Content+Technology ANZ February 2016

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VOLUME 13 ISSUE 1 FEBRUARY 2016

MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY

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VOLUME 13 ISSUE 1 FEBRUARY 2016

Also see C+T in PDF at www.content-technology.com

55 MCN Gets with the Programmatic REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 03 NEWS Hostworks and PacTV Partner on

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Content, NEP Australia Buys Canon 4K Lenses, ARRI AMIRA Cameras in Nutshell for Rental, Nine Adelaide Under Control with VSM, LAWO and RTW, Angel Funding for Video Start-Up VDYO

10 TECHNICAL STANDARDS DPP Launches Roadmap for 2016, DVB Approves Commercial Requirements for Next Phase of UHDTV, SMPTE Hires Howard Lukk as Director of Standards

46 INDUSTRY FOCUS 48 CLASSIFIEDS

FEATURES 12 ACQUISITION Franc Biffone Sets TVCs Aglow with Sony FS7, Starlight Media House Fires Up with JVC, Digital Logic Boosts Rental Fleet with ARRI, new products and accessories

16 SPORTSCASTING Tour Down Under,

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Girraphic Serves Up Super Graphics for Supercars, NHK’s World-First 8K OB Vehicle, Seven Expands Australian Open Coverage, NEP Buys Mediatec Asia Pacific

22 NEWS OPERATIONS MediaWorks NZ Launches Multi-Platform News Service, SBS Boosts TVUPack Mobile Broadcast Fleet, Sky News Australia Selects Omnitek for Monitoring, Channel NewsAsia to Revamp Digital Experience

26 POST-PRODUCTION Mistika a Full

30 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Inside Quantum’s Xcellis Next-Gen Storage

34 AUDIO New President for the Audio Engineering Society, Open Control Architecture, AES67 Audio-Over-IP "Plugfest", plus product updates

39 RADIO Radio New Zealand ‘Simulcasts’ on AM, FM, the Web, Mobile and TV; ARN Uses Wheatnet IP for TX Site Audio Routing; Radio Adelaide Facing Closure; GfK Wins Radio Audience Research Contract for NZ; Rebirth for Klotz Audio Technology; Lost Radio Content Now Found by Rewind Radio

42 CONTENT DELIVERY MCN Gets Programmatic with AOL and Imagine Communications, plus product updates

Spectrum Solution for Adam Scott, Cutting Edge Smashes Marvel Project with Sync’ed Render Farms, plus product updates

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CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel +61 (0)2 4368 4569 Mob +61 (0)414 671 811 papers@broadcastpapers.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER: Adam Buick Tel +61 (0)413 007 144 adam@broadcastpapers.com PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lucy Salmon Tel +61(0)412 479 662 production@broadcastpapers.com DESIGN & LAYOUT Wide Open Media Tel +61 (0)2 9282 9359 info@wideopenmedia.com.au PRINTING: Lindsay Yates COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All material in Broadcastpapers’ Content+Technology Magazine is protected under

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No material may be reproduced in part or whole in any manner without prior consent of the Publisher and/or copyright holder.

DISCLAIMER: Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for omissions or mistakes made within, claims made or information provided by advertisers.

EDITOR’S WELCOME

Enabling Broadcaster AIMS for an IP Future

By Phil Sandberg IT’S AN OFTEN-HEARD REFRAIN, “The great thing about standards is there’s so many of them”, and if there was ever an environment that needed more continuity, certainty, interoperability and, yes, open standards, it is the world of Internet Protocol (IP).

the development of a standard approach to IP. AIMS also endorses an IP transition plan that includes support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67 and VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04.

Enter the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS). Established in late 2015, this new, independent trade association’s mandate is to “bring IP solutions to market that offer complete interoperability, are based on open standards, and integrate seamlessly into media workflow environments to foster industry innovation and efficiency”.

Hopefully, this group will turn what has been the broadcast and media industry’s great disrupter into its greatest enabler. Time will tell.

Visit the alliance website at www.aimsalliance.org

Adam Buick is New C+T Sales Manager

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• Initiatives that facilitate the education and adoption of open standards

Manager of three of the last SMPTE Australia Exhibitions, he has a unique perspective on the broadcast and content creation industries. During this time, Adam has developed strong industry contacts and a good understanding of industry needs.

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Specifically, AIMS says it will prioritise three key strategies:

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Adam comes to us from Expertise Events and, over the past 13 years, has worked as an exhibition manager in partnership with eight distinct industries.

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According to the Alliance, as broadcasters and other media companies look to use IP workflows to speed and streamline the movement and management of increasingly complex content and adapt their businesses to better compete with other content options such as over-the-top (OTT), open standards are the key to protecting current investments and ensuring long-term interoperability.

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As we go into the New Year, Content+Technology is delighted to announce a new team member in the form of Adam Buick who has taken on the role of Advertising Sales Manager.

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The group’s efforts will be focused on promoting the adoption, standardisation, development and refinement of open protocols for media over IP, with an initial emphasis on VSF TR-03 and TR-04, SMPTE 2022-6 and AES67.

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The group has been formed by broadcast and media industry suppliers, including Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Lawo, Snell Advanced Media and Nevion. Other members include Arista Networks, Cisco Systems Inc., EVS Broadcast Equipment SA and The Telos Alliance.

A number of solutions are already on the market to help media companies begin the transition by introducing IP components to an SDI workflow. AIMS is correct when it says the transition represents a significant investment and will not happen overnight.

• Facilitation of activities that accelerate the development of solutions that support these open standards

His collaborative and diligent focus on customer service and helping his clients achieve results – along with strong family ties in Australia and Southeast Asia – make him a valuable addition to the C+T team.

• Nurturing the creation of new standards by supporting standards bodies with participation and testing in real-world environments

You can contact Adam on +61(0)413 007 144 or via adam@broadcastpapers.com

Open standards work for the IP transition is already underway by the 74-member Video Services Forum (VSF), with the support of organisations such as SMPTE and the EBU. More than 30 broadcast equipment manufacturers are actively testing and validating the VSF’s approach today.

AIMS says it endorses the work of the VSF and will continue to lend support in

Thanks for Reading Phil Sandberg - Editor/Publisherpapers@broadcastpapers.com T: +61-(0)414671811

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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com

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Take Control from Anywhere Ki Pro Ultra features a beautiful high resolution HD display for pristine monitoring of your material, and serves as your interface to Ki Pro’s familiar and intuitive menu system.

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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com

Hostworks and PacTV Partner on Content AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL MEDIA SOLUTIONS provider Hostworks has announced a global collaboration agreement with Pacific Television Center (PacTV).

Headquartered in Los Angeles and with a global network of connectivity across sites such as New York, London, and Singapore, PacTV specialises in the production and transmission of broadcast content around the clock.

encoders on site at two key PacTV facilities in London and Los Angeles. This infrastructure will enable transmission signals to be ingested and encoded through Hostworks’ own content delivery network (CDN).

Hostworks’ Foundry offers clients an end-to-end solution for both live and on-demand media delivery; from content ingestion to encoding, transcoding, subscription management, custom video players, integration with casting technologies such as Chromecast/AirPlay and content monetisation, encased in a comprehensive analytics offering.

Customers of Hostworks in Australia, and beyond, will receive access to PacTV’s international video network, including live coverage of sporting and music events as well as news from anywhere in the world in a range of formats that can be accessed on multiple devices. Similarly, PacTV’s customers will have the ability to broadcast their content beyond traditional, mainstream distribution platforms, to ensure it is available to any consumer, on any platform, anywhere in the world.

As part of the agreement, Hostworks will station high-definition video source

Visit www.pactv.com and www.hostworks.com.au

NEP Australia Buys Canon 4K Lenses

Bridge Technologies Partners with Techtel

CANON AUSTRALIA HAS ANNOUNCED the first purchase in

Bridge Technologies has added Techtel to its network of business partners. Techtel will supply and support the full range of Bridge Technologies’ media monitoring and analysis solutions in the Asia Pacific market.

Australia of Canon 4K broadcast lenses.

NEP Australia recently acquired Canon’s new 4K CJ12s portable broadcast lenses. Designed for professionals shooting interviews or live broadcast, including sports and news, as well as television dramas and commercials.

“NEP were Australia’s first outside broadcast provider to cover an event in 4K and we’re committed to 4K broadcast solutions, as we expect broadcaster and consumer demand for 4K will only increase. These lenses will complement our Sony HDC4300 4K capable cameras as we move towards more 4K productions,” said Marc Segar, NEP Australia’s Director of Technical Services.

Visit www.canon.com.au

“We have a long history with monitoring and quality assurance products which we plan to take to the next level with the dynamic and progressive team at BridgeTech,” said Techtel’s Head of Sales, Mal Chandler.

Bridge Technologies’ family of media monitoring and analysis solutions range from advanced network core monitoring systems for national and international networks to edge-specific and even customer premises applications with central server based correlation and aggregation.

Visit www.bridgetech.tv www.techtel.com.au and www.techtel.com.sg

ARRI AMIRA Cameras in Nutshell for Rental Auckland. In a market where clients want everything, it is commonly expected that the smaller boutique houses are not capable of delivering the goods. Nutshell is different. Mixing four decades of experience with the latest technology, Nutshell was the first to market with the ARRI AMIRA in Australasia with its purchase of three cameras. Alongside the decision to buy the first of the range of ALURA Zooms, Nutshell has lead the way in the small New Zealand market with the latest ARRI products.

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Raised on ARRI film cameras, Nutshell owner, Paul Richards, has a deep understanding of the quality and intelligence behind the design of ARRI

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equipment as he explained, “The ARRI AMIRA camera is versatile, intelligent and robust. The menus are intuitive, the features support speed and simplicity and everyone enjoys working with the camera.”

According to Richards Nutshell’s clients typically require simple solutions and 200 fps @ ProRes 4:4:4:4 is a simple decision when shooting sport, drama or TVC work. 4K and interval record are an added bonus.

The AMIRA camera also offers Richards and his clients several lens mount options including EF, B4 and PL which he sees as a major bonus.

Visit www.nutshellrentals.tv and www.ARRI.com.au

Studiotech Australia can assist with SMALL to LARGE SCALE Broadcast & IT projects We DESIGN and BUILD systems that can include RACK ROOMS and CONTROL ROOMS Smart SYSTEMS INTEGRATION and SUPPORT is provided with PRIDE and DEDICATION

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Smart Videohub 12G 40x40 features advanced 12G-SDI connections that allow high frame rate Ultra HD up to 60 fps over a single SDI connection. Each router SDI output includes an SDI re-clocker for better signal integrity and longer cable lengths, plus 12G-SDI automatically switches speed so is compatible with all your SD, HD and Ultra HD equipment.

Smart Videohub’s super fast spin knob control lets you dial through your router crosspoints while displaying live video combined with custom on screen labels. Scroll order is arranged alphabetically so it’s easy to find the crosspoint you are looking for! Imagine scrolling through your connections while viewing them as live video on the LCD!

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Nine Adelaide Under Control with VSM, LAWO and RTW PROFESSIONAL AUDIO & TELEVISION (PAT) recently supplied, configured, and commissioned a large VSM system for the Nine Networks’ new purpose-built facility in Adelaide. Additional LAWO VPRO8s for the embedding, de-embedding of audio and processing, as well as an RTW TM7 for audio monitoring in the main control room were also supplied by PAT. L-S-B’s Virtual Studio Manager sits at the heart of Channel Nine’s new facility as the primary control plane to centralise and streamline facility-wide control. It interconnects with all of the site’s primary broadcast systems such as the Imagine Communications Platinum router fitted with SX Pro multiviewers, Grass Valley K-Frame Karerra production switcher, RTS ADAM-M intercom matrix, VizRT’s Mosart Automation, IHSE Draco Terra KVM, Imagine Communications X100 and 6800 series gear, Ross Opengear’s UDC modular cards and LAWO VPRO8’s.

Integrating such diverse products into a centralised and manufacturer agnostic control plane speeds up operational workflows and allows more time to be spent on content production. Nine’s new VSM system offers operational workflow optimisation including Virtual signal paths, Pseudo Rules, Facility wide label exchange, Gadget Control, Alarm management, Scheduling, and Storage groups.

An example of where the synergy between all the systems comes together is in Master Control. Processing of inbound signals via Lawo V_Pro8s became simplified into a single page of the VSM panel offering the parameters that Nine needed at their fingertips such as: Frame Syncs, Format Conversion, Embedding, De-embedding, RGBY Proc Amp control, and up to eight frames of delay and indents. VSM streamlines operations by simply routing any processing channel to black, and therefore resetting the entire Proc Amp ready for its next use.

VSM’s centralised control plane gave Nine a centralised control position for a Talent Operated Studio (TOS) to the point that the entire studio could be setup with a single button press. VSM was also set up to operate Ross OpenGear UDC cards as a standby vision mixer via VSM that would switch synchronously with the Grass Valley K-Frame via Mosart. This removed the need for expensive standby vision switchers, while still offering expanded input selection and DSK

control from the Co-Pilot’s seat via either a touchscreen or a hardware panel.

When Nine began talks with Professional Audio & Television and L-S-B in Germany, the requirement was also outlined to control the new facility’s Dante over IP networks through traditional XY style router panels. L-S-B agreed to implement Dante IP network control to its ever-growing list of over 300 integrated protocols. The ability to integrate baseband and IP routing workflows of both video and audio, along with parameter controls, makes for a future-proofed control layer where the operator becomes detached from the engineering complexities of the broadcast system.

Nine Adelaide’s Technology Manager, Don Dyson, says “VSM, through PAT, have been very proactive in assisting us with product development so we’ve ended up with a system that can be used throughout the Nine Network. I believe we could not have achieved what we have, in the timeline we had, without VSM. VSM have certainly provided us with a way forward in both control and monitoring of our studio facilities, and it has become pivotal to the running of our site. As VSM is installed at other Nine sites around Australia, I see VSM being a network integration tool that will enable us to have better control and monitoring, both locally and remotely of facilities.”

Visit www.lawo.de, www.l-s-b.com, www.rtw.de and www.proaudiotv.com.au

Angel Funding for Video Start-Up VDYO AUSTRALIA-BASED STARTUP VDYO has announced that angel investor, ACAC Innovation, is now an official investor and shareholder.

According to Damian Miles, CEO and Founder of VDYO, “While we already have a strong technology base, the extra capital will enable us to add more features and benefits for customers looking for new ways to deliver their video content.”

VDYO Founder Damian Miles has a 23-year record in the film and television industry, having worked with the likes of EditShare, ScreenShowcase and The Media Architects. Over this time, Miles developed a particular interest in new technologies and online video delivery.

“Put simply,” says Miles, “VDYO is an instant video portal that has everything you need out of the box to securely distribute, sell, and share your content.

It’s the only online video provider that can instantly give users a branded solution, monetisation and user and group management.”

According to ACAC Innovation’s CEO, Andy Greig, “What attracted us to VDYO is that video content is big business. VDYO provides a turnkey solution and it’s a business with scalability. It is not only aimed at the Film and Television business, but also the corporate world which is exciting.”

Visit www.getvdyo.com

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Michelle Guthrie Appointed New ABC Managing Director FORMER STAR TV AND GOOGLE SINGAPORE EXECUTIVE

executive role with Google.

Michelle Guthrie will succeed Mark Scott as the Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in May 2016.

She began her career as a media lawyer in Sydney and has worked with a range of media companies in Australia and abroad, including Foxtel, BSkyB, and the Asian-based STAR television network. In 2007, she was appointed Managing Director for Providence Equity, a global investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and technology.

The Chairman of the ABC, James Spigelman, has announced Ms Guthrie’s appointment, saying she is ideally credentialed to lead Australia’s national broadcaster in the digital era.

“Michelle is an exceptional media professional with strong content, operational and board experience within internationally-respected media companies.

Michelle brings a unique local and global view to the role, having grown up in Sydney and worked at senior levels here and around the world. She brings to the ABC her business acumen, record in content-making across an array of platforms, a deep understanding of audience needs and corporate responsibility for promoting issues like diversity.”

Ms Guthrie will officially join the ABC in early April for a month-long handover with Mr Scott. Within the guidelines set by the Remuneration Tribunal, Ms Guthrie will receive a salary package of AUD$900,000 pa. As Managing Director, Ms Guthrie will retain ultimate responsibility for all editorial content, as specified in the ABC Act.

She joined Google in 2011 and is currently the firm’s managing director for Agencies in the Asia-Pacific. Ms Guthrie has played a key role in the development of broadcasting channels and content strategies across a range of platforms, including STAR’s 24-hour news channel in India.

Ms Guthrie was also instrumental in setting up the Hong Kong office of Plan International to drive global donations for children’s development projects and programs in mainland China and other Asian nations.

Visit www.abc.net.au

Ms Guthrie has been based in Singapore in the past few years in a senior

EVS’ Stephane Jauroyou Moves to the Americas EVS ASIA HAS FAREWELLED Stephane Jauroyou with his move to company’s U.S. HQ as VP sales of North & Latin America.

“It’s with great pleasure that we announce Stephane Jauroyou’s new position in the Americas,” said Luc Doneux, EVP, chief commercial officer at EVS. “Stephane has been instrumental in guiding our growth in Asia Pacific, and we know that his strong understanding of television operations and of the sports and entertainment markets will be very valuable in leading our teams to reinforce our customer base and stregnthen market share in those regions.”

Jauroyou has 20 years’ experience in the media and entertainment industry, including an integral role at SeaChange (now XOR Media). He has focused on the Asian market for EVS since 2013, where he helped customers transform operations for enabling server-based playout, digital archive and most recently multiscreen delivery.

Jauroyou is based out of the EVS’ Burbank, California, office.

Visit www.evs.tv

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Heinz Herrmann Joins Magna Systems as Group CEO MAGNA SYSTEMS AND ENGINEERING has appointed Dr. Heinz Herrmann as the company’s Group CEO. Herrmann earned accolades as an innovator and thought leader in broadcasting and telecommunications having had successful senior and “C” level roles with companies including SingTel Optus, Telecom NZ and Siemens.

Herrmann reports to Magna Systems Executive Chairman Robert Clemesha who said, “Heinz’s appointment is a real coup for Magna Systems and Engineering.

As the broadcast and telecoms worlds converge, there are not many CEOs with experience in both industries and a track record in strategy as well as execution.

I’m delighted to say that Heinz is one of that rare breed.”

The new appointment further bolsters Magna Systems’ continued growth in the broadcast, telecommunications, government and emergency services industries across the Asia Pacific region.

Heinz Herrmann now works alongside Robert Clemesha who will continue to oversee the group’s strategic direction.

Visit www.magnasys.tv

(L-R) Magna Systems and Engineering COO Matthew Clemesha, Executive Chairman Robert Clemesha, CEO Heinz Herrmann and Director of Marketing David Clemesha

Digistor Appoints Flora Ho to Services Team AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL MEDIA SOLUTIONS provider, Digistor Pty Ltd, has appointed Flora Ho to the company’s Services Team as Service Team Coordinator.

Digistor has a diverse range of service projects running at any one time which involve the deployment and management of service staff to achieve customer objectives. Flora’s role is to manage these resources to ensure the best utilisation.

Flora brings broad skills and experience to the role having recently worked in the UK at Escape Studios – a premier visual effects academy – as Training

Sales Coordinator and Jellyfish Studios as Visual Effects Coordinator. She has consummate skills in managing teams and working in the creative industries.

“I look forward to bringing my years of skills, knowledge and experience in the post production industry to Digistor to provide the best customer service as the first point of contact for the technical services team,” explained Flora.

Visit www.digistor.com.au

Quinto Steams Ahead with Peter Farmakis INDUSTRY VETERAN, PETER FARMAKIS has joined the Australian sales

broadcast industry is our fastest growing business sector and with Peter we will be able to further expand our activities in this important sector”.

Prior to joining Quinto, Peter was a key figure in the sale and support of JVC equipment in Australia and, as such, is a well-known and highly regarded figure in the professional audio visual industry.

According to Peter Farmakis, “I have always regarded Quinto Communications as Australia’s leading distributor for professional video equipment and I am pleased to be working with them so that together, we can steam ahead with these new business opportunities”

team at Quinto Communications with a brief to expand the company’s activities across its growing corporate, government and education business sectors.

“We are very pleased that Peter has decided to join us”, says Tom Pavicic, Quinto’s CEO. “We have known Peter for many years and have always been impressed by his professionalism and market knowledge. The corporate

Visit www.quinto.com.au

Simon Farnsworth Departing Telstra Broadcast SIMON FARNSWORTH, Head of Telstra Broadcast Services (formerly Globecast Australia), has announced he will be leaving the organisation and returning to his native UK for family reasons.

“Given Telstra’s growth plans in the broadcast and media space this was an extremely difficult decision, but in the end it was made simple for me, as the health and happiness of my family has to come first,” said Farnsworth.

“It has been a great privilege to work with all our wonderful customers, in Australia and around the world, as you have made the business what it is today. I am confident that Telstra Broadcast Services will go from strength to strength in the future, and will continue to be an innovative partner.”

According to Farnsworth, Telstra is in the process of recruiting a replacement and

Visit www.telstra.com

Network Ten Appoints Liz Baldwin GM of Digital

Nine Makes Swift Decision for Head of Content

AUSTRALIA’S NETWORK TEN has announced the appointment of Liz Baldwin as General Manager, Digital.

