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Using Panasonic AG-AF101 HD Camera

Introduction When award winning film maker and photojournalist Fiona Lloyd-Davies announced her latest project to embark on a journey to The Democratic Republic of Congo, she described the place as “probably one of the toughest environments that a camera can work in - very hot and very, very dusty” but, this was to be just one rigor amongst many du...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

Cameras for streaming

I first saw true HD pictures years ago at IBC. OpTex had a camera focusing on some beautifully lit fruit. The image on the screen was extraordinary, hypnotising. Leap forward a decade and Amsterdam brought Europe its first taste of Ultra High Definition Television - not 720p, not 1080i, but 4320p. The enveloping cinematic pictures and the embrace o...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

Any Channel, Anywhere. How Distribution Service Providers...

One of the features of the diversified, multi-platform media world we have today is the greater involvement of organizations that perform a specialist role in the complex chain stretching from content originator to viewer. It has been a long time since a broadcaster has owned the entire chain from talent, camera and production crew all the way thro...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

Robert Llewellyn

Many of you will have heard of the TV show on the "Dave\" Channel called "Carpool". You know the one, Red Dwarf and Scrap heap Challenge star Robert Llewellyn picks up someone in his car, drives him or her around a bit and has a chat. It’s a great series and you feel like your spying on a private conversation between two people on their way to work...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

So what is Digital Television - Part 1

It is tempting to think of “digital television” as something very scientific and even complex. But when we view the end result, we find something very familiar; something television engineers have sought since the very beginning…an experience that just keeps getting better and better…quality video and audio conveying great entertainment, sport, mov...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2011

Reviewed DSC Labs Chroma Du Monde

Visual Impact were provided with a DSC Labs CamAlign CDM 28R Chroma Du Monde to test at their Teddington base this week, and unsurprisingly were impressed with what they found. Upon first impressions, the test chart seemed to employ a far too reflective surface which would inherently cause unwanted reflections and thus yield incorrect results. A br...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2011

Whats new in broadcast test and measurement

The test and measurement product category continues to expand as the broadcast business itself diversifies. Notable recent developments include higher resolution displays and a gradually increasing number of analysers which, having detected a fault, endeavour to fix it. No sign at NAB 2011 of any tablet-based test and measurement equipment but perh...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2011

North West 200

As the gates to the event open and the hordes roll in to watch the North West 200 motorcycle race, production company Greenlight TV is primed: production schedule ready, broadcast timetable planned meticulously. Then... torrential rain, a crash and a major oil spill... finally a credible bomb alert. It's at times like these when production skills a...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 July 2011

Achieving Cost-Effective Monitoring of Critical AV Feeds

Broadcasters once were able to transmit a signal up on the satellite and worry only about that feed. Now, with the growth and diversification of audio video (A/V) service handoffs, the points at which feeds enter the facility or are sent out to downstream targets such as cable operators, pay-TV services and other service providers, broadcasters hav...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 July 2011

3D One year on

The month started with a trip to Sony to visit its very impressive 3D Customer Experience Centre where Paul Cameron (Training) gave a three-hour run down all about 3DTV production. This very compact version of Sony’s three-day course kept me on my toes. Early on he pointed out that 3D had been in favour, and then out, several times already, at abou...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2011

Its good to talk

Online, my sister is quite the socialite. She has more friends on Facebook than people I’ve ever met, and a very active Twitter account. Let’s not even get started on LinkedIn, Buzzsprout, Flickr, You Tube, MySpace and Scrib’d. Half her life is on the web, and while the conventions of these online relationships remain a mystery to me, my sister is...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2011

Working With Audio Signals

For most of the past century, working with audio signals was a very straightforward process. The audio information was converted to electrical signals in the form of a varying voltage between the two conductors in a pair (balanced) or between a conductor and the ground reference (unbalanced). The bandwidth, frequency response, distortion and noise...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 June 2011

What are the most important opportunities and challenges...

What are the most important opportunities and challenges facing the TV industry today?To answer this question we need to look more broadly at consumer behaviour and the changing way people are consuming content. Viewers no longer solely want a passive experience with a TV programme in their front room. They want to watch catch-up TV on a laptop, do...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2011

BVE 2011 retrospect

BVE 2011 had much of the buoyancy and buzz of an IBC. The organisers claimed an attendance of over 15,500 visitors and 240 exhibiting companies. Many of the UK-based stalwarts who make the annual pilgrimage to Amsterdam could be seen exploring the show, confirming that BVE is now taken seriously by mainstream broadcasters. It is perhaps over-optimi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011

Where is the real source of digital creativity

The summit of Live music has always been dominated by large bands, filling arenas consisting of high production values, funded by record labels and advertisers looking to attain a huge audience. The opposite end of the music spectrum however, still holds a colossal circuit of unsigned bands, desperately promoting on the streets to get the crowds th...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2011