KitPlus | Articles

Monitoring OBs the light and easy way

by Stuart Cameron, MD of Cache-MediaI wonder sometimes whether a successful OB should be measured as Outside Broadcast Coverage per KG or OB coverage per KM. The cost of fuel keeps rising and so the cost of getting to an OB location is also increasing. To anyone who is a cyclist, you know that extra weight slows you down when climbing hills. Theref...

Submitted by Stuart Cameron

Published 01 April 2013

Ask the Experts: What Workstation?

Investing in a new computer workstation or high end PC for use with digital video/or and media production can be a daunting task. With so many different manufacturers to choose from, and with a practically endless list of components to select from customers can be left with literally millions of possible choices. Scary if you aren’t a hardware guru...

Submitted by Mike Leach

Published 01 February 2013

Video Monitoring Essentials - By Den Lennie

As a DP the video monitor you work with is one of the most important tools on set. I began my career in 1994 shooting television news for Reuters on Betacam SP and it was very rare that I'd get to use a monitor on location. As my career evolved I started shooting more considered pieces and used Sony 9\" tube monitors all flight cased up. I shot the...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 December 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

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

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

Multi Function 2D and 3D Signal Monitoring Capability

We find ourselves in a constantly evolving industry with an ever increasing variety of video sources and devices that require monitoring. There is still a significant amount of analogue equipment requiring both composite and component monitoring, and then there is the whole raft of digital video equipment supporting SDI, HDSDI, 3G and now HDMI conn...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

COUNTING DOWN TO BVE NORTH

The engines are revving in the countdown to BVE North, the new event that is designed to serve the needs of the rapidly growing broadcast and production industry in the North. The exhibition and seminar program will address the myriad challenges facing broadcast professionals, from multi-platform broadcasting to the realities of 3D for television,...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011

Protecting your assets, safe storage and long life archiv...

A vast amount of information exists out on the Internet that can be very helpful but also misleading and confusing on how best to protect digital content over time both from degradation of content and from piracy. Thinking back on my twenty plus years in the industry, it is my personal opinion the first creative professionals to experience problems...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011

Ask the Experts on Storage and Archive

What is the most important thing to consider when choosing storage for content creation applications?The single most important aspect to consider when choosing a storage device for content creation is workflow. It is critical to have made a decision with regards to the capture device, the video format to be used and how the finished project will be...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

The 4 Golden Rules of Streaming

In November 2009 a Florida-based web design company ran a series of tests on their website. Their bounce rate (the % of visitors to their site that hit their home page but go no further on a site) started at 45% - a barely acceptable rate. Over the course of a month, they added graphic after graphic to their site. The effect was catastrophic with a...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011

NAB 2009 report

By general consensus, this year's NAB Spring Convention, or 'NABshow' as it styles itself, was one of the best ever. Wider aisles and a respectable rather than manic level of attendance made the event, in the words of one exhibitor, 'Business Class'. NAB was always the prototype show where you could sense the directions in which manufacturers were...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 July 2009

Marshall masters LCD

Marshall Electronics has made huge strides in the LCD picture monitor market, with a practical package that fits with many of today’s applications and circumstances. Its LCD panels are light and compact, saving space and weight – obviously very attractive for OB vans. The monitors are recognised for their value for money while frequently winning si...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 November 2008