Content+Technology ANZ May-June 2015

PP: 255003/06831

VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3 MAY/JUNE 2015

MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY

SPORTSCASTING ISSN 1448-9554

THEY’RE HERE

www.content-technology.com

AUDIO

Broadcast. Products. Solutions.

Tedial

TVU One • Compact wireless IP video uplink solution • Portable & Lightweight at 0.77kg • Uses proprietary IS+ technology with advanced FEC and enhanced H.264 • Low Latency • Supports 3G/4G/LTE, Microwave, Satellite, WiFi, BGAN, and Ethernet connections • Smart VBR Technology

• Media Asset Management (MAM) • Hierarchical Storage

Appear TV

VB330 Probe

Management (HSM)

• Business Process Management (BPM)

• Transcoding and media distribution • Proven technology allows

broadcasters to take full advantage of file-based workflows by optimising & automating operational processes

• Product for IPTV and OTT monitoring and analysis • Equipped with 2 x 10G Ethernet interface • Monitors up to 500 OTT/ABR streams • Supports Microsoft SmoothstreamTM, Apple HLSTM, Adobe HDSTM, MPEGDASH and RTMP • Monitors voice or VOD trunks • Monitor all relevant network and video parameters on up to 2000 IP multicasts concurrently

• Unique, modular video and signal processing technology solutions

• World class equipment for the delivery of professional video services

• Unique products that open

up new opportunities for video distribution

• Ideal for cable, fibre-to-the-

home (FTTH), broadband/ADSL, satellite and terrestrial operators

Synapse Interfacing and

Dolphin

Conversion

• SD/HD video server

• Modular system containing multiple 19” frames, active hot swappable cards and mostly passive connector panels • Designed to support demanding mission critical applications in the broadcast industry • Unequalled in its flexibility • Unique approach to interfacing and conversion

• Master control switcher • Subtitling • Captioning • Channel branding • Cost effective • Scalable and flexible

RTS Telex - Digital Matrix

Chyron Hego - TRACAB

• ADAM Full-Size Modular Matrix Intercom

• Advanced player tracking system

• ADAM-M Mid-Size Modular Matrix Intercom

• Patented image processing identifies position and speed of moving objects in realtime

• Cronus Small-Size Modular Matrix Intercom • Zeus III Compact Matrix Intercom: 32-Port

• Highly accurate X, Y and Z coordinates supplied 25 times every second

• Zeus III LE+ Compact Matrix Intercom: 16-Port

• Deployed across the most demanding live sports events

www.magnasys.tv Contact your local Magna Systems & Engineering office today and see how we can provide you with the best products and solutions available.

Auckland +64 9520 1582

Hong Kong +852 2563 4453

Jakarta +62 8181 43923

Singapore +65 6282 3613

Sydney +61 2 9417 1111

Email sales@magnasys.tv

VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3 MAY/JUNE 2015

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

Cover Story – Paper Giants – Fairfax Takes on Live Video with JVC

20 REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 04 NEWS Animal Logic Expands to Canada, Stan Selects thePlatform, Boland Appoints PAT, Cavena Appoints AVW, Vale Andrew Lesnie, NAB Wrap

45 INDUSTRY FOCUS 48 TIME SHIFTER Back to Basics: Recording on a Wax Cylinder at the NFSA

12 FEATURES 12 ACQUISITION Callan Green Moves to the Music with Miller, New Blackmagic Cameras, Ikegami Handheld 8K Camera System

16 SPORTSCASTING Gearhouse Broadcast

16

Launches HD9, Editrix Doubles with Videocraft, Vizrt Transforms Fox Sports Australia

20 NEWS OPERATIONS Fairfax Goes Into the Field with JVC, AVIWEST Enhances Video Delivery with Hughes, Dejero and Aeryon Labs Partner

23 POST-PRODUCTION Nine Transforms Promo Review with Aframe, Deadline 7.1 from Thinkbox, Blackmagic Design Updates Fusion and Resolve

42

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 Email: papers@broadcastpapers.com

28 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Asset Management with Blue Lucy, Malvertising and Watering Holes, Top 5 Tips for Your 4K Transition

32 AUDIO Ace Australian Arranger Sets the Score with Avid Everywhere, Calrec Broadens Hydra2 Connectivity, ABC Upgrades Comms with Reidel

36 RADIO Nova Radio Monitors TV Broadcasts with Mediaproxy, Telos Alliance Debuts Z/IPStream, Omnia Releases New Processors

38 CONTENT DELIVERY Oz Govt Releases Spectrum Report, Netflix is Here, Why KVM is Important in the Broadcast and Post Production Industries

Cover image by Alex Ellinghausen

SUB-EDITOR: Keith Ford Mob: +61 (0)430 432 437 Email: papers@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

Australian Commonwealth Copyright Laws.

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

Declarations on the Death of Traditional Media are Still Premature

By Phil Sandberg

Caught up in recent cyclonic storms to hit Australia’s East Coast, my home and office were without power for four days and, therefore, without (mainspowered) phone, ADSL Internet and television. Added to this, the local cellphone tower had been rendered inoperative – no voice, no mobile Internet.

24:00

23:00

22:00

21:00

20:00

19:00

17:00

18:00

And, the local AM radio station, 2GO, did a great job of doing just that.

Cutting into their networked, server-fed programming, station staff provided interviews with rescue and Government authorities as well as regular updates on road blockages, downed power lines, school closures, weather forecasts and one overriding gem of advice – “if you don’t have to go out, don’t”.

16:00

15:00

14:00

While a stable gas connection allowed us to spend the first two days cooking and eating every rapidly warming item of food in the refrigerator, it was the humble Philips Magnavox AM/FM radio, powered by two D-sized batteries, that kept us in touch with the outside world and what was happening with the storm recovery effort in our area.

Conversely, as long as the power is on and the studio and transmitter are intact, it’s possible for a single operator with a microphone at a radio station to continue delivery of information during a time of crisis.

I know what I’d bet my safety on.

Thanks for Reading Phil Sandberg - Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com - T: +61-(0)414671811 03:00

But this isn’t necessarily so.

02:00

As media has become digitised, as it has become more enmeshed with the Internet and tailored for delivery to more devices, the louder has been the chorus declaring the death of “traditional” media – particularly print, television and radio.

It is interesting to note that while digital or “new” media employs increasingly more efficient technologies to individualise delivery of content, it also relies on much more complex ecosystems to maintain those delivery channels compared to “traditional” media. In short, there are more points of failure – power supply, servers, software, connectivity, end device configuration, etc., etc.

01:00

at the mercy of the elements. Flood, fire, famine … tremors, tempests, tidal waves … the natural world is often the great equaliser for humanity and its works – and this includes media.

00:00

DESPITE MILLENNIA OF TRYING TO TAME NATURE, people still remain

Contrast with groups of people hovering around powerboards provided by a local shopping centre for the purpose of recharging mobile phones, or the public library squeezed to capacity with telecommuters jostling for capacity on the free Wi-Fi, radio proved that a cheap, analogue, one-to-many broadcast medium was more than a match for its “competitors” in a time of crisis.

St. Petersburg Moscow

16:00

17:00

18:00

19:00

20:00

22:00

23:00

24:0

2015 C+T DEADLINES

Beijing

Istanbul

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND EDITION

Seoul Tokyo

Tehran

JULY-AUGUST 2015 VOL 12 ISSUE 4

Shanghai

airo

Hong Kong Mumbai

Bangkok

Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:

‘ASIAPAC’

09-06-15 15-06-15 22-06-15

ASIA EDITION SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2015

Editorial Submissions: Ad Bookings: Ad Artwork:

03:00

02:00

01:00

24:00

23:00

22:00

21:00

20:00

00:00

Email: papers@broadcastpapers.com

19:00

18:00

27-07-15 03-08-15 10-08-15

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.content-technology.com +61-(0)414 671 811.

The C+T (Time) Zone.

17:00

2

Jakarta

Sydney

16:00

EDITOR’S WELCOME

ASIA

15:00

14:00

21:00

05-0

Your 4K Toolbox FiDO-4T

FiDO-4R

Extend Your 4K Reach

AJA’s FiDO line of SDI to fiber optic transmitters and receivers are the ideal way to move signals over long distances without the need for repeaters or distribution amplifiers. The latest addition to the FiDO lineup takes this concept to the next logical step with the ability to handle up to four individual SDI signals in one lightweight, compact device.

This is especially useful in 4K applications where four 3G-SDI connections are needed to carry 4K images. FiDO-4 can extend these signals up to 10km utilizing locking ST fiber connectors to prevent accidental disconnects.

4K2HD

4K to HD Down-conversion

Hi5-4K

Keep your 4K images looking great, even in HD.

HA5-4K

Easily integrate 4K/UHD signals into HD workflows using AJA’s high-quality down-conversion technology. The 4K2HD Mini-Converter provides both SDI and HDMI outputs for local monitoring and facility-wide routing.

Convert 4K between SDI and HDMI Integrate 4K HDMI and SDI workflows.

Integrate 4K HDMI and 4K SDI workflows easily with Hi5-4K and HA5-4K. With support for High Frame Rates up to 60fps, you can seamlessly combine professional SDI 4K signals with more affordable 4K HDMI equipment for whatever your workflow requires.

Find out more at www.aja.com

05-05-15_FP_ContentTechnology_4KToolbox_MayJune_EN.indd 1

5/5/15 2:35 PM

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

Australia’s Animal Logic Expands Animation Studio Into Canada AWARD-WINNING AUSTRALIAN visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic has announced that it is expanding its long established animation production relationship with Warner Bros. Pictures (Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, The LEGO Movie), signing a three picture deal that will see the Sydney based company set up a second animation studio in Vancouver, Canada.

The newly established Animal Logic Vancouver is expected to open its doors in September of this year. It will initially be launched as an exclusive partnership to produce three animated features, the first of which will be The LEGO Movie Sequel, with a view to producing subsequent projects in an ongoing collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures.

Zareh Nalbandian, CEO and Co-Founder of Animal Logic, said, “For the past 15 years we have had a truly collaborative and highly successful relationship with our friends at Warner Bros., and we are excited to be taking our collaboration to the next level on the production of a terrific

thePlatform Selected for Stan THEPLATFORM, a leading white-label video publishing company and independent subsidiary of Comcast, has announced that it has been selected by Stan, the subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD) joint venture between Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media Limited, to provide back-end video services.

Under the agreement, thePlatform’s cloud-based mpx video publishing system will manage Stan’s TV services to support viewers on PCs, smartphones, tablets, and TVs via Google’s Chromecast or Airplay via Apple TV. thePlatform’s mpx video management system provides easy workflow management of metadata; purchasing support through a payment gateway; subscriber management and rights enforcement; and automated publishing across devices and video players. “thePlatform has an impressive track record of managing large-scale video subscription services worldwide,” said Mike Sneesby, Chief Executive Officer of Stan. “mpx enables us to centralise our video publishing efforts.”

Visit www.theplatform.com

slate of films in Vancouver.”

Chris deFaria, President, Animation, Digital Production and Visual Effects, Warner Bros.

Pictures, said, “Animal Logic has helped bring some of our most popular animated titles to life, and we’re excited to be working even closer with them via this new venture. Their expertise and excellence are recognised industry-wide, and we know they’ll continue to bring their magic to our films.”

Animal Logic reaffirmed its commitment to its visual effects and animation businesses in Australia, supporting approximately 500 jobs across its operations. The Sydney studio will continue in production on the recently announced animated features LEGO Batman and Ninjago (due for release in 2017) and another unnamed animated feature that is scheduled to follow.

Visit www.animallogic.com

Telstra and Aspera Team Up to Bolster Telstra’s DVN IBM HAS ANNOUNCED that Telstra has partnered with Aspera to deliver a jointly-built Media networking solution with global reach that aims to facilitate video contribution and distribution enabling acceleration and simplification of content workflow in support of the Multi-platform needs of broadcast and media organisations.

In response to increasing demand for high quality, low latency, highly available media content, the new Telstra Digital Video Network (DVN) supports an increased range of media content formats and access requirements. Telstra DVN now provides additional value to customers by integrating Aspera into the solution, enabling customers to achieve secure, high performance and reliable media file transfers within their environments, within the Telstra DVN Media Community and to anywhere in the world.

This convergence of technologies will provide unique benefits to an extensive customer base and support a wide variety of use cases, including ad hoc field-based contributions, inter-studio video sharing, inter-company content sharing and automated file-based workflow processes.

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

EVERTZ

YAMAHA

TBC CONSOLES

RIEDEL GUNTERMANN & DRUNCK MASTERCLOCK

www.studiotechau.com

NEWS + PEOPLE

Visit www.asperasoft.com

PERCON AVP HP

4

Con

Lenses and accessories shown are not included

Introducing Blackmagic URSA, the world’s first user upgradeable 4K digital film camera!

Blackmagic URSA is the world’s first high end digital film camera designed to revolutionize workflow on set. Built to handle the ergonomics of large film crews as well as single person use, URSA has everything built in, including a massive 10 inch fold out on set monitor, large user upgradeable Super 35 global shutter 4K image sensor, 12G-SDI and internal dual RAW and ProRes recorders.

Super 35 Size Sensor URSA is a true professional digital film camera with a 4K sensor, global shutter and an incredible 12 stops of dynamic range. The wide dynamic range blows away regular video cameras or even high end broadcast cameras, so you get dramatically better images that look like true digital film.

The extra large Super 35 size allows for creative shallow depth of field shooting plus RAW and ProRes means you get incredible quality!

Dual Recorders Blackmagic URSA features dual recorders so you never need to stop recording to change media.

That’s critical if you are shooting an historical event, important interview or where you just cannot stop shooting! Simply load an empty CFast card into the second recorder and when the current card is full, the recording will continue onto the second card, allowing you to change out the full card and keep shooting!

User Upgradeable Sensor Blackmagic URSA features a modular camera turret that can be removed by unscrewing 4 simple bolts! The camera turret includes the sensor, lens mount and lens control connections and can be upgraded in the future when new types of sensors are developed.

This means your next camera will be a fraction of the cost of buying a whole new camera! Choose professional PL mount, popular EF mount and more!

Built in On Set Monitoring!

Say goodbye to bulky on set monitors because you get a massive fold out 10 inch screen built into Blackmagic URSA, making it the world’s biggest viewfinder! The screen is super bright and features an ultra wide viewing angle. URSA also includes two extra 5” touch screens on both sides of the camera showing settings such as format, frame rate, shutter angle plus scopes for checking levels, audio and focus!

Blackmagic URSA EF

7,949

$

Blackmagic URSA PL

8,609

$

www.blackmagicdesign.com/au

Content & Technology-URSA-Airport Guy-au.indd 1

1/04/2015 11:52 am

NEWS + PEOPLE

Boland Communications Appoints PAT as Australian Reseller

Cavena Appoints AVW Broadcast Group as Australian Distributor

BOLAND COMMUNICATIONS, one of the leading screen manufacturers in the world, have announced the appointment of Professional Audio & Television as Australian reseller for their products.

THE AVW BROADCAST GROUP SYDNEY has announced their appointment as distributors for the Swedish company Cavena Image Products AB, a leading manufacturer of subtitling systems with a worldwide install base operating 24/7.

Boland Communications, who already provide leading Australian broadcasters and OB companies with premium quality LCD monitors, now also offer grade 1 OLED screens. To strengthen their footprint downunder, the company appointed PAT as an authorised Australian reseller effective immediately.

Cavena designs and distributes a wide range of state of the art subtitling solutions supporting freelance subtitle translators up to multi-channel playout-centre applications. Cavena Image Products is headquartered outside Stockholm, designing, developing, and building systems for all subtitling applications, supported by their own in-house R&D team and regional local distributors.

Boland Communication’s International Sales Manager, Gary Litwin, stated, “We feel that with Professional Audio & Television we have partnered with a results driven company whose project references and customer list include most of the leading Australian broadcasters. We are looking forward to growing our presence in Australia and establishing Boland Communications as a trusted broadcast monitor manufacturer and supplier.”

Cavena’s Asia Pacific operations are supported by a regional Cavena office based in Australia.

Their subtitling systems are language independent, they can be edited and transmitted in languages that include those more complex such as Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. Cavena subtitling systems are built on standard computers (PC) and Windows operating systems. The systems are networked using TCP/IP.

Boland Communications broadcast monitors provide their users with amazing images with enhanced Ultra Pixel picture quality in varying light and viewing conditions. Boland Communications also provide custom built monitors with multiple options, backed by their worldclass manufacturing practices, while appeasing users with the ease of use.

Cavena stores one file per language in a proprietary file format. Cavena is also capable of converting to and from most other subtitle formats.

Cavena has systems for all output formats including: In-vision (analogue and SDI format), Closed captions (Line 21 and Teletext), Digital platform formats (Digital Video Broadcast, DVB and manufacturer specified formats). The Cavena systems support SD and HD resolution and interface to most Station Automation and Traffic systems with new interfaces built to customer requirements.

PAT’s Managing Director, Patrick Salloch, said, “PAT is known for only selling the highest quality broadcast products. Boland is the chosen brand by some of Australia’s largest broadcast providers and we are delighted to add the Boland monitor range to our product offerings. It was nice to meet Michael Boland and his team for the first time face-to-face at NAB in Las Vegas and we are looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship between our companies, while expanding Boland’s footprint in Australia.”

Visit www.cavena.se and www.avwbroadcast.com.au

Visit www.proaudiotv.com.au and www.bolandcom.com

Ikan International Partners with Adimex IKAN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, designer, manufacturer and distributor of more than a thousand products used in film/ video production, broadcast, and still photography, has entered into an exclusive agreement with Adimex for the Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) region. The agreement grants the Sydney-based distributor and wholesaler exclusive distribution rights in the ANZ region to all products sold by Ikan that are branded Ikan and PD Movie.”

Ikan products have been available in the ANZ region through several local dealers, but Ikan CEO, Kan Yeung, emphasises, “The change to a single distributor who works directly with dealers in the region will create synergy on the supply and marketing side and greater efficiencies in product delivery.”

Frank Nicolaci, Adimex Sales Manager, says, “We are delighted to become part of Ikan’s worldwide distribution network and are confident that the arrangement will mean that more end-users in the ANZ region will come to experience the quality, technology and value offered by Ikan products.”

Visit www.ikancorp.com and www.adimex.com.au

Blue Post Moves to Fox Studios IN A MOVE DESIGNED TO strengthen its position as a leading provider of longform post-production services, Blue Post has opened for business at Sydney’s Fox Studios with a new BBC-approved Quality Assessment Review (QAR) department.

Located in the Frank Hurley Grandstand at Fox Studios, Blue Post’s custom built space offers four offline edit suites to complement its grading, online and mastering facilities.

Blue Post has also welcomed Vince Brant, formerly of Video 8 and Silvertrak, to the position of Technical Operations Manager.

Blue Post Managing Director, Peter Millington, said, “We are lucky to have someone of Vince’s vast experience overseeing final delivery to local and international broadcasters. And we are excited to be able to offer full technical evaluations and Quality Control to all internal Blue Post projects as well as external clients.”

Porchlight Films is the first production company to utilise the space with post-production on high profile drama The Kettering Incident, for Foxtel and the BBC, currently underway.

Visit www.bluepost.com.au

NEWS + PEOPLE

Professional 4K KVM Solutions

for your Broadcast Workflow

KVM Made in Germany Visit us at Broadcast Asia booth 5G5-02 www.ihseapac.com

6 047

2015 National ACS Cinematography Award Winners

Vale Andrew Lesnie OSCAR-WINNING Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, best known for his groundbreaking work on The Lord of the Rings, has died aged 59. He reportedly suffered a heart attack on Monday, April 27.

THE AUSTRALIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS SOCIETY (ACS) has announced the winners of the 2015 National ACS Cinematography Awards. Winners include: Experimental & Specialised Gold Tripod: Ron Johanson OAM ACS “Dreamworld Corroboree - Yugambeh Museum”

In a statement, Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) National President, Ron Johanson, said, “Words cannot express the absolute feeling of loss, particularly for his immediate family, Andrew gave us many personal cinema moments, moments that will live with us forever, and yet he has been taken from us way too early, and we are now left with those memories. The 2015 ACS National Awards for Cinematography in Hobart this weekend, will be in in honour of Andrew, who shared so much of himself with so many, and will be sorely missed.”

¡

Across his nearly four decade career, Lesnie garnered acclaim for his work including the Academy Award for Best Cinematography on Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring in 2002. He also worked with Jackson on the rest of his Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, as well as King Kong (2005) and The Lovely Bones (2009).

