TVTE Feb16

February 2016 I Issue 1 I Volume 34

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

Prepare to get

VIRTUALISED

AND RMATION FOR INFO XHIBITS PASS EE YOUR FRE S 18-19 SEE PAGE 6 6–21, 201

APRIL 1 S, NV USA LAS VEGA

Review: Canon C300 Mark II

01 TVTE feb16_cover_final.indd 1

Buyers Guide: Encoders & decoders

NABShow2016_Intl Ad Front Cover Kicker_ENG.indd 1

BVE sneak-peek

04/02/2016 14:36

04/02/2016 16:29

Integrated 4K/HD Camera with HDBaseT Simple Installation, Using One Cat 5e/6 Cable RovoCam is AJA’s first compact block camera for industrial, corporate, security, ProAV and broadcast applications.

Gorgeous UltraHD and HD imagery is obtained with superior Sony® optics with built-in 12x optical and up to 20x zoom with Sony Super Resolution Zoom, auto and manual focus. A single Cat 5e/6 cable carries uncompressed video, 2-Channel audio, VISCA camera control, and power for the simplest installation ever.

Reliable, practical and compactly encased in rugged and durable aluminum, RovoCam’s small and light form factor allows simple mounting in a wide range of scenarios. RovoCam’s HDBaseT interface supports Cat 5e/6 cable lengths up to 100 meters.

Distance, Power, Control, All on one cable.

RovoCam features an integrated HDBaseT transmitter. Not only does HDBaseT offer long cable runs over standard Cat5e/6 cables, it also passes RovoCam’s gorgeous UltraHD/ HD imagery, audio, control of the camera, and power to the unit across significant distances.

Simple to Install, Simple to Operate

Receive and Deliver

Complete Control

Don’t be tethered to your camera, display RovoCam’s gorgeous UltraHD/HD imagery remotely with RovoRX-HDMI.

RovoCam is simple to control via flexible software and hardware support.

RovoRx-HDMI is an UltraHD/HD HDBaseT receiver with integrated HDMI video and audio outputs specifically designed to receive RovoCam’s output. Its HDBaseT connector allows for camera interaction, power, and control, all over a single Cat 5e/6 cable.

Offering industry standard Sony VISCA protocol support, local RS232 connectivity and control over a single Cat 5e/6 cable through HDBaseT.

Find out more at www.aja.com and visit us at NAB, Booth SL2505

new tvbe template remade.indd 1 02-08-16_FP_TVTechEurope_April_RovoCam_EN.indd 1

09/02/2016 2/8/16 17:33:40 12:36 PM

CONTENTS

VIRTUALLY THE FUTURE

6

SHARPSHOOTER

Finnish cameraman Jonathan Rankle shoots ice hockey. What new kit does he want most? A better pair of gloves

9

PULLING OUT THE STOPS FOR 4K

A user review of the EOS C300 Mark II, Canon’s flexible new 4K successor to its popular Mark I

I

t’s time for BVE, the UK’s biggest media industry trade show! In this issue of TV Technology Europe, you’ll get our BVE preview, highlighting some of the show’s product debuts.

There will be a lot of hardware on display at BVE, but the solutions transforming the industry are increasingly in the software realm. And one of our themes this month is virtualisation turning what was once done by dedicated hardware into processes operating on commodity servers.

The move to IP and to software-based systems – from capture to playout – is no longer something to be prepared for. It’s under way. Organisations like the Alliance for IP Media Solutions, featured in this issue, are helping ease the transition.

And companies like those included in our encoders/decoders buyers guide are already providing solutions.

But this issue isn’t all zeroes and ones.

We have a review of Canon’s new flexible 4K camera, the EOS C300 MkII. And this month’s cables buyers guide reminds us that we’ll be needed to plug one thing into another thing for some time to come.

This issue has one other new feature, one which I hope you will find useful – a new editor. As previous acting editor of TVBEurope and editorial director of AIB’s The Channel, I’m delighted to continue serving you in my new capacity at the head of TV Technology Europe. I also head up NewBay Connect (www.newbayconnect. com), NewBay Media’s online repository of media industry white papers, case studies and intelligence. Check it out!

Keep in touch and let me know how TV Technology Europe can help you improve your business.

Neal Romanek Editor nromanek@nbmedia.com www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

03 TVTE feb16 Contents_final.indd 1

21

BUYERS GUIDE: CRACKING THE CODE

Encoding and decoding have been revolutionised by software-based solutions. But is software always better?

34

BVE PREVIEW

A round up of some of the hot gear on display at London’s BVE2016 03

32

INTERVIEW: A FUTURE IN SPACE

iZotope CEO Mark Ethier looks ahead at object-oriented sound and spatial audio February 2016 TVTechnology

10/02/2016 11:45

COMMENTARY

Aiming for IP A new trade organisation aims to smooth the transition to IP. Neal Romanek talks to its founders about the IP roadmap and what customers really want

A

IMS, the Alliance for IP Media Solutions, was formed in 2015 by broadcast industry suppliers to promote open standards and interoperability in the transition to IP. That the industry is moving to an IP-based world is clear, but how to get it there with a minimum of turbulence occupies a lot of headspace for most broadcasters.

AIMS announced its presence with a white paper, “An argument for open IP standards in the media industry”, written by founding members Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Snell Advanced Media, Lawo and Nevion. In January Arista Networks, Cisco Systems, EVS and The Telos Alliance also joined the Alliance.

In its white paper, AIMS supported a roadmap

“Fundamentally, what customers are asking for isn’t any different from what they’ve always wanted” to IP developed by the Video Services Forum (VSF) with the support of SMPTE and the EBU. It calls first for the adoption of SMPTE 2022-6 as a baseline for interoperability. The second stage would be the adoption of VSF TR-04, recommending the use of SMPTE-2022-6 for video with embedded audio and AES-67 for separate addressable audio streams. The final transition step would be TR-03 transport of uncompressed elementary stream media over IP. It’s hoped this SMPTE/VSF interoperability roadmap will be realisable this year.

DIFFERENT SIZED TRACKS “It’s crazy now in the market. It’s a bit like the railroad industry when everyone had differentsized tracks,” says Mike Cronk, Grass Valley’s senior vice president for strategic marketing.

TVTechnology February 2016

04 TVTE Feb16 AIMS Alliance_final.indd 2

“One of the things we’ve enjoyed with SDI is the interface is ubiquitous across many products, so we had interoperability. When we go to IP, that’s something we don’t want to lose.

“At the end of the day, the protocol we use for IP will give us perhaps even greater interoperability than SDI, and that’s a common goal shared by all the companies in AIMS. From the vendor perspective, we need to realise the benefits of IP.” Embracing IP means embracing the reality that the television has transformed into an IT industry, which opens up the field beyond traditional broadcast suppliers. Will AIMS jealously restrict its membership to traditional TV space players?

“You don’t have to be a broadcaster. Anyone can join AIMS,” says Cronk. “We think IT-based companies are central. In no way are we looking to exclude anybody. The salient point in the bylaws is the AIMS roadmap. If you believe that’s the roadmap forward, it doesn’t matter if you’re HP, Cisco, or Microsoft.”

WHAT DO CUSTOMERS WANT? Tim Thorsteinson became CEO of Snell Advanced Media last year. In heading some of the industry’s biggest vendors, he’s seen many upheavals. He thinks the principles underlying the IP transformation aren’t new, but the business is very different from what it once was.

“Fundamentally, what customers are asking for isn’t any different from what they’ve always wanted,” says Thorsteinson. “They don’t want to buy a system and find two or three years from now it isn’t upgradeable or isn’t going to work with other solutions. But what is different is that the end customer has more uncertainty about their business model. You may get eight episodes and a break, then maybe eight more. You’re not signing up for three or four years where you can

4

put a big capital plan in place. So customers want more flexibility in their technology decisions than the industry has been able to provide in the past.”

“AIMS de-risks some things for customers,” adds Neil Maycock, SAM’s EVP of marketing.

“Everybody says they’re doing IP, but they don’t know who to use, and they don’t want to invest in dead-end technology that’s not going to interoperate. If a group of us vendors say, ‘We’re going to interoperate and it’s a level of buy-in

“It’s crazy now in the market.

It’s a bit like the railroad industry when everyone had different-sized tracks” over and above just following SMPTE standards’, they can go use normal buying criteria because they know they’re not going to be dead-ended.’

A NEW EXPLOSION “There’s no question that IP is going to be the underlying transport and networking technology for the broadcast industry for the foreseeable future,” says Imagine Communications CTO Steve Reynolds. “You just can’t argue with the economies of scale and the pace of innovation.

It brings to our industry the same kind of benefits it’s brought to other industries.”

So once everything has transitioned to IP, what then? Will it be all smooth-sailing? Will broadcasters and vendors finally get a rest?

“There will be a stability at the lower layers of the stack,” predicts Reynolds. “It will stabilise around broadly deployed IP technology. That will be great for all of us. But what you’ll see is a real explosion in the types of applications that people can run on top of that.” www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 16:32

COMMENTARY

Why Virtualisation is more than just another buzzword Stephen Smith, CTO cloud, of Imagine Communications thinks it’s time for the industry to let go of tin and embrace virtualisation

T

he transition of the broadcast industry brings with it a new set of buzzwords. ‘Virtualisation’ is at the heart of the transformation process: without it we cannot achieve any of the real advances. So I want to talk a little about what it is and what it means.

Consider a video server, a piece of hardware with which we have all become comfortable over the past 20 years. It may come in a box from a specialist broadcast supplier, but inside it is a set of IT components. A video server is comprised of storage, usually spinning disks, control and processing software, and some proprietary I/O hardware.

At this level, the only thing that makes it a broadcast-specific device is the proprietary I/O, which will generally be a number of SDI ports using coax cables and BNC connectors. If we were to transport our video and audio over IP instead of SDI, the server would not require the proprietary card, have only IP connectivity and therefore, could be regarded as an IT device.

It is important to note that even though in this context we have changed transport from SDI to IP, we are still using a physical IT server for the function of a video server, and it is still an application-specific device. Its sole purpose is to capture, store, manage and deliver in real time video and audio content.

But because we are now using a standard IT device, we could relocate that functionality to a datacentre, an environment where compute, storage and connectivity can be provisioned independently of the business function it will later be assigned. The video content could leverage the same underlying storage systems as other business functions, each segregated for performance and security. The computational aspects of our video server could be hosted on any sufficiently resourced generic IT device. This is all transparent to operators. It would still look and feel like the same discrete devices they were used to.

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

05 TVTE Feb16_final.indd 8

Virtualisation, the separation of business function from physical device, is the next step in this transformation. The resource requirements for a business function or a device are electronically defined. A machine matching this definition is then emulated by a server, and the business function is then hosted in this emulated server. The business function is blind to this emulation, and believes it is still running on its own server. Resources not required by the emulated machine are available to other business functions. While there is benefit in being able to reclaim this otherwise unused resource, the key benefit is that we are no longer tied to a single physical device. In the event that there is a hardware outage or maintenance needs to be performed, we can simply host our virtualised server on a different host, perhaps even in a different datacentre.

The essence of virtualisation is this ability to dynamically re-task resources to meet changing business needs. Virtualisation provides broadcasters with function portability. No longer are tasks required to run on specific physical resources.

To take a simple example: a new piece of content ingested into a server immediately might need transcoding into multiple formats. This could be accomplished very quickly by grabbing multiple resources and spreading the tasks out. Taking those resources might impact the performance or expedience of less important business processes

5

but these can recover as soon as the transcode jobs are complete and the resources returned to the shared pool.

That is the key to virtualisation: it makes systems highly elastic. You can scale resources up and down, effectively instantaneously, maintaining high utilisation of the hardware.

