KitPlus | Articles

5G Streaming - The Rollout

5G will bring significant improvements in bandwidth per device, capacity per network and reduced latency per session. These are all very important features for video both today and going forward. The growth of new formats such as UHD, AR, VR and 360 video place much greater demand on the networks that serve consumer devices, so 5G will be essential...

Submitted by Steve Plunkett - new

Published 04 April 2017

Dick Hobbs is counting heads

Now I am absolutely not going to get into politics in this column. But as I wrote last month, I am a bit concerned about truth and honesty. As I am sure we all are. The White House press secretary has an important and powerful role, and we all loved CJ Cregg for doing it (leading to my lifelong passion for Alison Janney). So when the incoming spoke...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 15 March 2017

Smarter Branding

The past decade of multi-channel digital broadcasting has created a paradox. The addition of OTT, VoD and other online services only serves to add to it. On the one hand, the more channels there are, the more you need to market yours if it is to win and retain a healthy audience. On the other hand, the more channels there are, the more the total re...

Submitted by James Gilbert

Published 15 February 2017

The secret to global Gogglebox success

People all over the world love watching other people watch TV. What many of us thought was a ridiculous notion when Gogglebox first aired in the UK in 2013, has since become a worldwide phenomenon. \'Gogglebox is held up by the global industry and broadcast community as an example of excellence in audience engagement and production innovation, and...

Submitted by Chris Cooper

Published 15 February 2017

Streamlining operations at BFBS

British Armed Forces around the world rely on British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to provide them with entertainment and information via their TVs and radios. Operating from studios in Buckinghamshire, BFBS is part of Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC), a not-for-profit charitable organization that makes a considerable contribution...

Submitted by Adrian Richmond

Published 07 December 2016

Hacking Hell

There was a really scary story in the news a week or two ago. In the words of Yves Bigot, director-general of TV5 Monde, "we were a couple of hours from having the whole station gone for good". What happened to this highly respected broadcaster was that malicious hackers set out to destroy the network\'s systems. That has to be an alarm call for al...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 07 December 2016

Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Reviewed

The yeti finally arrived earlier this year - I call it so, because for almost twelve months until BVE 2016 we\'d only seen it in pictures! So getting my hands on one in a real word environment was an absolute no brainer, when Simon Tillyer dropped me a line offering the opportunity to review the camera for KitPlus. I\'ll cut right to the chase with...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 07 December 2016

Are you female and going to IBC

Trade shows within this industry can be hard enough to survive for anyone, let alone as a woman when women make up less than 10% of the general populace. There are undoubtedly some benefits to being the minority (as there are with many things); I\'ve never had to queue for the toilets for a start. However, feedback we have collated from our FBI dat...

Submitted by Sadie Groom

Published 25 August 2016

Tips on how to reduce your exposure to business crime

Business Crime is growing in popularity and is cunning, smart, and very convincing. It is being spurred on by the very technology that is supposed to help media and other businesses improve performance. One of the trending frauds is \'Social Engineering\' where criminals can make use technology, and trickery to exploite our human nature. Here we ou...

Submitted by Phil Bower

Published 25 August 2016

The true benefits of the media factory ideal

As an industry we know that to be successful in the new multi-platform, multi-format environment there are hurdles that broadcasters and other content owners must overcome. These include: the introduction of non-linear offerings, which require different services to be managed in parallel; the reduction of revenues from conventional linear channels,...

Submitted by Julian Fernandez-Campon

Published 22 July 2016

The modern day media manager

As industry trends move towards all file-based workflows from production to post production, there are several concepts and traditional industry practices that need to be modified and adapted for the transition. This spans throughout the entire production process in order to ensure that all deliverables are being recorded, edited and stored within...

Submitted by Jonathan Aroesty

Published 22 July 2016

Making OTT monitoring and compliance manageable and econo...

Consumers today regularly use their smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices to view Internet-delivered content. While their widespread embrace of over-the-top (OTT) services via an array of distribution outlets present today's video program owners and distributors with tremendous opportunity, it also presents new challenges in ensuring no...

Submitted by Gary Learner

Published 22 July 2016

News production with an IP workflow

Broadcast workflow used to be all about tapes. Shooting on tapes, putting tapes into machines, copying from one tape to another, using very expensive gear and costly workflows, with scarce resources and high skill levels. But as broadcast technology evolved tape was mostly replaced by hard drives, and the revolution in editing made it possible to w...

Submitted by Helge Hoibraaten

Published 22 July 2016

The changing face of streaming

I have been in the streaming business for more than 20 years and I've witnessed a number of major shifts in the industry. Currently we are experiencing such a shift as we see a massive increase in users viewing content but also a sea change in how it's being discovered and viewed. Over the last few years there has been a continual rise in the use o...

Submitted by Jake Ward

Published 22 July 2016

TVFutures looking back at the class of 2015

In a review of the academic year, KitPlus looks back over all of the contributions from students (and staff) and asks for one last comment 'with an eye to the future'Charlie Watts - Course Leader - TV and Broadcasting#TVFutures is a brilliant way for students to evaluate their current situation and really articulate important moments of learning an...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 14 June 2016