KitPlus | Articles

Keeping up standards

by Dick Hobbs Issue 95 - November 2014 A couple of days ago, both the esteemed editor of this magazine and I were guests at an awards ceremony, in the romantic environs of the Wembley Hilton. The evening was a tribute to the democratising effect of the dinner suit. Receiving a lifetime achievement award richly deserved was Dr David Wood, who has de...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 December 2014

Manage and Monitor

Issue 94 - October 2014In the month that digital files become the preferred method of delivery for television programmes in the UK, it will come as a blessed relief to many in both post and production that one of the biggest bugbears of file-based delivery – how to deal with insert editing - may have been solved, just in the nick of time. It didn’t...

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

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

Manage and Monitor

Issue 93 - September 2014 In less than a month’s time, British television producers will be asked to deliver their programmes to broadcasters as files rather than tape. Some have been doing it for years. For others, it’s a whole new world. Fundamentally, the change is just replacing physical items like tapes, labels and VT reports with their zeros...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 October 2014

Satellite adapts again to find new roles

by Simen Frostad Issue 93 - September 2014 After a period in which it appeared to be falling behind the innovation curve, Satellite is fighting back. Recent developments are giving satellite a key role to play in combination with other technologies notably IP in a range of hybrids that broadcasters and infrastructure operators are exploring in the...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 01 October 2014

A new age of teleprompting?

by Jon Hilton Issue 92 - August 2014 Whilst it may not be the first thing on the production agenda, one could argue it is an essential production tool today delivering at least two fundamental production values. Firstly it can save you money by reducing the time required to get that perfect take and secondly it means that your presenter will be wor...

Submitted by Jon Hilton#

Published 01 September 2014

UWP-D11 Review

by Kevin Cook Issue 91 - July 2014 Ever since the new regulations in the UK on radio microphone frequencies were introduced in the UK at the end of 2012, the days were numbered for my trusty old Sony UWP series radio mic system (consisting of the URX-P1 UHF dual-diversity receiver and UTX-B1 transmitter). Whilst super-reliable and excellent quality...

Submitted by Kevin Cook

Published 01 August 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

The right MAM solution

by Michael Shore Issue 91 - July 2014 The best way to determine what features you need in a media asset management system (MAM) is to start at the end. So, when trying to decide what goes IN to your asset management system, you need to first establish what it is that you are trying to get OUT. Several factors need to be considered, including: the p...

Submitted by Michael Shore

Published 01 August 2014

On Set of Top Gear festival live

Issue 91 - July 201420th June 2014, London UK - Zero Division provided a bespoke installation of the Boxx TV Zenith system for the Top Gear Festival in Barbados at the newly renovated Bushy Park race track, and provided on-site support during the event. The Top Gear Festival is a live show staged to tens of thousands of visitors, to bring the spiri...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 August 2014

Simplifying On Site Workflows

by Greg LaPorte Issue 90 - June 2014 On and off-set high-end post-production demands a new level in processing capability, storage speed, and general computing horsepower to handle the ever increasing standards for digital workflow. Utilizing PCI Express® (PCIe) performance and 20Gbps of throughput, Thunderbolt 2 technology offers the fastest way t...

Submitted by Greg Laporte

Published 01 July 2014

4K at NAB

by Bob Pank Issue 89 - May 2014 The long term NAB veterans will be well aware of just how quickly new technologies can come and go in the television industry. For instance, only a couple of years ago, 3D was still the hot topic, now it has gone quiet, but not altogether gone away. So it is good to report that 4K had another very good NAB, probably...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2014

Audio monitoring: critical to visual media services

by Simen Frostad Issue 89 - May 2014 Its a fact of TV broadcasting that audiences will tolerate reduced visual quality much more readily than any impairment to the audio. So long as the audio continues and is intelligible, viewers tend to put up with glitches in the video or even temporary loss of picture. But if a broadcaster lets the audio qualit...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 01 June 2014

OTT: Back to basics

by Lorna GarrettIssue 84 - December 2013 Going over the top opens up boundless opportunities. Just make sure you work with someone who can help you over the potential pitfalls. Not that long ago, if asked to envisage a family watching television, you probably would have pictured Mum and Dad seated on the sofa, while a couple of children lay sprawle...

Submitted by Lorna Garrett

Published 01 January 2014