KitPlus | Articles

Matrox VS4-based Multi-channel Recording System

October 2015 Skehan Communications, a leading video production and transmission company provides multi-camera HD video production, webcasting, satellite uplinks and other unique services to broadcasters, Fortune 500 companies, professional associations and government agencies. Though based in the Washington-Baltimore region, their projects have tak...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 November 2015

Streaming graduation

by Charlie Watts Issue 104 - August 2015 Graduation is a big deal for students, families and for the degree awarding institutions, and so it has been this way in Portsmouth since 1995. Now twenty years later it should come as no surprise that the University of Portsmouth has elevated the Graduation Ceremony Broadcasting Operation into something so...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 01 September 2015

Three days to launch a TV station

by Neil Hutchins Issue 104 - August 2015 We go on-air in less than 100 hours is an alarming statement when the studio and control room in question contain no technical equipment whatsoever. But this was the situation that we faced upon arrival at the new Local TV channel in Manchester for the first time as we began to unload the van late on a Thurs...

Submitted by Neil Hutchins#

Published 01 September 2015

How we got live streaming to work for us

by Larry Jordan & Megan Paulos Issue 103 - July 2015 We originate three hours of live programming from our studios every week. In fact, everything we do is designed for live web streaming. For the last several months, we have been exploring a number of options that would enable live video streaming with live audio mixing and support an unlimited nu...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 August 2015

The future of storage is now affordable and flexible.

by Ed Harper Issue 102 - June 2015 As the 10th anniversary of the Avid ISIS shared storage product line approaches this autumn, Ed Harper, senior product manager in the Avid ISIS collaborative storage solutions group, looks at how the company continues to innovate its flagship, flexible and scalable storage solution. Over the years, our engineering...

Submitted by Ed Harper

Published 01 July 2015

Audio basics

by Larry Jordan Issue 101 - May 2015 It is an absolutely true statement that the best way to improve the quality of your image is to improve the quality of your sound. Viewers will happily watch grainy, black-and-white images and consider it "art.\" However, nothing you can say will keep them in their seats if the audio is too loud or unintelligibl...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 June 2015

DOPs discuss minicams, lenses, 4k and all

by Mel Noonan Issue 100 - April 2015 If anyone knows about the practical reality of using minicams and lenses it has to be the DOPs who are out there using them. We are now seeing minicams used in all areas of production, some with 1080p and 4K capability at prices you would not have believed possible a few years back. I spoke to some of the DOPs I...

Submitted by Mel Noonan

Published 01 May 2015

Why video codecs matter

by Larry Jordan Issue 99 - March 2015 Video codecs confuse a lot of people. But understanding codecs is critical to just about every element of video production, editing and distribution. Codec is an acronym that stands for "COmpressor/DECompressor.\" It is easy to get intimidated by all the technical jargon surrounding codecs, but, at their core,...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 April 2015

Loudness normalisation for podcast streaming

by Jon Schorah Issue 99 - March 2015 For media companies steeped in traditional workflows, the exploding demand for over-the-top (OTT) content on many different devices is offering up significant new opportunities as well as challenges. If content owners can re-purpose their assets effectively, they can reach existing and new audiences through chan...

Submitted by Jon Schorah

Published 01 April 2015

Now that is how you do a newsroom

by Neil Hutchins Issue 97 - January 2015 "That\'s TV\" is a brand new TV network for the UK that first launched in the South of England in the fourth quarter of 2014. That\'s TV is designed to emulate the most popular local TV news format in the US and bring it to the UK in the form of live sports, phone-ins and entertainment. Every That\'s TV affi...

Submitted by Neil Hutchins#

Published 01 February 2015

Fixing it in parallel

by Daniele Siragusano Issue 97 - January 2015 Whenever something went wrong in television production, the cry was always "We\'ll fix it in post". Except that there was rarely enough time, in a broadcast schedule, to fix anything. Today we expect every programme - even routine television programmes like daily dramas - to look and sound perfect. But...

Submitted by Daniele Siragusano

Published 01 February 2015

Eye to Eye: Video Post-production

Video post-production has long been one of the fastest developing subsets of the broadcast business. It was among the first to lead the shift from hardware into software, bringing huge advantages in terms of affordability and ease of use. I can still remember the high cost, heavy weight and low quality of the early analogue tape to tape video editi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2015

4k Streaming: a Key OTT Differentiator

by Keith Wymbs Issue 96 - December 2014 OTT streaming providers are amongst the first to offer 4K UHD TV services. In fact, 4K UHD may be seen as a key differentiator for OTT services such as Netflix and M-GO as they compete with pay TV operators according to a recent report from ABI Research. Netflix has launched 4K video streaming of shows such a...

Submitted by Keith Wymbs

Published 01 January 2015

Confidence Monitoring in the Modern Broadcast Environment

by Graham Taylor Issue 95 - November 2014 Monitoring equipment is often the last element considered in a broadcast system build, and getting its deployment just right is not always a top priority. However, most operations managers and broadcast engineers readily acknowledge the critical role that effective monitoring plays in making their jobs easi...

Submitted by Graham Taylor

Published 01 December 2014

Monitoring made easy

by Beth Zarkhosh Issue 95 - November 2014 Making sure you capture the right sound correctly throughout your filmmaking is one of the most important aspects of the shooting process, an element that many seem to get wrong time and time again. Whether you\'re filming an interview, documentary or short film, the audio recording is an intrinsic part of...

Submitted by Beth Zarkhosh

Published 01 December 2014