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TVTechnology WWW.TVTECHNOLOGY.COM
EUROPE
BROADCAST • PRODUCTION • BROADBAND • SATELLITE • MOBILE £3.80 I Volume 32 I Issue 1 I February/March 2014
SHOW PREVIEW
See Pages 22-23
Sochi
Companion Screen Big, 4K Appears
A Chat with Ed Lister
What’s next for channel-in-a-box systems?
Buyers Guide: Automation, Archive, MAM, DAM & Recording/Storage
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CONTENTS /// Sochi Now, Sports Now! EDITORIAL Editor Mark Hallinger Tel: 1 301 467 1695 Email: mhallinger@nbmedia.com Executive Editor Marguerite Clark Editorial Director Paul McLane Tech Editor Craig Norris Contributing Editor James Careless Contributors Ann-Marie Corvin, Kevin Hilton, Phil Reed NEWBAY MEDIA LLC CORPORATE President and CEO Steve Palm Chief Financial Officer Paul Mastronardi Controller Jack Liedke Group Circulation Director Denise Robbins Vice President of Web Development Joe Ferrick PUBLISHER Steve Connolly Tel: +44 (0) 20 7354 6000 Email: steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk ADVERTISING Sales Executive Sharifa Marshall Tel: +44 (0) 20 7354 6000 Email: sharifa.marshall@intentmedia.co.uk European Sales Director Graham Kirk Tel: +44 (0)1223 911224 Email: g.kirk@audiomedia.com U.S. Midwest, New England & Canada Vytas Urbonas Email: vurbonas@nbmedia.com U.S. West Pete Sembler Email: psembler@nbmedia.com U.S. Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, US Classifieds & Product Showcase Michele Inderrieden Email: minderrieden@nbmedia.com Hong Kong, China, Asia/Pacific Wengong Wang Email: wwg@imaschina.com Italy Raffaella Calabrese Email: rcalabrese@broadcast.it Latin America Susana Saibene Email: susana.saibene@gmail.com TV Technology Europe ISSN 2053-6674 (Print) ISSN 2053-6682 (Online) is published seven times annually by Intent Media. ©2013 by Intent Media. All rights reserved.
As has been the case with most Olympics since Atlanta, I will be at the Sochi International Broadcast Centre (IBC) at the Games with full credentials. I’ve stopped by and profiled the facilities of dozens of small, medium, and large rightsholding broadcasters over the years. I always cover my host NBC, and I do my best to give credit to the tech organization that really makes it all possible, host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS). If you are in Sochi, I’d love to stop by to get your contact details and take a few quick pictures. I am flexible on timing, as I tend to spend 12 or more hours per day at the IBC or venues, waiting for people to get off a shift so I can grab them for a few minutes to hear the details of their job or facility. Please e-mail me at mhallinger@nbmedia.com and I will stop by for a quick chat or card exchange on your schedule. Also, please check out our new Sports Now channel at www.tvtechnology.com. This sitewithin-a-site has all kinds of sport coverage, with much of it these past few weeks generated via a new e-mail newsletter called The Road to the 2014 Winter Games. By the time you read this, we’ll have a good Sochi overview posted on Sports Now The web gives us the space to really use the global resources we have, so expect more coordinated coverage between the print edition of this magazine and our online presence moving forward. We’ll sometimes run stories only on the web, as we did with two user reports this month. We also have expanded BVE product coverage online, for those attending the London show. As our industry gears up for Rio’s World cup
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Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N18LN, England Free subscriptions are available to professional broadcasting and audio visual equipment users. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome for review – send to Mark Hallinger at the feedback address.
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Group Head of Design & Production Adam Butler Email: adam.butler@intentmedia.co.uk
Designer Jat Garcha jat.garcha@intentmedia.co.uk
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Mark Hallinger Editor & Associate Publisher Cover image inside the SmartPhone courtesy of the Sochi2014 Press Office, with the larger picture by Craig Norris..
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SMPTE UPDATE: IP in Broadcast
BUYERS GUIDE: Automation, MAM, DAM, Recording & Storage
A user report from Belgium’s Skynet iMotion Activities on how Pebble Beach’s Marina system fit channel expansion, and product news.
EXHIBITIONS: Broadcast Video Expo
Bruce Devlin on SMPTE’s regional seminars designed to help the industry better manage the shift toward IP-based handling of media.
Production Executive Jason Dowie Jason.dowie@intentmedia.co.uk
later this year, expect great coverage on Sports Now. Andy Stout, who wrote our Olympics Overview you can now find on the web, opines that we will see some limited 4K production from Sochi, but June’s World Cup may see a bigger 4K splash. Sport broadcast has always been about main screen stories such as HD, or 3D, or 4K/UHDTV. IP technology and server-based production has also helped fill the companion screens with content, and Sochi will mirror London as far as the generation of content for SmartPhones and other devices is concerned. This Games will likely be watched as much on tiny screens as on great big HD screens.
Craig Norris reports on how Foxtel built a beneficial, modern MAM system
Ann-Marie Corvin looks at the expanding London-based event
PRODUCTION Production Director Davis White
SPECIAL REPORT: MAM
At the ski jump in Torino in 2006. I’ll be in the same jacket at Sochi, but expect a lot less hair.
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SHARPSHOOTER: Ed Lister
A few questions with the Manchester-based lighting cameraman and self-shooting producer.
TRENDS: Channel-in-a-Box
David Austerberry on where we are and where we might be headed.
