KitPlus | Articles

Mixing console displays - central to usability

Since the introduction of assignable controls on mixing consoles, it has been essential to provide sound engineers with a clear picture of what the function and status is of each fader and other associated controls. Consoles can have over 100 faders. To allow the sound operator to keep track of the function of each panel and its current settings, c...

Submitted by Paul Hooper

Published 15 February 2017

The future of post production

Love it or hate it, 2016 will certainly be a year to remember, for many reasons. In the world of post-production, we\'ve seen high dynamic range become incorporated into UK studio pipelines for the very first time. We watched Ang Lee demonstrate exactly what you can do by shooting at 120 frames per second in combination with stereo 3D. We\'ve even...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 15 February 2017

Grading Quantum Break

Developed by Remedy Entertainment, published by Microsoft Studios and produced by Lifeboat Productions, the sci-fi game Quantum Break is an interactive and integrated live-action TV show that features actual characters chosen by the players game choices. Available for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows users, Quantum Break follows protagonist Jack Joyc...

Submitted by Juan Ignacio

Published 15 February 2017

Health and Safety gone mad

The first true broadcast television service started 80 years ago, on 2 November, 1936. Its home, famously, was Alexandra Palace, a vast and really rather run-down building on top of Muswell Hill in north London. Originally opened in 1873, and re-opened in 1875 after a catastrophic fire, it was built primarily as an entertainment venue. Indeed, it w...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 13 January 2017

Scopes, a creative trilogy

The purpose of color correction is to fix any problems with exposure and color, ensuring the final image looks right. Color grading is used to set the mood by adjusting the colors of the video imagery to achieve a certain look or feel. At the core of color correction is tonal range: the range of brightness from dark (black) to light (white). When t...

Submitted by Paul Issacs

Published 07 December 2016

Review: Transvideo Starlite RF

The Transvideo StarliteRF is a new lightweight wireless monitor system that ticks many boxes and satisfies new and developing monitor requirements. Rental companies are reporting a rising demand for lightweight shooting kits even for commercials and movies, increasing use of hand-held, use of Steadicam, gimbals and other body rigs which keep the ca...

Submitted by Marcus Brent-Smith

Published 07 December 2016

Taking a hybrid approach to the SDI/IP transistion

Broadcasters are not newcomers to technological transitions. As an industry, we\'ve survived analogue to digital, baseband to file-based workflows, SDTV to HDTV and now 4KUHD resolution, not to mention weathering a barrage of new compression formats. Today, we\'re facing one of the most dramatic transformations we\'ve ever undergone: SDI to IP. Unl...

Submitted by Matthew Coleman

Published 07 December 2016

10 Ways to make your trade show booth stand out

With 15 halls and over 1600 exhibitors, there\'s little chance of seeing every stand at the IBC trade show - but this year I gave it a good try and racked up an impressive number of daily steps to prove it! Unlike most show visitors, however, I wasn\'t looking for the latest bit of tech or next product to purchase, instead I was focussed on how IBC...

Submitted by Candice Cowan

Published 10 November 2016

Heading towards brightness regulations

I like IBC in the same way that I find NAB grating. Maybe I have been living in the UK for too long, but the bright morning Amsterdam sun breaking through clouds and reflecting off the canal while fit young things on bicycles pedal to college; snapchatting with their friends and avoiding collisions with practised ease has a certain charm. You just...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 10 November 2016

IBC - how was it you

IBC 2016 was very much a launching show, with more new products and updates than in many recent IBC\'s or NAB\'s. With so many of these announcements directly in the remit of a cameraman, blink and you\'d miss the next big thing in camera and lenses news. With this in mind, this review focuses on camera and lenses only. One consistent factor among...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 10 November 2016

Live streams versus srowing files

So, what is the difference between a stream and a file? It may seem like a dumb and obvious question, but it's crucial in the design of many file based workflows and the applications that drive them. Let's start with the basic and obvious answer. "You can random access a file but you sequentially process a stream". This used to be important back in...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 26 September 2016

Self contained and expandable commentary systems

Adopting innovative technologies and techniques is always fundamental to the control of capital and operational costs - the key to broadcast facilities or technology providers gaining competitive advantage. Sports commentary has continually suffered from high operational costs, whether at the sports venue itself or "off-glass", due to the need for...

Submitted by Chris Collings

Published 26 September 2016

The Future of LED Lighting

From the moment the LED light entered the broadcast, media and entertainment world its key differentiator was its energy efficiency compared to traditional tungsten studio lighting. LEDs use far less energy in the region of 90% less than tungsten lights and produce less heat. In addition, they are far more portable and generally have a longer lifes...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 25 August 2016

Realising the ideal

On 26 July 1916 there was a public meeting in New York. It was called by a group led by Charles Francis Jenkins (and more on him in a moment). But the guest speaker was Henry D Hubbard, at the time the secretary of the US National Bureau of Standards. This is some of what he said: "Interchangeability of parts is an important principle of standardis...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 24 August 2016

Test and measurement in a multiformat world

The evolution of television technology since the days of 525-line and 625-line standard definition has left a large legacy of standards which modern broadcast systems now have to recognise and process. In today's video and audio business, creatives and technical staff have to be ready to handle a multiplicity of signal types. In its standard form,...

Submitted by Kevin Salvidge

Published 24 August 2016