KitPlus | Articles

The new world of playout

Consumers know what they expect from a television channel. They expect programmes, of course, but they also know they are going to get commercials, trailers, station idents, graphics, break bumpers, squeezebacks and hot starts, bugs and brand identities, and more. Significantly, they expect these to arrive smoothly and seamlessly, in consistent hig...

Submitted by James Gilbert

Published 22 July 2016

Everything you need to know about true IP

In its own way, every trade show - whether IBC, NAB or CABSAT - is full of firsts. New companies, new partnerships and most importantly, new product releases all want to make their presence known. Nearly all of these firsts however are either a) in response to a hot industry topic or trend or b) trying to predict the next industry trend. The last f...

Submitted by Joop Jensen

Published 22 July 2016

High throughput satellite meets the challenge of IP media

For some time, many people in the media industry have been wondering how much longer satellite could remain a major player now that the era of 4K is upon us and there is such a rapid proliferation of channels. There just isn't the throughput for these new services on the current generation of satellites, so the argument goes, and the costs per giga...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 22 July 2016

The changing face of streaming

I have been in the streaming business for more than 20 years and I've witnessed a number of major shifts in the industry. Currently we are experiencing such a shift as we see a massive increase in users viewing content but also a sea change in how it's being discovered and viewed. Over the last few years there has been a continual rise in the use o...

Submitted by Jake Ward

Published 22 July 2016

OTT - is it over the top or business as usual

OTT is a term that is casually bandied about as though everyone knows what it is, but is there really a single definition? Hopefully this little guide will have you speaking the jargon like a native!OTT stands for Over The Top. If you're into linguistics, then the first question that comes to mind is "What are A & B in the sentence: A is going over...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 22 July 2016

Seeing things with a 360 viewpoint

One of the benefits of working in teaching support is you often get opportunities to explore and experiment with lots of new kit that has been purchased for teaching or research. I have spent the past couple of years supporting the activities that take place within the Creative and Cultural Industries TV Studios (CCI TV for short) at the University...

Submitted by Michael Parsons

Published 22 July 2016

Public Speaking - do not be afraid

May 24th saw the first FBI Members ' event held in London, with guest speaker Jo Hind channeling her Media and Marketing experience gained from a career spanning TV and Digital for big hitters including AOL and Google into an entertaining and inspiring presentation titled 'Why women should speak in public, and how to do it '. Whilst women currently...

Submitted by Samantha Arlow

Published 14 June 2016

TVFutures looking back at the class of 2015

In a review of the academic year, KitPlus looks back over all of the contributions from students (and staff) and asks for one last comment 'with an eye to the future'Charlie Watts - Course Leader - TV and Broadcasting#TVFutures is a brilliant way for students to evaluate their current situation and really articulate important moments of learning an...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 14 June 2016

Meeting the Challenges of Media Assett Management

It's been 20 years since Microsoft founder Bill Gates uttered the words "content is king,\" and never has that statement been more true in media production environments. And yet, ask producers in any high-pressure broadcast operation to name their biggest challenges, and you can bet that managing video assets - finding them, accessing them, and usi...

Submitted by Dave Clack

Published 14 June 2016

Building Out Storage for UHD

As the next big thing in video, from capture and production through to display in the home, 4K and ultra-high-definition (UHD) video offers many benefits. Most notable of these is an eightfold increase in resolution as compared with 1080i, the established standard for HD broadcast. A number of other significant enhancements to image quality are als...

Submitted by Andy Warman

Published 14 June 2016

Bridging the Gap between Broadcast and Online

Social media and VOD services have increasingly become more important platforms for the telling of news and current affairs stories. Just a few years ago news producers would create a show for a particular time slot but now, news segments are published online almost immediately after being created. To do this however, each platform having its own f...

Submitted by Petter Ole

Published 14 June 2016

Girl Power

This month I was going to write about something important about the future technological platforms of our industry. It would have been incisive, enlightening and enriching. It really would have been. But I have just got completely derailed by the discovery of what I hesitate to call a cultural phenomenon. And while it is almost certain that you all...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 14 June 2016

Breakthrough

By Julia Belle Issue 113 - May 2016 How do you become a Hollywood Film Producer? Or a Second Assistant Director? Or a Gaffer?Truth is, they’re not particularly straight-forward questions to answer. But that doesn’t mean you should give up there and start working in a jam factory as your school careers advisor recommended. (Not that there’s anythin...

Submitted by Julia Belle

Published 20 May 2016

NAB Review

by Duncan Payne Issue 113 - May 2016 As I emerge from the customary post-NAB haze and try to formulate a coherent analysis of the 2016 show, perhaps the most striking realisation is that despite pacing the halls for four long days, I barely scratched the surface. The scale of the event, much like Las Vegas itself, is simply extraordinary, with over...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 13 May 2016

Class: Multi - Channel Audio

by Bruce Devlin Issue 113 - May 2016 If you\'re given a media file and it has 16 channels of audio then life can quickly become the opposite of boring, especially if it has to go to air quickly and the supplier is new. Put simply there are many ways in which the different channels can be laid out in the file, but there isn\'t a single overall stand...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 13 May 2016