KitPlus | Articles

Law Enforcement - Live, Mobile Video Surveillance

by Eric Chang Issue 108 - December 2015 Law enforcement, homeland security, surveillance, emergency response and military operations may span a range of operations, but they all share a crucial need for a detailed, real-time picture of rapidly changing events from various field locations. Leading law enforcement agencies have learned that there\'s...

Submitted by Eric Chang

Published 15 December 2015

Taming the 12Gbs beast and how to T&M it with the Qx

by Philip Adams and Paul Nicholls Issue 107 - November 2015 The one thing you can say about working in the broadcast industry is that there isnt time to get bored! Hesitant, perhaps even frightened these days might be more accurate but bored, certainly not. Such is the case with the planned UHDTV roll out and the need for customers to invest in tec...

Submitted by Phillip Adams

Published 01 December 2015

Sony PXW-FS5 Review

by Alister Chapman Issue 106 - October 2015 I was lucky enough to get some hands on time with a prototype FS5 in Amsterdam at IBC. In case you havent heard about it, the PXW-FS5 is a compact interchangeable lens, super 35mm camcorder from Sony that can record in HD or UHD 4K. It shares many of the features of the already incredibly popular PXW-FS7...

Submitted by Alister Champman

Published 01 November 2015

CLASS - Where do captions & subtitles live?

by Bruce Devlin Issue 104 - August 2015 Its not uncommon to see ability to insert/extract captions/subtitles as part of a tender requirement or product specification. But in a file-based world, what does this mean and where are we inserting/extracting to/from?For this article, well define captions and subtitles as text overlay that the user turns o...

Submitted by Bruce Devlin

Published 01 September 2015

Introduction to FM Single Frequency Networks

by Werner Drews Issue 103 - July 2015 Single Frequency Networks (SFNs) are a form of broadcast network design where several transmitters use the same frequency channel to send the same signal. SFNs are usually used for radio and digital TV broadcasting FM, AM and digital radio can be transmitted over SFNs while analog television is more problematic...

Submitted by Werner Drews

Published 01 August 2015

Distribution in the UHD Era

by Paul Briscoe Issue 103 - July 2015 Once upon a time, there were few broadcast TV standards. Each used its own regional image formats, color encoding scheme and sound and vision modulation standards. High-power over-the-air (OTA) transmitters broadcast the signal on internationally coordinated and regionally allocated radio frequency (RF) channel...

Submitted by Paul Briscoe

Published 01 August 2015

5 must haves for sound recordists

by Paul Zanders Issue 101 - May 2015 Every location has a different set of challenges and you have to deal with whatever sound your environment throws at you as best you can whilst looking after your gear and yourself. Here are 5 non-technical things that make my life on location easier. 1. Sound BlanketA lot of studios are big empty spaces that bo...

Submitted by Paul Zanders

Published 01 June 2015

Overcoming complexity in remote production leads to more...

by Henry Goodman Issue 101 - May 2015 Despite the instant accessibility of recorded media content, there are many events that are still best enjoyed as a live broadcast. At the same time, such broadcasts are becoming increasingly complex, and with increased complexity comes increased cost. It\'s a fact that limits the number of events broadcasters...

Submitted by Henry Goodman

Published 01 June 2015

Finding the Oracle of audio capture

by Simon Tillyer Issue 101 - May 2015 With over 300 hours of YouTube video uploaded every 60 seconds it\'s not hard to understand why any manufacturer would be looking closely at the new generation of emerging filmmakers whether they be in the consumer (creating content for "fun") or prosumer (creating content for a fee) markets. You might however...

Submitted by Simon Tillyer

Published 01 June 2015

A wide spectrum of choice

by Andy Clements Issue 101 - May 2015 Without microphones, in-ear monitors (IEMs), intercom and distribution systems based on wireless technology, many of today\'s large-scale television studios, outside broadcast and film productions would be very difficult, if not impossible, to stage. Wireless solutions provide convenience and, in the main, grea...

Submitted by Andy Clements

Published 01 June 2015

Ride on time

by Alistair Horne Issue 100 - April 2015 The highly competitive sport of track cycling emerged in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century as a way to continue the sport year round, and velodromes soon became a common sight on the Continent. Whether indoors or out, track cycling is one of the world\'s most intriguing spectator sports and, as...

Submitted by Alistair Horne

Published 01 May 2015

Big rush with little fuss at new Birmingham broadcaster

by Neil Hutchins Issue 99 - March 2015 Big Centre TV is the latest of the new wave of UK Local TV stations, having launched on 28th February. But behind the calm and successful appearance was a frenzied period of activity, as Ofcom had only confirmed their licence just three months earlier. To get from nothing to on-air in such a short timescale wa...

Submitted by Neil Hutchins#

Published 01 April 2015

Cellular Wireless Networks

by Erwan Gasc Issue 99 - March 2015 1. What advantage do 3G/4G cellular wireless networks provide to broadcasters over satellite networks?For many years, satellite was the primary approach for real-time video delivery within the broadcast industry. That changed with the explosion of the Internet and second-screen devices like smartphones and tablet...

Submitted by Erwan Gasc

Published 01 April 2015

Tune in and turn on

by Dick Hobbs Issue 99 - March 2015 It was World Radio Day last month. Friday the thirteenth, to be precise, but I do not think the date was chosen with disaster in mind. In fact the date was set to celebrate the anniversary of the launch of United Nations Radio, on 13 February 1946. Unesco created World Radio Day much more recently: the first was...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 April 2015

Freelance Success - Make the most of your talent

by Peter Savage Issue 98 - February 2015 I was reading the back page of The Sunday Times this morning an article by Luke Johnson of Pizza Express fame (though that description doesnt do justice to this serial entrepreneur and business investor). Todays article was about how to get rich quick. Interesting, I thought, as it made me think of all the p...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 March 2015