Virtualisation makes one other important concept practical. If we accept that we move our broadcast processes out of dedicated boxes in our machine rooms to virtual machines in a datacentre on the other side of the building, then we could equally move them to a datacentre in another building. A network of television stations could concentrate its graphics processing at its headquarters, for example.

And if virtualised datacentres can be remote from the operational site, then what is to stop us from putting the virtual machines in third-party businesses which exist for that purpose: cloud service providers. The cloud is simply virtualisation and outsourcing combined.

Software-defined networks are heralded as the future of broadcasting because they enable new architectures that are controlled by software processes, which in turn call on other software processes to start or stop to meet our minuteby-minute needs, whether those processes are themselves triggered by automatic workflows or by pressing buttons on conventional control panels. Virtualisation is what makes it possible. n

February 2016 TVTechnology

09/02/2016 15:47

SHARPSHOOTER

From Hastings to

Helsinki

Finnish cameraman Jonathan Rankle shoots ice hockey and horse racing. What new piece of kit does he want most? The perfect pair of gloves

BY BARRIE SMITH

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Hastings on the south coast of England, famed for William the Conqueror’s victory in 1066. I lived there until I was about nine and then moved to a small village in southern Finland called Vääksy with my sister and Finnish mother.

Where do you live today?

I’ve lived in Helsinki with my girlfriend for about five years now.

What education have you had? Any special training in camera work?

I did my bachelor in media studies at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences in Finland. It was not really centred on camera work alone — more

TVTechnology February 2016

06 07 08 TVTE Feb16 Sharpshooter_final.indd 12

on all round media production. I concentrated mainly on camera operating because it interested me the most and seemed a good bet for the future. Before that I also completed a one year course at the Voionmaa Institute, just outside Tampere. It was like a crash course in short films and music videos and really cemented what I wanted to do.

Current assignments. Where, doing what, shooting for whom?

I currently work fairly steadily for three production companies. One covers mainly horse racing events at tracks in and around the south of Finland. Another is ENG-camera operating at the Hartwall Arena for the ice hockey team Jokerit (Jokers). And the third is for a company who produce brand content videos for Internet distribution. Along with this, I do some one-off

6

gigs with people I’ve worked with in the past and some smaller productions for clients via my Web site.

Have you been busy?

Very busy, yes. It took me a while to establish a network in Helsinki after moving here from Tampere. Finland being a country with a relatively small population, the media industry is very competitive. Once I got my first few breaks it sort of escalated from there. Also when I was getting started and wasn’t working as much, I used a lot of my time practicing shooting and editing techniques to be confident when I was offered jobs.

With the Finnish climate in mind, are you ever hampered much by winter conditions?

It can definitely be a challenge sometimes when www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 16:42

The Canon 5D MkIII is Rankle’s camera of choice

Profile Name: Jonathan Rankle Age: 34 Hometown: Hastings, UK then Vääksy, Finland Languages: Finnish, English, Swedish and some very basic French Occupation: I run a one-man video production company which, depending on the day, can also involve editing and producing. Mainly I work as a freelance DP and cameraman for larger production companies

shooting outdoors. Good quality winter clothing is a must, and equipment generally holds up pretty well. But winters don’t seem as harsh as I remember them as a kid.

What types of productions do you primarily shoot?

Mostly multi-camera productions for TV and Internet streaming. Smaller scale DSLR projects come in second.

xxx

What productions would you prefer to work on given the chance?

I most enjoy smaller scale shoots where I can influence the end product. In the future I’d like to be able to gradually switch more to these kinds

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

06 07 08 TVTE Feb16 Sharpshooter_final.indd 13

7

February 2016 TVTechnology

04/02/2016 16:42

SHARPSHOOTER the future?

I’m looking forward to making the jump to 4K. I buy new equipment mainly according to demand and there hasn’t been a great need for it as of now. But I have been eyeing out the options. I love the DSLR scene and what it’s done for the industry, so something like the Canon C500 would be a huge upgrade and in a way an extension of that. I’d better start saving!

In what direction could DSLR gear be improved for video work?

I’ve been waiting to see what Canon does next, especially considering Panasonic and Sony already moved into inexpensive 4K territory with the GH4 and the A7S respectively. I’ve tried to avoid camera hacks, but Magic Lantern have been at the forefront of improving the video capabilities of Canon DSLRs and I’m hoping the guys at Canon have been taking notes.

What useful piece of gear do you wish someone might make?

The perfect pair of winter gloves that are super warm but don’t in any way restrict camera operating.

xxx

of shoots.

Is the amount of gear you have to carry around a hassle?

My DSLR setup is pretty compact, and I try to bring along only what I need for the shoot. The bigger productions often require a half to a full day of setting up before the actual event, so they can require some heavy lifting.

“I love the DSLR scene and what it’s done for the industry” What was your first ever shooting job?

One of the earliest was a multi-camera shoot of the Leningrad Cowboys performing live at the opening of a shopping centre. I remember being really nervous, but once we got going, it literally rocked.

Most recent, interesting assignments?

A recent job that was a great shooting day was a TV show called Teknavi, basically about tech gadgets, cars, et cetera. We were out in the woods at an army training area shooting a segment about a military transport vehicle. I was on B-roll with my Canon 5D MkIII and was given a free pass to pretty much do whatever I wanted.

There was mud up to our knees and tanks rolling

TVTechnology February 2016

06 07 08 TVTE Feb16 Sharpshooter_final.indd 14

by every now and then. Very cinematic and I got some really nice shots. Awesome.

What camera equipment do you currently use?

A lot of the time the equipment I use is provided by the production company and varies from job to job. I use a Sony EX3 with a wireless transmitter for the ice hockey arena shoots which consist mainly of interviews and B-roll. And various TV cameras like the Panasonic HDX900 for other stuff. My own equipment is DSLR-based.

The Canon 5D MkIII is my number one.

And what is your editing set up?

I switched from Final Cut Pro to Adobe CC just after Final Cut X came out. So most of the software I use is Adobe. As for the hardware I have a late 2013 Macbook Pro 2.3GHz i7 with 16GB memory and an external reference monitor.

I’ve definitely put emphasis on camera operating as opposed to editing, but I get by OK with that too.

Other gear you have access to?

You can rent pretty much anything you want in Helsinki. I sometimes need additional or specific lenses and other such equipment for my DSLR shoots. I get a good deal with colleagues who work in the same circles.

Best thing about your job?

I get to meet a lot of different kinds of people in my job, and no day is really the same as another. One day I can be setting up for a quite an intimate promo video shoot and the next I’m in the middle of an arena doing a live interview in front of 20,000 people. It’s kind of crazy when I think about it, but pretty great too.

Worst thing about your job?

The long hours and irregular schedule. It can sometimes effect your social life to the point of non-existence.

Hairiest/scariest assignments?

Probably just my first jobs when I was getting started in the industry and not having a lot of experience outside of school projects.

What country would you most like to shoot in?

A wildlife documentary about animals indigenous to tropical islands would be nice! But seriously, I think just being involved with a production abroad is going to be an experience in itself. n

Contact Email: jonathan.rankle@cubefilms.fi Web: www.cubefilms.fi

What is your wish list for camera equipment in

8

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 16:42

ACQUISITION – USER REVIEW

C300 Mark II review: Canon pulls out the stops for 4K

The C300 Mark II is a solid, flexible 4K camera but is it worth the price?

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

09 10 12 13 TVTE Feb16_Aquisition_FINAL.indd 2

9

February 2016 TVTechnology

09/02/2016 15:26

ACQUISITION – USER REVIEW

BY CHRISTINA FOX

S

ince its introduction three years ago, Canon’s C300 has been one of the most popular cameras on the hire market. It was a real winner in terms of picture quality, but there were a few niggles, such as poor options for slow motion. So we eagerly awaited the specs for the new C300 Mark II. 4K was to be expected (with a 4K RAW output) - all new cameras in this price range are now 4K. However, 4K is only available at 24p, 25p and 30p (sadly not at 50p or 60p). There is 4:4:4 recording and 10- and 12-bit colour sampling, plus a new XF-AVC codec at up to 410mbps (intra- frame) or 50mbps (long GoP), and a new Canon Log mode - Log 2 with a boast of 15 stops dynamic range.

At first sight it isn’t easy to tell the difference between the MkII and the MkI C300. If you are a seasoned C300 user, fear not, many of the buttons are in the same place. ND Filter, Magnification, Peaking, Zebra and Wave Form Monitor (WFM) have not moved. However the Display, Status and Custom Picture buttons have morphed into ISO/Gain, Shutter and Frame Rate. One Shot Autofocus now has a wellplaced dedicated button – no need to assign it.

White balance has moved down the body and

4K available at 24p, 25p and 30p (but not at 50p or 60p)

“That feeling you get when they rearrange things in the supermarket. You can’t find what you want and really wish they’d put everything back where it was” headphone volume control has slunk back into the menus.

There are eleven assignable buttons on the camera body, so that you can make the camera your own, plus another ten on the monitor unit and one more on the grip handle. This generosity of buttons does mean there are three assign buttons marked 1 (all of which can do something different), and two marked 2 to 10. You also have a list of fifty assignable functions to choose from and you can also choose from any of the hundred plus cameras menus. Keeping track of what has been assigned and where should be interesting.

The handle on the MkI was fairly lightweight with only one connecting point into the camera.

On the MkII you have to first attach a mounting bracket (with an Allen key) to three fixing points on the body - then the handle with two fixing points, which makes things feel much more

TVTechnology February 2016

09 10 12 13 TVTE Feb16_Aquisition_FINAL.indd 3

substantial. This is just as well, as the handle has three cold shoes and 11 (1/4in and 3/8in) fixing points.

At first I was pleasantly surprised to see a double battery charger in the box, but then disappointed to see that the MkII uses totally different batteries to those used on the MkI. This means having to (yet again) buy a whole new set of batteries. The cheapest I could find was £174.26 (inc VAT) for a Canon BP-A30 giving 126 minutes battery life. The larger and longerlasting BP-A60 was £354 (inc VAT). While you’re checking out battery prices make sure to look for the new CFast 2.0 cards too. The review camera came with a 128GB CFast card (around £350)

10

with a recording time of 42 minutes in 4K Cables from the monitor unit to the camera are now thankfully detachable at both ends. On the MkI they were hard wired into the monitor unit, which was a pain if you suffered a cable malfunction. Now you don’t have to send off the whole unit for repair – just replace the cable. You will also be able to buy longer versions should you need to keep the monitor unit separate from the camera.

White balance and shutter functions have pretty much stayed the same. You still have a choice of ISO or gain – but interestingly they have been extended. The ISO now goes from 100 to 102,400 while gain extends from -6 to 54dB. www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

09/02/2016 15:26

Full Page Template.indd 1

3/16/2015 11:45:07 AM

ACQUISITION – USER REVIEW Focus Guide: These graphics show if you need to focus farther away (left), closer (right) or are in focus (centre)

Gamma

Colour Space

Colour Matrix

Preset options

Canon Log 2 Canon Log Wide DR EOS Standard Normal 1 (Standard) Normal 2 (x4.0) Normal 3 (BT.709) Normal 4 (x5.0)

Cinema Gamut BT.2020 DCI-P3 Gamut BT709

Neutral Production Camera Cinema EOS original Video EOS Standard Off

Canon Log 2 : Cinema Gamut Canon Log 2 : BT.2020 Canon Log 2 : DCI-P3 Canon Log 2 : BT709 Canon Log BT.2020 BT.709

The neutral density filters have also been expanded, and ND offers 2, 4 and 6 stops standard, which can be extended to 8 and 10 stops. Great for achieving very shallow depth of field on a sunny day.

IN FOCUS Focus needs to be considered in two parts – the mode of focusing and focusing assistance.

You can focus manually, but you would be missing out on all the ways the camera can help you. My least favourite focusing mode is continuous focus. Here the camera is in continuous auto focus (AF), and you assign a button to AF lock to hold focus and stop it hunting.