¡

Having previously won Cinematographer of the Year awards from the ACS for his work on You Seng/Temptation of a Monk (1993) and Babe (1995), Lesnie was inducted into the ACS’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

Lesnie’s most recent work was on Russell Crowe’s directorial debut The Water Diviner (2014), which also drew critical acclaim.

Music Clips Gold Tripod: Callan Green ACS “George Michael - Let Her Down Easy”

¡

Documentaries, Cinema & TV Gold Tripod: Dylan McDonald “Talking Language with Ernie Dingo (Episode 6)”

¡

Ron Taylor AM ACS Wildlife & Nature Gold Tripod: Joe Shemesh “Mountain Air – Valley Mist”

¡

Telefeatures, Mini Series, TV Drama or Comedy Gold Tripod: Adam Arkapaw ACS “True Detective (Episode 4)” Features – Cinema Gold Tripod: Garry Phillips ACS “The Railway Man”

¡

Milli Award - Australian Cinematographer of the Year 2015: Garry Phillips ACS

¡

Ron Windon ACS Contribution Award: Dick Marks OAM, Ray Martin AM, Peter Curtis ACS, David Wakeley ACS, and Ron Johanson OAM ACS

¡

Hall of Fame – 2015: Sir George Hubert Wilkins, Keith Loone ACS, Martha Ansara

¡

Visit www.cinematographer.org.au

Broadcast Technologies GmbH

Production Technology Experts

fiber optic solutions

Sound advice, visionary technology.

Professional Audio & Television has long been known for the world class products we sell, but we are also known for our local world class service and support. The customer purchase is just the start of our relationship. We understand the commercial and technical demands our customers face, and we ensure their purchase is the correct solution to satisfy both of these needs. We pride ourselves on being an integral part of the customers decision making process.

Professional Audio & Television Pty Ltd

047 PAT World Class HP_1.indd 1

www.proaudiotv.com.au

P: 02 9476 1272 E: sales@proaudiotv.com.au

8/05/2015 4:36 pm

NEWS + PEOPLE

John Walsh Joins AVW Broadcast AVW BROADCAST HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of John Walsh as Business Development – Broadcast, operating out of its Sydney, Australia, Offices.

John brings extensive system application and industry experience whilst enjoying the excitement of representing a progressive broadcast solutions provider in AVW. His activities include the development of all forms of the media technology business, supported by the company’s technical capabilities and their well-established Radio, Television, IP and Transmission product portfolio.

Established in 1983, AVW started with a goal of providing quality and affordability in AV primarily with the installation of commercial AV for public spaces, education, entertainment and hospitality. The increased demand for quality has meant that AVW has developed into a one stop shop for product diversity in the Audio, Video, Broadcast, RF Transmission and Production business areas.

AVW imports and distributes to business, end users, installers, OEM’s and resellers a comprehensive array of equipment covering a wide and varied selection of electronics. The AVW Special Services Group (SSG) offers Engineering, Design, Management and Integration Services.

Visit www.avwbroadcast.com

Corsair Solutions Expands Into Sydney Market, Adds Metus CORSAIR SOLUTIONS, the ANZ distributor of professional and commercial audio visual products, has announced that Sales Director, Brad Morton, has moved to Sydney as an expansion of the company’s operations and to provide a more direct level of service to customers in the AV system integration, live production and post-production markets.

“Our growth over the past couple of years has been quite exciting but we have achieved that without having anyone on the ground in Sydney,” says Mark Lampard, Managing Director of Corsair Solutions.

“Both Brad and I feel that the time is right, given where the company is at and the products that we will be releasing in the near future, that we need to invest directly into the Sydney market in order to continue our growth.”

“I am excited to be writing a new chapter for Corsair Solutions in Sydney,” added Morton. “Getting out, visiting customers and helping them to meet their AV requirements is the best part of my job, and I now get to do this for our Sydney customers every day.”

While Brad has kept his commitment in Sydney open-ended, one of the goals of his move is to find the right people to fill positions in the Corsair Solutions sales and support teams.

Corsair Solutions has also signed a distribution agreement with Metus Technology, the Istanbul, Turkey based developer of Media Asset Management solutions.

NEWS + PEOPLE

“We are excited to get Corsair Solutions on board,” says Busra Ipekci, Business Development Manager at Metus. “With the scalability and versatility of Metus solutions combined with Corsair’s ability to deliver turnkey projects through their network of experienced resellers and system integrators, I’m confident that we’ll be able to address many cross-platform workflow requirements across Australia.”

8

“We have a wide base of experience at Corsair Solutions. Working with resellers and system integrators across many verticals such as the Broadcast, Post-Production, Security, Medical and Education markets, we believe that Metus is going to be a successful addition to our portfolio,” says Mark Lampard.

Visit www.corsairsolutions.com.au

NEP Group Appoints President and COO NEP GROUP HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of Keith Andrews, currently CEO and Managing Director of NEP Australia (formerly Global Television), to the newly- created role of President and COO of NEP Broadcasting.

Mr Andrews takes on responsibility for the Group’s outside broadcasting, host broadcasting and studio operations in the US, Europe and Australia. He will relocate from Sydney to NEP’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, USA next month and report to NEP Group CEO, Kevin Rabbitt.

Concurrently, Soames Treffry, NEP Australia’s Director of Commercial and Television, has been promoted to President of NEP Australia, reporting to Mr Andrews. Mr Treffry will lead the company’s Australian business – retaining his client-facing responsibilities and also assuming full accountability for commercial operations.

Mr Andrews said, “It has been my great privilege to lead the NEP Australia team through five years of local and international growth. It is a credit to our team that our business has done so well and is regarded favourably by clients and the wider marketplace. I look forward to continuing to champion their efforts while working with Kevin and my NEP worldwide colleagues to drive further growth.”

Mr Treffry said, “We’ve got the best people and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to lead them in our mission to deliver outstanding innovation, customer service and value for our clients. I bring great enthusiasm and passion for television that as a company we’ll bring to every project. It’s an evolution not a revolution. I’m really excited about what the worldwide NEP network can do for our customers.”

Mr Andrews has been CEO and Managing Director of NEP Australia since March 2010. Before that he had an extensive international career, primarily in technology-related ventures. He has been a director of several private and publicly-listed technology companies, including six years in various executive roles with NYSE-listed Stratus Technologies in the US and Asia.

Mr Treffry joined the company in February 2012 as Director of Television and Commercial from FOX Sports, where over 16 years he held a variety of production, programming and promotional roles, culminating with Director of FOX Sports Channels.

Visit www.nepinc.com and www.globaltv.com.au

Joan Withers Appointed New Chair of TVNZ NZ BROADCASTING MINISTER Amy Adams has announced the appointment of Joan Withers as the Chair of Television New Zealand (TVNZ).

“Ms Withers is a highly experienced director, having held several challenging and high profile positions in some of New Zealand’s most iconic companies,” says Ms Adams. “Her background and expertise in media positions her well to take the helm of TVNZ at a time when it’s growing its online presence.

“As Deputy Chair of the TVNZ Board since 2009, Ms Withers brings continuity, solid industry knowledge and significant governance leadership experience to the role.”

Currently the Chair of Mighty River Power, Ms Withers sits on the board of the ANZ. She formerly chaired Auckland International Airport and was previously Chief Executive of Fairfax Media New Zealand.

Her term runs from 1 May 2015 to 30 April 2016.

NEWS + PEOPLE

4K, Big Colour and Accelerating Rate of Change at NAB 2015 Every year the National Association of Broadacasters (NAB) Convention brings with it a whirlwind of new technologies, either in the form of products on display or at the technology summit. At a post-NAB event hosted by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and Telstra, Stuart Pointon, National Business Development Manager at LEMAC, and Gary Traver Director Media Engineering at Telstra, gave their impressions from NAB 2015.

STUART POINTON was mostly interested in what took place in the Technology Summit, relaying the most interesting parts of the sessions he attended.

“If you’ve never been to the Technology Summit at NAB, I would really recommend you go. They have absolutely outstanding speakers, and it covers a huge range of technologies from the content creation all the way through to the cinema, and also involving displays and getting it to the consumer as well,” said Stuart Pointon. “We’re finally getting to the focus now turning to image quality as a whole rather than just focusing on one brand, whether that be 4K, 2K, 8K, what have you. It’s not just about the number of pixels. The other thing that was probably the real theme is actually preserving and creating intent, so now as we move along to massive screens, to mobile devices, television, etc., how do we actually preserve how it’s created, what the director and the producers intend?”

“One area that has come about is big colour. In the old days, we had Rec. 709 or we had SD before that, and that was all we had to worry about in fact, so we didn’t even know about it, just picked up a camera and shot it.

Nowadays you’ve got cinematography cameras,” explained Pointon. “You have Rec. 709, we have DCI-P3 colour space, Rec. 2020 and so on, so now we’re trying to figure out how we can handle all these large colour gamuts.

We’ve got laser projectors coming through, and how we handle that kind of workflow.

NEWS + PEOPLE

“The Dolby 4000 nit display, I don’t know whether Dolby are going to bring it to the SMPTE show, but it’s just remarkable. If you think you’ve seen good pictures, that’s just probably one of the best I’ve ever seen, and that’s a real story on where the content and the display and the experience for the consumer is going to be going. Canon also showed a 2000 nit HDR (High Dynamic Range) display, which was very impressive as well.

10

walk around and you talk to a bunch of people, you talk to vendors, you catch up with your friends, and you get a sense of kind of the way that people are feeling, and what was really interesting was that there was this sense of prevailing urgency, and when you look at the technology that was being displayed - there’s nothing really new that was earth shattering that came out this year,” said Traver. “I mean all of these things that we’re going to talk about, they’ve been in some form of development or some form of progression for a while, but when you look at the pace and the rate of change, and then when you look at the huge number of things that are changing simultaneously, you can tell that people are racing to try to figure out how they catch up. Many changes across many disciplines, and these disciplines and the way these changes are occurring, they are all impacting each other, and they are accelerating.”

“What you see is that all of these vendors and all these equipment providers that are creating these capabilities, they are extending their capabilities because the software that they’re using is enabling to extend their capabilities. Now, in places where people were once not competing, they were working side by side, what you see is that their products are overlapping and they’re overlapping in a way that you now see new forms of competition emerge,” said Traver.

“4K has normalised. When you looked at it, you looked at all the workflow.

Not only has 4K normalised, but you see a lot of contribution of 6K and it was completely built into the workflow, it was completely normalised.

If you looked at IBC 18 months ago, people were just coming out with trials of 4K. And then 8K - there’re a number of pieces of equipment that were consumer ready or near consumer ready, so you see 8K capabilities around the corner, very interesting - it’s what I’m talking about in terms of the rate of acceleration and how that impacts all of us.”

“Immersive sound for cinema, object mapping was a big issue with the studios where we’ve got Dolby ATMOS, the DTS, so the studios have to make a separate mastering code for each of those soundtracks, let alone all their other stuff, so a big burden for them so they are trying to make some standard to cope with that as well.”

“HEVC is emerging as the new standard for acquisition and contribution, 4K and 8K will not work without it. To be fully realised, we have to get the processing power significantly faster because the overwhelming processing capability tends to create a 4K or 8K signal. The latency that’s generated is too long and it can’t be that long in order to be a really true contribution capability,” added Traver.

Gary Traver was interested in the macro trends of the industry and the show, such as the increased rate of change that is being experienced within the industry, overlapping capabilities, the normalisation of 4K, and HEVC.

There was, of course, much more on show at NAB, with drones in particular being everywhere. IP video and HDR were also shown by a number of vendors on the show floor.

“What’s interesting about the highlights of the show, and you know you

More NAB news next issue.

ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition

Cinematographer Callan Green Moves to the Music with Miller WHEN VETERAN AUSTRALIAN CINEMATOGRAPHER Callan Green ACS was

literary and film classics, moving through life trapped within their own thoughts.

was fairly heavy, requiring the support of the heavy duty Cineline 70 fluid head.

given the challenge of capturing the creative mindset for local Brisbane singer Eves The Behavior’s latest music video, he turned to his trusted Miller Cineline 70 Fluid Head for the cinematic-style shoot.

“The music video had a great deal of considered, slow shots, with many of the actors moving at half-speed during the video’s opening scenes,” Green says. “It was extremely helpful to have the Cineline 70 fluid head with me on this shoot, as its larger payload capacity and fluid movement allowed me to comfortably work with a longer lens, like a 45-250mm, without feeling any restrictions while panning through the scene.”

Particularly helpful during this project was the Cineline 70 fluid head’s rear-mounted, illuminated pan/tilt drag, counterbalance controls and bubble level, as many of the shots were heavily backlit, and to some extent, underexposed. “Logue’s main visual idea was to go as dark as possible, so the illuminated controls were a really beautiful asset to have on hand,” he says. “In a press of the button, I could instantly see all of the settings allowing me to move as quickly as possible yet continue to keep up the quality of imagery that we were after.”

Capturing the creative content for the music video, which supports the singer’s new single, TV, was a 10-hour endeavor. As the scene was to be set within the grounds of an old, disused mental hospital in Sydney, Australia, Green, along with his art director and gaffer, were tasked with transforming the space into a simplistic motel.

To complete the motif, actors were cast as an assortment of complex characters, inspired by

On set, Green and his director, Josh Logue, chose to shoot everything on a slowly tracking dolly, generally between 50-100fps. His camera of choice was the Sony F65 CineAlta 4K digital motion picture camera, which once loaded up

Visit www.millertripods.com

Ben’s Camera Hire Upgrades with ARRI AMIRA Cameras MELBOURNE-BASED BEN’S CAMERA HIRE had been keeping a close eye on the developments surrounding ARRI’s AMIRA camera before deciding to purchase a unit from ARRI Australia to upgrade their fleet.

Owner Ben Bateman explained, “Following the success of the ALEXA, it was clear that the AMIRA was a camera to keep a close eye on as it progressed to its final production form – particularly given that it promised the same image quality as the ALEXA in a form factor that would suit many different kinds of production.”

Over the years Bateman has learned from his customers that the most important characteristics of a camera are image quality, tone reproduction, dynamic range, reliability, thoughtful design so that it’s compatible with standard practices, and a sensible postproduction workflow.

Bateman continued, “Outright resolution, beyond being able to master at modern HD standards, is typically not a major consideration – particularly with it being so common right now to use vintage lenses or diffusion filters

to produce more subjectively pleasing images.

We do, however, work with some producers who insist on a camera that is capable of 4K acquisition, so the recent upgrade from ARRI that adds this functionality to the AMIRA now helps the AMIRA gain even wider acceptance throughout the industry.”

Ben’s Camera Hire has a diverse range of customers who in turn are responsible for a wide range of productions with greatly varying budgets, something Bateman acknowledges is another plus for the AMIRA adding, “While there is not a single camera that is the best choice for every job, we feel the AMIRA strikes a good balance between several, often competing factors, to make it one of the most versatile cameras available.”

we could buy with confidence as a rental house.”

Before purchasing their AMIRA Bateman studied its reliability, functionality and flexibility to make sure they would live up to his company’s high expectations. “ARRI’s considerable experience in creating beautiful images, combined with unmatched build quality, thoughtful design and a commitment to long product cycles mean the AMIRA was a camera

Bateman concluded, “We believe that, in turn, this is an important factor in our customers being able to trust us. For this reason, Stefan and his team at ARRI Australia are becoming a much bigger part of our business.”

As Ben’s Camera Hire business develops (the company is soon to rebrand as Offshoot Rentals) Ben Bateman is placing more emphasis on building relationships with suppliers they can trust.

Visit www.arri.com.au

ACQUISITION

Quinto Supplies Miniature Cameras to the Sydney Opera House

12

AS PART OF AN UPDATE of their video facilities,

shots during a live performance.

the prestigious Sydney Opera House has installed a number of the new Marshall Electronics CV500-M2 HDSDI Miniature Broadcast Cameras. Being small and unobtrusive these cameras may be attached to music stands or even the instruments themselves, thereby enabling Opera House staff obtain an unprecedented range of novel and interesting

Supplied by Quinto Communications, these

in low light conditions and RS485 remote control from the optional VS-PTC-50 remote control unit.

manage to squeeze many features into a small

A range of 12 different interchangeable M12 mount lenses is also available for the CV-500-M2 camera to support angles of view from 5.6 degrees up to 94 degrees.

package including digital noise reduction for use

Visit www.quinto.com.au

miniature cameras are less than 4cm long, yet are capable of delivering full broadcast high definition (HDTV) images. In addition, the cameras

ACQUISITION

NEP Provides Cinema Style 4K Experience at Cricket World Cup with Sony THE 2015 CRICKET WORLD CUP was the 11th Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015. Fourteen teams played 49 matches in 14 venues, with Australia staging 26 games at grounds in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney while New Zealand hosted 23 games in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington. As part of the 2015 Cricket World Cup broadcast services specialist NEP offered viewers a true 4K experience by using Sony PMW-F55 4K cameras and a Sony 4K switcher.

NEP Director of technical services, Marc Segar explained, “We wanted to offer a true cinema style 4K experience and this led us to the Sony F55 cameras. We were already ordering new 4K capable Sony switchers, and so it made sense to work with Sony for the complete end to end solution.”

Nine PMW-F55 4K camera systems were used to capture the action and produce the dedicated 4K coverage with some of the camera feeds also downconverted to HD via the camera base station and provided for use in the regular HD production.

In addition to the 4K resolution Segar and his team had to consider sensors and lenses. He added, “We wanted to capture the Cricket World Cup in 4K. Once that decision was made the F55 made perfect sense as we had also decided to use cinema style lenses and the F55 is a full 4K sensor camera so it was the ideal solution.”

Footage shot with the F55 cameras was transmitted to India for end users in 4K. To achieve this NEP employed a simple but effective workflow with Segar explaining, “The 4K output of the Sony switcher was encoded to IP and sent to India over fibre by BT Media & Broadcast, this was then distributed to home viewers via satellite and decoded on 4K set-top-boxes-. As a result the quality and viewing experience was excellent.”

Segar also went on to describe exactly why the Sony F55 was the ideal camera for the 2015 Cricket World Cup saying, “The F55 performed like a regular broadcast camera which is a big plus. We compared the F55 against the current range of 4K products on offer from other manufacturers including Sony’s own HDC4300.

At the end of the day, for this project the choice of lens also helped drive the camera choice. That said the HDC-4300 is a very impressive product but the F55 also allowed us to offer PL mount lenses and a theatrical look for a live sporting event. No other camera option would have allowed us to achieve that.”

The cinema style lenses and large Super 35mm sized sensor of the F55 allowed for the desired cinematic look, but the camera also provided the flexibility to utilise the large traditional B4 mount broadcast lenses that have no equivalent in the cinema world. Using the Sony B4 adaptor enabled NEP to connect the high quality broadcast 95x zoom lens they required and thus get the close up shots at the centre of the pitch.

The F55 also offers high dynamic range, the widest colour gamut, and pristine image quality in HD, 2K, QFHD and 4K. To operate in a standard broadcast environment NEP used the camera with a CA-4000 camera adaptor and BPU-4000 that allowed the use of traditional SMPTE fibre cabling and standard broadcast RCP control panels, CCUs and accessories.

In addition to the 4K cameras there was also a dedicated 4K graphics package that was produced.

The increase in resolution for these graphics made it possible to include more detail and higher resolution imagery for player photos and stats. Then by using the Sony MVS-8000X switcher’s 4K upconversion capabilities NEP were able to integrate HD only sources, such as a specialist shot analysis system, into the main 4K production. Finally monitoring was conducted on Sony PVM-X300 30” professional displays and a large Sony 4K Bravia to replicate the viewer’s final experience.

Visit http://pro.sony.com.au

ARRI Film & TV Becomes ARRI Media ON 7TH MAY 2015, ARRI Film & TV Services GmbH was officially renamed ARRI Media GmbH in the commercial register. The new name is a consequence of major restructuring within the company, a subsidiary of ARRI AG that offers a variety of

production, postproduction and distribution services from several facilities within Germany.

ARRI Australia will be unaffected by the European name change.

Visit www.arri.com

ACQUISITION

Blackmagic Design Announces New Cameras

New Super-Wide Anamorphic Zoom from ARRI

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K, Micro Cinema Camera, and URSA Mini, at NAB 2015.

The Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and features broadcast grade Ultra HD sensor that shoots with amazing clarity so customers can see more texture and detail in their images than ever before.

The new Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K can be used for both HD and Ultra HD production and features a built in colour corrector, talkback, tally indicator, PTZ control output, B4 lens control output, and an extremely flexible MFT lens mount that is easily converted to other lens mounts via third party adapters.

The camera also features 6G-SDI output and a program return input that allows it to be controlled remotely from a switcher using Blackmagic’s SDI control protocol.

The Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera is a miniaturised Super 16mm professional digital film camera with a new expansion port that lets customers use PWM and S.Bus model airplane remote controls to operate the camera wirelessly for capturing action anywhere.

The expansion port also includes composite video out with overlays so the customer can use the same low cost video transmitters to get real time feedback from the camera for framing, confirming camera settings and to see the state of recording.

The expansion connector includes 4 PWM channels for using all brands of control gear, or custom wiring, as well as a single S.Bus connection, which can accept up to 18 channels of control using the single cable.

The miniaturised design of the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera features a body that is not much larger than the Micro Four Thirds lens mount, making it as small as a camera with a professional lens can be. Its core is made out of a lightweight and strong magnesium alloy so it’s durable enough to use anywhere, from the ocean floor to the stratosphere or beyond.

Blackmagic URSA Mini is designed to be used on feature films, television shows, commercials, indies, documentaries, music videos, and more. The quality of its 4.6K sensor with 15 stops of dynamic range lets customers capture epic cinematic shots, while its compact size is perfect for solo shoots or smaller crews. URSA Mini features multiple mounting points so it can be easily accessorised with high quality cinema lenses, rails, matte boxes, and more.

Blackmagic URSA Mini includes built in histograms, focus assist, audio level meters, dual RAW and ProRes recorders, high quality stereo microphones and a 5 inch fold out screen that can be used as an on set monitor.

ACQUISITION

Blackmagic URSA Mini’s 4.6K sensor captures 4608 x 2592 pixels and features a global shutter for shooting up to 30 frames per second and up to a super wide 15 stops of dynamic range that delivers more latitude than traditional motion picture film. Blackmagic URSA Mini can also shoot up to 60 frames per second with rolling shutter for customers that need to work at higher frame rates.

14

THE NEW ARRI Anamorphic Ultra Wide Zoom AUWZ 19-36/T4.2 is a unique lens that perfectly complements the ARRI/ZEISS Master Anamorphic lenses by extending the range to cover extreme wide-angle focal lengths between 19 mm and 36 mm, without sacrificing image quality.

The telecentric optical design of the AUWZ means that it has highly uniform field illumination, from the centre to the very corners of the image. With the anamorphic elements positioned at the rear of the lens, focus breathing is virtually non-existent, distortion is kept to an absolute minimum and straight lines stay straight, even at close focus. The patented, cutting-edge lens technologies built into the AUWZ render an inverted image at the sensor plane – a side-effect of the unique design that is overcome with the simple press of a button on most high-end digital cinema cameras.

With a minimum object distance just beyond the front lens element, the AUWZ allows dramatic and highly emotive close-ups that simply haven’t been possible with Cinemascope before. Flares, which are very well controlled by the multilayer, anti-reflective lens coating, generate a creaminess around highlights that gives night shots an ethereal and magic quality.

The AUWZ significantly extends the reach of ARRI’s anamorphic lens system, which currently comprises seven Master Anamorphic focal lengths ranging from 35 mm to 135 mm and their corresponding Master Anamorphic Flare Sets.

Visit www.arri.com

RED Digital Cinema Unveils WEAPON RED DIGITAL CINEMA has unveiled the newest member of the 6K DRAGON family – WEAPON. WEAPON combines the optimal colour science and dynamic range of the 19 megapixel RED DRAGON sensor with all new built-in functionality and intuitive design.

Interchangeable I/O expanders enable you to configure your rig to fit every production type. WEAPON’s inherent usability frees you from cables by incorporating peripherals with integrated circuitry, including top handle and LCD display options that connect directly to the DSMC BRAIN. Onboard wireless connectivity allows for remote camera control using iOS or Android mobile devices.

The Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder features a high resolution 1920 x 1080 colour OLED display and glass based optics that’s incredibly accurate and sharp so customers get a viewfinder that allows perfect focusing and operates just like an optical viewfinder.

The 19 megapixel RED DRAGON sensor can capture 6K motion and stills at up to 100 frames per second. The redesigned BRAIN infrastructure enabled RED to make a number of enhancements like automatic black shade calibrations, improved low light sensor performance, and implement a new intelligent OLPF system. WEAPON BRAINs are also equipped to support 1D and 3D LUTs – giving colourists and post-production teams more control than ever before.

Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

Visit www.red.com

ACQUISITION

SONY’S EXHIBITION AT NAB 2015 featured demonstrations of High Dynamic Range (HDR) technologies and workflows, which open up new possibilities for creative expression and viewing experiences.

“As the industry pursues resolutions of 4K and beyond, the impact of dynamic range on the overall image quality is often understated,” said Anthony Kable, Senior Product Manager, Sony Australia. “The pictures speak for themselves, highlighting High Dynamic Range’s ability to create superior colour and imagery. HDR is becoming a more visible technology, recreating stunning images in true colours, previously only captured by the human eye.”

Sony’s HDR mastering process consists of a combination of high brightness, high contrast, wide colour gamut, and high resolution that requires video from a top-quality camera, together with a master monitor capable of faithfully reproducing High Dynamic Range images.

Sony’s F65 and PMW-F55 CineAlta cameras deliver a colour gamut wider than that of print film, and a wide dynamic range (14 stops) that faithfully captures light and dark areas with minimal white clip and black crush. Now, for the first time, there is also a monitor available that can fully display the outstanding capabilities of such cameras – Sony’s new BVM-X300 4K OLED master monitor. It uses a unique wide colour gamut OLED panel and an original colour management system to deliver truly high brightness, high contrast, and a wide colour gamut – all at 4K (4096 × 2160) resolution.

HDR imaging opens the way to highlights that go beyond the limits of broadcast standards, while significantly expanding the colour gamut.

Bright areas that are typically saturated in conventional Standard Dynamic Range now retain their true colours in High Dynamic Range, giving video producers access to a broader creative range and new levels of realism and expressiveness. Furthermore, HDR reproduction can also be applied to existing F65 and PMW-F55 RAW image assets – affording these images a new lease of life, and adding new value.

Bringing high-dynamic-range content into the home is another important goal. Sony is planning to launch household televisions with high dynamic range capabilities within 2015.

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

Support for 4K 60fps AJA Raw on Shogun AJA VIDEO SYSTEMS and Atomos have announced that the Shogun portable recorder will support external recording of AJA Raw files captured by the CION professional production camera.

“We are very pleased to welcome the AJA CION to the Shogun family, our goal is to sit on top of the best image producing devices in the world, CION’s unique design and pristine image quality have captured the attention of Shogun users and we simply had to support it,” said Jeromy Young, Atomos CEO. “Shogun is an established player in portable recorders, with support for many compressed codecs, and now it will offer CION customers an excellent solution for recording pristine AJA Raw,” said AJA President Nick Rashby. ”We’re pleased to bring AJA customers an integrated workflow with CION and Shogun to easily record CION’s uncompressed 4K Raw format.”

Atomos Shogun users will now be able to record CION’s AJA Raw at 4K and UltraHD resolutions, at up to 60fps. The AJA Raw format offers simple post production workflow options as it is processed into a common DNG file wrapper supported by major content creation, editing and finishing tools, including new ingest/playout support in AJAs 4K Desktop products.

Visit www.aja.com and www.atomos.com

Ikegami Announces Hand-Held 8K UHDTV Camera System IKEGAMI TSUSHINKI CO., LTD. has collaborated with Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) to develop an 8K ultra high-definition television (UHDTV) camera.

Designed for live studio and field production, the SHK-810 camera head is compact and weighs less than 9 kg. It can be operated in the same way as the existing Ikegami broadcast camera systems.

The Ikegami SHK-810 camera employs a single 33 million-pixel Super 35 CMOS sensor, achieving 4,000 TVL horizontal and vertical resolution. The colour filter on the sensor employs a dual-green SHV colour arrangement and achieves a high level of modulation depth.

The System Expander enables the use of large viewfinders and full studio lenses, converting the portable camera into a full-facility studio/field camera.

A viewfinder detail (VF DTL) function allows the camera operator to increase the detail edges to the viewfinder and picture monitor video for easy focusing.

A lens aberration correction function and communication features (tally, intercom, etc.) are also available for conventional HDTV camera operation.

The PL-Lens mount allows the operator to use the camera with 8K lenses, cine lenses, 4K lenses, and custom-designed zoom lenses for single-chip SHV cameras. A flange-back adjustment system is built-in, enabling back focus adjustment of PL-mount lenses without shims.

Visit www.ikegami.co.jp

JVC Demonstrates New 4KCAM Camcorders JVC PROFESSIONAL VIDEO has showcased its new 4KCAM product line at NAB 2015. The three new models – the GY-LS300 Super 35mm camcorder, GYHM200 streaming camcorder, and GY-HM170 compact camcorder – accommodate a variety of workflows with the latest advancements in 4K imaging and efficient encoding for seamless workflow integration The flagship camera for the 4KCAM product line, the GY-LS300, is designed for cinematographers, documentarians, and broadcast production departments.

It features JVC’s 4K Super 35 CMOS sensor and an industry standard Micro Four Thirds (MFT) lens mount. JVC’s unique Variable Scan Mapping technology electronically adapts the active area of the Super 35 sensor to provide native support of PL and EF mount lenses, among many others.

Both the GY-LS300 and GY-HM200 include a built-in HD streaming engine with Wi-Fi and 4G LTE connectivity that allows live HD transmission directly to hardware decoders, the Wowza Streaming Engine, and the ProHD Broadcaster server powered by Zixi.

JVC’s GY-HM200 features a 1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS chip and built-in 12x zoom lens (24x dynamic zoom in HD mode) with optical image stabiliser. It delivers 4K Ultra HD, 4:2:2 Full HD (50Mbps), and SD imagery. The GY-HM200 and the GY-LS300 also include dual XLR audio inputs that are mic/line switchable with built-in phantom power, an integrated handle with hot shoe and dedicated microphone mount, and SDI and HDMI video outputs Compact but powerful; the GY-HM170 features a heavy duty body with comprehensive video profile settings and controls for professional use. It records 4K Ultra HD as H.264 files, and can record HD and SD footage in a variety of resolutions and frame rates.

Visit http://pro.jvc.com

ACQUISITION

Sony Showcases High Dynamic Range

15

SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide

www.content-technology.com/sportscasting

Gearhouse Broadcast Australia Launches HD9 Hybrid Supertruck GEARHOUSE BROADCAST AUSTRALIA’S new HD9 is Australia’s first full, multi-purpose, hybrid OB facility offering a bespoke range of broadcast and production facilities to clients, customers, and users. As well as having the very latest in RF, graphics, and EVS capabilities, HD9 has also been configured so it can offer the facilities provided by small and midsize trucks but with the advantage of a far larger production area.

Gearhouse Broadcast Australia Head of Engineering, Stephen Edwards, explained, “HD9 was built primarily to provide a suitable facility that could house a number of unique aspects of the V8 Supercars TV production requirements that were either previously being out-boarded into site sheds or in the case of the new Fox Sports unilateral production, had not previously existed on site and required a dedicated bespoke facility.”

From 2015 onwards as part of their V8 Supercar coverage Fox Sports required an on-site production facility capable of delivering a high-end multi camera production from every race. In answer to that requirement Gearhouse built HD9, a truck that could immediately provide a state of the art production facility particularly geared to integrating fully with their existing HD5 supertruck on every V8 round.

HD9 was also specifically designed to incorporate on-board camera systems, radio microphone and IFB systems, handheld radio cameras, UHF communications, on air graphics equipment and the operators and technicians who had previously been out-boarded into multiple site sheds.

HD9 also brought with it a new way of working for Gearhouse’s clients.

With modern add-ons, downstream or unilateral broadcast productions, the requirement for physical cameras and hardware in the field is lessened as the host or upstream facility houses much of this requirement.

However, the unilateral OB facility as far as production personnel space,

communications capability, workflow, monitoring, processing, and QC are concerned needs to be catered for as though in a much larger facility.

Edwards added, “With HD9 we have been able to optimise the facility for the high-end unilateral or down-stream style production whilst incorporating several specialist areas of broadcast commonly related to bigger events and have avoided tying up space and resources in housing unnecessary equipment that would commonly be associated with an OB unit of this physical size.”

From a technical standpoint HD9 stands out in terms of its flexibility.

Whilst HD9 follows the Gearhouse model of standardising the OB trucks core systems by utilising Sony MVS7000X VMU switchers, Lawo MC56 audio consoles, Riedel communications matrices and Miranda NV hybrid routing matrices the truck can be used in many different configurations.

As well as being a fully standalone OB facility capable of 14 cameras and 4 EVS 8 channel XT3 replay servers with associated hardware, HD9 also houses equipment and operational areas for the deployment of up to 18 wireless camera systems, 16 combined and filtered UHF communications bases, and 12 channels of wireless microphone and IFB equipment with multi-fibre optically connected and combined receive site capability for all RF systems. The additional incorporation of up to 9 VizRT graphics engines and associated IO and processing makes HD9 an incredibly powerful live production facility.

Steve Edwards concluded, “HD9 can be a small truck with a large production area, a supertruck or a hybrid truck with all the RF and IFP bells and whistles. In building it in the multi-purpose way we have we are able to deliver a bespoke product that our clients require for their specific productions every time.”

Visit www.gearhousebroadcast.com

Editrix Doubles with Videocraft for Cycling Coverage RECENTLY, AUSTRALIAN COMPANY VIDEOCRAFT provided a four camera OB solution with edit suite and EVS recording for some of the country’s most prestigious cycling events. The events were produced and coordinated by leading television services companies, Editrix.

SPORTSCASTING

Editrix Executive Producer, Ian Gates, explained, “Editrix has a long history of hiring facilities from Videocraft. The unique side to the relationship is that their MD James Taylor has a keen interest in cycling and understands exactly what I need to do the job properly. This year our brief to Videocraft was that we needed to provide fast turnaround daily highlights packages for all the events and to achieve this we would utilise their newly refurbished OB truck.”

16

The volume of work Editrix hired the Videocraft production facility for over the summer of 2015 included the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic (4 x 1 hour programmes), the Road National Championships (3 x 1 hour programmes + 1 x 1 hour combined highlights programme), the Subaru Track Championships (3 x 1 hour programmes + 3 x live stream telecasts), and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (5 x 1 hour programmes + one international highlights programme).

Gates sees Videocraft’s newly equipped OB truck as essential to meet his tight deadlines and deliverables. The fully internally and externally refurbished, ten-seat IP-based OB truck now has new air conditioning, racks, ergonomic production furniture and electrics throughout. The truck also has the ability to be configured as either a mobile edit facility complete

with Avid edit suites, Isis storage and Avid Interplay, an EVS facility or as a traditional OB truck. As a facility for Videocraft’s clients the OB truck is a proper extension of what the company does best, post production integration featuring the latest in smart, IT-centric connectivity.

Ian Gates concluded, “I honestly don’t think there is another mobile production facility to match Videocraft’s which would meet our needs in the market. The production values we were able to achieve by using the truck on this summer’s races were the best yet. Videocraft’s expertise, service and support were excellent. It’s a real labour of love for them and with James Taylor there to personally oversee each production we couldn’t ask for a better solution. We are very much looking forward to working with Videocraft on the next series of cycling events.”

Visit www.editrix.com.au and www.videocraft.com.au

See us at infoComm booth 1325

MORE connectivity ... MORE exibility ... MORE MEDIORNET MEDIORNET MICRON

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

Vizrt AR and Virtual Set Transform Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia has always been known for innovation. Looking to take that reputation one step further, they turned to Vizrt for live augmented 3D graphics within their studio shows to provide audiences with something they had never seen before.

FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA has worked with Vizrt over the years for a range of digital production tools, including master control presentation graphics. In 2013, Senior Director Paul Slater decided it was time to offer Australian audiences something completely new. Inspired by what he had first seen on American television, Slater looked to upgrade the network’s studio and the look and feel of its live programming and magazine shows with live 3D augmented reality graphics.

To get realism and desired ‘wow factor’, as well as real-time video, graphics and editing functionality, Fox Sports Australia selected Vizrt’s Viz Virtual Studio product in combination with mechanical tracking hardware from StypeGrip. The system provides augmented reality graphics and a virtual set that enables storytelling in a new, dramatically more compelling and very visual way.

BRINGING SPORTS COVERAGE TO LIFE Viz Virtual Studio enhances all broadcasts through augmented reality graphics and 3D virtual sets. At Fox Sports Australia, designers used toolsets to bring new life to sports coverage of all kinds.

The Fox Sports team uses Viz Virtual Studio’s intuitive interface for the freedom to bring in any object and place it in a real-world environment.

A single Fox Sports operator or designer can handle complex productions that would normally require several operators, freeing up valuable time to be creative and concentrate on overall efficiency.

As Paul Slater says, “If we can picture it and have it made in a 3D world, we can display it, in and amongst our set and presenters. The only limit is our imagination, as the system has proven time and time again to be able to display extremely complex graphics and animations. The Vizrt tools combined with the Stype Kit have really changed the way we are able to tell a story and display information to our viewers. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback.”

Using an easy drag-and-drop interface, the Fox artists and designers can easily set up and create graphics using tools such as the new Defocus Shader that emulates the focus effects of optical lenses to create a virtual set nearly indistinguishable from a real-world studio. Fox Sports coupled their realistic set with overlaid graphics to create an enhanced yet completely realistic presentation.

DESIGNING A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

SPORTSCASTING

When it comes to actually building the virtual sets and 3D animations, Fox Sports graphics designers turn to Viz Artist to build, animate, and compose their virtual environment. In addition to enhancing their existing sets with virtual objects that in-studio talent can interact with, they can now easily merge social media feeds into the virtual environment. Viz Artist also helps make their everyday tasks such as building geometry and creating fonts for lower third graphics more efficient.

“You’re only as good as your designers”, says Mr Slater. “ At Fox Sports, we’re fortunate to have some of the best Viz artists going around. O ur Viz team, led by Andrew Moss, constantly push the limits of what’s possible – these tools enable them to do that.”

Viz Artist also provides full video support. The Fox Sports team can use video within scenes or as textures mapped onto geometry using UVW coordinates.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT When it was time to select a camera crane system, Slater went beyond the traditional system operated from a standard mini crane, and turned to StypeGrip, a young company that provides virtual reality crane systems for the film and television industries. Their Stype Kit add-on turns the industry-standard Stanton Jimmy crane into an encoded crane capable of data tracking and output to rendering engines such as Viz Engine.

For Slater, a key feature of the Stype Kit was its ability to automatically aim and focus to a fixed point in 3D space, particularly important when working with virtual graphics as it enables the crane operator to lock in on an object not physically present in the studio. The kit provides the full range of pan, tilt, arm, zoom and positional data.

“The completely free range of movement of this tracking system is really what enabled us to take the virtual studio and give our studio and graphics completely real-word motion and realism,” explains Slater. “It takes what we’re able to accomplish with Vizrt tools to a whole new level.”

In the Fox Sports studio, precise coordinates of the camera head in 3D space are tracked to Viz Engine. Using this positional data, any computergenerated objects or animations can be added to a real-life set to create an augmented-reality set. Moving the camera in 3D space without limitations and with full realism provided never-before-seen production value and realism.

After initial calibration, the StypeGrip system continually feeds Viz Engine, giving viewers’ completely realistic graphics with the sense that they’re locked to the floor.

Vizrt, StypeGrip and Fox Sports worked in concert to ensure that all system components integrated seamlessly. Fortunately, there weren’t any snags and the system worked perfectly. For Vizrt, a few calibration tweaks in the initial setup process was all it took to ensure the highest quality data.

StypeGrip CEO, Stjepan Cajic, says, “This project was positive feedback for us at StypeGrip, once again showing we’re going the right way. Fox Sports Australia has high standards for their programming and we were glad that we could provide them with a solution they were looking for, and even surprise them with a few additional perks!”

A VERSATILE SYSTEM FOR VARIED APPLICATIONS A large part of Fox Sports’ Viz Virtual Studio system’s value lies in its versatility. It can work with any crane/tracking system and its functionality makes it ideal for many applications, not just inside the studio.

As for how the new virtual set and augmented reality graphics are being received he only needs to look within his own organisation. “Sometimes huge efforts get lost on viewers. In TV, we’re our own worst critics. We’re now incorporating the technology into every show and receiving a ton of praise internally. In fact, we’re seeing some competitiveness now as everyone wants to be part of what’s new and better. New ideas are pushing everyone and that can only mean great things to come.”

Visit www.vizrt.com

18

045 V

SPORTSCASTING

Imagine Communications Anchors New NEP Australia HD OB Truck Imagine Communications, a leader in video infrastructure, advertising systems and workflow management solutions serving the media networks, broadcast stations, digital media, communication service provider and enterprise markets, announced that it has supplied the powerful Platinum IP3 routing platform to NEP Australia. The router will be deployed in NEP Australia’s new state-of-the-art HD broadcast trailer.

