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Dear Santa

with Dick Hobbs Issue 108 - December 2015 My Christmas list this year is very modest. I really do hope that my naughty:nice ratio has been appropriate and you will be able to get at least some of these down my chimney. 1 less bad language. I dont mean swearing: that is all right in appropriate situations. Indeed its absence can be silly: there is...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 15 December 2015

How to solve a problem like 4k

with Peter Savage Issue 108 - December 2015 A lack of standards and content is holding back sales of 4k television sets and, until that situation changes, there is very little the consumer electronics business can do about it, writes Peter SavageSince the late 1960s and early 70s, when we began to ditch our old black and white TV sets in favour of...

Submitted by Peter Savage 2

Published 15 December 2015

Drones in the Broadcast Industry

with Leighton Chenery Issue 108 - December 2015 There is little doubt that the emerging technology of Drones within the Broadcast industry is most likely to have insurance implications. As the market continues to expand and organisations enhance their activities through the use of Drones, adequate insurance coverage will be of particular importance...

Submitted by Leighton Chenery

Published 15 December 2015

Lenses cant be that complicated can they? Part 1

with Graham Reed Issue 108 - December 2015 Many people who use lenses have very little understanding in the complexity or the science that goes on behind them. I do not pretend to be an expert on optics but I have spent some time in trying to understand just how complex they are. I think its first just a good idea to remind ourselves of what light...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 15 December 2015

Monitoring Q & A

Issue 107 - November 2015 What elements of modern console technology has made a large impact on your craft?Rob Wolifson: Historically, shows were set up differently, you had more time to prepare. For example, if a show was on at noon in one studio, the breakfast show would be done in a different studio, so transitioning from one show to the next wa...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 December 2015

Still looking good

by Dick Hobbs Issue 107 - November 2015 The television industry is in crisis, as we all know. Experts everywhere are telling us that consumers want content on demand, wherever they are. Online and mobile platforms will mean the end of the broadcaster and the channel as a brand. But heres the thing. While all these experts are telling us this, consu...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 01 December 2015

Budgeting and controlling costs

by Den Lennie Issue 106 - October 2015 This is a very important aspect of running a production, and one you have to keep a close eye on. Its very simple; you have your actual hard costs in one budget and you have what youre charging the client in another. Lets say you charge the client £450 per day for the camera package, but the rental house is on...

Submitted by Den Lennie

Published 01 November 2015

TVFutures: Student pitch

by Emma Cox Issue 106 - October 2015 Student Pitch - Our second article pitch comes from Emma Cox, third year student studying BSc Television and Broadcasting at the University of Portsmouth. Personally I think this months KitPlus theme of acquisition is a tricky one for students to write about, but Emmas approach displayed real insight, and it als...

Submitted by Emma Cox

Published 01 November 2015

Circles of Confusion

by Graham Reed Issue 106 - October 2015 We seemed to have gone from SD to HD to UHD in a very short time but has lens technology kept up?Most camera manufactures now produce 4K cameras but they often look very similar to HD cameras, are they just the same with a 4k chip and also have they added 4k lens? They publish very little information about th...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 01 November 2015

No broadcast without flawless communication

Issue 105 - September 2015 Reliable and fail-safe communications for the broadcast of live events are more important than ever. On site, broadcasters only have one chance to grab the perfect image for the viewer with time being a crucial factor. The larger the event, the more viewers it reaches and the higher the risk that something could go wrong....

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 October 2015

Talking Steadicam and Exovest

by David Crute Issue 105 - September 2015 Q: When did you first get into using Steadicam?There were only about 10 UK Steadicam operators when I started, and very few that owned a rig. It was a massive investment for me as a young cameraman. The reason I did it was very simply that I found myself in this unusual position of doing both film and video...

Submitted by David Crute

Published 01 October 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

UHD: a long road travelled

by Julian Fernandez Issue 103 - July 2015 Theres no denying it, Ultra HD (UHD) is impressive and the clarity of image is captivating, but its going to take a while for UHD to become mainstream in the home. A fairly expensive large screen TV is a must to get the best picture quality and since the majority of the world isnt yet watching television in...

Submitted by Julian Fernandez

Published 01 August 2015

Those pesky scientists

by Dick Hobbs Issue 102 - June 2015 This month\'s picture is of something I was given on a visit to the Grass Valley camera factory in Breda, maybe 10 years ago. I think it is a thing of beauty, which is why it sits in pride of place on top of the wine cabinet. It is the sharp end an HD system camera: the optical block and a CCD imager. We saw in t...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

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