NINE ENTERTAINMENT HAS APPOINTED Adrian Swift to the position

Ms Baldwin was previously Network Ten’s Digital Executive Producer. In her new role, she will be responsible for the company’s digital media business – including the online catch-up and streaming service tenplay – and will report to Network Ten Chief Executive Officer, Paul Anderson, and Chief Programming Officer, Beverley McGarvey.

According to Michael Healy, Nine’s Director of Television, “I’m really pleased to say Adrian is returning to Nine in a role which will incorporate production and development of our local content, across all the platforms in our evolving business. Adrian has a great knowledge of Nine, he will be a welcomed member of our team.”

Ms Baldwin’s appointment follows the resignation of Network Ten Chief Digital Officer, Rebekah Horne.

NEWS + PEOPLE

Before she joined Network Ten in March 2015, Ms Baldwin was Head of Content and Brand Integration at Nine Entertainment Co.

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is “… extremely committed to the structure and the strategy that has been put in place for the Telstra Broadcast Services team, which focuses on retaining a culture of flexibility and nimbleness, with strong growth plans for the future.

of Head of Content Production and Development.

In this role, Adrian will be responsible for non-scripted production across Nine broadcast and digital platforms including external commissions and the internal production unit as well as program development and format acquisitions.

Her resume also includes the positions of Director of Consumer and Digital Strategy at Shine Australia (now Endemol Shine Australia), Head of Digital at News Magazines and Consumer Marketing Manager, Australia and New Zealand, at Dell Computer.

“Nine is my spiritual home and I’m very excited to be returning,” said Adrian Swift. “With so many great shows commissioned for 2016, it’s a huge job and I’m looking forward to working alongside Hugh Marks, Michael Healy and Andrew Backwell. I have loved my time at The ABC and salute the brilliant team with whom it’s been a privilege to work.”

Visit www.tencorporate.com.au

Visit www.nineentertainment.com.au

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NEWS + PEOPLE

TECHNICAL STANDARDS www.content-technology.com/standards

DPP Launches Roadmap for 2016

DVB Approves Commercial Requirements for Next Phase of UHDTV

THE DIGITAL PRODUCTION PARTNERSHIP (DPP), the international

AT THE 81ST MEETING of the DVB Steering Board last November, the

standards body founded by UK broadcasters ITV, the BBC and Channel 4, has launched a new programme of work for 2016. The DPP says 2016 will be its busiest year yet, with no less than ten major pieces of work.

That work is made up from current workstreams that will deliver in the first half of 2016, and several brand new projects.

The new projects are: • A Common Mastering Standard – The DPP will be taking part in and building on work others, such as the EBU, to define an international mastering format for TV. • The Production Revolution – A major new report on production tools and technologies for the internet age – and how they can be used in producing content for both traditional and direct to internet distribution.

It will include mobile production, low budget production, and production for OTT delivery – including Multi Channel Networks – as well as production for established broadcasters.

• Standards of Trust – The first wide-ranging survey of existing and new policies, standards and protocols that together could provide increased confidence in the reliability and security of digital services.

• 10 Things You Need to Know About Live IP Production – An introduction to the use of IP in Studio and Outside Broadcast production environments; it will help people understand distinctions between the use of IP, fibre and networks – and the future potential of ‘object based production’.

• A DPP Guide to Location Workflows – A best practice guide to working more effectively on location; the available tools, technologies and services.

These new pieces of work will build on a number of existing high impact projects that will all deliver in 2016: • Delivery Standards for UHD and HD commercials – Definition of a file delivery standard for UHD is nearing completion, as is an HD commercials standard. Implementation work will take place throughout 2016, and will include an update to the much-used DPP Producer’s Guide to File Delivery as well as best practice guidance on intentionally late programme delivery.

A key new feature of ‘DVB UHD-1 Phase 2' will be the capability to provide images with a high dynamic range (the difference between the blackest black and the whitest white in the image), termed HDR. Television sets of the future will allow higher peak screen brightnesses that can exploit the HDR. This is seen as a major potential gain in image quality, said to add ‘sparkle’ to the image.

Other new features that may be available for UHDTV in the same timetable such as ‘Next Generation Audio’ offering a number of new options for sound.

The DVB Technical Module will now translate the Commercial Requirements into a technical specification, which will be submitted to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for standardisation. It is expected that the specification will be finalized in 2016. This could mean that the first DVB UHD-1 Phase 2 services, that include the HDR feature, would be available from 2017 onwards.

Visit www.dvb.org

SMPTE Hires Howard Lukk as Director of Standards THE SOCIETY OF Motion Picture and Television Engineers has announced

that Howard Lukk will be joining the SMPTE staff as the Society’s new director of standards. Over the coming 12 months, Lukk will transition into the position that has been held by Peter Symes for the past eight years. Symes will retire at the end of 2016.

A SMPTE Fellow, Lukk is a writer and director at independent film production and management company Pannon Entertainment, where he has been working on short films and providing technical consulting and education for clients. His last short film, “Emma,” was shot and finished in high-dynamicrange (HDR).

Lukk’s career highlights include Vice-President of Production Technology for The Walt Disney Studios and Director of Media Systems at Pixar.

Visit www.smpte.org

MAXON Joins the Khronos Group

• International Exchange – This workstream focuses specifically on the needs of those engaged in international distribution – whether acquiring or sending content. It delivers early summer 2016.

and rendering solutions, has joined the Khronos Group industry consortium.

By joining the Khronos Group, MAXON says it is reasserting its ongoing commitment to support the development of open standards that enable the authoring and acceleration of 3D graphics, games and media on a wide variety of platforms and devices.

The Khronos Group is a non-profit consortium, founded by leading manufacturers in the CG industry. Its goal is the development and deployment of uniform, open formats for the rendering and exchange of graphic and dynamic content, including libraries such as OpenGL, WebGL and the COLLADA format. For the past several years, MAXON Cinema 4D, the company’s 3D software application, has supported several of the formats and specifications defined by Khronos such as COLLADA and OpenGL.

• Connectivity Report – Production and post production is constrained by the difficulty of finding affordable, fast and reliable connectivity. This report looks at what it would take to improve the situation.

Visit www.digitalproductionpartnership.co.uk

TECHNICAL STANDARDS

According to the DVB, UHDTV will bring higher technical quality and greater realism to television viewers. The path to UHDTV was set in the ITU in 2012 with a potential list of new features for future television (ITU-R BT.2020.) Since then, DVB has developed systems to allow appropriate features to be practically delivered to the public. A major milestone for television has now been reached with the agreement on the requirements for a ‘UHD-1 Phase 2' delivery format.

• North American Delivery Standard – The DPP is collaborating with the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) on a groundbreaking common file delivery standard for the United States, Canada and Mexico.

• News Exchange – Common protocols for metadata captured in the field would make the exchange of News content much quicker and more effective. This workstream is set to deliver northern Spring 2016.

10

Commercial Requirements for the next phase of Ultra High Definition Television were approved. This allows the technical work on the specification to progress.

MAXON, THE DEVELOPER OF professional 3D modeling, painting, animation

Visit www.maxon.net and www.khronos.org

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ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition

Franc Biffone Sets TVCs Aglow with Sony FS7 FRANC BIFFONE, ACS COMMITTEE and Steadicam Operators Association member – and hard-working DOP – recently made the decision to use the Sony FS7 camera to shoot the Frame Set Match Glow Girl TVC for UBK through Ogilvy.

Explaining why, Biffone said, “The first TVC I shot with the FS7 was for FSM – UBK

by Kotex Sport – Glow Girl directed by Phil Meatchem. This was a night-time, handheld shoot with an Easyrig and the talent was wearing a body suit covered with 2000 LEDs. “I chose the FS7 for its dynamic range, 4K recording and the fact that it’s a lightweight camera. Considering the shoot was at night, and on location with only security and street lighting and the light from Glow suit, I achieved surprising detail in the blacks and extreme highlights of the LEDs. I also used a Fujinon Cabrio T2.9, 14-35mm zoom so I could “crash-bump in” during the shot and readjust framing on the run.”

The surprising detail capture isn’t the only reason Biffone chose the FS7 though; he was also impressed by its versatility, quality and speed.

“The FS7 is quick to set up, which is a huge asset with a very limited time schedule on location,” he said. “I wanted to set up and shoot slo-mo quickly on the same set ups required from the storyboard without wasting any time, while gaining extra coverage and options. I tend to shoot most non-sync at 50 frames, especially when graphics need to be incorporated. The wide-dynamic range of the FS7 gave me the confidence to shoot without lighting the background locations, which saved time and the producer’s budget.”

Such was Biffone’s success with the FS7 that he’s made it his camera of choice adding, “This is currently the only camera I would consider buying to use for my clients’ productions, which cover a wide variety of TVCs, promos, dramas

and online content. The technology is being updated and superseded every six months so equipment needs to earn its keep very quickly.”

Visit http://pro.sony.com.au or http://pro.sony.co.nz

Starlight Media House Fires Up with JVC WHEN A FIRE RIPPED THROUGH the fifth floor of a building adjacent to the Starlight Media Offices on Auckland’s North Shore, Pete Ward from Starlight was able to quickly convert his HM200 from Studio Camera to ENG mode and capture high quality dramatic footage of the inferno. This material was easily and quickly posted to social media and online news sites.

The Integrated 12x Ultra HD Lens meant Pete was able to get dramatic close shots of the firefighters putting out the fire from a safe distance while the camera was still wide enough for him to capture close up drama on the ground.

All of this was possible thanks to Starlight’s choice of the JVC GY-HM200 camera which they purchased to help them expand their digital online production capabilities.

When Starlight Media House were looking for a camera they chose the JVC GY-HM200 for its ease of use, its stunning picture quality and its ability to stream live pictures from remote locations.

“Whether you’re shooting 4K Ultra HD, 4:2:2 Full HD, or streaming to the web, this camera does it all”, says Quinto’s Pete Fullerton. “It’s integrated 12x optical zoom lens and 4K CMOS sensor, deliver stunning 4K Ultra HD recordings directly to SDHC/SDXC memory cards. Users can connect to the internet via optional Wi-Fi or 4G LTE modem and stream HD instantly to USTREAM or any other destination while recording to the SDHC memory card.”

Visit www.quinto.com.au

ACQUISITION

Digital Logic Boosts Rental Fleet with ARRI

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SYDNEY-BASED DIGITAL LOGIC provides high quality production equipment to the industry with a self-confessed passion for filmmaking and a drive to have the latest and most innovative production tools available. Recently, this unique rental house added to their inventory with the latest ARRI AMIRA camera.

cameras is the colour science and dynamic range as Majurey continued, “There’s nothing like it except in other ARRI cameras. Other manufacturers come close but a lot of fiddling with camera settings is required whilst the AMIRA is great straight out the gate. It’s as if ARRI crammed all the things we love about the ALEXA into a smaller body.”

Rentals Manager Glenn Majurey explained, “As a relatively young rental house we had been looking at ways in order to get our toes into the ARRI camera market. We are well aware of the popularity of the ARRI ALEXA and had been waiting with bated breath for the release of a new ARRI camera – the AMIRA. “Straight off the bat it gave us 200FPS, a simple layout, an ENG form factor, inbuilt NDs, quick access buttons, interchangeable lens mount, servo control, and available CFast 2.0 media. Very impressive.”

Majurey also liked the AMIRA’s ease of use and well-thought-out design adding, “It’s straightforward and its quick access features make the camera fast especially when production schedules are tight which means the AMIRA allows quick turnaround. The workflows make sense too as a lot of our clients tend to shoot ProRes – 2k 4:4:4:4 ProRes is currently the favourite with our customers – which is great as you can use the files with almost all editing software including Da Vinci and Final Cut X.”

For Digital Logic one of the key differences that sets the AMIRA apart from other

Visit www.digitallogic.com.au and www.ARRI.com.au

ACQUISITION

HDTV Box Camera from Hitachi HITACHI HAS ANNOUNCED THE IMMEDIATE availability of the DK-H200, Hitachi’s first box camera to feature native, full frame rate 1080p acquisition.

The DK-H200’s new 2.6 million pixel, 2/3-inch, progressive MOS sensors deliver sharp, clear images. These sensors combine with Hitachi’s digital signal processing technology and the camera’s natively progressive signal flow to provide superior picture quality with low noise, faithful colour reproduction and high dynamic range. The camera’s 60dB signal-to-noise ratio enables clear images with minimal noise even at high gain, and is complemented by sensitivity of F12 at 59.94Hz and F13 at 50Hz. The flexible, multi-format DK-H200 offers selectable 1080p, 1080i and 720p outputs at 60Hz, 59.94Hz or 50Hz. The camera’s ability to simultaneously deliver a different format on each of the camera’s dual, 3Gbps-capable HD-SDI outputs eliminates the need for external converters in mixed-format applications, saving both cost and equipment footprint. Optional single-mode fiber interconnectivity is also available, enabling video transmission from the camera over long distances.

The DK-H200’s compact size and light 1.3kg weight are suitable for robotic camera applications, enabling the use of less-expensive robotics systems. Providing versatility for remote acquisition, the DK-H200’s direct TCP/IP networking enables

the camera to be controlled from within a studio, across a campus or around the world through a TCP/IP network or the internet.

Fully automatic features including the built-in Automatic Exposure System (AES), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), automatic iris, and Full-time Automatic White Balance (FAW) further bolster unmanned operation.

The DK-H200 also includes other image adjustment and user-friendly features from Hitachi’s SK Series cameras, including advanced colour correction, skin tone detail processing, Ultra-Gamma response, focus assist, recallable scene and lens files, a motorized filter wheel and more.

The DK-H200 utilises the same high-end remote control and setup control units as the SK Series, including the RU-1000VR and RU-1500JY remote operation panels and SU-1000 setup control unit. It supports 2/3” B4-mount, bayonet-style lenses, with Hitachi Real-time Lens Aberration Correction (RLAC) technology compensating for the optical distortions that can occur in even the best HDTV lenses.

Visit www.hitachikokusai.us

RED dsmc2 Cameras Support Avid Codecs RED DIGITAL CINEMA AND AVID have announced that Avid DNxHR and Avid DNxHD recording formats will be coming to RED’s DSMC2 line of professional cameras – WEAPON, SCARLET-W and RED RAVEN. The addition brings another workflow option to professionals shooting on this latest generation of RED cameras.

Avid DNxHR and Avid DNxHD are designed to reduce storage and bandwidth requirements, and Avid DNxHD has been accepted by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers as the foundation format for the VC-3 standard. Additionally, the formats offer direct-to-edit experiences for professionals looking to keep the highest image quality possible, while leveraging the any investments they’ve made in Avid in-house production systems.

“We give shooters yet another extremely popular format option by getting Avid natively part of our camera workflow,” says Jarred Land, President of RED Digital Cinema. “With the ability to shoot REDCODE RAW simultaneously alongside Avid DNxHR and Avid DNxHD, they are getting the best of two worlds from both the acquisition and post perspectives. This collaboration between RED and Avid is going to be music to the ears for a lot of the industry, and I could not be happier.”

The Avid DNxHR and Avid DNxHD formats will be added to RED’s DSMC2 cameras currently offer via REDCODE RAW and Apple ProRes formats. Avid DNxHR and Avid DNxHD will be made available via a free firmware upgrade in mid-2016.

Visit www.red.com and www.avid.com

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ACQUISITION

Canon XA35 and XA30 Video Cameras CANON HAS ANNOUNCED the addition of two handheld video cameras to its X-series, the XA35 and XA30. Designed for professionals and enthusiasts alike, the highly compact and lightweight models feature a newly developed HD CMOS Pro sensor, which provides higher sensitivity and improved low-light performance. Both cameras also include new Wide Dynamic Range (DR) and Highlight Priority settings.

Utilising Canon’s heritage in optical expertise and advanced technologies, the newly designed 1/2.84-type 2.91 megapixel HD CMOS Pro sensor has enhanced sensitivity with improved signal-to-noise ratio. As a result, images are crisp and clear, even in low-light environments. Lowlight shooting opportunities are further boosted by improved infrared performance, ideal for users capturing nocturnal wildlife or night-time documentaries.

The 20x zoom wide-angle lens offers a 26.8-576mm (35mm equivalent) focal range and employs Canon’s intelligent 5-axis Optical Image Stabilization System with Dynamic IS. The lens also features an 8 blade circular aperture to give enhanced ‘bokeh’.

The XA35 and XA30 features two new settings – Wide DR and Highlight

Cooke Optics Sets Out Roadmap for Lenses COOKE OPTICS HAS SET OUT a roadmap for delivery of its most recently announced and highly anticipated lenses, as well as an update about /i3, the latest and most ambitious version of its /i Technology metadata system.

Priority. In Wide DR mode, the cameras are able to achieve 600% dynamic range, resulting in bright images with high contrast that retain detail in both highlight and shadow areas, without the need for post-production.

When using the High Priority settings, users are able to produce footage with more natural tones and richer colours, particularly in areas of high brightness1, perfect for scenes with bright skies and reflective surfaces.

Both models also feature slow and fast recording modes, supporting a range of shooting scenarios with interval recording options up to a maximum of 1200x normal speed.

The cameras also support high quality AVCHD (up to 28Mbps) and MP4 (up to 35Mbps) file formats and include dual SD card slots, providing instant back-up through simultaneous recording or the option for relay recording at longer events, ideal for wedding videographers.

Both the XA35 and XA30 are dual-band Wi-Fi enabled which allow remote control of the camera, wireless file transfer/upload and browser preview, all with the use of a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Visit www.canon.com.sg

4K Portable Zoom Lens from Canon CANON HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of the CJ20ex7.8B portabletype broadcast zoom lens, which offers a 20x zoom ratio with a

The 65mm Macro and 135mm Anamorphic/i lenses are now shipping, while the 180mm and 300mm is shipping from January 2016. The first of two zoom lenses – the wide 35-140mm – will begin delivery by NAB 2016. A longer zoom is scheduled for the end of 2016.

focal-length range from 7.8 mm to 156 mm and supports use with 4K

Cooke is also on course for testing and delivery of /i3 (/i Cubed), the major new version of its /i Technology metadata system that provides detailed lens data to VFX and post-production teams. /i3 firmware now provides distortion mapping – not just a theoretical measurement of all lenses of a particular focal length, but of the specific lens in use.

lens is ideal

Les Zellan, Chairman and Owner, Cooke Optics said, “Metadata is seen as crucial in other areas of content creation but has not been adopted as widely in acquisition up to now. We believe that /i3 is a significant technological advance that will make an enormous difference to VFX and post workflows.

The information that we are able to collect from the lens makes mapping so much more accurate, which will save a great deal of time and money in post.”

Visit www.cookeoptics.com

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broadcast cameras employing 2/3-inch sensors. The new lens which features a compact, lightweight body design, makes possible the creation of high-resolution and high-impact 4K video content. This for indoor and outdoor location applications, from sporting events and news coverage, to dramas and documentaries.

Through optimal lens positioning and advanced levels of component and body assembly precision, the CJ20ex7.8B achieves high-quality 4K-resolution images from the centre to

VITEC HAS UNVEILED THE MGW PICO TOUGH, its latest innovation

ACQUISITION

in airborne encoding and streaming appliances. Said to be the world’s smallest dual-channel H.264 HD/SD encoding solution, weighing less than 400 grams, Vitec says the MGW Pico TOUGH sets a new standard of performance for manned and unmanned airborne platforms, military vehicles, and ground units. The MGW Pico TOUGH consumes less than seven watts of power for 1080p encoding with KLV/STANAG metadata.

14

the peripheral areas of the image field. Delivering superior colour reproducibility the lens contributes to the creation of compelling video brimming with realism. Drawing on the advanced optical technologies cultivated by Canon, the new CJ20ex7.8B achieves a high level of optical performance enabling use with 4K broadcast cameras. Furthermore, featuring a compact, lightweight body design,

MGW Pico TOUGH features simultaneous, low-latency streaming of two sources from HD-SDI and analog composite signals, JITC-compliant metadata processing AES encryption, forward error correction technology, real-time resolution scaling, and image cropping. The creditcard-sized, rugged enclosure uses MIL-DTL-38999 connectors and is certified for extreme environmental conditions.

the lens delivers exceptional mobility in response to the needs of

MGW Pico TOUGH is available for immediate deployment as a turnkey appliance or as a PCB for integration into other systems.

mm telephoto-end focal length, the lens delivers superior optical

Visit www.vitec.com

Visit www.canon.com.sg

the broadcast industry, facilitating shoulder-mounted shooting and convenient transport and setup.

The new CJ20ex7.8B includes a built-in 2x extender, which increases the lens focal range by two fold. Even when shooting at the 312 performance to support use with 4K broadcast cameras.

ACQUISITION

Seven-Inch Recording Field Monitor VIDEO DEVICES HAS ANNOUNCED that its PIX-E7 4K recording field monitor is now shipping worldwide. The seven-inch PIX-E7 is the largest model in the PIX-E Series, joining the five-inch PIX-E5 and PIX-E5H. The 4K-compatible PIX-E7 offers a full suite of precision monitoring tools, SDI and HDMI I/O, plus the ability to record all available Apple ProRes codecs, up to 4444 XQ 12-bit. The PIX-E7, like the PIX-E5 and PIX-E5H, is also compatible with the innovative, super-fast USB-based SpeedDrive — a custom-made enclosure that holds an industry standard mSATA solid-state drive. The monitor incorporates a “best-of-both-worlds” user interface that combines easy-to-access tactile buttons with an intuitive touch screen. The PIX-E7 also accepts external timecode via a BNC linear input connection, and features a second SDI In, and a general purpose input/output port for tally light and remote control workflows.

