KitPlus | Articles

Back to the future

by Dick Hobbs Issue 103 - July 2015 I was recently talking to the estimable James Gilbert, who runs the equally estimable graphics and automation specialist Pixel Power. He said something that made me think. We were talking about scalability, and he said that it works in two directions. There is the sort of scalability that we all readily understan...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 August 2015

Cautionary notes from GTC Member number 001

by Dick Hibberd Issue 101 - May 2015 Recently I was invited to be on the panel of judges charged with selecting the winners of the 2014 \'Bill Vinten GTC University Awards\'. This was just the second year of this excellent scheme and, if the submissions from universities increase annually pro rata, then we will soon have a major logistics problem i...

Submitted by Dick Hibberd

Published 01 June 2015

Outside broadcast gets a breath of fresh air

Issue 99 - March 2015Capturing what\'s happening remote from the studio has moved beyond the broadcast truck parked street-side. Your audiences are hungry. While they have the ability to bring the world of news, entertainment, sports and information to their doorsteps - wherever that may be and on whatever device they choose - someone still needs t...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 April 2015

A stitch in time

by Thomas Dove Issue 98 - February 2015 "A stitch in time saves nine\" is an old saying: essentially it is saying fix a small problem now and it will save fixing a much bigger problem later. This applies in many areas - including broadcast. Kicking the error can down the road costs a lot more to fix the problem, particularly for audio and video fil...

Submitted by Thomas Dove

Published 01 March 2015

High Resolution graphics for 4k and beyond

by Jesper Gawell Issue 96 - December 2014 It seems like 4K is everywhere these days - it\'s the dominant topic at broadcasting trade shows. Is there substance behind the hype? Will it transform television the way HD broadcasting did? Clearly, one of the "next big things\" in the media and entertainment world is higher resolutions and 4K delivery o...

Submitted by Jesper Gawell

Published 01 January 2015

4k - The biggest New Years resolution

by John Ive Issue 96 - December 2014 Whether it is Ultra High Definition (UHD), 4K or 8K - the predictions surrounding when and if this higher resolution format will become a widespread reality are still rife in the broadcast and media industry. The consensus in the sector seems to be that we may be edging marginally closer. However, many of the ba...

Submitted by John Ive

Published 01 January 2015

Matrox Monarch HD

Issue 96 - December 2014 Matrox Monarch HD is the video streaming and recording appliance for the first live underground music site of its kind, DMO Live (Don't Miss Out), a new platform that records and live-streams international music parties, exclusive artist interviews and festivals direct to the DMO website. Created for the electronic music lo...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 January 2015

An artist gets bored of the same colour palette

by Rob Tarrant Issue 95 - November 2014 So the wait is over. The brand new VariCam was launched at IBC in September. Above all else that means extra choice for high end episodic dramas, advertising and movies, where it has to be said the choice has been limited for far too long. Since the introduction of the original VariCam in 2002, the first high...

Submitted by Rob Tarrant

Published 01 December 2014

Rotolight ANOVA lights

Issue 95 - November 2014We are moving into an era when technology enables us to streamline our workflow more than ever before and studios are looking to utilize equipment that is portable, versatile and energy efficient without undermining the quality of the end product. LED Lighting is increasingly more popular as LED technology advances and the u...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 December 2014

Capture and Produce

Issue 94 - October 2014One of the hot topics at this year’s IBC was undoubtedly the growing adoption of end-to-end IP production and the imminent death of SDI. During a panel session, hosted by Mediasmiths and Cognizant, and including representatives from BBC, Sony and more, the key point made was that the adoption of IP production technology and w...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 November 2014

Do Not Be Cheap With Your Data

by Kieron Seth Issue 94 - October 2014 Everyone used to leave a Betacam or DVCPro tape on the shelf for years. It would probably work fine a decade later (as long as the VTR still worked). Now production companies are stacked high with external hard drives full of archived video projects and media files. It\'s a recipe for catastrophe - apparently...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 November 2014

Trouble- Shooting Your Mac Editing System

by Larry Jordan Issue 94 - October 2014 So, there you are. Ready to start editing, except your editing system doesn\'t start. Or crashes in the middle of an edit. Or, most insulting of all, just sits there waving the "Spinning Beach Ball of Death\" in your face. Sigh... While there are an unlimited number of gremlins and bad actors that could cause...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 November 2014

Sony PXW-FS7

by Alister Chapman Issue 94 - October 2014 At IBC Sony launched a new camera. In fact Sony launched several new cameras. This is nothing new, every year Sony launch cameras. But this year Sony really created quite a stir with one camera in particular, the Sony PXW-FS7. So what is it about the FS7 that is so special? Looking at the specs alone this...

Submitted by Alister Champman

Published 01 November 2014

Shooting Cinematically

by Ben Baldwin Issue 93 - September 2014 One Monday morning in July I headed to Pinewood Studios to spend an hour in the company of Den Lennie and Philip Bloom for a Sony Webinar - Shooting Cinematically. Both DOPs share a passion for helping aspiring filmmakers grow their skills and confidence and both have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to c...

Submitted by Ben Baldwin

Published 01 October 2014

The evolution of Wired Intercom

by Simon Browne & Ed Fitzgerald Issue 93 - September 2014 Early Beginnings What do you think was the fi rst DIGITAL communications system devised? Of course you could think of the evolution in standardised parallel data backplanes and digital ICs in the 1980s and the swathe of multi-rack Time Division Multiplexed switching systems that it enabled,...

Submitted by Simon Browne

Published 01 October 2014