on news bulletins or feature stories to simultaneously search for and work with video. It is based on the Octopus6 Newsroom System, and allows users to piece together videos, images and text into a rundown. It also allows fast edits of video content, such as highlights, summaries, interviews, packages and so on, and delivery upon user request, including to OB vans operating at live events. This will be invaluable at Sochi.” He concludes: “We anticipate that the Winter Olympic Games will attract somewhere in the region of 3.5 billion viewers worldwide. The intensive preparation work that we have undergone at Panorama will enable us to set a new standard in the coverage of such high-profile events.” www.panoramahd.ru www.robycam.ru www.octopus-news.com www.sony.co.uk www.egripment.com
TYPICALLY, PLANNING for a major undertaking such as the Winter Olympics would begin about three years before the event. However, broadcasting rights for the UK audience were not granted to the BBC until August 2012 – which gave the organisation just 17 months to plan its coverage. “We had already undertaken some prior planning in anticipation of acquiring the rights, nevertheless the time frame was still quite tight to prepare for the operation, seek budget approval and hit Host booking deadlines,” explains Jonny Bramley, the BBC’s executive producer of Major Events. Fortunately, there was considerable experience from which to draw, based on covering previous Winter Games. “The operational model we are using in Sochi is similar to that employed for Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010, with on-site presentation. But there is one major difference — the gallery, post production and majority of the team will be based in the UK,” reveals Bramley.
team in Salford across all platforms will number around 200, with a further 100 personnel travelling to Sochi. The BBC on-site studio at the Olympic Park will utilise three cameras, two of which will be manned. A For-A vision mixer and Yamaha DM2000 audio console will be used within the IBC. “We will have
production value edits which really stand out and give the BBC’s production class and polish.” While Avid is the preferred editing system on location, Final Cut Pro will be in use at the Salford facility. To handle the asset management of the content, the BBC will be installing a Rohde & Schwarz DVS Venice system with 96TB of storage at IBC and MBC with four Avid edit clients on each.
Relationships “Our goal Alongside material produced is to capture by its teams, the BBC will make use of the recently the atmosphere introduced ONC News and live reaction at (Olympic Channel). Operated by Host Broadcaster every event where OBS, this facility Team GB wins makes ENG footage available to Rights a medal” Holder Broadcasters
A first for Salford He goes on to say that this event will be the first major multi-sport operation to originate from the BBC Sport’s broadcast centre in MediaCity UK at Salford. “There will be daily coverage on BBC2 from approximately 07:00 to 20:00, plus a Red Button operation delivering all events live on up to six separate web streams.” Although most of the production will come from Salford, the BBC will operate a small switching, editing and multiplatform facility in the IBC. In addition, there will be an operation at the MBC (Mountain Broadcast Centre) in Krasnaya Polyana. The production
Jonny Bramley, BBC’s Major Events one dedicated ISO camera at the Sliding Centre for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks. This is where we feel we would get the best value from our unilateral coverage. These are events where Team GB has a strong medal potential. We also have Announce Positions at a number of other venues, where the presentation cameras can act as ISOs.” “Within the IBC and MBC operations, a total of eight edit stations will create features from material shot on site. In addition, a small news team has an edit facility in the IBC. Although journalists will undertake some editing of their own packages, craft editors will also be on site to produce the high quality, high
(RHBs) via its server. However, the BBC has previously formed relationships with other RHBs - notably the English speaking broadcasters from the USA, Canada and Australia — and regularly exchanges archive in order to provide the most comprehensive coverage possible. Beyond the conventional televised coverage, the BBC team will be creating some web-specific content in Sochi, while their counterparts in Salford will be re-versioning the TV material for streaming. Bramley concludes, “It is anticipated that these will be a landmark Winter Games for Team GB, with a record medal haul being predicted. To reflect that, we have a greater live presence at venues than any previous Winter Olympics. Our goal is to capture the atmosphere and live reaction at every event where Team GB wins a medal.”
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The Workflow
Small screen, big effects The gap in quality between TV and film visual effects has narrowed and the technological resources are interchangeable, yet budgets remain worlds apart. Adrian Pennington reports on the UK’s burgeoning TV VFX sector AS A mark of how far moviestyle VFX for TV have come, consider that the average Doctor Who episode in the last series contained up to 100 shots — the same amount produced by Mill Film for its Oscar-winning work on Gladiator in 2000. “In 2004 when the BBC tendered Who’s visual effects work there was virtually no reference material available,” recalls Will Cohen, CEO at Milk Visual Effects. “The only VFX for TV were graphics sequences in documentaries or reconstructions in drama docs.” A decade ago VFX for TV formed a cottage industry in relation to feature film effect, but now TV commissioners can base entire shows around CGI characters and environments. Doctor Who, along with HBO’s sprawling fantasy series, Game of Thrones, has helped spawn a new TV genre of sci-fi/fantasy in which CGI is embedded in the storytelling. BlueBolt was the lead vendor on the first season of GoT, completing around 300 shots with photo-real CG environments and CG dragons.
The ambition with TV The international success of these shows have helped ignite a wider creative renaissance in TV drama. A-list directors like Steven Soderburgh, Ridley Scott and David Fincher find the freedom to tell expansive stories outside the confines of Hollywood, while cable and internet giants like HBO, Showtime, Starz and Netflix — which has just signed four series from Disney’s Marvel — have the appetite and deep pockets for subscriber-netting episodics. The UK’s VFX for TV industry remains tiny in comparison to the US which built a sizeable one on the back of
Since 2000, the quality gap between television and feature film effects has shortened and the techniques and technology pipelines to produce them have become virtually indistinguishable. “We needed to develop tools to create 30 creatures a year for Primeval [at The Mill] in order to hit the TV schedule which meant devising really light rigs, but that technology and experience is transposable back to features,” says Cohen. “Deconstruction tools for TV are another element that easily crosses over.”
Will Cohen formed Milk Visual Effects last April with fellow members of The Mill’s defunct TV division
shows like Smallville, but growth is promising in light of the recently introduced TV tax regime which gives producers a greater incentive to locate work here. Dneg, a beneficiary of Starz, made the decision to shoot the 16-hour sci-fi series Outlander in Glasgow, bagging the series’ potential 2000 VFX shots. The facility also hopes to entice more work currently shot and posted in the US, to its London or Singapore studios. “We are interested in shows that shoot in the States but put their VFX into the UK,” says Jonathan Privett, who heads Dneg TV. “That would be a real development for the sector.” The budget differentials remain vast. Privett estimates that for a major US TV series the VFX budget could be $2-3 million spread over 16 hours, whereas for a tentpole 90 minute feature the figure is more like $50-100 million. On the other hand, TV VFX work tends to be more predictable than the fickle nature of film projects which require massive scaling up one day and
Doctor Who has helped spawn a new TV genre in which CGI is embedded in the storytelling
possible famine the next. The collapse of LA’s VFX stalwart Rhythm & Hues on completion of Life of Pi is testimony to that. According to Cohen, a film VFX house may ramp up its staff and pipelines to create hundreds of shots only to have the show’s editorial slash its requirements. In TV though, the facility faces multiple but regular transmission deadlines ensuring a core spine of work to sustain the business. “The ambition with TV will always match that of a feature but the challenges are time and budget,” says Cohen, who formed Milk last April with fellow members of The Mill’s defunct TV division. “The time between series deadlines are very condensed and you have to stick with what you come up with first time. On film, you might have the luxury of creating a hundred iterations of an object. In contrast, on TV you have to go with version seven.” This demands an economy of storytelling he says, where a facility must find a way to communicate multiple plot points in short sequences. “TV is a slightly more forgiving medium,” he adds. “There is lots of stuff you can get away with on a TV screen that you couldn’t if the shot were blown up to a 90ft screen. That is a huge difference.” Privett, who left Rushes with VFX producer Louise Hussey to help set up Dneg TV also in April, agrees: “If you’re doing a green screen shot for example, then the gold standard is 100% perfection but if a tiny bit of detail is lost somewhere then on
Milk’s creations for Doctor Who included a framed painting that is revealed to be a full 3D environment
TV you probably wouldn’t worry about it, whereas on film you would go the extra mile. That is the compromise you make when your budget is a hundredth of what it would be for a feature.” Adds Hussey: “In TV, you don’t have six months of creatures work, you might have four weeks. Instead of several months of heavy effects design, you might only have time for a quick, simple effect.”