“WE ARE CONSTANTLY UPGRADING our outside broadcast fleet to ensure we always provide the most advanced and attractive capabilities to our clients,” said Terry Manley, chief engineer, NEP Australia. “The power of the Platinum IP3, in a relatively compact form factor, is a huge advantage when designing our new fleet. The fact that Imagine Communications has a direct presence in Australia is also important, providing us the reassurance of having support from an excellent engineering operation.”

According to Manley, NEP Australia benefits from the Platinum IP3 router’s ability to switch multiple signals in the same frame. Additionally, NEP Australia specified the MADI option on the IP3, allowing it to route multiplexed audio data as well as discrete audio. The truck also supports 32 cameras, multiple replay devices and a large number of auxiliary audio and video inputs. For major events, the truck needs to support as many as six transmission outputs.

In any outside broadcast project, the challenge for the designer is to minimise the rack space occupied by the technical infrastructure and to maximise the functionality while reducing weight. The Platinum IP3 provides a broad range of additional functionality including multiplexing and demultiplexing, signal distribution, audio MADI and sophisticated multiviewer

VSM

capabilities. Embedding all this capability in a single router platform saves space, power and weight.

Additionally, the Platinum IP3 Router helps broadcasters move to hybrid networks with IP broadcast infrastructure alongside traditional broadcast audio and video networks, making it an ideal platform for the transition to software-defined networks.

“We are delighted that the Platinum IP3 router has become a popular choice for outside broadcast trucks around the world,” said Joe Khodeir, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, Imagine Communications. “We designed it to be massively powerful, but also compact and power-thrifty – ideal for the confined space in a truck. We are pleased that our Australian engineering team could work with NEP Australia on this project, and we look forward to seeing the truck in action at some of the country’s biggest sporting and entertainment events.”

The new truck will enter service in the second half of 2015. It will be followed by another truck with the same design specifications, also incorporating an Imagine Communications Platinum IP3 router.

Visit www.imaginecommunications.com

Broadcast Control and Monitoring System

STUDIO

TV MCR

MOBILE

RADIO MCR

STUDIO

TV MCR

MOBILE

RADIO MCR

Freedom of control

Multiple Users

VSM Broadcast Control and Centralising control of all major broadcast equipment components into a single system brings huge flexibility and workflow efficiencies to mobile, studio and MCR applications. Customised user interfaces can be created to combine the needed control functions into simple and intuitive hardware or software control panels.

Modular Modular Peripheral

Peripheral

UMD, IMD & UMD, IMD & Multiviewer

Multiviewer

Video Router

Audio Router

Intercom

Video Router Audio Audio Router System Intercom Video Switcher Console Video Switcher Audio Console System

IP Infrastructure

CCU, VTR, Video Server

Exclusively & proudly sold in Australia by Professional Audio & Television Pty Ltd. www.proaudiotv.com.au

045 VSM Half Page_2.indd 1

Modular Peripheral

UMD, IMD & Multiviewer

Video Router Video Switcher

Audio Router Audio Console

Intercom System

IP Infrastructure

SPORTSCASTING

Call PAT on 02 9476 1272 for more information.

Broadcast System

19

14/03/2015 2:38 pm

NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

Fairfax Goes Into the Field with JVC

By Keith Ford Australian multi-platform media company, Fairfax Media Limited, operate some of the leading news publications in the country, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, The Canberra Times and The Sun-Herald.

ALONG WITH THESE long standing print publications are a portfolio of news websites and tablet and smartphone apps. As with many other online news sites, Fairfax is constantly expanding their video output. This comprises both live video and video on demand coverage of news events with an eye on matching broadcast quality.

It was this need for quality acquisition that led Fairfax to enhance its on-line digital video operations with their recently deployed JVC GY-HM650 HD digital video cameras for use by its video producers and journalists in the field. The compact and lightweight nature of the JVC GY-HM650 makes it ideal for the fast moving live video work for which Fairfax Media needs them.

“When JVC came out with this camera, I just thought this is a really good solution for us to keep everyone’s kit down to a minimum, and they provide us with simpler and better streaming than we could get previously,” said David McMillan, Head of Production for Fairfax Media. “Previously, short of going down the route of a bonded cellular device, to get a live stream out of one of our cameras in the field, we were connected to a laptop, and had the laptop encoding, and pushing to our CDN. And that was ridiculous. Then at the other end of the spectrum there’s the bonded cellular services that require expensive encoders and decoders and an extra thing to carry.“ The JVC cameras are able to connect back to Fairfax video studios and production facilities in Sydney and Melbourne using wired, Wifi or 3G/4G wireless networking. Field video recordings can immediately be transferred back to base for editing using standard file transfer protocols (FTP).

The cameras are also capable of robust live video streaming using a wired, Wifi or 4G mobile connection to the internet, utilising advanced internet streaming technology from Zixi Systems, which is built into the cameras as a standard feature. No external unit or backpack is required.

“That’s a key reason why we went with this solution. Our VJs, they’re oneperson teams who do everything. Minimising the amount of gear they have to carry is really critical,” said McMillan.

The journalists are often in the field alone, managing all the equipment by themselves, streaming live or utilising FTP over a 4G hotspot, all of which makes simplicity key.

“They’re very skilled, but they’re skilled journalists, they need to do postproduction, they need to shoot; we just can’t get people who can do all of that at an expert level,” explains McMillan. “And because they are doing everything, if they don’t have to think about the complexities of setting up a link, then that makes their job so much easier, they can concentrate on what the story is about.”

NEWS OPERATIONS

The cameras are spread across four cities, with three in Sydney, two in Melbourne, and one each in Brisbane and Perth.

20

“We’ve got an individual video journalist in Brisbane and an individual video journalist in Perth. And so those guys, not only are they at the same skill level as the rest of our video journalists; the journalism is always more important than technical skills for us, so we always will hire people who are stronger journalists than technicians,” said McMillan. “But they’re also isolated from support, where in Melbourne and Sydney we have people around who can help. I can set up their cameras before I send them to them,

and then once they hit go on that, we control the live stream from this end.”

Fairfax use the Zixi internet streaming protocol for delivery of a secure live video stream from the field cameras to a Zixi Broadcaster live stream management server running in the cloud on a Linux Operating System, Amazon Web Services Cloud Computing instance.

“Over the last 10 years Fairfax has been making the shift from being a manufacturer of newspapers to being an information company, and part of that is owning less of the resources and using services more, so that’s why we went for this cloud based option for the Zixi server,” said McMillan. “And it works, it’s simple, I’m can be on the corporate network here, I’m able to log into it, I can control, I can see all the inputs coming, and assign all the outputs.

There are two ways that we use this service. One is to stream directly to Akamai, so Akamai hosts the live stream in that instance. So you go camera to internet, internet to Zixi, and that’s a Zixi protected stream. Then from the Zixi server it goes to an Akamai entry point, and Akamai then distributes it to its edge servers for viewers to watch. The other way is from the Zixi server we send it to a Zixi decoder here, so essentially again it gets delivered across a Zixi protocol transport stream to a decoder here, that turns it back into SDI, and it goes into our router system and we can use it in the studios, we can record it, we can feed it via DVN into somewhere else, or we can feed it to Canberra or Melbourne via another decoder.”

The JVC cameras, together with batteries and charging systems, and the Zixi solution for live streaming from the field via the cloud based Zixi Broadcaster management server were delivered by Quinto Communications working in close cooperation with Fairfax’s Digital Media and IT groups, with first major use of the JVC cameras being for coverage of the recent New South Wales State Election.

“On the New South Wales election night, our guy team were doing crosses back to us, not using the Zixi system, because we were still ironing out our decoders at that stage, they were doing it via Hangouts,” said McMillan.

“But they were also then going and getting a short interview with the local Member who’s just won ‘X’ seat. In camera you can also trim it, so they’d go in, they’d mark an in and out point, hit FTP upload, and it would be coming back to us, and then one of our team sitting in a network suite would just pick it up, cut it into a package and away you go.”

The cameras have two separate SD cards that can be recorded onto simultaneously, one in HD and one in SD. The journalist can then continue recording while uploading a file to the FTP server.

“We’ve been actively pursuing finding lightweight ways to do things, and so the New South Wales election was a big experiment for us, but also a big move for us into what we think is a new way of working with these lightweight camera kits, which are still providing us with professional quality results,” concludes McMillan.

Visit www.fairfaxmedia.com.au and www.quinto.com.au

NEWS OPERATIONS

New Orad Maestro Release Integrates MAM and Social Media THE NEW ORAD MAESTRO enterprise graphics suite 6.9 release

production workflow to enrich the story with visually engaging and

offers full integration with the Orad iFind media asset management and Orad Social Media Hub solutions. The release also integrates the Orad WorldMapper 3D map templates within the Maestro graphics production workflow. Other new capabilities include enhanced third-party integrations with Avid, Imagine and EVS production products.

sophisticated maps. Thanks to the integration with Orad’s Social Media

Seamless integration with Orad iFind lets broadcasters take advantage of iFind’s advanced workflow management tools within the Maestro graphics environment to better manage, search and browse media assets.

Easy-to-use map templates can be used seamlessly in the Maestro

Hub, Maestro can receive and publish social media content and graphics.

Maestro 6.9 offers integration with Avid MediaCentral |UX as well as enhanced integration with Avid iNews Command enabling advanced control of Maestro. The new release also supports import of Imagine D-Series playlists into Maestro; integration with EVS’ Xedio for real-time playout of graphics over edited video, and much more.

Visit www.orad.tv

AVIWEST Enhances Video Delivery Over Mobile Satellite with Hughes announced a new collaboration with Hughes Network Systems, LLC, a leading provider of broadband satellite networks and services, to improve delivery of video signals over Inmarsat’s BGAN mobile satellite network.

“Today’s consumers demand crystal-clear video quality on a wide range of devices, which can be a challenging feat for broadcasters when they’re covering a breaking news story or live event,” said Ronan Poullaouec, CTO of AVIWEST. “By combining our DMNG PRO advanced video uplink system with the Hughes 9211-HDR BGAN satellite terminal, we offer a compact, lightweight, and reliable solution for delivering highquality video over Inmarsat’s BGAN network, enabling broadcasters to effectively meet consumer demand for superior quality of service.”

Operating on Inmarsat’s BGAN HDR service network, the Hughes

9211-HDR transmits information in real-time over an adaptive channel, allowing the available satellite bit rate to increase above the minimum committed information rate level. This allows the DMNG PRO to compress video content based on the current network conditions to deliver optimal video quality. The integrated solution is ideally suited for environments where there is no Internet connection or poor 3G/4G cellular wireless network connections.

Rugged and lightweight, the Hughes 9211-HDR terminal features a hardened and compact design that makes it easy to use in remote newsgathering environments. Through the BGAN terminal, users can connect to Inmarsat’s HDR service at streaming broadband speeds of over 650 kbps to quickly transmit video and other critical data.

Visit www.aviwest.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

AVIWEST, A GLOBAL PROVIDER OF video contribution systems, has

21

NEWS OPERATIONS

CNN Top International News Brand in APAC THE LATEST IPSOS AFFLUENT SURVEY once again confirms CNN as the number one international news brand in Asia Pacific, reaching an unrivalled one in three upscale consumers (34%) and more than one in two (53%) C-Level Executives every month. The independent survey also reveals significant audience growth for CNN on both its TV and digital platforms.

On TV, CNN is the most watched international news brand in Asia-Pacific in daily, weekly and monthly reach. CNN has 47% more viewers each month than the next placed news channel and 125% more viewers than the leading business & finance news channel.

In digital, CNN’s monthly reach is 51% higher than the next largest brand.

CNN’s lead is even more clear-cut in key target groups with an 80% advantage with Top Management and 64% with Business Decision Makers.

CNN also recorded substantial growth in TV and digital consumption. In TV, there was strong growth in daily (+13%), weekly (+11%) and monthly (+6%) audience numbers. These numbers surge when it comes to International Travellers (+49% weekly) and Luxury Spenders (+29% weekly). In digital, the monthly digital reach increased by 11% and was most significant in the key target groups of International Business Travellers (+72%) and International Leisure Travellers (+57%).

Vice President of CNN International Advertising Sales for Asia Pacific, Sunita Rajan, said, “This is a spectacular result for CNN and a testament to the commitment we made to our audience – to provide first-class content across multiple platforms.”

Visit www.ipsos.com

Dejero and Aeryon Labs in Exclusive Partnership DEJERO, an innovator in the remote acquisition, cloud management, and multiscreen distribution of professional live video over IP, has announced a strategic technology partnership with small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) manufacturer Aeryon Labs. The partnership will enable secure, real-time distribution of HD video captured by Aeryon sUAS through the Dejero LIVE+ platform. This will enable broadcasters to integrate live video captured with drone technology into their newsgathering, sports coverage, and video productions.

“There is significant and growing interest from broadcasters — especially newsgathering organisations — in drone technology because it brings a unique perspective and closer, more intimate live content, while providing greater context to news stories,” said Brian Cram, CEO of Dejero. “For dronebased video to work in a live broadcast situation, broadcasters need lowlatency, broadcast-quality video from a highly reliable drone system that’s easy to use, quick to deploy, and proven in the field. That is what the Aeryon drone system gives them. Thanks to this partnership, incorporating live, drone-based video into newscasts is a practical reality for broadcasters.”

The Dejero Aeryon solution combines Dejero LIVE+ transmitters and cloud services with the imagery captured by the Aeryon SkyRanger sUAS. Dejero’s line of compact, modular, and rugged LIVE+ mobile transmitters intelligently manage and bond cellular, Wi-Fi, and portable satellite connections to deliver exceptional picture quality, even in challenging network conditions. Live video feeds are previewed and managed from

Dejero’s LIVE+ Control Web portal.

“Our partnership with Dejero delivers on our commitment to offer end-toend solutions to customers in key industries, such as public safety and law enforcement, infrastructure inspection, and newsgathering,” said Dave Kroetsch, president and CEO of Aeryon Labs. “It also underscores our strategic focus on software and services as a critical component of our product offering.”

The Aeryon SkyRanger is a sUAS that is rugged and dependable in demanding weather conditions when other systems cannot fly. It offers long flight times of over 50 minutes, and its folding design makes it highly portable and fast to deploy. Its intuitive touchscreen interface simplifies navigation and camera operation.

With the Dejero and Aeryon products working together, broadcast-quality HD video captured by the drone can be transmitted from the field, previewed with Dejero’s LIVE+ Control cloud-based management system, and routed to broadcast facilities around the globe for live on-air playout.

It can also be routed to cloud servers that enable delivery to Web and mobile devices, or to Dejero’s LIVE+ Multipoint video-sharing network for simultaneous distribution to multiple locations.

Visit www.dejero.com and www.aeryon.com

Reuters-TIMA Provides Location Services to Over 25 Broadcasters SINCE LAUNCHING IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, Reuters-TIMA has

Services form a vast news and editorial network.

provided global Location Services to over 25 clients across four continents.

CNN, Nippon TV, Euronews, and Seven Network are among the first broadcasters to have used the new service.

From New York to Moscow and Rio to Singapore, plus a network of Middle Eastern offices, including TIMA’s facilities in Tehran, Reuters-TIMA Location Services has been set up to help broadcasters cover every major world event, from elections to summits, sports to national celebrations and breaking news such as war, natural disasters and militant attacks, providing every aspect of newsgathering facilities and support services.

NEWS OPERATIONS

Reuters-TIMA Location Services provides every aspect of newsgathering facilities and support services on the ground during breaking news stories.

Recent stories covered include the Germanwings crash, the Tunisia museum shooting, border unrest between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as migrant boat disasters in the Mediterranean.

22

The partnership between Reuters and TIMA, which launched at the 87th Academy Awards, also provides coverage of key global events and unprecedented access, as well as providing logistical and editorial services. In the last two months Reuters-TIMA have made 132 transmissions from five events.

Reuters-TIMA Location Services was created in response to the increased demand for live content in a shifting media landscape. Combining Reuters’ unparalleled global editorial content, seen by over a billion people every day, with TIMA’s cutting-edge technology and considerable experience of service delivery for the international media industry, Reuters-TIMA Location

Tim Santhouse, Reuters’ Global Head of Video Products, says, “We’re delighted that such a broad range of broadcasters – large and small, public and commercial – have taken up the service, letting them focus on covering the story while we take care of the operational side, including technical and local knowledge.”

Alla Salehian, CEO of TIMA, says, “With strategically placed broadcast and satellite resources in regional hubs around the world, we’re able to respond quickly to breaking news. Since our partnership launch, the last two months have been exciting and fast-paced, responding to important global stories and working with key broadcasters.”

Visit www.reuters-tima.com

POST PRODUCTION www.content-technology.com/postproduction

The Nine Network Transforms Promo Review with Aframe The Nine Network brings Australian viewers popular entertainment like The Voice, The Block, the National Rugby League and Cricket Australia broadcasts. Nine also brings viewers locally produced programs and exclusive international news, current affairs, sporting events, entertainment and lifestyle programs.

NINE’S PROMO TEAM produces an average of 300 promos every day, targeting regions and demographics with multiple different sells. The 5060 of those that require after-hours approval by network executives and producers presented a serious challenge to their high-throughput workflow.

TRANSCODERS AND TEAMS OVERTAXED “Our process was to export QuickTime reference files of finished promos from our post production system manually and have an edit coordinator park on a system to transcode them to H.264.mp4 and WMV files that were small enough to email, then send them out to each reviewer,� explained Dylan Van Dyke, Nine Technology Operations Support Manager. “The impact on our transcoders was becoming a problem. We ingest a terabyte of data daily just to work on the content. Using transcoders to compress promos for review put pressure on that.�

On the other side, upon receiving emails after they’d left the facility, executives and producers found video files that sometimes weren’t of adequate quality to pick up detail, and struggled to make meaningful notes without having accurate timecode references. If they were on a device that didn’t support the file format, they had to make their way to something that did, or wait until the morning when they were back in the office. “The editorial team would leave at night not knowing what would come back, and get in the next day having to re-make promos that had been rejected overnight. We made it work, but it was frustrating for everyone, and it was keeping people in the office a lot longer than they had to be,� Van Dyke said.

AFRAME AUTOMATES TRANSCODING, ENABLES MOBILE REVIEW With this problem nagging them, Van Dyke and Nine Network Chief Information Officer, Mathew Yelavich, found themselves at NAB in 2014 looking for a solution. They found Aframe, a cloud-based video collaboration platform. With features that support uploading, transcoding, storing, sharing and collaborating on large scale, it had what they needed to streamline their under-pressure promo review process.

to XDCAM for playout, so why not just copy and send to Aframe for upload?

What’s great about Aframe is that it doesn’t limit you to just XDCAM or DNX. Being able to throw any file in there and have Aframe handle it makes things so easy,� Van Dyke said. “For reviewers it takes away the stress of something that doesn’t always work. Aframe sends the link, and as long as you have an Internet connection, it works, and it plays back in great quality.�

Van Dyke noted that the Aframe promo review process also helps Nine make its promos better – not just more efficiently produced. “Executives can now give editors timely feedback, and we can be more reactive to what’s happening on-air, now. A creative director, at home in the evening, can make changes on the spot and push them back to the promo team that night – not the next day. That kind of immediacy matters and helps keep us competitive.�

Yelavich said, “What first attracted us to Aframe was its flexibility and ease of use; we needed to get multiple formats to staff for review and approval, wherever they were as quickly as possible. Review and approval workflows have always been challenging for us. In addition Aframe has presented productivity gains across multiple business units. We only expect our reliance on Aframe to grow.�

Van Dyke noted one more benefit, close to the hearts of the team at Nine, “In my group, which supports the editorial team, our motto is ‘Get People Home’.

We apply that to everything we do. If a piece of kit goes down or a process takes longer than it should, we try to fix it. If something can be done at home after hours vs. having to sit in the office we try to make that happen. Aframe has helped us keep people connected to the internal process wherever they are. This has made things easier.�

Visit www.aframe.com

Nine tapped Aframe’s Video Review & Approval solution, setting up a workflow in which the editor can export a file (OP1a MXF) that gets placed automatically into a shared folder that both Aframe and Nine’s transcode system watch. Aframe picks up the high res export and creates an H.264 proxy that is playable on a wide variety of devices – PC, Android, Mac, etc., and creates a collection of promos or a single promo for review. The user then sends an e-mail or link (which may be password protected) to all reviewers at once. Reviewers can play the file and approve or reject the promo and provide feedback no matter where they are or what device they’re on at the time, securely and efficiently. Since the file is an exact proxy of the original, it is timecode accurate, making it easier to give (and follow) notes.

