KitPlus | Articles

Broadcast Batteries, Today and Tomorrow

As consumers, we all have experience of being let down by batteries (think rusty Italian cars in the 1970s!). But thankfully the world of batteries has moved on: the global battery industry is today worth $71 billion and is estimated to be growing at nearly 5% a year. Of this, broadcast batteries make up a tiny fraction but the manufacturers that s...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Bridging the divide between production and post productio...

In the last couple of years we have seen a considerable increase in the adoption of digital film cameras. This is not only fuelled by improvements in the technology and image quality but also by the adoption of 3D filmmaking, which significantly lends itself to the digital arena. Digital cameras have brought some wonderful benefits to the filming c...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

HotTips on how to be a better lighting cameraman.

First up, don’t worry too much about HDFor most of my early career I shot with film, not video, so I usually approach things from a film point-of-view. This means I don’t see an awful lot of difference between SD and HD. In my opinion, the extra definition has more of an impact on the make-up team and the set designers because, regardless of what l...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011

Flipping the Switch to Wireless Lighting Control

Despite the fact that the wider world is increasingly adopting multiple forms of wireless control and communication, the professional lighting industry continues to, by and large, be dominated by the wired link to carry the universal DMX512 control standard. There’s no question that wired DMX512 offers simplicity for point-to-point links to large b...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 January 2011

Ravensbourne 21st Century Broadcast Education

Just over eighteen months ago, Adrian Scott of the Bakewell House Consultancy was commissioned to guide Ravensbourne through the EU Tendering process to appoint a Systems Integrator to transform the broadcast facilities of Ravensbourne as it moved into its new multi-million pound home at Greenwich Peninsula. Winning the contract, TSL rose to the ch...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2010

The 2010 spending review cutting into the future of our i...

Our industry can survive the government’s cuts provided we stand-up and speak for ourselves, says Peter Savage. In October the UK government announced the most comprehensive spending cuts in over 50 years. With the Department for Culture, Media and Sport facing cuts of more than £300m and the BBC’s licence fee frozen for six years, the forecast is...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2010

Redefining Mobile, High Definition Recording With Cinedec...

IBC 2010 saw the official European launch of Cinedeck EXTREME v2.0, an ultra-portable cinema grade integrated High Definition monitoring, recording and playback device that has already won numerous awards and accolades since making its first public appearance at this year’s NAB Convention in Las Vegas. Cinedeck EXTREME v2.0 incorporates a number of...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2010

Shared Storage Comes of Age

Increasingly stored in digital form, together with related metadata, digital media is in the process of transforming both the technology and process of production throughout the broadcast and post production industries. But as every action precipitates a reaction, every advancement precipitates its own particular challenges. The challenges with dig...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Hows that

A few days ago I umpired a cricket match. It was a very pleasant afternoon, marred only slightly by the almost continual drizzle, but it was August in southern England. The game was held at a lovely village cricket club, and so my fellow umpire and I did not have the benefit of replays or other technology. To be honest, I think they would have been...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Polecam Production Profile

I have been working in the film and television industry since 1989, starting as a news cameraman and editor at the Manitoba Television Network. MTN is a local independent television broadcaster in my home town of Winnipeg. In 1991 I joined the French television service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a sound man and advanced to EN...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Nucoda Film Master builds tension on Mistresses

Fans of popular UK television drama Mistresses saw the third series air on BBC One and BBC HD in August. Shot in Bristol on RED, the four x 60 minute drama was edited and graded at Bristol-based post production facility Films@59, who also supplied the camera kit. Produced by Ecosse Films, Mistresses delves into the tangled lives of four female frie...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2010

3D Diaries Part 3 Mastering 3D

The 3D Masters conference was full of optimism, and caution, for the future of stereoscopic 3D. The one-day event was a near sell-out with about 250 attendees filling most of those sumptuous theatre seats at BAFTA. Despite the comfort, warmth, darkened room and good lunch, your correspondent managed to keep wide-awake to absorb the ceaseless torren...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2010

19inch Racking, an evolution

If you have ever worked with 19” racking you probably have the scars to prove it. From its inception in the 1930’s to the present day the 19” rack has hardly evolved. Standards organisations, from BSI, ISO ANSI and DIN all have their own take on the 19” rack and, as you all know, you never could get that Dell server in the HP rack. With cage nuts,...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2010

Modern Test Techniques for Digital Audio Broadcast System...

The move to digital systems in broadcast audio means that engineers and systems integrators have had to evolve new means of testing equipment. Simon Woollard, Applications Engineer for audio test and measurement manufacturer Prism Sound, discusses some of the issues faced by today’s broadcast engineers. The AimsIn terms of audio performance, the br...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2010

Breaking Down Loudness Control

Q: What is loudness and why is so much attention being paid to it?A: Loudness is what people hear. It refers to the perceived strength of a piece of audio such as music, speech or sound effects. Among other factors, loudness depends on the level, frequency, content and duration of the audio the listener is hearing. Right now, television viewers are...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2010