A collaborative approach Artists, however, enjoy a more direct relationship with the lead creatives on a TV job. Instead of dealing with layers of VFX supervisors and decision by committee, by working hands on with the TV director, facilities can obtain approvals faster and the whole experience feels more collaborative. “There’s not as much prep time, not as much time to complete the shot and you have to think about your approaches much more carefully,” says VFX supervisor Hayden Jones. “Not only do you need to create the effect to deadline but when a client wants an alteration you need to make those changes quickly.”
Dneg piggybacks its TV arm on the pipeline and rigs of its mammoth feature film business and found its TV wing useful in establishing a relationship with major directors. Ridley Scott, for example, placed the VFX for Exodus at Dneg after the facility worked on the pilot for Scott’s TV project for Sony Television, The Vatican. Other projects include the BBC’s By Any Means and Death in Paradise. “For TV, we run a slightly stripped down version of the pipelines but it’s not really too disimilar,” explains Privett. “The fact that we have a fantastic pipeline in place will help us to do TV VFX faster and better than our competitors.” Dneg, which employs 900 people in Fitzrovia, 50 on TV and the rest on features including Jupiter Ascending, Godzilla, Wally Pfister’s Transcendence and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, has the luxury of exchanging artists between TV and film jobs. “If we need an effects artist for a week we can pull one away from features,” says Hussey. “We have the ability to cherry pick specific sets of skills, which is harder in a
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A decade ago VFX for TV formed a cottage industry in relation to feature film effects, but now TV commissioners can base entire shows around CGI characters and environments boutique company because you’d have to hire that person from the market and they might already be working for companies like us.”
Doctor Who’s high-profile 50th Milk has completed shots for the third series of Sherlock; creature animation for David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive in 4K 3D for Sky Atlantic; and is in pre-production on BBC/Space’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It is also working on the feature Hercules. The facility is synonymous though with Doctor Who, having worked on all seven series since 2004 and just landed series eight with a possible two more to follow. The 129 shots in 3D for the 75-minute special Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode: The Day of the Doctor was the team’s first
“The ambition with TV will always match that of a feature,” Will Cohen, CEO of Milk VFX chance to stereo treat a TV drama. “Because we are dealing with four times the amount of data, the time spent compositing and rendering is longer and the cost was probably double the normal spend,” explains Cohen. “We updated CG models or created new assets of the TARDIS, Daleks and spacecraft and matte-painted plates were reworked with a stereo depth.” Milk’s creations included a CG fly-through of the besieged Gallifreyan city Arcadia and a framed painting that appears to be a two dimensional object but which, when the camera moves around it, is revealed to be a full 3D environment with depth. Milk also created flying fighter machines Dalek Pods, following initial design by the BBC’s art department. Milk refined and animated the model in Maya, textured in Mari and rendered it with Arnold before marrying it in the CG environment, itself a mix of traditional matte painting and 3D geometry. “A lot of the tricks you can get away with in 2D you can no
longer do in 3D,” says Cohen. “Instead of 2D matte painting you are exploring the geometry of the scene and lighting it in 3D which is more complicated, technically demanding and more time consuming in terms of set
up and rendering, and it requires more crew.” “You rescale elements in 2D so you can tell how large an object is. In 3D, though, extreme rescaling doesn’t work so that is one example of a technique that is removed from
The Workflow your box of tricks. 2D elements will often not work in stereo as they have no depth.” Murray Barber, VFX supervisor, was tasked with developing a tornado effect which could be controlled easily shot to shot. “The
hardest thing to create is something that’s not been seen before,” he says. “It’s a process of trial and error until we come up with a look that the director likes and it fits into the storyboard.” www.milk-vfx.com
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Channel in a Box
Forum
Getting even more out of the box Philip Stevens moderates this month’s Forum that looks at Channel in a Box, a topic that continues to exercise broadcaster’s minds LAST YEAR’S Channel in a Box (CiaB) Forum produced diverse and interesting observations. Unsurprisingly, the subject continues to generate interest within the industry. So we gathered together some of those involved with the technology to see what difference a year has made. They are (in alphabetical order) Don Ash, managing partner and director, sales at Playbox Technology; Ed Calverley, VP product engineering, Oasys Automated Playout; Tom Gittins, director of sales, Pebble Beach Systems; Ofer Lugasi, Blend product manager, Orad Hi Tec
Systems; Karl Mehring, Snell’s senior product manager; Scott Rose, director of product management, Miranda Technologies; Mat Shell, product marketing manager at Harris; Bruce Straight, director sales and marketing at ToolsOnAir; Sander ten Dam, senior director media playout solutions, Grass Valley; Andy Warman, senior product marketing manager for Harmonic; Jan Weigner, CTO and managing director, Cinegy GmbH; Nick Wright, CTO and co-founder of Pixel Power, and Goce Zdravkoski, managing director, Stryme.
Channel in a Box technology is ever evolving. What has been the most innovative advance over the past 12 to 18 months? Ash: Business wise, reaching more Tier 1 broadcasters than ever before. Most didn’t even acknowledge that CiaB existed one to two years ago. Calverley: The issue now is how much further can we push the resources of a single box? Oasys has found a way to not only enhance channel count without increasing the hardware needed, but also to provide additional services such as simulcast, delayed and alternative content outlets. Managing this ever increasing complexity has been a challenge,
both technically and commercially. We believe that Chameleon, the integrated solution we launched at IBC, is a big step forward in addressing this challenge. Gittins: Virtualisation is a hot topic and several vendors, including Pebble Beach Systems, are engaged in developing solutions in this space. However, one interesting advance is the prerendering of complex graphics. Our new Marlin automated prerender workflow addresses this, acting as a plug-in to Adobe After Effects and taking the
Don Ash, Playbox: “Most (broadcasters) didn’t even acknowledge CiaB existed one or two years ago” ‘heavy lifting’ of graphics out of the CiaB box. By managing the generation of 3D graphics in advance and then reinserting them into the playlist as a clip, Marlin avoids the potential for
integrated channel devices to be overloaded during playout. Mehring: New innovations have provided many opportunities to include an ever increasing level of functionality
into software solutions, including features such as Dolby, loudness correction, viewer measurement, to name a few. Increased performance in IT equipment and connectivity offer greater power for these platforms, as well as the opportunity to stream using H.264 or AVC Intra for use in more advanced systems. Rose: Although the best systems have already added graphics, multi-format playback, advanced audio handling and other features, the last 12 months have seen a new focus to bring those key missing components of the channel chain into solutions. Miranda identified that subtitling and captioning are critical components for a significant segment of the market. We acquired Softel and introduced its technology into our portfolio. What is now the Miranda Softel Swift TX subtitle/caption management and delivery solution is a perfect fit with our iTX integrated playout platform. Shell: The innovation for CiaB products over the last 18 months has been in two areas. First, the evolution to enterprise-quality automation and workflow tools. Secondly, the maturation of graphics features, plus integration with graphics presentation toolsets. Moving forward the CiaB I/O solution of choice is going to be IP with baseband over IP. The solutions will tend to be software only and positioned for virtualisation and the cloud.
