KitPlus | Articles

Powering a richer media experience on set-top boxes

by Achim BosseIssue 80 - August 2013 Todays television viewers are increasingly using the Internet to download, share, and consume media on a variety of devices. Traditionally, DTV and IPTV service providers have relied on DVB MPEG-based technologies to deliver linear television services and IP technologies like multicasting or RTSP for VOD. Howeve...

Submitted by Achim Bosse

Published 01 September 2013

Redefining the archive with Raj Patel

by Raj PatelIssue 80 - August 2013 The entire broadcast workflow has changed dramatically in recent years. Predictably, its been a slow-process. The enormity of transitioning from an analogue to a digital workflow is huge for a variety of reasons - planning, testing, implementation and budget, can mean some installations taking up to two years to c...

Submitted by Raj Patel

Published 01 September 2013

Ask the experts with TMD looking at LTFS

by Tony TaylorIssue 80 - August 2013 Not another acronym! What is LTFS?LTFS stands for Linear Tape File System. It is a file system for data archives, developed by IBM but published as an open standard and now widely adopted by all the leading vendors of large-scale data archiving. If it is a data product, why am I reading about it in a broadcast m...

Submitted by Tony Taylor

Published 01 September 2013

Ensuring online video revenue in the face of piracy

by Helge HoibraatenIssue 80 - August 2013 When it comes to distributing video online, broadcasters and other content distributors have seen a substantial viewing time amongst certain demographics move from traditional channels to piracy. Numerous debaters have tried to give a definite answer to whether this hurt sales and current business models, o...

Submitted by Helge Hoibraaten

Published 01 September 2013

Chris Barlow gains greater customer satisfaction

by Chris Barlow, Technical Director, AstecMonitoring the quality of service and experience for customers across an often complex and sizeable broadcast estate, can be a difficult area to oversee and hard to control. Gaining an understanding of the quality of the services customers are receiving has many variables to consider including the presence...

Submitted by Chris Barlow

Published 01 May 2013

Building a live linear streaming channel to reach multipl...

The market for live and on-demand streaming video has exploded in recent years thanks in part to broadband connections and the proliferation of connected devices. A recent survey by The Diffusion Group showed that some 50 percent of online video viewers watch some form of streaming live video at least once a month, and 64 percent said comprehensive...

Submitted by Jennifer Baisch

Published 01 May 2013

The key to the success of OTT services

By: Antonin Krl, nangu.TV CEOSmartphones and tablets have provided a major technological breakthrough in how we operate. Look around and you’re likely to see someone using their device to search for content, watch content or interact either directly or via social media applications. This is reflected in the Orange Exposure 2012/2013 annual independ...

Submitted by Antonin Kral

Published 01 May 2013

Creating a feature-rich subscriber-based OTT entertainmen...

TV Everywhere has become a way of life in the Nordic market, where every major broadcaster has succeeded in taking its services over the top and into the online video space. One of those broadcasters – pan-Nordic pay-TV channel provider C More Entertainment – has offered Web TV services for years through its online video portal. Competition for vie...

Submitted by Helge Hoibraaten

Published 01 May 2013

Maximizing the Efficiency of Multiscreen Video Delivery

By Shawn SaleemAs consumer demand for video content anywhere, anytime, and on any connected device continues to grow at a rapid pace, today’s pay-TV operators are in need of next-generation technologies that will lower the cost of multiscreen content delivery while enabling them to adapt to new business models. Advanced content networking ICs resol...

Submitted by shawn saleem

Published 01 February 2013

Twas the issue before Christmas;

As it’s nearly Christmas, I figured, what better way to honor the end of anther year than to celebrate everything that has gone before? To do that, I’ve picked my favourite production technology innovations of 2012. But, as we’re fast approaching the festive season, I’ve compiled them in the form a Christmas shopping list. Yes, I know. It’s genius....

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 January 2013

Understanding and Managing the Piracy Continuum

Content owners, content distributors and security vendors have traditionally characterized digital “pirates” as a single malicious group with ill intentions. This, however, is seriously short-sighted because it is an overgeneralization that not only overshadows true consumer behavior, but results in misguided piracy mitigation tactics and missed re...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2012

OTT Monitoring: keeping it simple and useful

IntroductionOTT is generally understood to mean a technique where the transmission of video to the subscriber is based on the same underlying methods as those currently being used to serve out web pages on the internet today. The Over-the-Top name refers to the potential of this technology for bypassing existing traditional television distribution...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012

Watch out for dead pixels

A dead pixel in a camera imaging sensor can manifest itself in a number of ways. Implying black, 'dead' is not necessarily the correct term for a pixel failure. This is because imager defects include hot pixels, sparkles, noisy or lazy pixels. These problems usually arise during the chip manufacturing process. Defective pixels can appear as unusual...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

Ask the Experts - Loudness

Introduction:Loudness level inconsistencies are one of the most common problems in the broadcast industry. Loudness standards are now being introduced as discontinuities in audio levels between programs, or between programs and advertisements, have been the cause of viewer complaints – in fact they are the number one cause. Of course anything that...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2012

So you think you know Flash?

So you think you know Flash?It is becoming widely accepted that HTML5 will eventually replace Flash as the platform for rich content and video on connected devices, but how can video publishers make the leap and avoid the pitfalls?David Springall, YospaceBack in the early nineties, when what few websites existed were almost completely static, a com...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2012