$SFBUF B CFBVUJGVM ĂśOJTI BVUPEFTL DPN øBNFFYQFSJFODF̓̓ Image courtesy of Velvet Mediendesign GmbH

POST PRODUCTION

“For us, exporting from the MAM was a no brainer. We’re already converting

23

POST PRODUCTION

Thinkbox Software Unveils Deadline v7.1 THINKBOX SOFTWARE has unveiled Deadline 7.1, the latest version of its flexible high-volume compute management system for Windows-, Linux-, and Mac OS X-based render farms. In addition to built-in cloud support and integration with the latest 3D animation tools, Deadline 7.1 now also supports leading architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) applications such as Autodesk AutoCAD, VRED, and VREDCluster; CSI’s CSiBridge, ETABS, SAFE, and SAP2000; EnergyPlus; and Bentley MicroStation.

Deadline 7.1 builds on recently introduced built-in VMX (Virtual Machine Extension) support to allow both VFX and AEC users to leverage public and private cloud resources for on-demand compute.

It also includes updated Slave metrics and statistics, enhancements to balanced/weighted job scheduling, expanded font synchronisation, and more. Also new in Deadline 7.1 is an updated version of Draft, a lightweight compositing and video processing plugin.

Visit www.thinkboxsoftware.com

Silverdraft Unleashes Next-Gen Supercomputing Systems SILVERDRAFT HAS UNLEASHED the next-generation of its solutions “For Creation To Play” during NAB 2015.

Devils are scalable, supercomputing systems that deliver virtually unlimited compute power to performance-hungry applications in environments such as 3D, VFX, VR or science and engineering. Now 20% faster, each Gen 2 Devil system features over 400 Intel E5 v3 CPU cores in 12 nodes, connected via a lightning-fast InfiniBand backbone. Combined with Micron DDR4 RAM and storage, this virtually latency-free design delivers huge gains in performance over previous models.

Demons are highly-tuned desktop workstations that are optimised for specific applications. The new Demon systems include single and multiprocessor configurations in both a standard desktop form-factor, with eight PCIE slots (four of them x16), and a compact form factor that delivers the same performance as the previous generation – but in half the footprint.

Visit www.silverdraft.com

Blackmagic Design’s Fusion 8 on Mac OS X and Linux

POST PRODUCTION

AFRAME IS USHERING IN THE ERA of true broadcast-grade cloud editing with Adobe Anywhere, the collaborative workflow platform that enables teams to work together and create productions from virtually any location where there is network connectivity.

By running Adobe Anywhere within Aframe’s cloud platform, teams can collaborate without limits. The “one-to-many” model enabled by the cloud ensures universal access to the correct media by all team members. Access is easily controlled, disaster recovery is automatic and capital expenses are all but eliminated. With this model, productions can inherit the power of traditional broadcast infrastructure all via the browser, on a per-project basis, assured that assets are safe but also easily accessible.

Aframe provides the central hub for the storage and management of original native video content, with Adobe Anywhere providing stream-based editing capabilities. The workflow enables content producers to browse cloudhosted content stored in their Aframe projects and sync selected assets with an Adobe Anywhere Production, search across projects for clips with descriptive metadata matching specific keywords and preview media to pick out the best takes or pieces of footage.

Visit http://aframe.com

Shotgun Software Announces Shotgun 6 and RV 6 AT NAB 2015, Shotgun Software unveiled Shotgun 6 and RV 6, which now work together without any required end-user configuration.

Shotgun is the cloud-based production tracking, review and asset management software for film, TV and games, recently expanded via acquisition with RV, the widely adopted desktop image and sequence player. Shotgun 6 will now include direct access to RV 6 at no extra cost to users, with the latest releases of both Shotgun 6 and RV 6 also offering new features to boost production efficiency.

“Just months after bringing our friends from Tweak on board and announcing a new pricing model, we’ve built some really great new functionality into both Shotgun and RV that helps artists and supervisors collaborate around their work much faster,” said Don Parker, co-founder of Shotgun and Autodesk senior director.

Visit www.shotgunsoftware.com

Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 12

visual effects and motion graphics software, will be released on Mac OS X and Linux. Until now, Fusion has been a Windows only product, and with this new Fusion 8 release, it will now be available on all popular operating systems.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN has announced DaVinci Resolve 12, a major upgrade with over 80 new features for professional editing and colour grading. This new update includes a new modern interface, multi-cam editing, powerful new media management tools, an entirely new professional audio engine with support for VST/AU plug-ins, shot matching, 3D keyer, new 3D perspective tracker, enhanced curve editing and much more.

By bringing Fusion to Mac and Linux, Fusion will be available to even more users than ever, opening the door to millions of motion graphic artists, broadcast designers, video editors, visual effects compositors, and 3D animators.

The new multi-camera editing feature of DaVinci Resolve 12 lets editors cut programs from multiple sources in real time. DaVinci Resolve 12 can synchronise camera angles based on timecode, audio waveforms, or in/out points.

Fusion 7 and Fusion 7 Studio are currently available for Windows, while the new Fusion 8 and Fusion 8 Studio will be available in Q3 for Windows, Mac and Linux. Current Fusion 7 Studio customers will be able to use their dongles on the Mac and Linux versions, and projects created with Fusion 8 will be compatible across all three platforms.

DaVinci Resolve 12 also includes an entirely new, high performance audio engine that offers higher sampling rates and greatly improved realtime audio playback performance, including reverse playback and tape style slow motion scrubbing during dynamic JKL trimming. Both VST and AU audio plugins, along with their custom interfaces, are now supported and can be used on individual clips or entire tracks.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED Fusion 8, the advanced

24

Aframe Unveils True Cloud Editing

Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

POST PRODUCTION

Avid Announces Connectivity Partner Innovations AVID HAS ANNOUNCED a range of new and upcoming innovations for the Avid MediaCentral Platform, developed by Avid partners using the Avid Connectivity Toolkit. As leading technology companies create solutions integrated into the Avid MediaCentral Platform, the momentum of Avid Everywhere continues to build in the media industry.

“The Avid Connectivity Partner Program delivers on the openness of Avid Everywhere and gives media professionals the flexibility to more easily integrate third-party products into their workflow,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of Products and Technology at Avid.

The Avid Connectivity Partner Program gives developers access to the resources, documentation, certification, and services they need to create products and solutions that integrate with the Avid MediaCentral Platform ecosystem and sell them in the Avid Marketplace.

Visit www.avid.com

Autodesk Updates Media & Entertainment Software THIS YEAR, the 2016 3D animation portfolio from Autodesk has significant updates to Maya and 3ds Max. Each release includes new features and improvements to boost performance, collaboration and simplify operations.

Maya 2016 features supercharged animation performance with a parallel evaluation system takes advantage of the CPU and GPU to increase the speed of both playback and character rig manipulation. An all new look and feel, and the updated hypershade, showcases improved ease of use.

3ds Max 2016 features new Max Creation Graph: a new node-based content and tool creation toolkit integrated by user request. Empowers users to extend 3ds Max with geometric objects and modifiers. Users can package graphs and share them with other users.

The 2016 Entertainment Creation Suite includes all the new features and updates to Maya 2016 and 3ds Max 2016, in addition to updates and enhancements in Mudbox 2016 and MotionBuilder 2016 that help improve the daily work of artists, developers, directors and cinematographers.

Visit www.autodesk.com

Light Illusion Reveals Next-Gen Colour Mathematics for LightSpace CMS LIGHT ILLUSION, a leader for critical colour management within the Film, Post-Production and Broadcast industries, has released Next Generation Colour Mathematics for its advanced Colour Engine, which is at the heart of the calibration accuracy of LightSpace CMS.

POST PRODUCTION

After over 6 man-months of work the algorithms and mathematics that are at the core of the LightSpace Colour Engine have been totally re-written and enhanced, with visible and measurable improvements in final calibration results.

26

In running their own test Flanders Scientific looked at the minimum profiling requirements for their new range of OLED displays. Normally, accurate calibration requires many individual colour patches – often counted in thousands. With the inherent linear response of the FSI OLED displays LightSpace CMS was able to generate very accurate calibration results with just 24 patches, in a matter of seconds.

Visit www.lightillusion.com

MOG Technologies Announces Adobe Premiere Pro CC Integration AT NAB 2015, MOG Technologies, a developer of IT-based broadcast solutions, showcased how it integrates with Adobe Premiere Pro CC, enabling editors to have direct access to specific ingest tasks, right inside the Adobe Premiere Pro interface. With mxfSPEEDRAIL Adobe Premiere Pro custom panel, editors will increase the performance of their editing and production workflows, converting saved time into further creative tasks. mxfSPEEDRAIL integration with Adobe delivers direct access to ingest and capture tasks inside a customised panel that perfectly integrate both core systems, supporting rich metadata for content repurposing. The editor will immediately see the ingest streaming running in the Adobe Premiere Pro interface itself, directly jogging and shuttling into the required media and easily identifying the audio levels.

The user can simultaneously control and preview 2 mxfSPEEDRAIL ingesting feeds through mxfSPEEDRAIL built-In VTR Player and directly perform crash record, time code break, capture and batch capture. In addition, the panel can easily be shown or hidden from the Adobe Premiere Pro CC menu.

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

NTP Technology releases Pro | Mon Monitor Control Option NTP TECHNOLOGY, a Connectivity Partner of Avid Technology, Inc., has debuted its Pro | Mon monitor control for the Avid Pro Tools | S6 control surface and other Avid EUCON 3 enabled control surfaces.

Pro | Mon integrates closely with the NTP Technology DAD AX32 ultrahigh-quality analogue/digital audio converter and the DAD DX32 router units, allowing both to be managed via EUCON 3 enabled DADman 4.2 control software. The combination provides a versatile input/output platform and switching matrix with up to 48 analogue inputs or outputs, 16 AES/EBU I/O and 64 to 192 MADI I/O on up-to three MADI ports.

Also accessible are a 64 channel interface for Avid Pro Tools HD, HDX and HD Native as well as SDI-embedded audio.

Visit www.ntp.dk

Boris FX and Imagineer Systems Team Up BORIS FX, a leading developer in VFX and workflow solutions for film and video, and Imagineer Systems, the developer of mocha Planar Tracking tools, previewed the newest versions of flagship products, Boris Continuum Complete and mocha Pro, at the NAB Show.

Building upon the success of version 9, the soon-to-be-released Boris Continuum Complete 10 offers greater integration with mocha, new 3D titling tools, import of Cinema 4D models, new image restoration filters, new transitions, and added host support. “mocha Pro 5 addresses key feature requests that our users have asked for,” comments Ross Shain, Chief Marketing Officer of Boris FX/Imagineer.

“For years users have looked for tighter mocha integration with their host timeline and media. With the new ability to launch directly as a plug-in, we are providing a much smoother experience for Avid, Premiere, and Resolve users, as well as our core base of After Effects and NUKE artists. Additionally the new effects filters built in collaboration with Boris FX bring indispensable features directly to mocha Pro such as an integrated keyer that will improve roto-masking and sharpen and grain tools that improve the already powerful object remove and image restoration capabilities.”

Visit www.borisfx.com and www.imagineersystems.com

Amber Technology is Australia’s largest Avid Elite Solutions provider, with over 20 years of experience in delivering every type of Avid system in every media application.

Amber Technology not only deliver standalone Avid environments but also specialise in providing fully integrated solutions from numerous third party vendors.

Artist Suite Media Suite Storage Suite Avid MediaCentral Platform

30+ BLAM PLUG-INS

www.bluelucy.com

COMPLEX MEDIA SOFTWARE, SIMPLIFIED.

BLUE LUCY ASSET MANAGER

ADVANCED SEARCH

STORAGE MANAGER

WORKFLOW MANAGER

USER ACCESS CONTROLS

The most complete and flexible asset and workflow management software available Create a bespoke MAM and workflow platform at an off-the-shelf price point with BLAM Plug-ins

Amber Technology is one of Australia’s largest and most respected providers of quality media systems offering customers our unmatched combination of leading-edge solutions, technical expertise and after-sales support.

www.ambertech.com.au Join Amber Technology on stand C-04 at the SMPTE 2015 show for integrated product overviews, workflow consultation and demonstrations.

OPEN API

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Blue Lucy: the Very Modern MAM A 21st Century Approach to Media Asset Management?

Phil Sandberg Catches up with CEO of Blue Lucy Video Julian Wright.

WITH A MODULAR, software-based platform using open APIs, Julian Wright, co-founder and Chief Executive of Blue Lucy Video says the company’s video signal processing and asset management systems take a “… 21st century approach or a much more modern approach than most legacy broadcast manufacturers.”

According to Wright, “We’re all software based, so there is no proprietary hardware at all and all of our systems are completely open. So, all of our software modules have open APIs to them so, once installed, anyone who can make an API call into them can control them.”

C+T So, how do you characterise the differences between Blue Lucy and traditional systems?

JW The first generation of asset management systems for broadcast didn’t really come around ‘til the late ‘90s or early 2000s and they were quite monolithic. They were a million pounds before you started and then there was another million for consultation to make it do what you wanted it to do.

And, they were very locked-in in terms of the way they stored content and the way they interacted with other systems. Things have matured and the common sense that comes with IT has moved into broadcast so much so now that many areas of the industry are almost unrecognisable from 15 years ago.

So our differentiator, if you like, is we take a very IT-centric approach to it, right from the point that SDI video comes into one of our systems, that’s the last time it will be in baseband and it’s the last time it will be in a closed format, if you like.

So, what is your approach to SDI? Our first piece of software was an ingest application digitising SDI from a tape or from a line and writing that to a file format or multiple file formats at the same time. That was at the same time as the video capture cards were becoming less expensive. Blackmagic had their BMD Deck Link and we took one of the first versions of that and wrote an ingestor around that product. We still use that. It’s one of our core products. And, as the years have gone on, we built more and more video processing in. Then, in the last three or four years, we bought in our own asset management system.

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Being software-based, what do you spec as a minimum hardware requirement?

28

The only thing that’s got a real requirement around it is the ingest because you need to write the file in real-time because SDI comes in and it’s a realtime stream so you need to get the file laid down in real-time. So, it’s only on ingest where we would say you need a specific type of machine. A lot of people run our asset management system in virtualised environments but ingest is the only thing that requires hardware because you need the capture card.

And what is the next step?

So, when the MAM system wakes up, it doesn’t know who it is – it has no internal structures or no internal rigidity. So, you seed it by defining the schema - and your schema can be completely different to another broadcaster’s or manufacturers - but we can join the two data sets together.

If you want support for Dublin Core, we just tell the system ‘you’re Dublin Core’. Can we extend Dublin Core? Yes, we can. What value do you want to extend it by? And, this is the kind of thing that allows users, and certainly integrators, to build a proprietary schema based on the previous asset manager within half-a-day. And, so, the key differentiator is it’s open, it’s not rigid.

How do you treat deep archive versus more immediate content?

From an asset management perspective, there is no difference.

It’s just where is it located. So, material that’s ingested lives in a near-line storage, typically. We typically also separate out the master and the browse content physically so that the master content from the archive isn’t sitting on spinning disks for months on end.

Within the MAM it’s like old-school HSM where you can move material between different storage volumes. You can set up as many pools as you like but typically people have three and they have their browse mash, where the low resolution browse stuff lives, and that could live in the cloud.

There’s a nearline on Master Cache which is a little spinning disk facility and there’s deep archive, which can be LTO. More and more, we’re seeing people using intelligent disk-based archives that are spinning disks but when they’re full or when they’re loaded, they spin down and they shut the power right down on them. They don’t wake up again until media’s restored from them.

So, it’s kind of very fast because you don’t have to wait for an LTO to restore but it’s also environmentally friendly because it doesn’t draw any power when it’s idle.

And what about task automation?

So, the MAM system has the capability for rules-based management.

There’s two approaches to it. You can, out of the box, build your own work flows for importing content, assigning the actual user to QC, automating the QC process, acting on the reports of the QC, making edits, making compliance edits, transferring and delivering that, all of those kind of very simple work flows can be built by systems administrators.

Alternatively we, or local technology support, can build more complex workflows that are either automated or require user intervention. Within the MAM, there is an orchestration engine, which manages operations in terms of the service – the software service components and also the user groups.

Now, you mentioned the cloud?

We came up with a concept at IBC a couple of years ago and that was the cloud on the ground. The idea is that your master assets live at your facility. A lot of broadcasters still don’t like their master assets leaving the facility even though it is quite low cost to put them in Amazon, etc. They like to have it physically in the basement where they can see it.

So, that’s the ground part of our concept; on the ground is all your master assets and the browse asset, which is the frame accurate representation, probably with a water mark on it, lives in the cloud. It can live in the cloud because it’s low bit rate, low resolution, so it’s lighter, it’s easier to move about, it’s watermarked so if anybody does scrape it, it’s pretty clear who it belongs to.

If you’ve got browse either in a cloud or as accessible within your own facility, it also allows remote working. People can log content from home but without access to the master asset, so it’s fairly secure.

Visit www.ambertech.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Top 5 Tips for Your 4K Transition

by Geoff Stedman, Senior Vice President, StorNext Solutions at Quantum Video production is entering yet another major transition – the move to 4K. Much like the move to high definition (HD) several years ago, the new ultrahigh definition (UHD) 4K-resolution formats have the potential to disrupt workflows, strain existing infrastructure and require costly unplanned upgrades. Those who remember how bumpy the change from SD to HD was are understandably nervous about what this looming 4K transition will bring.

Geoff Stedman

The following five key tips will help you to make a smooth transition to full 4K production.

Understand your format requirements. You have many options today for capturing 4K images and working on them in post-production. The codec and bitrate you choose will have a direct impact on the infrastructure you will need to support your workflow. Just a single uncompressed 4K stream at 24 frames per second (FPS) can demand more than 1 gigabyte per second of data throughput. These demands only get higher if you happen to be working with stereoscopy and higher frame rates.

Knowing your format requirements will enable you to design an infrastructure that will effectively support the work you need to do, without requiring time-consuming format conversion steps.

Match your tools to your workflow. Most content producers want to produce their work at the highest possible quality level, and so it is important that the production tools being used are capable of working with 4K material. Likewise, most production environments are becoming

Securing Your Social Media Account IN THE WAKE of the ISIS hackings of media and even U.S. Government social media accounts, Social News Desk recommends securing your social feeds to avoid sharing passwords.

The method used by SocialNewsDesk is essentially 2 step. First, the social feeds are secured by their normal password systems via an administrator in the SocialNewsDesk software. This administrator then sets up users on the SocialNewsDesk application with their own 2 step authorisation, which also includes access control to individual social feeds.

Those users only have to remember one log in for their own account, which is their gateway to the feeds that can be controlled and monitored. Each user is also required to answer a security question in addition to their password each time they log on.

Download the whitepaper from www.socialnewsdesk.com

more collaborative, with teams of people (often geographically dispersed) sharing production tasks on stored content. An extremely important part of getting ready for 4K is understanding what kind of workflow you want and what applications your teams will work with, and then making sure that your underlying infrastructure can support those tools within your desired workflow. It also makes sense to ensure that your workflow system can grow as the tools change. The last thing you want is to be locked in by your production platform.

Make sure your storage is ready. With 4K, there is a lot more data in every frame, and the performance needs of your infrastructure are greater. This makes it important that you have the right storage ready to support your workflow.

Storing all of this extra data on expensive fast storage can be cost-prohibitive. The best way to keep costs under control is to steer the right content to the right storage tier, but not all storage systems are designed to do this. The ideal storage system allows you to mix highperformance and high-capacity disk and to move content between them in a way that is transparent to the creative team.

Transition gradually. Just because you’re moving to 4K doesn’t mean you need to make an overnight switch. The industry kept analog infrastructure live and in place while broadcasting digitally, and it did the same for the transition

from SD to HD. For the smoothest 4K transition, operate new 4K workflows alongside existing HD workflows in the same facilities. Start by standing up new environments for the projects that require 4K today. Then, as you retire older equipment, replace it with 4K-capable components that can be used for both 4K and HD projects.

Don’t forget the archive. Everyone knows that content lives forever, and in today’s on-demand society, content must always accessible. The move to 4K means larger files, which put more strain on already stuffed content archives. Users need a way to hold more data, make it available for re-use and protect it for future monetization.

Doing it cost-effectively means taking advantage of tape archives that can be accessed as if it were disk storage, so be sure that your storage environment supports that option.

Finally, making the transition to 4K will likely raise questions about technology capabilities, workflow considerations and where the industry is headed in the future. Vendors and integrators with proven track records in open-system workflows have weathered this transition before, and can help you avoid the pitfalls. Partner with these companies, choosing those that have established relationships with other vendors whose tools you rely on. With the right team, your transition to 4K can be painlessly nondisruptive.