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Channel in a Box
Forum How practical is it to install a CiaB in a remote broadcast facility and monitor it from a central point?
Ed Calverley, Oasys Straight: Originally CiaB solutions were dedicated proprietary hardware. The key trend in the last 18 months is acceleration in the use of standard components and a reduction in their footprint and power consumption. Additionally, ToolsOnAir is developing its own periphery products like our Flow:rage video optimised storage solution. Ten Dam: The enhancement of live control is the most significant advancement in CiaB. The platform has always had live capabilities from a playout perspective, but has been targeted to structured playout with high-level of automated processes — manual operator controls were less important. Live control is now part of CiaB, in fact it is going into a second phase. Warman: For Harmonic, the biggest advance has been the release of the Spectrum ChannelPort integrated channel playout system with new Channel in a Box capabilities such as dual DVE functionality, dual live inputs, independent branding of simulcast channels, and support for external key/fill to enable the use of graphics systems at the same time as ChannelPort’s on-board graphic branding. Weigner: The arrival of 4K/UHD. Even if you do not care about the increase in resolution, finally interlace is dead! And, of course, while we are at it — everyone is going IP, so SDI must die. Wright: Obviously for us, the graphics, clip-playing and audio handling are very well rounded capabilities — you’d expect nothing less. Where we have been working hard is partnering with other manufacturing experts to integrate other leading technologies — our work with Screen on subtitling is a prime example.
Ash: It is not only practical, it is a reality. PlayBox Technology has around 2000 playout systems around the world. These are scheduled, operated and monitored remotely. PlayBox Technology has a workflow
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Channel in a Box
Forum
Tom Gittins, Pebble Beach product called EdgeBox, designed to achieve this for Tier 1 broadcasters. We also offer Multi Playout Manager which allows single and multiple channels to be remotely managed, controlled and monitored with different levels of rights management assignment. For commercials insertion, we have a product called AdBox for the remote insertion of adverts — or programmes, interstitials — at a remote location. These can be
controlled and monitored centrally via the internet. Insertion is triggered by cues that run a preloaded playlist. Calverley: Very practical. As long as there is no time-critical messaging between the remote and central sites, there is no reason why the actual playout device cannot be located anywhere in the world. Gittins: The Pebble Beach Systems solution deploys a distributed architecture with Marina automation controlling the
Dolphin integrated channel device(s). Unlike more basic solutions, it does not simply offer a confidence feed which is returned to the central site, but also incorporates the ability for operations to know in advance that all primary and secondary content is loaded. In fact, exactly the same status and media validation updates are given as if the Dolphin were being controlled locally. Ten Dam: One should consider the impact of operating remote channel(s). Usually remote playout is chosen because of cost reduction and thus low speed connections. Content is often drip-fed into the playout facility over that cost-efficient connection. This means it’s probably slower than realtime, which has an impact on channel content refresh rates. Caching content on the playout nodes is the best way to solve this problem. Various scenarios can have content loops with minimal refresh to use as a default and/or emergency scenario. It’s not uncommon that similar solutions are actually used for disaster recovery playout. Weigner: Very. That’s why being IP-capable — to receive or
emit streams via IP – including the confidence, preview, multiviewer – is a must. Something we do from day one. If the solution was not architected with IP-based remote operations in mind, then it’s too late now. Wright: From Pixel Power’s point of view, the entire way that ChannelMaster was architected from day one is that it’s an enterprise-grade, client/server architecture. That allows the technology to be sited where it’s most convenient for the customer’s business. Before a single line of code existed this
was a decision we’d taken. So in terms of how robust and scalable ChannelMaster is, the answer is very in both cases. Zdravkoski: Our recent project for Telecom Italia is a good example. The VideoServer is located in Milan, yet the operators are in Rome. Nowadays, the actual location of a VideoServer and its place of operation are quite irrelevant. In other projects, we have installed the VideoServer in Vienna, but the studio and the channel operator are located in Kulmbach, Germany.
Bruce Straight, ToolsOnAir
Ofer Lugasi, Orad
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Channel in a Box
Forum It has been suggested that the systems could be dubbed Channels in a Box. Just how many channels could be run from one box? Calverley: That all depends on your definition of a channel. Some incorrectly assume CiaB systems are simply a combination of video server and graphics keyer, when in reality most channels require a whole lot more features - such as subtitle and ancillary data processing and support for a variety of input and output triggers and protocols. For simple SD requirements, channel counts can be comfortably pushed up to eight, with potential for more. Lugasi: The amount of playable channels from a single box depends on the box’s performance, CPU, memory, graphics performance, and PCI lane speed. Technically, a few channels can run from a single box. The question is, does the broadcaster want to risk having channels come from a single box or would it prefer a dedicated box for the channels? Mehring: How many channels can run from one box depends on the box, or even if there is a box. For a box solution, that depends on how much and what type of signals are being output. For a completely software, virtualised or cloud based solution there is no box so the number of channels comes down to how much flexible computing power you have access to which in the cloud theoretically is just about limitless. Rose: How many channels could — or should — be run is a key question. Some believe that running as many as possible from a single device is a good idea, based solely on cost considerations. However, you need to ask if committing that
Karl Mehring, Snell
many channels to one device is really what you want to do. Sure, you can back up that device, but managing multiple channels to fall over in an emergency or planned maintenance is a headache most large broadcasters could do without. Plus, there is a trade-off between pure channel count and functionality. Most broadcasters demand the full channel chain inside a box, including key requirements such as Dolby E/D, Nielsen watermarking, captions and advanced graphics, not just lots of simple playback in one device. Shell: With the continued and rapid improvements in CPU and GPU technology the amount of functionality available on CiaB increases all the time and with that the possibility of running more than one channel in a box. The move towards software-only solutions and IP I/O will allow
CiaB systems to be virtualised, running on blade chassis located in private or public clouds. In this way it is going to be possible to run many channels on a single server.
playout? Not a problem - you’re just going to need a big box. The beauty of it is, that with our distributed software module you can control as many of these channels as you want from an unlimited number of clients. Ten Dam: There is no simple answer here. It is up to the vendor to define a clear offering of what a CiaB really is. Obviously, this can only be done after understanding customer needs and expectations. In a software-based solution, the question is actually how much performance is available on your playout node — then you decide how to use that in a particular situation. This means you can have a flexible, non-standard platform, which must have defined boundaries to offset scalability challenges. So a single CiaB playout node can technically house, for instance, several SD channels with minimal graphical performance or a single HD channel with a lot of graphics and PIPs, and anything in between. Since the platforms are more and more based on standard IT hardware this technical challenge will be less and less of an issue as performance capacity continues to grow.
ChannelPort channels and four simulcast channels for a total of eight channels per rack unit. Each playout channel and the associated simulcast channel are controlled by a single playlist. An added advantage is that every one of the eight channels can have unique graphic branding. The playlist controlling the channel + simulcast pair doesn’t have to take care of driving two sets of graphic template — this task is handled internally to keep operations simple. Weigner: Sixteen SD channels or up to eight HD channels using the currently fastest dual Xeon server (which fits in 1RU). Or when using blades we can deliver 32 HD channels from a 3RU box or 448 HD channels from a 42RU rack. If SDI is not required and we can run the CiaBs as virtual machines, then the density can massively increase. Wright: It depends on what you mean by a channel! Again, it’s certainly as much down to the overall broadcast architecture as it is in-box technical capabilities. A single physical enclosure sooner or later has single points of failure and how much this is pushed is
“The move towards software-only solutions and IP I/O will allow CiaB systems to be virtualised, running on blade chassis located in private or public clouds” Mat Shell, Harris Straight: It all depends on your definition of a box. If you look at our Broadcast Suite, we can run two channels ingest SD on one MacMini and a single channel playout on one MacMini. So there you have two boxes. The MacMini box can be installed in a Sonnet RackMount and you can put as many of these as you want in your rack. Need eight channels ingest and four channels
Warman: The ChannelPort system can run in either one of two ways: integrated into a 1RU MediaDeck 7000 chassis to function as a stand-alone solution server including storage, or integrated in a MediaPort chassis to add channels to Spectrum’s shared storage system. Both offer channel in a box playout capabilities. Both approaches to storage support four
down to the user’s appetite for risk. If a customer wants eight channels from one box and a catastrophic failure happens to that box — the unthinkable happens and the dual-redundant power supply completely fails — then you are going to put all those channels off-air. So you want a reasonable density, but you want to manage single points of failure from a business resiliency point of view. As the
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Channel in a Box
Forum What QC capabilities are offered within CiaB systems?
