KitPlus | Articles

The return of the Minimoog

The iconic Minimoog is making a return and a return well worth the wait! As this was the world\'s first portable synthesizer and became the role model for all electronic keyboards, the Minimoog Model D was and now is a synthesiser force to be reckoned with. First released in the 1970\'s, it became popular worldwide and attracted attention for its f...

Submitted by Beth Zarkosh

Published 24 August 2016

Dance hall days are over for professional lighting

Photon Beard has made lights since before the days of electric power. "What\'s that, you say"? Well, it\'s true. Photon Beard started in 1882 when the founder, R.R. Beard, invented the automatic gas regulator. Yes, the thing that allows you to barbeque that steak in summer sunshine, or any time of year that you fancy grilled food. In the days befor...

Submitted by Peter Daffarn

Published 24 August 2016

Intimate and Extreme

It's the intimate views and unusual angles that make the difference to the viewers' enjoyment of any event, and specialist RF cameras can turn a Director's vision into a production that's as gripping as being at the game - or almostThe Aviva Rugby Premiership Final at Twickenham was not just a high profile 4K event, it was a multi-camera event usin...

Submitted by Tony Valentino

Published 22 July 2016

Ask the experts - Transitioning to IP

1) What has been the broadcast industry's feeling about the move to an all IP workflow?Transitioning from conventional signal transport to an all-IP environment in broadcast or content production operations seems to be a matter of "when\" rather than "if,\" as it brings a great number of advantages with it. IP is touted as offering numerous benefit...

Submitted by Craig Newbury

Published 22 July 2016

High throughput satellite meets the challenge of IP media

For some time, many people in the media industry have been wondering how much longer satellite could remain a major player now that the era of 4K is upon us and there is such a rapid proliferation of channels. There just isn't the throughput for these new services on the current generation of satellites, so the argument goes, and the costs per giga...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 22 July 2016

OTT - is it over the top or business as usual

OTT is a term that is casually bandied about as though everyone knows what it is, but is there really a single definition? Hopefully this little guide will have you speaking the jargon like a native!OTT stands for Over The Top. If you're into linguistics, then the first question that comes to mind is "What are A & B in the sentence: A is going over...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 22 July 2016

Networking with the GTC

The annual Guild Of Television Cameramen ( GTC ) Open Day and AGM was held recently in the Oxfordshire countryside on a sunny Sunday. It's a while since I've attended one, and the welcome was as warm and friendly as it always has been. Organisations like these must be incredibly useful for freelance camera operators, most of whom do not attend NAB,...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 14 June 2016

Looking back at a typical day working on Top of the Pops

A few weeks ago I was watching television and caught a bit of 'Top of the Pops ' from 1984, and I thought, 'Was this one of the programmes I worked on? ' I was privileged enough to be a staff cameraman at the BBC for 20 years, during that time I was able to work on many great shows: Only Fools and Horses, Blue Peter and Two Ronnies to name but a fe...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 14 June 2016

OTT A Multiscreen Environment

Just when pay-TV operators and content providers seemed to be facing an insurmountable number of challenges related to OTT multiscreen delivery, the cloud has emerged as their saving grace. During this Q&A session, Sefy Ariely, EVP Americas at Viaccess-Orca, discusses the advantages of using a complete cloud-based TV Platform as a Service (PaaS) fo...

Submitted by Sefy Ariely

Published 14 June 2016

Top 10 Tips for Saving Time in Post

Whether you're working on a shoestring or with feature film budgets, every production is under pressure to save money. And while cutting back on crew and downgrading your gearlist are effective ways of reducing costs, they invariably also reduce production value. But you can make big savings simply by being organised. Time really is money in the ed...

Submitted by Max McGonigal

Published 14 June 2016

The Challenges of Streaming

The purpose of this article to highlight the challenges facing small and medium streaming services. It is intended to look at how to achieve successful live and pre recorded content by means of streaming. In this article I would like to share the knowledge and the experience I have gained so far. I will also talk about the kit I use, how it is used...

Submitted by Joseph Ail

Published 14 June 2016

Bringing Realiability to the Unpredictability of Reality...

Synonymous with reality TV, Endemol 's 2015 production of Wild Island was set in a remote location off the coast of Central America. The German-produced series, supported by MoovIT production services, featured 14 ordinary citizens left to their own devices to survive on an uninhabited tropical island with no food or water for 28 days. With six cam...

Submitted by Martin Bennett

Published 14 June 2016

NAB Review

by Duncan Payne Issue 113 - May 2016 As I emerge from the customary post-NAB haze and try to formulate a coherent analysis of the 2016 show, perhaps the most striking realisation is that despite pacing the halls for four long days, I barely scratched the surface. The scale of the event, much like Las Vegas itself, is simply extraordinary, with over...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 13 May 2016

Class: Multi - Channel Audio

by Bruce Devlin Issue 113 - May 2016 If you\'re given a media file and it has 16 channels of audio then life can quickly become the opposite of boring, especially if it has to go to air quickly and the supplier is new. Put simply there are many ways in which the different channels can be laid out in the file, but there isn\'t a single overall stand...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 13 May 2016

TV Futures

by Gemma Frith Issue 113 - May 2016 I used to hate audio. Every time we recorded audio on a location shoot, something seemed to go wrong. It was a nightmare. And because I didn\'t understand it, I avoided it and would do anything to not be responsible for recording sound. However, eventually it got to a point where I hated how much I hated audio mo...

Submitted by Gemma Frith

Published 13 May 2016