KitPlus | Articles

The 3D titling tango

The further you look into 3D, the more it diverges from 2D. Titling, including lower thirds, on-screen ‘burnt-in’ text and subtitles (aka closed captions) are common features of 2D TV and film presentations and so it’s not unreasonable to expect it to be used in 3D. Placing titles at a suitable position on a 2D display is rarely problematical. Usua...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Ring out the old, ring in the new

At the start of a new year many of us will look back on the highs and lows of the last 12 months and try to predict what’s in store for us in the coming months before seeking advice on how to protect our business against the unknown. Before making predictions for 2011 I thought I’d take a look back at key industry and business milestones over the p...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Television, the limits of the possible

When I was a young scribbler in 1970, my then employers allowed me to launch and run on their behalf a magazine called Studio Sound. It was one of my better career moves and survived (mainly thanks to me leaving it in 1974) for about 35 years. Fairly good going for a trade publication. The upside of editing Studio Sound was being invited to a bean-...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Flipping the Switch to Wireless Lighting Control

Despite the fact that the wider world is increasingly adopting multiple forms of wireless control and communication, the professional lighting industry continues to, by and large, be dominated by the wired link to carry the universal DMX512 control standard. There’s no question that wired DMX512 offers simplicity for point-to-point links to large b...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 January 2011

Expanding Arqiva into HD playout

ATG Broadcast recently completed a major SD to HD upgrade for Arqiva broadcast transmission centre at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. The expanded system enables Arqiva to process and transmit four fully-operational 1080i HD channels as well as six new SD channels. It includes the installation and equipping of a server-based ingest suite, playout...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 December 2010

Manfrotto 504HD tripod first hands on review

Well we’ve just got our grubby hands on the beautiful shiny new Manfrotto 504HD tripod system.... I believe this to be the replacement for the 503 head that we have many of and tend to use for cameras like the Sony EX1 and EX3 in our fleet. Couple of things straight from the box.. Its light – even though the legs are metal. Comes with the usual pad...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2010

Wireless Mic review

JTS has launched the KA-10 a new wireless microphone system designed for the video camera market . The system comes complete with an omni-directional microphone, a rechargeable beltback transmitter and camera mounted receiver, charger and cable adaptors for most cameras. We recently used the system with Panasonic’s AG-HMC151 handheld camcorder for...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2010

Ask the experts on cable

Digital, server-based systems in production, post-production, news gathering and playout bring increased efficiencies and productivity. Nonlinear editing and news gathering allow users to access the same material across a data network. Digits are here and are now dictating the form of cables and connectors, from camera through to playout. What qual...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 May 2010

Modern Test Techniques for Digital Audio Broadcast System...

The move to digital systems in broadcast audio means that engineers and systems integrators have had to evolve new means of testing equipment. Simon Woollard, Applications Engineer for audio test and measurement manufacturer Prism Sound, discusses some of the issues faced by today’s broadcast engineers. The AimsIn terms of audio performance, the br...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 April 2010

Robotic cameras on location

Television is such a natural extension of the human senses that I doubt if more than one viewer in a thousand gives much thought to the effort put into modern programme production. Much of the original push for creative freedom came from outside broadcast crews, initially using turret-mounted optics and later zoom lenses to obtain close-ups of dist...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2010

Eye to Eye: Whats new in audio 2009

Part of my day at SATIS recently was sent discussing with Neutrik the dodgy issue of sexual compatibility, a subject not mentioned in my report from the show for TV-Bay last month. I had recently invested in a Roland Edirol R-44 solid-state audio recorder. Used in conjunction with four Rode phantom-powered capacitor microphones, it makes an excelle...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010

Double dip 2009

Well here we go again. Christmas is coming and, yes, given market reactions and the news that Dubai’s bubble has burst, it looks likely that we are heading for the classic W – two falls into recession, a double dip. Of course, like you, I hope it won’t come to that but optimism does seem to have evaporated. Pressure also seems to be mounting in Soh...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 January 2010

New Light in the Forbidden City

IBC 2009’s Production Village was the venue for the launch of a revolutionary new lighting product, the Rotolight ‘Stealth Edition’ RL48 ring-light. Although the show had more than 48,000 visitors and over 1200 exhibitors, Rotolight was listed in the TV-Bay lighting category, featured in the IBC News and the ‘Eye Catcher’ technology report on Amste...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 December 2009

Eye to Eye: Content Protection 2009

In the early days of audio and video recording, the limitations of analogue devices provided a fairly high level of content protection by ensuring that any captured signal was either inferior to the original or fairly soon became so. Optical digital media changed all that, allowing practically perfect copies of speech, music, still images and movin...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 November 2009

A Guide to Testing IPTV: Technologies and Challenges Par...

Testing IPTV NetworksThe Technology LifecycleThe deployment of new technologies tends to follow a similar lifecycle that begins with early research, development and standardisation and ends with full deployment and service management. The lifecycle diagram illustrated in Figure 5 shows a number of different technologies moving through the design an...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 November 2009