Scott Rose, Miranda technologies progress and capacity within units grows, this will be a business decision more than a technical one. Zdravkoski: Using our Genesix VideoServer, customers can run four entirely separate channels — each with one input and one output, including graphics, support for all codecs and H.264 streaming. Operating more channels means one gets a far more favourable price per channel.
Lugasi: Orad’s Blend should be considered like any other filebased video server and graphics template. Media files should QC similar to a standalone video server, graphics template should be uploaded to the engine and updated with relevant data. Putting both the video server and graphics engine in the same box does not change how the QC works. One of the safety features implemented in Orad’s Blend is the ability to validate all playlist events, and check media availability in the Blend storage when the clip is introduced to the playlist or the list updated, giving the operator time to prepare and locate missing media files. Mehring: Many systems don’t include QC because it is seen as
an upstream process. The approach we take is that material needs to be checked to ensure it does not cause a decoder failure when it comes to playout. For this reason we use a validation service to play in faster than realtime as soon as material arrives into the system. This allows rogue material to be quarantined and operational staff alerted to this exception. We also check the loaded schedule and alarm on media errors for problems such as
Mat Shell, Harris
incorrect material start points, missing captions, subtitles, audio files and so on. Shell: The processing power required for file-based QC is high and will impact the performance of CiaB, for which the primary function is realtime channel playout. Broadcasters should consider verifying and checking the technical compliance of content around its channels rather than from individual playout devices,
during, for example, the ingest process or directly on archive or NAS. Most CiaB systems do have a baseband review port that can be used for the manual QC of content. This can be especially useful in smaller systems where separated ingest capability does not exist. Tools that enable content to be reviewed over IP as opposed to baseband video will become important with the transition to all IP I/IO.
Sander ten Dam, Grass Valley
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Channel in a Box
Forum One major concern among some broadcasters is the ability to take over manual control if, say, a sporting event overruns. How easy is it to handle such situations? Ash: Very easy and very simple. The automation in PlayBox Technology allows for manual override of automated playout. So for live productions, any changes to the playlist during on-air session are possible. There are no queued or locked clips. Every clip in the playlist, except the one which is currently playing, can be trimmed, edited or repositioned. Moreover, playlist order can be changed on-the-fly with commands like skip-to-next or jump. Calverley: If designed right, a CiaB system can provide far more flexibility for manual operation as the time between a user selecting a new video or
graphic event and it being taken to air is now a matter of frames rather than seconds. With the correct templates pre-defined, even very complex manual presentations including multiple live sources, DVE effects and dynamic graphics can all be controlled via the click of a mouse or the press of a button. Yes – CiaB systems can work with external hard panels, too. Lugasi: Orad’s Blend can handle two additional HD SDI inputs to be used for any live feed. Operators can schedule ‘live’ events with an estimated duration and then schedule ‘manual’ events that can be played when required. Similarly, operators can override the
playlist and switch to a live source without the need to schedule it in the playlist. This gives greater flexibility to choose the scheduled method: manual event, auto-advance, fix clock event, or a mix between the three. Mehring: It is true to say that not all CiaB systems were designed with manual control in mind. However, with Snell’s ICE product responsiveness and ease of intervention this was included from day one. Manual control can be taken at any time using software or hardware panels with standard, as well as highly configurable, functions. We include commercial hotlist, hot start and news flash functionality in the standard package to allow for any style from fully automated to highly live and manual. Rose: Managing live TV is not something that technology magically solves. The key to managing live events is to ensure that operators have the tools they need - when they need them - in a way that feels natural and intuitive. Some systems have removed physical control panels, or replaced them with a simple
Jan Weigner, Cinegy: “Hardware-centric CiaB vendors are doomed” button panel. Many operators who use iTX to run highly demanding channels for national broadcasters choose it because it offers the choice of
full panel control or the same capabilities via the desktop. Straight: With TOA’s just:play and just:live it couldn’t be easier. Using the DSK
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Channel in a Box
“The future is definitely in IP streaming” — Bruce Straight, ToolsOnAir
Forum capabilities that our hardware partners offer, we can switch automatically between video and any live signal. Warman: The ChannelPort system makes it easy to take over manual control in three ways. The system supports hardware control panels from multiple vendors, so users can control switching, clip playout, and graphics manually. Harmonic also offers its OPC (On-board Playout Control) application, which allows users to break away from the schedule, override the playlist, and stay with a live event for as long as necessary. And finally, operators can use their choice of automation system to take direct control over the system. Zdravkoski: This can be handled quite simply and comfortably with our Playout Automation Module. It allows the user to interrupt the current programme at any time, switch to the so-called JustInLive mode and later return to the scheduled programme. Besides that, Cueton and/or GPI frame enable precise switching between a currently scheduled programme and the live mode.
How easily can CiaB handle distribution to other media platforms — tablets, smartphones etc?
Goce Zdravkoski, Stryme
Gittins: In many cases clip-based content which is to be delivered in advance is handled as part of the upstream workflow before arriving at the CiaB for linear playout. But CiaB solutions which can provide a suitable IP stream do have a role to play in providing the live streaming of content or fast turnaround VOD workflows that relate to live events. Rose: CiaB doesn’t in itself help distribution to other platforms, unless there is a framework around the CiaB devices to provide comprehensive media management. This is a fundamental principle of a wellarchitected solution. Media is the centre of a broadcaster’s world and being able to view, manage and control it is something that systems that only have a ‘box’ struggle to do. A system that can output channels in baseband and IP, and help master media for distribution to online and VOD platforms is a compelling differentiator when choosing between vendors. Straight: The future is definitely in IP streaming. We offer an RTMP streaming option, which allows us to send a H264 compressed stream to any CDN for final distribution. ten Dam: For a softwarebased solution it’s not a big step to deliver in different formats. Today it’s primarily streaming in baseband domain, but IP out at various bitrates is quickly becoming the standard and as such is file-based delivery for on-demand systems. Warman: CiaB solutions were not conceived with this objective in mind. However, one benefit of the simulcast output on the ChannelPort is that it can drive downstream devices, with graphics already tailored for Web or mobile distribution.
Someone has suggested that Channel in a Box will be replaced by Channel on a Chip. Is that feasible — and, if so, when will we see it? Ash: I am not so sure this will ever become a reality because every leap forward in technology that can allow this to happen sees a leap forward in requirements from consumers. Or more to the point, manufacturers of consumer products promoting higher quality and definition, such as 3D and 4K. When technology does allow for ‘channel on a chip’, I am sure
Nick Wright, Pixel Power Lugasi: Aired channels are still relying on SDI equipment and feeds, so CiaB cannot get much smaller if equipped with graphics and I/O board. Once SDI becomes obsolete, new solutions will come powered by chips producing Channel on Ethernet stream. Shell: There is no reason to believe that a chip could not
drive to Ultra HD and higher frame rates. Yes, if we stuck a stake in the ground and said, ‘no, we’re never as an industry going to go beyond 1080 50i HD’ then maybe. But the landscape is changing so quickly that whether it’s a chip or a card or a box or a piece of software isn’t really the question. The questions are what you want to
“CiaB doesn’t in itself help distribution to other platforms, unless there is a framework around the CiaB devices to provide comprehensive media management” Scott Rose, Miranda the PSU to drive the chip and the fans to cool it down will still equate to a 1U box that is the same as today. Gittins: Whilst it may ultimately be feasible, we are far more likely to see a channel hosted purely in software, and ultimately in the cloud.