The PIX-E7 joins the rest of the PIX-E Series in providing monitoring tools such as TapZoom for focusing speed; false colours and zebras to help set exposure; guide markers for framing; and a range of scopes including waveform, histogram, and vectorscope. The PIX-E family of recording monitors also features several manufacturer-specific, standard lookup tables (LUTs). Custom LUTs may also be used via SD card or SpeedDrive.

Since the PIX-E Series was first introduced, Video Devices has released several feature enhancements through regular firmware updates. With the latest update (v1.20), the SDI Out on the PIX-E7 and PIX-E5 supports interlace (1080i) and PsF. Other recent updates include additional feature enhancements, such as: 6G-SDI to support 4K over a single SDI cable for cameras like the Blackmagic URSA. All three PIX-E models offer higher frame rate recording of 1080p 120fps via HDMI – suitable for capturing slow motion footage via HDMI, enhanced playback capabilities such as jog, shuttle, FF/REW, 4:3 anamorphic desqueeze, 3:2 pulldown removal, external timecode, and the ability to enable or disable aLUT on an SDI output.

Download the latest firmware v1.20 via http://www.videodevices.com/ support/downloads/pix-e5-firmware SpeedDrive, meanwhile, is an accessory designed for the PIX-E Series. When connected to the rear of the monitor, the SpeedDrive’s USB 3.0 interface automatically switches to a SATA interface for recording continuous, high-data-rate 4K video. Users can then simply unplug it from the back of PIX-E7 and plug it into any USB computer port to transfer data at very fast USB 3.0 rates; no special card reader or docking station is needed. Two SpeedDrive options are available: a 240GB SpeedDrive (mSATA drive in the sleek enclosure) or an enclosure-only version that allows the user to choose any approved, third-party 128GB to 1TB mSATA drive, interconnect for 12-channel HD/6-channel 4K recording.

Visit www.sounddevices.com and www.videodevices.com

Sony Expands Line of XDCAM HD 422 Shoulder Camcorders SONY’S LATEST ADDITION to its PXW series of shoulder mount camcorders, PXW-X400, delivers stronger network and wireless capabilities, improved weight balance, XAVC 50/60p recording and pool feed functions, giving electronic news-gathering (ENG) and field production professionals a versatile and high-performance tool.

When wireless LAN is unstable or unavailable, the new PXW-X400’s Ethernet interface enables direct connection to a network for file transfer, live streaming and control from a web browser. A near-field communications (NFC) feature gives users a one-touch link between the camcorder and a mobile device. A Content Browser Mobile application enables users to preview or remotely control camcorder settings and various menu functions.

The pool feed function (HD/SD SDI) allows recording of the SDI external

signal onto an SxS card, a useful function to record a distributed signal from another camera or player on-site without requiring a portable deck.

Redesigning the inner structure of PXW-X400’s body, Sony has drastically improved the weight balance and handling capabilities compared to its predecessor models. Combining the newly introduced manual lens with the well-balanced body resolves any front-heavy issues and dramatically reduces the load for users on the right-hand.

The PXW-X400’s “ONLINE button” lets users bypass a mobile device or the camcorder’s menu for direct on/off control over direct streaming transmission of AV signals from the PXW-X400 to assigned destinations, auto-uploading of proxy files to cloud services and FTP servers, and on/off control over Sony’s PWS-100RX1 network server while shooting.

Visit http://pro.sony-asia.com

New 16+ PAG Gold Mount Charger In 2014, PAG introduced the first Gold Mount batteries that can be linked to provide more power (12A) and longer run-times for cameras and other broadcast equipment; and the first that can be linked for more efficient charging.

PAG’s new 4-position PL16+ simultaneous charger is the ideal workshop charger for broadcast organisations and rental facilities. It greatly reduces the number of chargers required to manage a large PAGlink Gold Mount battery inventory.

4 PAGlink 94Wh Li-Ion batteries can be fully-charged in less than 6 hours, 8 in less than 12 hours, and 16 in less than 24 hours. However, it is possible to charge a maximum of 32 batteries, 8 linked on each position, without user-

intervention.

The high-powered PL16+ charger uses the available current efficiently to fully-charge each battery in the fastest possible way, ensuring peak performance and a longer cycle life. The intelligent batteries manage their own charging safely, and can be left to top-up on the charger until required.

The batteries display their individual charge status on their built-in display so that you can easily see when they are ready. A single press of the display button inverts the display characters for legibility. Another useful feature of the charger is automatic recovery for deeply-discharged batteries.

The PL16+ is quiet, cool-running and compact. It features a tough steel case, and weighs only 3.5lbs (1.6kg), making it easy to transport and suitable for location use.

Visit www.paguk.com

ACQUISITION

PAG NOW OFFERS a 4-position charger, in addition to its 2-position PL16, for charging PAGlink Gold Mount Li-Ion batteries.

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Hostworks in High Gear at Tour Down Under HOSTWORKS, THE AUSTRALIAN PROVIDER of online and digital media solutions, has used this year’s Santos Tour Down Under to not only roll out new technologies, but seal a multi-year deal with the event’s organisers.

The 2016 event marks the second time Hostworks has provided streaming services to the largest cycling race in the Southern Hemisphere and the company has also announced that a new two-year partnership with the Tour Down Under will now extend support to 2018.

According to Will Berryman, Hostworks CEO, “It is the second year and we’ve signed it for two subsequent years. We’ve extended our relationship with Tourism SA to basically continue what we’re doing. We’ve really extended what we’re doing with them and we thought that it would be better if we maintained the relationship and continually worked innovating for these events over the next couple of years. So, it’s really a great relationship that we have with them.”

This year, Hostworks designed two new digital products to enrich the online experience for tour fans across a larger geographic audience by introducing Palisade and TDU.TV The Hostworks Tour Down Under Palisade aggregated social media streams (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) from the event, riders, teams, media and the public via a singular page on the event website and through a tab on the official event app, Tour Tracker.

Meanwhile, TDU.TV provided the home of all videos produced during the race stages and behind the scenes. This included everything from web clips to broadcast segments and broadcast highlights. TDU.TV involved capturing the stream via a satellite downlink. The stream was then encoded and segmented on the fly and delivered in multiple bitrates via the Hostworks Content Delivery Network which distributes content via geographically dispersed nodes located around Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s been a fantastic relationship for us,” says Will Berryman. “We’re a South Australian-based company that gets to innovate while working with the Tourism Commission there for their world class event and building new

products and capability, and they’re products and capability that we then take back and offer to the wider market.”

Working “cheek by jowl” with Beyond, Hostworks also provided the production company with a stream to use for the clipping and production of on-demand content which, along with the main stream, was tailored for viewing on over 90 different devices.

“We do multiple encodes of the race,” says Berryman. “It runs through our media foundry platform. We provide all the origins and insertion. We do all the switching that’s involved. Our guys are hooked into the talkback of the truck so they’re working with the DAs. We take that into our national encoding platform so it’s linked between Adelaide and Sydney. For redundancy, we take a signal in from Adelaide, take a signal in from Sydney to pack it up by satellite. We then do all the packaging and provide all the multi bitrate streaming and then we provide back to Beyond a high res online feed. So, it’s a click, via the online clipping platform, to create the video on demand asset and then they push those back to us and they’re hosted through the Tour TV property which we built so people can watch highlights.”

With this year’s event over, work has already begun on TDU 2017, including the integration of rider telemetry. Berryman says he sees the scope of not only the race coverage, but online sportscasting in general, continuing to grow.

“I think there’s a mentality now that people aren’t seeing other devices as an adjunct or a novelty,” he says. “I think there’s a mentality there now to basically say, ‘look, if it’s screened, we want our content there’ and it’s the same mentality the public broadcasters have had for a number of years. I think the challenge for commercial TV has been it’s been difficult to measure, it’s been difficult to monetise, difficult to do all of those other things and, these days, it can be measured, it can be monetised, so I think there’s a mentality now that’s very strong in broadcast.”

Visit www.hostworks.com.au

Videocraft Supplies Production Solution for NHK at Australian Open THIS YEAR’S AUSTRALIAN OPEN tennis tournament was Japanese broadcaster NHK’s second year at the event and a year where they were looking to expand upon the coverage they had produced previously. For this NHK turned to Australian company Videocraft.

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According to Videocraft’s Nick MacLean, NHK wanted to broadcast multiple matches per day with its own commentary and interviews, plus a twenty minute daily highlights show. Videocraft supplied NHK with an end to end solution based around the company’s latest FlyPack and integrated a video and audio control room, a studio overlooking the Rod Laver Arena garden square and a smaller commentary booth and studio inside Rod Laver Arena. Videocraft also supplied all the local engineering, technical and operational staff as a compliment to the NHK crew who came over from Tokyo.

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“NHK were looking for a cost-effective solution,” says MacLean, “but also one that gave them great flexibility in their production needs. We have found no two jobs are ever the same and so have built our FlyPack to be easily scaled up or down as required. We also based our proposal around the new Riedel

Mediornet MicroNs for all signal transportation between our MCR, the host broadcast and our two remote studios. Using the MicroNs, we were able to create a fully redundant video network over 10gigE fibre allowing us to send any of the 30+ feeds from the host broadcaster wherever we needed with minimum fibre infrastructure.

“By integrating technology including Mediornet, Dante, Omneo and a Tallyman central control we were able to create an extremely powerful system within a small footprint, a benefit that was highly valued in the TV compound where space was a premium. Our entire MCR consisted of 4 x 20RU racks.”

NHK produced two matches per day and a twenty minute highlight show with Videocraft using an EVS solution for highlights editing, replays and archive.

MacLean added, “It really was a seamless part of the workflow and one where our many years EVS workflow knowledge helped tremendously.

The NHK team were very happy as their producers could focus on content creation without having to think about any technology restrictions.”

Visit www.videocraft.com.au

SPORTSCASTING Stand M26

MORE connectivity ... MORE exibility ... MORE MEDIORNET MICRON slips into any role you want: STAND-ALONE as a 12x12 router with MEDIORNET processing features POINT-TO-POINT supporting 24 SDI video signals / 2 MADIs / ETH (1Gbit) ROUTER as a central video matrix for up to 192x192 HD-SDI signals MESHED 2 as decentralized video routing application

www.riedel.net

SPORTSCASTING

MEDIORNET MICRON

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Seven Expands Australian Open Coverage and Takes Tennis Mobile AUSTRALIA’S SEVEN NETWORK expanded its 7Tennis coverage of January’s Australian Open Series as part of a long-term strategy to deliver content to all Australians across connected devices.

Building on Seven’s market-first multi-screen coverage of the 2015 Australian Open, Seven expanded its fully-integrated coverage across broadcast television, online and mobile with simultaneous streaming of up to 16 courts at the Open. Beyond the Australian Open, Seven also broadcast and streamed live Seven’s Summer of Tennis across television, online and mobile, including the Hopman Cup, the Brisbane International, Sydney International and the Kooyong Classic.

Both the Australian Open and Seven’s Summer of Tennis were available live on-air, online, on Apple IOS and Android smartphones and tablets. In addition, a new 7Tennis mobile app gave users access to over 2000 hours of live, exclusive and free tennis, catch-up and on-demand highlights.

7Tennis also expanded its presence on social media with new channels for 7Tennis on Facebook, 7Tennis on Twitter, 7Tennis on Instagram and 7Tennis on Apple News, 7Tennis on Yahoo7 and 7Tennis on Youtube.

7Tennis streamed matches on courts beyond Seven’s television coverage with up to 16 additional live streams of courts at the Open coupled with streams of press conferences and short-form VOD (video-on-demand) content including highlights and archival footage, photo galleries, a social wall with Twitter and Facebook, live scores and results from all matches, player profiles and exclusive produced content beyond Seven’s internationally recognised broadcast.

Commenting, Saul Shtein, Seven’s Head of Sport said: “We are delighted to be taking the lead in the delivery of sports beyond broadcast television.

The Australian Open is one of our biggest events and sets the framework for our year in sports. It is a year in sports like no other with our upcoming coverage of the Olympic Games in Rio and the introduction of new innovations in our coverage of the Australian Football League and our other major sports franchises.”

Visit www.sevenwestmedia.com.au

NEP Buys Mediatec Asia Pacific NEP GROUP – PARENT COMPANY OF NEP AUSTRALIA has acquired Mediatec Asia Pacific. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction will bring Mediatec Asia Pacific, based in Melbourne, into NEP’s worldwide network of brands and will extend NEP’s video display capabilities into Australia and other countries in the region.

“Mediatec Asia Pacific has an exceptional reputation for service in the Australian market. I am very pleased to have them join NEP as we continue to expand our international video display and live events business,” said NEP Group CEO Kevin Rabbitt. “Working with our NEP Australia operations and our other display companies around the world, Mediatec Asia Pacific will be able to offer significantly deeper resources and have the support they need to service their clients worldwide.”

Mediatec Asia Pacific will remain an independent operating entity, based in Melbourne, and will continue to be managed by Ben Claydon, Owen Davison and Steve Letch.

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“Becoming a part of the NEP Worldwide Network is a great benefit to our clients, staff and partners,” said Mediatec Asia Pacific co-founder Owen Davison.

“We now have access to a much broader pool of resources, which will allow us to support our growth in-country and throughout the region. We look forward to working with the NEP team to continue to expand the business.”

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NHK’s World-First 8K OB Vehicle DELIVERED TO NHK BY IKEGAMI in September 2015 and touted as the world’s first 8K OB production vehicle, SHC-1 is designed to operate as a complete mobile 8K broadcast production facility capable of producing television of 8K picture quality, complete with 22.2 channel surround sound.

In March 2015, Ikegami introduced its SHK-810 fourth-generation 8K television camera that was developed in co-operation with Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). This is about one tenth the size and weight of Ikegami’s first-generation 8K camera and offers significantly improved operability. The company’s efforts to develop 8K broadcast production equipment have focused on achieving extremely high resolution combined with Ikegami’s proven ability to deliver very wide dynamic image processing.

Ikegami also has long experience in producing mobile television production trucks, having produced more than 800 OB vehicles.

In Japan, the road map for 8K broadcasting announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications specifies that trial broadcast transmissions will be conducted in 2016. Regular 8K broadcast services are planned to begin in 2018.

Many elements of 8K television production infrastructure are much larger in size, power consumption and number of cables than their HDTV equivalent.

This is because 8K broadcast production captures 16 times more image information than HDTV. Organising an 8K OB vehicle is therefore much more challenging than designing and producing traditional OB vehicles.

The vehicle’s specifications allow operation not only in Japan, but worldwide so it can be operated for global sporting events such as the Olympic Games.

It can be expanded to accommodate additional equipment as and when required.

OB system outline: • Vehicle size: 2495 (W) x 3330 (H) x 11,930 (D) (mm); (1000 mm (W) expandable when operating.

• Switcher: 16 inputs, 4 outputs, 1 mix/effects.

• Router: 8K, 4K and HD (2K).

• DSK: 8K. • Camera: Up to 10 8K cameras (Ikegami SHV-8000, SHK-810).

The Mediatec Asia Pacific acquisition will also provide a broader range of solutions to the existing NEP Australia client base.

• Recorder: 8K recorder (up to 4 units).

“The addition of Mediatec Asia Pacific to the NEP Network in the Australian market offers a tremendous opportunity for our client base,” said Soames Treffry, President of NEP Australia. “Our clients have been asking us for video display for years and now by working collaboratively with our sister company, Mediatec, we will be able to provide these additional services to our clients.”

• Audio router: Supports MADI.

Visit www.nepinc.com

Visit www.ikegami.co.jp

• Slow-motion: 8K slow-motion player. Up to 4 units.

• Monitor for switcher: Main: 55-inch 8K monitor; Sub: 55-inch (with multiviewer).

• Additional video monitors: 32-inch and others.

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JVC Unveils Camcorder with Built-In Score Overlay JVC PROFESSIONAL VIDEO HAS INTRODUCED the GY-HM200SP 4KCAM camcorder with embedded score panel graphics. Designed to enhance single-camera local sports coverage, the camera produces a real-time score overlay on recorded or streamed video output without the use of an external CG and production switcher.

The GY-HM200SP can receive score information directly from a mobile device connected wirelessly to the camera using an intuitive GUI. It will also be possible for the camera to interface directly to the sports venue’s own scoreboard controller through a wired or wireless interface.

The camera includes basic layouts to cover a wide variety of sports, but JVC will also be able to customise the overlay with the names and logos of teams.

According to Ian Scott, vice president of JVC’s U.S. Professional Video Division, “The new GY-HM200SP makes it easy for one person to

shoot the game, insert graphics, record, and stream the production live – all directly from the camera. For schools with limited equipment and personnel resources, this new camera provides an innovative and affordable solution for producing professional-quality, single-camera sports coverage.”

Beyond its built-in graphics overlay, the GYHM200SP includes all the professional features of the GY-HM200. It has a 1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS imager and integrated 12x zoom lens with optical image stabiliser and 24x dynamic zoom in HD mode. The camera records 4K Ultra HD, 4:2:2 Full HD (50 Mbps), and SD footage, and a new 70 Mbps mode records 4K footage in smaller, more manageable files on economical Class 10 SDHC/ SDXC memory cards.

The built-in HD streaming engine with Wi-Fi and 4G LTE connectivity allows live HD transmission directly from the GY-HM200SP to the ProHD Broadcaster server powered by Zixi, Wowza

Streaming Engine, other hardware decoders, and content delivery networks (CDNs) like Ustream and YouTube. Other features include dual XLR audio inputs with built-in phantom power that are mic/line switchable, an integrated handle with hot shoe and dedicated microphone mount, and SDI and HDMI video outputs.

Visit http://pro.jvc.com

COFDM Wireless HD Video System INTEGRATED MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGIES (IMT) has introduced the RF Central 58microLite HD Mini Kit. The new 58microLite Mini Kit brings its microLite technology to a larger customer base by providing an all-in-one kit.

The 58microLite HD Mini Kit is a highly portable professional-grade MPEG4 COFDM HD wireless camera transmission link capable of providing highquality video at distances over two miles, line of sight. Developed for the next generation of HD capable compact cameras, the 58microLite system is available in either licensed or unlicensed bands.

The new 58microLite is available à la carte or in preconfigured application specific kits. The kits are designed to give the operator the ability to set up quickly and to cover a wide area with long-range wireless transmission.

At the heart of the 58microLite HD Mini Kit is the microLite HD Transmitter.

Its size, weight and performance makes it suitable for UAV, sports, live newsgathering, reality-based programs, EFP/OB, point-of-view and any

type of live event coverage. The 58microLite HD Mini Kit comes in three camera mounting versions: the standard hot-shoe and optional Anton/ Bauer Gold Mount or V-Mount. It also features an easy-to-use user interface and 12 easily selected presets, making it simple to change channels and other operating parameters on the fly.

The 58microLite kit features a dual-diversity COFDM receiver that uses maximal-ratiocombining technology to enable the system to support Lineof-Sight (LOS) as well as Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) applications. It comes in an ultra-small, self-contained package perfect for discrete installations.

With no block down converters and complicated interconnects, the 58microLite has been adopted where quick, reliable and simple usage is required. It features MPEG-4/MPEG-2 auto-detect video and embedded audio decoding. This technology provides a highly reliable decode solution in demanding portable applications.

Visit www.imt-solutions.com

Bankstown Sports Club Partners with The P.A. People sphere of influence, Bankstown Sports Club, located in south-west Sydney, recently partnered with The P.A. People The community-focused club boasts 65,000+ members, a choice of 8 restaurants, 7 bars, 13 event spaces, Australia’s largest indoor children’s play structure, as well as live shows. The club is also creating two new restaurants, and doubling the number of hotel rooms in its Travelodge Bankstown Hotel.

The P.A. People met with senior management at Bankstown Sports to gain an understanding of the over-arching ‘master plan’ scope of what they wanted to achieve.

Jason Klippel, AV Manager for the Club said; “We embarked on a collaborative relationship with The P.A. People system designers – firstly giving them a list of requirements for our basic needs. We asked them to respond with how that might work and how the Brief could be improved upon. From there we worked through a design and integration process to arrive at a solution across three unique system tasks.”

Those system tasks included: The Rainforest, an open, informal seated area and stage, where sound spill affected adjacent areas. The Club now has a purpose-built solution that effectively manages audio for an area which has its own performance and patron entertainment function – as well as being the intersection of several

access ways and with an open mezzanine above.

Theatre Renovation – this now provides patrons with a plush-seated theatre experience; and an upgraded PA system. The Theatre (venue) can be a literal theatre at one point, then a multi-camera live broadcast location the next. The substantial PA solution provides the performance outcome required by a variety of hirers and artists.

Function and Meeting Rooms - The Club had dated systems that weren’t capable of meeting the needs of its clients. Working with The P.A. People, the Club was able to scope a system that provides a high-quality meeting environment.

