Content and Technology ANZ May June 2014

PP: 255003/06831

VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3 MAY/JUNE 2014

MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY

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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 3 MAY / JUNE 2014

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

Cover Story – Globecast – the Stream Team

42 REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 04 NEWS ABC Budget Cuts, Australia Network Axed, People Moves

45 CLASSIFIEDS AND EVENTS 48 TIME SHIFTER Talkies

14 FEATURES 12 ACQUISITION Team Videocraft on The Voice, NZ’s Niche Cameras Expands ARRI Fleet, NAB Releases from Sony, Panasonic and Blackmagic Design

18 SPORTSCASTING PA People Hits Top

27

Gear with Australian Grand Prix; The Glasgow Diaries; NAB Releases from Grass Valley, VizRT and Orad; Fox Sports Goes Slo with Antelope Pico

24 NEWS OPERATIONS SBS and Seven on the Move with TVUPack; TVB Transforms Newsroom Operations with Sonaps, News releases from NAB.

28 POST-PRODUCTION Animal Logic Makes

32 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD Cloud and Network Provider Round-Up.

35 AUDIO Māori TV Upgrades Audio with Harman Consoles, Soundfirm Installs Australia’s First Meyer Sound Cinema System, Final Mix Post Gets Real with Studer Vista 5

38 RADIO Digital Community Radio Network Launches for Australian Youth, Blowing a Raspberry on Internet Radio, Interactive Audio Ads, NAB2014.

41 TRANSMISSION Astralinks Upgrades with Adtec , Globecast Enters the OTT Stream, New Solutions from NAB.

Everything Awesome for The Lego Movie

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CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN: 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel: +61-(0)2-9211 8205 Fax: +61-(0)2-9211 8208 Mob: +61-(0)414-671-811 papers@broadcastpapers.com

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SUB-EDITOR: Keith Ford PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lucy Salmon Tel: +61-(0)29211 8205 production@broadcastpapers.com DESIGN & LAYOUT: Wide Open Media Tel: +61-2-9690 2835 info@wideopenmedia.com.au PRINTING: Pegasus 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.

2/06/14 5:24 PM

EDITOR’S WELCOME

Free-to-Air Transmissions?

By Phil Sandberg MUCH OF THE DISCUSSION AROUND the future of television has focused on viewer habits, new devices, Gen Y, binge viewing, Internet disruption and the death of appointment TV, but what about the policy and budgetary agendas of Governments?

of the potential future demands on the spectrum used by DTT.”

The UK regulator Ofcom has issued a discussion paper around changes in that country’s use of the 700MHz (UHF) band and what it sees as an evolutionary path for what it calls FTV (Free-to-View) television.

a) Availability and take-up of superfast broadband: the UK Government’s current plans will make superfast broadband available to 95% of the population by 2017. This would need to be complemented by driving take-up of these services.

The paper does say, however, that a number of criteria that would need to be satisfied for a mass market move from DTT to IPTV to be realistically considered. These include:

The regulator sees two potential options for addressing those challenges, which it says are not mutually exclusive:

St. Petersburg

Where these potential building blocks sit now in the context of the Coalition Government’s reshaping of the NBN remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that electromagnetic spectrum, like other Government assets, will come under increasing consideration as governments seek to bolster revenues in times of budget emergencies.

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“Based on our analysis of the market we believe that there are two key challenges for the free to view element of the DTT market: connectivity and improving picture quality.”

In an Australian context, the building blocks for a future transition from terrestrial to IP/satellite delivery were theoretically present in the VAST satellite service and the former Labor Government’s vision for the National Broadband Network. Indeed, marketing collateral was created under the previous NBN management promoting the network to terrestrial broadcasters as an alternative delivery platform.

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“Nevertheless,” the paper sates, “any fall in DTT penetration is, in our view, unlikely to be significant enough to undermine the policy goals achieved

by FTV, particularly since many viewers may in any case choose to switch to Freesat. Furthermore DTT stakeholders are able, either individually or collectively, to take various steps in order to prevent such a decline.

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Ofcom engaged consultancy firm Mediatique to consider the possible impact on DTT platform penetration of greater consumer demand for HD content.

They found that should this materialise, DTT penetration could fall following a change of use of the 700MHz band as a result of it having less choice of HD services than other TV platforms.

c) Quality of experience: significant work is likely to be needed to understand how to ensure networks are sufficiently capable and resilient to replicate the quality of experience currently delivered over broadcast networks.

