KitPlus | Articles

Health and Safety gone mad

The first true broadcast television service started 80 years ago, on 2 November, 1936. Its home, famously, was Alexandra Palace, a vast and really rather run-down building on top of Muswell Hill in north London. Originally opened in 1873, and re-opened in 1875 after a catastrophic fire, it was built primarily as an entertainment venue. Indeed, it w...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 13 January 2017

You can have your OTT and IP IT too

It has taken a long time, for a variety of reasons, but the rising tide of pushing mainstream content over IP is now commonplace. Looking back a few years, some manufacturers, who were early to recognise the advantages, were keen to implement IP based interconnectivity, even though some of their customers remained, and are still, somewhat reluctant...

Submitted by Peter Blanchford

Published 13 January 2017

Cause and effect of jitter in an operational IP video net...

What are the advantages of moving to an IP infrastructure? The most commonly cited advantage of deploying IP Video networks in production and other operational applications is the ability to use Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) IT-based infrastructure, which takes advantage of the economies of scale of the IT industry when compared with the relative...

Submitted by Paul Robinson

Published 07 December 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 vital role of communications in live production

Live event production is extremely challenging under the best of circumstances. Whether it be sports, concerts, theater or some other event, live production only gives you one chance to get it right. Staging, sound, lighting, cameras, video, special effects, costume, makeup and more, can all go into making a successful live production. Starting hou...

Submitted by Tom Turkington

Published 26 September 2016

Make sure you are connected. The writing is on the wall

SIS LIVE has a long history of providing OB technology for horse and dog racing, our traditional link to sports. So you can rightly deduce that we\'re not what could be considered a more generic OB company. Racing is our heritage and is something we continue to support. Having said that, we work with a multitude of OB companies in our new guise as...

Submitted by John Bozza

Published 26 September 2016

Interrontrons - a prompting gimmick or a real production...

The first question for many is what is an Interrotron? Essentially it is the use of a traditional prompter but instead of the words in the script the presenter sees the interviewer\'s or director\'s face. This technique was pioneered by American film director Errol Morris in his film The Fog of War which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Fe...

Submitted by Jon Hilton#

Published 24 August 2016

Do you have a MAM solution

One of the top questions I get asked at trade shows is, "Do you have a MAM solution?"Well, yes. Of course. It's what we do; but thank you for asking. What you should be asking is, "What differentiates your MAM solution from the rest of the MAM pack?"Now we have something to talk about. For a lot of MAM solutions out there, workflows are designed -...

Submitted by Paul Wilkins

Published 22 July 2016

Making OTT monitoring and compliance manageable and econo...

Consumers today regularly use their smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices to view Internet-delivered content. While their widespread embrace of over-the-top (OTT) services via an array of distribution outlets present today's video program owners and distributors with tremendous opportunity, it also presents new challenges in ensuring no...

Submitted by Gary Learner

Published 22 July 2016

Intimate and Extreme

It's the intimate views and unusual angles that make the difference to the viewers' enjoyment of any event, and specialist RF cameras can turn a Director's vision into a production that's as gripping as being at the game - or almostThe Aviva Rugby Premiership Final at Twickenham was not just a high profile 4K event, it was a multi-camera event usin...

Submitted by Tony Valentino

Published 22 July 2016

The changing face of streaming

I have been in the streaming business for more than 20 years and I've witnessed a number of major shifts in the industry. Currently we are experiencing such a shift as we see a massive increase in users viewing content but also a sea change in how it's being discovered and viewed. Over the last few years there has been a continual rise in the use o...

Submitted by Jake Ward

Published 22 July 2016

Seeing things with a 360 viewpoint

One of the benefits of working in teaching support is you often get opportunities to explore and experiment with lots of new kit that has been purchased for teaching or research. I have spent the past couple of years supporting the activities that take place within the Creative and Cultural Industries TV Studios (CCI TV for short) at the University...

Submitted by Michael Parsons

Published 22 July 2016

The Challenges of Streaming

The purpose of this article to highlight the challenges facing small and medium streaming services. It is intended to look at how to achieve successful live and pre recorded content by means of streaming. In this article I would like to share the knowledge and the experience I have gained so far. I will also talk about the kit I use, how it is used...

Submitted by Joseph Ail

Published 14 June 2016

Girl Power

This month I was going to write about something important about the future technological platforms of our industry. It would have been incisive, enlightening and enriching. It really would have been. But I have just got completely derailed by the discovery of what I hesitate to call a cultural phenomenon. And while it is almost certain that you all...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 14 June 2016

Remote Production

by Jim Green Issue 113 - May 2016 Ten years ago,remote production was the stuff of dreams,a glimpse into a brave new world. The prospect of providing real-time audio control of live events thousands of miles away,without even leaving the studio,was as enticing as it was unlikely. But broadcasters are already reaping the benefits of remote productio...

Submitted by Jim Green

Published 13 May 2016