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POV cameras explained

John Chambers is Managing Director of Drivedata (UK) Ltd, which specialises in minicam solutions for broadcast, military and extreme-sports applications. Minicams, also referred to as POV cameras, are becoming increasingly popular as they get smaller, cheaper and easier to use. The POV camera is now a firm favourite in reality TV, sports coverage a...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 March 2010

NEW CAMERA INNOVATIONS FOR WORLD GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS...

Billed as the Greatest Gymnastics show on earth the World Championships came to the O2 Arena in October with 437 gymnasts making it one of the biggest events of its kind ever. The O2 played a perfect host to the event with unprecedented BBC coverage, spectators packed to the rafters and a perfect “warm-up” to the Olympics in three years where the A...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 December 2009

A day in the life of a TV lecturer

0830The Dorset country lanes give way to the flood of traffic into Poole and Bournemouth as I negotiate the rush hour streaming into the seaside town. Driving past Poole Harbour, home of Sunseeker Yachts and the RNLI reminds me that yacht I once dreamed of is still a dream. However, the job I once dreamed of became a reality when I became a televis...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 July 2009

NAB 2009 report

By general consensus, this year's NAB Spring Convention, or 'NABshow' as it styles itself, was one of the best ever. Wider aisles and a respectable rather than manic level of attendance made the event, in the words of one exhibitor, 'Business Class'. NAB was always the prototype show where you could sense the directions in which manufacturers were...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 July 2009

Eye to Eye Video acquisition and production

BVE2009 in London, February 17-19 offers UK-based programme-makers a useful opportunity to try out the latest video acquisition and production equipment ahead of NABshow2009 and its loud after-echo, IBC. The following outlines some of the new front-end kit likely to be on display at Earls Court. Cameras and camcordersARRI will be exhibiting its D-2...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 April 2009

Mobile communications Eye to Eye

Point to point communication via satellite is one of the most useful tools available to television and radio reporters in a world of fast news distribution. This short summary looks first at some of the newest SNG link kit and then at broadcast-related telecoms. Advent Communications has introduced an enhanced version of its 1.5m and 1.8m NewSwift...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 March 2009

The future of Audio

Total audio has been around for 12 years now and I worked for the BBC for 13 years prior to that, I resigned in 1996 as a senior sound supervisor based at Pebble Mill. I firmly believe that sound is only noticed twice, the first time it was distorted and the second time it wasn’t there. When it all goes swimmingly it’s rarely mentioned. In the last...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2009

Audio acquisition and production

Remembering the days when the average 'portable' sound recorder was heavy enough to induce a hernia, I have high respect for the capabilities of modern digital audio devices. Not least the solid-state recorders that have emerged as successors to the Sony-originated DAT and MiniDisk formats. But avoid anything that lacks XLR connectors unless you ar...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 February 2009

IPTV in 21st Century TV

The radio and television networks born and raised in the last century are a consequence of a medium in which broadcasting is the natural way of working. From one to a fickle many it has been a matter of finding material with mass appeal which has occupied generations of commissioners. Recently, I went to the exhibition of the IPTV World Forum 2008...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 September 2008

CTV OB Truck

Responding to the growing demand for HD broadcasts and with a fleet of already overworked outside broadcast trucks, CTV Outside Broadcast’s newest addition to its fleet, OB 9, is a fully-equipped production facility with the latest in High Definition production, mixing and recording equipment. Targeted squarely at major entertainment and sporting e...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 July 2008

The Brown Stabilizer

Garrett Brown is best known as the Oscar-winning inventor of the Steadicam®. He has shot with it on nearly 100 movies including Rocky, The Shining and Return of the Jedi. Garrett holds 50 patents worldwide for camera devices which include the new Steadicam Merlin, a miniature version for camcorders; Skycam, the robot camera that flies on wires over...

Submitted by Dennis Lennie

Published 01 March 2008