According to Andrew Kelly, General Manager, Bankstown Sports Club, “People take technology for granted and we must meet that expectation. We pride ourselves on positive patron experience and customer service; and we seek to influence everything we can towards that outcome. That’s also why we’re invested in quality audio/AV solutions in partnership with The P.A. People.”

Visit www.papeople.com.au and www.bankstownsports.com

SPORTSCASTING

LOOKING TO TAKE A LEADERSHIP POSITION in its community and

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SPORTSCASTING

Girraphic Serves Up Super Graphics for Supercars AUSTRALIAN BROADCAST DESIGN COMPANY Girraphic specialises in producing innovative and attractive additions to sports coverage. The company’s owners Craig Hamel and Nathan Marsh had their first experiments with virtual graphics at the Australian Swimming Championships before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They were asked to put results, and sponsor branding, onto the pool.

While the graphics were effective, the need to use encoded heads meant that the stability was poor and camera movement was limited.

Girraphic had seen the results of the Ncam camera tracking system on the 2014 SuperBowl and arranged to see the system and meet the team at NAB 2015.

They took delivery of its Ncam camera tracking system shortly afterwards.

Unlike other camera tracking systems, Ncam needs no markers: it derives its own reference points from the scene itself. This in turn means it is virtually instantaneous in operation. You switch it on and it builds its reference map within seconds.

It detects the geometry of the scene by means of a multi-sensor bar which is mounted to the camera. It is light and can be connected to any camera. It sits below the lens, so doesn't interfere with handheld and Steadicam shoots, nor is it in the way of any controls.

The multi-sensor array means that Ncam can calculate, in real time, the six degrees of freedom of the camera: X, Y and Z position; pan, tilt and roll. It works as precisely when handheld as it does on a pedestal. Lens information (focus, zoom and aperture) is added to the 6 DOF data and streamed continuously to the graphics processor.

The data stream is in an open format which can be interpreted by any of the leading graphics systems. However, Ncam has a long and close working relationship with Vizrt, which made it doubly attractive to Girraphic.

At the same time Girraphic was investigating the use of Ncam camera tracking, it was asked to oversee the whole graphics production for V8 Supercars. This involved integrating data and timing information in a clear and engaging way, as well as preparing versions of the broadcast graphics for the domestic and world feeds, and the big screens at the venues.

Visit www.girraphic.com and www.ncam-tech.com

Marsh added, “We want to be the company that really experiments with the system and are prepared to take some risks with it. Ncam allows us to come up with bigger and better concepts for our customers, allowing us to invest more in the quality of the end product.”

- Slot in format dual true diversity

- Easy setup and operation thru a OLED display

- Switching bandwidth of 174 MHz in the UHF range spanning 520 MHz to 694 MHz

- Wisycom exclusive digital sub-carrier telemetry technology allows:

- DSP based audio processing for unbeatable audio and digital outputs

• Remote TX battery monitoring

- 40 groups of 60 frequencies fully user programmable

• PTT function (An optional back-panel module is available, with the secondary intercom output)

- DSP fully digital audio processing for broadcast superlative quality and multicompander compatibility - Infrared interface for programming and transmitter synchronization

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The result is the producers could provide more information and interest for viewers, even to the extent of creating a virtual car. The presenters can invite viewers to sit in the virtual driving seat and show them the controls and the mass of data that drivers have to deal with.

“Ncam has given us the ability to use AR technology where we previously could not because of time pressures,” said Nathan Marsh, managing director of Girraphic. “Setting up traditional camera tracking technology would not be practical as you need to line up the equipment prior to shooting. With Ncam we can arrive, shoot the segment and walk away in a matter of minutes, without getting in the way of everything that is going on around us.

- Broadcast superlative quality of any audiosignal transposition

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The freedom that Ncam offered also meant that augmented reality could be used in any location.

Because each V8 Supercar venue is different, Ncam’s technology allows the producers to decide on location where they will use augmented reality, then simply tailor the designs to fit without worrying about the technicalities of integrating it into the live pictures.

• Advanced tone-squelch operating

- Exceptional sturdiness and absolute reliability even in very congested environments - Amazing small size - Very easy and pleasant use with easy status indication by means of RGB LEDs

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NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

MediaWorks NZ Launches Multi-Platform News Service NEW ZEALAND-BASED MEDIAWORKS has launched a new multi-platform TV, radio and digital news service.

Operating under the ‘Newshub’ banner, the service provides the latest news and in-depth analysis, with a dedicated app and website and TV and radio news bulletins across MediaWorks’ channels – as well as fuelling news content across other programmes such as the high profile NZ presenter Paul Henry.

Newshub Live at 6pm is presented by Mike McRoberts and Hilary Barry who celebrate 11 years of presenting the news in February.

Mike McRoberts believes the integration of MediaWorks’ 3News and RadioLIVE teams will be important.

“Journalism is all about communities, and with our integration our ‘community’ has just got a lot wider. I’m hoping that will be reflected in the diversity and depth of our reporting.

“People will notice a significant difference when we have the next big breaking news event. Integration means we can throw our full resources into these types of stories and provide New Zealanders with the news and information often so vital to the affected communities.”

Newsworthy has been rebranded Newshub Late. Sam Hayes now anchors the programme without David Farrier, who is leaving MediaWorks to further his interest in making documentaries. David has a documentary screening at the Sundance festival shortly. Newshub Midday is presented by Jeff McTainsh.

The weekend television news is presented by Melissa Davies and Tom McRae, who are both returning from their overseas posts.

Operating 24/7, Newshub provides audiences across all platforms with stories and information relevant to them, with a strong emphasis on digital, servicing web, mobile devices and social media.

According to MediaWorks’ Group Head of News, Mark Jennings, “Newshub combines the power of our radio, TV and digital newsrooms and is focused on providing tailored content to all platforms. Specialist teams will work on breaking stories in the areas of most interest to New Zealanders. We won’t just be telling you what is happening, but why it is happening,” says Mark Jennings.

Visit www.mediaworks.co.nz

Sky News Australia Selects Omnitek for Monitoring QUINTO COMMUNICATIONS has announced that news channel provider Sky News Australia has selected and installed Omnitek video and audio test and measurement equipment for its Sydney based multichannel TV News and Weather Broadcast facility.

Both the Omnitek OTM-1000 portable digital video and digital audio analysis system and the Omnitek OTR-1001 rack mounted digital video analysis system have been installed at the Sky News networks live production facility.

The Omnitek analysers can be optioned to provide a comprehensive set of measurements to ensure compliance of broadcast video and digital audio signals with industry specifications and standards, plus to allow signal trouble-shooting.

Facilities of the units include picture monitoring, audio monitoring, waveform monitor, vectorscope, video gamut monitoring, audio level and audio loudness metering and compliance logging (in accordance with local Australian Operational Practices), and local subtitle decoding, display, and logging, all for both standard definition and high definition video sources.

For trouble-shooting, the units can also perform comprehensive digital video signal eye pattern and jitter analysis. Omnitek’s in-service video and audio sync analysis also allows for the measurement of video and audio delays and, therefore, any introduced lip sync errors, through a broadcast chain while it is live on-air.

Any combination of the available test and measurement instruments can be viewed simultaneously in any custom instrument layout created by the operator.

The OTR-1001 system, which is capable of driving high resolution external monitoring displays, and of being operated using keyboard and mouse as well as from the units local front panel, is therefore ideal as a digital video and audio analysis system that can be connected to a keyboard mouse and monitor (KVM) switching system so that a single unit can be accessed and shared by multiple operator positions within a facility.

Visit www.quinto.com.au

SBS Boosts TVUPack Mobile Broadcast Fleet HAVING PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED seven TVUPack TM8100 mobile wireless 3G/4G/LTE uplink backpacks from Magna Systems for its news and current affairs teams, SBS TV has now upgraded the seven existing packs and added an additional three of the latest TVUPack TM8200 backpacks and two new TM3200 transceivers to its mobile broadcasting fleet.

SBS’s TVUPacks are based in their Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra studios for use by SBS and NITV reporters, with one pack also in London. SBS uses its TVUPack TM8200 uplink solution for cameras with industry standard SDI and composite connections.

TVU has also developed TVUAnywhere, an app also used by SBS TV that enables the broadcaster to transmit quality live footage when a TVUPack isn’t available.

During its coverage of this year’s Australia Day, SBS World News deployed four TVU backpacks and one TVU Anwhere laptop. It was the first time that the program had used that many live shots during a bulletin, all using TVU technology over cellular data networks, without relying on the more expensive DSNG technology.

The TVUPack TM8200 mobile uplink backpack transmitter has the ability to transmit live video in HD and features a removable encoder for fixed placement in a studio or other inside setting. It also houses multiple cellular modem cards in a hard case modem module that can be easily removed and moved for optimal transmission. The TVUPack TM8200 utilises multiple 3G/4G/LTE Connections and supports up to eight 3G/4G LTE, microwave, satellite, WiFi and BGAN data connections. It also simultaneously aggregates up to nine connections including Ethernet to broadcast live in SD or HD. The TVU TM3200 Transceivers are broadcast-quality servers that can accept multiple video feeds. TVU Transceivers can take a live TVU transmitter feed onto the TVU Grid IP video distribution, routing and switching solution. TVU Transceivers are capable of receiving in-field transmission from TVU transmitters.

In addition, TVU Transceivers can ingest any SDI input to seamlessly feed the video to other locations via TVU Grid. Grid-enabled Transceivers can output an IP stream for a variety of codecs and wrappers.

Visit www.magnasys.tv

Channel NewsAsia to Revamp Digital Experience NEWS OPERATIONS

SINGAPORE’S MEDIACORP has appointed VML Qais Singapore and Aperto to

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undertake a major upgrade of Channel NewsAsia’s digital properties following a tender process that attracted digital marketing and design agencies from around the world.

Channel NewsAsia is available on desktop, mobile web, and via dedicated apps for iOS and Android smartphones and Apple Watch, reaching over six million users monthly. Its digital properties will be completely redesigned to offer a more personalised approach to news across devices.

New apps and a responsive website will be built from the ground up, with usercentric design and experience to be developed by VML Qais Singapore.

The sites and apps will use Mediacorp’s CoreMedia 8 content management system. Work on this architecture will be undertaken by Aperto, who have been collaborating with CoreMedia since 2003 and have been CoreMedia Platinum Partners since 2008.

Visit www.mediacorp.sg

NEWS OPERATIONS

Etere Integrates ClassX for News Graphics Management

Dejero Enables BGAN-HDR and Bonding for Live Video Streaming DEJERO HAS RELEASED an update of its LIVE+ NewsBook software for Mac notebooks, enabling users to bond portable Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) terminals to produce a live stream greater than 1

ETERE HAS ANNOUNCED a collaboration with ClassX to integrate ClassX

Mbps of video. This newest Inmarsat L-band service provides additional

MOS technology into Etere’s Nunzio’s end-to-end newsroom solution providing users with a single interface to manage dynamic newsroom needs.

Internet connectivity and enables live video streaming from anywhere

Etere Nunzio is the newsroom management component of Etere’s MERP which provides an all-in-one solution for multi-media planning and collaboration across different production units such as radio, TV or web departments, editorial driven workflow and metadata management.

remote

Nunzio’s fully automated capabilities includes a central collection point for incoming agency wires, which are immediately available for users. The newsroom management component of Etere MERP also features open standards and multiple integration paths to provide efficient cross-system operation. Nunzio also offers story templates for quick story creation and for accelerating story production. Etere’s rich text editor combines all elements (presenter, voiceover, mos, etc.) of the story in one screen. The rich text editor prepares the text for the prompter and keeps track of the real story duration compared to the scheduled duration.

connections

With the advanced graphics capabilities of ClassX MOS onboard, Etere Nunzio is able to advance its graphic management capabilities and tap into new technological advances such as: Real-Time Edits with ActiveX Plugin – Etere Nunzio-ClassX MOS integration uses the advanced ActiveX plugin which allows it to be accessed directly from Etere interface. This gives users the ability to navigate, pre-visualise and edit templates in real time.

Social Media Integration – Etere Nunzio-ClassX MOS integration allows newsrooms to showcase social media postings and polls in real time.

This interactive environment is made possible with its integration with Spredfast streams and second screens through the app Parterre. Meanwhile, SocialPlayer integrates with the graphics playout and provides multiple connections, push notifications and instant updates.

3D Effects and Layouts – With the ClassX MOS integration, Etere Nunzio users are also able to apply 3D effects and hundreds of eye-catching layouts.

Modifications are made easy with a wide variety of template forms, predefined graphic animations, videos and images to choose from.

Visit www.etere.com

in the world covered by BGAN’s satellite network, including extremely locations where no other network are available.

Dejero’s LIVE+ NewsBook transforms a Mac notebook into a highly versatile “go-anywhere” video uplink solution. With the BGANHDR bonding feature, users can now send live video feeds, as well as recorded and edited files, back to the broadcast facility by connecting multiple Explorer-710 terminals to the notebook via Ethernet. The LIVE+ NewsBook software automatically optimizes transmission settings when a High-Data-Rate (HDR) streaming connection is selected.

In addition to BGAN, the LIVE+ NewsBook software bonds multiple cellular, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet connections to create an aggregated data path for the transmission of reliable high-quality, low-latency video.

Network Innovations, a leading provider of integrated satellite communications solutions, has worked with Dejero to offer LIVE+ NewsBook software for the new bonded HDR service offered via Explorer-710 BGAN HDR terminals. While Dejero leverages the bonded HDR service to provide a higher-quality picture, broadcasters are able to reduce satellite costs by using the more affordable asymmetrical HDR streaming service.

Visit www.dejero.com

Channel NewsAsia on Tata Sky in India

Channel NewsAsia International’s launch on Tata Sky will enable the channel to reach over 14 million households in India. The channel was established in March 1999 by MediaCorp, the leading media organisation headquartered in Singapore and is an English language Asian TV News channel. It is now available in over 58 million households across 27 territories in Asia.

“We are delighted to be entering the DTH market in India exclusively through Tata Sky,” said Mr Woon Chuk Chan, Vice President of Channel NewsAsia’s Distribution and Content Sales. “Over the years, we have devoted more resources to cover India, not only through the news, but through hard hitting investigative documentaries which have won international acclaim. India is key to the present and future of Asia. We believe we are well placed to understand, present and interpret how

India’s role in the global economy will depend on changes in its political and economic climate. But more importantly, the channel is about Asia, and helping to foster understanding and insight across Asia. We look forward to offering our unique, content to all viewers across the country through our partnership with Tata Sky,” Paolo Agostinelli, Chief Content & Business Development Officer at Tata Sky, added, “We have always believed in offering a wide range of global news content and are delighted to offer our subscribers the awardwinning Channel NewsAsia International. With a significant mix of both international and India-specific news, we are certain that our subscribers will continue to enjoy our latest addition to the news genre.”

With the introduction of Channel NewsAsia International, Tata Sky has now expanded its bouquet of news channels to 96, which include 14 English news channels, 22 Hindi news channels and 57 regional news channels.

Visit www.tatasky.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

TATA SKY, A LEADING DTH (Direct To Homes) player in India, has launched Channel NewsAsia International on its platform. The pan-Asian channel is now available to Tata Sky subscribers on channel number 535.

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All-Round Innovation.

CONTENT DELIVERY

SAM’s unique mix of experience and energy is complemented by a true belief in innovation.

It is fundamental to everything we do, and helps us deliver solutions that really make a difference to our customers.

Cost Innovation We understand the constant pressure media organizations face to reduce cost from their operations. That understanding is reflected in the development of solutions that maximize efficiency and productivity across the media production chain; including collaborative editing, color and finishing, extensive MAM, workflow automation and resource planning, uniquely intelligent Media Biometrics monitoring and control and comprehensive automated playout solutions.

TM

IP Innovation SAM is at the forefront of developments in IP, we offer products that work today in the SDI domain and allow expansion into the IP world without excessive risk or substantial upgrades. Our switchers, routers, infrastructure and playout systems are all available with IP interfaces supporting both uncompressed (SMPTE 2022-6 and VSF TR-03) and a range of compression formats, including VC-2. Familiar control interfaces provide hybrid SDI/IP operation.

CONTENT DELIVERY

SAM product sectors

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Color & Finishing

Editing, Storage & Replay

Production Switchers

Routers & Multiviewers

Modular Infrastructure & Conversion

CONTENT DELIVERY

If you want to go IP immediately, next year or 5 years from now, we have products and systems you can invest in with confidence.

Image Processing Innovation Our image processing technology is renowned the world over.

Offering a complete range of high quality format and framerate conversion that covers every need, from high-end drama to fast-action sports and corporate events. Developed and refined over many years, our patented conversion algorithms produce stunning results, even from the most challenging material.

4K/8K Innovation For us, UHDTV is all about enabling you to create more compelling content and deliver more immersive viewing experiences for your audiences. So whether you are producing a live sporting event, posting a TV drama, or finishing a feature film for theatrical release, SAM can help you take advantage of all that UHDTV has to offer – without blowing your budget.

The SAM Difference.

Media Processing Software

Asset & Workflow Management

Control & Monitoring

Our innovation can help you make a difference. Visit:

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CONTENT DELIVERY

UHDTV is about enabling you to create more compelling content and deliver more immersive viewing experiences.

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POST PRODUCTION www.content-technology.com/postproduction

Mistika a Full Spectrum Solution for Adam Scott ADAM SCOTT IS ONE OF the industry’s leading professionals – at the top of the ladder, sharp, discerning and armed with an impressive portfolio.

His experience includes working on high-profile network promos for major presidential campaigns at ABC TV in New York; part of a team, building a fully fledged DI department from scratch, completely converting a post production lab from wet to dry and working on several well-known DI projects such as District 9 and The Lovely Bones.

In his role as director of broadcast operations at Australia subscription TV operator Foxtel, not only was he responsible for 200 staff, two studios and 120 Avid suites but also helped guide the mammoth undertaking of transforming the entire corporation from video to digital file-based. Missing the creative side of things, he was drawn back to post and joined Sydneybased Spectrum Films last year. By then, he was already familiar with the Mistika system having come it across it at the Las Vegas NAB show.

The association with SGO’s Mistika started when Spectrum Films took on a major new feature project that involved innovative complex multi-formats.

They turned to the Mistika system, introduced by SGO’s Australasian reseller Mojo Media Solutions.

Following an intense evaluation period, Spectrum Films selected Mistika to drive its expansion of high-end colour grading, finishing and DI with a real-time 4K-capability, including advanced DI grading, as well as DCP tools enabling DCP creation directly from camera raw, as well as other media files directly off the timeline.

Adam describes how Mistika filled a hole at the post facility.

“I liken Mistika to a Swiss Army Knife,” he says. “It’s versatile enough to handle any situation and gets perfect results, which is just what’s needed in our line of business. It fulfilled the broadcast space, and it was exactly what we were looking for.

As we looked in detail at the completeness and overall efficiencies the contender systems could provide at that time, Mistika’s intelligent design and efficient use of shared SAN storage made good sense. We were already handling camera raw files at over 6K resolution, so having a system where everything can work from just one shared copy of such large files is a massive advantage to our clients.

You need to have a versatile environment and work surface, something that can do something for the web right through to work for the likes of James Cameron – and everything in between. Mistika fulfils that perfectly. It is really great to have a system that can do all the post disciplines in one technology.

We rely on Mistika as it is much more efficient and helps us meet the tight time frames, budgets, demands, DCPs and various formats from HD masters to Pro Res Masters all at various resolutions.”

Adam emphasises how experience and know-how cannot be replicated in the workflow business.

POST PRODUCTION

“We are in the solution-solving business,” he says. “It’s about throughput and we need the expertise – people like SGO understand. They are the experts we turn to.

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The days of manufacturers dictating what the customer wants is over. People now have a better understanding and are more technology savvy at a deeper level and this has recalibrated things. To a degree, the customer now tells manufacturers what they want. If companies don’t truly listen to what customers want, then they are doomed. They have to change faster than the world outside them and have to listen carefully to customers’ needs in order to succeed. Everyone at SGO gets it.”

[L-R] Adam Scott, GM, and Josh Pomeranz, MD of Spectrum Films in the company’s Mistika Grading Suite.

GALLIPOLI LANDING As a specialist editorial facilities provider established for over fifty years, Spectrum Films has played host to international productions such as The Railway Man, The Water Diviner, The Matrix, The Great Gatsby, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, Sacred Heart and many other titles that also involved Mistika, including the 2015 documentary “Deadline Gallipoli: The Full Story”.

The documentary illustrated how Spectrum Films relied fully on Mistika’s open architecture, speed and versatility. The entire project was postproduced in Mistika including the online, colour grading, titling and deliverables.

According to Adam Scott, “For this project, we didn’t want to copy all of the raw camera data to the SAN storage which had been shot on ARRI Alexa, as we wanted to get an AAF round-trip between Mistika and the AVID. We spoke to SGO’s development team who wrote a bespoke software code for us to make this possible and literally ‘saved the day’. I can honestly say Mistika is a lifesaver and a massive benefit from a business point of view. If we ever have an issue, we know we can throw it at SGO and they will resolve it fast. We are very impressed with their rapid pace of development and their approach is totally unique.”

