KitPlus | Articles

State of the Nation - part 2

This is, of course, the IBC issue of this splendid magazine. Much of the rest of its pages are filled with what you will see there, or (in some cases) what vendors and their marketing communications agencies want you to see there. This year’s IBC is a particularly special event, though. It is 50 years – almost to the day – since the very first Inte...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 19 October 2017

You need wave power if you are going surfing

Tim Bonython\'s association with surfing films began in 1978, when armed with a Super-8 camera he set off to Hawaii\'s infamous North Shore, to capture the big waves and their riders. From that moment he fell in love with the sport, and became obsessed with making it the subject of breathtaking and inspiring films. To spread the word, Tim began tou...

Submitted by Tim Bonython

Published 19 May 2017

Social streaming and broadcast

We are witnessing a growing trend from broadcasters looking to complement TV content with social streaming. When done well, it can really help increase consumer engagement on a huge scale and we have seen some great examples of it over recent months. At the recent Kit Plus Show, I talked about the marriage between broadcast and social streaming, wh...

Submitted by Craig Moehl

Published 13 January 2017

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

10 Ways to make your trade show booth stand out

With 15 halls and over 1600 exhibitors, there\'s little chance of seeing every stand at the IBC trade show - but this year I gave it a good try and racked up an impressive number of daily steps to prove it! Unlike most show visitors, however, I wasn\'t looking for the latest bit of tech or next product to purchase, instead I was focussed on how IBC...

Submitted by Candice Cowan

Published 10 November 2016

IBC with the BBC

IBC is an exciting opportunity for us in BBC R&D to share with the world the work we've been doing on a range of technologies. Those attending the conference will be able see much of the work we are doing on new forms of content and workflows and get an understanding of the object based principles for broadcasting which we are working towards, enab...

Submitted by Jon Page

Published 26 September 2016

Make a scifi film in the Mexican Desert

British director Nicolas Roeg once said to me that making a film is like horse racing. To start with you give the horse a nudge to get him moving, then as you gather speed there's a point where you have to trust the horse. You hold on and the horse will carry you across the finish line. I've just returned home from shooting a Sci-fi proof-of-concep...

Submitted by Edward Andrews

Published 26 September 2016

The FAQs on automated quality assurance

The transition from tape-based to file-based video and audio recording allowed a completely new approach to the business of checking that programmes and interstitials conform to broad-cast industry standards prior to transmission. The Vidcheck team designed the world\'s first au-tomated broadcast quality control product. We have been working on fil...

Submitted by Thomas Dove

Published 25 August 2016

OTT - is it over the top or business as usual

OTT is a term that is casually bandied about as though everyone knows what it is, but is there really a single definition? Hopefully this little guide will have you speaking the jargon like a native!OTT stands for Over The Top. If you're into linguistics, then the first question that comes to mind is "What are A & B in the sentence: A is going over...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 22 July 2016

Smaller, Lighter, High-Capacity Batteries

Issue 113 - May 2016 The desire for longer run-times from smaller and lighter batteries, has always been keenly felt by users of high power consumption digital cinema style cameras. The new generation of cameras is smaller but the power consumption, in most cases, has increased. High-capacity Li-Ion batteries of 150Wh or more provide longer run-tim...

Submitted by Steve Emmett

Published 20 May 2016

NAB Review

by Duncan Payne Issue 113 - May 2016 As I emerge from the customary post-NAB haze and try to formulate a coherent analysis of the 2016 show, perhaps the most striking realisation is that despite pacing the halls for four long days, I barely scratched the surface. The scale of the event, much like Las Vegas itself, is simply extraordinary, with over...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 13 May 2016

TV Futures

by Gemma Frith Issue 113 - May 2016 I used to hate audio. Every time we recorded audio on a location shoot, something seemed to go wrong. It was a nightmare. And because I didn\'t understand it, I avoided it and would do anything to not be responsible for recording sound. However, eventually it got to a point where I hated how much I hated audio mo...

Submitted by Gemma Frith

Published 13 May 2016

Our Time At NAB 2016

by Beth Zarkosh Issue 113 - May 2016 We were lucky enough to visit this year\'s NAB Show in Las Vegas, and we must saythere were some real treats on show! Here\'s just a few things that stood out for us and worth keeping your eye on. Virtual Reality & 360 Degree VideosOne thing that really stood out for us was the virtual reality filmmaking devices...

Submitted by Beth Zarkosh

Published 13 May 2016

Females In The Broadcasting Industry

by Samantha Arlow Issue 112 - April 2016 Everyone has heard of the FBI right? The US Federal Bureau of Investigation that inspires images of hard talking detectives in dark suits and sunglasses. But if you work in Broadcast, there\'s another FBI you should know about. This FBI, as the name spells out, is an organisation specifically geared towards...

Submitted by Samantha Arlow

Published 25 April 2016