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Top Tips on becoming an IBC Jedi

IBC is upon us once more. The doors of the RAI will open for the European electronic media and entertainment industry to scrum together to gather inspiration, keep abreast of developments in tech, and generally take the temperature of the industry. With a show of this scale, it's important to plan ahead to make sure that you squeeze every drop of w...

Submitted by Aaron Dunleavy

Published 19 October 2017

Cellular, Satellite or Fixed Link - how do you choose

Having a choice is a good thing. Take apples, for example. While one may look pretty much the same as the next, we know that the subtle differences between varieties can make a huge difference in how we choose to use them some are best for pies, some better for cider, and others just perfect for eating from the tree. Similarly, the subtleties betwe...

Submitted by Lorna Garrett

Published 19 October 2017

Ad servers and switching solutions

i Hardware-based ad servers and switching solutions have been around for a long time and, broadly speaking, do the job just fine. That said, after a number of meetings before and during NAB 2017, what I found is that a lot of people are looking to replace components of their hardware-based ad servers, the switching function being chief among them....

Submitted by Peter Blanchford

Published 07 September 2017

Canon CN-E 18-80mm T4.4 Review

i The Canon Cine range of lenses have been around for quite a few years now. The CN-E Cinema Prime lenses became an early alternative to using PL adaptors or the Zeiss Compact Prime lenses. Other than that the choice was rehoused stills lenses or maybe if you were lucky a set of Zeiss super speeds. The cine lens set became a cost effective offering...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 07 September 2017

Media Production Show and other news

i So, the 2nd Media Production Show has been and gone. Hands up who went to Islington by mistake? I know at least two people who did. Their secret is safe with me! For me, the sign of a great trade show is when I come away really enthused about an innovative use of existing technology or a brand new product. When I find something that combines both...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 07 September 2017

Lighting - the stuff you do not see

i Lighting is the stuff you don\'t see that makes a difference in what you do see. How the audience feels about a character and whether the scene is scary, tense or upbeat are communicated by the quality and placement of light. Lighting can take the drama to a whole new level - think about film noir with all those shadows on the wall. So called "na...

Submitted by Tama Berkeljon

Published 07 September 2017

The UPs and Downs At NAB with Mr MXF

i "Nothing is finer than the pictures on that monitor", said my colleague as we stood in front of the enormous Sony LED screen showing super bright, super wide HDR pictures that were beautifully shot and carefully presented. The English language, however, can be confusing because when I returned from NAB and showed my wife the photos that I took, s...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin - new

Published 01 August 2017

A Bluffer Guide to....CMOS

i I like to break my employers\' cameras. For me, there is nothing more exciting than considering a daring location to install a micro camera system. It could be in a trackside breaking board at a motorsport event (culminating in slightly-too-extreme close up of, say, a Porsche bumper) - or a system installed a tad too high up a tree in a jungle (w...

Submitted by Mike Colyer

Published 01 August 2017

Remote Production - Speed, Control, Infrastructure

i Remote production gives broadcasters the ability to capture a wider range of live events, such as regional sports, news or music festivals, and mix them in a remote facility hundreds or thousands of miles away. Many of these events might be of restricted interest, and may be broadcast to a narrow audience demographic. They may be regional news ev...

Submitted by Ian Cookson - new

Published 01 August 2017

What happened to audio networking

i It may seem hard to believe, but audio networking has now been with us for over 20 years. In 1996, Peak Audio released CobraNet, the first system that used computer networking of some sort to transport audio. Looking at that early system, it wasn\'t easy to see all the benefits that were to come. Yes, you eventually got up to 64 channels on a sin...

Submitted by Brad Price

Published 01 August 2017

Is everyone a journalist these days

i Today\'s content consumers have endless viewing and streaming possibilities thanks to the advent of smart phones and tablets that allow them to watch pretty much anything they want, on the go, and away from the confines of a television screen. Those very same smartphones and tablets have also brought another revolution to the broadcast industry -...

Submitted by Rene Morch

Published 01 August 2017

Why is drone training even an option

It\'s fair to say that one of the most disruptive, liberating and inventive technological advances for independent filmmakers in recent years has been the incredible leaps made in the world of Drones. Things we never thought possible are now completely within our reach and what is more they are easy and cheap to achieve. An operator can majesticall...

Submitted by Tim Bearder

Published 19 May 2017

Navigating Unfamiliar Territory

The traditional broadcast model - where TV networks play content on a linear schedule, and viewers tune in on their TV sets - is under siege. Linear TV is not going away anytime soon, but the model is becoming less and less relevant. Thanks to the rise of OTT services, viewers have become accustomed to watching content when and where they want, on...

Submitted by Vijay Sagar Vinnakota

Published 19 May 2017

More than just selling cable

Choices facing technology decision-makers are becoming increasingly complex due to rapid changes in the industry like broadcast and IP technology convergence, multiplatform demands, and the rise of 4K and 8K. It is now a constant challenge to balance the need to maintain already-installed equipment and fulfil the desire to provide the highest resol...

Submitted by Chris Smeeton

Published 04 April 2017

What is the future of video contribution?

What is the definition of Video Contribution? Is it the same as live streaming? Live Streaming is a generic term and can apply to any part of the process from capture on the camera where video is immediately streamed, to the process of playout on any device. Playout is a huge subject in itself. However "video contribution\" is considered the termi...

Submitted by Mark Andrews - new

Published 04 April 2017