KitPlus | Articles

SPG - a commodity product or something special?

The need for a reference generator in broadcast television applications is universally accepted. Quite what that reference generator is or should be is another matter. Early reference generators produced signal pulses like Line Drive, Field Drive, Mixed Blanking, Sync, etc. Soon thereafter analogue colour black appeared on the scene and the sync pu...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2012

What should I know about lithium-ion batteries

Ask The Experts: Martyn Sly-Jex, Regional Sales Manager, EMEA, Anton/Bauer What should I know about the chemistries behind lithium-ion batteries? When Li-ion cell chemistry was first introduced, it was hailed as a breakthrough, lightweight power solution for broadcast and video professionals. It incorporated high-energy density and low-self-disch...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 July 2012

More Power for Camera Accessories

Reliable, durable and plentiful battery power is essential for broadcast acquisition. The power demands of modern high-definition camera set-ups are now greater than ever. As the number of camera accessories increases so do the demands for battery power. In addition to power-hungry cameras, there is also a greater number of camera accessories avail...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2012

Casual specs

If you are a regular reader of this column, you probably know by now that I am a lover of technology that is useful, or at least very attractive. On the other hand I am quite scornful of stuff that engineers come up with because they can, without ever having an idea of what it is for. I do not go to the CES show – one trip a year to Las Vegas is en...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

Dick gets hands on

There is a new buzz phrase in computer magazines at the moment. It is “digital skeuomorphism”, an expression which has come to describe the way that a user interface is designed to look like something else. To give an example of digital skeuomorphism, the picture is of my iPad calendar. The point is not to show how busy I am at NAB, but to show the...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Ask the expert exhibition travel

There are too many trade shows and they are all expensive. Why should I travel to them?You probably should not attempt to travel to every show on the calendar, even if it was possible. It would take all your time and blow the budget out of the water. But that does not mean you should turn your back on shows altogether. They are still the primary wa...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Active or Passive? Its a walk-over!

With the forthcoming Olympics being broadcast in 3D free-to-air, there is sure to be a surge in new TV purchases. Given so many 3D capable models to choose from, which is best?Until the manufacturers come out with autostereoscopic designs that work properly in high definition, we have to view 3D though some sort of glasses to separate the left and...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Quality is the best policy

Despite all the changes in our industry at the moment – and maybe because of them – quality is more important than ever. HD has become the production standard norm. Why have audiences embraced HD so enthusiastically? Because it looks and sounds great. If you have a 42” or bigger screen in your home then the difference between SD and HD is obvious t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Managing Media

Looking after the media for a television production used to be a relatively simple task. The footage would be shot and captured on tape. The tapes would be delivered to the post-production facility for editing. They would be ingested into the edit system, the editor would construct the final program and it would be recorded back to tape. All the ta...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

Is it time to hang up your glasses for field 3D monitorin...

The rapid growth of 3D content being shot and produced has created many challenges to the camera operators, production teams and indeed manufacturing companies. There has always been the problem of viewing 3D material as it is being shot and the ability to review it immediately afterwards, whether as a camera viewfinder or a portable 3D monitor. At...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012

Eye-to-eye: 2011 highlights

“Broadcasters must climb up the ladder into high definition or they’ll get their ankles chewed by the computer industry”. Memorable quote from a manufacturer of video standards converters nearly 30 years ago when NHK was trying to establish its original 1125-line (1080-active) 5:3 aspect-ratio ‘Hi-Vision’. Well it happened. 2011 was the year ‘high-...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012

3D Five years on

For me, IBC2006 was the beginning of the modern 3D era. At an invitation-only presentation, 3ality’s CEO Steve Schklair described what his company was achieving with S3D. Suddenly it all made sense. With the accuracy of digital shoots and computer technology replacing difficulties and expense of working with film, 3D could now be viable. Unlike the...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

Multi Function 2D and 3D Signal Monitoring Capability

We find ourselves in a constantly evolving industry with an ever increasing variety of video sources and devices that require monitoring. There is still a significant amount of analogue equipment requiring both composite and component monitoring, and then there is the whole raft of digital video equipment supporting SDI, HDSDI, 3G and now HDMI conn...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

Learning from the master

In 1985 I took a job at Logica. In those days we were developing systems for teletext and subtitles, and later for graphics management, using computer hardware from DEC, a brand name that disappeared in 1998 when it was acquired by Compaq. The PDP-11 was revolutionary in that it was a 16 bit computer, but even then there was a suspicion that it did...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2011

Fast 3D

It is easy to make the assumption that 3D should comply with existing standards, as in the 2D video streams of television or movie images running at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, according to the relevant 2D standards. However, the recent step up to doubled frame rates, generally referred to as 50p or 60p for television and 48p (or higher) for mo...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011