01:00

The regulatory body has released proposals to make the 700 MHz band available for mobile broadband from 2022, or possibly up to two years earlier. The proposals involve moving parts of DTT (temporarily allocated to support the transition to MPEG-4/DVB-T2 standards) and Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) services to other frequencies.

b) Take-up of IP capable consumer equipment: whilst falling prices will bring more IP capable equipment into households, there is likely to be a sizeable minority of people without IP capable equipment.

00:00

It paints a future of free television being delivered via IPTV platforms and even moots the switch-off of Digital Terrestrial Television sometime after the year 2030.

You can find the paper at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/ consultations/700MHz/ftv/?utm_source=updates&utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=ftv Let me know what you think.

 providing more channels and services over IP through hybrid/DTT products.

Thanks for Reading

 upgrading broadcast compression and transmission standards.

Phil Sandberg Editor/Publisher

According to the paper, “There is a debate emerging about the potential for internet protocol TV, or IPTV, potentially combined with satellite, to provide a potential long-term alternative to DTT delivery. This is because IP delivery is becoming more important as viewers use on-demand services and because

papers@broadcastpapers.com T: +61-(0)2-9211 8205

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

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

Budget Cuts for ABC, SBS and Screen Australia FUNDING CUTS OF 1% for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

work out the full impact and to review strategies and internal budgets.

and the Special Broadcasting Service have been announced in the 2014 Federal Government Budget. On top of this, the two Government-funded broadcasters will face additional cuts in the near future as a result of an Efficiency Study set up to review ABC and SBS operations.

“The ABC is very tightly geared. We have been diligent in reducing backroom costs over recent years to ensure the ABC can deliver better and more varied content to our audiences. That strategy has enabled the ABC to self-fund important new initiatives like iview, ABC News24, ABC Unearthed and a range of other new digital services.”

According to Australia’s Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, “The Government wants to ensure a strong, healthy, and resilient public broadcasting sector that efficiently uses taxpayers’ money. The 2014-15 Commonwealth Budget includes a one per cent saving on base funding as a down-payment on back office savings identified and being considered by the Government and the public broadcasters over the coming months.

“This budget measure does not constitute an ongoing efficiency dividend on the ABC and SBS. The exact implementation of the savings arising from this measure will be determined by the boards and executives of the national broadcasters.”

According to the ABC, operational funding cuts of close to AUD$40m over four years will come on top of the termination of the $220 million contract to deliver the international broadcasting service, Australia Network.

“The funding cuts will be disappointing for audiences. The government gave repeated commitments before and after the election that funding for the Corporation would be maintained,” the ABC’s Managing Director, Mark Scott said.

Mr Scott said while the ABC would look to make its operations more efficient, the funding cuts would regrettably and inevitably result in redundancies and a reduction in services. He said the ABC Board and Executive would need time to

Meanwhile, SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said the Budget announcement would result in AUD$2 million per year funding cuts for the multicultural broadcaster.

“We fully recognise that this is a tough Budget,” he said. “Through various government review processes, the Board and I have demonstrated that SBS has a lean and agile culture, with innovative employees that are, by necessity, highly-skilled at delivering more with less. We would be concerned should there be a further reduction in our funding as this would invariably impact on our content and audiences and, in turn, on our commercial revenue.”

Screen Australia will be hit by $38 million of cuts over four years. This includes a $25m reduction in its overall appropriation; the termination of the Australian games initiative a year early in 2014-15 ($10m); and the conclusion of the four-year interactive multiplatform funding initiative in 2017-18 ($2.5m).

Screen Australia has announced that The Australian Interactive Games Fund, effective immediately, will not accept any further applications for games funding. Applications for the Games Production program received or postmarked on or before close of business Tuesday 13 May 2014 will be assessed and successful applicants will be advised accordingly.

Australia Network to be Terminated THE FUTURE OF WHAT PASSES FOR SOFT DIPLOMACY Down Under, the Australia Network, is in doubt following Federal Budget cuts announced

by Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s recently elected Liberal/National Party Government. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade fund the Australia Network.

According to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, “The Australia Network has failed to deliver a cost-effective vehicle for advancing Australia’s broad and enduring interests in the Indo-Pacific region. This decision will deliver AUD$76.8 million over four years to repair the Budget with additional savings over the lifetime of the contract beyond the forward estimates.

Ms Bishop said the contract with the ABC to provide the service “… was the

result of a fundamentally flawed tender process under the previous Labor government.”

The Australia Network contract was handed to the ABC following opposition within the Labor Government to the service being operated by Australian News Channel Pty Ltd, a joint venture of Nine Digital, Seven Media Group and British Sky Broadcasting. No announcements were made regarding a new tender process or future replacement for the Australia Network service.