One push AF is the tried and tested “Push Auto” where the camera is in manual focus until you press the assigned One Shot AF button to momentarily go into auto focus.

AF-Boosted AF is an interesting mode. You start off in manual and pull focus towards your subject. It then takes over and focuses for you and then locks onto the subject.

Face detection is one of my favourite features.

I use it on my XF305 when shooting interviews.

And with tracking it is invaluable for a walking piece to camera. It will recognise multiple faces – you select the primary face using the joystick.

The tracking function is also supposed to keep

TVTechnology February 2016

09 10 12 13 TVTE Feb16_Aquisition_FINAL.indd 4

focus on a moving object. While I found it easy to lock on to the object, it went out of focus when I moved around. Maybe I was unlucky but, try as I might, I really struggled to make this work.

Once you find a mode that works for you – you’ll still want to feel confident that all is well and in focus. Peaking is still my favourite way to check focus. Plus magnification is also useful – especially now that you can move the magnification box with the joystick.

The new way to check focus is the Focus Guide. I think this might be a Marmite thing – you’ll either love it or hate it. There is a white target box below a set of triangles. Depending on their configuration it lets you know if you need to focus closer or farther away (to get the object in the box in focus). When triangles and box go green...Bingo! You’re in focus. While this did seem to work well when everything was well lit, the Focus Guide just sulked grey in low light.

ON THE MENU So, while the exterior controls are now pretty much all in a good place, you’re in for a big surprise when you press the menu button. I love my C300 MkI menus because they have a logic to them and they are very similar to my XF305 – going from one camera to the other is so easy.

However, the MkII menus have proliferated and some things have moved from one set-up menu

12

“If you are going to grade you have a great choice of colour space and dynamic range”

Users of the original C300 will have to buy new batteries

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

09/02/2016 15:28

to another. It is that feeling you get when they rearrange things in the supermarket. You can’t find what you want and really wish they’d put everything back where it was.

The Recording/Media Setup menu is the place to go for initialising your CFast cards, choosing the system frequency, frame rate, resolution, colour sampling and bit rate. Yes, this is the place to find the 4K options – which is probably one of two reasons why you’re thinking of upgrading to this camera.

At (Y:Cr:Cb) 422 10-bit sampling you have a choice of 4K (4096x2160), Ultra HD (3840x2160), 2K (2048x1080) or HD (1920x1080), but if you intend to do green-screen or extensive grading, there is also a choice of (R:G:B) 4:4:4 at either 12-bit or 10-bit in 2K and HD - 4K/UHD would require much higher bitrate recording for 444.

The second reason for buying this camera is in the Custom Picture set-up menu, which is now part of the main menu. The Custom Picture menu is where you get to choose the gamma, colour space, colour matrix, etc, whether you mix up your own look or choose from Canon’s presets. The original C300

has a lovely “look” right out of the box – with no grading, and thankfully this also applies to the MkII, which is important because not all of us work on projects that can afford post production tweaking.

But, if you are going to grade you have a great choice of colour space and dynamic range (see chart on page 14).

One thing that may put you off buying this camera is its slow motion options. The highest frame rates are 100 frames per second in 50Hz or 120fps at 60Hz, whereas several rivals can do better.

THE VERDICT I’m often asked: “What camera should I buy?” The best answer I can give is: one that will make you money.

The MkII is a sizeable investment at around £11,300 ex VAT. You could buy a Sony FS5 (£4,130 + VAT) and an FS7 (£4,800) and still have change for some accessories. It is an expensive camera and may take some time to pay for itself.

If you don’t need 4K just yet, you might want to consider buying a preloved C300 MkI (for less than £4,000) and hiring in the MkII for those clients prepared to pay the extra.

IT’S WHAT’S BEHIND THAT KEEPS US AHEAD

LEADING THE WAY IN DIGITAL KVM www.gdsys.de

G&D’s KVM systems have a proven reputation for long lasting usability and reliability. But that’s not all that keeps us ahead.

Because G&D don’t just provide systems, we deliver solutions. KVM solutions that are tailor-made to meet your specific needs.

Our broad portfolio allows us to combine products and systems to cover any application. Our expertise in all areas ensures your G&D solution is right for you in every way – from design to planning, from installation to technical support.

Versatility also plays its part in keeping us in front. For instance, we offer systems for a wide range of different video standards – digital or analog – with bandwidths up to 4K (incl. Full HD, 2K and Ultra HD).

G&D AT ISE STAND 10-K153 AND BVE STAND G09

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

13 G&D behinf&above 95x270ISE+BVE.indd 1

09 10 12 13 TVTE Feb16_Aquisition_FINAL.indd 5

The power to deliver the perfect KVM solution. That’s G&D.

February 2016 TVTechnology 18/01/2016 16:12 09/02/2016 15:28

ACQUISITION – CASE STUDY

Flying high with innovative camera technology Sports fans now expect coverage to be flawlessly overlaid with graphics and data. But what if the competition takes place 30 meters in the air, at 400 kilometers per hour?

BY PHILIP STEVENS

E

stablished in 2003, but officially a world championship in 2005, the Red Bull Air Race is an international series of events in which competitors fly aeroplanes through a course of obstacles, often over water, striving for the fastest time. Each race involves pilots making tight - up to 10G - turns through a slalom course comprising a pattern of pylons, known as Air Gates.

Broadcast coverage of such fast moving and complex events imposes demands on everyone involved. Camera operators have to be top of their trade. Directors need an in depth understanding of what is involved. And graphic operators must remain vigilant when it

TVTechnology February 2016

14 15 TVTE Feb16 red bull air race_FINAL.indd 2

comes to providing the latest augmented on-air graphics – for such information has become an accepted necessity when it comes to describing high profile events. In the case of the Red Bull Air Race, the graphics overlay displays the gate number, height of the plane, wind speed and direction and GPS information during each flight.

Of course, to be effective, the positioning of these added – or augmented - graphics must appear ‘pinned’ to the live background of the planes in flight. And to achieve that result, the output of the broadcast camera must be processed with precise tracking technology.

AERIAL CHALLENGE “When the graphics company Netventure – a French and German broadcast graphics service

14

provider and distributor of Vizrt solutions approached us with the challenge, we provided a solution based on our experience with gyro stabilisation,” explains Michael Geissler, CEO of London-based Mo-Sys Engineering.

According to Geissler, there are two major challenges when it comes to creating the precision technology needed for such events.

“The first challenge involves the height from which the main coverage camera must operate.

Filming a plane with cameras looking up is quite boring for the viewer and does not convey the speed of the event. To generate that excitement the key cameras need to look down in order to show the planes in relation to the terrain and sea below. Such cameras, therefore, need to be mounted on cherry pickers - perhaps 50 metres

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 16:45

above the ground. That means a certain amount of swaying and wobbling is inevitable. And that makes referencing for placing graphics in the correct position very hard.”

The second challenge stems from the fact that races stretch over distances of up to two kilometres – requiring very long zoom lenses.

Viewing angles are down to half a degree, and for HD production this means that the graphics tracking systems need to be accurate to 1/4000th of a degree in real time. “That is a challenge enough, but the added movement of the camera crane means even more accuracy in tracking is required,” admits Geissler.

Until recently, this level of precision has been almost impossible to achieve in challenging situations such as air races. Previous optical tracking systems fall short for a number of reasons. For example, such systems generally operate with just a 120 degree wide view. That means if the system is referenced to half a degree, the result is 240 times the noise. And with a moving background – water, in the case of the Air Race - optical systems find it hard to locate non moving, fixed reference points.

STABILISING EFFECT Geissler continues, “Working closely with Netventure, we concluded that an inertial tracking technology with high spec gyro sensors in combination with our existing tracking technology was the answer and we called it GyroTracker. The GyroTracker sensors are mounted on the box lenses of the camera to provide accurate motion data of the tiniest movement - even when the camera is swaying many metres in the air. In fact, so sensitive is the system that even the tap of one finger on the lens is enough to record a movement.”

The fact that cameras are mounted so high is actually a benefit to the system since a birds’ eye www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

14 15 TVTE Feb16 red bull air race_FINAL.indd 3

view provides a good vantagepoint for lining up objects that are used as reference point for the positional graphics.

Geissler says that they found a method of managing the ‘drift’ which all gyro systems will experience. “We reduced the drift to as little as 1/50 the speed of the earth rotation. But what’s

Up until recently, this level of precision has been almost impossible to achieve in challenging situations such as air races. Previously used optical tracking systems fall short more, we developed a method that compensated for the earth rotation by calculating, 2000 times per second, the effect of the earth rotation based on the camera’s position on the globe and the direction the camera is pointing. The system tracks precisely up to half an hour before needing to be re-homed. The procedure was so easy that at the end of each race, the camera operators chose to reset using this re-homing procedure by focusing on an agreed point and pressing a button. The system immediately knows where it is located and can allow the graphics to be positioned accurately.”

This Mo-Sys GyroTracker technology premiered during early 2014 in Austria as a proof of concept and was further tested in Spain later that year. The first real outing was in February 2015 in Abu Dhabi, the initial stop of the new Red Bull Air Race season. After further tests, revision of software as well as electronics, GyroTracker achieved a tracking result that met everyone’s expectations and became after the race in Rovinj a firm part of the Air Race production technology.

15

CLOSE COOPERATION Geissler says he is very thankful to both Netventure and Red Bull for allowing the development of the system throughout the season and so provide the impetus for the tracking technology to mature. “We all worked very closely together. Netventure, expanded its existing knowhow and also constantly improved the workflow and set-up procedure to deliver live augmented broadcast graphics fast and reliably.

Netventure developed its own app which worked in conjunction with Bling Maps to align the location of the races, gates, cameras and virtual objects resulting in speeding up the process of the setup. It all added to the viewer experience to make the races even more exciting.”

He adds, “What made this project possible in a short time was the iterative, repeated testing and maturing cycles. Every four to six weeks there was a race where we were testing, revising and improving the technology in real life situation, not just in our lab. After a race there was a revision and we had to the next race to improve.”

Alongside the GyroTracker, the production facility for the outside broadcast acquired a Mo-Sys L40 remote head for the virtual informational graphics. With the L40, ultra precise tracking information, including lens data, plus a responsive and intuitive operation is possible through single mode fibre. The tracking data from L40 and GyroTracker is collected by a specially designed triple gateway with fibre conversion, and fed into a Vizrt graphics engines via RS422.

Geissler anticipates that such tracking technology will become more widely used on other sporting events, including F1 – especially where long lenses mounted on impossibly shaky camera platforms need to provide precise tracking information for the addition of augmented graphics. n

February 2016 TVTechnology

04/02/2016 16:45

BROADCAST – ROUNDTABLE

The lunch: no point arguing the industry’s future on an empty stomach.

Experience is your best asset Overlooking a rainy London, Avid hosted a TVBEurope roundtable that sought to get a high altitude view of the transition to an IT-based broadcast industry

BY NEAL ROMANEK

“W

e are like a brewery who has discovered that people are drinking wine now” was how TV2 Denmark’s Kjeld Skovlund described himself and his fellow broadcasters at an Avid industry roundtable, held high above London in The Shard.

Produced in association with TV Technology Europe’s sister publication, TVBEurope, the roundtable sought to explore issues of media asset management in an age of file-based challenges. The participants, top technology execs from leading European broadcasters, were (above, clockwise from left) Alistair Brown, CTO of Scotland’s STV, the afternoon’s moderator Jeremy Bancroft of Media Asset Capital, Jose de Freitas, CTO of TV3, Avid solution specialist Carl Perry, Tim Bertioli SVP, technology director, EMEA at Deluxe, Neal Romanek, editor of

TVTechnology February 2016

16 17 TVTE Feb16 Feature_FINAL.indd 2

TV Technology Europe, Arne Berven, CTO of Norwegian systems integrator OB-Team, Avid regional sales director North EMEA Tom Evetts, Ian Baker, director of media technology at Discovery Communications, Peter Russell, director of technology at ITV, Kjeld Skovlund,

Avid’s Tom Evetts with Tim Bertioli of Deluxe

“As TV moves into the IT world, start looking to hire IT people, not broadcast people” head of TV projects and deputy manager of TV2 Denmark, and Avid’s director of strategic solutions Paul Thomson.