Inspired by Peter Weir’s film titled “Gallipoli” which served as a strong reminder of the horrific accounts of mass casualties, producer Sam Worthington created the moving four-part series and one-off documentary with NBCU for Foxtel, which aired earlier in the year. The documentary delved behind the scenes of the mini-series itself, placing key events in context from the viewpoint of young journalist Keith Murdoch, despatched from Australia, the father of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. This year’s ANZAC Day marked the 100th year anniversary of the famous battle on the beaches of Turkey’s Gallipoli in the First World War. Spectrum Films also recently completed the colour grade, DCP and other masters using their Mistika system with multi-camera formats (Red/Alexa/ Sony) on “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead”, while the entire post production process including the offline edit, sound design and sound mix took place at Spectrum Films for the recent feature film “Sacred Heart”, using Mistika for the online, colour grade, DCP and all masters. “Sacred Heart” was filmed on Blackmagic in 4K RAW and post produced using Mistika.

Visit www.spectrumfilms.com.au and www.sgo.es

POST PRODUCTION

Forscene Boosts Editing and Collaborative Capabilities The ability to import Avid AAF files — and autoconform timelines based on this data — is one of the release's new features. Long-form broadcast clients often log and create rough cuts in Forscene and then move to Avid to complete their edits. This new feature means that clients can now move seamlessly between Avid and Forscene at any point during the offline edit.

during playback — and to easily toggle between this multidisplay grid view and the usual top-down view of video layers • The option to publish audio-only clips in a variety of formats • Faster publishing for video content with added graphics and overlays Visit www.forscene.com

New Core Algorithm for V-Ray 3.3 for 3ds Max CHAOS GROUP HAS RELEASED A FREE UPGRADE to V-Ray for 3ds Max. The update is said to feature 20-50% faster rendering for most scenes and introduces a new variance-based adaptive sampler (VBAS) for more uniform noise distribution, faster setup, and improved imagery for VR, VFX, and arch-viz workflows.

In one scenario, clients can use the feature to make Avid sequences available for review by parties in different locations. Rather than exporting a QuickTime clip from Avid and then importing it into Forscene, clients can now make the actual Avid timeline available in Forscene.

Variance-Based Adaptive Sampling provides:

In another example, the feature allows production and post teams to collaborate on cuts. Once an editor has refined a sequence created in Forscene, he or she can recreate the Avid timeline in Forscene for the production team to continue working on it.

• Improved alpha channel sampling – especially in scenes with depth of field and motion blur

Other additions to Forscene's feature list include: • Support for up to 12 active video tracks and 24 audio tracks on the timeline • The unique ability to concurrently see all video tracks in a sequence

Autodesk 3ds Max 2016 Extension 2 AUTODESK HAS LAUNCHED Autodesk 3ds Max 2016 Extension 2 for 3D modelling, animation and rendering. Building on 3ds Max 2016 and Extension 1 releases unveiled earlier in 2015, Extension 2 expands the software’s capabilities with new tools and workflow improvements that simplify and accelerate the creation of 3D assets for design visualization and content creation professionals.

New features in 3ds Max 2016: Extension 2, include: • Max Creation Graph Enhancements: Create, manipulate and use shapes and splines with new nodes; import bitmaps and simulation data like CSV or Open VDB files; and more.

• One-Click Print Studio Access: Launch Autodesk Print Studio and export 3ds Max files for 3D printing in one swift click.

• Simple Simulation Data Import: Import and animate accurate simulation data, and visualize how it changes over time with 3ds Max lighting and rendering tools.

• Text and Shape Map: Use objects as a mask to create custom decals, graffiti and other text -based graphics on the fly without leaving 3ds Max. • Text Tool Improvements: Font names are now displayed in the font type, making it faster to find fonts when using Text Tool to apply textures, animations and effects to text.

• Texture Object Mask: Easily and accurately create, place and animate multiple materials, and use any shape to control the application of materials to an object.

Autodesk is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of 3ds Max. Artists are encouraged to share their 3ds Max memories and celebrate 25 years of great work created with the software. Visit area.autodesk. com/25yearsofmax.

Visit www.autodesk.com/products/3dsmax

• Better sampling of dark areas and faster sampling of overbright areas • More consistent noise detection • Final image quality is less dependent on materials and lights settings

• Works in bucket and progressive rendering modes In addition, V-Ray 3.3 for 3ds Max includes over 25 new features and updates. New features include: • New Global Defaults – Variance-based adaptive sampler enabled by default; Automatic sampling of lights and materials – removing the need to set subdivisions manually.

• Ray Traced Rounded Corners – Perfectly smooth edges at render time with no additional modeling (based on licensed technology from NVIDIA); Advanced edge detection with support for concave and convex surfaces simultaneously; Works with separate objects, VRayProxy objects, displaced objects, etc.

• New Sky Model and Aerial Perspective – Hosek sky model to simulate more natural looking skies; Ground color option for VRaySun and VRaySky; Aerial perspective for efficient and realistic atmospheric depth.

• Triplanar Mapping – Fast, seamless textures without UVs; Control over edge blending and texture parameters, including randomization; Works on procedural geometry.

• Improved V-Ray Clipper with Render-Time Booleans – Supports cutaways using any arbitrary mesh.

• Stochastic Flakes – Ultra-realistic materials with sparkle effects like snow, sand, and car paints.

Updated Features include: • Global Illumination – More robust handling of reflective GI caustics, better light propagation, and more natural illumination of interior scenes; Distributed light cache for faster calculations with distributed rendering.

• GPU Rendering – More texture nodes – MultiTexture, VRayMultiSubTex, ColorCorrection, etc.; Proxy objects with hair and particles; VRayFur and VRayPlane objects; Light include/exclude lists.

• Progressive Sampler – Dynamic noise threshold leads to more uniform noise distribution; Improved sub-pixel filtering; Improved CPU utilisation.

• Volume Rendering – Faster volume rendering with probabilistic sampling.

• Geometry – Faster rendering of proxy objects and instances.

V-Ray 3.3 for 3ds Max is a free update for all V-Ray 3.0 customers.

Visit www.chaosgroup.com

POST PRODUCTION

A NEW ITERATION OF FORBIDDEN'S professional video editing software, Forscene, has been released which enables new Avid workflows and increases efficiencies on multitrack productions.

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POST PRODUCTION

Cutting Edge Smashes Marvel Project with Sync’ed Render Farms AUSTRALIAN POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY CUTTING EDGE has built a string of studios that employs over 150 artists and reaches from Brisbane to Sydney. When it came to PlayStation Network’s first scripted show, Powers, based on Marvel’s graphic novels, what they couldn’t do was run all render requests off a single dispatcher, and the minutes kept adding up.

Cutting Edge had two big VFX studios, but two times the resources didn’t mean two times the efficiency, especially when the farms didn’t talk to each other.

To create that bridge, the team invested in PipelineFX’s Qube!, a render farm management tool tailored to the needs of big VFX projects.

Qube! can be quickly integrated into any production workflow. Smart Farming delivers intelligence to production pipelines by providing business-critical insight into render pipelines, maximising investment in rendering infrastructure and automating manual processes. Qube! works with all leading content creation applications and is cross-platform with all software components available on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems.

Plans to link the farms in Brisbane and Sydney started with a test which put render farm managers against each other in a multi-site battle, using both live and offsite workers. This became the proving ground for key needs like: global log files tracking, scripting, platform compatibility and project mirroring. After tests totaling 10,000 jobs, Qube! was declared the winner because of how well it could handle the logs.

“With other render management tools, reading log files for machines that aren’t local was problematic, and reading log files is an incredibly important part of seeing what’s going on and troubleshooting,” said Rangi Sutton, VFX Supervisor at Cutting Edge. “Our TDs and support crew can now dial up logs for a given job through GUIs or the command line tools supplied on any workstation. It’s the only way to see how everything’s going across the sites.”

By running off a single dispatcher, artists can submit jobs onsite or remotely through VPN and get access to the power of two farms. With this single point of control, Cutting Edge can now count the software licences for applications like NUKE for all users over the group. Previously, licence allocations needed to be

predefined between Sydney and Brisbane. During the day the farms consist of dedicated slave units, but after 7pm, all idle workstations join the pool, offering a 20-30% boost in rendering power every night.

Another key feature that drew the team was Qube!’s native compatibility with OSX and Linux, and the Unix-like design.

“We already have in-house tools to manage our environment for our major applications; Maya, C4D, NUKE, Houdini,” added Sutton, “so, we can control the specifics of the software used per project and even per shot. While Qube provides a lot of built-in job types that would help smaller studios kick things off, they don’t get in our way when we choose to ignore them. Essentially, the way we initialise a session at the workstation on the terminal, is exactly the same as what happens on the render farm. We don’t run into new sets of problems for farm-rendered jobs such as user permissions or application versions.”

Running simulations in Houdini proved to be another source of time-savings thanks to per-frame dependencies. In the past, the team found their system was dependent on stages completing before the render could move on. With Qube! that all changed.

“Now we can send stages to the Supervisor and tell Qube! how to perform the operations: pre-processing, simulations, post-processing, followed by rendering,” said Sutton. “We can configure the granularity of these dependencies; simulations will require all the pre-processed geometry to be available before commencing, whereas a Mantra render need only wait for all the geometry for its given frame.

“Using the Qube! Python API, we can describe all these stages from inside of Houdini’s Python interpreter, and submit the whole dependency tree in one go,” said Sutton. “Retakes of big effects scenes can be re-simulated and re-rendered through on a single-button click, without any unnecessary idle render nodes or wrangler intervention.”

In the near future, Cutting Edge will also be able to do something that was impossible before: track farm data for every project.

“We had access to resource tracking – how long a crew has been working on individual shots, different storage stats – but never a stat like comparing CPU cycles against project size. With 50,000 render jobs over the last six months, it’s the aggregate data that Qube! is recording in its data warehouse that will help us make a lot of important strategic decisions. Now we can apply cost-accounting to the render usage, as well as make software license decisions based on the actual usage over time,” concluded Sutton.

Visit www.pipelinefx.com and www.cuttingedge.com.au

DaVinci Resolve Makes the Grade for Japanese Rock Band MAN WITH A MISSION is a Japanese rock band that has had four top 10 singles and four top five albums since its debut in 2012. The band’s hit single, “DIVE,” is the theme song for one of this year’s most popular films, “Shinjuku Swan.” The video, graded with Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio, was composed of shots of the band performing along with scenes involving the film’s lead actor. These were shot in a cold concrete building, using strong light from multiple angles in a dark environment.

Motoki Tanaka, a colourist from Tokyo based post-production company L’espace Vision, graded the video. Tanaka said: “I created several different looks and let the director and the DP choose the best look from those options. The video is lit beautifully throughout, so I added some colours in the highlights and the black, and also added radiance to the highlights to show the lighting more effectively.

“For the actor’s shots, I used DaVinci Resolve’s luminance to pick out highlights on the face, to provide a sharper look. Using luminance only allows me to extract a key as long as some light hits the face.

I created shading on the face by extending or contracting the range of luminance.”

One of Tanaka’s favorite features in DaVinci Resolve is the ability to sort shots in the timeline in order of source timecode.

“By rearranging the timeline Mission completed: Colourist Motoki Tanaka. using source timecode, I can see similar shots placed close together, such as a group of the band’s performance shots and a group of the actor’s shots.

It allowed me to proceed with grading more effectively.”

Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

AudioDenoise Plugin for Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro POST PRODUCTION

AUDIODENOISE BY CRUMPLEPOP is a plugin that automatically removes

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hiss and background noise from audio tracks inside Final Cut Pro X and Premiere Pro.

works automatically. There is no need to painstakingly select noise regions first. AudioDenoise analyses the audio in your video, identifies the unwanted noise, and removes it.

Designed specifically for video editors, AudioDenoise by CrumplePop automatically cleans up audio tracks, removes microphone hiss, fan noise, and room noise with easy drag and drop functionality.

Freeing up video editors from hours of tweaking audio tracks, users simply drag AudioDenoise onto their audio, and it instantly removes background hiss. There is exactly one control – a “Strength” slider that lets users fine-tune.

At the heart of AudioDenoise is a powerful noise removal algorithm which

Visit https://fxfactory.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

The next-generation high-performance collaborative storage system engineered for demanding workflows. Powered by StorNext 5 and ready to deliver the performance, reliability and scalability needed for the most demanding SAN and NAS workflows.

Learn more about Xcellis at www.quantum.com/Xcellis Find out more from Quantum ANZ: ANZsales@quantum.com or 1 800 999 285 (Aus) or 0800 105 999 (NZ) © 2016 Quantum Corporation. All rights reserved.

© 2015 Quantum Corporation. All rights reserved.

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

The Next Generation Storage System

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM Hitachi Data Systems Enables Creative and Asset Solution for ABC THE AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (ABC) was recently faced with a challenge, that of modernising its end-of-life ‘non-linear editing’ platform into a creative platform with extensive asset services. This system incorporated the ABC’s existing edit suite infrastructure, editing platform (Final Cut Pro) and all associated storage. The broadcaster released a tender in December 2014 that specified it needed to move away from the proprietary technology currently in production. The tender also encouraged the respondents to look at the other methods to improve the editing workflow for the ABC. Hitachi Data Systems proposed an end-to-end creative and asset service solution that would drive new workflow and thinking within the ABC – ultimately to move its digital assets to a management platform that is both non-proprietary and commercially sound. The system has unified open architecture for delivery to all lines of the organisation to ensure low risk implementation, and will future-proof the ABC for digital delivery of media assets.

The system employed will drive the ongoing cost base in future of taking old video formats into new delivery mechanisms to enable ABC to expand on some of its more recent offerings such as iView. For this, the next generation Adobe Premiere Pro has been implemented to enable efficiencies across the studios, news and conform workflows.

HDS was able to bring to the table an ecosystem of partners and affiliates to enable the transition for the ABC, taking the ABC and making the ecosystem work from both an operational, and a commercial perspective. These partners included Adobe, Mediasmiths as a media-focussed software integration partner, Cantemo/Vidispine for asset management systems, and Digistor for training on the new platforms. A broad raft of supporting software applications was pulled into service, including Adobe Premiere, Cantemo/Vidispine Media Asset Management, and Scale Logic’s HyperFS file system. HDS also aided integration of the services, including change management and editor training, As well as installation of software, HDS hardware included no less than six

Compute Blade 500 and Compute Rack 220 systems, alongside HUS150 and HUS130 storage systems.

As with any project of this scale, there were the integration challenges of a ‘brown ocean’ of 50-plus years of production and broadcast systems. HDS needed to consider the format of media being used and how it has evolved over 50 years. This was not only a technical challenge but one that needed to steer an iconic, heritage-rich Australian organisation into a streamlined digital player within a nine-month timeframe. HDS overcame these challenges by fielding highly strategic questions of the organisation and what it wanted to achieve with its target and current formats. HDS came up with a solution that enabled the best outcome in taking its existing content from direct feeds from studios, pre-records and old tape, and make it accessible across a wide range of new media platforms.

Change in itself is tough, and change management that touched every part of the ABC’s business was an implementation challenge that HDS believes it has successfully navigated. HDS has managed to provide a totally new content platform and reinvigorated the services the ABC can provide quickly, all whilst overcoming 50-plus years of legacy hardware and practice.

Most importantly, this has been done on time to project deadlines, all the while keeping the organisation fully operational 24/7 during the nine months.

This included the maintenance of, live studios, playouts, news, iView and additional future commercial content platforms.

HDS has now supplied the underlying software and infrastructure and are in the planning phases with the project teams for implementation plans for the new non-linear editing platform. With strong commitments from both the consortium members and the customer, HDS is tracking to complete the project migration and cut over to the new system by mid-March 2016. It has also seen the ABC implement a Media Asset that will streamline end-to-end workflows across the organisation.

Visit www.hds.com

Doco.tv Chooses Fujifilm LTO7 LOCATED IN SYDNEY’S FOX STUDIOS, doco.tv is run by Joshua Marks

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

who uses the latest Sony FS7 camera to shoot footage all over the world.

Recently, Marks had a requirement for a long-term archiving solution, and after an exhaustive evaluation process he chose one with Fujifilm LTO7 tapes at its core, supplied by local digital media specialist, Digistor.

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Marks explained, “2016 marked the beginning of 4K shooting on my new Sony FS7 and now I refuse to shoot anything less. On a 128GB card I can roll for 63 minutes, a nice reminder to the days of MiniDV tape. Since moving to a card camera in 2009, I have been worried about any number of possible disasters that could happen before backing up. I needed a fast and easy solution that will be able to archive rushes right at the time of ingest.

Fujifilm’s LTO7 tapes and the fact that they use Barium Ferrite technology are the ideal solution. LTO machines are improving in speed and efficiency with each generation and I can now backup and archive simultaneously.”

“Digistor supplies LTO tape technology for archive and backup for our tiered media storage solutions,” explained Digistor sales specialist Andrew Hogan.

“The combination of the mLogic mTape Thunderbolt drive with Fujifilm LTO tapes is a high performance backup solution ideal for independent production companies like doco.tv.”

During his search for an archiving solution, Marks discovered the Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 7 Data Cartridge (LTO7) allows for backup and archive of large volumes of data and high-speed data transfer at 750 MB/sec (300 MB/sec. for non-compressed data), and offers a storage capacity of 15.0 TB (6.0 TB for non-compressed data).

Marks continued, “I bought the mLogic – mTape from Digistor for its compact and lightweight form. mLogic advertise their machines with Fujifilm LTO7 for good reason, so I also bought a load of tapes to keep me going. The real advantage with Fujifilm LTO tapes over all others though is their use of Barium Ferrite technology as BaFe magnetic particles offer outstanding recording and retrieval performance and are ideal for longterm storage.”

Joshua Marks concluded, “I will use ShotPutPro in combination with PreRoll Post from Imagine Products to ensure that every file is verified, it also creates a log that I can access without the tape and the Linear File Transfer System (LTFS) ability allows the LTO tapes to be accessed as easily as a hard drive. For a cost effective, reliable and long-term archiving solution there simply isn’t anything better on the market than Fujifilm LTO7 tapes.”

Visit http://doco.tv and www.fujifilm.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Quantum Excels with Xcellis

According to Geoff Stedman, Senior Vice President of StorNext Solutions with Quantum, Xcellis is a new storage system that fits into the high performance portion of a customer’s workflow.

“It’s optimised to run the StorNext file system as fast and efficiently as possible,” he says. “We’ve taken StorNext, which has traditionally been a SAN technology, and we’ve added some other capabilities around it so that you can have a combination of both SAN clients and LAN clients.

“This would be the system that a media company would use for their real time production needs, or when they need the highest possible throughput performance, the lowest frequency, any time they’re working with, say, edit applications or special effects applications, compositing, finishing applications, colouring, those sorts of applications that depend on real time performance, Xcellis would be the product that we would put into that part of the workflow.”

Xcellis also streamlines the hardware offering, doesn’t it?

“We had some hardware, but they didn’t really look like a family. They’re not really designed to work together. So you needed more components.

What we introduced with Xcellis is a new appliance called the Xcellis Workflow Director which replaces the metadata appliances and the gateway products all in a single box. We only sell these in pairs in case there’s a problem on one, the whole system will fail over to the other in a seamless way so that your users aren’t interrupted if there’s a hardware failure.

Then we have storage arrays but instead of requiring dedicated storage for metadata and then separate storage for user data, I’m able to combine both of those into a single array.

I can start with a system that’s as small as the two workflow directors and the single small array of storage, and then I can add just about any combination of discs that I want, whether I want a 12 drive, a 24 drive or 48 drive configuration or even a 56 drive which in a larger box – a 4 rack unit box – each one of these adds capacity and also adds some performance because they’ve got controllers in them. And then if all I needed was capacity, I can also replicate these units with simple JBODs to allow the system to grow out again in almost any direction. And so what I’m able to do is go from that very beginning, initial investment, and then simply by adding different types of storage arrays underneath this workflow director, I can grow the system in either performance attributes or in capacity attributes.

We also expanded the file system quite a bit so the Xcellis supports up to 10 billion files within a single system. That’s roughly double what we could support before.

Essentially the magic, the secret source that’s in the product is StorNext.

It’s a high speed file system, but it also has this unique data management capability that allows me to extend that file system that starts out on Xcellis at the primary tier and extend that down through other tiers of storage whether that be extended online with our object storage technology, or tape libraries or even the cloud products that we’ve introduced. StorNext can migrate data to these lower cost tiers when you

don’t need the data in your primary tier, but it does it all whilst still maintaining a single unified name space.”

The cloud products you mentioned. Can you expand on those?

“In the cloud products that we have we’ve utilised Amazon as the back end, so it’s writing to Amazon’s S3 or Glacier depending on which one you’re using.

Geoff Stedman, Senior Vice President, StorNext Solutions, Quantum

When we introduced our cloud products, we first started with a product called Q-Cloud Archives, which uses Amazon S3 as the actual storage repository. Q-Cloud evolved, uses Amazon Glacier as the storage repository, so it’s a much lower cost option for long term storage of content.

The nice thing is the way we’ve integrated it into StorNext. You as a customer do not need to set up your own Amazon account. You don’t need to go figure out what options you need. You don’t need to write any connectors. You simply tell StorNext use Q-Cloud vault - it’s basically three mouse clicks - you type in some credentials that we provide, you set a policy, and then that policy starts migrating content to the cloud.