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said the decision to cut the funding for Australia Network was “very disappointing”, given the ABC was only one year into a 10-year contract with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Quinto on the Catwalk with Elemental

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TAKING PLACE IN APRIL 2014, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia was live streamed internationally 24-hours a day for the duration of the event in HD utilising Elemental Technologies Elemental Live encoders.

ANZ Elemental distributor, Quinto Communications, worked with event video producer, InDigital Media Group, to deliver the coverage.

Two HD video feeds were streamed in five different bit rates and resolutions to a total of three content distribution networks - YouTube, EdgeCast, and Mirror Image - all using a single 1RU high density Elemental Live encoder with dual high definition video inputs.

Elemental encoders use GPU-based encoding to provide multi-resolution, multi-bit rate, and multi-format live streaming for multiple video sources from a single compact encoder unit. Models with up to eight HDSDI inputs streamed from a single encoder are available and all models support internet streaming from video file and video over IP sources.

In addition to the 24-hours-a-day daily webcasts, designer-specific live streaming events were also created and a total of 35 live streaming events run to cover individual designers’ runway shows at the event.

Viewers worldwide were able to view the event live and an interactive web experience allowed viewers to immediately buy new fashions as they were presented during the show.

Visit www.quinto.com.au and www.elementaltechnologies.com

Vaddio Launches Down Under for APAC

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Heading the team at Vaddio Pty. Ltd. will be Joe Bader, director of business development and Rene Zbynovsky, technical sales manager.

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Hartigan to Chair Prime Media

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PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED has appointed John Hartigan as a director and Chairman of the company after the passing of its founder and longserving Chairman, Paul Ramsay AO.

on.

Hartigan, formerly Chairman and CEO of News Limited, said, “I am excited to be joining Prime Media at a time of such rapid change and opportunity across the media landscape. It is a privilege to work with such a strong management team.”

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Prime Media Group CEO, Ian Audsley, said, “For 29 years, Paul served as the Chairman of Prime and played a significant role in the growth of regional television in Australia. He was held in high regard by all who met him.”

Visit www.primemedia.com.au

Paul Mullen Named TXA Chairman TX AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED (TXA) has announced the appointment of Paul Mullen as Non-Executive Independent Chairman.

TXA is a joint venture company owned by the three commercial television networks, SEVEN, NINE and TEN. TXA is a communications infrastructure and media services company operating in the Australian mainland capital cities.

Paul was most recently Managing Director of Hostworks and previously held the role of Head of Corporate Development at Broadcast Australia.

Visit www.txaustralia.com.au

Ray Sanders Leaves Gencom

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INDUSTRY STALWART AND FORMER GENCOM CEO, Ray Sanders, has left the company after nearly three decades of service. Sanders was CEO of Gencom for 14 years before the company was bought by Broadcast One in May last year.

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In announcing his departure, Sanders said, “After more than 27 years the time has come for me to move on from Gencom. Throughout this period I have seen the company grow from a small NZ-based organisation, to a larger company spanning more than half the world. It has been a rewarding time for me but the success is totally due to the assistance from both my Gencom colleagues and the customers and partners among you.”

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Visit www.gencom.com

Baker Buys The SubStation DUBSAT HAS ANNOUNCED that Linda Baker has fully acquired its leading closed captioning, audio description and subtitling service, The SubStation. Baker, along with Dubsat CEO Grant Schuetrumpf, launched The SubStation in 2008.

Schuetrumpf said, “As Dubsat continues on its path to be a leading international cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) company in the advertising and entertainment industries, we realised it would be best if The SubStation continue its success independently.”

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New Managing Director of The SubStation, Linda Baker, said, “Having been part of successfully growing The SubStation since its launch and with Dubsat’s clear vision for its future, now is a great time for both businesses to work independently. Our team remains the same and, in particular, our Deafness Forum Award-winning Javier Arriaga will continue in his role as The SubStation’s Head of Production.”

Visit www.thesubstation.com.au

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Noel Oakes Transfers to Quinto

Harrow to Head APAC Sales for Digital Vision

QUINTO COMMUNICATIONS has appointed Noel Oakes to the newly created role of Business Development Manager based in its Sydney office.

Oakes joins Quinto after many years of senior sales and marketing experience in the industry having a career spanning management roles for Digital Processing Systems and a long association with JVC Professional Products within the Australia and New Zealand markets.

Tom Pavicic, CEO of Quinto Communications, stated, “Noel is well known and respected in the industry and we are very pleased to have him join us at Quinto as we continue to expand our product range offerings and services.”

