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tv-bay Questions

Name & Title?Doug Garside, Chief Engineer at Edit 19 Ltd. based in ManchesterWho are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?As a teenage performer, I attended Manchester Youth Theatre for two years running and appeared in numerous amateur and college productions, including once being naked on stage at a catholic college! Having completed my A l...

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

Storage and archiving

Anyone looking closely at a helical scan video tape mechanism, particularly the miniature variety, might be forgiven for wondering how such an elaborate technology ever came to be invented. The first experimental video tape recorders were essentially audio recorders running at very high speed to achieve the bandwidth needed for television signals....

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 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

3D a Geographic Thing

It may just be coincidence but, in the last week, two stories about 3D in Scandinavia have landed on the 3D Diaries desk. Of course two swallows do not a summer make but maybe there is a trend here, with some nations embracing the third dimension more than others. Sony Professional is currently building what they claim is Scandinavia’s first 3D-rea...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

tv-bay questions

Name & Title?Barrie Williams, owner and founder of Pixelfantastic, a boutique post production facility 13 miles east of SohoWho are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?I started my career in front of the lens as a musician, touring Europe for several years playing Jazz violin. We did a lot of TV work, so I became very familiar with the insid...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

IBC2011 must sees

Over 1,300 exhibitors will be supporting IBC2011, each bringing perhaps one, two or three new or enhanced products. My task is to distill these down to the 20 devices likely to be of greatest interest to TV-Bay readers, so far as that is possible several weeks before the show opens. As a recent convert to OS X, I note with gloom that Apple remains...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Cameras for streaming

I first saw true HD pictures years ago at IBC. OpTex had a camera focusing on some beautifully lit fruit. The image on the screen was extraordinary, hypnotising. Leap forward a decade and Amsterdam brought Europe its first taste of Ultra High Definition Television - not 720p, not 1080i, but 4320p. The enveloping cinematic pictures and the embrace o...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

HTML5 and H.264. Friends United....

H.264 - The Success StorySome technologies like DVD, CD, TV and the PC prove themselves over time. They are practical, flexible, reliable - even universal. Is H.264 one of those magic bullet technologies?H.264, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC, is the video codec that has taken the broadcast and consumer world by storm. In 2008, Anthony Rose, fo...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

3D Film-making Goes Independent

James Cameron and Sky TV have stolen the stereoscopic 3D limelight. Events such as football cup finals and royal weddings have seemingly been produced with no expense spared in order to show 3DTV at its best. The Ryder Cup, for example, employed an incredible 21 3D Polecam rigs, supplementing the main camera systems. Beyond the world of Hollywood a...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 June 2011

Review of Rycote Portable Recorder Audio Kit

Pocket-sized digital audio recorders with integral microphones are ideal for capturing sound during a video shoot. Provided the start point is marked with a hand-clap, wild audio can be imported and synchronised quite easily during video editing. And there is always the option of feeding the live audio signal directly into the camera. Either way, t...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 June 2011

BVE and the Year Ahead

In the IABM's market survey a year ago, the Director General, Peter White, forecast: “Although the worst appears to be over and a degree of optimism is discernible, 2010 is still shaping up to be a fairly lacklustre year. As we exit the year, however, we do expect to see better signs of market improvement with a more promising 2011 and 2012.” How p...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 April 2011

BVE 2011 retrospect

BVE 2011 had much of the buoyancy and buzz of an IBC. The organisers claimed an attendance of over 15,500 visitors and 240 exhibiting companies. Many of the UK-based stalwarts who make the annual pilgrimage to Amsterdam could be seen exploring the show, confirming that BVE is now taken seriously by mainstream broadcasters. It is perhaps over-optimi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011

Tape goes West at UWE

Three years ago a convoy of white vans arrived at the Faculty of Arts at the University of West of England in Bristol. An hour later its entire stock of SVHS camcorders, linear editing decks and analog tape were history. In came Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro and Panasonic digital camcorders. Now 20 professional tapeless HD camcorders have taken up...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

Name-Brand Batteries, Always the Best Choice

In today’s turbulent economy, it can be tempting to cut corners with lower-cost, generic batteries. All too often, however, this comes at the expense of quality, reliability and safety. Though they may incur a higher price, name-brand batteries’ superior capacity, load carrying, charger options and safety mechanisms ultimately make them the best in...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011