The nice thing is when that content is moved or copied to the cloud from your main primary StorNext file system, you can still see that content.

You see it as if it was just another file in your file system. So, even when you have a mixed environment or you have some on-premise equipment and you have some off-premise equipment or you’re using off-site storage like Q-Cloud, you’re not losing visibility to your content. StorNext maintains your ability to see all of that content, even if some of it is actually up in Amazon.

Another Cloud feature that’s important for a lot of content companies is client side encryption which basically means you as the content owner maintain the keys for unlocking your content, not Amazon. And for a lot of customers, that was one thing they were waiting for – I’m okay using Amazon, but I want to hold the encryption keys. I don’t want Amazon to hold them. So now we’ve enabled that capability as well within the system.”

And you handle the billing as they’re accessing Amazon through StorNext?

“That’s right. They don’t have to set up an account with Amazon and they don’t have to go through the Amazon billing. What happens is they sign up for the service from us and we’re the front end. We’re kind of the store front - if you will – in front of Amazon. We tell people we’re using the Amazon because people tend to trust Amazon, but we make it so easy that people that are willing to pay us to integrate that into their StorNext environment. And so the relationship stays between the customer and Quantum, and we basically are reselling the Amazon storage as a service.

It’s on a monthly basis, based on amount consumed. So it’s a pay as you grow kind of model.”

Visit www.quantum.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Quantum recently upped the ante in throughput and capacity with the launch of its Xcellis high-performance shared workflow storage solution.

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Sonnet Launches Echo Thunderbolt 2 Dock SONNET TECHNOLOGIES is shipping its new Echo 15+ Thunderbolt 2 Dock, a full-featured, 16-port docking station for computers with Thunderbolt ports. Featuring an optical drive and an internal drive bay, the Echo 15+ offers users a central hub to connect any Mac or Windows computer with a Thunderbolt port to multiple peripheral devices.

Using the peripherals’ supplied cables, a user can plug up to 16 devices into the Echo 15+, including printers, keyboards, mice, cable modems, external hard drives and SSDs, displays, headphones, speakers, microphones, and Apple iOS devices. The user can instantly connect a computer to all of those devices simply by plugging it into the Echo 15+ using a single Thunderbolt cable (sold separately). The Echo 15+ offers a wide range of interfaces, including four for USB 3.0, two for 6Gb/s eSATA, one for FireWire 800, and one for Gigabit Ethernet, as well as two 3.5 millimeter audio inputs, two 3.5 millimeter audio outputs, and dual Thunderbolt 2 ports to support daisychaining of Thunderbolt peripherals. USB 3.0, audio input, and audio output ports are conveniently placed on both the front and back of the enclosure, enabling users to leave frequently used devices connected to the back ports.

In addition to its docking capabilities, the Echo 15+ offers customers their choice of a built-in 8x DVD±RW drive, a Blu-ray BD-ROM/8x DVD±RW drive with Blu-ray player software for OS X, or a Blu-ray burner 4x BD-R/8x DVD±RW drive. The Echo 15+ also provides space, mounting support, and 6Gb/s interfaces for one 3.5-inch or two 2.5-inch internal SATA drives. The

6Gb/s SATA interfaces deliver maximum performance to support a pair of SSDs at up to 750 MB/s or an HDD at its maximum speed.

For deployments in which the computer is located away from the workspace, such as when equipment is secured in a centralised machine room, the Echo 15+ at the user’s desktop can be connected via an optical Thunderbolt cable and Sonnet’s Thunderbolt 2 expansion systems.

The Echo 15+ Thunderbolt 2 Dock with DVD±RW Drive (part number ECHODK-DVD-0TB), the Echo 15+ Thunderbolt 2 Dock with Blu-ray Player (part number ECHO-DK-BD-0TB) and the Echo 15+ Thunderbolt 2 Dock with Bluray Burner (part number ECHO-DK-PRO-0TB) are now available.

Visit www.sonnettech.com

Telestream Upgrades Switch Cross-Platform Media Player & Inspection Tool TELESTREAM, THE PROVIDER of digital video tools and workflow solutions has announced the release of a major new version of its crossplatform media player and inspection tool, Switch. Switch Version 2.0 provides an effective and affordable visual QC tool for a wide range of broadcast production and post-production applications.

Brand new to Switch 2.0 is the Timeline feature, which gives users the ability to view the GOP structure of a video segment, highlighting the I, P, and B frames. As part of the new feature, users can also see the data rate information associated with the video.

The addition of viewing Vertical Ancillary (VANC) data on an external monitor is also new to Switch, allowing broadcasters to be able to view captions on multiple monitors.

Switch 2.0 incorporates a number of features that make the QC process faster and more intuitive. Included as part of Switch 2.0 is a new “Jump To” feature enabling users to move to a specific timecode, frame or time within the inspected video. Improved system performance results in significantly faster indexing of MXF files and an ability to read Windows Media files are also part of this release.

Visit www.telestream.net/switch

High-capacity LTO Ultrium 7 Data Cartridge MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

FUJIFILM HAS LAUNCHED its LTO Ultrium 7 Data Cartridge – LTO7.

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Adhering to the 7th generation “LTO Ultrium standards” for magnetic tape media, the LTO7 will allow for backup and archive of large volumes of data, high-speed data transfer at 750 MB/sec. (300 MB/sec. for non-compressed data), and offer a storage capacity of 15.0 TB (6.0 TB for non-compressed data).

particle technology and “NANOCUBIC technology, expanding storage capacity to about 2.4 times that of LTO6 at 15.0 TB for compressed data and making data transfers approximately 1.9 times faster, reaching 750 MB/sec for compressed data

Recent technological developments have caused an exponential increase in the quantity of data generated worldwide. Such developments have included increases in data volume following the emergence of highdefinition 4K and 8K video. At the same time, “cold-data”, or data that is rarely accessed as time passes – is estimated to account for over 80% of all data. As the utilisation of accumulated big data rapidly increases, so does the need for reliable and cost effective long term storage of such data for future use.

In order to boost the product’s storage capacity, Fujifilm has achieved highprecision magnetic particle dispersion, has made the magnetic layers thinner, and has reduced minor defects for a better error rate. In this way, Fujifilm has successfully increased recording density by more than two times compared to LTO6. Furthermore, appropriate material design has allowed Fujifilm to boost reliability, durability and tracking performance, while at the same time making the tape layers thinner and improving storage capacity. Moreover, Fujifilm’s BaFe magnetic particles offer low variance in terms of magnetic properties, offering greater stability, and the ability to reliably store data for over thirty years has been verified.

With LTO7, Fujifilm has further developed its proprietary BaFe magnetic

Visit www.FUJIFILM.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

New CalDigit USB-C Docks and Accessories CALDIGIT HAS UNVEILED two new USB Type-C docks, the CalDigit USB-C Dock and the CalDigit USB-C mini Dock. Both products feature USB 3.1 as well as a host of additional ports to expand USB-C enabled computers such as the new Macbook.

CalDigit has also announced two new USB-C adapters. The first of which is the USB-C to HDMI cable and the second is a USB-C to VGA cable. The final product CalDigit is announcing is the FASTA-6GU3 Plus PCIe Card that adds two USB 3.1 and two eSATA ports to desktop computers.

The CalDigit USB-C Dock enhances user connectivity by not only adding extra ports but also simultaneously charging the USB-C computer it is connected to.

Interfaces include: 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C; 3 x USB 3.1 Type-A; HDMI; Display Port; Gigabit Ethernet; Audio In and Out; and AC Power.

The dual display connectivity options of the CalDigit USB-C Dock allow users to connect two 4K monitors at the same time for 4K workflows. This will allow users to take advantage of professional grade 4K monitors for higher resolution workflows.

The device includes 2 x USB Type-C ports and 3 x USB Type-A ports, all of which are USB 3.1 for connecting the latest USB 3.1 devices. USB 3.1 is

backwards compatible, allowing users to connect USB 3.0 and 2.0 devices.

The CalDigit USB-C mini Dock, meanwhile, takes all the features of the CalDigit USB-C Dock and packs them into a smaller form-factor. The main difference between the CalDigit USB-C Dock and CalDigit USB-C mini Dock is that the USB-C Dock connects to AC mains power whereas the CalDigit mini Dock draws its power from the computer.

Interfaces include: 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C; 2 x USB 3.1 Type-A; HDMI; VGA; and Gigabit Ethernet.

The CalDigit USB-C mini Dock connects via the Type-C cable to computers and does not require an external power source. Users can connect their computer’s Type-C power cable to the CalDigit USB-C mini Dock in order to power their computer at the same time.

Visit www.caldigit.com

Bluefish444 Qualifies Accusys ExaSAN Storage BLUEFISH444, the manufacturer of uncompressed 4K/2K/HD/SD SDI video cards, has announced it has certified Accusys’ ExaSan Thunderbolt shared storage, AS16T2-Share, to provide content creators a better 4K workflow user experience across multiple Thunderbolt connected systems.

A storage area network is a crucial element that helps provide content creators with a more effective, high speed, and collaborative workflow.

Workstations using Bluefish444 SDI and HDMI video IO solutions have been qualified to work seamlessly with the Accusys ExaSAN AS16T2Share. Multiple editors, colour correctors and visual effects artists can access the same shared storage system simultaneously, while Bluefish444 Epoch | 4K Neutron and Epoch | Supernova provide high quality 4K/2K/

HD 12-bit and 10-bit SDI/HDMI video within supported professional video applications.

The A16T2-Share is a 16-bay rackmount storage array with four Thunderbolt host ports which allow four Thunderbolt computers to share the content distributed across 16 hard drives with a total capacity of 128TB, and may be further expanded to up to 512TB with the extra JBOD system. Users can configure A16T2-Share as a Storage Area Network (SAN) storage pool when integrated with SAN software, or partition the storage array into several storage volumes and benefit from the high performance Thunderbolt ports as direct attached storage with immense capacity.

Visit www.bluefish444.com and www.accusys.com.tw

FalconStor Unveils OpenStack Cinder Integration

OpenStack is a massively scalable, open source cloud operating system for public and private clouds. FalconStor technology drives reliable cloud data protection services to reduce costs and improve performance. With the combination of FreeStor and OpenStack, organisations can move data management operations to the cloud to deliver efficient replication, protection, disaster recovery and optimisation across their infrastructure.

Cinder virtualises pools of block storage devices while allowing end users to utilise this storage pool without the need for actually knowing where or on what type of device this storage resides. By providing an integration driver to Cinder, FreeStor’s unified data services, such as de-duplication and compression, replication, application-aware snapshots and mirroring, can be converged

and virtualised across all storage environments utilised within the OpenStack framework.

FreeStor’s horizontal architecture unlocks new storage-focused IT opportunities, allowing IT managers, MSPs and CSPs to maximise efficiencies and lower costs while taking advantage of cloud, hybrid cloud, flash storage and SoftwareDefined Storage. An “Intelligent Abstraction” approach delivers seamless access and unified data services across entire storage infrastructures without having to invest in new technology, or rip and replace existing platforms.

FalconStor’s Cinder driver enables access to FreeStor’s data services including support for application-aware snapshots, sync mirroring and replication. It will be submitted to OpenStack for ratification as part of the March Mitaka OpenStack release.

Visit http://freestor.net

MOG Technologies Partners with Scale Logic MOG TECHNOLOGIES, the provider of MXF and centralised ingest solutions, has announced a new partnership with Scale Logic, Inc. (SLI) a global, end-toend solutions company focused on storage and networking infrastructures.

SLI has developed strategic relationships around RAID, Scale-out NAS, SAN, and Archive technology that focus on logical solutions to complex storage needs, particularly in the media and entertainment industry.

MOG provides centralised ingest solutions able to increase the overall performance of production workflows while migrating for file-based

environments, ensuring high interoperability between systems and formats.

The mxfSPEEDRAIL product-line provides a full range of automated solutions for file-based ingest, SD-HD/SDI capture, digital delivery, real time playback, transcoding, and file conversion. mxfSPEEDRAIL and HyperFS can easily integrate while ensuring maximum efficiency from ingest into delivery and archiving. Both systems are scalable to the size of the organisation and customer needs.

Visit www.mog-technologies.com and www.scalelogicinc.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

FALONSTOR SOFTWARE INC., a developer of software-defined storage solutions, has introduced an OpenStack Cinder Integration for its FreeStor intelligent software-defined platform.

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AUDIO Digital soundwaves

www.content-technology.com/audio

Open Control Architecture Standardised as AES70 AN OPEN CONTROL AND MONITORING standard for professional audio and AV media network devices was officially standardised on 4 January 2016 by the Audio Engineering Society Standards Committee (AESSC) in the newly published AES70-2015 standard for audio applications of networks – Open Control Architecture. With the ratification of OCA as AES70, it is now an official public open standard.

Originally proposed as a field-tested specification by the OCA Alliance – a not-for-profit association of leading professional audio and AV industry manufacturers invested in audio networking, formed to secure the standardisation of the OCA as a media networking system control standard for professional applications – the standard has already seen successful implementation in the field on commercially available products from alliance member companies.

Combining AES70 system control with standard media transport will bring a complete media network solution to the market, one in which devices from diverse manufacturers can readily interoperate. In particular, AES70 includes a complete Discovery specification which will complement media transport standards and solutions such as AES67. However, AES70 may be implemented with any media transport mechanism, including AVB/TSN and analogue cable.

Jeff Berryman, chair of the OCA Technical Workgroup and the AES writing group for AES70, said “The availability of an interoperable control, configuration, monitoring, and diagnostic architecture for media networks will provide new opportunities for highly integrated systems. Such systems will be able to exchange control data and information in ways previously not possible.”

Marc Weber, chair of the OCA Marketing Workgroup, adds, “This is another major step toward making the OCA / AES70 vision a reality -one where all network devices are talking the same remote control language, AES70. In

this emerging world, media system integrators and users will be free to choose the best products for their own purposes, with few compatibility concerns. Systems will have long service lifetimes with rich ongoing upgradeability. The OCA Alliance and the AES are looking forward to the growth of a media network ecosystem that will offer standardized system control capabilities for professional audio and AV products and systems.”

The standardisation of AES70 follows a successful AES “Plugfest” interoperability testing event of its AES67-2015 standard, held at the headquarters of National Public Radio (NPR), in Washington, D.C., November 2-5, 2015. Hosted by the AES Standards Committee (AESSC), the event offered an in-depth examination of AES67-2015, the “AES standard for audio applications of networks – High-performance streaming audioover-IP interoperability.”

This latest Plugfest event demonstrated functional compatibility between a number of different implementations (from software applications on a PC to hardware-based FPGA solutions) of the AES67-2015 standard – a revision of AES67-2013, specifying interoperability methods for highperformance streaming audio-over-IP networks. Offering an exclusive chance for manufacturers to test AES67 networking standard protocols with their products in a controlled environment, overseen by AESSC members, the four-day event saw thirteen products tested by eleven different companies. The manufacturers participating included ALC NetworX GmbH, Archwave Technologies BV, Digigram SA, DirectOut GmbH, Lawo AG, Meinberg Radio Clocks GmbH & Co. KG, Merging Technologies, QSC LLC, Telos Corporation, Wheatstone Corporation and Yamaha Corporation.

Visit www.aes.org/standards

AUDIO

New President for Audio Engineering Society

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JOHN KRIVIT TAKEN UP THE ROLE of President of the Audio

audio systems are networked

Engineering Society (AES). He succeeds Andres Mayo. Previously Krivit served as chair of the AES Education Committee and is currently an Associate Professor teaching at Emerson College and Bay State College in Boston.

and content is streamed and

Krivit was voted President-Elect of the AES in 2014 and has served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors over the last year.

As AES education chair, Krivit created events that were instrumental in raising the organisation’s profile, such as the publicly attended wax cylinder recording sessions with Suzanne Vega and with the US Army West Point Band in partnership with the Edison Historical Site in West Orange, New Jersey.

ahead of the curve. Companies

presented in new immersive formats requires practitioners and manufacturers to stay well and schools must make sure that their employees and educators can anticipate those changes before they are left behind,” Krivit continued. “In my role as

Andres Mayo will remain on the AES Executive Committee as Past President for the coming year.

AES President, I am dedicated to

“The AES is an amazing point of connection for all who desire to remain relevant while audio technology moves quickly ahead. The way

shaping the future of audio technology.”

our mission of strengthening and expanding our role as a driving force in Visit www.aes.org

AUDIO

Infinite power

Studer Infinity sets new standards for broadcast audio mixing power and system redundancy.

Big productions demand a lot of processing muscle. The new Studer Infinity core delivers an unprecedented 800+ audio channels with superb sonic quality and aviation-standard system redundancy. Studer A-Link fibre interfaces provide more than 5000 inputs and outputs. And intuitive control comes courtesy of the new Vista X surface, with comprehensive audio and loudness metering, powerful surround sound management, automated mic mixing for unscripted panel shows and Auto Touch Plus Dynamic Automation.

Distributed by

9582 0909 for a Demo! www.jands.com.au/brands/studer

AUDIO

Call us on (02)

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AUDIO

Skywalker Sound Awakens New Force in Studio Monitors MEYER SOUND HAS INTRODUCED AMIE — the first studio monitor from the company in more than two decades. Developed to meet the demanding needs of Skywalker Sound, Meyer says Amie brings “a level of clarity professionals can trust, making it ideal for critical production environments where accurate translation to larger systems is imperative”.

utmost accuracy and consistency, Amie extends the exceptional translation of the Meyer Sound Acheron screen channel line to studio monitoring.

Amie features an innovative waveguide design that offers exceptionally uniform coverage and precision imaging. With its extremely flat frequency and phase response and low distortion, Amie allows sound professionals to listen for long periods of time without the typical strain and fatigue.

Tasked by Skywalker Sound to create a new studio monitor with precision translation, exceptional power, and a great price point, Meyer Sound has created a product that brings tremendous accuracy for everything from the intricate details of dialogue to dynamic music tracks to explosive action sequences.

Built in Berkeley, Calif. with the highest quality materials and Meyer Sound’s quality control, Amie is designed for film, broadcast or gaming post-production.

Designed as a linear sound system to reproduce every sonic element with

Visit www.meyersound.com

RTW Supports New EBU Loudness Specs RTW HAS ANNOUNCED that all recently published updates to R128

by EBU are supported by the company’s Touchmonitor instruments, its flagship SurroundControl 31900 and 31960 series and all software products that perform loudness measurements.

With the updates, the main EBU Loudness Recommendation (EBU R 128) stays unchanged, but the supplement dealing with short-form content has been simplified. In the previous version, users could use either a maximum Momentary or a maximum Short-term loudness measurement as a parameter to characterise and control the loudness of commercials,

Clear-Com Updates HelixNet Partyline Platform CLEAR-COM HAS ANNOUNCED that its HelixNet Version 3.0, a softwareonly update to its HelixNet digital network partyline platform is now shipping. The new version unlocks the overall capacity of the HelixNet system allowing it a six-fold expansion for supporting more communication channels and more users during live productions.

The HelixNet multiplies its basic channel count by three, with a new offering of 12 channels per HMS-4X Main Station. In the previous version, users had to link three HMS-4X Stations together in order to achieve the same number of channels. This capability brings greater capacity and flexibility to larger productions requiring more distinctive talk groups. Furthermore, an additional 12 channels can be added simply by purchasing a licence, effectively enabling a single HMS-4X to provide a total of 24 channels.

AUDIO

In order to support this expanded channel count, any combination of HelixNet Main Stations or Remote Stations (HRM) can be configured to function as expansion key stations. With multiple devices acting as one system, users are able to address all users on HelixNet with a single headset/ mic/loudspeaker. Pressing the “All Talk” key gives access to all channels in a linked and expanded system.

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HelixNet 3.0 also features a free browser-based software tool, called Core Configuration Manager (CCM). This enables easy online set-up and configuration of all HelixNet devices via the latest versions of all major browsers on Mac, PC and tablet platforms. CCM offers visual representation of all connected devices and functions, and the save/restore function allows easy duplication of systems. All configurations can be edited via the CCM software or via the traditional menu system on the HelixNet Main Station.

Visit www.clearcom.com

promos, etc. In the new version, only the short-term measurement is required.

The ‘EBU Mode’ Loudness Metering specification (EBU Tech 3341) has been updated with new minimum compliance requirements, and various clarifications. The complementary EBU Loudness test set has been extended with 15 new test signals.

Users can download the latest firmware for free by logging onto RTW’s website at http://www.rtw.com/nc/en/download/manuals-software.html

Upmix Unit with Loudness Compliance DSPECIALISTS DIGITALE AUDIO-UND MESSSYSTEME GMBH, a provider of development services and products for digital audio signal processing has announced a new software release with improvements for its upmix unit ISOSTEM. Taking European Broadcast Union (EBU) program loudness standards into account, the ISOSTEM upmix and downmix functions guarantee that the program loudness of the original signal, adjusted according to the EBU R128, is maintained without any impairment to the well-known.

The latency is 40ms as in previous versions. Additional improvements have been integrated into this release, too. It is now available for download on the website.

ISOSTEM is an upmix system that generates a fully adequate surround sound from stereo signals in realtime and is therefore suited for use in broadcasting, studios and post production. It is fully compatible with stereo, delivering a surround stem that downmixes exactly to the original stereo.