Oakes commented, ”I am very excited to be part of the Quinto team and look forward to working with them as they expand on the success they have forged in Australia and New Zealand.”

Visit www.quinto.com.au

New Head of Development at ITV Studios Australia VMICAH HEWSON has been promoted to Head of Development at ITV Studios, effective immediately, reporting to Ben Ulm, the newly appointed Head of Content.

Hewson refined his craft for producing, creating and adapting television formats at Southern Star Entertainment (Endemol) as an executive producer working with Australian and UK broadcasters.

“I’m thrilled that Micah is stepping up to lead development for ITV Studios Australia. He has a natural talent for developing new programming concepts that are spot on trend, and that viewers gravitate to,” said Anita Jacoby, ITV Studios Australia Managing Director.

“Being able to contribute to the growth of ITV through the development of new and innovative programming is something I look forward to seizing with both hands,” said Hewson.

Visit www.itvstudios.com/au

DIGITAL VISION continues to strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific region with the appointment of Pete Harrow to the role of Head of Sales for APAC, based out of New Zealand.

Pete rejoins the Digital Vision team after a 10-month interval, during which he worked as a freelance colourist. His projects included the feature film Ambrosia, music videos for bands including Sons of Zion, Dead Beat Boys and The No Problemos, and commercials for Pump water (a Coca-Cola brand) and Yates garden sprays. Prior to this Pete was Head of Sales at Digital Vision for two years, driving sales in the APAC region.

Kelvin Bolah, CEO, Digital Vision, said, “We’re very pleased to welcome Pete back to the Digital Vision team. He is well known across the region and his first-hand knowledge and experience of production and postproduction make Pete an ideal evangelist for Digital Vision tools.”

Visit www.digitalvision.se

BAI Appoints New CFO A NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER has been announced for the BAI Group, owner of Broadcast Australia, Airwave Solutions Australia, and Hostworks.

Mr Stephen Matthews has been appointed to the role following a comprehensive search process undertaken after current CFO Michael Buckling announced his retirement last year.

Mr Matthews was most recently employed as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer at NBN Co Ltd, where he was responsible for financial control, commercial finance, finance systems and capitalisation, planning and reporting, and tax.

Mr Jim Hassell, Group CEO for BAI, said, “We are thrilled to have Stephen joining us at BAI. He has extensive experience working with global companies, which will help him manage our group of international and Australian communications businesses.”

Jim Hassell continued, “Mike has had a huge influence on the company and I want to thank him for the outstanding contribution he’s made, not only in his role with BAI, but personally to me, since my arrival as CEO last year. Mike gave us plenty of notice of his retirement, which has allowed us the time to find the right replacement.”

Visit www.baigroup.com

NEWS + PEOPLE

Microsoft Online Advertising Consolidates Greater China and APAC MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED that Adam Anger has been promoted to General Manager for Asia-Pacific, Microsoft Advertising, and will lead the newly consolidated advertising business, which now includes Greater China, South East Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand. With this transition, Bruno Fiorentini, Jr, former General Manager for South East Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft Advertising, will take on a new leadership role within the Global Accounts and Agencies organisation.

display and search offerings in the region.

In his new role, Anger will continue to report to Axel Steinman, Vice President of Emerging Markets, Microsoft Advertising. Anger will be responsible for growing the revenue and market share of Microsoft’s online advertising properties across the newly consolidated Asia-Pacific region. He will also partner closely with Grant Watts, recently appointed to the role of Search Advertising Lead, Asia to drive synergies between Microsoft Advertising’s

“Adam brings valuable experience, strong leadership, and key management skills to this position. His long standing commitment to the company, expertise in developed and developing markets, and successful track record of growing market share proves that Adam is the right person for the role,” said Axel Steinman, Vice President of Emerging Markets, Microsoft Advertising.

Prior to this, Anger was the General Manager for Greater China, Microsoft Advertising, where he led the strategy, marketing, business development, and digital advertising sales for Microsoft’s online properties in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as the strategic joint venture partnership in Mainland China. Anger brings more than 17 years of experience working within Microsoft across a number of different business groups and geographies.

Visit http://advertising.microsoft.com

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Briefs CUTTING EDGE has appointed James Price, the former Creative Director and Partner of Brooklyn-based design and animation company, Transistor Studios, as Head of Design.

With a signature hand crafted, illustration focussed visual style, James also has an incredibly diverse portfolio of work as an illustrator, designer, art director, live action director, animation director, and typographer.

