KitPlus | Articles

Responding to Change

The first days of 2020 seem like a good time to reflect on what will happen to our industry in the coming months and years. There are some things about which we can do nothing. The global political situation seems to be in turmoil. Populists seem to stop at nothing, and are certainly not hampered by the need to be truthful; the Middle East is in tu...

Submitted by James Gilbert

Published 27 January 2020

NAB 2019 Highlights

The NAB Show in Las Vegas never loses its capacity to surprise. With NHK already transmitting in 8K and the Tokyo Olympics just a year away, this might have been the year that 8K equipment prices descended from the stratosphere to just plain expensive. The main trends at NAB 2019 were an increasing focus on HD-HDR, Media-over-IP and 4K. 8K was pret...

Submitted by Paul MacKenzie

Published 04 June 2019

Speed in a Changing Media Landscape

We are living in the video era - the staggering statistics on video growth make that abundantly clear. According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology 2016–2021, video will make up 82 percent of all consumer internet traffic by 2021, an increase from 73 percent in 2016. To put this in perspective, “it would take an individual...

Submitted by Mike Nash

Published 08 February 2018

Test and measurement in a multiformat world

The evolution of television technology since the days of 525-line and 625-line standard definition has left a large legacy of standards which modern broadcast systems now have to recognise and process. In today's video and audio business, creatives and technical staff have to be ready to handle a multiplicity of signal types. In its standard form,...

Submitted by Kevin Salvidge

Published 24 August 2016

4k is a reality for live production

Some aspects of the broadcast industry move exceedingly quickly; new cameras are launched seemingly daily, shows are commissioned and shows are axed but the overall pace of the industry remains pretty steady. Would it shock you to hear that NHK in Japan first built its own 4K prototype camera in 2003? (At this point, it's worth clarifying that we'r...

Submitted by Liam Laminman

Published 01 April 2016

Capture and Produce

Issue 93 - September 2014 Amongst all the new cameras, support and other production kit being touted prior to IBC, it was a less tangible announcement that really captured the imagination: Atomos’ announcement that it wants to standardize its Start/Stop Trigger connectivity for HDMI by making it available to other manufacturers. Locking SDI interfa...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 October 2014

Get the 8k WOW factor at NAB

by Bob Pank Issue 88 - April 2014 Once again 4K will be a prominent feature at NAB. There will be a 4K Zone in the North Hall but surely the format is now so popular that its many supporters will make it 4K everywhere and not confined to a dedicated zone. But 4K is only a part of UHD, the other being 8K, which has far more wow factor (why else go t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2014

4K Streaming and the Future of 8K

by Keith Wymbs Issue 87 - March 2014 There is little doubt that 4K and Ultra HD video will take hold over the next three years. These higher-resolution video types are a genuine advance from traditional HD and they likely will progress more quickly than their HD predecessor given the solid digital foundation now in place and advances such as high-e...

Submitted by Keith Wymbs

Published 01 April 2014

Taking legacy content into the 4K world

by Josef MarcIssue 84 - December 2013 There are 780,000 UHDTVs already manufactured and poised to hit the marketplace, and the effects of those devices (and the factories that continue to make them) are unstoppable. UHDTV and 4K will be everywhere, sponsored by UHDTV manufacturers and content owners. 4K tablets are shipping as well. As the drumbeat...

Submitted by Josef Marc

Published 01 January 2014

A testing 4K future...

by Steve NunneyIssue 83 - November 2013 We have only recently started to get HDTV transmitted to our homes with all the headaches of getting 1920 x 1080 50 or 60 fps down cables and compressed over the airways. Then there was the suggestion we could be sitting at home wearing glasses watching 3D however on 13th June 2013, ESPN announced an end to b...

Submitted by Steve Nunney

Published 01 December 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

Premiere 4K aquisition - LIVE

SIS LIVE recently put together a working group to explore the technology and workflows required to deliver live, 4K, multi-camera event coverage from an outside broadcast unit, which culminated in a field test at St James Park on 2nd February. Working with major camera and equipment suppliers, SIS LIVE has conducted proof of concept tests at base u...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 April 2013

NAB is for soothsayers, trendsetters and people with road...

Unlucky for some…by Will StraussPrototypes, alpha products, demos and proofs of concept: NAB in Las Vegas is all about future innovation. Will Strauss picks 13 stands that you must visit this year. With the dust from BVE barely settled, it’s already time to look towards NAB. I know, I know. Don’t shout at me. I didn’t arrange the broadcast industry...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 April 2013

Ubiquitous Cloud at IBC

It was one of those IBCs that was more consolidation than innovation. There wasn’t any one product or technology that stood out as a game changer. There was more evidence of 4K being pushed as a more realistic alternative to 8K and more of the must-have 84-inch 4K TV screens. Well they do look fabulous but I still had to go and see NHK’s 85-inch SH...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2012

An Olympian Effort

For obvious reasons, the broadcasting world does not generally hold mass-murdering dictators in high esteem. But, in a small way, and despite his many, many faults, the world of television has one such tyrant to thank for the connection between technological innovation and the Olympic Games. And no, this is not a joke. The first handful of modern d...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 September 2012