Visit www.quantum.com

Ross Video Unveils Streamline ROSS VIDEO HAS SHOWN their recently launched asset management solution, Streamline, at NAB 2015 – including new workflows designed specifically to improve news production, and asset lifecycle management.

In addition to Streamline’s established order management, reporting, ingest, and searching capabilities, v2 adds support for video proxy and thumbnail generation, as well as an endto-end MOS workflow supporting placeholders, status, and an HTML5-based plugin for browsing assets directly from the newsroom.

"Version 2.0 takes the next step with the addition of a wealth of new features designed specifically to extend Streamline into news clip production,” said Shawn Snider, Marketing

Product Manager for Inception, Streamline and EZPrompt.

Streamline increases the speed and efficiency of teams by giving reporters and producers direct access to browse and search assets, and easily link them to story content in a simple drag and drop interface. Streamline provides new asset lifecycle management capabilities, with the ability to dynamically move assets from its database onto playout servers, switchers, graphics, or master control by simply linking an asset to a story in the newsroom. Once a production is completed, any expired assets from the playout devices once no longer required are automatically cleaned up by Streamline.

Visit www.rossvideo.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

WITH LESSONS LEARNED from the past, the industry is ready to make the change from HD to 4K. The technology has evolved, the tools have evolved and workflows have evolved. The challenge, however, is to make sense of all this change and put the right pieces together to enable a successful transition.

29

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

Malvertising and Watering Holes: Cyber Attacks in a New Age of Crime

By John Ellis, Chief Strategist, Cyber Security for Asia Pacific and Japan at Akamai Cybercrime and cyber attacks are without a doubt, serious threats impacting almost everyone in this day and age with attacks growing in sophistication, frequency and intensity. Cybercrime is expected to increase as more devices become connected to the Internet; creating more attack vectors for savvy cyber criminals to compromise.

John Ellis, Akamai

THIS IS PARTICULARLY CONCERNING in

the group performing the attack.

today’s hyperconnected world, where the vast majority of us rely on the Internet to create, consume and do business. With no industry immune, the gaming, software and technology sectors have faced the brute force of cyber attacks over the last quarter. However, it’s the media and entertainment sector, which continues to be the top target for cyber criminals, receiving 10 per cent of all Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks during Q4 2014.

DDoS attacks continue to be one of the biggest threats to the media segment. If hacktivist groups or nation-state attackers are not happy with the way a media house is covering a certain issue or story, the attackers may engage in a DDoS attack through making a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Attacks of this nature are typically directly related to current events, such as an election or protest, and can have a significant impact on media houses.

The media industry has long suffered from cybercrimes as individuals and groups carried out attacks to make a stance against a certain issue.

This threat increases as more attackers find new and innovative ways to defeat security measures.

The human element is most often the weakest link in the cyber security defensive chain, and it is this weakness that many cybercriminals and hacktivists continue to target. The most popular attack against the human element are phishing attacks. This typically involves attackers sending targets a carefully crafted email, masquerading as a trustworthy entity so as to entice the user to ‘click’ on the link, or ‘open’ the attachment.

Attackers are able to harvest a lot of information about media house employees from social media and easily accessible sources, making their phishing emails appear very legitimate.

This personalisation increases the probability of the employee clicking the link or opening the attachment, and ultimately infecting their machine with malware, which then leads to further compromise, and the attacker a step closer to achieving their objective.

MEANS, OPPORTUNITY AND MOTIVES While the means of and opportunity for attacks may follow a similar pattern regardless of the industry being targeted, the motivation behind attacks is often the differentiating factor. Within the media industry, there is a strong motive to use cyber attacks to spread fear and propaganda through politically or socially motivated attacks.

This coupled with the media’s ability to generate widespread coverage on successful attacks makes the sector a very attractive target to attackers.

Attackers of the media industry typically fall into one of the following groups – all of which have clear motives for their attacks: ¡ Nation-state attackers – attackers from a particular nation that disagree with a story or the way a certain issue/s are being conveyed in the media outlet

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM

¡ Hacktivist groups – attackers looking to promote a political or social agenda

30

¡ Cyber criminals – attackers looking to gain intellectual property, confidential information and / or financial revenue.

So what types of attacks should media companies be wary of and how can they best protect themselves?

THE ATTACK METHODS In the past year alone there has been countless number of attacks against media houses. From defacing Web sites to stealing confidential information, cyber criminals continue to use the media to pursue their own agenda. The attack methods used to carry out these malicious attacks often vary depending on the motive and

Further to these, is malvertising (malicious advertising), which is also becoming an increasingly common attack method. Cyber criminals behind malvertising attacks infect advertisements on media sites to trick users to click on a malicious link, which may either redirect users to another Web site, that may be promoting a political or social agenda, or infect the users device with some form of malware. Attackers are also exploiting vulnerabilities within advertising networks to take over an account to repurpose it for their own needs.

Watering hole attacks also continue to increase.

Like the hunter waits at the watering hole for its prey to come and drink, the cyber criminal (or nation state) infects the media houses website with malware that will target its readers, and patiently waits for the users to come to the site and be infected. This is a very popular technique for targeting specific types of users, perhaps certain demographics or geographies.

Regardless of the attack method used, attacks against the media industry are often seasonal and

related to major current world events. In addition, whether the group or individuals are defacing a website, inserting malicious malware or stealing confidential information, the motivation is a key driver for performing attacks within the media sector.

THE SYRIAN ELECTRONIC ARMY The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has become a known leader in these types of cyber attacks against media houses. The group is a loosely organised group of hactivists, or hackers with an ideological motive that distributed propaganda to support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad..

In 2012 and 2013, the Syrian Electronic Army garnered attention for hijacking Twitter accounts affiliated with the Associated Press and Reuters among others and for compromising the online properties of popular news media outlets including the New York Times and Forbes.

By taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the info security of these and other well-known organisations, they succeeded in gaining publicity for themselves, recruiting and educating sympathisers, while illustrating the pervasive threat of and the potential damage, which can be inflicted by cyber attacks.

STAYING PROTECTED In today’s security environment, cyber attackers are developing new attack methods every week.

We are now faced with an arms race between attackers and defenders, with no clear end in sight. Consequently, for media companies, it’s critical for organisations to take an end-to-end approach to security by developing a multilayered defence system that can not only detect and deflect cyber attacks as close to the source as possible but also scale to absorb massivescale threats.

Importantly, given the nature of the content delivered by media companies, organisations are often challenged to protect websites and infrastructure without sacrificing performance for security. This needs to be a key consideration when implementing security solutions.

While there is no silver bullet to defending against cyber attacks, the media industry needs to stand at the forefront of security. With a multilayer defence system in place, organisations have a better chance at winning the war against attackers.

NETWORK. AUDIO. VIDEO. smart IP live production infrastructure.

.

O AW T.

L Y B

O E UL F D R I WE V

C A P OM

-C

RA T L .U

t. olki o t ng essi c o r eo p d i . v l tion u nne l a o h s c r-IP e8 e t v e l o p ideo com v e e h T on 8– l-ino l r a p V__ The – 4 link V__

PO .

T AR

SM

ND

VEL

LE CA,

TA 5, S

02

5M7

B

61fo: + n i ore au rm o f om.

T c A . v P t dio Call roau p . www

2-

6 947

2

127

g rtin o p 2 sup y l l 202 fu E T K SMP 01/J2 -TR ES67 VSF A A N ber+ N E m V E RA

www.lawo.com

AUDIO Digital soundwaves

www.content-technology.com/audio

Ace Australian Arranger Sets the Score with Avid Everywhere In the world of Australian live performance TV, David Pritchard-Blunt is the go-to musical director and arranger. Currently responsible for writing the arrangements for the Australian production of The Voice since 2012, the New Zealand-born musician has also performed arrangement duties for The Voice Kids, seven seasons of Australian Idol, and ten series of Candles By Candlelight, among others. David’s contributions to theatre productions in Australia are just as numerous, including Footloose, Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, Burn The Floor, and Shout!-The Musical. excellent quality of Sibelius Sounds.”

Pritchard-Blunt also says that speed and accuracy are paramount, particularly when dealing with the schedules of live television. Arrangement changes are required at very short notice, making it critical to work quickly and accurately for the production to continue smoothly. Sibelius music notation software is able to help that process with easy editing and file sharing.

This ease of file transfer between Sibelius users is one of this musical director’s favorite aspects of Sibelius and the Avid Artist Suite. “Being able to open and edit files on a Mac that were originally created on a PC and vice versa is extremely helpful,” he explains. “As is the ability to open files from previous versions of Sibelius. I have files dating back ten years, which can still be opened and accessed on the latest version.”

AVID ARTIST SUITE TAKES A STAR TURN ON THE VOICE “WRITING ORCHESTRATIONS for TV and stage shows generally involves taking existing material which then has to be translated into a live situation for the band to play,” says Pritchard-Blunt. “Much of the television writing is done for clients interstate or overseas and sometimes, in collusion with other musicians. Therefore ease of file sharing is paramount.”

For workflows such as these, Pritchard-Blunt has embraced Avid Everywhere, using the Avid MediaCentral Platform to access file-based media and effectively collaborate with clients and colleagues.

In the particular case of The Voice and other performance-based TV shows, Pritchard-Blunt reworks songs into a new arrangement solely using a key component of the Avid Artist Suite, namely Avid Sibelius music notation and scoring software.

LONG-ESTABLISHED ARRANGEMENT WITH AVID MUSIC NOTATION SOFTWARE Pritchard-Blunt has relied on Sibelius as his only notation software since 2001, using it for all his arrangement work, and taking advantage of its timesaving composition features, easy file-sharing abilities, sophisticated layout and excellent responsiveness.

“Ease of use and reliability are the two major factors I look for in software,” explains Pritchard-Blunt. “When first exploring computer notation software, I tried the major programs available and found Sibelius to be the most musically intuitive and consequently I was able to begin writing almost immediately.”

AUDIO

“Reliability is also crucial,” he continues. “Computers by nature are not completely failsafe and neither is software. But I have confidence in Sibelius to be dependable in all situations. The team at Avid Australia have been of great assistance on the rare occasions that I’ve needed support.”

32

Playback was another important consideration. According to Pritchard-Blunt, one of the major leaps forward with the introduction of computer notation software is the ability to ‘proof listen’ and proof read work. “In most cases I listen to the playback to determine what corrections need to be made and use the visual for layout,” he says. “For many years I used my own equipment for MIDI playback through Sibelius, but have recently migrated to the

Performances on the television shows Prichard-Blunt works on are usually abbreviated versions of the original. They’re usually in a different key or tempo to suit the format required by the show. On the weekly live TV show, The Voice, songs are sent by the music producer with relevant notes for the arrangement, such as form and key. Sometimes the band will be augmented with additional strings and brass or pared back to just a guitarist and/or a pianist. Prichard-Blunt arranges the pieces as required and sends them back to the producer.

“When arranging, the balance of ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ information is constantly at the forefront of decision making and the information presented should be accurate, clear and concise,” adds Pritchard-Blunt. “Sibelius is a great help in that scores can be written in concert key or transposed key, whichever is more comfortable for the arranger. The parts are automatically presented in appropriate transposed keys for each instrument.”

Having clear and professional-level scores for musicians and production teams is also important. “The printed quality of Sibelius scores are superb,” acknowledges Pritchard-Blunt. “The ability to choose between House Styles and then to edit details such as note sizes and fonts is fantastic.”

The arranger uses Sibelius to output scores to PDF or for use with Avid Scorch, which transforms the iPad into an interactive music stand, score library, and sheet music store. Pritchard-Blunt sees the introduction of the iPad into the workflow as a game changer for printed music production.

“Australian television shows are incorporating the use of iPads instead of traditional paper manuscript, music stands and lights for stage musicians,” he says. “Here again, the ability and ease to adjust font sizes and layout in Sibelius is superb.”

Above all, flexibility and responsiveness are key in this career. “It’s sometimes necessary in live television for an arrangement to have to be adjusted during the rehearsal period to suit the performance,” PritchardBlunt explains. “If I’m at the studio, I can make the adjustments on my laptop and send to PDF for printing, while the musicians continue to rehearse. If I’m not at the studio, arrangements can be emailed to me for alteration and sent back to the producer. This is where software notation and Sibelius becomes invaluable.”

Visit www.avid.com

AUDIO

SAE Melbourne Redevelopment Includes Two Audient ASP4816s TWO NEW ASP4816S have been purchased by SAE Melbourne as part of a huge expansion at the Antipodean education facility. “It’s all coming together – we have finally finished the installation,” says studio technician Brad Toan, relieved to be coming to the end of the current phase of the redevelopment, and describing the arrival of the compact Audient desks as “…a new, more reliable solution for teaching our Trimester 1 students.

The Audient desks give commencing students an introduction to signal flow, basic patching, microphone techniques and a good insight into mixing – pan and level.”

The new desks are installed in identical studios, each exactly mirroring

each other, creating a consistency between the two. “Of course these smaller consoles are a great stepping stone to the ASP8024 as well,” continues Toan, referring to the large format, 48-channel Audient desk with Dual Layer Control previously purchased by SAE Melbourne.

The ASP4816s have all the features of the flagship Audient desk – including the renowned Dearden-designed mic pres – but in a compact and ergonomic form. “The inline design is perfect for teaching signal flow, it gives the tutors the ability to really show the students how the signal is passing through the console,” adds Toan.

Visit http://audient.com

ABC Upgrades Comms with Riedel RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS has announced that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has installed the Riedel Artist Trunk Navigator system to support a VoIP-based communications network connecting producers, journalists, and presenters working at ABC bureaus across Australia. By simplifying the networking of geographically diverse Artist digital matrix intercom systems over 80 VoIP trunk lines, the Artist Trunk Navigator facilitates simpler, more efficient, and more reliable communications between sites during production and broadcast.

Riedel’s Artist Trunk Navigator software enables each of ABC’s existing Artist intercom systems to be connected to a central trunk master via a WAN connection. The Riedel solution dynamically allocates either analogue or digital (AES3) audio trunks between up to 32 Artist intercom systems on VoIP lines.

Presenters on the studio floor are equipped with a Riedel Artist RCP-1112 control panel that enables them to create their own IFB submixes and make

direct calls to production staff at busy times. Autocue operators are now able to create their own presenter mixes. Edit suite operators have the audio output of their editing stations interfaced into the Riedel Artist system, so they can listen back to the assets they are editing and be on communications during a news broadcast.

In Canberra, ABC has linked its Parliament House and Northbourne site with a 15-kilometre redundant fibre link that allows technical staff to administer the entire system from either site. ABC has also installed multiple nodes at its Ultimo site in Sydney to form an Artist network.

“By extending and improving communications across its bureaus, ABC has equipped its staff to collaborate more closely and effectively in delivering quality programming,” said Cameron O’Neill, director, Asia Pacific, at Riedel Communications.

Visit www.riedel.net

5.1Surround SurroundSound 5.1 Sound from22channel channelsound soundcapture capture from sound capture

How much more impressive and are sports broadcasts that also convey the spirit and atmosphere ofthe the venue.

How How much much more more impressive and emotional emotional areare sports sports broadcasts broadcasts that that also also convey convey thethe spirit spirit and and atmosphere atmosphere of of the venue. venue.

The solution Sennheiser’s ESFERA, surround microphone system that enables you togenerate generate and broadcast 5.1 The The solution solution is is Sennheiser’s ESFERA, thethe surround surround microphone microphone system system that that enables enables you you to to generate and and broadcast broadcast 5.15.1 surround sound using two standard channels. surround surround sound sound using two standard audio audio channels. channels.

AUDIO

ESFERA -- contact further www.sennheiser.com.au/esfera ESFERA ESFERA - contact contact usus forfor further details detailswww.sennheiser.com.au/esfera www.sennheiser.com.au/esfera

34

AUDIO

Calrec Broadens Hydra2 Connectivity expansion units that can be used to expand and distribute a Hydra2 network.

The new Fieldbox range of small-format I/O units brings the advantages of Calrec’s Hydra2 stagebox to rugged environments and areas where rack space is at a premium. These 1U half-rack units are ideally suited for work in outside broadcast environments where I/O need to be spread over a large area, such as at a golf course. Fieldboxes can be located and distributed exactly where they are needed using just two high-capacity network cables for full redundancy. This setup allows for significant savings on rigging time and cabling costs, and it also reduces cable storage and transport.

The locational flexibility goes even further, as the units can be powered not only by an AC feed, but also by an industry-standard battery pack.

Minimising the distance that analogue cable mic level signals are carried reduces the noise and interference picked up, improving overall audio performance.

To add even further distribution flexibility to a Hydra2 network, Calrec has also developed the H2Hub. Like the Fieldbox, the H2Hub uses the same compact form factor to provide a hub or switch point for a Hydra2 network. A single connection from the router can then be switched via the H2Hub to multiple I/O units, or to multiple H2Hubs if further I/O distribution is required. The H2Hub’s connection and distribution options make them ideal for forming ad hoc networks, especially when combined

with Fieldboxes and other Calrec I/O infrastructure.

Calrec has also announced the first technology release developed in conjunction with DiGiCo since the formation of the pro audio group in August 2014.

DiGiCo consoles can now integrate onto the Hydra2 network via DiGiCo’s brand-new “anything in, anything out” Orange Box equipped with Calrec’s new Hydra2 interface card. The Orange Box takes a variety of DiGiCo Multichannel Interface (DMI) cards that easily convert audio from one transport protocol to another.

Calrec has developed an interface card that allows third-party manufacturers to integrate Hyrda2 into their equipment. In this instance, the Calrec card sits on DiGiCo’s Hydra2 DMI card in the Orange Box and redundantly connects into a Hydra2 router via fibre or copper like any other Hydra2 I/O connection. A MADI DMI card also sits in the Orange Box, which in turn connects to any DiGiCo console.

Visit http://calrec.com

Lawo mc² Desks Integrate Neumann Digital Microphones

Sennheiser and Apogee Launch Digital Clip-On Mics

LAWO, MANUFACTURER OF INNOVATIVE AUDIO, video and networking equipment, and Neumann, globally known for its wide range of quality microphones and studio monitors, have integrated Neumann’s DMI8 digital microphone interface utilising RAVENNA audio-over-IP technology.

CLIPMIC DIGITAL and MKE 2 digital combine Apogee’s A/D conversion expertise with Sennheiser’s microphone design knowledge to give users optimum sound quality for their recordings. Especially designed for iOS devices, both microphones feature a Lightning connector to directly connect to iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, thus creating high-quality, ultra-portable solutions for recording speech.

The DMI-8 supports eight digital AES42 microphones and is operated via the Neumann RCS remote control software that is integrated into the mc² series consoles, allowing adjustment of Gain, Pre Attenuation, Polar Patterns, Low Cut filter settings and others. The DMI-8 converts the AES42 data format supplied by the microphone into a RAVENNA/AES67 signal. When a large number of microphones are used, several DMI-8’s can be cascaded and each digital microphone interface can be addressed individually.

The completely integrated digital workflow that results from using digital microphones takes the dynamic range and signal fidelity to an exciting new level and production tasks like line check can be executed in just a few seconds.

Visit www.lawo.com

RTW Presents Mastering Tools Plug-In

Analogue clip-on microphones require a mic pre-amp and audio interface to be able to record the signal. While all iOS devices are equipped with a built-in analogue input and mic pre-amp, they are optimised for telephone calls and not for professional quality audio recording. Apogee’s mic pre-amp and A/D conversion circuitry are built into ClipMic digital and MKE 2 digital.

This special circuitry gives you maximum gain with minimal noise. The A/D converter provides a resolution of up to 24bit/96kHz. As the Sennheiser/Apogee digital clip-on microphones plug directly into the Lightning adaptor on the iOS device, the headset socket can be used to monitor the audio that is being recorded.

has displayed its new Mastering Tools plug-in for loudness, level, audio analysis, and mono-to-7.1 measurement at NAB. The second plug-in in RTW’s Masterclass PlugIns series of software-based metering solutions, the Mastering Tools are ideal for post production, TV, radio and cinema.

The perfect companion to ClipMic digital and MKE 2 digital, Apogee’s MetaRecorder is the first audio recording app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to offer intuitive multi-take recording, tagging and file organisation for any field recording scenario. MetaRecorder features 24 bit/96kHz recording quality plus software control of the mic input level and recording presets.

Designed for simple, intuitive operation by a broader user base, the new Mastering Tools plug-in brings extensive analysis and display functions for mastering, metering and loudness measurement for single- and up to eightchannel applications. Available as a standard-format plug-in for Windows and Mac OS platforms, it also offers a wide range of PPM scales, displays and TruePPM measurements.

