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TV-BAY Questions

Name & TitleJohn R Williams, Director Oscus Media in EdinburghWho are you (about yourself and who you work for)?This is a hobby that has got out of control! I was always keen of Tape recorders, and my son who is now 24, has followed the same pattern with an edit suite at aged 10. I have had no formal training and so I’ve have had to learn from the...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 August 2012

Here is the news

Here is the newsIn mid-May the EBU and SMPTE brought together many of the great and the good of the television industry – and me – to a forum on emerging media technologies. Held in Geneva, in a hotel expensive even by Swiss standards, it was supposed to set the agenda for the future, to share solutions so the future will be bright. As is always th...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2012

SOCIAL FINANCE AND LAS VEGAS : A WORLD APART OR ARE THEY...

Peter Savage draws parallels between funding for social benefit and the razzamatazz of NAB in Las Vegas. Last month we discussed crowdfunding in the context of TV and film production. It’s funding again this month because, during our ‘Look, Listen, Experience’ speaking tour, several people asked me whether social and/or community funding are potent...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

Tv-bay questions

Name & TitleJonathan Bentham, Engineering Director – IVTV BroadcastWho are you (about yourself and who you work for)?I’m a broadcast vision engineer and director of IVTV Broadcast living in the North West. IVTV Broadcast specialise in Live and Pre-Recorded content for Broadcast and other live events. What do you do? What does your company do?I am r...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

Silly Plugger

I have never been to a Mobile World Congress. I take the view that exhibitions are generally noisy, uncomfortable places where the chances of learning something interesting are widely variable. NAB and IBC are must-sees, of course, but otherwise I am not a great fan of exhibitions. Although it is impossible to type its name in Word, I make an excep...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2012

Syncing or swimming in Vegas......

I've never been to America. I went to Canada for a month a few years ago, I have family living in Kentucky, but I've never been to the US before. My family are much more the Devon beach holiday types rather than a week in Disneyland every couple of year’s type. And my first trip to America will be for NAB. In Vegas. I have been reliably informed th...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2012

Crowd funding

MONEY AND THE POWER OF THE MIGHTY INTERNET!Peter Savage marvels at the power of the Internet to bring low cost documentary films to market and, inevitably, has an idea for one of his ownFor the last two weeks I have been speaking at the Look Listen Experience roadshow around Great Britain and, after my short (and sometimes informative) speech on bu...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2012

The evolving art of sports television

Given the choice of watching a major live event on site or via television, most people would opt for the real thing. Sure, you have to get to the venue, perhaps queue to buy a ticket, find your seat or maybe stand for hours. If it is a football match, the audience in front will probably stand up for a better view of each goal, completely blocking y...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

The new world of live acquisition

While the debate rages over the future of broadcast television with discussion of OTT (OTT – over-the-top delivery – think iPlayer on Virgin Media as a key example – or LoveFilm. It means an on-demand content service that is delivered over the top of another network) and time-shifting increasingly hogging the limelight, there’s one arena in which t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

The premiership and conference leagues of online video

In a digital age where football clubs stand on multiple platforms, it’s the tribal ideologies and camaraderie that tie fan communities and club media together. But although personality and branding is key, so is the technology and functionality that powers the media content globally. Manchester United were ranked 6th most recognisable brand in a wo...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

Top ten from a top gun

Another IBC has come and gone. I peaked early: for me the highlight came before we even set out for Amsterdam when, as I wrote here last month, I met Sir David Attenborough, winner of the International Honour for Excellence. On site two things stand out. One was a delightful lunch, courtesy of my old and esteemed friend Roger Thornton of Quantel. I...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011

Ask the Experts - Integrating Social Media

Why should I care about integrating social media into my broadcast operations?Viewers are the lifeblood of any broadcaster, whether public service or commercial, major national broadcaster or special interest, free-to-air or pay TV, RF or IP delivery, fundamentally it's all about getting, and keeping, as many viewers as possible. Social media provi...

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

Game, Set and Match

It was only three months ago that this column hailed featured the new DVB-3DTV standard. But already there’s talk of a second version, or rather ‘phase’, as described by David Wood of the EBU in the new 3D Roundabout newsletter. In a way this is healthy. It shows just how fast 3DTV is moving and, whereas phase 1 is designed to work with existing 2D...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

Eye to Eye on Delivery and Distribution

A notable aspect of the 2010 IBC and 2011 NAB conference sessions was the rapidly increasing focus on IP streaming. Fibre-optic delivery to the home has yet to be turned into widespread reality but transport speeds over existing electrical infrastructure continue to accelerate. Cloud-based storage and distribution services offer a solution to the c...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011