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Digital media services need more than just standard prote...

by Simen Frostad Issue 101 - May 2015 Standards are conceived in abstract. They are set up and negotiated between interested parties in a process that can last several years, with each party to the negotiations pressing its own case, and the standard that emerges at the conclusion is usually compromised in some way. At worst it can simply be a lowe...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 01 June 2015

Loudness normalisation for podcast streaming

by Jon Schorah Issue 99 - March 2015 For media companies steeped in traditional workflows, the exploding demand for over-the-top (OTT) content on many different devices is offering up significant new opportunities as well as challenges. If content owners can re-purpose their assets effectively, they can reach existing and new audiences through chan...

Submitted by Jon Schorah

Published 01 April 2015

Archiving as a service at BBC Studios and Post Production

by Kevin Shaw Issue 97 - January 2015 BBC Studios and Post Production (BBC S&PP) is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that competes for work from both the BBC and the market at large. In the Digital Media Services (DMS) department, we provide an end-to-end solution for what we refer to as "post-post production.\" Our services include digitization...

Submitted by Kevin Shaw

Published 01 February 2015

Eye to Eye: Video Post-production

Video post-production has long been one of the fastest developing subsets of the broadcast business. It was among the first to lead the shift from hardware into software, bringing huge advantages in terms of affordability and ease of use. I can still remember the high cost, heavy weight and low quality of the early analogue tape to tape video editi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2015

Expanding Arqiva into HD playout

ATG Broadcast recently completed a major SD to HD upgrade for Arqiva broadcast transmission centre at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. The expanded system enables Arqiva to process and transmit four fully-operational 1080i HD channels as well as six new SD channels. It includes the installation and equipping of a server-based ingest suite, playout...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2015

Manage and Monitor

Issue 94 - October 2014In the month that digital files become the preferred method of delivery for television programmes in the UK, it will come as a blessed relief to many in both post and production that one of the biggest bugbears of file-based delivery – how to deal with insert editing - may have been solved, just in the nick of time. It didn’t...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 November 2014

Manage and Monitor

Issue 93 - September 2014 In less than a month’s time, British television producers will be asked to deliver their programmes to broadcasters as files rather than tape. Some have been doing it for years. For others, it’s a whole new world. Fundamentally, the change is just replacing physical items like tapes, labels and VT reports with their zeros...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 October 2014

Software defined workflows

by Steve Reynolds Issue 91 - July 2014 The rising popularity of over-the-top video offerings and TV Everywhere services continues to transform the media and entertainment business. Whether through pure-play OTT services from dedicated providers, catch-up TV offerings from broadcasters or authenticated TV Everywhere services from pay-TV operators, t...

Submitted by Steve Reynolds

Published 01 August 2014

Giving Content Distributors an Edge in Quality and Compli...

by Adam Schadle Issue 90 - June 2014 Todays media and entertainment ecosystem relies on interconnections between content originators, who produce programming and deliver it over broadcast networks (including terrestrial, satellite, cable, and IPTV), and secondary content distributors who take that programming and deliver it to the end viewer. Incre...

Submitted by Adam Schadle

Published 01 July 2014

Transforming Content and Caputure Distribution

by Russell Wise Issue 90 - June 2014 Within the broadcast industry, ongoing financial pressures have driven continued consolidation of operations, centralization of staff, and efforts to increase efficiency through smarter use of current and forward-looking media-focused technologies. At the same time, the rise of multiplatform content distribution...

Submitted by Russell Wise

Published 01 July 2014

Audio monitoring: critical to visual media services

by Simen Frostad Issue 89 - May 2014 Its a fact of TV broadcasting that audiences will tolerate reduced visual quality much more readily than any impairment to the audio. So long as the audio continues and is intelligible, viewers tend to put up with glitches in the video or even temporary loss of picture. But if a broadcaster lets the audio qualit...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 01 June 2014

Assuring loudness compliance for international content di...

by Samuele Tezza Issue 89 - May 2014 At SAMPLE, sound is our business. An up-and-coming digital recording studio and post-production house based in Verona, Italy with offices in Milan and Rome, SAMPLE offers a full range of high-end services including voice recording for television and radio, dubbing for cinema and television, original soundtracks,...

Submitted by Samuele Tezza

Published 01 June 2014

The Digital Production Partnership

by Simon Pegg Issue 86 - February 2014 The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) was founded in January 2011 by the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, with representation from Sky, Channel 5, S4/C, UKTV, and BT Sport, to help speed the transition to fully digital production and distribution in television. As part of its work, the group has established common...

Submitted by Simon Pegg

Published 01 March 2014

The new DPP standard

by Craig Newbury Issue 85 - January 2014 Why and how is the DPP standard significant for broadcasters and other media facilities across the U.K, and beyond? The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) was founded in January 2011 by the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, with representation from Sky, Channel 5, S4/C, UKTV, and BT Sport, to help speed the transit...

Submitted by Craig Newbury

Published 01 February 2014

Remote control and monitoring

by Alan WheableIssue 83 - November 2013 Remote Control and MonitoringYou might wonder what remote control has to do with test and measurement. And you might be pleasantly surprised when you find out. For a number of years now, manufacturers of broadcast equipment have used remote controlled test installations to allow them to test systems and modul...

Submitted by Alan Wheable

Published 01 December 2013