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5 broadcast trends at IBC 2015

by Peter Savage Issue 105 - September 2015 Azule CEO Peter Savage gazes into his crystal ball to make predictions about the technology trends that could emerge from IBC 2015. 4k acquisition will go mainstreamOf course, 4k has been a hot topic for several shows but this year will see it move into the mainstream. Alongside the plethora of camera intr...

Submitted by Bernard Newnham

Published 01 October 2015

Lighting fundamentals

by Larry Jordan Issue 104 - August 2015 Lighting is like chess. Simple on the surface yet wondrously complex the more you learn about it. Recently, I was asked to do a presentation on the basics of lighting. So, I decided to share that presentation with you here. It starts with 3-point Lighting, though, um, we actually use four lights (see above):-...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 September 2015

Three days to launch a TV station

by Neil Hutchins Issue 104 - August 2015 We go on-air in less than 100 hours is an alarming statement when the studio and control room in question contain no technical equipment whatsoever. But this was the situation that we faced upon arrival at the new Local TV channel in Manchester for the first time as we began to unload the van late on a Thurs...

Submitted by Neil Hutchins#

Published 01 September 2015

4k storm chasing

by Alister Chapman Issue 103 - July 2015 15 years ago I got my first big Broadcast Commission. It was to produce a 1 hour special on Tornado Chasing vacations. Yes, people pay to go on storm chasing holidays. In 1999 this was a new thing, today its a booming business. Ive always been fascinated by natural extremes and filming tornadoes seemed like...

Submitted by Alister Champman

Published 01 August 2015

Back to the future

by Dick Hobbs Issue 103 - July 2015 I was recently talking to the estimable James Gilbert, who runs the equally estimable graphics and automation specialist Pixel Power. He said something that made me think. We were talking about scalability, and he said that it works in two directions. There is the sort of scalability that we all readily understan...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 August 2015

The importance of storage

by Larry Jordan Issue 102 - June 2015 "What\'s the best computer to edit video?\" It\'s a great question - it\'s just the wrong question. Yes, CPU speed is important and the Internet is buzzing with the latest specs on GPUs. But, today, virtually any currently shipping computer is more than adequate to edit video; even 4K. The critical component th...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 July 2015

Those pesky scientists

by Dick Hobbs Issue 102 - June 2015 This month\'s picture is of something I was given on a visit to the Grass Valley camera factory in Breda, maybe 10 years ago. I think it is a thing of beauty, which is why it sits in pride of place on top of the wine cabinet. It is the sharp end an HD system camera: the optical block and a CCD imager. We saw in t...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 July 2015

Cautionary notes from GTC Member number 001

by Dick Hibberd Issue 101 - May 2015 Recently I was invited to be on the panel of judges charged with selecting the winners of the 2014 \'Bill Vinten GTC University Awards\'. This was just the second year of this excellent scheme and, if the submissions from universities increase annually pro rata, then we will soon have a major logistics problem i...

Submitted by Dick Hibberd

Published 01 June 2015

Is it my eyes, is it in focus?

by Graham Reed Issue 100 - April 2015 Is it me or as I get older, and my eyes not as good as they were, are viewfinders getting smaller and less sharp?When I started as a cameraman the cameras were large (EMI 2001\'s) as were the viewfinders. They were large format cameras with a 30mm 4x3 sensors and the normal aperture was f 3.5, so a shallow dept...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 01 May 2015

How to read Video Scopes

by Larry Jordan Issue 98 - February 2015 Understanding what video scopes tell us about our images is essential to creating great looking images; regardless of which video editing software you are using. In this article, I want to explain the basics of video scopes and how to read them. A QUICK BACKGROUNDEach video image is composed of pixels, small...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 March 2015

Bring up the bodies

by Dick Hobbs Issue 98 - February 2015 If you have even once turned on BBC television in the last couple of months, you could not fail to learn that the big blockbuster drama this winter is Wolf Hall, a television adaptation of Hilary Mantel\'s two-thirds complete trilogy about the Tudors, and Thomas Cromwell in particular. I subscribe to what seem...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 March 2015

Coffee and TV: Tracking the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with mo...

by Jon Trussler Issue 97 - January 2015 When VFX artists are faced with tight deadlines, they rely on software to address particular pain points, helping them deliver the finished product in time. Such was the case when Soho-based VFX studio Coffee and TV was commissioned to hand off 70 VFX shots in just two weeks for three Samsung Galaxy Note 4 co...

Submitted by John Trussler

Published 01 February 2015

REVIEW: Matrox Monarch HD

by Colin Ashby Issue 95 - November 2014 Firstly, a confession; it\'s a fair bet that, technically, I know a lot less than you the reader although I\'ve worked in broadcast television for over 30 years so I have a lot of hands-on experience. To balance this out, I\'m a cameraman so we\'re by nature attracted to new models, bright shiny things, whist...

Submitted by Colin Ashby

Published 01 December 2014

Miniature cameras on the move

by Kieron Seth Issue 95 - November 2014 Using cameras in-car has always been problematic. Most importantly, the size of camera is crucial: sit a camera operator in the vehicle with a camcorder and the natural sense of intimacy is lost. Mount the camcorder within the cockpit and it is sure to obscure the driver\'s view of the road. The alternative i...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 December 2014

A quick guide to: Considerations for building monitor gal...

by Steve Hathaway Issue 95 - November 2014 There has been a trend in recent times towards using large screen systems in production galleries and monitor walls. This has been enabled by the wide-scale availability of affordable multi-viewer systems but has this trend really been of benefit to broadcasters? As a specialist in picture monitoring, work...

Submitted by Steve Hathaway

Published 01 December 2014