February - March 2014 I TV Technology Europe
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SPECIAL REPORT ///
The Need for MAM Midwives /// By Craig Norris t has been three years already since I wrote an article about media asset management (MAM). That's a long time in the world of IT and digital production platforms. In three years, Nokia went from being the world's number one phone maker to being sold for a song to Microsoft. Three years ago, a fully-fledged MAM was very much in the "too hard" basket for a lot of broadcasters. But today, some broadcasters have embraced a fully-fledged MAM implementation and benefitted strongly from it. One such survivor of the MAM
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implementation experience is Foxtel in Australia. Foxtel subscribers enjoy more than one hundred channels of television, radio and music entertainment, with more than twenty of those television channels completely owned and operated by Foxtel. That means Foxtel makes all the programming decisions, acquires the content and prepares the material for final broadcast, and keeps a content library for all of those twenty-something channels. In Foxtel's pre-MAM life, the previous paragraph implies that a lot of videotape was received,
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processed and stored -- and all by way of manual handling. Post-MAM, things are very different, and much better. How did they do it? This author has been involved in the Foxtel MAM project, not as a full time participant, but as a casual contributor who participated in a lot of the earliest planning activities, and subsequently as an occasional auditor-cumsanity-checker-cum-diagram creator. One of my early contributions was an analysis of the extrapolated volumes for incoming new content and their sources, and the various flavours of file format and content encoding that could be expected. The result of the analysis showed that there were dozens of major content providers in diverse locations around the world. The diversity of content sources is in itself an inconvenience. There was also a further complication brought about by a lack of standardization in the file formats and encoding schemes for the digital content that they could provide. Foxtel's solution for mitigating the operational complexity brought about by
the diverse sources and formats was to utilise experts in the collection, conversion and QC of the digital content master files. The aforementioned preprocessing of the incoming files has become the role of external content aggregators. Now Foxtel only needs to deal with a small number of content aggregators who each acquire the original master files from the various distributors and then deliver that content to Foxtel ---- after conversion to a standardized file format and encoding scheme. The external aggregators collect the studio original master files from the content providers in Hollywood, New York, Atlanta, London, Singapore and the other major centres of television content distribution. Then they edit those master files to close up any gaps, note the timecode locations for the natural breaks where programme segments can be defined, render an output file in Foxtel's house format and finish off with a full file QC. Foxtel's operations have been streamlined. The company now only deals directly with unified and pre-formatted content that has already had a local QC before delivery. Foxtel's incoming file traffic >
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SPECIAL REPORT ///
is processed and managed in Foxtel's new MAM platform. It consists of four major components. Firstly, there's the Hitachi Data Systems high performance RAID storage platform. Next is the SpectraLogic robotic LTO data tape library, and the Vizrt Ardome MAM platform. Finally, there is Mediasmiths’ open
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source Workflow Engine and Enterprise Service Bus (referred to as WFE), which also incorporates the Mayam tasklist solution. The reasoning behind this four-way vendor mix stems from the fact that Foxtel affiliate broadcaster BSkyB was already well down the track of MAM planning and implementation,
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when Foxtel was considering its own MAM strategy. Foxtel paid a visit to their Operations and Engineering counterparts at BSkyB to understand their development experiences. As it turned out, Mediasmiths was a key player in the UK's BSkyB Tapeless project, and they were deeply familiar with the Vizrt Ardome product. This was the entry point for Mediasmiths to be involved in a project in the Antipodes, and Mediasmiths Asia Pacific was established. But why? What did they bring to the table for Foxtel's MAM project? The simple answer is two things. The first is a product comprising a Workflow Engine (WFE) that controls the sequence of MAM processes via an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). The second is an intimate knowledge of the history in BSkyB's MAM decision-making processes. By using an Enterprise Service Bus to connect all the sub-systems to the Workflow Engine, the existing and future needs for customization of workflow definitions and interfaces can be abstracted away from the MAM core. In Foxtrel’s case, Vizrt's Ardome can now do what it does well: The target for customisation is moved to a more well-suited platform in the way of an open source ESB (MuleSoft) and WFE (Intalio). The MAM vendors would rather not be responsible for interfacing their MAM to every possible sub system in the broadcast world, nor do they really want to be called upon to make every future modification
of their customers' workflow definitions. This is why Mediasmiths’ WFE/ESB combo product was so welcome at Foxtel. The second thing that Mediasmiths brought is the intimate knowledge and experience gained from earlier MAM implementations. If you'll forgive the analogy, a MAM implementation is not too unlike giving birth to a baby. The best thing a mother-to-be can ask for is an experienced midwife ---- someone who has plenty of experience, enough experience to know what to do no matter what comes up, and above that, enough experience to know how to avoid all possible pitfalls so that everything will go smoothly. Things should go smoothly not just as a matter of good luck, but thanks to good management. In this case, bringing in Mediasmiths to midwife their MAM was a smart move on Foxtel’s part. In conclusion, Foxtel did two very smart things. They outsourced the heavy lifting of content aggregation to the experts in the field, so that only a unified flavour of media file would arrive in Foxtel's ingest servers. The second thing was to engage expert MAM midwives very early in the project's gestation period so that the delivery of the MAM foal would all go smoothly. I call it a foal rather than a baby, because we expect it to be up on its feet and fending for itself in days and months, like a foal; rather than in years, like a human baby. ///
