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To Remotely Go - TVFutures

Charlie Watts: "One of my biggest concerns as an academic responsible for the education of hundreds of students is the ‘appropriateness’ of much of the technology we purchase and implement within the curriculum. The last few years have seen tremendous change in all sorts of technologies, and the broadcast industry is just one sector that has seen s...

Submitted by Michael Parsons

Published 10 September 2019

Increasing Diversity in the UK Indie Market

London director Sam Addo tells us more about how he aims to change the status quo when it comes to onscreen diversity with his new feature, Cards on the Table. “Over the past thirty years, filmmakers have made movies telling a wide range of stories, however, in my humble opinion, those with disabilities, from the LGBTQ+ community and or those from...

Submitted by Sam Addo

Published 10 September 2019

Why MADI is Still Relevant

While the original idea for MADI was to cater to a very narrow recording studio application, the standard remains a viable go-to multichannel audio technology. Beginning as a standard in 1991, MADI was first introduced to the world as digital production was beginning to come of age. MADI was put together in 1988 by Solid State Logic, AMS-Neve, Sony...

Submitted by Stephen Brownsill

Published 10 September 2019

Keeping Pace with the Content Revolution

These are uniquely challenging times for broadcasters and their technical teams. Not only are they having to negotiate the move to IP-based infrastructures and the introduction of new formats and techniques such as 4K and HDR, they are also having to generate more content than ever before to support OTT and web services as well as traditional linea...

Submitted by Kevin Fitzgerald

Published 10 September 2019

Review: JVC GY-HC900 Camera

JVC has a long history of developing relatively low price-point equipment, dating right back to its success in the 1970s with the VHS tape format. JVC products sometimes impact the broadcast mainstream but generally find greatest success in niche market segments such as news production where price and portability take priority over the no-comprise...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 16 July 2019

NAB 2019 Highlights

The NAB Show in Las Vegas never loses its capacity to surprise. With NHK already transmitting in 8K and the Tokyo Olympics just a year away, this might have been the year that 8K equipment prices descended from the stratosphere to just plain expensive. The main trends at NAB 2019 were an increasing focus on HD-HDR, Media-over-IP and 4K. 8K was pret...

Submitted by Paul MacKenzie

Published 04 June 2019

Canon EOS C300 MkII Camera Review

Canon described the EOS C300 Mark II at its launch as 'a game-changer for creative film-making'. What interested me was whether the camera's impressive feature set, compact size and very aggressive price point matched the needs of the video production market. Key features At the front end of the camera is a Super 35mm CMOS sensor capturing Full HD...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 04 June 2019

BSC Expo 2019 Report

BSC Expo returned to the Battersea Evolution on Friday February 1st and Saturday 2nd. It is a busy and friendly event though this year in need of some temperature control: exhibitors around the entrance area were uncomfortably aware of the wintry conditions outside and the main hall was in need of cooling. BenQ showed examples from its range of mon...

Submitted by Paul MacKenzie

Published 21 March 2019

Sennheiser Memory Mic User Review

The Sennheiser Memory mic, adding to the new generation of semi-professional equipment that is helping the need for high quality audio in parallel markets that until now, did not have the budgets to achieve ‘great’ results. As part of training to be a General Practitioner, trainee doctors have to be observed interacting with patients. This is essen...

Submitted by Dr Anthony Willman

Published 21 March 2019

Streaming - Shut up and Sit Down

Twilight Imperium is a board game all about strategy and backstabbing. Known for its length of gameplay, the team behind Shut Up and Sit Down decided to deliver a mammoth 10-hour live broadcast, streamed to Twitch. Matt Lees is here to tell us how it went down. Having recently begun streaming live to Twitch, our audience naturally asked us to play...

Submitted by Matt Lees

Published 21 March 2019

Sony PWS-4500 Live Production Server Reviewed

Available since 2016, the Sony PWS-4500 is a solid-state UHD/HD live production server designed for use in applications such as sports, studio or stage events. The target applications are master recording and advanced replay operations for live production companies for whom the server's ability to record the output from high frame rate cameras and...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 24 January 2019

Shopping for lenses and more...

When it came to updating the studio at the University of Surrey, Andy Attwell was looking for manufacturers that would offer more than just a great product. It sounds like a dream job. With the funding secured to update the studio in the Department of Music and Media at the University of Surrey, Guildford, it was time for Television Studio Manager,...

Submitted by Andy Attwell

Published 24 January 2019

Sony HDC-4800 Review

First announced at NAB 2016, the Sony HDC-4800 is a studio camera system capable of shooting 4K/UHD at up to 8x or full HD at up to 16x. With a price point upwards of £250,000 it is a very high-end product with a wide feature set. In Sony's own words, "This is the future of live production, designed to satisfy the storytelling aspect of modern spor...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 09 November 2018

AI in Media and Entertainment

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term appearing everywhere these days. What is happening in media and entertainment (M&E) that makes the industry ripe for AI? In other words, why does the M&E industry need AI?In virtually every industry, AI is claiming a growing stake in the supply chain, creating both operational enhancements and business efficie...

Submitted by David Candler

Published 09 November 2018

The Biggest Toy Shop in the World

When Nigel Woodford started his career at BBC Wood Norton in 1962, television was black and white and BBC Two had not yet been launched. In 2018 Nigel will retire, and Richmond Film Services, the pro-audio equipment rental company set up by Nigel in 1973, can count numerous contributions to iconic moments in British cultural, sporting and film hist...

Submitted by Emma Morrison

Published 08 September 2018