KitPlus | Articles

Sony NEX-EA50 reviewed

Once in a while you get the chance to review a camera that brings back memories of years gone by - Sony's NEX-EA50 camera is one of those cameras. Some may say I am stretching things a bit too far, but as I looked at it I felt at home with it because it reminded me of my old Sony VX9000E (also known as the DSR200). This was my first DV camera and a...

Submitted by Zulqar Cheema

Published 01 July 2013

Changing the art of Chroma Key

ChromaKey technology has been used for decades in TV and film studios to composite images or footage into a shot using green and blue screen backdrops. Although used on multi-million dollar movies, such as AVATAR and used all around the world in News rooms, conventional ‘Fabric’ ChromaKey technology requires Kilowatts of lighting, hours of setup ti...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 01 June 2013

The Cloud, a big hit at NAB with Bob Pank

NAB 2013 will go down in history as the event where the broadcast industry took to the Cloud in a big way. Perhaps it was the number of smaller companies and start-ups that have been successfully operating cloud services for a year or more that persuaded the big names to join in but, more likely, these moves have been in the pipeline for a while. T...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2013

The intricacies of capturing phase-coherent surround soun...

By Pieter Schillebeeckx – Product Manager, SoundField at TSL PPLSince its acquisition of SoundField, TSL Professional Products Ltd, a leading manufacturer of surround microphones, audio monitoring, tally and power management solutions for the broadcast industry, routinely field a growing number of questions from the industry regarding the successfu...

Submitted by Pieter Schillebeeckx

Published 01 June 2013

Will Strauss captures some decent sound gear

Capturing decent location sound requires skill, experience and, as Will Strauss discovered when compiling a list of recent audio acquisition innovations, piles of expensive kit. Although some cameramen might disagree, audio is still the most important thing to get right when on location. The odd dodgy shot can, generally speaking, be sorted in post...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 June 2013

Chris Barlow gains greater customer satisfaction

by Chris Barlow, Technical Director, AstecMonitoring the quality of service and experience for customers across an often complex and sizeable broadcast estate, can be a difficult area to oversee and hard to control. Gaining an understanding of the quality of the services customers are receiving has many variables to consider including the presence...

Submitted by Chris Barlow

Published 01 May 2013

4K at NAB with Bob Pank

As we head once more to NAB you may wonder what this year’s big thing will be. I put my money on 4K. As I write there must be many exhibitors polishing up their ‘4K solution’ message, ready for their customers at the show. With the extraordinary situation of screens costing more than cameras, a viable business model clearly remains far off. But, to...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2013

Creating a feature-rich subscriber-based OTT entertainmen...

TV Everywhere has become a way of life in the Nordic market, where every major broadcaster has succeeded in taking its services over the top and into the online video space. One of those broadcasters – pan-Nordic pay-TV channel provider C More Entertainment – has offered Web TV services for years through its online video portal. Competition for vie...

Submitted by Helge Hoibraaten

Published 01 May 2013

Adventure Filmmaking with Ian Burton

What exactly is it that you do now/ what do you specialise in? How did you get started in filmmaking?I'm an independent adventure filmmaker, specialising in shooting in remote and ‘vertical’ locations. I shoot my own projects as well as commercial projects for a huge range of companies, and I love filming world class extreme athletes pushing themse...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 April 2013

Bob Pank starts counting cores...

Once again BVE hosted its one-day Cloud seminar. The new ExCel location meant that the room was away from the show floor and ideal for concentrating on the words flowing from the experts. Full-on attention was needed as squeezing in nine sessions between 10.00 and 17.45 meant that each would be short, sharp and to the point, which was certainly the...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2013

Dick Hobbs looks at intellectual property rights

Troll onby Dick HobbsIn my column last month I wrote about the Tolkein sort of troll. This month I want to look at another sort: the ones who acquire portfolios of patents not with the intention of making anything useful, but simply to try to extort money from those who just want to earn an honest buck. I am sure that every one of you reading this...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 April 2013

Cooke Optics

by Robert HowardHere at Cooke Optics we’re currently basking in the golden glow of our brand new Academy Award® of Merit – yes, that’s an Oscar® statuette – which we received this February in recognition of our continuing innovation in the design, development and manufacture of motion picture camera lenses. From Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy...

Submitted by Robert Howard

Published 01 March 2013

An unexpected debate

At the end of last year I went to a screening of The Hobbit, or rather the first volume of The Hobbit, as An Unexpected Journey is the first part of a trilogy. I say I went to a “screening” not because that is the way that we trendy media types talk, but because it was a private showing to some of the great and good of the industry in the UK, organ...

Submitted by Robert Howard

Published 01 March 2013

What you see is what you get? Doubtful!

by Robin PalmerThe colour you see is not necessarily the same colour experienced by someone else looking at the same thing. It all depends on the viewer and the viewing conditions as well as the actual colour of the thing. In some professions having perfect colour vision is a matter of safety as in the case of airline pilots and those in railway si...

Submitted by Robin Palmer

Published 01 March 2013

Will Strauss gets a grip!

By Will StraussOf all the many areas of television technology that tv-bay Magazine covers, you might think that camera support is the one that appears, on the surface at least, to move the slowest. Take the tripod for example. Fundamentally, the design hasn’t changed for a hundred years. Or how about the dolly? The wheels and track device that Alfr...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 March 2013