The industry-standard MKE 2 is at the heart of this package. Featuring a high maximum sound pressure level and superior signal-to-noise ratio, this clip-on microphone is fitted with Sennheiser’s Umbrella diaphragm. In this proven design, an acoustically inactive membrane stretches across the active acoustical diaphragm, impeding moisture ingress into the high-performing acoustics of the capsule.

Visit www.rtw.com

Visit www.sennheiser.com

RTW, A LEADER IN VISUAL AUDIO METERS and monitoring devices,

AUDIO

AT THE 2015 NAB SHOW, Calrec announced two compact aluminium

35

RADIO The original broadcast media

www.content-technology.com/radio

Nova Radio Monitors TV Broadcasts with Mediaproxy KEEPING ITS RADIO STATIONS up to date with breaking and recorded transmissions on TV, Australia’s NOVA Entertainment has selected LogServer ASI for its TV content monitoring requirements. A total of 40 off-air and Foxtel channels will be recorded and monitored with the Mediaproxy’s system. LogServer will provide seamless and intuitive access to all broadcast content and metadata across the network.

NOVA Entertainment comprises eight FM radio stations and one AM station. NOVA Entertainment’s brands include the established Nova stations; Nova 96.9 Sydney, Nova 100 Melbourne, Nova 106.9 Brisbane, Nova 919 Adelaide and Nova 937 Perth; and smoothfm 95.3 in Sydney and smoothfm 91.5 in Melbourne. In addition, NOVA Entertainment

operates Adelaide’s FIVEaa and Star 104.5 on the NSW Central Coast, just north of Sydney, and the digital stations smoothfm, Koffee and Coles Radio (for the Coles supermarket chain).

The LogServer platform provides continuous multi-channel recording and live monitoring of video, audio and real-time data sources as well as fully integrated content matching.

Mediaproxy’s leading edge LogPlayer user interface includes extensive search, export and content retrieval across multiple distributed servers from various devices and platforms.

John Pearce, NOVA Entertainment Technology Manager said, “LogServer simplifies access to all recorded and live TV broadcasts. It enables us to quickly find or even be notified of specific content and extract audio-only media and

ENCO Amplifies DAD Automation Functionality for Music Formats ENCO HAS ANNOUNCED the release of MultiPlay mode, a new feature available in the latest DAD radio automation software suite that greatly enhances Live-Assist functionality within the onair workflow for music station formats.

At its core, Multi-Play mode enables more intuitive console integration and seamless manipulation of audio assets. The Live-Assist Presenter module, when configured with MultiPlay mode, effectively displays to the operator exactly what is playing during segues and makes layering audio effortless. This integration results in Multi-Play Presenter.

Multi-Play Presenter ramps up workflow efficiency by simplifying how operators air music segues with multiple shotgun liners, or mix music beds with multiple voiceovers on the fly. MultiPlay Presenter also adds an intelligent console

interface, which allows operators to control shows from console faders and bus keys.

“We designed the new Multi-Play mode based on input from many music stations that wanted more control and flexibility in their on-air interface,” said Ken Frommert, GM, ENCO. “DAD version 15 with Multi-Play Presenter incorporates those demands and further enhances our software package to exceed the demands of the market.”

Visit www.enco.com

25-Seven Systems Releases Voltair IT HAS BEEN SAID that ratings are a com-

listening environment can both play roles in a

Voltair is the first and only product that actively monitors and displays PPM encoding quality based on program material, enabling programmers to simulate decoding quality in various listener environments and actively process the signal to optimise PPM encoding based on adjustable parameters.

station being “heard” by the panelist’s meter.

Visit www.telosalliance.com

petitive game of inches. In the age of portable people meters (PPM), many stations’ ratings are directly tied to their revenue streams. PPM is potentially a much more accurate system

RADIO

than paper diaries, but program material and

36

provides flexibility to efficiently review and monitor multiple channels concurrently.”

“LogServer’s flexible architecture adds value well beyond traditional compliance applications”, says Erik Otto, CEO at Mediaproxy.

“We are delighted to be working with NOVA’s team and continue to provide extended functionalities for radio broadcasters.”

Mediaproxy’s LogPlayer user interface allows for extensive search, export and content retrieval across multiple distributed servers. In addition to traditional baseband sources, the unique LogServer core engine also supports transport stream sources via ASI and IP, providing powerful options to record H.264 and HLS proxy media and native MPEG formats in parallel.

Visit www.mediaproxy.com

Omnia Releases New Processors UNTIL NOW, radio broadcasters have been forced to choose between the ultimate capabilities in processing power, and a cost-effective price point. Featuring technology from the acclaimed Omnia.9 processor, the Omnia.7 breaks new ground in price versus performance. This 2 RU package includes Omnia’s exclusive “Undo” technology, which restores peaks and dynamic range to heavily mastered recordings. A psychoacoustic controlled distortion-masking clipper takes into account the perceptual characteristics of distortion and allows increased loudness without additional distortion.

The complete set of tools introduced in the Omnia.9 such as oscilloscopes, FFT, RTA, and loudness metering are also available in Omnia.7 along with a full remote control interface. RDS generator, HD processing, and stream encoder with processing are available as options.

In some installations, the FM stereo generator needs to be installed in a location separate from the main audio processor. This could include discrete STL paths where the audio processor lives at the studios, or a satellite network where one audio processor feeds multiple sites.

The Omnia.9sg features the same stereo generator technology from the Omnia.9 including a psychoacoustic distortion masking clipper, “Auto Pilot” which automatically switches off the stereo pilot during mono programming, allowing up to a 12 dB increase in signal to noise, and selectable SSB (single sideband) stereo encoding.

Visit www.telosalliance.com

RADIO

Telos Alliance Debuts Z/IPStream Audio Streaming Tools upon which the battle for the hearts, minds and ears of listeners is being waged. To help broadcasters win that battle, The Telos Alliance introduces Z/IPStream, a family of streaming audio processing+encoding tools that enable radio programmers and Webcasters to send clean, dynamic streams to digital listeners on any platform — with minimal setup.

Z/IPStream X/2 and Z/IPStream 9X/2 are Telos’ third-generation of audio streaming software, with audio processing tools from Omnia developed to precisely condition audio for bitreduction.

Z/IPStream X/2 runs on a standard Windows PC, simultaneously processing and encoding multiple Web streams. Z/IPStream X/2 comes with a number of expertly-tuned processing presets that give amazing results without tweaking, but power users can take advantage of the built-in, adjustable wide-band AGC, three-band compressor/limiter, EQ and precision look-ahead final limiter to craft a signature sound that matches the station’s over-the-air signal.

After processing, Z/IPStream Adaptive Streaming support simultaneously encodes audio at multiple bitrates; the listener’s player automatically chooses the best one for their available bandwidth, and even seamlessly switching bitrates if network conditions change.

Z/IPStream X/2 and Z/IPStream 9X/2 support both Microsoft Smooth Streaming and Apple HLS technologies, encoding the same stream at multiple bitrates and keeping audio packets sample-aligned.

Z/IPStream 9X/2 gives users even more potent audio processing power by including Omnia.9 audio processing by Leif Claesson. Its extensive audio-shaping toolkit includes exclusive “Undo” technology and “Solar Plexus, as well as 6-band parametric EQ. A variety of audio analysis tools are also included, such as oscilloscopes, real-time analysers, Fast Fourier transforms, full-spectrum analysers, and more.

For those who prefer a hardware-based streaming solution, there’s Z/IPStream R/1, a fanless 1RU rackmount device with a friendly, intuitive front-panel interface (and web-based remote UI).

Setup is intuitive, via front-panel controls or any standard Web browser.

Like its software cousins, Z/IPStream R/1 conditions audio with genuine Omnia processing tools, including wideband AGC, a 3-band combined compressor/limiter, high-frequency equalisation, an adjustable-bandwidth low-pass filter, and a final Look-Ahead limiter. A variety of audio processing presets get users started

streaming quickly; full processing controls allow finer tweaks. After processing, genuine MPEG encoding algorithms from FhG ensure the most artifact-free sound quality at the chosen bitrate, encoding MP3 or MPEG-AAC (AAC-LC, HE-AAC or HE-AAC v2) streams at bit rates from 14 kbps to 320 kbps.

Z/IPStream.S4 cards are the world’s first multichannel PC cards for processing and streaming multiple Internet audio channels directly from Windows-based PCs — allowing direct streaming output from radio automation or playout software. Two models are available: Z/ IPStream.S4 x4, with the ability to simultaneously process and encode up to four discrete streaming channels (each with as many as six different Adaptive Streaming bitrates per channel), and , and Z/IPStream.S4 x8, which doubles the stream capacity from four to eight streams.

Visit www.telosalliance.com

RADIO

THE INTERNET IS THE NEWEST STAGE

37

CONTENT DELIVERY Terrestrial, Mobile, Broadband

OZ Govt Releases Report on Future of Spectrum THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT has released a report, prepared by the Department of Communications, on the future directions for spectrum management that outlines recommended changes to improve Australia’s spectrum management framework.

The Spectrum Review Report highlights the need to simplify the current framework to remove prescriptive regulatory arrangements and to support the use of new and innovative technologies and services across the economy.

The three main recommendations are: Replace the current legislative arrangements with streamlined legislation that focuses on outcomes rather than process.

¡

Better integrate the management of public sector and broadcasting spectrum to improve the consistency and integrity of the framework.

¡

Review spectrum pricing to ensure consistent and transparent arrangements to support the efficient use of spectrum and secondary markets.

¡

The report is the outcome of a review conducted by the Department of Communications in conjunction with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and included extensive stakeholder consultation.

The report is available at: www.communications.gov.au/spectrumreview Feedback on the report can be sent to spectrumreview@communications.gov.au

TV 2025: Rethinking Small Screen Media in Australia A NEW REPORT, TV 2025, conducted by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology, has revealed what the Australian television industry may look like in the future.

By posing a set of 20 questions to 25 senior people from the television industry, program production, telecommunications, IT, online and social media, advertising and other sectors, the researchers were able to see how the television industry may change by 2025.

Interviewees included: director of television at the ABC, Richard Finlayson; co-creator and head writer of Offspring, Debra Oswald; Twitter Australia’s head of TV partnerships, Tony Broderick; CEO of Seven West Media, Tim Worner; research scientist in Intel’s Experience Group, Tawny Schlieski; managing director of Telstra’s television division, Ian Davis; Nine Network programming production executive, Courtney Gibson; Screen Australia’s deputy chair Deanne Weir; and Head of AOL Platforms’ Australian team, Mitch Waters.

TV 2025 is an edited narrative of their answers. It reveals their views on the technology trends, organisations, and people who will have most influence on television and video in the next few years.

Lead researcher, Swinburne Professor Jock Given, said, “TV is both durable and vulnerable. Some of the questions in the report looked at whether the interviewees’ organisations will still exist in 2025 and what worries them most; and • whether the United States will remain the world’s dominant screen culture.”

hubs mo demodulaTo frequency •

The full report can be accessed at http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au

Telstra Selects Ericsson’s CDN Solution ERICSSON’S CONSUMER LAB research shows that across the globe three quarters of us regularly watch streamed video at home and on the move.

Globally, Ericsson predicts that this year more people will watch streamed on-demand video on a weekly basis than broadcast TV. In response to demand growth in IP video, Telstra will be the first operator in the world to deploy the Ericsson Media Delivery Network solution as a fullymanaged CDN service as part of their multifaceted approach to both drive cost leadership and a superior customer experience.

Telstra and Ericsson will work collaboratively to develop services and capabilities that drive value from fixed and wireless networks and deliver richer customer experience on services such as Bigpond streaming channels.

Ericsson’s Media Delivery Network solution allows more efficient delivery of content to the edge of fixed and wireless networks. It works closely with other network technologies such as LTE broadcast, helping to maximise Telstra’s network superiority and continue to improve efficiency in the delivery of video across a range of platforms and devices as demand continues to grow.

Visit www.ericsson.com

www.content-technology.com/delivery

Globecast Oz Expands Fibre Network Into Asia GLOBECAST AUSTRALIA has announced expansion of its international fibre network, with connectivity into Asia.

With an existing fibre network connecting Globecast Australia to the world, the company says this direct path into Asia presents exciting new possibilities for bi-directional content contribution and distribution.

The path will carry premium content for customers, including Disney Channels and others who desire a managed service solution media partner.

The expansion sees a bi-directional, geographically diverse and redundant fibre circuit, connecting Globecast Australia’s Sydney Broadcast Centre with two independently located POP’s in Singapore.

Company CEO, Simon Farnsworth, said, “Connecting Globecast Australia directly with Asia through Singapore is a milestone which presents a world of opportunities for moving content globally.”

Visit www.globecast.com.au

CONTENT DELIVERY

WT

38

> Professional Broadcast & AV Solutions Signal Distribution

Switching & Conversion

Patching Systems

Optical Fibre AV Transport Systems Bulk Cable

Techno of The AWA

20

1800 00 77 80 Cable Assemblies

Racks & Cable Management

av@madisontech.com.au

SMPTE 2015 Stand #C-45

HUBS • MODEMS • TERMINALS • MODULATORS • DEMODULATORS • OEM BOARDS • ubs modems NEWORK TerminalsOPTIMIZERS modulaTors dulaTors oem boards neTwork opTimizers • FREQUENCY CONVERTERS uency converTers redundancy swiTches • REDUNDANCY SWITCHES bandwidTh cancellers • BANDWIDTH CANCELLERS •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

neW technologies

Mx-DMA

by NEWTEC

Equalink 3

by NEWTEC

S2X WTA

Technology of The yeAr AWArd

2015

Lumina Broadcast Systems Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 1693 Lane Cove NSW 1595 Phone +61 2 9817 2179 Fax +61 2 8572 5285 sales@luminabsa.com www.luminabsa.com

CONTENT DELIVERY

Netflix is Here

By Brad Watts

It’s a contentious subject at the minute. In an unnervingly short time-frame, Australians have gone from looking forward to a world class internet and data delivery via an optical fibre network, to the prospect of a cobbled together mish-mash of various ‘complimentary’ technologies. Add to the mix the recent ruling surrounding the movie, ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ and its copyright holders gaining access to the details of any Australian who happened to download the film, along with the introduction of compulsory metadata retention by ISPs and it’s plain to see Australia’s Information Not-So-Super Highway is in more than just a state of flux, it’s a downright shambles.

IT’S A WONDER THE RECENT INSURGENCY of Netflix into Australia has happened at all. However, despite the somewhat shaky ground of Australia’s broadband infrastructure, on the 24th of March, Netflix launched knowing it could deliver a decent viewing experience via an internet connection with throughput as little as 1.5mbps. How the company does this we’ll get to later.

What concerns Netflix more so is the data limitations set by many Australian internet service providers. While this is gradually moving toward unlimited data allowances, most rural internet users are still restrained as to how much data can be downloaded from an ISP during the monthly billing cycle. With an all-you-can-eat catalogue it’s not difficult not to chew up your data quotient. My particular internet connection, while offering true ADSL 2 speeds (remarkable for country Victoria) is limited to a mere 100GB per month. If my ISP (Internode) didn’t offer unmetered usage for Netflix, I’d have wiped 60GB off my plan two thirds of the way through my billing cycle. As my account stands I have 30GB of metered usage remaining. Yet I can watch Netflix 24/7 on four devices, including tablets, phones, smart televisions, Chromecast devices, game consoles, and computers – if I could only stay awake that long.

This is where Netflix are gaining an upper hand over local services such as Fairfax and Channel Nine’s Stan, and Foxtel and Channel Seven’s Presto. Netflix put great value in the strategic alliances with ISPs, and have unmetered usage deals with Optus and iiNet, with iiNet’s subsidiaries such as Internode, Westnet, and Adam Internet also offering quota-free Netflix data. Further integration has made its way into pay TV provider, Fetch TV, with Netflix subscribers able to access the service via second generation Fetch TV set-top boxes.

Pricing is alarmingly inexpensive. For a single stream (that is, the ability to stream to a single device) and standard definition image quality is $8.99 per month, two streams at SD and High Definition (dependent upon definition availability) is $11.99/month, and four streams at 4k (dependent on availability and your internet connection’s bandwidth) is $14.99/month. Plus users can opt in or out at any time. Compare that with the more traditional entertainment services such as Foxtel with lock in plans, equipment installation costs and a bare minimum of a $25/ month spend, and Netflix is remarkably inexpensive access to movies and television series.

CONTENT DELIVERY

Consequently Netflix is thriving in Australia. The crazy thing is the service was making steady inroads well before the March 24 launch, with a purported 200,000 Aussie users utilising virtual private network (VPN) tools to sidestep the geo-blocking and access Netflix via the United States and a U.S. IP address. Not entirely legal but possible nonetheless.

Of course doing this will negate any speed advantages to be gained by accessing Netflix’s library via an Australian IP address. You see, when Netflix officially launched in Australia, the company installed what it refers to as Open Connect Appliances (OCAs) at each participating ISP. These are dedicated servers packed with terabytes of hard drive space with the sole purpose of storing literally years of HD video data. They come

in various sizes, ranging from 100TB up to 160TB, the largest of which is capable of storing 6.2 years of HD material. Larger systems up to 200TB are also making their way into installations, and store a paltry eight years of data. The units are intrinsically large server units, designed to Netflix’s specification. They run on FreeBSD using NGINX web server and BIRD BGP daemon software , with both IPv4 and IPv6 fully supported. ISPs can order the preloaded systems once partnering with the company.

OCAs are imperative when you consider that in the States, Netflix data can account for up to 34 percent of internet traffic during peak times. If this amount of data had to be shuffled from the U.S. to Australia via home-grown ISPs, those providers would be struggling under the pressure. This would certainly result in Netflix streams slowing down (no doubt to a halt), and ISPs would need to invest in wider and faster infrastructure to cope, and we all know who’d end up paying the tariff on that cost. As things stand, Netflix provide the OCAs gratis to the ISP under the provision that the ISP maintains the appliance. Of course these units require constant updating with fresher material, and each unit receives a 5TB update each day.

As to what is updated is decided on Netflix’s popularity algorithms. These equations use metadata to record users’ viewing habits, and take into account what has been viewed, dates and times, even scrolling behaviour when shuttling through movie options. It’s the same set of algorithms used to offer recommendations for your next viewing. Netflix has managed to assemble scads of this information into no less than 76,897 separate genres. These genres were initially arrived at after using teams of trained movie watchers to tag movies with specific meta tags. These weren’t your average pizza eating couch dwellers either – the training document for these teams spanned a largish 36 pages.

Apart from the formidable data delivery aspect, this is Netflix’s primary clout. Not only can the service stream data effectively to even the most hobbled of broadband connections, it also knows its viewers intimately. It knows what you want to watch and when. Local providers should indeed be shaking in their collective boots.

40

043 P

CONTENT DELIVERY

Seven West Media Goes Live with SintecMedia’s IBMS SINTECMEDIA, a leading provider of broadcast management software, has announced that Australia’s Seven West Media has successfully launched the IBMS broadcast management system for its Free to Air properties. Seven West Media is utilising the complete IBMS platform to manage advertising sales, programming content and rights management in one centralised system. Seven West Media is not only using the new system to manage the entire broadcast operations, but is also using the IBMS Business Intelligence solution to manage their revenue and sales management reporting.

Seven West Media has deployed IBMS for its Free to Air properties -7, 7TWO, and 7MATE across their Metro and Seven Queensland regional service – enabling them to replace multiple legacy platforms with a single system. This complete system overhaul provides the company with better information, greater control and a streamlined operation more equipped for managing change. With one coordinated system and a centralised rights repository that merges operations and enhances decision making, Seven West Media is creating a foundation for future growth into digital media and a unified base for strategic growth initiatives.

Trevor Bird, CTO at Seven West Media, stated, “The future is firmly in our hands with SintecMedia who implemented the entire system on time and on-budget. With a single repository including rights management, our organisation knows how, when and what to offer from our inventory to all platforms. This system provides the basis for automated delivery of our programs beyond broadcast television, allowing us to efficiently create greater value from our precious content.”

WHEN THE AUSTRALIAN TRAFFIC NETWORK, Australia’s leading media provider of traffic news and information, and Top Notch Video, a major video and multimedia production company that provides video microwave link services, upgraded their equipment to meet Australia’s latest 2-GHz ENG frequency standards, they turned to Quinto Communications Pty Ltd. and Integrated Microwave Technologies’ (IMT).

Quinto, IMT’s official Australian and New Zealand reseller, helped both customers replace their previous Nucomm equipment with the company’s latest-generation transmitters, enabling high-quality, high-efficiency H.264 SD/HD video encoding and transmission capabilities in the new 2-GHz frequency band.

