KitPlus | Articles

Expanding Arqiva into HD playout

ATG Broadcast recently completed a major SD to HD upgrade for Arqiva broadcast transmission centre at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. The expanded system enables Arqiva to process and transmit four fully-operational 1080i HD channels as well as six new SD channels. It includes the installation and equipping of a server-based ingest suite, playout...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2010

As a Videographer do I need a tripod and head

As you know, video has changed radically over the past few years, with even lighter and more compact cameras producing broadcast-quality HD footage. With new equipment opening up new ways to film and encouraging film-makers, videographers and former photographers to cross over their outdated boundaries, comes a need for new supports to match these...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2010

Deja Vu

3D was everywhere at IBC with a choice of new products on offer for all parts of production. This makes 3D far more accessible as well as easier to produce. It was also clear that interested visitors to the show were no longer swayed by the initial ‘wow’ factor and were trying to see the more important things – notably the economic realities. In th...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2010

tv-bay IBC2010 double takes

Tv-bay Double Takes..!Acquisition For-A VFC-7000 Camera HD Variable Frame Rate CameraASA1800 Sensitivity, Native 720x1280 resolution with inbuilt up-convert to 1920x1080 and will output at 50 or 59.94 frame rates. 120 - 700 Frames per second recording speed. Two HD-SDI outputs enabling live and recordings to be viewed simultaneously. Standard onboa...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2010

Turning walls into Canvases

Christie MicroTiles™ is the new digital canvas. It’s an entirely new, modular display technology that uses elements of DLP®, LED and rear-projection to create unique, visually compelling systems. This is technology that allows architects and retail designers to throw out the supposed rule book on how large format, motion display systems have to wor...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2010

Eye to Eye: Video monitoring and displays

Given a decent stereo audio source and a pair of headphones, it is quite easy to imagine that you are actually attending a live performance. Not so with video; human eyes are much more demanding. Fortunately picture display technology is developing very quickly and along many different routes. OLEDsLED-backlit LCDs were about the best screens avail...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2010

Splitting Image

The traditional CRT monitor stack is now all but consigned to the annals of history. Not the vain claim of some clever marketing agency or the opening pitch of a sharp dressed sales rep but more the demise of a technology that is becoming less and less available. While manufacturers still have a few CRT models available in their portfolio we’ve see...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2010

A conversation with Peter Harman, Vinten Product Manager

Vinten is celebrating its centenary in 2010. What were the origins of the business?William Vinten was an engineer with a passion for quality. He set himself in business to repair friends’ bicycles at the age of 13, did a full apprenticeship in a machine shop, and worked for Frederick Lamplough, the steam car pioneer. But it was seeing his first mov...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2010

With Polecam to the Antarctic

Whale Wars is a documentary-style reality television series that airs on Animal Planet, and follows the activities of the eco-activist group, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Last year, I was aboard Sea Shepherd’s flagship, “Steve Irwin” as Director of Photography and, along with a 5-man camera team, documented the “war” between the Japanese whal...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2010

Eye to Eye: Whats even newer in test and measurement 2010

A year is a long time in broadcast test & measurement, which is just as well because that is when this column previously focused on it. Given the current push to establish 3D as a permanent feature of the broadcast landscape, one might reasonably expect T&M kit designers to be heading along the same road. Hamlet and Omnitek certainly are but it see...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2010

Accessorising DLSR video

Some DSLR stills camera manufacturers now include HD video capabilities within their top-of-the-range products. This raises the prospect of lower cost stills cameras shooting good quality HD video. While this is true in certain circumstances there is much more that needs to be included with these cameras to make them consistently produce their best...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2010

Im a celebrity get me out of here

Gearhouse Broadcast was awarded the contract to supply broadcast equipment and some crew for Granada Productions “I Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” in 2008. Since that time we have been involved in two UK shows and one German show in Australia plus a USA show in Costa Rica. Planning for these shows is an all year round exercise as the UK show is Dece...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2010

Film Affect

As shooting on film for TV applications is increasingly being replaced with HD, there is a growing tendency for people to wish to apply film tools and methods to origination when using the electronic medium. However, unless aiming for a specific look that cannot be achieved any other way, it can prove more time consuming and costly to work this way...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010

Pushing Air- the art of acoustic design

Acoustics is usually regarded (or often disregarded) as a black art that is practiced with no discernable science involved, with a great reliance on ears for measurement and blind faith as a method statement. Nothing could be further from the truth in the professional study of sound, with many practitioners furnished with several degrees and a weal...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010

Two Decades of Development With DK-Technologies

For more than 20 years, DK-Technologies has been developing audio and video test and measurement products that have become industry standards thanks to their adoption by many of the world’s top music, broadcast and post production facilities. Founded in 1987 by its current CEO Karsten Hansen, DK began by developing complex, custom-designed matrix s...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010