Visit www.isostem.de/upmix/downloads

AUDIO

Improved C8000 Processing Boards from Jünger Audio DIGITAL AUDIO SPECIALIST JÜNGER AUDIO has launched a new

surround programs. This

range of cards for its modular C8000 audio processing system.

gives the performance

Any combination of modules can be fitted into frames of various sizes, resulting in a powerful and compact audio processing and audio interface rack for applications such as OBs, acquisition, post-production and transmission control.

and power of four of the

Jünger Audio’s C8000 solution comprises DSP-based audio processing cards together with a wide range of I/O options, which allows customers to choose the precise number and type of input and output interfaces and processing they require for their facility. This solution is particularly geared to multichannel sound, and interfaces are available for 3G/HD/ SD-SDI, MADI, Dante® AoIP, as well as AES3 and analogue I/O. C8000 processing also includes options for multichannel loudness control incorporating Jünger Audio’s renowned Level Magic algorithm, automatic surround upmixing, in-built failover and voice-over circuits, multichannel A/V compensation delay and direct codec system support such as Dolby D, D+ and E encoding and/or decoding.

an integrated 3G/HD/

The introduction of new processing boards (C8092, C8492B and C8492) will allow the company to deliver improved algorithms to its customers by enabling them to complete the same processing tasks in a much more efficient and cost saving way. Also, because of the higher processing density of the C8092 and C8492B boards, it is possible that typical configurations can be created by using less frame space.

“The new boards incorporate a number of improvements that make the conversion of previously common configurations much more straightforward,” says Jünger Audio’s CEO Peter Poers. “The main difference between the C8092, C8492 and C8492B boards lies in the scalable audio processing circuits for up to 16 channels including two

previous DSP cards in one new DSP card, along with the availability of SD-SDI interface. It also gives the possibility of accessing the C8000 system bus to exchange audio and metadata with other boards in a frame. Many large system designs involving audio processing can now be configured using a lower number of frames, boards and accessories and with smarter control integration.”

To coincide with the release of the new boards, Jünger Audio will be phasing out some of its older, obsolete models including the C8086+, the C8087 and some of the Dolby cards.

Visit www.jungeraudio.com

DIGITAL LINK PROTECTION OPTIMISED DYNAMIC RANGE PLUG and RECORD

AUDIO

sennheiser.com/avx

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AUDIO

Customisable Audio Analyser DK-TECHNOLOGIES HAS LAUNCHED a new concept where customers can create and build their own analyser by choosing the functions they want installed in the device, a new hardware platform called DK T7M++.

The new DK T7M++ hardware platform is available both as a desktop version and a rack mount version. Users can order the unit to cater for their needs without purchasing all the software applications immediately and can add more functions to the unit later without purchasing more hardware.

DK-Technologies says it has created a wide range of software applications from which users can purchase functionalities to install right away to suit their workflows on a daily basis. Functionalities can be added on the fly when needed.

The range of software applications includes: Analogue Enable Option; AES Enable Option; SDI Enable Option; MADI; Ravenna; Memory Extended; Waveform; Waveform Extended; LipSync; Starfish Surround, 5.1-7.1; Atmos Surround; Loudness Extended; Spectrum Analyser; Automation; Time Module; Audio Extended; Advanced Logging Option; LipSync Auto Align; and Network Option.

BAE Audio Ships New Compressor/Limiter BAE AUDIO HAS ANNOUNCED that its new 10DCF Compressor is shipping and features Carnhill and Jensen transformers, and all discrete circuitry while adding a brand new, inductor-based bypass filter.

The new bypass filter delivers increased flexibility while recording low frequency ranged instruments, and engages at 50, 80, 160 and 300Hz – suitable for users who want to compress a broad frequency range while leaving lower frequencies uncompressed. The 10DCF units are also stereo linkable, making them the perfect complement for the output stage of a mixer.

The 10DCF also features a useful range of features on its front panel, including Elma stepped switches for each control, BAE Audio’s trademark Marconi knobs, and a gastank style analogue meter. The combination of these elements provides users with accurate visual and tactile reference points as they adjust and shape their sounds. The metering on the 10DCF incorporates a sleek and simple design, with easy to read white lettering set against a black background in a rugged gastank style encasement.

Visit www.baeaudio.com/products/10dcf

Visit www.dk-technologies.com

Avid Pro Tools Update Accelerates Audio Editing AVID HAS ANNOUNCED a new software update for its industry-

Track Bounce – typically used for making final output renders or stems

standard digital audio software, Avid Pro Tools, available to Pro Tools 12 customers with Avid All Access plans.

of tracks for archiving or workflows involving moving audio files to

The new Avid Pro Tools update focuses on the Track Freeze feature designed to manage, simplify and speed up processor-intensive sessions, and better facilitate collaborative workflows. The improvements build on the previous Pro Tools 12.3 Commit and Track Bounce workflows, enabling audio professionals to work more efficiently and easily prepare projects for mixing, collaborating with others or final delivery.

Between Freeze, Commit, and Track Bounce in Pro Tools 12.4, users have a number of tools to suit any situation and workflow that arises.

These include: Track Freeze – a way to quickly free up DSP resources on the fly to keep the creative process moving, and jump back to make a quick tweak if needed.

Track Commit – another great way to free up DSP resources, but users can also edit and make changes to the newly created clip, and choose what happens to the original track.

other software platforms.

The new Pro Tools 12.4 update is free of charge to Pro Tools 12 customers with current Avid All Access upgrade plans. New Pro Tools 12 perpetual licenses include a renewable one-year All Access plan that gives customers access to the latest upgrades as well as a new bundle of creative plug-ins for the whole year. All Access plans also come with subscription licenses and are available for the term of the subscription. Existing customers with older versions of Pro Tools can purchase an All Access annual upgrade plan.

The Annual Upgrade Plan for Pro Tools | HD systems includes upgrades, access to the HD plug-in bundle and standard support for one year. All new Pro Tools | HDX and HD Native systems come bundled with this plan, which can be renewed each year thereafter.

Visit www.avid.com

New from NUGEN at NAMM NUGEN AUDIO ANNOUNCED new updates and feature enhancements to

often results from the codec conversions required to deliver audio to online

its high-end mix and mastering tools, including SEQ-ST, a linear phase spline EQ with powerful sonic sculpting and EQ matching, stereo midside operation, and automated spectrum analysis.

platforms. NUGEN Audio introduced ISL 2st in response to demand for a

SEQ-ST allows audio to be massaged and corrected with very high resolution that is not possible using a traditional parametric interface. A new filtermorphing feature allows fluid morphing between two sets of filter curves under full user control.

AUDIO

Also new is MasterCheck, an audio plug-in designed to facilitate mix and mastering for loudness-normalised playout, which is now standard on iTunes, Spotify, DAB, and many other online platforms. MasterCheck reveals how the consumer will hear audio on these and other music platforms by using internationally recognised loudness, dynamics, and true-peak standards.

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ISL 2st, meanwhile, provides true-peak compliance, essential in preparing all audio for loudness normalisation because it prevents the distortion that

highly robust, transparent true-peak limiter. ISL 2st is a stereo-only version of NUGEN Audio’s ISL 2 solution. ISL 2st DSP is also now available for Avid Pro Tools HDX users.

NUGEN also announced an update to its Visualizer Audio Analysis Solution, the company’s audio-analysis plug-in and stand-alone metering system. The latest version of Visualizer includes a new comparison mode, a significant upgrade to the Lissajous view, and numerous fine-tuning improvements, further enhancing intuitive operation and allowing rapid adjustment to achieve a perfectly optimized visualization for the task at hand.

Visit www.nugenaudio.com

RADIO The original broadcast media

www.content-technology.com/radio

ARN Uses Wheatnet IP for TX Site Audio Routing AGILE BROADCAST HAS RECENTLY COMPLETED two transmission site upgrades for Australian Radio Network in Sydney and Melbourne.

Agile Broadcast delivered a complete turn-key PIE and transmitter installation. From the early planning stages, Agile and ARN worked closely together to design a system, capitalising on advanced integrated features from Wheatstone, available in each Wheatnet IP blade. This includes automated digital audio routing with integrated silence detection and redundant logic controllers.

By utilising the Wheatstone WheatnetIP blades, it allowed a robust and reliable solution to be delivered within budget at the critical remote site that runs independently.

evaluated and selected for transmission processing for all backup transmission paths. Transmitter installation services were successfully undertaken in partnership with Trevor Harwood from TJH Systems.

Agile Broadcast also delivered a comprehensive overhaul of ARN’s site monitoring systems, including new Suitelife Systems Axess remote telemetry solution. Agile Broadcast developed custom Operator Visual Interface (OVI) screens which provide ARN staff an ‘at-a-glance’ overview of the health of the entire transmission system.

Sam Cannizzaro, Sydney Technology Manager for ARN said, “Working with Agile Broadcast on this project has been seamless and we are extremely pleased with the technical outcomes that we have achieved. We are now planning a similar upgrade to another of our Sydney transmission sites due to be completed in the first quarter of 2016.”

Wheatstone Processing FM55 multiband transmission processors were

Visit www.gfk.com

Radio New Zealand ‘Simulcasts’ on AM, FM, the Web, Mobile and TV RADIO NEW ZEALAND has launched a new multi-platform programme which is broadcast live on FM and AM radio, video live-streamed on the RNZ website and on Freeview channel 50.

The new-format Checkpoint with John Campbell is a 90-minute programme, airing weekdays from 5.00pm-6.30pm, on RNZ National.

Audio and video clips from the programme are also uploaded to the website soon after they go to air, and can then be listened to or viewed at any time.

The programme is a mixture of video and audio packages, and live and pre-recorded interviews. Guests join John via Skype, LiveU in the Auckland or Wellington studios or on the phone, as will RNZ reporters around the country and around the world.

According to RNZ Head of Content, Carol Hirschfeld, “This is truly ground-breaking stuff for RNZ – radio with pictures where people can choose to listen on radio or to watch, on-line, and on TV via Freeview.

It’s a chance for our audience to see the newsmakers, reporters and producers – a real behind the scenes look at how the show is put

Radio Adelaide Facing Closure THE FUTURE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIAN community station, Radio Adelaide, is in doubt with its studios at the University of Adelaide destined for demolition.

Established in 1972 as the first educational community radio station in Australia, Radio Adelaide has been part of South Australia’s public life for 43 years.

The building housing Radio Adelaide at 228 North Terrace was sold by the University in 2014 to help fund a new Medical School. It came with a commitment from the University to relocate the community broadcaster.

A decision and funds commitment was expected in November 2015, but instead the University opened another brief consultation period which the station community saw asa precursor to shutting the station down.

The University review of Radio Adelaide outlined five options for the future.

Radio Adelaide believes three of these options would see the station close, either immediately or soon after. Radio Adelaide has urged the University to commit to a 3-5 year staged transition, consistent with independent review option 2.

A staff briefing by the University scheduled for early February was postponed because “there was nothing of substance to share”.

According to a University statement, “The assessment of shortlisted bidders for Radio Adelaide is not yet complete, and the University of Adelaide is not yet able to make any announcement about Radio Adelaide as a result.”

Checkpoint as well as reaching even more New Zealanders.”

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia CEO Jon Bisset has spoken out in support of the station: “Radio Adelaide was a foundation community radio station, and today continues as a cornerstone in training for the sector and the production of popular and innovative content. The future of community radio in South Australia needs a strong Radio Adelaide, and we urge the University to ensure that the station continues to provide these valuable services to the University and wider community into the future.”

Visit http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint

Visit https://radio.adelaide.edu.au

together.

“John Campbell is an outstanding broadcaster, with an affinity with RNZ audiences and the world-class journalism we produce. We look forward to building on the relationship we have with those who currently enjoy

GfK Wins Radio Audience Research Contract for NZ New Zealand’s Radio Broadcasters Association (RBA) has commissioned GfK to act as the country’s the official radio research firm. Starting this year, GfK will deliver the industry audience figures for New Zealand radio. The contract will run through the end of 2020.

and media-planning tool.

In New Zealand, GfK will introduce a combined methodological approach. In three surveys per year (increasing to four per year from 2017 onwards), 18,000 representatively selected individuals will log their radio usage over a period of seven days; with 80 percent responding via a paper diary and 20 percent via an electronic diary. To analyze the obtained data, GfK will provide its own software solution which provides broadcasters and advertisers with a strategic program

The new contract also signals the unification of the entire NZ radio industry.

The commercial networks, public broadcaster, and independent stations will now all join the same radio ratings system for the first time in the history of New Zealand radio.

Visit www.gfk.com

RADIO

In addition, GfK will launch GfK Radio Insights, a new initiative for the New Zealand market, which will consist of behavioral research that adds context to the radio ratings, and can support the strategic positioning of the radio industry.

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RADIO

A Helping Hand in the Andes Christopher Welch, former National Engineering Manager with TX Australia, outlines his next career move – helping to bring radio and TV to remote areas of Peru.

FOR OVER 13 OF MY 27-PLUS YEARS in Broadcasting, I have been the National Engineering Manager of TX Australia Pty Ltd (TXA) – the wholly-owned, joint venture transmission service provider of Networks Seven, Nine and Ten. However, I have decided to make a career change for the benefit of those in need. These are the Quechuan people, the descendants of the ancient Inca Indians in Peru. This marginalised indigenous race largely live in abject poverty with 35% illiteracy, high infant mortality rate and a host of health and social issues.

Why me? I really believe this is the right thing to do for my family and me at this time. There is so much more real purpose for me in saving people’s lives in a world with such profound need. Having been to Cambodia with Samaritan’s Purse in 2014, I saw how we, as Westerners, can help the poverty-stricken with the skills and education we take for granted here in Australia.

I think this “wrecked me for the ordinary”.

How did Peru come about? Through reading the biography of an amazing surgeon, Dr Klaus-Dieter John entitled Hope in the Land of the Incas. He realised the construction of an Andes-based, world class, not-for-profit hospital in 2007 and, subsequently, a school for up to 650 students in 2014.

My role will still be in broadcasting, setting up studios and a network of radio (FM and short wave) and television sites in the Andes and a satellite uplink at the Diospi Suyana purpose-built media centre. The objective is to convey a message of life changing hope of first world education, medical advice and Christian message for these largely marginalised and forgotten indigenous people.

I will be doing this supported by family, friends and, hopefully, by our industry (i.e. here is a Corporate Responsibility opportunity!).

RADIO

Dr Klaus-Dieter John conducted a presentation tour in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in late 2015. This included Rohde&Schwarz and Radio Frequency Systems. Immediately after Dr John’s presentation to R&S, Nils Ahrens and

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Richard Popple offered to upgrade my R&S ETL transmission test instrument at no cost. Optioned only for Australian TV, I had privately purchased it from the Commonwealth Restack auction in March 2015. It needed FM radio and South American DTV (ISDB-T) measurement options for my work in Peru – an upgrade worth AUD$25k which R&S have now provided.

Nils Ahrens, Head of Broadcast & Media Sales with Rohde & Schwarz Australia, presents Christopher Welch [left] with the upgraded R&S ETL transmission test instrument for work in Peru.

When Dr John also presented to a large group of RFS staff, Mick Bennett asked, “Chris, what can we do for you?”

RFS had just three weeks earlier undertaken a successful trade show in Lima and RFS staff had installed several ISDB-T antenna systems in Peru. Diospi Suyana still needs to complete broadcast site planning and licensing with the Peru government before antenna system designs are even determined, but I will get back to RFS in due course.

Our Peru broadcast project has Overseas Aid Relief Fund (OARF) status, allowing all Australian donations to be tax deductible.

You can follow the project via http://welchsinperu.blogspot.com.au/ or www.facebook.com/welchsinperu/ If you would like to support Chris’ work, contact Pioneers Australia PO Box 200, Blackburn VIC 3130. Tel: +61 (0)3 8814 4444. Email: info@pioneers.org.au

RADIO

RADIO

Rebirth for Klotz Audio Technology reborn with the assets of Qphonics (formerly Klotz Digital) being purchased by Klotz Communications from the former Qphonics’ insolvency lawyers.

Klotz Communications was founded in January 2015 by original Klotz Digital founder Thomas Klotz with partner Andre Sauer. The company offers a complete suite of consoles and routers to serve the radio industry, from small stand-alone consoles to large, complex broadcast centres.

According to the pair, buying back the assets of Qphonics “… closes the loop on what Klotz Communications set out to achieve, which is to help existing users of the VADIS platform to extend the product’s lifecycle and the investment they made in Klotz Digital, and at the same time provide a safe upgrade path to the next generation of products and technology.”

Klotz Communications is now the sole owner of all intellectual property, including hardware and software, and controls all licensing, maintenance and upgrades for the VADIS platform worldwide. The buy-back also gives the company access to a warehouse of spare parts, console surface modules, and critical elements such as PSUs and controller modules for Vadis frames of various generations.

“Over the last 12 months we have contacted many of the long-term Vadis users and found that most systems are still in use 14-plus

years after they were installed, despite the corporate changes at Klotz Digital/Qphonics, and the lack of support that resulted from those changes,” commented Thomas Klotz.

“In conversations with end-users we learned that the hardware was rock solid and hadn’t failed on them over all these years. What we also learned was that users were hesitant to change their system as research showed that other systems couldn’t replicate the flexibility and adaptability to a station’s workflow like a VADIS system can, so there was a real pull for Klotz Communications to buy back what was lost under unfortunate circumstances five years ago.”

In addition to the renewed VADIS support, Klotz Communications has also launched the Touchstone controller and the Broadcast Productivity Suite of software applications specifically targeted at the radio market. A new console surface, DC3, is scheduled for release in 2016.

As well as moving to bigger facilities, the company has established regional support offices in China, Singapore, Germany and the USA to be closer to the market and support the existing systems.

Users of the VADIS platform, including DC2, AEON, and XENON consoles, are encouraged to contact Klotz Communications at info@ klotzcommunications.com to discuss immediate service and support requirements.

Visit www.klotzcommunications.com

Lost Radio Content Now Found by Rewind Radio OVER 1 MILLION HOURS of radio content is broadcast daily around the world. A new online product, Rewind Radio (www.RewindRadio.com), has been launched to help radio stations make their audio content more searchable and shareable, quickly and simply.

The online platform allows listeners and/or station producers to create a clip just seconds after audio has gone to air, and share it with listeners.

The Australian invention is the brainchild of IT entrepreneur and former radio broadcaster Anthony Gherghetta, who came up with the idea three years ago and has been developing the product since then.

“There is so much radio content broadcast everyday and most of this content disappears the second it leaves the transmitter. Rewind Radio is designed to capture ‘radio moments’ that can be stored forever and easily shared on social media.”

Rewind Radio company chairman Steve Ahern says the invention fills a much-needed gap in radio industry workflow.

“My company, AMT, works with stations all over the world to make their workflow more efficient, but there was always a gap – how to allow producers or listeners to immediately retrieve audio that just went to air, then listen again and share it.

“When Anthony came to me with his idea, I could see it filled that gap perfectly, so I invested in the company to bring the product to market.”

When stations take out an account with Rewind Radio, the platform ingests a station’s broadcast stream and from then on is ‘always listening.’ They can make the feed public or restrict it only to staff.

When a producer or listener wants to make a clip and share it, the service has the audio ready to go

and can create a clip in seconds with as few as four mouse clicks.

Another problem with audio on the internet is that it is difficult for search engines to index. Rewind Radio now makes radio content more searchable, and stations using the service have found that their online audio presence has increased after using it.

A range of stations around the world, including BFM Malaysia, Radio Romania and 2SER FM Sydney, have been using the service in beta-test mode for some months and are pleased with the results Ahern says, “Stations using Rewind Radio tell us that it is perfect for sharing quick turn-around audio.

Podcasts and audio downloads are useful for long form content, but there are lots of short grabs and interviews that never make it to a station’s webpage, social media or podcast feed because they take too much work to edit. Rewind Radio streamlines that process.

“One broadcaster told me his manager was always asking him to put up more content on the station’s social media feeds during the show, but he couldn’t figure how to do it easily and quickly. Rewind Radio solved that problem for Rewind Radio offers broadcasters a range of audio catch up services for a small monthly fee.”

Rewind Radio partnerships director Daniel Laforest said, “Small regional stations particularly like the product because they don’t have lots of staff allocated to production. Rewind Radio lets them create and share clips quickly while they are still on air and brings rich content to their social media feeds.”

Broadcasters can go to the www.rewindradio.com website to try out the service, and contact Daniel Laforest daniel@rewindradio.com for a quote on professional usage.

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MCN Gets with the Programmatic In 2015, MCN – Multi Channel Network – launched its TV-focused programmatic ad platform with technology partners AOL and Imagine Communications. Phil Sandberg spoke to Chief Technology and Systems Operations Officer, Angela Goodsir about its implementation and impact.

What was the thinking behind moving towards a programmatic platform?

We’ve always used Imagine platforms from a television perspective. We started out with a platform which was called Paradigm, which was a shared platform with Foxtel, and in April, 2014, we swapped out that platform to the Landmark solution. One of the things that came out of that for us was an opportunity for us in Australia to drive a new initiative and innovation in changing the way that television advertising has been traded in this market.

