KitPlus | Articles

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

Communicating via IP

by Andy Covey Issue 93 - September 2014 At the turn of the 21st century the concept of IP-based systems first started to emerge, and with all things new, there were those who said it couldn’t be done with intercom systems. Communication, some reasoned, was simply too important to trust to perceived IT infrastructure issues of bandwidth and latency...

Submitted by Andy Covey

Published 01 October 2014

The evolution of Wired Intercom

by Simon Browne & Ed Fitzgerald Issue 93 - September 2014 Early Beginnings What do you think was the fi rst DIGITAL communications system devised? Of course you could think of the evolution in standardised parallel data backplanes and digital ICs in the 1980s and the swathe of multi-rack Time Division Multiplexed switching systems that it enabled,...

Submitted by Simon Browne

Published 01 October 2014

SIZE is everything

Issue 93 - September 2014Live broadcast television or stage productions are a fast moving environment where clear instructions need to be delivered quickly if everything is to run smoothly. Whilst efficient conveyance of prompts or direction is vital, there is usually the additional need to avoid the audience being aware of the methods employed. La...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 October 2014

In the Field

by Robin Brown Issue 93 - September 2014 Traditionally teleprompters were seen solely as a studio staple, but for more than two decades they have been consistently supporting talent in the field in a variety of locations around the globe. The numerous step changes in technology, which have had such a dramatic impact on all types of television equip...

Submitted by Robin Brown

Published 01 October 2014

A Closer Look at DVB-S2X

by Joerg Rockstroh Issue 93 - September 2014 Is DVB-S2X a feature set on top of DVB-S2 or a complete new signal form?DVB-S2X is an extension of the DVB-S2 specifi cation that formalizes existing features (e.g., smaller roll-offs) in addition to introducing completely new features (e.g., higher MODCODs). This enables operators to achieve substantial...

Submitted by Joerg Rockstroh

Published 01 October 2014

6

Must have or just a dream? Either way these are our 6 of the best this month chosen by Larry Jordan, David Crossman and Jon Boast. Issue 93 - September 2014 DJI Ronin Handheld Gimbal SystemThe DJI Ronin Handheld Gimbal System has been developed for the cinematographer with pro-grade build quality keeping up with the demands of everyday use and aeri...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 October 2014

Keeping it real

by Will Strauss Issue 92 - August 2014 With Sky buying into an immersive video start-up, and the BBC trialling content on an Oculus Rift headset, virtual reality could be about to move from simply sets and studios to a whole new realm. Once residing purely in the realms of science fiction and, latterly, video gaming, it appears that virtual reality...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 September 2014

What Directors do and dont do

by David Crossman Issue 92 - August 2014 Piers Haggard the BAFTA award-winning Director for his BBC TV work - says you can\'t teach Directing any more than you can teach Art. Piers may be right but I believe there are some directorial skills which can be passed on. Like many crew members and actors I have suffered at the hands of inexperienced Dire...

Submitted by David Crossman

Published 01 September 2014

Vision for the future of TV

Issue 92 - August 2014During the Commonwealth Games BBC Research and Development took the opportunity to unveil a range of new trials and public demonstrations as part of its Games showcase. These experiments brought together a wide range of industry partners and are helping to shape BBC R&D’s vision for the future of TV, and included a number of b...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 September 2014

The First Musketeer

by Neil Oseman Issue 91 - July 2014 Based on The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, The First Musketeer is a brand new take on this famous adventure. Written and directed by Harriet Sams, director of photography Neil Oseman takes us behind the lens of this new gritty six part mini drama shot on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Set in the South of Fr...

Submitted by Neil Oseman

Published 01 August 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

Internet streaming the greatest challenges

by Simon Homent Issue 91 - July 2014 What is Wuaki.tv and who do you target?Wuaki.tv is a leading movie and TV series streaming service, dedicated to providing consumers with a wide selection of high quality content through a la carte rental and purchase or subscription services. The goal is to become Europes best way of watching and experiencing h...

Submitted by Simon Homent

Published 01 August 2014

The Challenges of streaming media

by Larry Jordan Issue 91 - July 2014 Internet streaming. It sounds easy, but doing it is surprisingly difficult. I know, Ive been streaming live audio every week for the last seven years for my podcast Digital Production Buzz. And Im streaming video from my website for the last three years as part of my on-going software training. If everything is...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 August 2014

Take it to the bridge

by Will Strauss Issue 91 - July 2014 Since the late 1980s, studios, facilities, OB trucks and many other professional broadcast set-ups have relied on digital video standards such as SDI (Serial Digital Interface) to move audio and video around. Using SDI it has been possible to happily construct a reliable, error-free, plug-and-play, real-time ope...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 August 2014