“A long-time reseller for IMT, Quinto continues to assist our customers throughout Australia and New Zealand with microwave technology supporting the latest 2-GHz requirements,” says John Payne IV, CTO, Integrated Microwave Technologies “As a broadcaster and production company, respectively, Australian Traffic Network and Top Notch Video reflect not just the diversity of our customer base, but the array of applications of our products in the field, from the ground to the air.”

The Australian Traffic Network has deployed IMT’s Nucomm Compact Portable Tx-II (CPTx-II) transmitters in its Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane traffic helicopters, along with its ground-based microwave links in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. The CPTx-II is a cost-effective, compact, and lightweight high-power digital microwave transmitter ideal for mobile and aviation use. In helicopter applications, it is coupled with the IMT Nucomm Access RC Helicopter remote control unit with standard aviation mounting.

Based in Sydney, Top Notch Video covers both scheduled shows and unscheduled breaking-news events for all of the free-to-air commercial broadcast networks in the region. The company is now equipped with IMT’s Nucomm Channel Master Tx7, an extremely rugged, portable microwave transmitter capable of both MPEG-2 and H.264 HD and SD operation.

Visit www.quinto.com.au

CONTENT DELIVERY

Visit www.sintecmedia.com

IMT Partners with Quinto for Australian Traffic Network

41 043 PAT LAWO V_Line C&T HP_OL.indd 1

27/01/2015 1:06 pm

CONTENT DELIVERY

Why KVM is Important in the Broadcast and Post Production Industries IHSE HAS JUST CELEBRATED its 30th year of operation. From its base near Lake Constance in Germany, the company has grown to become a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced KVM extenders and switches that are used throughout the world. They are deployed extensively in a range of industries, in missioncritical installations, from utility control rooms to government and military command centres, commercial enterprises and air traffic control towers.

Over the past five years, the broadcast industry has embraced KVM technology and especially KVM matrix switches in a big way. The industry has experienced a major shift toward file-based video strategies for content storage, post production and playout, which has resulted in an inevitable need to serve, manage and distribute file-based content at all stages of the broadcast workflow.

KVM matrix switches provide the central switching capability that enables dynamic communication between remotely-located servers and user workstations. They permit centralised, secure processing and storage with instant switching between sources and near-zero latency of signals. This means that the actual applications and video content can be stored securely in central comms rooms but accessed by users wherever they are on their local workstation – as though the content was right there.

A KVM matrix switch can be easily integrated into the broadcast environment and controlled with the same broadcast system control software as the rest of the studio. So it can be seamlessly integrated into the workflow.

A major benefit to broadcasters lies in the ability to access the programs and content that users need from any workstation that comprises simply a screen, keyboard and mouse.

Production teams can change from studio to studio and instantly configure the workstations to their own preference, allowing studios to be multi-purpose rather than dedicated to a

particular program style or type of broadcast operation.

It makes the engineers’ tasks easier too, particularly in space-restricted outside broadcast vehicles.

Operators at individual positions can connect to all available PCs and servers, so devices can be accessed and controlled anywhere, leading to Jonathan Wales, CEO of Sonic Magic Studios – “Using a KVM switch total flexibility within the gives us a level of collaboration, security and flexibility we hadn’t even vehicle. Equipment such imagined. It does exactly what it is supposed to do, all the time.” as EVS servers can then be operated from any switches are ideal for post-production studios. convenient location, rather They provide major benefits: application than requiring a dedicated control desk. programs can be held and deployed as needed KVM switches deliver enhanced flexibility to the so expensive licences for editing tools and broadcast industry. They can be installed with other systems can be shared amongst users almost unlimited input and output ports and rather than provided to each one; saving cost allow the broadcast operator to structure, and and increasing flexibility. Equipment and run, their system in precisely the way they want, studios can then be deployed in the most with instant control that meets the specific efficient manner, as and when needed and staff requirements of the teams that will use it. have the convenience of being able to work With ever-increasing demands on space and where and when they want. facilities within expensive post production and Content can be more easily managed and editing suites, owners and operators constantly secured: access to files can be restricted to seek new ways to increase the effectiveness editing use only, making it impossible to and efficiency of their facilities. One way that download files to portable, insecure, devices this can be achieved is through the use of KVM such as USB memory devices. Version control technology and especially KVM matrix switches. and backup of valuable files is made more The user, sitting at their workstation, which efficient and secure when all data files are held comprises just a video screen, keyboard and centrally. mouse, can access and operate a remote Multi-format switching is also possible through computer and manipulate content held on a a KVM switch, enabling tools such as the Avid central file storage system. Users are totally suite of software to be used. Parallel switching unaware of the switch system and continue to of computer signals and HDSDI permits the work as though the computer was located right normal operation of these types of editing by their desk. programs. Future-proofing is inherent with the Together with the shift toward file-based video ability to handle 4K UHDTV and above. strategies, the need for maximum security of data and assets has meant that KVM matrix

Visit www.ihse.com

CONTENT DELIVERY

Matrox Unveils Monarch HDX Broadcast H.264 Encoder MATROX VIDEO has demonstrated the Matrox Monarch HDX, a compact, easy-to-use, dualchannel H.264 encoding appliance, at NAB 2015.

Designed for complete workflow flexibility, Monarch HDX features 3G-SDI and HDMI inputs with frame synchronisation to compensate for unstable sources. Two independent H.264 encoders provide redundancy or can be set to stream and/or record using individual settings.

Monarch HDX is packed with features that make it ideal for broadcasters, event producers, medical facilities, CDNs, educational institutions, houses of worship, corporate communicators and legal

videographers. From any SDI or HDMI input source such as a camera or switcher, Matrox Monarch HDX generates two H.264-encoded video streams at bitrates from 200 Kbps to 30 Mbps. Powerful scaling, deinterlacing and noise reduction engines ensure only pristine images are sent to the encoders. For streaming purposes, the encoders use either RTMP or RTSP protocol to deliver live streams to local media servers or cloud-based CDNs. In recording applications, the encoders write MP4 or MOV files to local USB drives, SD cards or network-mapped drives for post-event editing or archiving. An additional, dedicated H.264 encoder provides remote

preview of the input.

“With two encoders in a single device, Monarch HDX can tackle any job — streaming to two different locations, recording proxy-quality and mastering-quality files simultaneously, or streaming while recording a higher quality version for VOD download,” said Dan Maloney, technical marketing manager, Matrox Video.

“Monarch HDX is an encoding workhorse that can integrate seamlessly into virtually any SD and HD installation to deliver video content for live or file-based workflows.”

Visit www.matrox.com

42

297x

WE ARE LIVE TV WE ARE LIVE TV

No matter what your requirement – SD to 4K, TV to Online, we have the perfect Live Production solution for you.

No matter what your requirement – SD to 4K, TV to Online, we have the perfect Live Production solution for you.

KAHUNA LIVETOUCH SIRIUS Kahuna is the most versatile switcher LiveTouch transforms the highlights Sirius’ unique integrated Advanced KAHUNA LIVETOUCH SIRIUSProcessing makes this the range on the market – including workflow with tight integration from Hybrid Kahuna the mostthan versatile LiveTouch transforms the highlights Sirius’compact unique integrated Advanced more 4Kiscapability any switcher other the Kahuna switcher to LiveTouch’s most and flexible routing range onThe thenew market – including workflow with tight integration Hybrid Processing system.

Maverik control integrated editor – all without from infrastructure theremakes is; all this the the more 4Kiscapability than any other the Kahuna most compactand andallflexible routing surface easily reconfigured to meet moving any switcher media. to LiveTouch’s functionality the formats – system.

The Maverik control integrated editor – all without infrastructure there all the the needs ofnew every production.

SD to 4K – all in oneis; box. surface is easily reconfigured to meet moving any media. functionality and all the formats – theall needs of every production. to 4K – alltoinget onequality box.

It works together as a fully integrated solution that delivers great SD workflows

content to air, web, tablet and mobile, fast and efficiently.

It all works together as a fully integrated solution that delivers great workflows to get quality content to air, web, tablet and mobile, fast and efficiently.

snellgroup.com/livetv snellgroup.com/livetv 297x210_TVB_LiveTV.indd 1

quantel.com/livetv quantel.com/livetv 23/04/2015 10:00

CLASSIFIEDS + EVENTS POSITION VACANT – Business Development Manager

PositionVacant – Technical Sales Executive Broadcast and Professional Products

ASTRALINKS is one of Australia’s leading provid-

QUINTO COMMUNICATIONS

ers of satellite uplink services to the TV broadcast industry, delivering live coverage of Sport, News and Entertainment events from all over Australia.

We currently have a vacancy for an energetic, self-driven and technology savvy Business Development Manager, working from our Mount Kuring-Gai base, in the north of Sydney.

To be considered for this vacancy you must fulfil the following criteria: + Have a proven track record of sales and/or business development within the Australian broadcasting industry; + Have a working understanding of satellite transmission infrastructure; + Understand the commercial requirements and challenges broadcasters face on both outside broadcast and live news delivery; + Have a keen eye for marketing and understand the importance of engaging your target audience via social media, advertising and trade shows; + Be able to manage the entire sales cycle and build long lasting relationships; + Be self-motivated with excellent communication and presentation skills; and + Have a current Australian driver’s license, your own transport and the right to work fulltime in Australia.

We are a small team of high achievers and each team member is highly respected and regarded in their chosen field. To become part of our team, you will not only need to fit in, you will need to bring the drive and determination that is necessary to drive the business forward. If you are the right person for the job we can offer the right remuneration in relation to your experience and the results you deliver.

Please send your CV, including a 1-page cover letter, addressing the above criteria and stating why you are the right person for the job, to recruiting@ astralinks.com.au No Australian visa sponsorship will be offered, and NO agencies please!

is one of Australia’s leading equipment suppliers to the broadcast and corporate A/V sectors. Due to the diversity of our products and growing customer base, we are now seeking to employ an additional technical sales executive based in our Sydney office that will be responsible for promoting and selling our diverse range of products to television networks, production facilities, telco’s, dealers, consultants, educational institutions, corporate facilities and government departments.

The candidate we seek should have the following skills and experience: Proven sales experience and a sound technical engineering or operational background in the broadcast and A/V corporate sectors.

Be proactive in identifying and developing new business opportunities Be a self-starter with strong communication skills, initiative and ability to communicate with customers at all levels.

Have proficient computer skills and hands on knowledge and experience working with broad range of broadcast and professional A/V products and solutions.

This is an ideal opportunity to join one of the market leaders and for the successful candidate we offer: An attractive remuneration package including car allowance

¡

Inter-state and Overseas travel opportunities

¡

Friendly team work environment

¡

Further training opportunities

¡

If you feel you have the experience and qualities to fill this important role, then please email your application and CV to nicky@quinto.com.au

PositionVacant - Sales Consultant Account Manager WE ARE LOOKING for an experienced and

sition to them and makes us an integral part of them achieving their goals.

motivated sales professional to join our highly successful Sydney sales operation.

Our business is about providing and maintaining high-level technological solutions through consultation and expert service. A key part of this role is coordinating these functions and ensuring the successful engagement of all stakeholders.

The role consists of servicing existing clients and acquiring new business primarily selling digital media solutions to the film, video post production and broadcast markets. This role will suit an IT or other sales professional with a strong technical background who is looking to extend their knowledge of the digital media market and the technologies deployed whilst providing significant scope for advancement.

The primary responsibility of the role is to service and support selected and allocated accounts within the digital media market. As a Sales Consultant you will be required to create and develop ongoing business relationships with both clients and key vendors whilst achieving revenue targets and gross profit goals.

This is a solutions focused B2B role and will require you to acquire a detailed working knowledge of our core markets and products and the solutions that we provide. Of equal importance is the ability to develop and nurture meaningful business relationships with clients that extends our overall value propo-

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE Proven ability to establish and nurture solid commercial relationships

¡

High level consultative skills with proven ability to engage at multiple levels

¡

Conceiving and applying technological solutions to help people achieve their goals

¡

Aptitude to think laterally and demonstrate strong problem solving skills

¡

Ability to work autonomously with excellent personal organisational skills whilst contributing to a strong and collaborative team environment.

¡

If you are looking for a challenging and rewarding career, apply by email to staffing@digistor.com.au

Position Vacant – Telecommunication Manager - Operations & Maintenance CLASSIFIEDS + EVENTS

WE ARE A medium size telecommunication

44

business in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

We require a highly motivated person to oversee our technical division.

The main responsibilities/activities: - Managing the technical supervisor team of five with 20x field technicians - Satellite HUB/VSAT - Internet Service Provider - Bandwidth Management - Wireless Networks - VPN - MMDS Cable Television System - Satellite Television installations nationwide - Technical Sales Required skills: - RF Experience - IP and Networking Experience -

Strong experience in troubleshooting, problem solving and root cause analysis This is a senior expatriate position based in Port Moresby with accommodation and vehicle provided.

If you are keen to be part of a dynamic, friendly team and have excellent communication skills and relevant industry experience, please forward your CV to jobs@hitron.com.pg * Please note: only applicants short-listed for this role will be contacted. Your application will be treated with strict confidentiality.

>> ACS Awards >>

002

>> ACS Awards >>

005

>> NAB 2015 >>

006

>> NAB 2015 >>

009

>> NAB 2015 >>

010

>> NAB 2015 >>

012

>> NAB 2015 >>

003

>> ACS Awards >>

004

>> NAB 2015 >>

>> NAB 2015 >>

008

>> NAB 2015 >>

011

>> NAB 2015 >>

007

013

>> NAB 2015 >>

INDUSTRY FOCUS

001

45

INDUSTRY FOCUS

INDUSTRY FOCUS

46

014

>> NAB 2015 >>

015

>> NAB 2015 >>

017

>> NAB 2015 >>

018

>> NAB 2015 >>

019

021

>> NAB 2015 >>

022

>> NAB 2015 >>

024

>> NAB 2015 >>

025

>> NAB 2015 >>

026

028

>> NAB 2015 >>

029

016

>> NAB 2015 >>

>> NAB 2015 >>

020

>> NAB 2015 >>

023

>> NAB 2015 >>

027

>> NAB 2015 >>

>> NAB 2015 >>

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

030

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

031

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

032

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

033

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

034

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

035

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

036

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

037

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

038

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

039

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

040

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

041

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

042

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

043

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

044

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

045

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

046

>> SMPTE Post-NAB Party >>

INDUSTRY FOCUS

INDUSTRY FOCUS

47

TIME shifter Back to Basics: Recording on a Wax Cylinder at the NFSA THE BASICS, Keith Potger (The Seekers) and Indigenous duo Stiff Gins have teamed up with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) to record new songs using 1890s wax cylinder technology. in early 2013 the Indigenous musical duo Stiff Gins (Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs) approached the NFSA’s Peter White, Senior Manager, Indigenous Connections, about recording a wax cylinder. Nardi and Kaleena had heard the cylinder recordings made by Tasmanian Aboriginal woman Fanny Cochrane Smith in 1903 and they were intrigued by the idea of making a similar recording for a new show.

12-string guitar.

On 4 September Stiff Gins arrived at the NFSA to record their song. We had warned them the cylinder could only hold two minutes and they had prepared a song to suit. As far as we can tell this is the first studio recording on wax cylinder since the demise of the Australia Moulded Record Co of Glebe, NSW in 1910 and quite possibly the first songs recorded in two Indigenous languages.

There is no handbook for this 19th century technology. The NFSA archives equipment as well as recordings and, after some research, decided to use an Edison Standard D model phonograph as a recording machine.

The Basics’ Kris Schroeder said, “We’ve always been fascinated by how the “limitations” of recording technologies have shaped our experience of music, and even our perception of the past. Our forthcoming album The Age of Entitlement sees us walking in the footsteps of The Beatles, recording in Abbey Road’s Studio 2, but this wax cylinder recording is an incredible jump back to the beginning of modern musical history, completely re-contextualising how sound shapes our understanding.”

The Basics (Wally De Backer, Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath) visited the NFSA, they recorded on a wax cylinder using an Edison Standard D model phonograph as a recording machine. Recording three vocalists accompanied by a 12-string guitar added complexity to the recording process.

There is not much dynamic range available when recording onto a cylinder, so it is best if the performers’ volume is fairly consistent. Otherwise, unlike a modern recording system, they need to physically move towards – or away from – the horn of the phonograph to compensate.

Keith Potger, one of the original members of The Seekers, enthusiastically recorded a twominute version of his song ‘Guardian Angel, Guiding Light’. On the recording he also plays a

Advertiser Index AJA...................................................................................3

TIME SHIFTER

Amber Technology...................................................27

48

Autodesk.....................................................................23 Blackmagic Design......................................................5 Elemental.................................................................OBC IHSE GmbH Asia Pacific..............................................6

The shimmery overtones that help give 12-string guitars their distinct tonal colour are hard to capture with an acoustic horn recording, and incorporating the instrument into the recording certainly added another variable to the mix.

The phonograph dates from around 1908 and has a clockwork spring-powered motor. The NFSA fitted it with a recorder head that can play back two-minute cylinders, sourced from a supplier in the US, and obtained blank cylinders from Paul Morris in the UK. Recording on this equipment is a purely mechanical process, with no electricity involved.

The performer sings down a metal horn and the energy of that sound is concentrated onto a thin circular mica disc in the recorder head. The vibrations of the disc move a thin glass rod, which cuts the spiral groove in the cylinder.

The NFSA experimented with two different conical horns but the longer (120 cm) produced a better recording than the shorter (100 cm). The distance of the performer from the horn is also critical; the performer has to be able to hear a reverberant echo coming back out of the horn for there to be enough mechanical energy to cut the groove.

In the early 1890s Thomas Edison changed the world forever when he introduced the first commercially available phonographs, machines that could record and play back sounds. A cylinder about five cm in diameter and 11 cm long, made from waxes and metallic soaps, was the recording medium.

At first, each cylinder had to be recorded Jands............................................................................33 Lawo.............................................................................31 Lumina Broadcast Systems....................................39 Madison Technologies............................................38 Magna Systems & Engineering........................... IFC On Air Solutions..................................................21,37 Professional Audio & Television................ 7,19,41 Ross Video..................................................................44

individually. However the need to reproduce in batches and increase sales potential led to developments in technology. Small batch production was enabled by pantographic machines and then, in the early 1900s, a moulding process was used that depended on the cooling wax cylinder shrinking enough to be extracted from an outside mould. The next step was moulding the cylinders from celluloid, the new wonder plastic material of the age.

But cylinders couldn’t complete with Emil Berliner’s flat disc record made from shellac. These were both easier to manufacture and came with two songs, one on each side. By the early 1920s prerecorded cylinders had been displaced entirely by discs. However the ease with which cylinder technology could be used as a recording device saw it utilised for dictation and they survived into the 1950s for this purpose. The NFSA collection includes the machine owned by Gwen Meredith, onto which she dictated the dialogue of Blue Hills, her long-running ABCradio serial.

The NFSA has been showing the wax cylinder recording process at various events around the country, allowing people to record snippets of singing to the cylinders. The technology is also featured in the upcoming Disney film Tomorrowland.

The Basics' (Wally De Backer/Gotye, Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath) “I Don’t Need Another”, Keith Potger’s “Guardian Angel Guiding Light”, and Stiff Gins’ (Kaleena Briggs and Nardi Simpson) “Dust” are all available for free download from the NFSA’s SoundCloud channel. Behind-the-scenes videos of the recording sessions are also available on the NFSA’s website, YouTube and Flickr channels.

The NFSA’s SoundCloud channel also includes wax cylinder recordings made by Urthboy and other musicians from around Australia.

Visit www.nfsa.gov.au Quantum.....................................................................25 Quinto Communications...........................................9 Riedel Communications GmbH & Co. KG..........17 Sennheiser Australia...............................................34 SMPTE.........................................................................IBC Snell Group.................................................................43 Studiotech Australia...................................................4 Techtel...................................................................11,13

100 YEARS OF SMPTE

If you only attend one event in 2015, this is it!

14 - 17 JULY HORDERN PAVILION & ROYAL HALL OF INDUSTRIES, MOORE PARK For more information go to www.smpte.com.au or call now to book your space +61 2 9452 7594

Ex Co hib nf itio ere NO n R nce W egi an OP str d EN atio n

ys.tv

Persistence of Vision

MED

Perfecting the Media Experience CLOUD

HLS

4K VOD LIVE

DASH

VM

HEVC

Pay TV operators, content programmers, broadcasters and enterprise customers around the world rely on Elemental to bring live and on-demand video to any screen, anytime – all at once

Software-Defined Video Solutions

www.elementaltechnologies.com

S ISSN