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EXHIBITIONS ///
BVE Keeps Growing /// By Ann-Marie Corvin Now the second biggest event of its kind in Europe, BVE boasts a show profile that extends across production services, acquisition, post, storage, broadcast and connected multiplatform delivery. CONNECTED & 4K THEATRES According to the event director, James Rowley Ashwood, almost a fifth of the 15,000 visitors to this year’s show, which takes place at London’s ExCeL centre from 25 to 27 February, expressed a desire to understand the connected world and BVE’s Connected Theatre and dedicated exhibition space will be bolstered as a result. Headlining BVE’s Connected Theatre will be the British Film Institute’s director of digital Edward Humphrey, who will speak about the BFI Player, the VoD platform which accesses the BFI’s archive. A 4K Theatre, meanwhile, will be doing double duty as a 4K cinema, offering free 4K content each day. The show’s free seminar programme has also expanded to include key European names this year, including Alessandro Reitano, director of sports production at Sky Deutschland. The organisers note that the event, which hosts over 300plus exhibitors, appears to be growing globally, with international visitor numbers rising by 12% in 2013, with 85 countries represented. “We fully expect this trend to continue as the UK continues to be at the forefront of the broadcast industry,” Rowley Ashwood adds. On the exhibition side, many come to BVE to launch products ahead of the NAB in Las Vegas -
so delegates can expect to see some exciting new technologies. New exhibitors include a host of European vendors, including ANNOVA Systems GmbH, DeCS Media GmbH and F&V Europe BV. New exhibitor Orban, a manufacturer of television loudness controllers amongst its large audio portfolio, will be exhibiting its full line. While not strictly European, the US firm, founded by Bob Orban, moved its manufacturing, worldwide sales and technical support to Orban Europe GmbH in Germany a few years ago. At BVE, Orban will unveil the Optimod-TV 8685 - the manufacturer’s secondgeneration surround/2.0 processor, offering 3G HD-SDI
event to demonstrate their versions of compliant kit. Aspen Media will be displaying tools to ensure TV content meets all the DPP’s requirements – including demonstrations by Jünger Audio and RTW. Jünger Audio’s Anthony Wilkins is scheduled to introduce the T*AP Edition - an advanced audio processor,
Videosys will have the new Cobham Nano transmitter on display
I/O, CBS Loudness Controllers and metres, a BS.1770 safety limiter, and BS.1770-3 loudness metres. DPP COMPLIANCE ON SHOW File-based delivery remains a big issue in the UK, as the nation’s terrestrial broadcasters will soon require all file-based deliverables to be compliant with the new Digital Production Partnership (DPP) standard. In anticipation of this, some companies – audio vendors in particular - are using this year’s
Orban will unveil the Optimod-TV 8685, its 2nd gen surround/2.0 processor
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JVC’s GY-HM650 camcorder features live streaming capability.
TV Technology Europe I February-March 2014
which claims to intelligently solve the problem of loudness changes without adding any undesirable audio artifacts. Fellow audio firm RTW, specialises in EBU R128 compliant audio metres and will be displaying the modular TouchMonitor series and the compact TM3 and TM3-3G on Aspen’s stand. Wohler also has a DPP compliant tool to show for BVE the WohlerDPP. Powered by RadiantGrid, the company claims it is the first to offer a filebased, automated processing solution that addresses the full DPP delivery workflow. Miranda, meanwhile, will be holding detailed discussions regarding its key production, playout and monitoring solutions
at this year’s show. This includes the firm’s scalable playout platform, iTX. New enhancements include version 1.1 of iTX Render Service for Adobe After Effects, while CS6 software automates and manages fully rendered After Effects graphics. Also on display will be the vendor’s multiviewer, KaleidoMX, and its modular version, Kaleido-Modular-X. Fibre connectivity solutions from Miranda’s Telecast product line and a range of cables from parent company Belden are also set to figure prominently at BVE. OKNO-TV, a UK systems integrator, acquired Megahertz last October, and will use BVE as a platform to announce its adaptation of the Megahertz brand, with the combined companies now trading under the name of Megahertz Ltd. Megahertz, which was responsible for the new BT Sport studio build last year in London’s Olympic Park. has also strengthened its technical and commercial expertise, which the firm claims has enabled it to reach a more diverse and international market. “Megahertz has a remarkable reputation worldwide for the quality of work in both mobile and fixed installations,” said Jon Flay, MD of Megahertz Ltd. “OKNO-TV provides us with the financial and commercial stability, drawing on its remarkable reputation. Together, the rejuvenated Megahertz has new horizons and new strengths, >
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More BVE Coverage Online! For expanded product coverage of what’s on show, see www.tvtechnology.com alongside our existing depth of skills.” Elsewhere, JVC is using BVE as the launch platform for its new professional product range – which was not announced at press time. Alongside this, JVC will be showcasing its range of professional camcorders, including the powerful GYHM650 camcorder, with its live streaming capabilities, and the GY-HM70, a cost-effective camcorder for event videographers. The company will also feature its range of production monitors. “BVE is the second largest event in our industry in Europe and forms an important part of our marketing plan this year, especially as we are launching new products,” comments Liz Cox, JVC’s marketing manager. Cox adds that BVE also provides
JVC with a unique platform to hold valuable discussions with both “experienced end-users and those just entering into our dynamic industry.” Other companies, such as Videosys Broadcast, are happy repeat customers, having trialed BVE at its first run at the show’s new East London venue last year. “We did not expect to actually make sales from BVE, it was more of a branding exercise last year to get people see who we were, but we made a few sales directly attributed to us being there , so this year we are back with a bigger stand and more products to show,” says Videosys sales manager Alistair Horne. At BVE 2014 Videosys will launch a new version of its award-winning camera control
Miranda’s iTX will show enhancements including version 1.1 of iTX Render Service for Adobe After Effects.
system and the firm will also with have the new Cobham Nano transmitter on display, which it claims is the smallest HD COFDM transmitter on the market. Perrenial BVE supporter Hamlet is also out in force, catering for those requiring
Jünger Audio will display loudness kit at the Aspen Media stand.
