KitPlus | Articles

Eye to Eye: Video Post-production

Video post-production has long been one of the fastest developing subsets of the broadcast business. It was among the first to lead the shift from hardware into software, bringing huge advantages in terms of affordability and ease of use. I can still remember the high cost, heavy weight and low quality of the early analogue tape to tape video editi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

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

The Autoue Motion Pro camera stabiliser

By Matt LyneThe Autocue Motion Pro camera stabiliser is a brilliant piece of kit for getting high movement shots whilst also maintaining the ability to pan/tilt with ease. It is light compared to similar functioning stabilisers however prolonged use will quickly tire out your arm due to the manner in which you hold it with one hand at almost arms l...

Submitted by Matt Lyne

Published 01 January 2015

REVIEW: Matrox Monarch HD

by Colin Ashby Issue 95 - November 2014 Firstly, a confession; it\'s a fair bet that, technically, I know a lot less than you the reader although I\'ve worked in broadcast television for over 30 years so I have a lot of hands-on experience. To balance this out, I\'m a cameraman so we\'re by nature attracted to new models, bright shiny things, whist...

Submitted by Colin Ashby

Published 01 December 2014

Media Management in Final Cut Pro X

by Larry Jordan Issue 95 - November 2014 Media management drives editors nuts. Since the beginning of computer-based video editing, trying to remember where your media is stored is a never-ending battle between "getting it done,\" and "doing it right."With the release of Final Cut Pro X 10.1, Apple made significant changes to media management; then...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 December 2014

File-based QC systems for small and mid-sized media organ...

by Vikas Singhal Issue 95 - November 2014 Companies across the media value chain have departed the tape-based realm and migrated to file-based workflows. In making this transition, they left behind common, well-established technologies that had ensured the smooth flow of content from creation through to delivery. In their place, companies implement...

Submitted by Vikas Singhal

Published 01 December 2014

Monitoring made easy

by Beth Zarkhosh Issue 95 - November 2014 Making sure you capture the right sound correctly throughout your filmmaking is one of the most important aspects of the shooting process, an element that many seem to get wrong time and time again. Whether you\'re filming an interview, documentary or short film, the audio recording is an intrinsic part of...

Submitted by Beth Zarkhosh

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

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

Capture and Produce

Issue 93 - September 2014 Amongst all the new cameras, support and other production kit being touted prior to IBC, it was a less tangible announcement that really captured the imagination: Atomos’ announcement that it wants to standardize its Start/Stop Trigger connectivity for HDMI by making it available to other manufacturers. Locking SDI interfa...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 October 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

Guaranteed Training?

by Mark Reed Issue 93 - September 2014 My dictionary says that training is “the action of teaching a person or animal a particular skill”. I’m not sure how many animals work in the TV industry but the point is, sound in the broadcast arena definitely requires taught skills. I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I went to a college recognised as...

Submitted by Mark Reed

Published 01 October 2014

How I shoot those Amazing Spaces

by Chris Smith Issue 93 - September 2014 Channel 4 has just finished showing series 3 of its popular ‘Amazing Spaces’, which is all about people building unusual living spaces. Watch it, and even after one viewing it could have you looking at your back garden in a new light, ready to start building that underground family space or cinema, or maybe...

Submitted by Chris Smith

Published 01 October 2014

Green storage Fat wallets

by Ben Pearce Issue 91 - July 2014 Its not just eco campaigners that want to reduce their carbon footprint. Its also the financial director. Whether youre a small company or a transnational enterprise, you run the risk of losing control of your data and buying more and more disk space. You may be storing many copies of each file on multiple externa...

Submitted by Ben Pearce

Published 01 August 2014