Avid’s Paul Thompson kicked off the afternoon with a presentation on the company’s Media Central asset management platform. Thompson set the tone with a reminder that the new media value chain had left behind the old model of

16

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

09/02/2016 15:30

produce/distribute/monetise. The new media ecosystem was now more like a loop than a chain, with content developed and produced in a non-linear way, and endlessly repurposed for consumption in different ways across different time scales.

VOD TEAM GOLD DUST Moderator Jeremy Bancroft asked the group how they had been dealing with multi-screen publishing, whether it was treated as a separate or an integral part of the business. The answers revealed a lot about the state of the industry and where we are in the evolution to a fully multiplatform environment.

“The primary problem is technical,” said Discovery’s Ian Baker. “At the end of the day, a traditional broadcast chain is going to put out an SDI stream. But even if you could wave a magic wand and make your broadcast chain output a file, you’d still find your operation can’t support it. The metadata can’t go through the business, because the whole thing’s been set up with linear playout in mind. You realise you have another 25 fields of metadata, and there’s no way to get them through apart from a phone call and an Excel spreadsheet.”

Baker added, eliciting laughs of recognition: “Excel spreadsheets are the SDI of metadata.”

Most of the broadcasters had been steadily moving their multiplatform teams closer to the centre of the business, and learning a lot in the process. Adapting to the new world of multiple platform delivery has become a catalyst for growth and new modes of thinking.

STV’s Alistair Brown said that necessity was

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

16 17 TVTE Feb16 Feature_FINAL.indd 3

“A few years ago, we said: ‘We’re no longer a broadcast business. We’re a digital media business.’ That reset was very good for us.” the mother of invention in STV’s multi-platform strategy. “We had limited budgets and things were moving very quickly. We didn’t have the resources and manpower to do a lot of it manually, so we wrote some software internally, called Autocatch, which allowed us to capture linear streams and get them pretty slickly onto the digital platforms.”

STV’s internally designed solution wasn’t the result of months of planning by multiple design teams, but essentially the work of a single internal talent, senior engineer John Nicholl, “He built a prototype over a May bank holiday in 2007. We were very lucky to have young digital developers working cheek by jowl with highly experienced broadcast engineers, helping each other – that may be quite rare.”

Digital teams, once seen as add-ons to a broadcaster’s infrastructure, are being integrated into the main production teams. Though the migration to a multiplatform workflow has sometimes been laborious, the struggles have paid dividends.

“The skills we have developed with our video on demand team have been gold dust,” said Discovery’s Baker. “The ‘video on demand’ team is now really the ‘turn video into any format and send it anywhere’ team.”

17

THE END OF AN ERA The steady rhythm of innovation broadcasters once counted on has been replaced by the accelerated pace of change the IT industry. Gone are the days of a leisurely nine-month progression of design, procurement, and deployment.

Continuous updating and iteration is essential for broadcasters looking at improving their infrastructure - and for their suppliers too.

Whether to negotiate these new technological demands with internally designed solutions or to turn completely to outside vendors is an eternal question for CTOs. Some roundtable participants expressed doubt about the ability of external vendors to handle briefs in the rapid manner demanded by the new IT timeframes.

“Just to understand what you do may take them two months, let alone understanding the problem and giving you a solution,” said Discovery’s Ian Baker.

“And once they’ve done that,” added Skovlund, “They will take another two months discussing internally how the internal functionality they have built for you might hurt sales of the products they already have on the shelves.”

Discovery has been following the path of most broadcasters, developing internal solutions to deal with its growing digital demands. “But I dare say we’re at the end of an era,” said Baker. “Now, because of finances, there’s a shift in philosophy.

Instead of saying ‘We’ll get that thing done with our three guys’, there’s a shift to getting something done, but getting it done consistently, with bigger partners.”

Transforming into an IT industry means a huge internal shift for broadcasters, right down to the composition of the workforce. IT technologists and information specialists are going to be in high demand in the future.

“One role that you’re just starting to see in media organisations is, for lack of a better term, ‘data scientist’ - someone who’s really skilled at analytics,” said Avid’s Carl Perry. “You’re going to want to understand the data you’ve got coming from your consumers. Unless you have someone who is skilled with that data in coming up with the patterns that are there and the way you need to connect with new consumers, you’ll be missing out.”

“As TV moves into the IT world,” suggested Baker, “start looking to hire IT people, not broadcast people.”

STV’s Brown showed the way forward when he described how his company had made a decision to leave behind the old world. “A few years ago, we said: ‘We’re no longer a broadcast business. We’re a digital media business.’ That reset was very good for us.”

February 2016 TVTechnology

09/02/2016 15:30

ue reven d e n defi

re ces •

gies

olo techn d e t nec

con

•

hed. nleas u e com re as be a stry h nologies limitless u d n i m h i t p c n u e t e g ainm ing-edge d openin k free from ntert t n a t e a e u r d t c b n n d e o edia a f cont ion an lace t The m ic innovat ndaries o the only p d. ding u ® n i m s inclu y Dyna ing the bo B Show i n your m r t s du , er pe A the in shatt unities. N ing and o ecom k tor of ment, Tel ertising, rt n c i o e h p s t p l v y o a ver rtain ship, Ad ents, ntion ting e r v , Ente conve resen dia, Film ses of Wo ts, Live E re p e r s e r u e o o mo M e p H l d d S , a n n , t a e i i a y e t g t i i At ersiv ality t, D adem il, Secur s e c a R A c m i , d d n e e m a t t h n t e e Broa roductio R e ent, brac Augm P Post- y, Governm irtual and days to em media. f r V x o i a , t s 6 will for Mili eality eo, IT in 201 on, p e Vid Las Vegas the new r u n i l d n O avili erve s of aping rge in ons s d Reality P ll aspect i t c a conve nces resh r a t e r t s t e t a n c e e m e i gm ativ mpa nsu exper innov al and Au d how it i on the co sed d n a ring new Virtu edium an focusing lly-enclo ketInspi , r u m e de th this new d Media|IP aturing a f where ma , a live u l inc fe ce IT, ing cte , n s K e n e a i n C o r i c n l O ience Xpe show ustry; Co one Pavi ons; SPR tudio re. Exper el r S i d t ; D n a s i r e a o t od m de ns the ; th new i ess m ience demo much exper cage” for sent their ls; and so ogy, busin o g re ol .. “flyin tartups p e latest to ew techn u realize. s n o h ready using all t nt when a ess and y e en o studi otal mom rks awar . iv pa HING T that p nership s Y R E rt or pa ES EV

en xperi e e v i mers

S ...THI

G

CHAN

ur rove o ow p m i h ays to ait4NABS w d n w nd fi cant how a he year # S B A t at @N nf of to be X. Best co d e t i o exc at FO rra: S systems e c e na B very Adria ay file deli d es every tende

9 1 3 , 6 2

160+ ies

tr coun

e for th r e h g en hi acle i at ed ev l be a mir ify l s a i a n r o r nati ill be it wil elect inter bar w o excited n floor is and e a i h t d ent o. S me onals ntio i confid erytime I g tire conve s s m e a f I pro e en e ev ow.

ABSh a toy stor game. Th ment N n i 4 t a i t a n kid i ot I’m enter cantw es: # feel like a Woot who l e r i el M et. I pen.

Micha n the plan exhibits o o e show before th t h g toni

9 1 1 , 3 10

28-29 NAB DPS Ad.indd 1 NABShow2016_Intl.3pg.AD_ENG_220x290.indd 2

10/11/2015 16:21 11/10/15 10:04 AM

NABSh

harkd ovies ar!!! m @ is ye elias lynn rocking th e i b is deb Show @NAB

. ers, stom endezvous u c , s r gue ual collea great ann , s d n ld frie lways see o w ones. A o t d ne ite meet c: Exc mnie rs, and to w e o partn ait4nabsh w t n #ca

1,635

767

ess he pr

skill- ns ssio ing se

build

t rs of

be mem

dia st me p e t a e e gr slee for th I get any this! r e h f g i hi do iracle Let’s be a m ectrifying! el or is

10:04 AM

28-29 NAB DPS Ad.indd 2 NABShow2016_Intl.3pg.AD_ENG_220x290.indd 3

X GET YOUR FREE EXHIBITS PASS USE CODE PA159

10/11/2015 16:21 11/10/15 10:05 AM

NAB NEXT STOPS

Alliances to Advance Media & Entertainment

CABSAT Dubai March 8–10, 2016 collaborative.nabshow.com Las Vegas, NV USA April 16–21, 2016 nabshow.com

Alliances to Advance Media & Entertainment

SET Expo São Paulo August 23–27, 2016 collaborative.nabshow.com

Nashville, TN USA September 21–23, 2016 radioshowweb.com

New York, NY USA November 9–10, 2016 ccwexpo.com

Shanghai December 2016 gixnabshow.com

Full Page Template.indd 1 NABShow2016_Intl.3pg.AD_ENG_210x297.indd 4

11/9/2015 10:13:39 AM 11/8/15 10:37 PM

BROADCAST – BUYERS GUIDE Harmonic’s Electra X3 enabled NASA’s TV channel to deliver UHD video quality at minimum bandwidth

Cracking the code With software solutions now in abundance, encoding and decoding have come a long way from the metal boxes of a decade ago. But is software always better?

BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON

T

he need to deliver to more and more devices is complicated by the rise of video quality expectations for ‘TV everywhere’. Consumers want to experience ever-better HD or UHD quality on any screen. These higher expectations are balanced with the challenge of ensuring delivery to a maximum number of consumers through low bandwidth mobile networks where the threat of limited access, slow playback capabilities and unreliable connections is constantly looming.

Multi-screen encoding and transcoding solutions are key to helping broadcasters, programmers, content owners and their multichannel video programme distributors www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

21 22 23 TVTE Feb16Buyers Guide Encoders_decoders_final.indd 2

– such as cable, DTH satellite or telecoms operators – and OTT players to overcome the numerous challenges of delivering reliable, high quality video content to a wide variety of devices.

SIMPLICITY AND FLEXIBILITY For ATEME, the proliferation of those screens across different networks – payTV, OTT, and 3G/4G – calls for an increasing number of video formats to be produced at the video head end. Its multi-screen solutions address those challenges with a particular focus on video quality at the lowest bitrates.

Its Titan Live is a real-time multi-channel/ format encoder claiming the highest bandwidth efficiency on the market powered by homegrown encoding technology. Titan embeds up to

21

48x3G-SDI inputs and can also receive IP sources from satellite, making it a convergent solution for complex video head ends.

The top two buying criteria for broadcast customers with multiplatform distribution needs are simplicity of use and flexibility. “Getting more done with the same, or even fewer, resources requires software that is easy to use and capable of shielding the complexity of the underlying operation,” says Mark Senecal, manager of product management, Imagine Communications.

“In terms of flexibility, broadcast customers require solutions that are able to adapt to new platform launches with new codecs or additional processing requirements, without making compromises on any platform.”

Imagine’s key products are SelenioFlex Live

February 2016 TVTechnology

10/02/2016 11:43

BROADCAST – BUYERS GUIDE

addressing multiplatform delivery for linear streams and SelenioFlex File, optimised for handling file-based workflows.

The underlying architecture is Zenium, the company’s modular software that enables customers to use multiple codecs to address the specific application and desired platforms for delivery, whether for SD, HD or UHD, to any device.

