KitPlus | Articles

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

Solving more than just compliance challenges

by Leandro MaquinezIssue 79 - July 2013 When Leandro Maquinez joined Record Europa Lisbon, a subsidiary of Rede Record de Televis£o Europa, the Portuguese-language broadcaster was struggling to meet the demands of compliance monitoring and verification with its existing systems. The server system used by the Lisbon facility to record aired content...

Submitted by Leandro Marquinez

Published 01 August 2013

Why test and measurement is for real life, not just for e...

by Will StraussIssue 79 - July 2013 Thanks to its long-standing association with virtually incomprehensible acronyms, dark machine rooms and (lets face it) engineers with unruly beards, the subject of Test and Measurement (T&M) always gets a bit of bum rap. Yet, for all the pre-conceptions, it is a hugely important part of the production and broadc...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 August 2013

Increasing creativity and functionality with Q-Ball

By Jim Daniels, technical director, Camera CorpsTell us more about Camera Corps and its position within the industry…Camera Corps was founded almost 20 years ago to offer broadcasters video system design and rental services. Having focused on rentals from the very beginning, we have provided high-volume cameras, pan-and-tilt heads and tracking syst...

Submitted by Jim Daniels

Published 01 July 2013

Intelligent linking - answering some key power questions

with Steve EmmettWhat makes a safe Li-Ion Battery?Recently, the Boeing Dreamliner story has added to the perception of the Li-Ion battery as a potentially dangerous item. However, the reality is that Li-Ion batteries are a safe and robust source of portable power, when they are designed and constructed by a recognised battery manufacturer that has...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 July 2013

Sony NEX-EA50 reviewed

Once in a while you get the chance to review a camera that brings back memories of years gone by - Sony's NEX-EA50 camera is one of those cameras. Some may say I am stretching things a bit too far, but as I looked at it I felt at home with it because it reminded me of my old Sony VX9000E (also known as the DSR200). This was my first DV camera and a...

Submitted by Zulqar Cheema

Published 01 July 2013

Will Strauss captures some decent sound gear

Capturing decent location sound requires skill, experience and, as Will Strauss discovered when compiling a list of recent audio acquisition innovations, piles of expensive kit. Although some cameramen might disagree, audio is still the most important thing to get right when on location. The odd dodgy shot can, generally speaking, be sorted in post...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 June 2013

Following the Ravensbourne 3: Ruth Matos manages her time

by Ruth MatosWho has not been in a situation when work opportunities and commitments happen all at the same time? We never know why it is like that. It can be frustrating and it can take time thinking about what to do. As Paulo Coelho wrote on his book The Winner Stands Alone: ‘Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing...

Submitted by Ruth Matos

Published 01 May 2013

Dick Hobbs looks at intellectual property rights

Troll onby Dick HobbsIn my column last month I wrote about the Tolkein sort of troll. This month I want to look at another sort: the ones who acquire portfolios of patents not with the intention of making anything useful, but simply to try to extort money from those who just want to earn an honest buck. I am sure that every one of you reading this...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 April 2013

An unexpected debate

At the end of last year I went to a screening of The Hobbit, or rather the first volume of The Hobbit, as An Unexpected Journey is the first part of a trilogy. I say I went to a “screening” not because that is the way that we trendy media types talk, but because it was a private showing to some of the great and good of the industry in the UK, organ...

Submitted by Robert Howard

Published 01 March 2013

Lights Camera Action for Silverstone F1

Rotolight ANOVA, the world’s most advanced LED Floodlight was recently used as the light of choice for the 2012 Autosport Awards shoot at the Silverstone Formula 1 track, produced by MAKE Television (formerly Sequence Creative). MAKE Television produced the two-day shoot capturing six of the UK’s best future Formula 1 stars, competing head to head...

Submitted by Rod Aaron Gammons

Published 01 March 2013

Ask the Experts: What Workstation?

Investing in a new computer workstation or high end PC for use with digital video/or and media production can be a daunting task. With so many different manufacturers to choose from, and with a practically endless list of components to select from customers can be left with literally millions of possible choices. Scary if you aren’t a hardware guru...

Submitted by Mike Leach

Published 01 February 2013

Professional Video Editing Just Got Better

Endorsed by twenty five thousand Facebook fans, six industry awards and thousands of new users through the trial download and active forum communities, Autodesk, Inc.,announced that the new Autodesk Smoke 2013, professional video editing software is now shipping. “The anticipation for Smoke, since its thrilling announcement at the National Associat...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 February 2013

Strictly successful

It has been hard not to spend most of my time thinking about the BBC recently. While it may be the very epitome of the public service broadcasting ethos, it is bizarre to watch one BBC programme unleash invective on another BBC programme, lashing people who probably buy each other coffee on a daily basis. How did John Humphreys feel going to work t...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2013