KitPlus | Articles

File-Based Workflows

For perhaps two decades, much of the broadcast industry has made a fuss over “workflow,” treating the term as if it were something lofty and complicated - which of course, it isn’t. Workflow simply refers to the steps that users take to complete a task, start to finish. Thinking about workflow typically has been easy for the people and companies wh...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

Storage and Archive - Ask the expert

What is Arkivum?Arkivum specialises in the management and storage of an organisation’s data, whether that is financial records, documents or video footage. Formed in 2011 as a spin-out from the University of Southampton, our solution is built on several decades of knowledge in retaining and archiving of data. Our goal is to ensure the safety and se...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

Avid solutions create a stellar workflow for Mwnci Post P...

The ChallengeTo ensure that the thousands of hours of HD footage which pass through busy Welsh post-production house, Mwnci, each year are efficiently managed, stored and archived. The SolutionTo implement Avid ISIS 5000, a scalable shared storage system that collaborates with third-party applications, as the backbone of the facility to manage digi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

All the Things You Want to Know About Cloud Computing

Though the current buzz surrounding the concept of cloud computing makes it seem like an all-new technology, the idea and practice originate from IBM’s pioneering use — nearly three decades ago — of virtualized mainframes with “thin clients.” These thin clients allowed users to centralize processing in the very expensive mainframe components, CPU m...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

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

Introducing Front Porch Digitals Archive eXchange Format

Ever since the Tower of Babel fell, human beings have sought a common way to communicate with one another and with future generations. Technological innovations — writing, for example — did a lot to preserve communication but at the same time posed new problems. Today the diversity of discrete formats for processing and storing digital media makes...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

RAID SATA Storage System for Music Production

In today’s music industry, it is no longer necessary to have a big studio to produce a hit. This is nothing new to Future Cut Productions, Ltd., a London-based music production studio comprised of Darren Lewis and Tunde Babalola. Utilizing a unique approach, Future Cut produces, mixes, and remixes most of its tracks using only a Mac® Pro in a small...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2011

Ask the Experts on Storage and Archive

What is the most important thing to consider when choosing storage for content creation applications?The single most important aspect to consider when choosing a storage device for content creation is workflow. It is critical to have made a decision with regards to the capture device, the video format to be used and how the finished project will be...

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

The benefits of Business Process Management in Media Asse...

How have Media Asset Management systems changed with integration of IT platforms?Traditionally MAM providers use wired logic for point-to-point integration based on dedicated custom links connecting two systems through a single communicating path. This rigid approach is not recommended for integrating the multiple third-party systems and technologi...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 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

What is high-performance data transport and why is it imp...

What is high-performance data transport and why is it important?The advent of digital content has led major media companies and their IT partners to design fully-integrated systems for the creation, distribution, repurposing and archiving of their file-based content. While most processes associated with content production and distribution have tran...

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

Eye to Eye on Delivery and Distribution

A notable aspect of the 2010 IBC and 2011 NAB conference sessions was the rapidly increasing focus on IP streaming. Fibre-optic delivery to the home has yet to be turned into widespread reality but transport speeds over existing electrical infrastructure continue to accelerate. Cloud-based storage and distribution services offer a solution to the c...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 August 2011

KVM enterprise and video matrix switchers in broadcast ap...

KVM enterprise and video matrix switchers in broadcast applicationsEngineers within the professional broadcast world are comfortably familiar with video routers for the control of uncompressed video and audio signals within live studio and editing locations. However there is less familiarity with the use of KVM enterprise and video matrix switchers...

Submitted by Kieron Seth#

Published 01 August 2011