THE SOFTWARE SOLUTION? But is a software solution always the answer?

There are two sides to this story. It is possible to make the case that with a fixed receiver platform (such as a Roku box) it can be more economical to include hardware decode. But most vendors contend that using software to encode is a much better solution.

“By their very nature, software solutions are more flexible than the hardware equivalent, as they can be updated ‘on the fly’ without worrying if the hardware acceleration has enough horsepower to accommodate the change,” says Paul Turner, vp of enterprise product management, Telestream. “And the one thing that is constant in this industry is change – new formats are coming out all the time.”

Telestream offer a version of Vantage targeted at the creation of multiscreen assets. It also offers GPU-accelerated Lightspeed encoding.

Explains Turner; “The principle here is that if each individual job can complete more quickly via our Lightspeed servers, then the customer can achieve more throughput per hour, with lower CDN costs per delivered hour, all of which contributes to an improved bottom line for our customers.”

HARDWARE DIE HARDS But Matrox notes that purpose built, hardwarebased encoders for live applications can offer an advantage. A small, embedded encoder is less exposed to network and internet risks than a general-purpose computing platform running

TVTechnology February 2016

21 22 23 TVTE Feb16Buyers Guide Encoders_decoders_final.indd 3

software, says Dan Maloney, senior technical marketing manager at Matrox.

“At the transcoder level, software will almost always be the preferred solution from a flexibility standpoint, but hardware will come into play when executing latest-generation video processes that surpass the capabilities of standard CPUs. For example, 4Kp60 H.264 Long GOP encoding requires hardware (as provided

by Matrox M264 H.264 encoding accelerator) particularly if quality and real time encoding are important.”

‘’By separating the software and hardware aspects of these solutions, it is possible for broadcasters to have different budget cycles for the two components for a single application”

Clearly, if a hardware solution is selected, be aware that these devices cannot easily be reprogrammed should tech trends change.

“Particularly when you need more power for peak seasons, scalability and flexibility of solutions need to be taken into consideration,” says Jiri Matela, CEO of Czech firm Comprimato. “For this, a software solution is more appropriate.”

Comprimato claims to market “the fastest, standard compliant, JPEG2000 software encoder and decoder” around. Its software codec leverages the performance of GPUs and CPUs to speed up video and image compression and can be used in combination with the video processing GStreamer framework. Comprimato says its codec helps cut infrastructure costs by 70 percent, while reducing development cycles by 50 percent therefore enabling new revenue streams such as UHD video in real-time, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and High Frame Rate (HFR) video.

DIFFERENT BUDGETS FOR DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS “By separating the software and hardware aspects of these solutions, it is possible for broadcasters to have different budget cycles for the two components for a single application/solution,” says Tom Lattie, VP, market management at Harmonic.

“Typically the software component has a long lifecycle with minimal ongoing investment, usually in the form of a service level agreement.

This allows the broadcaster to receive continuous innovation with little disruption and no significant incremental capital outlay. Conversely, broadcasters can replace lower cost IT infrastructure components on a more frequent or as needed basis.”

ATEME’s TITAN embeds up to 48x3GSDI inputs and can receive IP sources from satellite

22

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

10/02/2016 11:43

Harmonic says that its Electra X advanced media processor is the industry’s first fully converged platform for broadcast and OTT delivery of SD, HD and UHD content. The appliance features real-time encoding of SD, HD and UHD media, integrated with high-quality branding and graphics, and reliable transport stream playout. Under the hood, the Electra X is driven by Harmonic’s PURE compression engine, the company’s proprietary encoding engine.

Harmonic’s Electra X3 was a key element in enabling NASA to deliver UHD video quality at minimum bandwidth, on the new NASA TV UHD channel, transmitted via the AMC-18C satellite.

The Electra X encoding technology that supports resolutions up to 2160p60 for broadcast and OTT multiscreen delivery. NASA and Harmonic have also begun discussions about adding high dynamic range (HDR) and expanded colour-space

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

21 22 23 TVTE Feb16Buyers Guide Encoders_decoders_final.indd 4

Imagine’s SelenioFlex uses multiple codecs to deliver to any device

technologies to the channel as standards emerge.

“Clearly, broadcasters need an encoder that features codec diversity, offering support for formats such as MPEG-2 and AVC with a nonforklift path to HEVC,” offers Lattie. “The encoder should also support simultaneous generation and output of streams to enable traditional broadcast

23

distribution as well as adaptive bitrate.”

With the industry transitioning to IP workflows, it is equally important that encoding/decoding devices support both IP and traditional SDI interfaces, giving broadcasters the flexibility to deploy in architectures today and migrate to IP when appropriate.

February 2016 TVTechnology

10/02/2016 11:43

BROADCAST - COMMENTARY

Time for linear TV headends to embrace IP

By Igor Krol, CEO, Veset

T

elevision is undergoing major disruption. Its traditional business model and margins are under attack.

Broadcasters and media companies are responding to those challenges in a number of ways. One is the adoption of cloud and IP delivery technologies as a way to play out and deliver linear television globally.

GROWING PAINS Historically, broadcasters have delivered content to headends using satellite or dedicated fibre optic lines which, though reliable, remain an expensive barrier to growth and experimentation.

Such traditional delivery alternatives are not really compatible with cloud playout solutions of the future. It is inevitable that playout software will eventually run on public clouds such as Amazon’s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure, which do not provide fiber optic lines as a standard. This challenge calls for a software-only solution which enables content delivery at satellite and fibre operating metrics with internet based economics and availability.

Some observers may point out that the industry has been developing SMPTE 2022 for the last decade, but it has still not delivered a Holy Grail of IP delivery, notably leaning heavily on the legacy of SDI. In the meantime, pioneers in broadcast IP have been de facto establishing an industry standard for IP delivery and developing technology for distribution, which supports several capabilities including adaptive bit rate streaming.

CONSTRUCTING AN IP HEADEND While delivery over IP is becoming pervasive in production workflows across the entire pipeline, the question remains; what is it that keeps headends from from acceptance of IP-based linear television feed delivery?

Comfortable with the old paradigm, many headend operators are accustomed to working behind familiar firewalls and closed networks, shying away from IP. Many are not completely new to IP, but are apprehensive due to the lack

TVTechnology February 2016

24 TVTE feb 16Veset_final2.indd 2

of IT/IP skills needed to test and implement new gateways in their infrastructure.

For more forward-looking distribution platforms, the big issue at the moment is making broadcasters comfortable with the reliability of the technology, service levels and ultimate responsibility for IP delivery to their infrastructure.

There are number of ways to deal with this challenge.

One value-added, but demanding, option is for a headend to build an infrastructure and offer end-to-end services to broadcasters using available IP transport and even incorporate cloud playout technologies. Needless to say it requires investment in internal expertise and competing with some of the established service providers.

Another way is to enter into partnerships with service providers, which build specialised services based on advanced IP delivery technology.

24

For example, UK-based Cerberus is using Zixi technology to build reliable and redundant delivery services working closely with established distribution platforms. Cerberus provides service to headends by installing and looking after IP gateways and taking responsibility for service levels.

The light-touch approach is to invest in its own IRDs (Integrated Receiver Decoders) with built in IP software which offers traditional ASI/ SDI output. External playout service providers can operate such IRDs remotely taking responsibility for monitoring and delivery of the feed originated by them in the cloud.

It is up to distribution platforms whether they want to join the IP revolution and help their broadcasting partners to evolve their business models or resist change and risk losing relevance in a fast changing marketplace. n www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

01/03/2016 10:29

BROADCAST – BUYERS GUIDE

Making a connection Despite an increasingly wireless world, there’s no shortage of demand for high-quality cable. We hook up with cable specialists, VDC Trading, to find out why.

Between the need for connection between events and the truck, commentary studios, and out to satellite feeds, an OB truck can require several kilometres of cable, all of which must be one hundred per cent reliable or the whole system fails. www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

25 26 27 TVTE Feb16 Buyers Guide Cable_final.indd 2

BY CHRIS HOOK

N

o matter how efficient your camera, video and distribution system is, your production goes nowhere without the right cabling to transport and protect it. We take a look at the popular current cable systems with Camden based specialists VDC Trading, suppliers of Van Damme cable, Neutrik and OpticalCon assemblies to the broadcast industry.

Probably the largest consumers of professional cable in the industry are the outside broadcast

25

trucks. Between the need for audio and video connections from sports grounds, concerts and public events to the truck and the transfer of the final mixes to and from commentary studios and out to satellite uploads, an OB truck can require several kilometres of cable, all of which must be one hundred per cent reliable or the whole system fails.

“For audio, most of the outside trucks and TV studios we supply use Van Damme Brown Series OB Transmission grade, pre-jacketed eightway Starquad multicore via 26 pole Mil spec OB CON connectors,” explains VDC technician

February 2016 TVTechnology

10/02/2016 11:37

BROADCAST – BUYERS GUIDE VDC Trading’s Paul Marchesi with an HMA cable

Adam Jafrabati. “Featuring an extremely tough polyurethane outer jacket, better than 90% coverage braided screens for high rejection of EMI and RFI and with overall diameters sized to suit the common outside broadcast multipins, these cables are built to excel in the most hostile of environments. I would prefer to see a more robust connector in common use but the OB

TVTechnology February 2016

25 26 27 TVTE Feb16 Buyers Guide Cable_final.indd 3

There is a growing trend towards the use of fibre optic cable thanks to its ability to carry huge amounts of information and channels

26

CON is extremely light which is useful in an outside broadcast truck where weight is a factor.”

For the video links, some trucks at sporting events are still using Triax cable but most of the industry now uses HD Video cable with SD having become effectively redundant. HD cable is available in a number of varieties including low smoke for sensitive environments.

There is a range of multicore options for video too. The HD Vision range of 75 ohm precision multicore coaxial cables comprises four and six-way PVC jacketed dynamic multicores.

Great attention has been paid to their electrical characteristics and tolerances to ensure performance with SMPTE 292M HD-SDI signals as well as SDI and analogue video.

There is also a growing trend towards the use of fibre optic cable thanks to its ability to carry huge amounts of information and channels. VDC Trading has expanded its production facilities to include a fibre optic clean room needed to construct and terminate fibre optic assemblies.

For broadcast purposes, Van Damme Tourlight fibre optic cables are Tactical Single Mode and Multi-Mode fibre optic OS1 and OM3 deployable fibre cables for outside broadcast and robust studio floor or fibre infrastructure.

The cables are extremely robust, are available in an increasing number of variations and can carry huge amounts of information. Ideally connected by HMA expanding beam connectors, they can withstand the dirt and grime of the outside broadcast environment, and the HMA connector is easy to connect as there is no male or female version. The expanding beam means that the signal at the connector is expanded to such a size that connection is always one hundred per cent.

Easy to wipe clean or replace if necessary, the HMA connector is becoming a favourite solution to fibre optic connections in the field. One of these cable systems has been supplied to BBC Scotland recently by VDC and interest is growing amongst the OB community.

These days, hybrid multicores are commonly adopted. Once only available in one or two formats, the hybrid cable can now be made to a huge range of specifications. A typical combination is eight channels of audio, two of HD video and two of CAT 6A data. Encased in a rugged outer sleeve, the hybrid can carry all the cabling requirements in one go. Specially built termination panels allow for a faster and simpler set up. These are becoming especially popular for the fast rigging of large video arrays in the live arena for concert broadcasts. They provide provision for network, HDTV distribution via HDMI www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

10/02/2016 11:37

Cat X converters, control signals and satellite broadcasts.

Reliability is everything in the world of cable.

The loss of signal from a single cable can mean the failure of a live broadcast and often a time consuming hunt for the offending cable among many. At VDC a testing station is used to test every cable before it leaves the premises (pictured right). Designed by the team at VDC, the testing station has a multitude of input and output connectors. A faulty connection causes the light on the top to flash and, yes, a loud siren to sound. It is a matter of pride amongst the staff to avoid the shame of a failed cable!

