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Articles by Bob Pank#

Control and Monitoring with Snell

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For broadcasters and content origination facilities, a single issue with content or within the transmission chain can have an impact on millions of viewers. In some cases this can even lead to large financial penalties and affect commercial contracts. To guarantee uptime, minimize disruption of broadcast services, and keep revenue streams flowing,...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

3D camera mirror rigs

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3D camera mirror rigs will be around for a long time to come and contrary to popular belief, shooting in 3D is very easy with the right equipment. Entry level 3D mirror rigs made in the UK are now available, such as the manual Hurricane Rig developed by Alistair Chapman and the fully automated 'BINORIG' developed by us at Teletest Ltd. The key to a...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

Challenging Loudness

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Numerous definitions of the word loudness exist but to understand the relevance of the word in relation to the world of broadcast sound perhaps the statement that loudness is “our perceived impression of the intensity, frequency, and duration of a sound” fits closest. We all watch TV with the remote control close at hand; not just to change channel...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

Evaluating Video Monitors

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Video monitors have always been a critical component in any broadcasting operation — but they have evolved significantly as the industry-wide migration from analog broadcast to digital SD and HD has placed new demands on the monitoring function. Current products include feature sets that mirror the complexity of today’s monitoring operations, with...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2011

The 3D titling tango

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The further you look into 3D, the more it diverges from 2D. Titling, including lower thirds, on-screen ‘burnt-in’ text and subtitles (aka closed captions) are common features of 2D TV and film presentations and so it’s not unreasonable to expect it to be used in 3D. Placing titles at a suitable position on a 2D display is rarely problematical. Usua...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Dont lose the 3D plot

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As was mentioned in the sixth article of this series, depth budget is the single most important parameter in stereoscopic 3D TV. As well as observing the practical and desirable limits to which the depth parameters can be pushed, making a good 3D production required careful management of depth dynamics. This is mostly done in post production to ens...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Name-Brand Batteries, Always the Best Choice

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In today’s turbulent economy, it can be tempting to cut corners with lower-cost, generic batteries. All too often, however, this comes at the expense of quality, reliability and safety. Though they may incur a higher price, name-brand batteries’ superior capacity, load carrying, charger options and safety mechanisms ultimately make them the best in...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Expert battery advice

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1. Why do some manufacturers sell NiMH batteries?NiMH batteries have a number of clear advantages versus other cell chemistries and we believe and see that this cell chemistry complements the standard Li-Ion range. Indeed some customers choose to use only NiMH. The main areas of benefit are weight and balance. A strong minority of cameramen see cam...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

tv-bay questions

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Name & Title?Ben Holmes, Owner and Senior EditorWho are you? (about yourself and EditOut)We're a specialist edit company focusing on editing for Outside Broadcast, as well as some corporate work. What do you do? What does EditOut do?My day-to-day work is as a VT and edit supervisor, producing packages for live TV broadcasts. Edit Out supplies Final...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Camp, ash, irritation and embarrassment

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I am writing these words in the last days of December and you are reading them in the first days of January, so it seems like a good opportunity to look back on 2010 and see what we toilers in television have learnt. Against the odds there were some good programmes on the box. Astoundingly, ITV delivered a drama series that was just like the good o...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Eye to Eye, Portable power supplies

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The true portability of modern HD mini-cameras and flash-RAM video recorders is encouraging programme makers to go way beyond reach of tethered power supplies. But are the battery-makers living up to the demands being placed on them?Recommendation 1 in portable power supplies is so obvious it almost doesn't need stating: rechargeable batteries are...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Ring out the old, ring in the new

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At the start of a new year many of us will look back on the highs and lows of the last 12 months and try to predict what’s in store for us in the coming months before seeking advice on how to protect our business against the unknown. Before making predictions for 2011 I thought I’d take a look back at key industry and business milestones over the p...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Test Chest 3G and the Baptism of Fire

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Murraypro recently received a request from Manchester's Granada Studio Complex to borrow a Test Chest 3G for an evaluation they wished to undertake. While Murraypro were delighted to lend them a demonstration unit for their technical testing, they had no concept of any of the background story developing at the TV Centre. Mr Steve Craddock, Technica...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Television, the limits of the possible

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When I was a young scribbler in 1970, my then employers allowed me to launch and run on their behalf a magazine called Studio Sound. It was one of my better career moves and survived (mainly thanks to me leaving it in 1974) for about 35 years. Fairly good going for a trade publication. The upside of editing Studio Sound was being invited to a bean-...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011

Broadcast Batteries, Today and Tomorrow

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As consumers, we all have experience of being let down by batteries (think rusty Italian cars in the 1970s!). But thankfully the world of batteries has moved on: the global battery industry is today worth $71 billion and is estimated to be growing at nearly 5% a year. Of this, broadcast batteries make up a tiny fraction but the manufacturers that s...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 February 2011