Andy Warman, Harmonic
host all the elements required, but today we see the drive for channel playout as being in an IP infrastructure, software only and running in a generic IT data centre. Some of the advantages to this approach are that software codecs provide greater flexibility, commodity platforms are economical and virtualisation can provide better resilience. Weigner: Never. It’s not about hardware but software. A traditional linear or on-demand channel is a software service running on a commodity IT compute platform – either locally in a ‘box’, or remote, or remote hosted in a datacentre which we can then also call ‘cloud’ if we want. Hardwarecentric CiaB vendors are doomed just like traditional playout vendors. Wright: This comes back down essentially to risk. Even if you can have a channel on a chip it doesn’t ultimately help you with the other costs. It’s not an enabler for the industry and in many regards plays against the
do, how you want to operate and how you get cost-effective, dayto-day operations, now and going forwards? Zdravkoski: I cannot yet imagine ‘channel on a chip’. But I am convinced that we will see multi-channel in a blade server as a new standard in three to five years from now. We are already working on such a solution. It is our aim to equip the multi-channel in a blade server with capabilities for 32 or 64 completely independent channels, including ingest, graphics, playout and streaming, using just a single 4HE machine. www.cinegy.com www.grassvalley.com www.harmonicinc.com www.harrisbroadcast.com www.miranda.com www.oasys.com www.orad.tv www.pebble.tv www.pixelpower.com www.playbox.tv www.snellgroup.com www.stryme.com www.toolsonair.com
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Local and regional interests are demanding their own tailored TV content. Until now, limited distribution and high operating costs have stood in the way
The Workflow
Think global, broadcast local: British local TV takes off UK local television is about to move forward in a big way. Philip Stevens visits the Network Operations Centre to find out more OVER THE years, several attempts have been made at operating television channels in the UK on a purely local basis – with a city- or town-wide focus, catering to the viewing needs of a closely defined area. Few have been successful. Two explanations might be offered as reasons for failure – limited distribution through the use of cable and high individual operating costs. In 2011, the government’s then culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, proposed a network of stations to serve communities and provide an alternative to the existing services, plans which make the current outlook for local TV more favourable. On the distribution front, the DDT Freeview channel 8 (45 in Wales and Scotland) has been made available for these local stations – enabling an audience of around 12 million homes.
On the operational side, one innovation has been the appointment of Comux UK, a community-owned organisation of local TV licence holders as the local TV multiplex operator. Comux is responsible for building and operating the technical platform for all local broadcasting services. To date there are 23 licensed areas that will be served in this way – with a second batch of around 30 licensees coming online over the next few years. All monies generated are ploughed back into the TV service – and local community projects. Ed Hall, chief executive of Comux
New concept “As far as I know, this central facility for the multiplex operation is unique throughout Europe,” states Ed Hall, chief executive of Comux. “From our centre in Birmingham, we offer a whole range of services for the local operators – right from
Nevion SIM: Nevion equipment has been selected for Comux Operations Centre
scheduling, through playout to delivery to the Freeview transmitters.” Hall explains that this arrangement is far more costeffective than each licensee having to carry out these procedures locally – and then use lines to the transmitters. “We have a 100MB bearer between us and each local station. Under normal circumstances, 50MB is used for the services on a day-by-day basis. The funding for building the infrastructure comes from the BBC, which has allocated £25 million for the local TV venture. The other 50MB is there for use by the local operator or commercial interests on a payment basis.”
So, with no model from elsewhere to call upon, what were the challenges that faced the Comux team – and how were those situations faced?
“As far as I know, this central facility for the multiplex operation is unique throughout Europe”
Time trial “I guess our biggest challenge was time,” reveals Hall. “Ofcom awarded the multiplex operator’s licence at the end of January2013 — much later than expected. Comux built this network in 18 weeks and one day — everything had to be carefully scheduled. That tight time frame meant that we had to take out the breathing
Comux MCR: The nerve centre of the UK local television network
Ed Hall, Comux
spaces that we had inserted into the original build plan. Among other targets, that plan called for us to install over 18km of video cable and more than 6000m of network cable capable of sending 385,000 data packets per second out of the Network Operations Centre in Birmingham, within a window of just five weeks.” One project that helped overcome the truncated schedule was the creation of a virtual channel at the operations centre. “We built a fictional schedule, imported files and did many dummy runs. This enabled us to anticipate problems and to work out best practice when it came to the real thing.” That ‘real thing’ happened in November when the first of the local operators went on air. Estuary TV, which is based at the Grimsby Institute and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the further and higher education colleges, will reach around 370,000 homes in parts of
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Dutch regional broadcaster Omroep Flevoland wanted a solution that would enable easy publishing of content across radio, TV and the internet
The Workflow Streamlining a Dutch workflow Philip Stevens discovers how an upgrade has helped delivery to multi-platforms for a regional broadcaster OMROEP FLEVOLAND is a regional radio and television station for Flevoland, the smallest of 12 provinces in the Netherlands. With studios located in the province’s capital, Lelystad, the broadcaster’s primary focus is news and weather, but it also offers various programmes covering culture, human interest and sports closely linked to the province. Its 24/7 programmes are broadcast via digital terrestrial, cable and the web. Plans call for a switch to fully HD transmissions in April 2014. During 2013 Omroep Flevoland initiated a project to streamline its production workflows to meet its viewers’ growing demands for multiscreen, multiplatform viewing. More than that, because it delivers breaking news across many forms of media, it wanted a solution that would enable the publishing of
content across radio, TV and the Internet without creating and duplicating content. “After some careful research, we decided to purchase GV STRATUS from Grass Valley,” explains Bram Liplijn, the broadcaster’s CTO. “We were already familiar with GV, using its cameras and vision mixer in the studio. But, just as important, GV STRATUS connected best to our existing workflow.”
The studio centre of Omroep Flevoland
“Nineteen videosizes are made out of the currentSD/HD material in the CarbonFarm. We make the material applicable for different platforms,such as iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet,Smart TV, web, Nerocasting and archive” Bram Liplijn, Omroep Flevoland The package comprised the latest version of the GV STRATUS nonlinear media production tools, a K2 Storage Area Network (SAN), K2 Summit and K2 Solo servers, EDIUS multiformat nonlinear editing software, and GV Edge integrated playout system.