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current production HD formats of 3G, HD and SD SDI, and backwards compatibility for component and composite video signals – plus embedded, AES/EBU and analogue audio with Dolby and Loudness features. “The latest addition to our range, the DigiTek DT900 and the DigiScope DS900G, join the award winning DigiScope DS900, MicroFlex hand held and VidScope software solutions,” says Steve Nunney, Hamlet’s MD. ///
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SMPTE UPDATE ///
SMPTE Dissects IP, Workflow /// By Bruce Devlin ilm- and videotape-based content creation processes traditionally have required a great deal of manual intervention at various points along the workflow. But the migration toward information technology (IT) is radically changing the way media is managed, moved, and manipulated. Freed from their reliance on physical media, the workflows employed in production, postproduction, and distribution no longer need be time-intensive, expensive, and inflexible. In fact, the digital age gives companies in the entertainment and media industry many new opportunities and tools with which to improve their efficiency and enhance the viewer experience, while also reducing the cost of content creation and distribution. As increasing numbers of content creators and distributors adopt IT-based solutions, they gain access to devices, technologies, and techniques that never could have been developed economically by the broadcast community alone. In turn, the arrival of the interconnected content creation and distribution workflow is changing not only the technologies being used, but also the business models and strategies embraced by media companies. Globally distributed and collaborative production and post-production processes are increasingly being implemented by content producers, distributors, broadcasters, and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). The changing nature of digital content also drives the IT migration, as next-generation broadcast technologies such as Ultra High Definition (UHD) require rapid evolution of infrastructure and a shift toward IP architectures. Despite significant forward progress, it still is rare to find a media professional with a strong understanding of video and IP technologies and a ////////////////12
comprehension of the business implications of those technologies. This means that there remains a need for education about the design, deployment, and effective use of IT infrastructure and IP networks. Technology and related standards continue to evolve very quickly. Media facilities are producing, managing and distributing more content to increasingly segmented audiences, and multiplatform distribution is becoming increasingly complex. For these reasons, there is always more that industry members can learn about the
over IT infrastructure in both streaming and file-based workflows. It will be led by me and my AmberFin colleague Ben Davenport. This one-day regional seminar will give those working in film, television, or digital media a unique and valuable opportunity to gather with other industry professionals for an interactive and educational discussion of IP technology and communications as they relate to media. It will be offered February 11, 2014 in London and February 12 in Salford, This information will be useful for all operational staff, whether from an IT or
Understanding Picture Quality Measurements – one of the topics at the SMPTE regional seminar.
use of IT to manipulate media, the influence and interaction of processing and algorithms -- and how all of these elements can be put together in a way that supports a highly efficient media business. Recognizing the need for further education on these topics, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has developed a regional seminar designed to advance the industry in managing issues related to the shift toward IP-based handling of media. Providing educational opportunities to industry members is one of the three pillars of SMPTE’s mission. To this end, the organization is bringing its “Digital Media: Production to Distribution Using IP” seminar to the UK in February. The U.K. Regional Seminar will address the use of media
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broadcast/media background, as well as other key personnel, including those who design systems. Attendees will gain the working knowledge they need to create and deliver content for any platform most effectively as IP-based environments grow. What makes these seminars so unique is not just that they’re provided by SMPTE, the standards-development body whose work guides the motion imaging industry. Rather, it is SMPTE’s ability to call on the engineers actually inventing current and future media technologies that makes its regional seminars so valuable. There is no other source that provides such fresh insight in such a practical manner. The seminar will begin with a brief history of the technology and an overview of fundamentals. After examining the many
Bruce Devlin
efficient, cost, and productionquality advantages afforded the entertainment media industry by adoption of IT networks, the seminar will move on to look at how these technologies and techniques can be adapted to achieve efficiency throughout the full media life cycle, from acquisition though production, playout, archiving, contribution, and distribution on multiple platforms. Topics will include an overview of the IP-based facility and workflow, the elements of a successful migration to IP, and roadmaps for workflow transition to IP in live production, contribution, and post-production. Professional content producers will walk away understanding the impact and implications for their work if, for example, SDI were to disappear tomorrow. Systems and facilities designers will gain a clearer understanding of IP architectures and how to assure that, at the end of the day, they work as they must to support content creation and distribution. This seminar has generated enthusiastic feedback in North America and Europe, and it should prove to be highly informative and interesting to all variety of professionals within the media industry. /// Bruce Devlin is a SMPTE International Sections Director and CTO at AmberFin Further information about the seminars, as well as the full UK section program of meetings and activities, is available at www.smpte.org/sections/ united-kingdom
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TRENDS ///
The March of Channel-in-a-Box /// By David Austerberry
he origins of broadcast automation can be traced back to the controllers used for the cart machines that played ads to air. These commanded the robot to load tape cassettes into VTRs for frame accurate playout. Tape has long since been replaced by video servers, and the requirements for an automation system have changed. An automation controller is essentially a computer CPU, memory and a hard drive. The video server is a CPU, hard drives and video I/O cards, housed in a 19-inch rack with a branded front panel. Combine the two and you have a "channel in a box" (CiaB). The term is used somewhat loosely by vendors. Most CiaB products are really integrated
although such a system needs a video I/O card if it is using SDI interconnections and is meant to lock to house reference and time code. Scott Rose, Miranda’s director of product management, believes that CiaB "has come of age and gained mainstream acceptance." Customer business models have changed, bringing down complexity, he said. Many vendors use GPU acceleration, but as James Gilbert of Pixel Power points out, GPUs are designed for progressive and not interlaced graphics. In response, Pixel Power has developed their own graphics engine based on a DSP designed for television signals; rather than the generic video where the GPU excels.
PixelPower’s ChannelMaster at SBS
playout is based on discrete components will be for complex live channels." Tom Gittins of Pebble Beach pointed out that not all CiaB systems are the same. "Few broadcasters are now looking for
Harmonic’s Spectrum ChannelPort branded channel playout module speeds the cost-effective deployment of new SD and HD television channels by integrating branding and master control switching with clip playback on Harmonic’s media server platform.