We moved the market very much from a spot and transactional based trading platform to one that supports audience-based trading, or what we call dynamic scheduling.

Off of the back of that, we then launched this concept of programmatic for television which we did in partnership with Imagine and also in partnership with our tech partner AOL. The way that the architecture works for that solution is that because the Imagine Landmark platform schedules all of the logs that we put to air, we have to connect in all of our inventories stored there. All of our metadata is stored there. All of the processes around the way that we book and buy television is there.

Also out of Landmark, there’s a financial platform. So, we take information out of Landmark to support the AOL platform and what we built with AOL was a front end or a GUI or a portal which allows the market to access that inventory from a trading perspective in a programmatic sense.

So, our definition of programmatic is data driven automation, and we have input that as well as our inventory into that platform.

For television, we’ve also launched a more demographic profiling capability or targeting by using not just the traditional trading demographics that we have in this market which is OzTam demographics. We also have our own currency which is called Multiview. And Multiview is currently an 110,000 home panel, which comes out of the back of the Foxtel set top box. And we integrate that through a company called Quantium.

And what data do they supply?

They have grocery spend and banking data. We use that to join all of those data sets together and give us an opportunity to allow for more targeting within the television space. It’s quite revolutionary for not just in the Australian market, but across television generally, to be able to open up that data capability and targeting capability to trade television, but also to trade that in a programmatic fashion through more automation.

What is the process users go through to access the system and make

CONTENT DELIVERY

bookings?

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They log into the AOL portal. We’ve now integrated [online] digital video into that platform as well. So, you’re not just buying inventory for programmatically for television, but you’re also buying across our digital assets as well. It’s a cloud-based application, with a user name and password security features where an agency client would log into that and would basically place a brief or a booking order through defined parameters on that screen.

There’s a whole lot of parameters that they’ll fill in. They’ll save that order and then that order gets sent across to us. The way it gets sent across is that we’ve built transfers between our selves through the AOL platform back into the back end of Landmark.

We then receive that order back into Landmark. We fulfil the order and then we send the order back to the AOL platform where it’s then displayed

in a visual sense through reporting and as much real time information as we can with updating of that order as it’s going to air.

They would take the initial booking back and then as that order starts to be transmitted across logs and television in real time, the fulfilment of that order and the tracking of that order is then updated in the AOL platform again through integrations that we’ve built as the technology platform MCN Chief Technology and Systems Operations at the back end.

Is there any scope for competitive bidding on spots?

Officer, Angela Goodsir.

There are a lot of definitions of programmatic, which is why I said that our definition is about data driven automation. We’re not putting television inventory there in a sort of a programmatic platform that has anything to do with real time bidding or auctioning or those sorts of concepts for the television inventory. That’s not what it’s about for us. It’s about automating a procedure and giving more capability to it across a television platform.

What channels is it across at the moment?

At the moment, we have all of our channels participating in the programmatic platform.

A lot of people are talking about programmatic television but they’re not talking about a linear broadcast feed. They may be talking about an IPTV feed. If they are talking about linear broadcast they’ve often got one or two channels on there, so they’re not doing it at scale.

The concept that we have and the offering that we have that in market has all of our television channels participating in it, but we also have just taken on the advertising representations for Network 10 in the Australian market as well.

What we’re currently building is the capability at the moment to move the Ten business onto the Landmark platform. We will then integrate Ten into those opportunities as well. So, the capability will absolutely be there for them to participate.

At the moment, we’ve got 71 subscription television channels – brands – across the Foxtel platform, and with Network Ten we’ll have an additional 15 capital city free-to-air channels in the five markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Then we’ve integrated our digital publishers also into the AOL platform as well but that’s not being driven by Landmark. That’s being driven by digital technology in terms of the optimisation and the algorithms driving the placing of the ad inventory, whereas the television component is driven by Landmark.

The platform has been live since May, 2015. How has it performed since then?

When we launched the whole market was trading in a fixed currency, which is spot by spot transactions. At the moment, we are looking to be trading

CONTENT DELIVERY – is very robust in terms of its capability. And the platform itself programmatically, from a buying perspective, we have a discreet set of targeting segments available there at the moment, but some of the work that we’re doing and also within AOL is to expand the capability for us to put more segments into that portal.

60% of our inventory in 2016 in what we call a dynamic way. And part of that dynamic model is also the programmatic model.

Some of the feedback that we’ve had in market is that a campaign that we booked for Jeep, for example, which was a AUD$1 million campaign, we booked in 30 minutes rather than 30 hours, just using that type of technology. Some of that comes down to the automation and the efficiency of the actual platform itself, and some of it comes down to the fact that the fixed model of trading is just so much slower in terms of the operational burden and the complexity of the way that the model has traded.

I think there’s two things driving it. One is that the trading model has changed and that trading model is much more effective in terms of automation and efficiency and capability for optimisation of campaign output. The second thing is that the tech kit is driving the automation of the process as well. So, the trading mechanism is changed but so has the kit underlying it and that kit is allowing us to do things in a much more efficient and automated way.

Is there scope for a client to modify a campaign halfway through or in line with current events?

Absolutely. Yes. It comes down to the way that the campaigns are actually tracked and monitored, and certainly Landmark in the back end technology provides us with the automation of the information going into their application to allow us to know whether or not we’re meeting the objectives of the campaign for the client.

Then the other algorithms inside Landmark, which are based on optimisation or inventory optimisation principles, allow us to ensure that if we do need to change that, we could be more effective in the placement that that engine is constantly working to do that. And then if that particular campaign is being bought programmatically, then if you like the back end in Landmark and the algorithms driving that are doing the continual optimisation of those schedules and then those results are being displayed in an automated way across – in the programmatic platforms through the AOL interface at the front end.

We’re looking at putting in excess of several hundred demographics into that in 2016. The other thing that we’re working with in conjunction with Imagine on is what they’re calling an open XG platform, which is very much an API driven technology.

We’re looking to integrate to create more automation in that process between the AOL platform and the Landmark platform.

The media assets for the television commercials, how is that side of it integrated with the scheduling in the system?

At the moment, we haven’t built out a direct integration in with what I call the service providers. They store the actual advertisement. All of the integration that we have on that is actually built into the back end of Landmark, because in the end Landmark has the responsibility for the final log and taking that out to our broadcasters.

The instruction coming from the advertiser would happen in the AOL, in the programmatic platform, but the physical delivery of the material happens more with a Landmark workflow.

How do you see the platform evolving?

The retail data, how far does that extend?

I think just that we’re just at the beginning of a solution. So the solution that we put to market I think has been very well received. I think MCN has really has driven the way in terms of these advanced advertising capabilities for linear television, but our plans are to expand that platform even more in 2016. So, I think you’ll find some more innovation coming through that platform, and some really interesting tech capability that we’re building out, both in partnership with AOL and also with Imagine.

So, I’d just say watch this space.

The data platform – as you can imagine with an 110,000 strong panel

Visit www.mcn.com.au

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HCS Hybrid Connector RADIO FREQUENCY SYSTEMS (RFS), the global wireless and broadcast infrastructure specialist, has introduced what it says is the industry’s first Hybrid Connector System (HCS) for Fibre-to-the-Antenna (FTTA) applications, expanding its portfolio of connector options to suit any site architecture.

The new product offers a plug-and-play solution for FTTA deployments by combining fibre optic and power leads within the same robust, outdoorrated enclosure to enable a faster, more reliable deployment.

Designed for use with RFS’ HYBRIFLEX hybrid cables, the HCS offers a plug-and-play “coax-like” solution for FTTA similar to what a traditional coaxial cable solution does for RF systems, and is the only hybrid connector on the market, combining DC power and fibre optics in one connector.

Traditional solutions have the DC going straight to the RRH and the fibre breakout being handled separately at the top of the tower. With the HCS only one connection point is needed between the riser cable the jumper cable, both featuring an HCS interface. This single connection point reduces installation time and expense, and drastically reduces the chances of fibre contamination in the field from dirt and other outside elements, offering a very reliable solution. The use of HCS greatly increases the system reliability, since the contents (fibre and DC) are protected by RFS’ robust aluminium armour that goes straight into the back of the HCS, thus eliminating chances of damage at the top of the tower – a recurring (and expensive) issue with FTTA deployments.

Visit www.rfsworld.com

DEV Systemtechnik Redundancy Switch DEV SYSTEMTECHNIK HAS INTRODUCED the DEV 1953 Universal Switch Chassis, which extends the company’s Universal Switch product line to now offer broadcasters a higher capacity solution designed to make network resiliency and redundancy easier for larger network applications.

DEVs two Universal Switch solutions eliminate single points of failure and enabling the highest uptime for network operations. The Universal Switch Chassis DEV 1953 offers 16 Slots for large RF transmission applications, in a 3 RU footprint. It complements the Universal Switch Chassis DEV 1951, a 1 RU solution with 2 Slots, designed for small RF transmission applications.

DEV Redundancy Switches were developed for professional use in cable headend, broadcast and satellite applications. They offer flexibility in 1RU or in 3RU with a large variety of modules tailored for unique applications. Functions available include A/B or Transfer Switching, Splitter/Combiner for CATV, L-Band, Ethernet, ASI/SDI or E1/T1 signals, Optical Switching (optical inputs and optical outputs), Automatic Switching via RF Sensing, Time Based Switching, and Automatic Switch Back.

A Customer Protocol Handler (CPH) makes integration easy and the DEV Web Interface facilitates operation. DEV Redundancy Switches are fieldupgradeable without any disruption of service.

Visit www.dev-systemtechnik.com

Exset Powers Value-Add Services in Emerging Markets EXSET, PIONEERS OF TV ECOSYSTEMS for enhanced digital TV services, has announced the launch of DMS 4.0, the latest version of its middleware.

Designed specifically for emerging markets to power monetised services over and above video, the system thereby enables subscription fees to be kept low.

DMS 4.0 powers a range of services on very low-cost STBs, now including fully integrated EPG ad-insertion, allowing operators and content providers to reach a new audience as soon as users turn on their TV. The second key development is an Interactive Blue Button Ad Service; when instructed, pressing the blue button on a banner ad results in complete advert detail being revealed.

Additionally, DMS supports Push VoD, allowing operators to pre-load their most popular content to the viewer’s set-top box. USB-based PVR capabilities, meanwhile, mean viewers can record content on a simple USB stick connected to the set-top. ‘Red Button’ interactivity provides additional

magazine services (weather, news, and sports, for example) at the touch of a button on the remote, or open up additional video from a programme stream.

DMS is a business and technology model that allows operators to provide value-added services via broadcast networks – including cable – in emerging markets, creating essential monetisation paths over and above subscriber fees. Subscription rates have to be kept to a minimum to drive penetration in these markets, but ARPU must also be driven upwards. DMS is already deployed by multiple operators across Asia, including CMG in Pakistan and One TV in Cambodia, allowing them to offer value-add services to TV sets over and above video and audio. Exset is also working with a range of receiver providers including Gospell, Newland and Atmaca Elektronik in Turkey.

Visit www.exset.com

Cloud-Based Video Solutions for Microsoft Azure HAIVISION, THE DEVELOPER OF VIDEO STREAMING and media

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With Haivision Media Gateway on Azure, organizations can utilise the benefits of the cloud to scale their live video workflows with minimal IT intervention. The solution provides ease of set-up and commissioning, without putting a strain on the network at the source location, bringing a welcome alternative to the long lead times, prohibitive costs and scheduling challenges associated with satellite and MPLS networks.

Broadcast and enterprise customers can use Haivision Media Gateway in the cloud for: • Transporting high quality live video using Internet connections: Powered

by Haivision’s fundamental video transport technology – SRT – the

Haivision Media Gateway enables customers to use low cost, readily available public Internet connections to transport secure, live, HD video to and from multiple locations around the world. The Haivision Media Gateway with SRT also features different options to easily manage firewall traversal.

• Enterprise video distribution: With Haivision Media Gateway, organisations can now easily distribute live events from remote sites like hotels and satellite offices, by sending a single stream to the cloud before being distributed to multiple facilities or redistribution points with low latency.

• Broadcast backhaul and distribution: Organisations can use the Haivision Media Gateway as a video network bridge to transport video between studio environments. For broadcasters, this means an easier way to backhaul video to a centralised production venue before being distributed to remote affiliates.

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AJA Mini-Converters AJA VIDEO SYSTEMS has released new Mini-Converters including the HB-T-SDI, HB-R-SDI, ROI-HDMI and HD10MD4. The Mini-Converters give users additional options for extending SDI signals and easily incorporating computer files into video production.

Key features of these new MiniConverters include:

Telestream’s Episode 7 TELESTREAM, THE LEADING PROVIDER of digital video tools and

workflow solutions today announced that the latest version of its Episode video encoding software is now available. Unveiled at IBC 2015, Episode 7.0 now features bigger performance gains, added format support, and easier to use features.

• HB-T-SDI and HB-R-SDI extend 3G-SDI signals over Ethernet cable, utilising the industry standard HDBaseT protocol. Bi-directional IR and RS-232 for device control is also supported, making these Mini-Converters ideal in a variety of scenarios including: fixed installation AV, digital signage, live events, post production, network, studio environments and on set. These can also be mixed and matched with AJA’s HDMI-based HDBaseT Mini-Converters, allowing customised video I/O on either end of the Ethernet connection.

• HD10MD4 is a miniature digital downconverter for converting HD-SDI video to standard definition SDI and analog component/composite video.

The HD10MD4 uses a full 10-bit data path and multi-point interpolation to produce broadcast quality downconverted video. In addition, the HD10MD4 converts either 1080p24 or 1080p24sf to 59.94 Hz output video using the standard 3:2 pulldown technique. The output can be formatted for either 4:3 or 16:9 standard definition monitors. Four-channel input embedded HD-SDI audio is passed to the SDI output. A mini-USB jack allows configuration and control from the free Mini-Config application for Mac or PC. Visit www.aja.com

Position Vacant Viz Mosart Specialist/ Project Manager

New features in Episode 7.0 include: • 64-bit technology support provides faster encodes and better memory allocation for large jobs • Added format support including JPEG2000, DNxHD, DNxHR, and DVCPro HD • New Audio Channel Configurator enables mapping to standard input/ output formats or customised audio channel layouts • 4K video support including R3D ingest and HEVC presets Episode’s new 64-bit native transcoding engine is designed for the entire production workflow – maintaining high quality files from the camera to edit and all the way to final delivery. With the ability to scale from a single seat to a cluster of cross-platform workstations, Episode 7.0 provides the most affordable and fastest possible encode speed for workgroups. Thanks to its Split-and-Stitch capability, even large files can be transcoded quickly, utilising multiple cores on a single machine or multiple machines in a larger cluster.

Visit www.telestream.net

includes project management, installation, training, support, and of course the integration to an existing control room in an on-air facility • Testing and fault finding within the broadcast environment • Customer pre-study and workflow reports

Viz Mosart Sydney, Australia, Full Time

• Sales and customer support

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Being a customer facing role, it is important that you have excellent interpersonal skills.

The following attributes are desired:

Vizrt provides real-time 3D graphics, studio automation, sports analysis and asset management tools for the broadcast industry. This includes interactive and virtual solutions, animations, maps, weather, video editing and compositing tools.

• Show design, the process of transforming a manual operation into a Viz Mosart program

• Team player

Mosart is our provider of studio automation.

• Efficient, focused, and fast when it comes to meeting on-air deadlines

With increasing demand for Viz Mosart in Oceania, Vizrt is now looking for a: Viz Mosart Specialist/Project Manager.

• Service minded with great customer communication skills

Viz Mosart is a powerful tool for production control rooms. It allows for the automated control of broadcast devices used in television production. Using Viz Mosart leads to improved quality, person independence, and lower cost, but also enables an old profession to be executed in new and creative ways.

JOB DESCRIPTION The ideal candidate will be qualified, have appropriate television experience, and possess knowledge of broadcast devices used in a production control room.

Required qualifications: • Relevant degree qualifications in electronics, telecommunications, computer science, or production • Experience with television production workflows and broadcast equipment • Working IT knowledge, both Windows and TCP/IP networks • Also required, operational experience, or exposure to, the following - Vision mixer; Audio mixer; Video servers ; Broadcast graphic systems Your responsibilities: • Design, supply, and integrate a Viz Mosart install for the customer. This

• Eagerness to learn, curious, proactive, and responsible for maintaining your own competence level • Capable of fault finding and resolving issues in smart, and perhaps nontraditional ways • Fluent in English, oral and written.

The successful candidate will have a solid knowledge of broadcast workflows and equipment, the ability to work in an on-air environment, be service minded, and possess excellent communication skills. This position is based in Sydney, with your operational area mainly within Australia and New Zealand, and occasional overseas travel beyond that as required. Australian citizenship, or an Australian working visa is required.

What we offer: We offer an exciting job in an expanding international company, with good salary and employment conditions. We feature a friendly and youthful working environment with highly skilled colleagues. You will also benefit from using the most modern software development technologies and methodologies.

If you find this interesting and want to be a part of our team submit your CV and application as soon as possible to Nigel Streatfield, General Manager Vizrt Australia, at nstreatfield@vizrt.com.

CONTENT DELIVERY

• ROI-HDMI offers real time region-of-interest scaling and SDI video output from HDMI computer outputs, allowing users to properly incorporate computer signals into the video world without sacrificing budget or space.

Users interactively select a region-of-interest on screen from the incoming HDMI signal and control how that region is scaled to the output resolution using AJA’s scaling algorithms for a high quality image. ROI-HDMI joins the growing family of AJA ROI converters, which also offer DVI and DisplayPort connections.

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CLASSIFIEDS + EVENTS Assistant Product Manager

Account Manager

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Professional Video & Audio Sales Brookvale, Sydney

We are Sony - A world leading entertainment brand delivering innovative products, content and experiences to consumers and businesses across the globe!

We are looking for an experienced Marketing Professional with a passion for technology and video production to join our Professional Broadcast division as an Assistant Product Manager – could this be you?

JOB DESCRIPTION In this role you will: • Implement short and long term marketing plans to ensure new products are effectively introduced to the market place • Identify market trends and opportunities to ensure the product range and mix meet/exceed performance targets • Communicate all relevant technology and product related issues to the appropriate channels as well as generate and distribute product information, marketing and product bulletins, etc • Formulate and manage annual budgets as well as profit, sales and inventory management • Organise promotions, and attend trade shows and dealer promotional events • Know your product range inside and out, and empower sales staff and retailers through knowledge sharing and product training • Maintaining regular communication with the overseas factories and the regional marketing office and handling day to day issues

SKILLS WE ARE LOOKING FOR • Product marketing experience • Knowledge of/passion for video production and technology • High level of initiative, creativity, energy and ability to work in a fast paced, dynamic team environment • Proven stakeholder management skills and sound commercial acumen • Tertiary qualifications in marketing advantageous Take your career to the next level with this exciting new role!

To apply email your cover letter and resume to Laura Kendall – laura. kendall@ap.sony.com We are grateful for all applications received, however only shortlisted candidates will be contacted via phone within 3 weeks.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Pro AV Solutions is a highly respected and awarded National Commercial Integrator and Video Production specialist servicing the Production, TV/Film, Corporate, Government, Defence and Education sectors.

At Pro AV Solutions, we are committed to delivering excellence, with a strong focus to exceeding customer's needs and expectations. Based in our NSW office, the newly created position of Account Manager; Professional Video & Audio Sales will be responsible for driving sales of professional video & audio equipment in the NSW & ACT territory.

JOB DESCRIPTION The successful candidate will have drive and determination, take pride in their work, have outstanding sales and negotiation skills and enjoy working both autonomously as well as part of a team.

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate: • Previous sales experience within the Video Production, Film & Television or Photographic Industries.

• Knowledge of Professional Video Cameras, Digital SLR, Lighting, Audio and Post-Production technologies • Strong product demonstration skills • Effective sales ability • Outstanding negotiation and communication skills • Proven track record of managing and building new business opportunities • Strong understanding of business ethics and production industry • A proven ability to think strategically and contribute at all levels • Ability to implement strategies with the aim of forming successful long term business relationships • Technical aptitude • Documentation and preparation of quotations We are looking for an enthusiastic person desiring financial and career rewards who is an effective communicator with strong inter-personal skills.

Remuneration will comprise a base salary plus commissions payable upon achieving specified sales targets All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/jbdzbzr or call 08 8124 7777

Engineering Manager - Full Time Cheltenham, Melbourne Australia

CLASSIFIEDS + EVENTS

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

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CombiTel Group is a market leader in IPTV, Video On-Demand and Digital Signage solutions for both service providers and enterprises. We service customers across the Asia Pacific region from our offices in Australia and New Zealand.

We integrate and resell 3rd-party products as well as sell our own solutions internationally.

Our software development team at Omniscreen creates applications in-house, including our flagship product, Omniscreen Pilot.

JOB DESCRIPTION We are looking for an experienced engineer to join our enthusiastic and experienced team in our office in Cheltenham, a bayside Melbourne suburb. The successful candidate will play a key role in ambitious TV, radio and digital signage delivery projects.

They include IPTV, COFDM and QAM headends, various software platforms for multimedia content management and delivery to multiple devices such as connected TVs, set-top boxes, signage terminals, tablets and mobile phones.

For more details, visit http://tinyurl.com/hopbhmy