KitPlus | Articles

Three days to launch a TV station

by Neil Hutchins Issue 104 - August 2015 We go on-air in less than 100 hours is an alarming statement when the studio and control room in question contain no technical equipment whatsoever. But this was the situation that we faced upon arrival at the new Local TV channel in Manchester for the first time as we began to unload the van late on a Thurs...

Submitted by Neil Hutchins#

Published 01 September 2015

The evolution of vision mixers

by Liam Laminman Issue 104 - August 2015 At the heart of any multi-camera production is a vision mixer or production switcher as some people call them. Its core role is the switching of different sources, primarily cameras, often VTs and sometimes incoming external sources such as remote feeds from broadcasters. Even for non-TV types, thats relativ...

Submitted by Liam Laminman

Published 01 September 2015

Dynamic display revolution!

Issue 104 - August 2015 Projection mapping and dynamic video displays have transformed live events and performance art. Blended projection and massive video walls have given event directors the ability to deliver a whole new level of creativity to theatre, music and outdoor events. One of the companies at the forefront of this revolution is SNP Pro...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 September 2015

How we got live streaming to work for us

by Larry Jordan & Megan Paulos Issue 103 - July 2015 We originate three hours of live programming from our studios every week. In fact, everything we do is designed for live web streaming. For the last several months, we have been exploring a number of options that would enable live video streaming with live audio mixing and support an unlimited nu...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 August 2015

How to go Over the Top with your video experience

by Lorna Garrett Issue 103 - July 2015 Going over the top opens up boundless opportunities. As a viewer, you can watch content on any device you have connected to the Internet without going through an ISP (internet service provider). As a broadcaster you can use OTT to enhance what you already offer, like Channel 4s Box TV service. These days, with...

Submitted by Lorna Garrett

Published 01 August 2015

How HEVC technology is revolutionizing field-based broadc...

by Eli Garten Issue 103 - July 2015 High-Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC), also known as H.265, is the subsequent generation of H.264 and tapped to be the next widely adopted standard for video compression. As with any MPEG evolution, the new standards goal is to make compression more efficient and allow for reducing OPEX and CAPEX in various video...

Submitted by Eli Garten

Published 01 August 2015

Back to the future

by Dick Hobbs Issue 103 - July 2015 I was recently talking to the estimable James Gilbert, who runs the equally estimable graphics and automation specialist Pixel Power. He said something that made me think. We were talking about scalability, and he said that it works in two directions. There is the sort of scalability that we all readily understan...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 August 2015

The importance of storage

by Larry Jordan Issue 102 - June 2015 "What\'s the best computer to edit video?\" It\'s a great question - it\'s just the wrong question. Yes, CPU speed is important and the Internet is buzzing with the latest specs on GPUs. But, today, virtually any currently shipping computer is more than adequate to edit video; even 4K. The critical component th...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 July 2015

High-speed archiving in a high-res world

by Lee Sheppard Issue 102 - June 2015 SGL has partnered with Avid for the past 11 years and the companies continue to deliver solutions that are required by today\'s modern broadcast facilities. SGL FlashNet, the engine that drives Avid Interplay Archive, provides customers around the world with an integrated MAM/PAM archive solution. Built around...

Submitted by Lee Sheppard

Published 01 July 2015

From newspaper to broadcaster: VG (Norway) and LiveU

by Ronen Artman Issue 100 - April 2015 VG is a tabloid-format newspaper established in Oslo in 1945. Faced with the challenges that all newspapers face in the age of the video and the internet - fresh competition for readership and rapidly changing viewer expectations of what news is and how it\'s delivered - VG began using video online as early as...

Submitted by Ronen Artman

Published 01 May 2015

What a difference a decade makes

by Dick Hobbs Issue 100 - April 2015 If you have got to the back of this magazine, you cannot fail to have noticed that it is issue number 100. I asked Simon Tillyer and Matt Robbins, the dynamic duo behind the publication, how it all started. "The website was initially just a project,\" Simon said, "and when Matt arrived in the summer of 2005 we c...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

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

Cloud Editing at BVE

Issue 99 - March 2015As Media Partners at BVE 2015 KitPlus was responsible for recording, editing and publishing 50+ hours of video content from the event seminars, roaming reporters and studio discussions over the course of the show. With material coming from different sources, crew and post-production staff consisting largely of students with var...

Submitted by KitPlus

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

Open Source for Film and TV Production

by Dan Mulligan Issue 98 - February 2015 There\'s nothing like a new project to make you feel excited about life, and excited is definitely how I\'ve been feeling since I adopted an Open Source policy to my companies\' camera and workflow divisions. My background is in cameras. I started out assisting and focus pulling before moving up the ranks to...

Submitted by Dan Mulligan

Published 01 March 2015