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Gold all round

In my ramblings in the January edition of TV-Bay, I offered some predictions for the year, which included the following:“Television coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics will be extraordinary, capturing all the skill and dedication, elation and heartbreak of the world’s finest athletes. But somewhere in 29 days of intensive, multi-channel broadc...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012

Addressing SAN Allocation and Permission Challenges

Facilities today face a number of management complexities when allocating storage resources, especially as frame-based and 3D workflows increase in popularity and the amount of multi-format media that professionals are managing continues to grow. Camera acquisition formats are various, many workflows employ proxy generation to save space and bandwi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012

An Epic Journey for the Summer Games

With the abundance of international sporting events taking place this summer, broadcast technologies and logistics are being put to the test across the board. Beyond the typical coordination and on site expertise required for broadcasts, many companies face not only longer engagements but aggressive turnaround times and long travel distances betwee...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

A credit to whom?

Just over 40 years ago I was involved in the formation of the Guild of Television Cameramen as an independent non-profit-making international organisation that cares about television camerawork and the people who make it their craft. The GTC today has over 1,000 members, in the UK, Europe, Australia, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and the USA. The...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

Issues facing broadcasters of outdoor sporting events

Keeping Cool under PressureOne of the major issues facing Broadcasters using temporary structures for major sporting events is keeping the studios cool and quiet enough for presenters to work comfortably and effectively under the host of lights. Keeping cool often involved the use of air conditioning which historically would be turned off when film...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2012

Testing times of a 4K world

The term '4K' applies to some five slightly different picture formats with around 4,000 pixel horizontal resolution: all much bigger than HD. In fact roughly four times the total pixels required for 1920 x 1080 pixel high definition. 4K has been around for some years but was until recently only affordable by producers with mega budgets. Advances in...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 August 2012

Handheld T and M the broadcast emergency service

“Test and Measurement”. Shudder. Like “Health and Safety”, “Bus” and “Replacement Service” or “Keith and Orville” it’s a collocation of words that fills me with dread. Seriously, who wants to read about “Test and Measurement”? Well, as it turns out, the answer is: quite a lot of people. Because, despite its lack of glamour, it is hugely important....

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 August 2012

Ask the Experts - Loudness

Introduction:Loudness level inconsistencies are one of the most common problems in the broadcast industry. Loudness standards are now being introduced as discontinuities in audio levels between programs, or between programs and advertisements, have been the cause of viewer complaints – in fact they are the number one cause. Of course anything that...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2012

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

Testing mixed signals

It is fitting that a lot of the avid readers of this article are broadcast manufacturers flying over the Atlantic to NAB in Las Vegas so I have a captive audience to influence with an open invitation to come and visit us in the North Hall N5015. Whereas the new product range has been designed for applications in traditional settings such as enginee...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 May 2012

Advanced Hybrid Optical Cable and Connectors

The march of technological advances in fiber optic cable, along with a new generation of plug-and-play connectors, is allowing camera operators and Outside Broadcast (OB) van engineers the luxury of easy and reliable deployment of remote production equipment. Studio Technologies is dedicated to delivering carefully engineered equipment solutions in...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 May 2012

This Is International Playout

There is no such thing as an off the shelf solution where broadcast managed services are concerned. Here Michael Ward, Head of Operations at WRN Broadcast, who provide playout channels for such as NHK, MTV, VH1 and East Africa’s Zuku platform, breaks down a few key requirements to meeting the exacting standards of international content delivery. Tr...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 May 2012

The evolving art of sports television

Given the choice of watching a major live event on site or via television, most people would opt for the real thing. Sure, you have to get to the venue, perhaps queue to buy a ticket, find your seat or maybe stand for hours. If it is a football match, the audience in front will probably stand up for a better view of each goal, completely blocking y...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

A new era in slow-motion?

Those readers who watch sports programmes on a regular basis may have noticed that many productions now have high speed cameras providing so called “ultra-motion” replays as a part of slow motion sequences. These cameras have been in use for many years in such areas as crash testing and sports training, but until recently the quality of the image h...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 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