VDC Trading CEO Niall Holden summarises: “Despite the fact that it is a frightening thought that the success of your show might be down to a single soldered joint to a cable that you keep kicking as you cross the studio, you can take heart that amongst the cable community we have people who care enough about it to make sure it’s up to the task.”

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

25 26 27 TVTE Feb16 Buyers Guide Cable_final.indd 4

The VDC cable testing station (with red light and siren)

27

February 2016 TVTechnology

10/02/2016 11:37

BROADCAST – OPINION

The future of modular infrastructure What place do modular components have in an increasingly IP-centric industry? A very important one, says Philip Scofield, managing director of Crystal Vision.

F

rom the dawn of the industry, broadcast engineers have needed bits of electronics to interface between one unit and another. In the early days of analogue black and white, it started with distribution amplifiers. Master clocks were probably also in there for synchronisation.

As television developed, the need for interface electronics became more pressing. And, as the power of electronics became greater, it became practical to shrink the circuitry for these functions from a box to a single board.

Thus was the modular concept born - a box with a single power supply (or two for redundancy) has slots for a number of plug-in boards, each of which provides a specific piece of functionality.

Equally, as electronics capabilities grew, so we found tougher jobs for modular products. From distribution amplifiers we moved on to analogueto-digital converters, which in turn needed digital distribution amplifiers. SDI allowed us to embed audio into a digital stream, so we needed audio embedders and de-embedders.

In the analogue world, and now in the digital world, there has always been a need for modular devices. They interface from one thing to another, or they convert one thing to another, or they distribute one thing to many.

Now, though, the suggestion is to move from traditional broadcast connectivity to an IP world.

So what happens to modular products now?

As a business, we recognised the move to IP and IT hardware some years ago. To prepare, we started recruiting engineers from the IT industry.

Having spent my entire career in broadcasting I felt I knew how the industry worked, and that they would enjoy learning from me.

But the first thing they asked was why is everything still compatible with black and white television? Why do we need a vertical blanking interval that was only there to allow a CRT spot to get back to the top of the picture?

The IT industry never shrinks from moving on when it needs to. Software products rarely worry about supporting hardware more than a few

TVTechnology February 2016

28 TVTE feb 16 Feature_final.indd 2

Everything about television is based on ideas established when electronics meant valves years old. Everything about television is based on ideas established when electronics meant valves.

The second point they made was that the video industry seems to have suggestions instead of standards. That may be a bit harsh: we can standardise when we need to – SDI is pretty universal. But we do have a lot of standards and a sometimes vague approach to them.

As a long-term video engineer I spent a long time encouraging my engineers to understand the unique issues of the video industry, and that there were good reasons for everything that exists in a television studio. But just as they have finally understood that the television industry is unique, they have convinced me that we can no longer go on working this way.

We have to find ways of transforming the technology through the move to IP. If that is going to work how we want it to, with off the shelf products, we have to look at new standards.

On the web, if we click on a link to launch a video, we can be reasonably sure that, in a second or two, the video will start to play. Hidden from us, but vital, is a set of protocols and that ensures the right content, in the right resolution

28

and aspect ratio, appears on the screen. That is what we have to achieve in IP video. We have to be able to set up a route and all this happens.

We are beginning to develop standards around this. The SMPTE 2022 family is a good place to start, but it is important to understand that this only defines the data content, not its control.

Various manufacturers are proposing control systems, or software-defined networks, but the protocols are by no means universal. There is no reason why there should not be a common standard, but it needs agreement.

Until this agreement happens, there needs to be a set of buffer applications which take the data and control from one environment and turn it into another.

It seems, then, that we might have a requirement for another set of modular devices, as data translators. Certainly, during the transition to IP, another class of modular devices will be called for which interface between SDI and IP “on-ramps” and “off-ramps”.

I speak regularly to a large number of broadcasters, and their view is clear. They want best-of-breed, vendor independent architectures, as they have now, but capable of working over IP. 10GB ethernet, and soon 40Gb ethernet, will provide a more flexible, more cost-effective connectivity than SDI. The need for modular products will continue, now, through the transition and on into the IP era. That is because the need for point functionality, to do something or to get from one environment to another, will always be with us. In broadcasting, we need to deal with live, realtime streams. We cannot stop what we are doing to route a signal through some other process.

There will always be a demand for live television, and so for flexible architectures which depend on the glue of the infrastructure, configured and operated in real time. Only broadcast vendors understand the need and the construction of these modules, and the ones who are smart enough to track the move to IP, software and virtualisation will continue to find a role. n www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 17:10

Introducing The Kula Range 4K/1080p/HD/SD/1ME/2ME From $17K TM

The best value production switcher in the world

The new Kula class-leading switcher range delivers the multi-format flexibility you need, the panel options you require and the SAM quality you can rely on – all at a remarkable price point.

The Range With a choice of three easy to operate control panels, the 2RU Kula Range offers 1M/E 4K, 1M/E HD/SD and 2M/E HD/SD models.

Multi-format Flexibility Built from the heritage of SAM’s award-winning Kahuna switcher, Kula uses innovative FormatFusion3 technology to seamlessly mix any format, up to and including 4K eliminating the need for external conversion equipment.

Small Price, Massive Performance

TM

TM

Find out more at www.s-a-m.com/kula

Kula

Creative Power Kula offers up to 5 keyers per M/E, 24 channels of DVE and floating/ auxiliary keying resource. Up to 36 inputs and 18 outputs, plus a massive internal clip and still store ensures high impact productions every time.

www.s-a-m.com/kula TVB 290x220 SAM KULA.indd 1

09/02/2016 17:43

AUDIO - USER REVIEW

A shotgun not just for weddings Beyerdynamic’s MCE 86 II is a solid, affordable shotgun condenser microphone for every occasion. Review by Strother Bullins

BY STROTHER BULLINS

E

lectret shotgun microphones—such as Beyerdynamic’s MCE 86 II reviewed here—are small diaphragm condensers, yet ones with key design features making them the only choice for some recording and sound reinforcement tasks. Live events (from sports to outdoor weddings), theatres and houses-of-worship (HOW’s) are distinctly different environments where one or two available shotgun microphones can make the difference between sound success and a noisy disaster, as they will capture slightly-to-fairly-distant sounds like no other microphone type on the market.

How do they work? Well, a standard shotgun microphone most always features a long, multislotted tube paired with a supercardioid or hypercardioid capsule beneath it. In use, the desirable on-axis sound reaches the capsule, and off-axis sound largely cancels itself out first as it enters the mic’s multiple side slots, thus essentially “enhancing” the on-axis sound.

I’ve personally discovered several great uses for these “interference tube” microphones in places such as small-to medium-sized HOWs. Two areas in which a shotgun microphone will shine include where pastors want their own microphone out of sight (a shotgun can easily be placed multiple feet away, near the floor and hidden in a flower arrangement, for example) rather than an obtrusive podium mic; and, for example, in theatrical productions, holiday pageants and the like, where multiple children have speaking parts and there aren’t enough inputs or microphones (or both) to capture everyone. In the latter example, simply grab a shotgun microphone and boom pole then actively aim it, or “run and gun.”

The MCE 86 II has been available for several years and is an affordable and truly superbsounding hypercardioid shotgun, one I would enthusiastically recommend to anyone. It sounds fabulous and full-range, boasting a rich 50 Hz-18 kHz frequency response. It’s lightweight for its

TVTechnology February 2016

30 TVTE Feb16 BeyerDynamic_final.indd 2

size (0.2 lbs.) and ruggedly built with a work-ready, no-scratch finish.

In reviewing the MCE 86 II, it performed flawlessly for such HOW tasks detailed above. I left the mic for a local church to use; they responded by

The MCE 86 II is an affordable and truly superb-sounding hypercardioid shotgun, one I would enthusiastically recommend to anyone. enthusiastically inquiring about where to buy one.

For years, their volunteer staff tried to capture small, youthful voices in plays, as well as the public-speaking averse. They finally had an easyto-use, unobtrusive tool to capture them.

Next, I was hired to provide comprehensive sound services for a summertime outdoor wedding—from live band reinforcement and playback to capturing the vows for recording and sound reinforcement purposes. For this gig, the MCE 86 II was the linchpin; during dress rehearsal, I auditioned the shotgun, pointing it precisely where the bride and groom stood with the pastor. The result was an intimate, close-up

30

spoken word track that proved to be both useful during the wedding as well as later, when paired with a wedding video shot by another party.

Finally, I just happened to have the MCE 86 II in my microphone bag while running sound for a multi-artist outdoor acoustic/bluegrass event.

This being a “gather round the mic” type of setting, there were two different instances during the event where one particular instrumentalist was hard to hear in the overall mix. Just as an experiment, I grabbed the MCE 86 II, put it on a stand and placed it as out of sight as I could, being careful to aim toward the “buried” player. It worked like a charm, especially during solo passages where the player needed just a small yet natural-sounding boost.

The MCE 86 II’s remarkable smoothness rivals small diaphragm condensers I’d normally choose to use in the studio, and I believe that’s saying a lot, especially considering its affordable price. A shotgun microphone is simply a tool worth having in any “workhorse” microphone collection, and the MCE 86 II is an ideal specimen. n www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 17:14

AUDIO – SKILLS Too dense windshields may reduce higher frequencies and provide less clear consonants.

This DPA lavalier was placed in Scarlett Johansson’s t-shirt for the film Lucy. Yes, that’s Scarlett Johansson’s t-shirt.

Talk isn’t

CHEAP

Eddy B. Brixen, audio specialist at DPA Microphones, offers tips on recording the most important part of any show – the words

T

he most important sound source on TV is the voice. However, just transmitting the sound of the voice is not always enough to provide good speech intelligibility at the receiving end.

Speech consists of vowels and consonants.

Vowel sounds are generated by the vocal chords and filtered by the vocal cavities. Consonants are created by air blockages and noise formed by the passage of air through the throat and mouth, particularly the tongue and lips. It is the consonants that are responsible for speech intelligibility.

The speech rate performed by journalists, anchorpersons, and presenters is higher than in the early days of television. As listeners, we do not have time to repeat to ourselves what was just said.

Pauses in speech are almost nonexistent. So every word needs to be intelligible!

There are basically two ways to improve signal-to-noise ratio. In noisy environments, get the microphone closer to the sound source (the mouth), or apply a microphone with higher directivity.

In speech recordings, the 1-4 kHz frequency range should always be “kept clear”. When, for instance, adding music, clean sound, or sound effects as background for narration, a parametric equaliser cutting the music 5-10 dB www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

31 TVTE Feb16 Feature_final.indd 2

in this frequency range improves the perceived intelligibility. In multichannel presentations, the perceived intelligibility is increased if the speech and the noise come from different directions.

However, if collapsed to mono, precautions must be taken to retain intelligibility.

Choosing the right microphone and using it in the right way is always the best starting point. If done correctly, there is nothing to repair afterward.

Lavalier microphones - In many applications, the preferred microphone is a lavalier type (positioned on the chest), which allows for greater freedom for the user. However, if a microphone with a flat frequency response is mounted on a person’s chest, the 3-4 kHz range should be boosted around 5-10 dB just to compensate for the loss in the chest position. Use a microphone that is pre-sized to compensate or remember to make the right equalisation in the editing process.

Note that no ENG mixers or cameras automatically compensate for this and no controls are provided to do so. In many cases this is never compensated for. Hence, intelligibility is often low.

For drama, the microphones can be hidden on the body, in the hair and in other bodyworn places.

Every new position may need its own equalisation.

Headset microphones - The level at the headset microphone is approximately 10 dB louder

31

compared to a chest position. The spectrum is less affected compared to the chest position. However, to some degree, a high-frequency roll-off has to be compensated for.

