KitPlus | Articles

Listening to the needs of audio engineers

Monitoring SDI video content within an installation is and has always been straight forwards. If you have a monitor, and you can see the image correctly, all is well. This is not necessarily the case for metadata and especially not for audio. Assuming a SMPTE 352 payload packet is present on the SDI signal, this metadata determines how the video co...

Submitted by Alan Wheable

Published 07 June 2018

Technological advances in the broadcast industry

Since it is Omnitek’s 20th anniversary this year, I thought it would be interesting to look back over the technological advances in the broadcast industry over the last few decades and look at the similarities between then and now. When I started work in the Broadcast television industry in 1975, video was analogue (with only 3 of 4 formats to worr...

Submitted by Alan Wheable

Published 26 March 2018

Interview with Peter Rowsell, Polar Graphics

If you don’t recognise the name Peter Rowsell instantly you no doubt would recognise him in person, from the famous ‘Pink Coconut’ parties during IBC (Brighton) in the 80s or the name ‘Polar Video or Polar Graphics’ both companies which he’s built up over the years. Entering his 43rd NAB (yes 43rd, that is NOT a typo!) who better to catch up with t...

Submitted by Polar

Published 26 March 2018

AoIP in the intercom world

Everyones talking about using AoIP (Audio over IP) in the broadcast world, but what does it mean to the operators actually making the production - the intercom users? And after years of interoperability taking the lowest common format of analogue tie-lines (also known as 4-wires), has intercom today already moved into the digital world by sharing d...

Submitted by John Sparrow

Published 17 January 2018

Class - Treat your virtual machines like cattle

i The AWS Summit 2017 in London For several years I have felt that I should attend the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit in London, but never quite found the time to do it. After an exhilarating and educational day, I will now regret that I didnt go sooner. The Summit is basically a way for newbies to learn about the scope of AWS, for professionals...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin - new

Published 19 October 2017

Image processing with Ikegami

What do you see as the trend thats most impacting the image-processing sector at this moment in time? Audiences are moving towards a world where it is an expectation that when consuming content they want complete immersion. The explosion of virtual reality (VR) in to our market is testament to that. Progression has been a trend that has run through...

Submitted by Michael Latzch

Published 19 October 2017

Getting started with IMF

i Why is the Interoperable Master Format still exciting? Content is still King, but only if you can get it out to the consumer. I have just had the privilege of doing a live episode of Bruce\'s Shorts at the EBU IMF Workshop in Geneva. It was a privilege because I was able to talk about real world issues in making IMF compositions rather than talki...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin - new

Published 07 September 2017

State of the Nation - part 1

i Imagine you are the director of the Champions League Final, knowing that 200 million people will be watching your every decision. Or you\'re directing the Eurovision Song Contest. Or even, to be honest, the Tunbridge Wells local news opt out. And at live minus 30 seconds, all the screens in the monitor wall suddenly go black then show a demand, i...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 07 September 2017

Does the cloud have substance?

Just at the moment, every customer we talk to wants to move to the cloud. It is not just a techno-buzzword: people are really attracted by it. The idea of getting rid of all hardware and letting someone else worry about keeping machine rooms alive seems like a good plan. And they sometimes feel a bit deflated when we talk quietly and calmly about w...

Submitted by Ciaran Doran

Published 04 April 2017

Streaming and the need for continued innovation

In a fast-changing world, audio producers need to adapt quickly in order to keep up. Media consumption is changing - fast. Almost without anyone noticing, we have passed the tipping point. Only a few years ago we were discussing streaming as an emerging technology; yet now, according to a recent Deloitte survey, streaming has overtaken live TV as t...

Submitted by Jon Schorah - new

Published 04 April 2017

A Software Based Approach to Video Monitoring

Real-time content monitoring is a mission-critical operation for broadcasters, telecom, and satellite operators. Traditionally, service providers have used monitoring systems based on specialized hardware with a dedicated, fixed interface designed to monitor a specific number of video feeds. Yet, bespoke hardware solutions require a substantial amo...

Submitted by Anupama Anantharaman - new

Published 04 April 2017

The Transistion in Audio Monitoring

As signal chains have become increasingly complex, the challenges involved in managing and monitoring these paths have multiplied exponentially. Over the past few decades, we\'ve migrated from handling a single channel of content using composite video and analog audio pairs, to elaborate multi-channel facilities routing HD video with embedded audio...

Submitted by Shane Toven

Published 15 March 2017

6 Misapprehensions of MAM

Implementing a media management system is considered to be a risky business. The perceived complexity, upheaval and perception of failure can be so daunting that the risk may seem to outweigh the reward. But, like so many business technologies, MAM have been transformed in recent years and it\'s time to debunk some common MAM myths. Perception: MAM...

Submitted by Julian Wright

Published 15 February 2017

Trends in IP based broadcast

The momentum behind moving media operations to IP-based environments is unstoppable and to stay ahead of the competition these days, companies need to be migrating operations away from rigid, single-purpose components and towards software-based common computing resources. The good news is a well-architected IP-based production facility is now able...

Submitted by Glodina Lostanlen

Published 13 January 2017

Broadcasting virtual reality to the world

Following the recent launch of a number of virtual reality (VR) headsets, such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, VR is introducing new and compelling platforms for broadcasters to deliver their content, and new ways for audiences to consume. While the way that audiences consume content continues to shift, with the ratio between viewing on fixed scre...

Submitted by Steve Plunkett

Published 13 January 2017