KitPlus | Articles

Tales from the teaching trenches: The offline, online bat...

by Charlie Watts Issue 85 - January 2014 Since the digital explosion of multiple video formats, students of higher education have often faced the process of ingest or capture with gritted teeth, and the drag and drop culture of speed and the \'quick fix\' has inadvertently created indifference to a vastly important part of the post-production proce...

Submitted by Charlie Watts

Published 01 February 2014

Review: DaVinci Resolve 10

by Toby Tomkins Issue 85 - January 2014 Colour grading for me is about the final sculpting of the image, in terms of colour, tone, texture and composition. My goal as a colourist is to push the colour, tone and texture to reflect the desired emotion and story of the image. I choose DaVinci Resolve to be my metaphorical chisel because it has a tools...

Submitted by Toby Tomkins

Published 01 February 2014

Three big questions on OTT

by Simen FrostadIssue 84 - December 2013 Every media operator wants to deliver OTT services, or is already doing so. Growth over the past 18 months has been phenomenal, and a media operation without OTT is almost inconceivable now. But for many coming from a broadcast background, the technical side of OTT is terra incognita, and a mixture of fear a...

Submitted by Simen Frostad

Published 01 January 2014

OTT: Back to basics

by Lorna GarrettIssue 84 - December 2013 Going over the top opens up boundless opportunities. Just make sure you work with someone who can help you over the potential pitfalls. Not that long ago, if asked to envisage a family watching television, you probably would have pictured Mum and Dad seated on the sofa, while a couple of children lay sprawle...

Submitted by Lorna Garrett

Published 01 January 2014

Ooh ahh.. just a little DIT with Will Strauss

by Will Strauss Issue 84 - December 2013 Issue 84 - December 2013 Like the Offshore Windfarm Engineer or the Waste Management Consultant, the Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) is very much a 21st Century profession and one that didnt exist 10 years ago. Generally recruited for a digitally-shot feature film, commercial or TV drama, the role was initi...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 January 2014

Will Strauss looks at automatic QC for the people

by Will StraussIssue 83 - November 2013 The method in which television producers should deliver their programmes to UK broadcasters is changing. From 1 October 2014 it will be digital files, rather than HDCam SR tapes, that are the preference. It is a fundamental and fairly disruptive change that is the cause of much debate right now. The parameter...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 December 2013

Embracing the 4K future with next generation encoding tec...

by Kevin CookIssue 83 - November 2013 Whats keeping todays media and broadcast operators up at night? To find out, just walk the floor of any 2013 broadcast industry trade show. Only a few short years ago we were obsessed with the digital transition and migrating to HD operations, followed by adoption of 3-D technologies. And now, todays big challe...

Submitted by Ludovic Pertuisel#

Published 01 December 2013

Flying Pictures and the importance of a monitor

Issue 82 - October 2013 Hampshire based filming specialist Flying Pictures is the world leader in the provision of aerial & helicopter filming services for feature films, commercials, television, live broadcast events and surveillance. Based in the UK, the company nevertheless operates worldwide, so if you need something done in the air; they do it...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 November 2013

Sportsnet stays ahead of the game with Quantel

by Roger ThorntonIssue 81 - September 2013 Over the last 15 years, Sportsnet has risen to become one of Canadas leading sports media operations. The Sportsnet and Sportsnet One TV channels are complemented by Sportsnet Radio, Sportsnet Magazine and its premium international sports channel, Sportsnet World. In May 2013, parent company Rogers Media a...

Submitted by Roger Thornton

Published 01 October 2013

From archival master to usable video with Mark Gray

by Mark GrayIssue 80 - August 2013 With about 4 million new video channels expected to hit the market in the next five years, its going to be more important than ever to make high-quality content readily available. Many media archives and libraries; studios; broadcasters; production and postproduction facilities; and mastering, quality control, and...

Submitted by Mark Gray

Published 01 September 2013

Storage news: Space 4K Duo, the facility goes on location

Issue 80 - August 2013 The 4K location shoot is now commonplace, particularly in film, music video and drama production. However, for digital imaging technicians (DITs) working in the field, UltraHD is extremely problematic. Once data is ingested, replicating the material for insurance purposes can be taxing and the process of offloading files onto...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 September 2013

Addressing challenges in multiformat signal management an...

by Brian PeterssonIssue 79 - July 2013 One of the many demands broadcasters face today is establishing effective multiformat signal management and confidence monitoring, which have become critically required capabilities, and there are several reasons behind this. The first is the broadcast industrys progressive evolution slow at first, but acceler...

Submitted by Brian Petersson

Published 01 August 2013

Learning to love IT with Dick Hobbs

There are three clearly defined levels of activity at NAB. There is the buzz which someone is trying to get going, there is the stuff which people are actually trying to buy, and there is the latest collection of buzzwords and catchphrases which provide endless entertainment for those with a love of language. This year, for instance, we were all to...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2013

Evolving the industry audio monitoring systems

With respect to monitoring, particularly for multiplatform content delivery, how can our facility straddle the divide between baseband and file-based signals?The media industry as a whole is moving toward multiplatform content delivery. This shift includes and affects not only traditional broadcasters and new media outlets, but the content creators...

Submitted by Don Bird

Published 01 June 2013

Building a live linear streaming channel to reach multipl...

The market for live and on-demand streaming video has exploded in recent years thanks in part to broadband connections and the proliferation of connected devices. A recent survey by The Diffusion Group showed that some 50 percent of online video viewers watch some form of streaming live video at least once a month, and 64 percent said comprehensive...

Submitted by Jennifer Baisch

Published 01 May 2013