KitPlus | Articles

Storage and archiving

Anyone looking closely at a helical scan video tape mechanism, particularly the miniature variety, might be forgiven for wondering how such an elaborate technology ever came to be invented. The first experimental video tape recorders were essentially audio recorders running at very high speed to achieve the bandwidth needed for television signals....

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

How the mysteries of Library and Archive have changed in...

As I walked into the ATV Bridge Street studios in Birmingham in November 1974 I could not have known what a revolutionary time I would experience in my career as a “Library Guy”. Since 2” tape became the recording medium for television in the late fifties nothing much had changed in its cataloguing, storage and usage. A few stickers on the tape, a...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

Colourist and Online Editor

Who are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?I run East London Post based in Shoreditch, which is currently a single suite Colour Grading and Online Editing business based around DaVinci Resolve and Apple FCS3. What do you do? What does your company do?East London Post provides colour grading and online editing for a wide range of projects. W...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

3D a Geographic Thing

It may just be coincidence but, in the last week, two stories about 3D in Scandinavia have landed on the 3D Diaries desk. Of course two swallows do not a summer make but maybe there is a trend here, with some nations embracing the third dimension more than others. Sony Professional is currently building what they claim is Scandinavia’s first 3D-rea...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Panasonic AF101 review

In 2008 Canon released its latest stills camera the 5DMk2. Little did they know what they had released on the videographers world. This so called STILLS camera had a hidden talent, that of course of remarkably good 1080p video. The indie film makers went wild, no more did they have to bolt on large cumbersome depth of field adapters to their video...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

tv-bay questions

Name & Title?Barrie Williams, owner and founder of Pixelfantastic, a boutique post production facility 13 miles east of SohoWho are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?I started my career in front of the lens as a musician, touring Europe for several years playing Jazz violin. We did a lot of TV work, so I became very familiar with the insid...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Focus on camera remote control systems

Bradley Engineering is a customer led, Innovation Company specialising in camera remote control systems. They have a strong and clearly defined company culture which, together with their technical expertise, has enabled the company to achieve steady and sustainable growth even throughout the recession years. A large part of their external philosoph...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

The Red Epic has landed

Finally the Red Epic has started to appear in facilities companies around the world, S+O Media is one of the first in the UK to receive a handmade Epic-M. I’ve taken the camera out on a couple of shoots and I have to say I’m pretty impressed. I’m sure everyone is aware of the Red One, the first camera from Red. Billionaire Jim Jannard decided he co...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

IBC2011 must sees

Over 1,300 exhibitors will be supporting IBC2011, each bringing perhaps one, two or three new or enhanced products. My task is to distill these down to the 20 devices likely to be of greatest interest to TV-Bay readers, so far as that is possible several weeks before the show opens. As a recent convert to OS X, I note with gloom that Apple remains...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Operating at the cellular level

The live coverage of outside broadcast events, news or sports has always been an expensive and logistically cumbersome business. The need to invest millions of pounds in specialist satellite trucks can take years to recoup, putting the ability to service live sports contracts beyond the economy of a very few suppliers. Even the live presentation of...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 September 2011

Game, Set and Match

It was only three months ago that this column hailed featured the new DVB-3DTV standard. But already there’s talk of a second version, or rather ‘phase’, as described by David Wood of the EBU in the new 3D Roundabout newsletter. In a way this is healthy. It shows just how fast 3DTV is moving and, whereas phase 1 is designed to work with existing 2D...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

tv-bay questions

Who are you? (about yourself and who you work for)?I am a freelance colourist working mainly in London and LA. I am the founder of the UK’s first datalab MYTHERAPY. I am also working on behalf of several manufacturers in research and development of colour science for digital film cameras; I am a demo artist for Iridas and Master Colourist at ICA In...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

THE RISE AND FALL AND RISE AND FALL OF POST PRODUCTION

I was sitting in the pub the other day and met an old editor mate of mine. We started chewing the cud about post-production and, inevitably, the glory days. When I first met him, in the early 80s, I hadn’t even started my career in broadcast leasing. He, meanwhile, had a money clip full of £50 notes and was the talk of the town. He didn’t have enou...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

Cameras for streaming

I first saw true HD pictures years ago at IBC. OpTex had a camera focusing on some beautifully lit fruit. The image on the screen was extraordinary, hypnotising. Leap forward a decade and Amsterdam brought Europe its first taste of Ultra High Definition Television - not 720p, not 1080i, but 4320p. The enveloping cinematic pictures and the embrace o...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011

Robert Llewellyn

Many of you will have heard of the TV show on the "Dave\" Channel called "Carpool". You know the one, Red Dwarf and Scrap heap Challenge star Robert Llewellyn picks up someone in his car, drives him or her around a bit and has a chat. It’s a great series and you feel like your spying on a private conversation between two people on their way to work...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011