playout devices, needing several other "boxes" to run the playout operations, including ingest servers, shared storage, (MAM) and so on. CiaB systems replace some or all of the video servers, master control switchers, downstream keyers, graphics clip playout devices and more that make up a broadcast system. There are several different design approaches to CiaB, but all of the systems run on what is essentially a commodity IT server or servers. Some vendors opt for a third-party video card in the server for decoding, video I/O, mixing and scaling. Others use commodity GPUs in the server. The third approach is entirely software-based;
DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS The performance requirements for a CiaB vary greatly. At a minimum, a channel may comprise back-to-back clips with a logo keyed over the output. At the more complex end, a prime network may need to mix two or three prerecorded clips, and switch between live inputs from the newsroom and incoming feeds. It will need to key 3D animated graphics rendered in real time from data feeds, and it will need to support subtitling and closed captions. The former can very easily be handled by CiaB. The latter can be challenging. Mark Errington, CEO of OASYS, observed that "the only place where
PlayBox Technology system in operation at STN Slovenia
a single channel,” he said. “Multichannel systems will need shared storage, media asset management and a common ingest system." Gittins advised that CiaB systems have limitations, and broadcasters should proceed with caution. "They suit clipbased channels, but graphics can be limited,” he said. “As channels look to differentiate from the competition, they can enhance their branding with sophisticated graphics." Worth noting: Many broadcasters have existing graphics and subtitling workflows that they want to leave in place, and not replace with the integrated approach that can be required by a CiaB. THE END OF SDI? One of the factors that keeps CiaB confined to video equipment, and prevents migration to a wholly IT environment, is conventional SDI interconnections. But now many video systems are moving towards IP and Ethernet, so the way is open for the move of master control to the
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data centre. For his part, Dan Turow of Evertz sees "Ten GbE becoming ubiquitous, with a quick move to 100 GbE, leap-frogging 40 GbE,” he said. “This will free broadcasters from the hurdles and challenges of HD-SDI systems." Freed from the constraints of SDI, service providers can move playout to the cloud. Cinegy has already supplied IPonly systems. “Cinegy can run 16 SD channels on a single server,” said Cinergy MD and cofounder Jan Weigner. It can also run in the cloud, as demonstrated by the LeapCloud playout service from Deluxe, which is powered by Cinegy. “For an operator running a large number of channels, virtualization environments are the way forward,” Weigner said. Scott Rose of Miranda also sees change coming: "More conventional video hardware is being removed from the workflow, and software running on commodity platforms, or even on managed services running in the cloud, has become the way forward." MANY VENDORS … There seems to be no end to the number of channels being launched, and this is reflected in the number of vendors chasing the business. Observers reported more than 100 vendors with CiaB solutions at IBC 2013. Will all these CiaB vendors survive? Views vary on this, and other CiaB topics. Evertz’s Dan Turow sees "further consolidation in the market to be inevitable, with too many vendors in the current market. The future lies more and more with metadata exchange between the platform to give (an) end-to-end solution." Evertz has moved away from the traditional master control user interface to the VUE touchscreen. The operator can control all manner of equipment from context sensitive screens, including "widgets" for switcher control. This integrated playout delivers lower CAPEX and OPEX. "Asset management is key,” observed Turow. "Linear playout is easy, but with integrated MAM >Continues on Pg 16
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MARKETPLACE /// MORE ICE OPTIONS The ICE channel-in-a-box from Snell now includes two all-new models. The core ICE product offers greater functionality and horsepower in a more compact footprint, and a new system called ICE-LE is a low-cost 1U version that offers a streamlined feature set for smaller operations or simple video server refresh projects. Each ICE unit features multiple inputs and outputs with two DVEs and eight keyers per channel mixer, as well as routing and mixing functions, SD and HD format conversion, audio processing capabilities, and closed-caption/subtitle support. Occupying only a single rack unit, ICE-LE delivers the power of ICE technology at just 38,000 euros list price for four channels of playout. It comes complete with robust routing, mixing, audio processing, format conversion tools, and 2 TB of storage. www.snellgroup.com
APPLE-BASED AUTOMATED SERVER just:play is an Apple based, 24/7 automated broadcast playout server from ToolsOnAir. It plays SD/HD movies, integrates live feeds, router and GPI events as well as real-time graphics including corner logos, lower thirds and tickers that update manually or automated from RSS feeds, XML data sources and remote databases. The product allows broadcasters to schedule and manage their playout, even while a clip is already on air. This is possible while having an unlimited number of users working concurrently on the same channel (depending on the user rights defined for this channel). Content can be scheduled days or even weeks in advance, while providing a traditional list view with metadata support, and the user interface provides an unlimited, frame accurate review and preview of all scheduled video items . www.toolsonair.com
ADAPTIVE PLAYOUT Chameleon is a new product line that consolidates relevant software from OASYS into a single optimal configuration for a variety of channel playout requirements. Using proprietary OASYS software, the Chameleon setup adapts to the broadcast workflow environment in which it is deployed to ensure that operating parameters for that specific environment are seamlessly configured to their most efficient use. The idea is to collaboratively develop playout solutions that adapt to and optimise to customer workflows, says the company. One integrated playout solution replaces the need to engage with multiple vendors, and OASYS servers can be quickly reconfigured and Chameleon can be adapted to fit broadcast workflows as they change and evolve. www.oasys.com
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TRENDS /// you can seamlessly integrate VOD and OTT." Jan Weigner agreed that there are too many vendors and consolidation is inevitable. As to future trends, Weigner sees that "in the First World non-linear is going to take over from linear, and linear can be a realtime streaming provider." For his part, Scott Rose also sees the focus on reducing operational costs through CiaB deployment: "CiaB have less moving parts, and require less maintenance,” he said. “A position in master control needs up to five staff to provide 24/7 presence. It is not just the playout automation that will reduce manning requirements, but smart monitoring." Fault monitoring and error reporting by exceptions does allow fewer staff to run more channels. But this hasn’t necessarily reduced their costs “Broadcasters that have freed staff have in the main redeployed them to more creative tasks,” said Rose. One of the needs to reduce costs stems from more
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Pebble Beach Systems’ Stingray solution
