KitPlus | Articles

The circle of life with Dick Hobbs

by Dick HobbsIssue 84 - December 2013 Being a simple soul, I am endlessly fascinated by ideas which are the great new thing one day, rubbished the next, and resurface the day after as the next great thing. In the 1960s, the BBC decided that it was wrong to concentrate all its radio and television production in London, and established national and r...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 January 2014

Leaping over the top

by Bob LambIssue 84 - December 2013 Around the world, consumers are becoming addicted to viewing over-the-top (OTT) video on the device or screen of their choice, anywhere and at any time. For broadcasters, content owners, and service providers, the ability to deliver broadcast-quality media over the open Internet presents a tremendous opportunity...

Submitted by Bob Lamb

Published 01 January 2014

Embracing the 4K future with next generation encoding tec...

by Kevin CookIssue 83 - November 2013 Whats keeping todays media and broadcast operators up at night? To find out, just walk the floor of any 2013 broadcast industry trade show. Only a few short years ago we were obsessed with the digital transition and migrating to HD operations, followed by adoption of 3-D technologies. And now, todays big challe...

Submitted by Ludovic Pertuisel#

Published 01 December 2013

Sportsnet stays ahead of the game with Quantel

by Roger ThorntonIssue 81 - September 2013 Over the last 15 years, Sportsnet has risen to become one of Canadas leading sports media operations. The Sportsnet and Sportsnet One TV channels are complemented by Sportsnet Radio, Sportsnet Magazine and its premium international sports channel, Sportsnet World. In May 2013, parent company Rogers Media a...

Submitted by Roger Thornton

Published 01 October 2013

Addressing challenges in multiformat signal management an...

by Brian PeterssonIssue 79 - July 2013 One of the many demands broadcasters face today is establishing effective multiformat signal management and confidence monitoring, which have become critically required capabilities, and there are several reasons behind this. The first is the broadcast industrys progressive evolution slow at first, but acceler...

Submitted by Brian Petersson

Published 01 August 2013

Product update with Swit - travel safe power solutions

Swit Electronics is a high-tech enterprise that manufacture power solutions and accessories for the professional broadcast and video industry. Products include batteries and chargers, on-camera lights, monitors and more. Swit design and manufacture their products to the smallest detail and therefore the end result is a high performing, high quality...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 July 2013

Bob Pank starts counting cores...

Once again BVE hosted its one-day Cloud seminar. The new ExCel location meant that the room was away from the show floor and ideal for concentrating on the words flowing from the experts. Full-on attention was needed as squeezing in nine sessions between 10.00 and 17.45 meant that each would be short, sharp and to the point, which was certainly the...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2013

Bob Pank busts the cloud!

Too may of us can remember the Eyjafjallajokull volcano incident that stopped thousands of Europeans travelling back from NAB 2010. After a long show in the desert many were looking forward to home, real beer and green green grass. But the transport system that had always worked so well was out of commission, and suddenly it was clear that nothing...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2013

Ask the Experts: What Workstation?

Investing in a new computer workstation or high end PC for use with digital video/or and media production can be a daunting task. With so many different manufacturers to choose from, and with a practically endless list of components to select from customers can be left with literally millions of possible choices. Scary if you aren’t a hardware guru...

Submitted by Mike Leach

Published 01 February 2013

Ruth Matos: Part 4 of following the Ravensbourne 3

Balancing studying and working…. I have always been very dedicated to any projects and ambitions in life. When I started my studies at university I was fully focused on achieving the best grades possible and my coursework was my main priority in life. This was the frame of mind I had during my first and second years at university until an opportuni...

Submitted by Ruth Matos

Published 01 February 2013

Following the Ravensbourne 3 - part 3

Since the last issue, I've had a busy first term back at Ravensbourne. Our Enterprise and Entrepreneurship unit is designed for us to gain business skills and launch us into the industry. We were given the task to come up with a product or service and make money from it. The unit worked towards exhibiting at Penrose Market, which takes place at our...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 January 2013

Protecting the archive

Over the last 20 years or so we have all become accustomed to the expression “asset management” and, as ever, familiarity has bred contempt. In this case, the expression has become a loose descriptor for almost anything with a bit of a database in it. We need to stop and think about what we are trying to achieve. In any media enterprise, the conten...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2012

Cloud Storage and the end of silos

It should not come as any surprise that people who specialise in one thing are not necessarily experts at other things. For example, and getting straight to the point, a great video editor cannot be expected to have the technical skills to securely store the edited master of his finished programme. The master is a valuable asset that is expected to...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012

Taking on the World of Sophisticated Asset Management

Asset management systems have come a long way in only a few years. They’ve always offered a world of promise for workflow improvements, but not so long ago asset management silos were the norm – with individual departments within a broadcasting operation - such as news, sports production, and drama - operating their own closed systems, inaccessible...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012

Building a digital archive

The search for specific content within masses of stored videotape once required a visit to the archive librarian, a great deal of patience, and some luck. Even if one was able to explain successfully the footage you needed, and if the librarian proved able to locate that content, there remained the possibility that tape degradation or generational...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012