KitPlus | Articles

League of Legends European Masters

ESL, the world’s largest esports company, relied on a full Blackmagic Design live production workflow at the inaugural League of Legends European Masters tournament. The new league launched this Spring, with the first split taking place in the UK, specifically, at the historic Haymarket Theatre in Leicester. The European Masters tournament is the p...

Submitted by Sam Deans

Published 18 July 2018

Taking a hybrid approach to the SDI/IP transistion

Broadcasters are not newcomers to technological transitions. As an industry, we\'ve survived analogue to digital, baseband to file-based workflows, SDTV to HDTV and now 4KUHD resolution, not to mention weathering a barrage of new compression formats. Today, we\'re facing one of the most dramatic transformations we\'ve ever undergone: SDI to IP. Unl...

Submitted by Matthew Coleman

Published 07 December 2016

The production desk finally gets innovative

by Kieron Seth Issue 104 - August 2015 The video switcher (aka vision mixer) is at the heart of all live television, all AV and many a live webcast. But despite its core role, its remained essentially the same concept for decades, consisting of a digital video effects processing unit, matrix switcher and control panel. Fundamentally this hardware-b...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 September 2015

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 January 2015

KVM extenders and matrix switches in broadcast

by Enno Littmann Issue 92 - August 2014 How successful has exhibiting at IBC been in the past?IBC 2014 marks the fifth successive year that IHSE has exhibited at the exhibition. Each year since 2009 we have moved to a more prominent position, increased the size of the stand and generated greater levels of interest amongst visitors. Many of whom hav...

Submitted by Enno Littmann

Published 01 September 2014

Transforming Content and Caputure Distribution

by Russell Wise Issue 90 - June 2014 Within the broadcast industry, ongoing financial pressures have driven continued consolidation of operations, centralization of staff, and efforts to increase efficiency through smarter use of current and forward-looking media-focused technologies. At the same time, the rise of multiplatform content distribution...

Submitted by Russell Wise

Published 01 July 2014

Atomos Samurai Blade and Connect Converter TSG

by Kevin Owen Issue 90 - June 2014 Kevin Owen has worked in live television broadcast industry for the past 10 years, specializing in fiber optic systems integration and video engineering. Troubleshooting problems on the fly, often at remote locations away from the production truck has become an integral part of his job. Kevin is most often found w...

Submitted by Kevin Owen

Published 01 July 2014

Moving into the IP based 4K UDTV camp

by Chuck MeyerIssue 84 - December 2013 There appear to be two parallel trains of inertia currently taking place in broadcast, one of course being the onset of 4K UDTV, the other being the transition to an IP-based content transport infrastructure. For many, the rapid changes and associated question are daunting, even for experienced professionals....

Submitted by Chuck Meyer

Published 01 January 2014

From archival master to usable video with Mark Gray

by Mark GrayIssue 80 - August 2013 With about 4 million new video channels expected to hit the market in the next five years, its going to be more important than ever to make high-quality content readily available. Many media archives and libraries; studios; broadcasters; production and postproduction facilities; and mastering, quality control, and...

Submitted by Mark Gray

Published 01 September 2013

Multiviewers come along for the ride with Matrox

Mobile production truck converts to HD and Matrox MicroQuad multiviewers come along for the ride. Jones Mobile Television (JMTV) is a full-service location video production company located in Arkansas, USA, which serves a wide range of national sports, corporate, and entertainment clients. Recently they completed a $3 million USD conversion of thei...

Submitted by Catherine Overbury

Published 01 July 2013

Metering in the age of loudness: Keeping things on the le...

By Martin DysterThe new age of production and post production for HD broadcast has gotten more complicated with the advent of legislation and guidelines concerning the relative loudness between different programs, channels and, especially, commercials. With ATSC A85 in place in the U.S., EBU R128 covering the members of the European Broadcasting Un...

Submitted by Martin Dyster

Published 01 February 2013

Matrox Microquad reviewed

There's nothing quite like a bank of screens in front of you, showing all your video feeds coming in to the production system. The more it looks like the something from Star Trek the happier I am. However when you start to look at the cost of all those screens and especially if you are monitoring HD/SDI inputs, I have to admit a wave of despair gra...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 December 2012

Take control with Helm

Control and monitoring are two of the biggest issues faced in playout operations. Broadcasters and playout providers want to be able to select precisely the equipment that they need and probably more so than ever, are now able to very accurately do that. But this, combined with the fact that previously largely ‘static’ devices are now empowered by...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 December 2012

Streaming Part 2

I thought it was about time that I gave you all a little update on some of the kit I have been using and testing of the past few months. So here are a couple of updates for you starting with:Matrox MC100This little beauty has been in my procession for about a year now. If you don't know it’s a little box that allows you to do things such as HD-SDI...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2012

Automating intelligence across the signal flow

Back when broadcasters maintained small channel lineups, monitoring was a simple task that could be performed cost-effectively by station staff. The manual system-wide monitoring of critical audio and video parameters required dedicated staff all along the broadcast chain, but the investment typically could be justified. However, even with dedicate...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2012