KitPlus | Articles

An effective strategy for monitoring broadcast audio loud...

One of the factors affecting a television viewer’s satisfaction and overall quality of experience is the consistency of the audio level of the programming. Inconsistent loudness levels between channels or between programming and advertisements can ruin a viewer’s television watching experience. Over the past several years, erratic audio levels have...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2012

A live video streaming advocate

As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of a live video streaming advocate. I love the idea of being able to distribute high quality content via the internet, without the need for huge budgets, licensing, and all the hassle involved more conventional means. I do a lot of live streaming from small venues, and by their very nature is difficult to fit m...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 July 2012

Id Hide You.......

I’d Hide You....... The 8,000 mile journey of the Olympics torch has been the surprise hit of the games so far. Each step and every handover is filmed and beamed live to connected viewers over the Internet. Easy enough for an organisation as large and technically astute as the BBC, with its wealth of resources, but in this age of new technology, su...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 July 2012

Capturing Eagles In Flight

Capturing Eagles In FlightAs a highly regarded wildlife cameraman, Mateo Willis is in great demand from blue chip broadcasters such as the BBC and the Discovery Channel, which employ him to work on many of their most prestigious nature documentaries. Mateo’s speciality is long-lens work and he often spends large amounts of time in remote locations...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 July 2012

Cloudy NAB

Those who arrived a couple of days before the NAB show opened had the unusual experience of cool weather, heavy grey skies and rain. The clouds had arrived in Las Vegas. By the time the show opened they had gone but there was still a big one in the North Hall where I experienced my very first ‘Cloud Computing Pavilion’. It was not the structure I’d...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

Gamut errors: Who cares?

Gamut errors are the most common video signal problems. This is because colour television or cinematography depends on being able to represent every pixel on the screen in terms of red, green and blue. We want to deliver perfect RGB signals representing all the possible colours in our pictures. Virtually all display technologies use RGB primary col...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

Vegas Baby!

So last month was NAB in Las Vegas, and I got to go!Now I'd never been to the States before. I really didn't know what to expect. Other than not being allowed in bars or casinos as I'm under 21. And trucks on the road, larger meal portions and a favourable exchange rate. Thankfully I'm used to long flights, and after establishing that I could take...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

NAB 2012 Kit Review used by BroadcastShow

NAB kit review:-So pre-NAB we are all very busy organising interviews with 70 exhibitors over 4 days covering 4 halls and in our case around 28 miles. Late last year we developed an online interview booking system at www.broadcastshow.com which allows exhibitors to book one or more 15 minute slots, enter stand information and questions they may lik...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

The evolving art of sports television

Given the choice of watching a major live event on site or via television, most people would opt for the real thing. Sure, you have to get to the venue, perhaps queue to buy a ticket, find your seat or maybe stand for hours. If it is a football match, the audience in front will probably stand up for a better view of each goal, completely blocking y...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

A new era in slow-motion?

Those readers who watch sports programmes on a regular basis may have noticed that many productions now have high speed cameras providing so called “ultra-motion” replays as a part of slow motion sequences. These cameras have been in use for many years in such areas as crash testing and sports training, but until recently the quality of the image h...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

The new world of live acquisition

While the debate rages over the future of broadcast television with discussion of OTT (OTT – over-the-top delivery – think iPlayer on Virgin Media as a key example – or LoveFilm. It means an on-demand content service that is delivered over the top of another network) and time-shifting increasingly hogging the limelight, there’s one arena in which t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2012

3D Diaries Cameras: more for less

http://www.tv-bay.com/imag/issue062/files/44.htmlCameras: more for less?There is plenty of guidance available about how to shoot ‘good’ stereo 3D and the principles are quite easy to understand. Achieving good results takes good equipment and, maybe, the assistance of a stereographer and even a convergence puller... unless you are using one of thos...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Getting back to basics on HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR GRIP AND SUP...

When looking to purchase grip and support systems there are now a variety of different options available to the dedicated cameraman and this potential minefield of different equipment, at varying prices, can seem daunting and confusing at first. What’s the difference between a shoulder support, steady mount and a stabilizer? Are slide rail systems...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Dick gets hands on

There is a new buzz phrase in computer magazines at the moment. It is “digital skeuomorphism”, an expression which has come to describe the way that a user interface is designed to look like something else. To give an example of digital skeuomorphism, the picture is of my iPad calendar. The point is not to show how busy I am at NAB, but to show the...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

Ask the expert exhibition travel

There are too many trade shows and they are all expensive. Why should I travel to them?You probably should not attempt to travel to every show on the calendar, even if it was possible. It would take all your time and blow the budget out of the water. But that does not mean you should turn your back on shows altogether. They are still the primary wa...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012