Handheld interview microphones - Handheld microphones should be held in front of the mouth within an angle of ±30°. If using a directive microphone (cardioid-type or shotgun), it should be addressed on-axis (and not like an ice cream cone). Too dense windshields may reduce higher frequencies and provide less clear consonants.

Remember to compensate for this.

Boom - When booming, the most neutral spectrum is obtained when positioning the microphone in front of and above the head. If the surroundings allow it, microphones other than shotguns may be the best solution.

Podium / News-desk microphones Permanently installed microphones are positioned at various distances from the person speaking.

Hence, the microphones should be directive, especially in the frequency range above 1 kHz. The microphone must point at the mouth of the speaker. Microphones mounted on podiums/ desks should not be sensitive to vibrations or any handling noise. n

February 2016 TVTechnology

04/02/2016 17:18

AUDIO – INTERVIEW

A future in space iZotope has become key player in audio software. TV Technology Europe interviewed the company’s CEO and co-founder, Mark Ethier, about the changing world of sound recording and editing and the potential for the future

In the past year, iZotope has won several awards, including a TV Technology Best of Show award at NAB for your RX Loudness Control software.

What has been the source of the company’s success?

I would say that we have tried very hard throughout the years to provide the world with new stuff – with new technology. And we’re constantly trying to push the bar higher, not only with the quality of the audio signal processing but the actual control and visualisation of it, so you have the ability to really understand the sound you’re looking at in an intuitive way. And we try to wrap that up with a really strong customer support team.

How has automation helped sound editors and engineers improve their workflows?

One of our philosophies is to focus on how to help people be creative. There are two prongs to that.

One is creating tools to allow them to do things that they might not have been able to do before.

When it comes to TV or film post production, Iris for example, one of our musical instrument

TVTechnology February 2016

32 33 TVTE feb16 izotope_final.indd 2

software products, has been used very much in sound design on the creative side.

The other prong is how to create automated workflows to help with the ‘commodity stuff’, the work that doesn’t require any real creativity. You have to get it done, you have to get it out of your way – you want the plosives gone, or you want to be able to remove distortion, or remove clicks and pops, or shape the background noise so the room tone is consistent throughout a take.

We try to enable sound designers and engineers to focus on the creative side rather than have to get bogged down in the tedious mechanical tasks.

I’ve seen people spend hours and hours modifying the levels of a dialogue track. And it’s satisfying, with virtually a click of a button, to enable them to modify breath sounds or plosives or sibilance.

Some of those technologies get to be pretty complex. There’s a lot of smart user interface and processing that makes that possible.

With schedules getting squeezed, a lot of these things become more of a challenge. As the time goes down, we don’t want the quality to go down.

32

We hope the quality goes up, even as people have less time to work on things.

What are some of the big problems people are looking to solve right now?

Sometimes we do observations of people working. And there are times when we are able to solve problems that people weren’t originally trying to find solutions for. Part of it was they didn’t even know the problem was possible to solve, so they weren’t asking if they could do it.

I think a good example of that is some of the automatic correction in RX. There are still a lot of unexplored issues that people are looking for solutions for. One big one is placing things in space. It’s still a big issue for engineers. How do you take dialogue or effects and put it into a space so it sounds realistic? That’s an area that we’re exploring a lot now. We see that as being the next frontier. You’ve edited it, now how do you mix it in a way that’s going to sound as realistic as possible. www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

04/02/2016 17:23

What are some of the challenges arriving with the growth of spatial audio and object-oriented sound?

One of the biggest challenges is going to be user interface and control. We’re so used to working in two-dimensional formats from an audio and positioning perspective that changing everyone’s mindset to not creating a static mix, but placing things dynamically in space – and the question of how you control those at any moment – is a challenge. How do you actually visualise that? How do you control it? What is the user interface?

The video game industry has been dealing with this problem in many ways, and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from video game development. iZotope has done work in licensing technology working with video game manufacturers on game audio, and we’ve learned a lot about how they think about sound. It has to be a lot more object-oriented. There has to be a more dynamic way of thinking about it. There are a lot of lessons there that we can pull over.

Do you think object-oriented sound will become the standard way of thinking about audio?

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

32 33 TVTE feb16 izotope_final.indd 3

I like to have the idea of starting with a blank slate – don’t think about how things have been done before. If you were an alien that came to

“There are a lot of lessons we can learn from video game development”

this planet, how would solve this problem? This goes back to the first product we released for sale, Ozone. Back then a lot of the software being created was deliberately trying to model the hardware that was being used – all the way down

33

to it looking like hardware and users interacting with it like hardware. So we came in with a blank slate and brought in things like undo and rich visualisations. We decided to think about how it should be and not get too hung up on the history.

If you clean-slated everything, and said there’s no stereo, there’s no 5.1, I think spacial sound is what you would come up with. When people talk about sound, they talk about placing a sound over here or back in the background or at some point in space or up above moving closer. They think about it in those terms intuitively. As opposed to saying: “I want ten per cent of the sound with this profile in the front right channel”. Thinking about sound in terms of stereo is partly a limitation of what the technology has been.

I think the idea of object-oriented sound will stick, because it’s actually more intuitive. And the actual distribution becomes much easier across different formats. I get excited, from a broadcast perspective. Instead of using all the bandwidth in a broadcast to support multiple mixes, you could have just one stream which is a positional stream, and then have more dynamic interpretation at the point its rendered with consumer.

February 2016 TVTechnology

04/02/2016 17:23

MARKETPLACE - BVE PREVIEW

The BVE 2016 Product Preview BVE is the UK’s biggest media industry tradeshow. Though most big releases tend to aim for NAB or IBC, an increasing number of companies are using BVE as a launch pad for products. Here are a few bits of kit to watch out for during BVE, which runs at Excel London, 23-25 February.

GLIDECAM CALREC New software for Apollo A new stabiliser in and Artemis Glidecam’s stable

G

lidecam will be bringing the iGlide II to BVE. Attendees of the show will be the first people outside the company to interact with these new camera stabilisers first hand.

The iGlide II will be replacing the original iGlide as a more advanced model: this small and light hand-held stabiliser can support cameras up to 3lbs/1.36kg. It has the same gimbal that is unique to Glidecam, and it also comes with four small steel camera platform weight plates should

TVTechnology February 2016

34 35 36 37 38 TVBE Feb16_BVE Product_final.indd 2

C

the operator want to add more mass and more inertia with the use of extremely light cameras.

Glidecam will also be showing the XR-Pro is its low-priced hand-held stabiliser for camera and accessories weighing up to 10lbs/4.5kg. The XR-Pro comes with four steel camera platform weight plates, whch is the feature that enables the use of light cameras and allows for such a wide weight support range.

alrec will showcase V4.0, the latest software enhancement for the company’s Apollo and Artemis consoles. New features include send levels on faders that allow a user to change the path level indicators on the fader to aux send level, admin-level protection of bus widths stored in the show memory for easy changes, and meter highlighting when a fader is touched.

Visitors to BVE can see the advances launched in V3.0 that include a new processing mode, path presets, user-configurable

34

wild controls, multilayer routing interrogation, stereo spill, additional meter scales, and patchable oscillator sources.

In addition, Calrec Audio will show an integrated Waves SoundGrid solution for its Hydra2 platform of consoles. This integration uses a new SoundGrid interface module on Calrec’s Hydra2 network. The module provides a connection between Hydra2 and the Waves SoundGrid network, allowing simple integration and introducing fewer parts into the chain.

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

05/02/2016 10:47

GUNTERMANN & DRUNCK

KFX TECHNOLOGY KFX’s Aurora gets a motorised slider

KVM extender for 4K

T

he DP1.2-VisionXG, a new KVM extender system, enables the remote operation of systems and offers uncompressed transmission of DisplayPort 1.2 signals.

The increase in 4K is also increasingly bringing the use of high performance computers to broadcast workflows, which means lots of heat and noise.

In response, G&D developed the system to safely remove the necessary computer equipment into central technology rooms.

The new DP1.2-VisionXG offers fibre optic connection between the KVM transmitter at the computer to the KVM receiver placed at the workstation.

Despite distances of up to

10,000m between computer and workstation, users can operate their systems in a 1:1 connection without any latency, claims the company.

Users benefit from more space as well as a cleaner working environment that is free from heat and noises emitting from computers, says the company.

To ensure high video quality, the new DP1.2-VisionXG system transmits video signals transparent, meaning pixel by pixel and without any compression. All details remain visible even when it comes to high-resolution 4K images at the full refresh rate of 60 Hz and across the entire transmission distance.

K

FX Technology has launched their new high-end motorised Slider, chosen by Ronford Baker to collaborate on motorising their sliders after their work engineering the KFX Aurora Remote Head.

The Aurora head and slider motor work together to form a 3 axis system remotely controlled through one cable. The fiveminute set up time for the head and slider allows for more flexibility on set without lengthy rigging time, using the slider and head in either overslung or underslung mode.

KFX Technology’s CEO Steve Scammell said, “KFX Technology, now based in New York, emerged from Kontrol Freax Ltd, a company that was among the first to offer lightweight motion control to the UK film market.

Eventually working worldwide, Kontrol Freax worked with the BBC Planet Earth team to bring Hollywood production values to natural history programming.

KFX’s second collaboration with the BBC Natural History Unit saw

us design a bespoke lightweight motion control system for use on the Frozen Planet TV series.”

“The experience gained from creating technology that works reliably and is easy to use in those extreme conditions was put to use in the development of the Aurora remote head and now the slider motor. Plug and play design and ease of use are at the core of our design philosophy as well as reliability. Recent productions include Star Wars VII: the Force Awakens, and Downton Abbey.“

INTERRA SYSTEMS Passing the Baton

I

nterra Systems is unveiling Baton 6.3, the latest version of its solution for file-based QC. Baton 6.3 optimises the QC process for 4K UHD, HEVC, HDR, DPX, and IMF content, and cloud-based workflows, through a wide range of enhancements, including improvements to video/ audio quality checks, data checks, audio language detection and verification checks across formats.

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

34 35 36 37 38 TVBE Feb16_BVE Product_final.indd 3

Baton 6.3 features a redesigned media player interface with additional options to review a BVR file, start and finish the review process, and ignore and restore errors. In addition, the Baton Content Corrector can be accessed remotely via a browser to enable on-the-go monitoring and reduce file copying operations during corrections.

35

February 2015 TVTechnology

05/02/2016 10:47

MARKETPLACE - BVE PREVIEW SENNHEISER Newest broadcast range from Sennheiser

T

he BVE show sees Sennheiser showing broadcast products including the new EK 6042 twochannel camera receiver, the AVX wireless microphone systems for video cameras, and ClipMic digital and MKE 2 digital.

The EK 6042 is a two-channel receiver that works with both analogue and digital Sennheiser transmitters across a bandwidth

of 184 MHz. It is said to be a partner for Sennheiser’s highend Digital 9000 series and can operate with analogue transmitters that feature Sennheiser’s HiDyn plus or HDX companders.

Sennheiser’s compact AVX receiver plugs into the XLR of a camera, where it pairs with the microphone and switches on

when the camera does. The system adjusts the correct audio levels and transmits using a protected link in the license-free 1.9 GHz range.

ClipMic digital and MKE 2 digital combine Apogee’s A/D conversion technology with Sennheiser design. Both microphones directly connect to iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

CLOUD EDITS A cloud of editors

GLENSOUND Glensound’s new Mini USB interface

E

diting services in the cloud are the aim of first time BVE exhibitor Cloud Edits.

The company offers a team of professional video editors ready to provide online editing for hire.

The Cloud Edits’ concept teams a suitable editor with clients, who uploade their video to the Cloud Edits website, for editors to cut then send back.

The editing team already caters for a wide range of productions such as factual, promotional and online content and will shortly welcome five new

G

lensound has launched Mini Cub, a new compact sibling of its Cub USB interface.