channels splitting the same advertising pot. With respect to this dilemma, Don Ash of Playbox Technology said, "More channels are launching on satellite and OTT. In areas of the world like Western Europe, the advertising revenue is being split across more channels, leading to the need to drive down the capital and operational costs of running a channel, including cost of content, playout and delivery." However, Ash believes that by making automation systems
TV Technology Europe I February-March 2014
"simple to install and easy to use with little training or understanding, broadcasters can reduce the costs of playout,” he said. Jan Weigner observed that ad revenues are still rising for television, and that the Internet is primarily hurting print. "Where revenues rise, there comes more channels,” he said. “In Western Europe, there has been an explosion of channels sharing flat advertising revenue, so channels have to be low, low cost. Eastern Europe
and Asia have seen ad revenues rising with commensurate growth in the number of channels." We have come a long way from programs arriving in master control on tape carts and the whizz and clunk of cart machines. Content now arrives silently, and master control resembles a data centre. Conventional video hardware is being removed from the workflow, and software running on commodity platforms has become the way forward. ///
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USER REPORT ///
BUYERS GUIDE: AUTOMATION, MAM, DAM; RECORDING & STORAGE
Smoothing SiA Playout /// By Rodrigo Sternberg
iA (Skynet iMotion Activities) is a whollyowned subsidiary of the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, the Belgacom Group. It creates, produces, purchases and exploits audiovisual content that is offered on Belgacom TV and broadcast on its own channels, which are exclusive to the Belgacom TV platform. SiA currently broadcasts more than 700 live sports events per year and broadcasts on three linear TV channels (Belgacom Zoom/11, Belgacom 11+ and Belgacom 5) in both Dutch and French. It specialises in the coverage of football and basketball. When we began planning for the launch of these new sports
channels, we made the decision to transfer our playout operations in-house and away from the managed service we had previously been using. We were running a combination of best-of-breed devices and a less technically advanced automation solution, so a key requirement was the need to upgrade. Each of our channels is broadcast in two languages. The high proportion of live content places particularly heavy demands on our graphics devices, so the selection of the playout automation solution needed to take these requirements into account. When we came to evaluate what was on the market, Pebble Beach Systems' Marina solution stood out as a highly flexible
INTEGRATED PLAYOUT WITH ADOBE GRAPHICS
Miranda’s ITX integrated playout platform saw several new enhancements last year, including version 1.1 of iTX Render Service for Adobe After Effects CS6 software. iTX Render Service automates and manages fully rendered After Effects graphics, making them immediately ready for playout from either the iTX platform or Miranda’s Vertigo Suite of graphics automation and asset management tools. Also new and part of iTX’s version 2.3 SP3 is iTX Master Control, an integrated playout solution that combines playout automation with live event functionality using hardware control panels that can be seamlessly switched to, and from, as required throughout a live broadcast. www.miranda.com ////////////////18
TV Technology Europe I February-March 2014
and advanced system that was also price-competitive. It is particularly easy to configure, and can adapt to our changing requirements. Furthermore, the Marina GUI can be configured to suit the way individual users want to work, which makes it particularly popular with our operational staff. The playout operators can easily follow exactly what is going on or about to happen very easily and intuitively, at various levels on all channels or even to the detail of the value of the queued items for graphics. With each of our channels broadcast in both the French and Dutch language, each language version is, in effect, handled as a separate entity; with different voiceovers and graphics. We took the new automation system on air in July, 2012, following an aggressive plan from purchase order signature to live in just four months, with Marina controlling our EVS server system and Miranda Vertigo graphics. It also interfaces to a Front Porch Digital DIVA archive and provides paid "red button" interactivity, allowing people at home to go from a trailer to a VOD item in one click. The system incorporates varying levels of redundancy, with full Air Protect on the two football channels, and an additional level of redundancy for the graphics, which switches to the backup graphics device using Marina's routing if the main graphics should fail. Pebble Beach Systems developed their ‘Auto Promo Generation' feature to meet our requirements. This safeguards the integrity of channel information graphics when we need to manage late breaking changes. Immediately prior to a graphic going on air, Marina dynamically sources data from
Caption: Rodrigo Sternberg
multiple playlists at the same time, extracting the most up-todate program information. Configurable templates are then populated with accurate start times, titles, preview clips and images as required, so that last minute schedule changes can be displayed without the need to manually generate new graphics. The playout system has become one of our showcase solutions, and since its introduction we have added a technical "loop" channel. There are projects underway to exploit these further and to add new channels following business demands. ///
Rodrigo Sternberg is Technical Director at SiA. Contacts: www.pebble.tv
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User Reports Online! See www.tvtechnology.com for more user reports on this buyers guide category.
TMD AT RTÉ IN IRELAND Carlos M. Gomes of TVI on how Snell’s ICE channel-in-abox playout system suited its logical playout evolution.
SNELL AT TVI IN PORTUGAL Richard Waghorn on how Ireland’s national broadcaster started the implementation of a project to move all its content management, playout and related broadcast operations from tape to files.
INGEST ENGINE; STORAGE ToolsOnAir recently completed an interesting archiving project featuring its just:in ingest engine controlled by a custom build interface based on just:control technology. The scope was to ingest many thousands of tapes from an existing tape library by using an XML database as a starting point to trigger the different tape ingests from attached VTRs. The operator chooses an available recording channel, selects the tape from the database listing, clicks on the channel’s record button and
records from the chosen in-point to the end of the tape. After a successful recording an acknowledgment of completion is written back to the database. ToolsOnAir also offers flow:rage, which starts at 4TB and scales up to 126TB per chassis. flow:rage offers a solution to fit a variety of needs and budgets. All flow:rage systems support an unlimited number of clients and come with a five-year bring in hardware warranty. flow:rage can be used as a standalone storage system or in
combination with the ToolsOnAir Broadcast Suite, a qualified MAM or archive systems, database applications, or for web serving. www.toolsonair.com
MULTICHANNEL STREAMING STRYME from Austria offers its fourth generation GENESIX. The all-in-one multichannel video server solution offers professional HD quality and comprises both an advanced graphics engine for real-time graphics feeds as well as multichannel streaming functionality in the H.264 format.
