KitPlus | Articles

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

Summer of 3D

Having put 3D to one side for a few months it was very interesting to jump back into the third dimension. With 3D not making the headlines much, if at all, you might be lulled into thinking it has faded away, but that’s not the case. Many events are being shot in 3D, including the Olympics and, although there has been nothing happening that could b...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

Who wouldnt consider a career in Live sports?

There are many diverse things in this industry which give me a buzz but I think that live sports coverage is probably pretty near the top of the pile. With a 17yr old son considering his career options I thought it time to introduce him to the world of live sports and SIS LIVE were kind enough to give us a quick tour behind the scenes on the second...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

Will 2012 be remembered as the first year of complete dig...

The BBC claims that London 2012 will be the first truly digital games, as the public service broadcaster delivers unprecedented coverage across multiples platforms and allowing audiences to watch every single event live. Of course it wasn’t just the Olympics this year, the BBC and ITV succeeded in dusting off the country’s football aspirations once...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

The new world of live acquisition

While the debate rages over the future of broadcast television with discussion of OTT (OTT – over-the-top delivery – think iPlayer on Virgin Media as a key example – or LoveFilm. It means an on-demand content service that is delivered over the top of another network) and time-shifting increasingly hogging the limelight, there’s one arena in which t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

How a live streaming launch comes together....

Well it’s that time of year again. CALL of DUTY Launch. That’s right it’s been a whole year since I wrote about the successful launch of Call of Duty Black Ops, and now we have the new Call of Duty MW3 launch. Just as last year, myself as part of the Mediakinetic team were once again asked by Headstream and Five by Five Digital to live stream the l...

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

September. My new year

September. My new year. The new year in January is just logistics. The new financial year in April is just maths. But September, September is a new beginning. Its ironic how when everything begins to die, school starts up again. Symbolic you might say. But autumn is my favourite season. Going back to school meant new pencils, new shoes, and having...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

Why do broadcasters need to take an interest in connected...

Why do broadcasters need to take an interest in connected TV?With ever-increasing amounts of content available, we’re heading towards a world where catch-up TV will enable you to access last week’s content as easily as today’s. This doesn’t mean to say that linear broadcasts are over; I would expect broadcast delivery to continue to dominate and fo...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011

A novel approach to delivering radio content

Who does a national broadcaster turn to with 9 TV and radio stations, each with 20hrs of daily programmes and a need to deliver them locally and cross continental... In a media rich world where viewers habits are rapidly changing they need to add another dimension to radio while maintaining the 'spirit' of a radio programme. France Tlvisions’ Rseau...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011

Eye to eye: The changing face of video displays

Video display technology is progressing so fast that the phrase 'More revolutions than a banana republic' inevitably comes to mind. No offence intended if you have just taken over as president. From the 1930s to the present century, television display was dominated almost entirely by cathode ray tubes. Competition then arrived in the form of plasma...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

Archiving in a Multiplatform Environment

There was a time when broadcasters and media companies worried only about one version of content, destined for one distribution platform. Now, however, the increasing volume, number of versions, and growing complexity of digital media assets has made the management and storage of content a much more challenging undertaking. Media companies today mu...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

3d Technical

In June there were two major events for those interested in 3D TV technologies. There has been the one day “3D Masters” at BAFTA on the 22nd in London’s Piccadilly . Earlier in the month we had the Dimension 3 Expo in Paris over 3 days from 1st to the 3rd. The 3D Masters in London was packed in a single very busy day. This comprised of well managed...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2010

Doremi Silver Anniversary

It was 25 years ago that Doremi founder and CEO Camille Rizko, invented a better way to perform digital audio for postproduction. He was joined by his brother Emil, and fellow engineer Safar Ghazal. And so from humble beginnings in the San Fernando Valley, California, the Doremi partners have never looked back. In 1985, the entertainment industry w...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2010

Eye to Eye: Acquisition and Production

Back in the days of the Audio Fair which annually graced London's Russell Hotel, my co-hack Frank Jones of Hi-Fi News put his head into the KEF Electronics demonstration room and bellowed the time-honoured question "What's new?"KEF was showing established products that year so its founder, the avuncular Raymond Cooke, responded with his own questio...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010