It features a single audio input and return stereo headphone monitoring in a 79 x 93 x 36 mm box. It has a water and dust proof mini USB interface for connection to a PC, Mac, or for the original project it was designed for, a Raspberry Pi. The Mini Cub is USB powered, meaning there is no need for batteries or external power.

A single XLR input is mic, mic + 48V phantom or line selectable.

The input features Glensound’s Referee input compressor system to avoid peaks and clipping. A four-segment LED indicates the input level, which is adjustable by a front panel pot control.

This input is delivered to both channels of the USB output.

editors specialising in news to meet demand in this area.

According to the company, one of the big advantages to of the cloud-based service is geographic flexibility. A UK-based editor might cut an overnight news piece for an Australian channel,while the producers sleep. Producers have the option of keeping an eye on both editor and timeline through the service.

Cloud Editors can use any server with remote access such as Avid Interplay, Forscene and Aframe.

Canon’s four million ISO

C

anon will showcase the ME20F-SH - a camera which boasts an extended ISO of four million, as well as showing off its latest range of 4K camera systems, lenses and displays.

Featuring an EF mount, the ME20F-SH supports a wide selection of compatible lenses across the Canon range allowing

TVTechnology February 2016

34 35 36 37 38 TVBE Feb16_BVE Product_final.indd 4

for extended creativity in all shooting conditions.

There will also be opportunity at the show to see the recently announced UHD DIGISUPER 86 (UJ86xX9.3B) and UHD DIGISUPER 90 (UJ90X9B) studio/field lenses as well as the CJ12ex4.3B and CJ20ex7.8B 4K broadcast lenses.

Alongside this, Canon will

display its latest 4K cameras including the EOS C300 Mark II and XC10 in an interactive handson display. The EOS C300 Mark II is adaptable and durable, fitting easily into any film, documentary or TV production workflow, while the XC10 is the perfect handheld, portable camera that allows UHD production.

36

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

05/02/2016 10:47

RIEDEL

LACIE LaCie’s fast new USB drive

Update to Riedel’s MediorNet 2.0

M

ediorNet 2.0 is an update to Riedel’s popular real time media network and includes a video router functionality with switching delays of less than 40 milliseconds.

The product also boasts highspeed rerouting that allows as many as 1,000 connections to be rerouted in less than a second.

There is simple drag-and-drop routing of multiple connection speeds configurations, and users now have the option to delete multiple selected connections at once. The firmware update also supports more than 65,000 ProBel crosspoints.

Riedel also highlights that MediorNet 2.0 introduces compatibility with Studer A-Link.

This enables the MediorNet Modular frame to act as a

decentralised audio router with a matrix size larger than 25,0002 and fully redundant interfaces.

At the same time, MediorNet supports EMBER+ for integration with other common control systems, such as VSM and KSC Commander. “Because the update permits access to all MediorNet parameters and allows users to edit I/O settings and control all routing functions, users retain control over configuration options,” states the company.

Additional features include a timecode display that can be configured to the user’s preferred size and position, an LTC input, and sample rate conversion on both optical MADI ports of MediorNet Compact systems.

L

aCie has launched the Chromé, claiming it is the fastest USB storage solution on the market. Housed in an aluminium enclosure, the drive features USB 3.1 Gen 2 connectivity with 10 Gb/s potential. The LaCie Chromé comes in a 1TB capacity for £1,149 and will be available as early as this quarter.

It features a pair of 500 GB M.2 SATA SSDs in RAID 0. Working together, these components deliver speeds of up to 940 MB/s to handle bandwidth-intensive applications. A new USB-C connector also makes the drive easy to connect to a computer.

Both ends are exactly the same and have no up/down or left/right orientation. It is also compatible with standard USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports thanks to the included adapter cable.

Each Chromé is individually machined from solid aluminium blocks for rigid durability and heat dissipation. The device features a blower that introduces cool air and a heat sink that draws hot air away from the SSDs. A solid chromed zinc stand securely docks the drive with neodymium magnets, and detaches for easy transport.

BRYANT UNLIMITED The right angle for connectors

B

ryant Unlimited will be debuting their right-angled DIN connectors and 12G BNC’s at BVE. Bryant Unlimited is the exclusive distribution partner for the new KORUS range of High Performance 75 Ohm BNC Connectors from COAX Connectors Ltd. The new KORUS range permits high data signal transmission without

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

34 35 36 37 38 TVBE Feb16_BVE Product_final.indd 5

distortion and offers true 75 ohm performance for signals up to 12G, and beyond. Finished in gold and black with gold-plated inner and outer contacts, the KORUS range covers popular industry standard cables and is also available in right-angled versions. The KORUS connectors are the latest addition to Bryant’s 75 Ohm BNC range, already widely used in broadcast

37

applications.

The connectors are being used increasingly on video routers, such as Grass Valley’s Nvision equipment, and on very high density video patch panels.

February 2016 TVTechnology

09/02/2016 15:40

MARKETPLACE - BVE PREVIEW IMAGINE PRODUCTS FORBIDDEN TECHNOLOGIES Windows open for PreRoll Post Collaborative editing boosted by expansion A rchiving solution PreRoll Post for Windows has been released. Used in broadcast and post production on Mac, PreRoll Post will now allows Windows users to create nonproprietary backups of any file or folder using the open-source LTFS. The archiving application streamlines the process of placing any file types onto an LTO-7, LTO-6, or LTO-5 tape, or onto Sony’s Optical Disc Archive (ODA).

PreRoll Post relies on checksum technology to ensure the files on tape match the originals. By storing the

checksum values for each file, PreRoll Post also verifies files during restoration back to hard disk when they’re retrieved.

The company says this process provides confidence that copies of files match the originals.

Within the PreRoll Post application, the LTFS mounts a tape as a volume within Explorer, making it possible to write to and read from the tape as if it were a disk, without other proprietary software or formatting. PreRoll Post also makes it easy to search for and retrieve previously backed-up files.

N

ew features in cloud-based editing software Forscene, aimed at improving the cutting experience for both editors and edit-producers, have just been released to its existing clients.

One of the enhancements to the browser-based post platform is the ability to import, display and edit track-names directly on the timeline, and export them as part of an AAF. Others include optional clip-name display on the timeline and the introduction of a solo button which enables one-click, single-track monitoring.

There are multiple improvements to sequence logging in the suite, including the ability to log and store sequence logging information separately

KINO FLO Kino Flo shows new Select LED range

K

ino Flo is releasing its new Select range of LED technology with the design of the original Kino Flo but with the advantages of LED technology.

The new Kino Flo lights come with variable bi-colour adjustment and a smooth dimming range

EDITORIAL

allowing for fine adjustment – the new features include hue control. A Lumen Radio is now built into all the new fixtures making them compatible with both Lumen Radio and WDMX systems out of the box.

The mount has also had an overhaul with a new thrust bearing and extended movement.

PRODUCTION

ADVERTISING

EXECUTIVE EDITOR James McKeown jmckeown@nbmedia.com

SALES MANAGER Ben Ewles bewles@nbmedia.com

EDITOR Neal Romanek nromanek@nbmedia.com

SALES EXECUTIVE Nicola Pett npett@nbmedia.com

CONTRIBUTORS David Fox, Adrian Pennington, Ann-Marie Corvin, Christina Fox, Ian McMurray, Philip Stevens, Heather McLean, Carolyn Giardina, Mark Hallinger, Anne Morris, Chris Forrester, Barrie Smith.

U.S. MIDWEST, NEW ENGLAND & CANADA Vytas Urbonas vurbonas@nbmedia.com

NEWBAY MEDIA LLC CORPORATE

U.S. SOUTHEAST AND MID-ATLANTIC, US CLASSIFIEDS & PRODUCT SHOWCASE Michele Inderrieden minderrieden@nbmedia.com

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

TVTechnology February 2016

34 35 36 37 38 TVBE Feb16_BVE Product_final.indd 6

from the source. Also new is improved support for sharing published clips in the chat window, and support for HLS as a streaming format, with media arriving as ‘growing’ files.

Jason Cowan, business development director at Forbidden, said the company was ‘reintroducing’ Forscene at BVE 2016: “Forscene was originally developed and introduced to the local market as a logging and sync-pull solution, but the software is now capable of so much more. [We want] to help clients realise the potential that this software has to fundamentally change the way they approach post production.”

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Davis White PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE Jason Dowie jdowie@nbmedia.com

U.S. WEST Pete Sembler psembler@nbmedia.com

HONG KONG, CHINA, ASIA/PACIFIC Wengong Wang wwg@imaschina.com

DESIGN

HEAD OF DESIGN, HERTFORD Kelly Sambridge ksambridge@nbmedia.com

TV Technology Europe ISSN 2053-6674 (Print) ISSN 2053-6682 (Online) is published four times annually

by NewBay Media. ©2016 by NewBay Media.

All rights reserved.

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 Neal Romanek at the feedback address.

ITALY Raffaella Calabrese rcalabrese@broadcast.it LATIN AMERICA Susana Saibene susana.saibene@gmail.com

38

www.tvtechnologyeurope.com

09/02/2016 15:40

The global resource portal for media technology content

White papers, webinars, opinions, blogs, case studies, tutorials and more.

NewBay Connect now offers even wider content for its registered users, is easier to navigate and provides users with dedicated weekly newsletters offering a digest of the latest content and carefully selected content from its themes of the month.

NewBayConnect-MediaInfo-PDF.indd 1

Why join NewBay Connect?

Free and easy to use: stay informed with the latest industry white papers, opinion pieces, web seminars and case studies that affect your business and your career.

26/05/2015 12:59

• Categorised content All material is organised into clearly referenced, specialist areas.

• Customised search You can quickly locate the information relevant to your business or area of interest.

• Tailored email alerts Notifications sent to you whenever there is an update within your chosen areas.

• Dedicated weekly newsletters Visit www.newbayconnect.com to register, browse and download content for free today.

Content Director: James McKeown jmckeown@nbmedia.com +44 (0) 20 7354 6002

NewBay Connect FP.indd 1

Editor Neal Romanek nromanek@nbmedia.com +44 (0) 20 7354 6002

Sales Manager: Ben Ewles bewles@nbmedia.com +44 (0)207 354 6000

Campaign Manager: Warren Kelly wkelly@nbmedia.com +44 (0)207 354 6000

12/01/2016 12:41

Command the Most from Your IP Audio Network WheatNet-IP is the only IP audio network that combines ALL the resources you need to manage, mix, process and route audio.

This unique system features a built-in toolkit to facilitate creation of mix minuses, IFBs, and salvos/macros, as well as HD/SDI de-embedding, utility mixing, auto mono summing, stereo balance control and more – all without having to add any extras.

Advanced functions include live and programmed control of all sources and destinations, remote command activation, logic control, audio routing, preset storage, and tools that automate processes via associated connections. With WheatNet-IP, all network intelligence is stored in every network interface (BLADE), so each is a point of redundancy. And, of course, each BLADE is AES67 compatible.

Dimension Three controls it all, giving you intuitive command over as many as 1,024 individual channels with access to over 10,000 live sources spread over eight layers. With 16 dedicated mix-minus busses, 16 aux sends, bus-minus outputs (up to 128), AutoMix, AFV, full digital processing and more, it’s the command center that ties the entire network together.

Call us or visit iptv.wheatstone.com for more info.

DIMENSION THREE WITH TOUCHSCREEN WHEATNET-IP: THE IP AUDIO NETWORK THAT’S ACTUALLY DESIGNED FOR TV

SEE US AT BVEPO: WHEATSTONE STAND F26 & BOXER STAND K06 BROADCAST AUDIO PERFECTIONISTS®

phone USA +1.252.638-7000 | wheatstone.com | sales@wheatstone.com

Full Page Template.indd 1

2/10/2016 10:35:18 AM