The product supports all industrystandard codecs and formats (DV, DVCPRO, MPEG-2, D10, Sony XDCAM, P2, Apple ProRes, Avid DNxHD, etc.) and can easily be integrated with a broadcaster’s infrastructure and workflows. The graphics engine enables the quick and easy realization of 2D and 3D graphic
overlays. The fourth generation GENESIX also comes complete with advanced asset management. www.stryme.com
February-March 2014 I TV Technology Europe
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MARKETPLACE /// ARCHIVE INTELLIGENT AMALGAMATION
SCALABLE ETHERNET STORAGE
LTFS has switched the traditional ingest workflow around by enabling material to be transferred directly into the archive, opening up an array of new workflows and creating substantial time and cost benefits. Taking the next step in this transition, SGL now offers its Notification Service. Using this new subscription service, management of the archive is further enhanced by the addition of intelligent amalgamation services – optimising tape and tape-head usage without limiting access to individual files. The separate elements of an amalgamated archive can still be identified and easily retrieved and the addition of the SGL Notification service means that users can subscribe to messaging about processes, material and hardware for fast and effective workflow monitoring. www.sglbroadcast.com
Harmonic MediaGrid is an easily scalable Ethernet-based shared storage system optimized for digital media, with the performance of SAN and the simplicity of NAS. MediaGrid provides exceptional performance for digital media workflows, is cost-effective scale-out storage, and is simple to deploy, manage and scale. MediaGrid is tightly integrated with media applications for ingest, transcoding, editing, archival and playout to provide a shared storage solution which accelerates file-based workflows while providing the ability to manage the entire asset lifecycle. www.harmonic.com
MPEG TS OVER IP; FLEXIBLE CONTROL PANEL Pebble Beach now offers an MPEG-2 transport stream delivered over IP (TSoIP) on both the Dolphin integrated channel device and the Stingray channel-in-a-box solution, adding full resolution IP functionality to the range, and complementing the IP monitoring output capability of these products. New for Pebble’s Marina automation is the SmartPanel. This user-configurable feature gives customers the ability to design their own control panels within the Marina user-interface, giving the operator, for example, a custom-designed panel to take manual control of both Marina and external devices, or perhaps to have a panel dedicated for controlling live graphics. www.pebble.tv
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TV Technology Europe I February-March 2014
SCALABLE STORAGE The high-performance, scalable EditShare XStream platform represents a new breed of storage offerings. Integrating asset management (Flow) and archiving/back up capabilities (Ark), XStream provides facilities an advanced storage environment. Equipped with superior media sharing features, NLE editors can safely share both media and projects for the ultimate in efficient post-production. www.editshare.com
LTO NETWORK ATTACHED ARCHIVE XenData has announced the release of the SXL range of LTO archive systems, which connect to a 1 GigE network and make writing to and restoring from LTO as easy as writing to network attached disk storage. There are five SXL models that provide up to 57.5 TB of near-line LTO and all manage an unlimited number of externalized LTO cartridges. www.xendata.com
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SHARPSHOOTER ///
Doing What He Loves NAME: AGE:
techniques, but I think the best way to learn is by doing; actually getting out there and becoming comfortable with equipment.
FAMILY:
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A CAMERAMAN?
Ed Lister
28
None of my own yet, but grew up with the coolest older brother and parents I could ask for.
STAR SIGN: Aquarius.
WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? I grew up in a really small old cobbled village called Heptonstall in the hills of West Yorkshire. Really quiet and scenic.
WHERE DO YOU LIVE TODAY? Manchester.
LANGUAGES?
English and German. OCCUPATION? Freelance lighting cameraman and self-shooting producer.
WHAT EDUCATION HAVE YOU HAD? At the University of Salford in Manchester I got a degree in professional broadcast ////////////////24
About five years.
TELL US ABOUT FLAGTIME FILMS:
Flagtime Films is a relatively new and small video production company based in Manchester, which I run when I'm not working as a cameraman elsewhere. We produce all kinds of content for both web and broadcast such as music videos, commercials, corporates and events.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE IN SHOOTING VIDEO WITH DSLRs?
I shoot a lot on DSLR and I love it, the versatility is just amazing. The simplicity of switching between the many interchangeable prime lenses that are available out there enables truly beautiful cinematography with very little time spent faffing about.
DOES THIS APPROACH HAVE A FUTURE? Absolutely! Just look at the
TV Technology Europe I February-March 2014
constant stream of crazy new gizmos that are coming out on the market at the moment that are specifically designed for DSLR production: Hexa/octocopters, insane stabiliser rigs, ‘one man crew' dolly systems and so on. DSLR is a big money saver. Costs can be cut with not only the kit itself but with a reduced crew. Not too long ago we shot a commercial for some farming equipment in an enormous chicken shed. It was so funny having a full lighting setup and a small crane in there, and no chance of having anything else camera-wise other than a DSLR swinging about.
WHAT IS YOUR EDITING RIG?
Using a new Macbook Pro with Final Cut means I can edit on the fly wherever I am in the world, whether I'm on the road in the van or sitting in a cafe in Switzerland.
CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS. WHERE, DOING WHAT, SHOOTING FOR WHOM?
I'm currently working with the guys at Calrec Audio on a really sleek corporate at their HQ in Yorkshire. I also just finished filming a stunning new music
video in Manchester for a local artist called Burgaboy. Plenty of 200fps and FS700 magic with some amazing locations to match.
HAVE YOU BEEN BUSY?
Extremely. Today was my first day off in a good few weeks. Having a lie-in without a crazy call time was so blissful -- yet I'd have it no other way!
SHOOTING WHERE?
The past month I've been mainly travelling around the north of England, Liverpool, Manchester and Yorkshire.
WHAT TYPES OF PRODUCTIONS DO YOU CURRENTLY SHOOT?