Nineteen video sizes
Stratus: GV STRATUS forms the core of the broadcaster’s multi-platform delivery
Lincolnshire and east Yorkshire. The station will use some students in production roles, but they are guided and mentored throughout by experienced staff. In the studio, Sony EX3 cameras are employed, while a mix of EX1s and Z1s/Z7s are used on location. For vision mixing, Estuary TV utilises a Newtek Tricaster XD850, while a Mackie 1604-VLZ3 is the choice for audio control. Editing is carried out using Final Cut Pro. Back in Birmingham, Sharp multiviewers are in place in the Master Control Room (MCR), for checking input from licensees, output from the SIMS (located in
on the internet by themselves,” states Liplijn. Journalists ingest the raw camera material from the CF card into EDIUS and then cut the package for use on the internet. When this item is completed, it is sent to the ‘internet map’. The file is then automatically uploaded to the CarbonFarm which transfers it to the web server. Next, the audio edit is carried out for the broadcaster’s radio outlets. This
“One big advantage of this update is that the journalists can edit from their own workplace. They can also put their edits
a nearby equipment room) and a return feed from the licensees. Evertz Mediator plus Overture playout servers — one for each local outlet — have been installed in the racks room. With future expansion in mind, space has been left to accommodate up to 40 local channels. Evertz has also provided a graphic system for inserting any content that is requested by the local operators. After extensive testing, several Nevion products were selected for the operations centre. These include the TVG450 JPEG 2000 encoders/decoders for video contribution, the TVG425 IP-to-ASI converter for video
audio file is exported to the GML map. Lastly, the video edit is made for the television broadcast. After editing, this file is sent to the K2. And because the audio and video edit are put in the same system, it provides reliable control of all platforms. “We use GV STRATUS to direct our CarbonFarm. This is an improvement over our previous situation. Nineteen video sizes are made out of the current SD/HD material in the CarbonFarm. We make the material applicable for different platforms, such as iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, Smart TV, web, Nerocasting and archive,” explains Liplijn. One future development will see Omroep Flevoland place items on its website much faster. “We are going to work with proxyfiles, transmitted
distribution and the TNS544 for seamless Single Frequency Network (SFN) switching at the transmitter sites. The whole system is controlled and monitored by Nevion’s Connect Management System. “The Gateway allows each Local TV studio to cost effectively contribute video over IP, while ensuring the transmission remains of the highest quality,” states Hall. When it comes to compliance recording, an Actus system has been installed. The transmission and network access for Comux is provided by Arqiva.
from the camera on location. Later, when the crew is back in the studio, the HD material will be prepared for television.”
One stop shop Ed Casaccia, senior director of news product line, Grass Valley, picks up the story. “GV STRATUS allows Omroep to produce a ‘create once, publish everywhere’ consolidated workflow. This means it can be the first broadcaster to cover breaking news from Flevoland on every screen. The objective behind the GV STRATUS approach is to offer a complete, versatile, and software-centric platform for nonlinear media production that adapts to rapidly changing business, operational, and technology needs.”
Now on air The service for London — London Live — will start in early March. Earlier, it was announced that Ericsson would provide key broadcasting services for the channel. These include media asset management, scheduling, graphics hosting, EPG delivery, playout and transcoding. London Live will be supported in its first step towards IP-based delivery with a dedicated ‘cloud’ hosted by Ericsson. Comux will take a realtime feed from Ericsson and deliver it over the network to the National Operations Centre where it is compressed ready for transmission.
GV Edge combines playout nodes, playlist management, media asset management, and graphics management in a single cohesive implementation. It integrates with GV STRATUS to extend the streamlined workflow with dedicated asset management capabilities across channels. “The whole system at Omroep Flevoland allows for the creation of automated transcode and output workflows based on metadata rules,” reports Casaccia. “These rules run in the background at the system level at all times. This means that newsroom workers don’t have to concern themselves with the technical details of compression types, raster size, closed captioning presentation, and so on, when creating content for multiple distribution platforms. They simply check a pre-configured metadata field that launches the automated transcode workflow, including delivery of descriptive metadata and closed captioning information to the Content Management System and/or Content Delivery Network. It’s ideal for all multiplatform outlets – but especially for local broadcasters with limited budgets and manpower.” www.omroepflevoland.nl www.grassvalley.com
Ed Hall sums up the launch of local TV: “As well as a commercially sustainable and robust solution, we have also now created the potential to provide an attractive return to the licence holders and to the local TV industry as a whole. www.apple.com www.comux.co.uk www.estuary.tv www.evertz.com www.mackie.com www.nevion.com www.newtek.com www.sharp.co.uk www.sony.co.uk www.standard.co.uk/londonlive
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The Workflow
Project Parking: a supermanager for post assets By Andrew Ioannou, Marquis Media Partners WITH ANY post production facility there are numerous projects in progress at any one time. However, the material associated with a project is rarely stored in a single location or post produced where it was recorded, and this makes archiving completed projects or moving temporarily delayed projects a challenge. In addition, the move from tape to file-based capture has contributed to a significant increase in shooting ratios — in many cases in excess of 500:1 and sometimes much higher. While this is unlikely to change, it does present a problem when it comes to consumption of
Project Parking analyses all projects and media across all workspaces and allows them to be viewed in a user-friendly way expensive online storage. This is particularly so if the edit is not going to happen for some
time. Therefore, a simple and effective solution to enable transfer of material to a less
expensive offline storage is required, without losing content into the ‘ether’. Inevitably media does get missed or lost, particularly if it was mistakenly put in the wrong location initially, and this is difficult to manage later on if a project does need to be retrieved. Collecting media that has ended up in several different places and putting it back in one archive, knowing editors can come back to it at a later date, is a time-consuming task. Simon Brett, director of operations, Fox International Channels UK, explains: “Like most facilities, up until now our short-form promo content has tended to be stored in various formats and locations including back-ups on tape. This becomes
an issue if one of our territories would like to re-use a promo for example, as the source material and everything needed to re-visit the content to edit it for a different geographical audience, is not stored in the same place. It is therefore, a time-consuming task to locate and supply the content.” Even if facilities don’t need to supply completed projects to third parties or clients, the need to free up valuable edit storage is always pressing. Crews can return from less than a week of shooting with 500GB of media, this in addition to edit storage becoming jammed-up with stalled projects, finished projects, left over render files, duplicate files and media files no longer used by any online project. “Fox were looking for a complete storage and project analysis tool which would help us delete the clutter and archive projects and all their media elsewhere. In addition, we needed to be able to retrieve them at the drop of a hat, when
Next in the series of Beyond HD Masters events for TVBEurope Date: Tuesday, June 3rd 2014 Venue: BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London
If high definition is the new standard definition, then what’s beyond HD? Is 4K the next target for high-end TV production, broadcast and display - or 8K? What is going to drive the European television technology industry into the future?
WHO SHOULD ATTEND Directors of Technology, Heads of Production at independent production companies, Directors of equipment rental or hire, Heads of Outside Broadcasts, Production Managers, Senior Directors, Heads of Cameras, Chief Engineers, Programme Operations Managers, Stereographers, Producers, Directors of Broadcasting, Studio Directors, Technical Consultants, Research Engineers
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IT Broadcast Workflow (ITBW) is Europe's premier event charting the development and adaptation of file-based operations in European broadcasting organisations. ITBW is now in its sixth year and promises to deliver a wide range of innovative case study practices. Enhance workflow efficiency Reduce operational costs. Networking Opportunities ITBW 2014 will once again take place at the prestigious BAFTA in central London on Tuesday July 8th. Following the success of the revised format last year, networking drinks in the evening will follow the day's extensive case study programme.
