KitPlus | Articles

Broadcasting from the icy tundra

by BJ KirschhofferIssue 84 - December 2013 Polar Bears International (PBI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to polar bear conservation and educating people about the effects of climate change on the arctic ecosystem. PBIs free educational broadcasts connect scientists in the field with students from all over the world who want to learn about...

Submitted by BJ Kirschhoffer

Published 01 January 2014

QOS - Its time to take a more objective approach

by Simen FrostadIssue 83 - November 2013 Any business that fails to satisfy its customers is almost certain to fail if theres significant competition to it. Digital media businesses are very definitely competing in a market where the customer can switch quickly if not satisfied, so its vital for providers to know when their customers are getting a...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 01 December 2013

Will Strauss looks at automatic QC for the people

by Will StraussIssue 83 - November 2013 The method in which television producers should deliver their programmes to UK broadcasters is changing. From 1 October 2014 it will be digital files, rather than HDCam SR tapes, that are the preference. It is a fundamental and fairly disruptive change that is the cause of much debate right now. The parameter...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 December 2013

Dick Hobbs going large

by Dick HobbsIssue 82 - October 2013 First, I would like you to watch a five minute video. You can find it at adayinbigdata.com. Watched it? Good. Yes, I know the girl is intensely irritating no-one in real life is ever that cheery. But it gets over an important point, I think: we generate huge amounts of data which, if we are happy to share it, ca...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 November 2013

The invention of LED lighting

by Jonathan HarrisonIssue 82 - October 2013 Video can been seen at: http://youtu.be/z7rHinlAP3EThe invention of LED lighting on one level has been brilliant. The rock and roll business has completely transformed that industry. But rock and roll and theatre are completely different to the environment that we work in. We work in a colour critical env...

Submitted by Jonathan Harrison

Published 01 November 2013

Will Strauss rounds up IBC 2013

by Will StraussIssue 82 - October 2013 Dear Reader. I have a confession. I did not visit every single one of the many hundreds of stands at IBC this year. In fact, I didnt even visit all 11 halls within the RAI. And I didnt talk to all 52,974 attendees. I was there. I have the stroopwafels to prove it. Its just that IBC is a massive show. And I am...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 November 2013

The art of E.P.I.C innovation

by Robin BrownIssue 81 - September 2013 Autoscript has a history of innovation, technological development and investment that push the boundaries of the prompting discipline not just for the sake of selling more stuff but to solve our customers real-world problems or challenges. All of our innovations are derived from intimate customer knowledge, a...

Submitted by Robin Brown

Published 01 October 2013

Education: Live TV approaches to learning without a safe...

by Jennie RawlingIssue 81 - September 2013 Live broadcasting is the core business of the University of Portsmouth course, BSc (Hons) Television and Broadcasting, and they are now entering into their fifth successive year of weekly television output. Course leader and senior lecturer Charlie Watts is delighted with the developments so far, but there...

Submitted by Jennie Rawling

Published 01 October 2013

Securing your rushes in a rush with G-Technologys G-DOCK

by Mark StopherIssue 80 - August 2013 I was recently charged with the task of backing up files from a 9 day web series shoot. The sci-fi series is called Hunger Ford and is being produced by Wild Seed Studios (wildseedstudios.com). We began day four by throwing a postman through a breakaway table covered in sugar glass items. After such effort went...

Submitted by Mark Stopher

Published 01 September 2013

4K is bigger than size alone

by Bob PankIssue 79 - July 2013 It seems that numbers are a great eye-catcher and 4K was everywhere at NAB, and will be at IBC too. Here, of course, we are talking about a TV system with four times the number of pixels of HD, namely a picture area of 3840x2160 for TV, or for cinema 4096x2160. At the recent BeyondHD conference in London discussion a...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2013

Good words from Dick Hobbs

by Dick HobbsIssue 79 - July 2013 I have a new hero. His name is Dr Brij Kothari. Hes the guy on the left of the picture. Yes, I know that his achievements will be well known to many of you, but I have just discovered his impact so humour me and let me tell you about him. Kothari was born in Nanded in India, in 1964. His parents encouraged his acad...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 August 2013

Monitoring Image and Signal Degradation

by Peter LampelIssue 79 - July 2013 OmniTeks latest waveform analysis software focused on assessing the degradation in video and audio quality and timing suffered by images as they are transmitted or stored. What approach has OmniTek taken to measuring these effects? In an ideal world, all broadcasters would love to have a piece of equipment that s...

Submitted by Mike Hodson

Published 01 August 2013

Following the Ravensbourne 3: What a past few months!

by Ruth MatosIssue 79 - July 2013 Here I am, at the end of my course BA Hons Production. For this final term I had to submit several projects including a portfolio showing a wide range of skills that I have developed and learnt. The most challenging and important one was a music video called Born of Stars, where I took the role of producer and DOP/...

Submitted by Ruth Matos

Published 01 August 2013

Ask the experts: Content readiness in time-deferred workf...

by Sudeep BoseIssue 79 - July 2013 What are the fundamental considerations that must be addressed to ensure the quality of non-real-time content, whether played out from a broadcasters media server or time-shifted for VOD and other OTT services?When focusing on the actual content itself, rather than the service, network or other components, the key...

Submitted by Sudeep Bose

Published 01 August 2013

PAGlink reviewed

Up until recently I always thought that a battery was, well just a battery. After all it’s just a load of cells strung together and put in some kind of case right? Well apparently not, it seems that there is a bit more to it than that, and the folks at PAG were keen to prove this by providing me with a set of their PL96e V-Mount Batteries to test....

Submitted by Jon Pratchett

Published 01 July 2013