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Goes One Step Beyond In The Competitive Loudness Metering...

Over the last few years audio loudness has been a hot topic for the broadcast industry and one of the key issues faced by engineers in control of audio output. Significant differences in volume have led to many complaints from viewers who don’t like having to reach for the remote every time they change channel or are faced with a deafening commerci...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

Silly Plugger

I have never been to a Mobile World Congress. I take the view that exhibitions are generally noisy, uncomfortable places where the chances of learning something interesting are widely variable. NAB and IBC are must-sees, of course, but otherwise I am not a great fan of exhibitions. Although it is impossible to type its name in Word, I make an excep...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2012

BVE 2012 in no particular order.......

The big story at BVE 2012 was BVE 2013. With the Earls Court exhibition site scheduled for redevelopment, BVE relocates next year to the ExCel exhibition site in London’s Docklands. The distance is only about 10 miles but, in the minds of many BVE exhibitors, the move is comparable with moving the NAB Convention to the Mississippi Delta. If you rea...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

BVE in the video on-demand era

Within the last ten years, on-demand culture has changed the way that the world accesses media. From Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday afternoons to Champions League highlights on a Tuesday evening, there is no longer any excuse to miss anything that we would otherwise tune into live. The same now goes for exhibitions, as not only is it hard e...

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

Looking for the connection

This time last year I wrote a column which looked back. This year I have set myself the infinitely more challenging task of looking forward. What are the hot topics for 2012?The first prediction is easy. Television coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics will be extraordinary, capturing all the skill and dedication, elation and heartbreak of the w...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2012

So why bother with training?

Joseph Turner, the famous British painter (1775 to 1851) studied at the Royal College of Art from 1789 until his first exhibition at the Academy in 1793. Rembrandt (1606 to 1669) studied first with the famous painter Jacob van Swanenburgh and then with Pieter Lastman. Young talented artists need guidance from experienced and talented teachers to he...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 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

The art of 3D

Two recent events have expanded my understanding of 3D. BVE North turned out to be quite busy – both around the exhibition and at the many free seminars. Of course I made a beeline for the 3D Revolution Theatre where there were sessions throughout the two days of the show. The ‘Storytelling in 3D’ session was of particular interest. There’s been pl...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2012

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

COUNTING DOWN TO BVE NORTH

The engines are revving in the countdown to BVE North, the new event that is designed to serve the needs of the rapidly growing broadcast and production industry in the North. The exhibition and seminar program will address the myriad challenges facing broadcast professionals, from multi-platform broadcasting to the realities of 3D for television,...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011

Rent-a case, the answer to transporting LCDs?

Over the last few years we have seen the release of hundreds of new plasma LCDs LEDs and now 3D LED with new models from new manufactures being released with what seems like every day. The huge growth in the sector has driven down the cost of production allowing companies to be very creative in how and which way to use the screens. For example we n...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2011

Courting communications

This week I received two press releases from major companies, both, incidentally, beginning with A and holding the number one and two spots in broadcast editing. And both, in their different ways, were prime examples of how not to do it. In the purple corner we have, and I quote “Avid today announced that it has been awarded a significant contract...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

Whats new in audio

The NAB show is not the first event that comes to mind for pro-audio kit but in fact rivals any audio-specific exhibition on the planet. The following is a summary of significant new sound equipment seen during a tour of this year's exhibits. AKG's C 544 L head-worn microphone is designed to be worn by gymnastics or (almost the same thing in some c...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2011

NAB and the format wars

By the time you read this article you may be sitting comfortably on the plane ready to take-off to Vegas. Every year the show comes at a strange time – just after the shooting season has started in the northern hemisphere. As a result, most of the camera companies at the show will have already sorted their purchasing needs for the year ahead, espec...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2011