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Collecting media that has ended up in several different places and putting it back in one archive, knowing editors can come back to it at a later date, is a time-consuming task required,” says Brett. “We were first introduced to Marquis’ Project Parking about a year ago and this sparked my interest that there could be a real solution to managing our edit storage and projects more efficiently. During that time Marquis developed Project Parking further and when version 3 became available earlier this year, we felt it really could match our needs.” Project Parking version 3 analyses all the projects and media on the edit storage by size, project, location, age, duplicated or orphaned files, and then archives files to second tier storage, or deletes unused media at the touch of a button, takes snapshots of versions of projects, or moves files from one location to another, while still maintaining a usable and easily accessible format for future use. “It has enabled us to improve the efficient use of our highvalue edit storage and by copying Avid projects to near-
orphaned media not associated with a project. The bin archive functionality in Project Parking then allows individual bins or folders of bins to be included or excluded in order to move media to second tier storage. Stalled projects can then be taken offline to free up space. Archived projects can be moved through the cloud and around the world. A project is transferred with all its media to any storage so that it can be restored to a new facility, workstation or laptop and edited immediately. Retrieval is also straight forward and can be easily achieved by restoring whole projects or just the required bins of an archived project for re-editing. “Project Parking can now be used to archive promos, plus National Geographic long form content, in the Operations Department which handles every UK transmission for Fox and National Geographic,” confirms Brett. “We will also be
“We were looking for a complete storage and project analysis tool which would help us delete the clutter and archive projects and all their media elsewhere Simon Brett, Fox line, offline efficient IT storage or removable storage,” continues Brett. “The solution has improved the reliability and speed of archiving by allowing the movement of complete Avid projects easily from one site to another, so users have the certain knowledge that projects will be in exactly the same state as when archived. This has enabled our editors to manage projects more efficiently. Work can also be protected by creating snapshots of projects before major edit changes, interruptions to production, or for simply handing over to other editors.” Project Parking works by analysing all projects and media across all workspaces and allows them to be viewed in a userfriendly way. This enables the user to rank projects appropriately. This may be in order of total file size, number of files associated with a project, which workspaces the media is on, and whether media is offline. The solution also identifies the location of any duplicate files and any
using the solution for managing long form content too. In the UK, we re-version National Geographic content, often from the US, to make it suitable for a British audience. This may mean re-voicing or adding or taking out material. Similarly our operations department processes every transmission of Fox and National Geographic to get it to a UK specification. “Project Parking will now allow us to archive off complete Avid projects rather than need to re-build them from different sources. In the future, if another region would like to re-use an edit we have created, it will be no problem,” continues Brett. “We can simply hand over all the elements of the project that they need, ready to go straight into Avid. We anticipate this improved archiving of content, more efficient management of orphaned files and generally better housekeeping will all save our team a significant amount of time.” www.marquismediapartners.com
The Workflow
Attenborough and Colossus team up again for a 3D Museum By Adrian Pennington and Holly Ashford DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D marks the latest 4K and 3D documentary project produced for Sky by Colossus Productions, a joint venture between Atlantic Productions and Sky 3D. It also marks the presenter’s sixth 3D project for Sky/Atlantic/ Colossus, with previous films including Flying Monsters 3D, The Penguin King, Kingdom of Plants, Galapagos 3D and Micro Monsters 3D. While the first in the series, Flying Monsters, was shot on Red One cameras, Natural History Museum was shot using Epics at 5K mounted on a 3Ality Atom rig. The larger frame provided wriggle room for geometry changes and horizontal image translation in post. Timelapse photography was by DP Rob Hollingworth using Nikon D800 stills cameras. Each one of the pair of Red cameras generated 400GB of data an hour, making nearly 1TB per hour combined. “So on location you can very easily rack up in the region of 40+ TB of storage, which becomes a major data management and cost issue,” explains Richard Mills, CTO, Onsight. “We always try to have some kind of on-set or near-set quality control, and production generally demands near-set editorial as well, so it’s a considerable challenge to get all that data backed up in two or three copies on set plus edit deliverables.”
TV, cinema and IMAX As with previous Colossus shows, Natural History Museum Live 3D was designed to cover for a TV deliverable, a cinema feature and a giant 16x9 screen release, which required that a number of versions of each shot were taken with different framings. The show was heavily CGI reliant, with creatures supplied by Milk, Prime Focus, Framestore and Zoo. All the animation was delivered at 4K, rather than the usual 2K resolution, to ensure the quality of the image when projected on an IMAX screen. In post, Onsight set aside 40TB of online storage using a combination of Dot Hill and StorNext SANs. With the added CGI conforms, the project would have racked up about 60TB.
David Attenborough in London’s Natural History Museum mammals hall Offline was on Avid in DNxHD 36 and in stereo 3D, online was in Mistika. Monitoring was by way of Sony Trimaster PVM-X300 and a domestic 4K TV for reference. A theatrical 4K DCP test was also made.
Behind the scenes at the Museum David Attenborough and Anthony Geffen revealed more about the production at a preview screening last month. Attenborough explained how talks with Sky began last February, with the programme ready for output just 10 months later — an “astonishing” speed. Despite having worked together on a number of occasions, the pair admitted the shooting times were a challenge, beginning at 7pm and not finishing until 6am the following morning, with one filming period lasting 15 consecutive nights. “I personally found it quite tough,” admitted Attenborough. The CGI itself also proved challenging. Having been used to working with animals in his earlier television work, the upcoming production required Attenborough to interact with specimens added in post production. However, he commented on how impressed he was with the CGI creations — the “quirks” such as eyelid blinks and small unexpected movements “which make them into real personalities”. The duo also revealed that an app will be available to
accompany Natural History Museum Alive 3D, so that “anyone with a mobile phone or tablet will be able to go into the Museum on 1 January and go to any one of these creatures…and on a screen will see that thing suddenly flop off the wall and swim around it, just as I would do if I was sitting there. And we’ll do that with every one of those creatures,” explains Attenborough. The aim of the app, added Geffen, was to provide “an extension [to the TV show], having built all these amazing creatures, for people to go on learning about them afterwards”.
2014: Looking ahead The 65-minute show was broadcast on Sky 3D and in 2D on Sky 1 HD on New Year’s Day. Geffen and Attenborough concluded the preview screening by showing a clip of another collaboration between the naturalist and Colossus, Conquest of the Skies 3D, a two-part series set to premiere in 2014. The ability to get close to birds was a major factor in the decision for this next 3D production. As Attenborough explained: “It is not possible to use long lenses in 3D. You are stuck with a lens of about 50-60mm focal length. Lots of subjects are unavailable to you. I thought that flight would be a wonderful subject,” said Attenborough, “and the evolution of flight is a thrilling one.” www.onsight.co.uk www.milk-vfx.com
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Interview
“BVE is three days of insight, networking and exciting hands-on demonstrations of the hottest new kit”
Building BVE James Rowley-Ashwood is event director of the Broadcast Video Expo, the second-largest industry tradeshow in Europe, which runs in London next month. He talks to Neal Romanek about trade shows, collaboration with the industry and the future of BVE’s Manchester-based cousin, BVE North ‘Beyond broadcast’ is a relatively new focus for BVE. For 2014 we will be pushing into the ‘connected’ arena, which is multiplatform delivery of content over IP. We can see crossover in the future with some aspects of A/V, and I’m keen to enhance the show profile to best accommodate new demographics to the show, such as commercial, retail and entertainment brands. Of course at the heart of BVE is the broadcasting and production sectors — this forms the nucleus of the show, and we are not moving away from that.
How did BVE start? Can you talk us through the genesis of what has become one of the broadcast industry’s biggest tradeshows? BVE has evolved through its smaller guises to become an absolutely giant event — much loved by its visitors, exhibitors and sponsors BVE is the second-biggest event of its kind in Europe now. Of course BVE benefits from being in London, which is the leading market in Europe for content production and broadcasting. The show profile now expands across production services, acquisition, post, storage, broadcast and connected multiplatform delivery. We create high-level seminar content to complement the excellent exhibition side of the show. As a visitor, it’s three days of insight, networking and exciting hands-on demonstrations of the hottest new kit. What is the future of BVE North? Is there a place for two UK tradeshows? BVE North was set up to reflect the changing broadcast employment demographic. This was in place before I arrived, but I’m proud that BVE has continued to support the growing broadcasting industry in the North, and our commitment to this region will evolve in line with that growth. To what do you contribute the success of tradeshows? Internet connectivity seemed set to do away with them, but they just keep on proliferating It’s impossible to compare a large-scale industry event, which brings together end users and suppliers in one place for three days, with the internet — although clearly they are both essential parts of the marketing mix. Nothing beats a manufacturer or dealer demonstrating new kit live, in the flesh. You can’t get the same sense of occasion reading second hand what industry leaders are presenting
The conferences and seminars at BVE always seem to be very successful. How do you manage and produce them? We are fortunate to have a legacy of very high quality speakers at BVE, often leaders in their sectors. Sitting in the audience are often experienced end-users and vendors.
