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Articles by Bob Pank#

TV Bay Questions

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Who are you? (about yourself and Sequence)My name is Ben Foakes,29 years old and founder/ majority owner of Sequence. I work as an editor and post-supervisor as well as jointly running Sequence with my co-manager Kevin Chapman and our fantastic team of staff. The company was setup in June 2004, starting as a single home FCP suite and rapidly growin...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2010

Underwater DSLR Video Capture

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Needless to say, DSLRs and their newly found HD video capability are a hot topic nowadays but many of us used to traditional video/film cameras are finding the transition a little vexing. The problem is that for years we’ve been able to immerse ourselves within that snug, comfortable viewfinder and get on with the job at hand. All of a sudden we ar...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 November 2010

To buy or not to buy that is the question

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When it comes to buying or leasing your equipment, should your head be in the clouds or your hands in your pockets? Azule’s Peter Savage investigates... As the theme of this month’s issue is archiving and storage, I thought it would be a good time to take a moment and look at different ways of acquiring the IT based storage and archiving assets on...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

3D to see at IBC 2010

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IBC2010 marks the fourth year when the new wave of Stereoscopic 3D took hold at the show. That’s three years of time for development and implementation. While cinema is racing ahead, taking a good extra percentage of people at the door who pay a 3D premium price – television in Europe is only just beginning. Sky is the pioneer for the UK, going on...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

More than meets the eye

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Synchronisation is not really a problem using two professional cameras. You just loop through your reference (black) to each and you are all done. In the old days, (well not that long ago), you had to worry about PAL SCH and accurate sync matching. Today, that complication does not matter because all digital inputs adjust for slight timing errors....

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Archiving in a Multiplatform Environment

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There was a time when broadcasters and media companies worried only about one version of content, destined for one distribution platform. Now, however, the increasing volume, number of versions, and growing complexity of digital media assets has made the management and storage of content a much more challenging undertaking. Media companies today mu...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Digital Archiving in Media Workflows

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Why is there a growing need for digital archiving in the broadcast and post-production industry?Across all segments of the media and entertainment industry, the past decade has seen a fundamental transformation, where virtually the entire industry moved from tape or film to digital media. This change required investing in digital equipment and proc...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Shared Storage Comes of Age

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Increasingly stored in digital form, together with related metadata, digital media is in the process of transforming both the technology and process of production throughout the broadcast and post production industries. But as every action precipitates a reaction, every advancement precipitates its own particular challenges. The challenges with dig...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Hows that

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A few days ago I umpired a cricket match. It was a very pleasant afternoon, marred only slightly by the almost continual drizzle, but it was August in southern England. The game was held at a lovely village cricket club, and so my fellow umpire and I did not have the benefit of replays or other technology. To be honest, I think they would have been...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

The University of Sunderland

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OverviewThe University of Sunderland School of Arts, Design and Media in Northeast England operates one of the country’s most vibrant and well-equipped media departments in the country. With a rating of excellence from the Quality Assurance Agency, the media and cultural studies department attracts a diverse group of students to its undergraduate a...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Eye to Eye: Storage and archiving

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In 1986 or thereabouts, I visited the London headquarters of a stripling company named Lightworks which had developed an innovative and relatively low-cost video editor based around a 1 gigabyte hard-disk drive. The drive was the size of a standard British housebrick and, bought in at £1,000, was considered mightily good value. A typical 1,500 giga...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Tape is dead. Long live Tape

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An area that has been a vital part of television – defining much of ‘how’ and ‘what’ things are done – is recording. At first film was the medium, then in 1956, Ampex invented the video tape recorder with the prime aim of providing delayed programmes across the USA. Soon video tape editing, and other applications rapidly expanded and the 2-inch qua...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Content Control in a Complex Broadcast Environment

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Broadcasters and other media companies today acquire, generate and store an unprecedented volume of content to take advantage of new distribution outlets. Enabled by the transition to digital media and file-based workflows, this model presents new opportunities with respect to revenue generation as well as new challenges in terms of establishing ef...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Polecam Production Profile

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I have been working in the film and television industry since 1989, starting as a news cameraman and editor at the Manitoba Television Network. MTN is a local independent television broadcaster in my home town of Winnipeg. In 1991 I joined the French television service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a sound man and advanced to EN...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010

Ensuring the longevity of an archive

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The role of the archive has changed dramatically over the last few years. Every broadcaster in the world, regardless of their size, has the tools at their disposal to unlock their assets, digitise and repurpose their content for renewed monetisation and, in some cases, for the benefit of historic value. Tapping into new revenue streams is essential...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2010