Commercials, live sport, high end music videos and events.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST-EVER SHOOTING JOB? I think it was a promotional video for the Manchester record label Idiosync Music.
MOST RECENT, INTERESTING ASSIGNMENTS? I am not long back from a crazy stint on the road in Europe. Three days travelling on the back of a motorbike from
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SHARPSHOOTER /// find myself in on a daily basis. Meeting cool people and getting to do what I love for a living; what more could I ask for?
WORST THING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
It can be hard waiting or chasing invoices as a freelancer, but it’s part of the job, I guess. The late nights and early starts take their toll a bit, but it is well worth it to be able to do what I love.
DULLEST ASSIGNMENTS AND WHY?
I try to avoid doing anything I don't enjoy.
HAIRIEST/SCARIEST ASSIGNMENTS?
London to Amsterdam, filming a truly dedicated team of cyclists who were making the journey for various charities. I had my trusty DSLR with a body support for this job with a few primes. It was pretty crazy hanging onto the bike, getting lost in small French villages without having to be changing glass! It was a real slog with some grim weather conditions but a proper adventure. I take my hat off to the cyclists! The event is called IBC2IBC (www.ibc2ibc.org)! From there I flew straight to
Croatia to film at a brand new music festival in the town of Rovinj for the next week. I had only had my one large camera bag for the entire round trip, so I had to be very selective with lenses, accessories and kit. Last weekend I filmed championship football -- Bolton v Ipswich -- at the Reebok stadium for the BBC's football league show.
CURRENT CAMERA EQUIPMENT YOU USE?
Sony NEX-FS700, Canon 7d/5d MkIII with an arsenal of prime lenses and the JVC GY790.
OTHER GEAR YOU HAVE ACCESS TO?
I use the guys at Procam in Manchester for hiring various kit. They always have up-to-date camera formats and gear.
WHAT USEFUL PIECE OF GEAR DO YOU WISH SOMEONE MIGHT MAKE?
A Velcro-backed lens caps to stick to my clothes for on the fly shoots. Forever losing them!
BEST THING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
Definitely the adventures and weird and wonderful situations I
One day in Croatia, the weather turned from absolutely blazing hot to a downpour within minutes; conditions deteriorated and I ran for shelter in a small canvas marquee. It soon turned into a pretty angry tropical storm with thunder, lightning, and torrential rain. Not far out at sea from where we were, there was an absolutely enormous double water spout tearing about a good few hundred feet each. All the contents of the tent were blowing around. The doors were ripped open so I had to get bin bags to wrap my camera gear and protect it from the rain. The water got to about a foot deep and started pouring in. But the skies soon cleared to reveal an absolute blissful sunset and the destruction left behind. >
February-March 2014 I TV Technology Europe
25 ////////////////
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SHARPSHOOTER /// Another crazy moment for me was while I was filming a charity walk up Ben Nevis in winter with the Lease of Life charity. Conditions were pretty good for us with clear visibility at the top; after a nice warming whisky and a little relax, a harsh white out blizzard engulfed us. You couldn't see further than about five feet ahead of you.
Temperatures dropped to about 15 in seconds.
HOW MUCH 16:9 DO YOU SHOOT?
Couldn't tell the last time I shot 4:3. It's all 16x9 now.
WHAT COUNTRY DO YOU MOST LIKE TO SHOOT IN?
I work mostly in the UK, but do
love filming in Holland when over for the IBC show. It’s such a superchilled place.
and I really think this has moulded my taste in music. Indigo and Synkro are top of my iTunes list.
WHAT'S YOUR TASTE IN MUSIC?
FAVOURITE FOOD?
It totally depends on my mood and what I'm doing. I've been lucky enough to work with some really talented musicians and producers living in Manchester,
Do cups of tea count? I'm so bad when it comes to eating, I rarely make or find time properly, but I do seriously love a good old pie with mash and gravy. It's the king! ///
Contact: E: Flagtimefilms@gmail.com W: www.flagtimefilms.com Tw: @flagtimefilms
ADVERTISING INDEX /////////////////// Adder
10
www.adder.com
Miranda
2
www.miranda.com
AJA
5
www.aja.com
NAB
21, 22, 23
www.nabshow.com
Blackmagic Design
9, 13
www.blackmagicdesign.com
Orban
17
www.orban.com
B&H
27
www.bandh.com
Pebble TV
7
www.peeble.tv
Bridge Technologies 3
www.bridge.tv
Pixel Power
19
www.pixelpower.com
Digital Rapids
20
www.digitalrapids.com
Tools On Air
16
www.toolsonair.com
Harmonic
11
www.harmonic.com
Videosys
4, 6
www.videosys.tv
Lupo Light
15
www.lupolight.it
Wheatstone
28
www.wheatstone.com
Lupolux
25
www.lupolux.com
Advertising Sales Representatives /////////////////// Publisher
Steve Connolly
+44 (0)207 354 6000
steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk
Europe
Sharifa Marshall
+44 (0)207 354 6000
sharifa.marshall@intentmedia.co.uk
Europe
Graham Kirk
+44 (0)1223 911153
gkirk@nbmedia.com
Italy
Raffaella Calabrese
+39 02 92884940
rcalabrese@broadcast.it
Latin America
Susana Saibene
+34 607 314071
susana.saibene@gmail.com
Hong Kong, China, Asia/Pacific
Wengong Wang
+86 755 5785161
wwg@imaschina.com
Australia/New Zealand
Eric Trabb
+1 212 378 0400 x532
etrabb@nbmedia.com
US Central, New England & Canada
Vytas Urbonas
+1 212 378 0400 x533
vurbonas@nbmedia.com
US West
Pete Sembler
+1 212 378 0400 x324
psembler@nbmedia.com
US Classifieds & Product Showcase/ US Southeast and Mid-Atlantic
Michele Inderrieden
+1 212 378 0400 x523
minderrieden@nbmedia.com
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