PROSEMINAR
PSS Dubai Professional Seminar Series, held in Doha and Dubai last month, saw a good turnout of technical experts from the region. BroadcastPro ME attended the Dubai segment to bring you the details This year’s edition of the annual Professional Seminar Series (PSS) concluded in Dubai last month with a good turnout of broadcast professionals. The all-day seminar was conducted in collaborative partnership by Axon, Dolby, Ericsson, Soundfield and Tektronix. The speakers addressed issues and challenges faced in broadcast and content distribution and discussed the evolution of television broadcasting. The interactive session saw a convergence of more than 75 professionals representing the UAE’s leading broadcasters, system integrators and telcos including Etisalat, du, MBC, BFE, Tek Signals, Dubai TV, twofour54, ADM, LIVE and Media Group International. Pieter Schillebeeckx from Soundfield spoke Mark about surround Barkey. sound capture and delivery, and how it is relevant to the region and beyond. Antoni Caceres of Tektronix discussed the launch of IPTV services and the challenges facing quality of experience.
Ericsson’s Luke Williams spoke about 4K TV with special reference to sports. Marc Derks of Axon shed light on the latest AVB technology and the end of SDI while Dolby’s Jacob Smith spoke about loudness. Mark Barkey, Regional Sales Manager at Axon, who has been associated with the seminar since its inception three years ago, said: “The event is growing with every edition and now it needs to venture out to more locations. It warrants to go to Abu Dhabi and other regions such as Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. “These seminars provide a platform for professionals to interact with like-minded people and to hear from the experts. Where Dolby stops Soundfield picks up followed by Ericsson and Tektronics and Axon is somewhere in between. “The five companies represented here complement each other perfectly to complete the broadcast chain and the topics discussed give an overview of the entire broadcast ecosystem. “Next year, we hope to collaborate with more manufacturers to make it even more comprehensive.” He added that the event will see more players from the cloud domain and, perhaps, cabling too next year.
50 | www.broadcastprome.com | July 2013
PIETER SchIllEbEEckx, Product Manager, Soundfield The idea of PSS is to share our knowledge with the market, it is not about products but focuses purely on the technology. I have been conducting talks from Soundfield for over 12 years now and see a palpable difference on how the technology has progressed in the past decade. When I first joined Soundfield, it was in a very rudimentary state. Broadcasters nowhere in the world were ready for it. The scenario is quite different now and there is growing interest in the technology. The interest in surround sound has picked up in this region as well and the Middle East seems ready for it now. We began with music recording but now focus more on live broadcast capture, and I believe that’s where the future of surround sound capture lies. Sports drives any technology in broadcast and surround sound is one of them. It is still very early days for this region but we see it coming very soon. Sports and live shows is where the future and growth of surround sound lies. We are now more proactive in the region. For broadcasters who want to produce using this technology we help them with the set-up to show it is not complicated. Our installation for DMI’s coverage of Dubai Tennis was a big breakthrough. Al Kass trial with Emir Cup has been completed and we are refocussing on looking at doing some cricket with Ten Sports. Bahrain and Oman are the other territories in the region, which are of big interest to us. We are seeding the market at the moment and hope to see results in the coming years.