Rowley-Ashwood: “Our job is to put the right people together in the right context” right in front of your eyes in the seminar theatres. But perhaps most saliently, the industry is very much a people business. Our job is to put the right people together in the right context. The networking is essential. What does BVE offer that other shows don’t? First it’s location. London is an inspirational place to do business. BVE always attracts the industry leading vendors who exhibit on the show floor, but where we offer something different is our free-toattend high level seminars, which take place over three days, and each is themed in line with our show profile. For 2014, we will have producers, production, cinematography, post production, broadcast IT and connected
How has industry feedback figured into the design of BVE and BVE North? One thing I’ve been pleased with, from myself and the wider BVE team, is that we always look to include feedback from our exhibitors in any changes or improvements. These companies are the key stakeholders in BVE. Of course with 350 brands on the show floor, we can’t take on every suggestion, but where there are clear signs of agreement between BVE stakeholders, we will look to make decisions which positively affect as many exhibitors as possible. For BVE North, I’m in the process now of reviewing key visitor and exhibitor feedback — this will factor into our plans for next year. What has your personal journey been in the development of BVE? I joined BVE in October 2013 when it was in the middle of moving to ExCeL, and a few weeks just before BVE North 2012. My first role was to plan the sector expansion into the connected sphere. Previously I had been very active as a part of the Creative Coalition and the UK Industry Trust in future digital policy and digital piracy — because this massively effects the revenue development for OTT models. I’m actually a believer in IP delivery models and I still find it odd when I hear conference speakers say they don’t understand why OTT doesn’t work for anyone other than Netflix and Lovefilm. It works perfectly, just that the platforms which are ‘succeeding’ are unlicensed, taking eyeballs away from the licensed ones. My career spans 18 years and started, funnily enough at EMAP, (former BVE parent before i2i). Having owned an advertising agency in the past, I know my way around a camera and editing gear — so for me, I love this job. I’m a creative tech nerd at heart who has spent quite a lot of his career thinking about the future of television.
“At the heart of BVE is the broadcasting and production sectors – this forms the nucleus of the show, and we are not moving away from that”
theatres, as well as a fully kitted out 4K cinema. We deliver industry leading insight that other events charge for. In addition we always create outstanding networking spaces around the show for industry professionals to get together in a relevant context.
Will BVE be expanding into areas beyond broadcast? Any expansion into further sectors will always be led by feedback from visitors, exhibitors and sponsors and I’m well aware of the need to constantly innovate — and put potential new buyers in front of our exhibitors.
Naturally we start our research there – by interviewing key people. Further to that, our media partners, industry body partners and our internal researchers, who have access to publically available and privately commissioned research, shape the basis for the seminar structure. From here, we look to seek out the best speakers for each topic or panel.
What TV show are you watching now? I’m actually in the middle of rewatching Arrested Development — (arguably) the finest comedy of all time. When that’s finished I want to catch up on Fresh Meat — loved the first episodes. www.bvexpo.com
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Find out more. www.iseurope.org
50 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com January 2014
News Review By Holly Ashford
Shift 4 equipped live Antarctic broadcast with NewTek: Broadcast facilities and hire company Shift 4 supplied a NewTek TriCaster 860 multi-camera production system for a purpose-built studio and control room streaming live footage from the Antarctic. Nineteen-year-old Parker Liautaud aimed to set a new world speed record for a journey from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole. Captive Minds contracted Shift 4 to provide MCR facilities in the studio built in the foyer of insurance company Willis Group’s London HQ. Willis Resilience Expedition TV used the TriCaster to produce a live 60-minute show each day for 16 days during the expedition. Each live show was mixed in the TriCaster and streamed to Willis’ YouTube channel, and uploaded each day to www.willisresilience.com for viewing on demand. www.willisresilience.com
Angénieux lenses deliver BNP Paribas Tennis in 4K Euro Media Group’s live recording of the BNP Paribas Tennis Masters in Paris was delivered using two PL mount Angénieux lenses. The Optimo 28-340 and the Optimo 15-40 were used on four Sony F55 cameras. “We used the lenses on camera five which was in the stand in ‘beauty’ position,” commented Ronald Meyvisch, new technology officer at Euro Media Group. “We first put the 15-40 to have a ‘beauty’ shot of Bercy. Then we replaced it with the 28-340 to have better rendering from the camera at this spot.” Angénieux lenses had already been used in 4K recordings last year. Working with Euro Media Group United, a Muse concert was captured in 4K and released in cinemas across the world. www.angenieux.com
deltatre and Vizrt expand partnership for World Cup Sports and media technology company deltatre and 3D graphics provider Vizrt have broadened their partnership with Magma Pro powered by Viz Libero for the upcoming World Cup. Magma Pro extends deltatre’s Magma product offering with the virtual graphic capabilities and 3D camera flights offered by Viz Libero. deltatre has been using Vizrt broadcast graphics products since 2004 and last year added several new Vizrt products to its production setup. Viz Libero will be unveiled for the first time in Rio de Janeiro. www.deltatre.com www.vizrt.com
Event Management invests in Kinesys tech for Io Canto Live show, event and broadcast video company Event Management, based in Milan, Italy, has expanded its investment in Kinesys automation equipment for the latest series of the TV show Io Canto. The show is based on a search for the best singing talent among young people aged five to 16. The set design featured six large columns of moving LED video screens, each measuring 8mx3m and weighing 800kg. Six rear LED columns were moved by Kinesys beam trolleys at their bases, fitted to 40m of custom-built curved track, which Event Management designed and
Gremmelspacher chooses Petrol Bags for ask-TV: Martin Gremmelspacher specialises in making adventure, sport-action and landscape films and has worked with production company ask-TV to film a number of travel programmes. While filming, the cinematographer works with the Deca Campack camera backpack by Petrol Bags, part of Vitec Videocom. The Campack features removable and padded dividers to protect the equipment, which also serve as compartments to stow accessories. There is also a separate area with space for a laptop with a 17-inch screen. Soft straps and an ergonomic design aim to provide ideal weight distribution and comfort for the carrier. www.petrolbags.com
had specially made. Other equipment included Kinesys LibraCELL, Liftket motors and Elevation drive units. www.kinesys.co.uk
Nitrate and re:fine reveal Sex Pistols footage for BBC4 doc Content processing business re:fine has collaborated with production company Nitrate Films to unlock unseen footage of the last ever UK Sex Pistol’s gig. The material, from the 1977 Huddersfield gig, formed part of the documentary Christmas with the Pistols, produced by Nitrate Films, shown on Boxing Day on BBC4. re:fine encoded and restored the unseen content from D2 and Betacam SP tape to the highest quality file possible, ready for use in the edit. Auteur director Julien Temple presented a look at the traditions and transgressions of Christmas, including footage of the Sex Pistols celebrating Christmas at their last gig in England on Christmas Day 1977. Archive footage revealed how the UK experienced Christmas in the seventies, while interviews with each band member recalled the zeitgeist and the concert itself. Chris Parry, sales director at re:fine, said: “We have enjoyed a great relationship with Nitrate Films over the years and worked with them on many stand out titles. It was a real privilege to be the first to see and preserve this unseen Sex Pistols footage and help Julien to deliver another fascinating documentary.”
LiveU reveals busy 2014 sports line-up: LiveU has announced its 2014 live video support for sporting events around the world. With technologies tailored to the sports market, including acquisition, transmission, rental packages and workflows, the company aims to accommodate the requirements of media outlets and professional and US collegiate sports organisations. LiveU’s involvement in international sport in 2014 includes providing support for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. www.liveu.tv