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BVE 2012 in no particular order.......

The big story at BVE 2012 was BVE 2013. With the Earls Court exhibition site scheduled for redevelopment, BVE relocates next year to the ExCel exhibition site in London’s Docklands. The distance is only about 10 miles but, in the minds of many BVE exhibitors, the move is comparable with moving the NAB Convention to the Mississippi Delta. If you rea...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

Want to take the road?

3D Storm, the distributor of NewTek products in EMEA integrated a MINI Countryman with a complete and fully operational HD Live Production system. When 3D Storm started the MINI LiveManTM project, the concept was to showcase the latest production systems developed by NewTek TM. Two key words: Compact, all-terrain. MINI cars were used at several occ...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

3D Diaries Cameras: more for less

http://www.tv-bay.com/imag/issue062/files/44.htmlCameras: more for less?There is plenty of guidance available about how to shoot ‘good’ stereo 3D and the principles are quite easy to understand. Achieving good results takes good equipment and, maybe, the assistance of a stereographer and even a convergence puller... unless you are using one of thos...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Unconvincing conversion?

There have appeared in the last year or two an amazing array of 2D to 3D conversion boxes and software processors. Also nearly every major manufacturer of high end 3D sets has its own proprietary built-in processor allowing the user to view any ordinary TV broadcast or DVD instantly as a 3D rendition. The production of genuine 3D is expensive compa...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

2011: 3D Make or break?

Last year was predicted to be the year when 3D would leap forward or flop. History is littered with short periods of interest and development only for 3D to drop off the scene again. 3D Diaries has maintained that this time it’s different as now nearly all the right technologies are available – the only missing link being a practical autostereoscop...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Active or Passive? Its a walk-over!

With the forthcoming Olympics being broadcast in 3D free-to-air, there is sure to be a surge in new TV purchases. Given so many 3D capable models to choose from, which is best?Until the manufacturers come out with autostereoscopic designs that work properly in high definition, we have to view 3D though some sort of glasses to separate the left and...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Looking for the connection

This time last year I wrote a column which looked back. This year I have set myself the infinitely more challenging task of looking forward. What are the hot topics for 2012?The first prediction is easy. Television coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics will be extraordinary, capturing all the skill and dedication, elation and heartbreak of the w...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Eye to Eye: Video Post-production

This column’s previous excursion into video post-production was just before the 2011 NAB Spring Convention, always a dangerous time to talk about new hardware or software when a deluge of upgrades, lookalikes and lite-editions are about to hit the aisles of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Quite a lot has happened in this category over the past 12...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Stereoscopic 3D legalisation

Since its foundation in 1989, ONSIGHT has expanded from a London-based broadcast hire business into a full-service production facilities company. Also located at Shepperton Studios, ONSIGHT specialises in film and television production, post production and distribution. ONSIGHT’s activity encompasses every link in the signal chain and is certainly...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Quality is the best policy

Despite all the changes in our industry at the moment – and maybe because of them – quality is more important than ever. HD has become the production standard norm. Why have audiences embraced HD so enthusiastically? Because it looks and sounds great. If you have a 42” or bigger screen in your home then the difference between SD and HD is obvious t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Grading across the Atlantic

In the last five years, color correction has made leaps and bounds in terms of the way we grade, the performance capabilities of grading systems and even the locations where we grade. Only a few years ago, color correction suites were isolated rooms that were nearly impossible to connect to other offices or artists. But the color world has changed...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

2011 wasnt all that bad for TV & Commercials, was it?...

2011 was pretty depressing, reading the paper or watching the news was a miserable experience, and all in all, those who still have a job, or have a business should apparently be chuffed to bits!Manufacturers have had a torrid 2011 with various disasters striking key supply lines around the world, meaning shortage of tape stock, and now hard drives...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

3D USER REPORT: VIDEO 18 AND 25 FLUID HEADS

An atmospheric sunrise over the Alps, a small church in the middle of blooming trees, perfect camera pans across turquoise-blue mountain lakes and sun-drenched vineyards: The Austrian director and (3D-) cinematographer Andreas Meschuh worked for his promotional film "Styria – The Green Heart of Austria\" with the Video 18 and Video 25 fluid heads f...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012

3D is moving fast

Helicopter Film Services (HFS) have been a specialist in aerial filming for 20 years, but recently, they have successfully added another element to their diverse services: Aerial 3D. HFS are the only company in the world to have designed and built a custom 3D rig for aerial filming. Their “Da Vinci” rig for the Stab-C Compact allows for ‘hyper-ster...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012

Is it time to hang up your glasses for field 3D monitorin...

The rapid growth of 3D content being shot and produced has created many challenges to the camera operators, production teams and indeed manufacturing companies. There has always been the problem of viewing 3D material as it is being shot and the ability to review it immediately afterwards, whether as a camera viewfinder or a portable 3D monitor. At...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012