Visit www.cuttingedge.com.au

PROFESSIONAL AUDIO TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD (PAT), has officially announced a change of name to Professional Audio & Television Pty Ltd. MD, Patrick Salloch, said, “The name change was inevitable for our business, as we continue our diversification within the broadcast industry. We felt it was important that the name of our company reflects the industries we are servicing and the technology solutions we provide nowadays.”

According to Jo Tankard, the team’s key purpose is to achieve high end results on realistic budgets.

Visit www.proaudiotv.com.au

“With John and Simon’s experience, the quality our clients can expect goes without saying,” said Jo. “The difference for us is our desire to provide good, honest client service.

This is a new set up here, so we have the opportunity to make the TVU what we want it to be.”

FAIRLIGHT has appointed experienced ICT senior executive Philip Belcher as CEO. After a 12 month recapitalisation, restructure and product development period, Mr. Belcher has been tasked with leading the organisation through its next significant growth phase.

Belcher has previously served as CEO/MD of companies including Datacraft Australia, AWA, Storagetek ANZ, Radware ANZ, PMPartners group, and executive general manager of major divisions of Cisco Asia Pacific and NEC Australia.

Visit www.fairlight.com.au

CUTTING EDGE has formed the Television Unit (TVU) to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ TV post production unit. The team includes Jo Tankard (Producer), John Unwin (Online/ Offline Editor), and Simon Hicks (Sound).

Visit www.cuttingedge.com.au

SENNHEISER ANZ Operations Manager, Michael Sloss has left the company following its transition from Syntec to Sennheiser. Syntec was set up by Michael Sloss’ grandfather, and Michael has been a key member of the management team for many years, both prior to and since the transition from Syntec to Sennheiser.

With the transition to Sennheiser now fully complete, Michael has decided it is the right time to explore new challenges.

Visit www.sennheiser.com.au

NEWS + PEOPLE

At the same time, Professional Audio

& Television has also announced its appointment as exclusive distributor of ORBAN Television processors in Australia.

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ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition

Videocraft Makes a Bolt for Shine and The Voice RECENTLY SHINE AUSTRALIA had an opportunity to purchase additional wireless camera links due to a large number of simultaneous multi-camera productions, all requiring reliable, cable free video transmission from camera to monitoring.

Looking to expand their existing wireless kits, the production company turned to Videocraft and the Teradek Bolt Pro 2000 zero delay wireless video transmission system.

Shine Australia Technical Services Manager, Nick Parker, explained, “We wanted the system to be license free, long range, simple to setup, HD and compact. Working with Videocraft we were able to get an advanced shipment of four Bolt Pro 2000 units before the worldwide release. I had been watching all the developments of the Bolt Pro 2000 and having used Teradek products in the past it was natural to be confident in the Teradek brand.”

Due to the success of the initial four Bolt Pro 2000s Shine Australia ultimately purchased five units.

Parker continued, “For The Voice we successfully used the Bolt Pro 2000s with four XDCAM PDW800 cameras and tested a 150 metre point-topoint outdoor link at Fox Studios. During the most recent series of So You Think You Can Dance Australia we were able to rig the Steadicam wireless teleprompter, which became the most reliable wireless prompt we have ever used on a weekly basis.”

2.4Ghz system on the market and the Bolt Pro 2000 is a fraction of the price and size. Working in the 5GHz band means we are license exempt allowing us to run several links without the need to get licenses for each link.

Videocraft and Teradek have been great throughout the process of getting to know the product, we have been able to share knowledge on what the Bolt Pro 2000s can do and put it in real environments, not just a lab.

The Teradek Bolt Pro 2000 with its 3G-SDI connections, support for 1080p60 and a range of over 600 metres is fast becoming the new standard in licensefree professional wireless 5GHz video transmission.

“Teradek’s support has been excellent, we logged a few minor bugs with the system as we were early adopters and Teradek have responded with fixes on all of these issues. Working with a vendor like Videocraft is a natural choice as they are up to speed with the products, have the latest rental kit and support is only a phone call away.”

Nick Parker concluded, “I have seen comparable results to the other popular

Visit www.videocraft.com.au

ACQUISITION

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AS ONE OF NEW ZEALAND’S top rental houses, Niche Cameras recently

deal was concluded and we could proceed with purchasing.

found itself with a positive problem, it was heading into a growth phase and thus had to expand its rental fleet. It’s manufacturer of choice to help with the expansion was ARRI.

“Our timeframe was tight and despite working on this well in advance, the shooting start date was steadily approaching. We gave Stefan Sedlmeier at ARRI Australia quite a large list of what we wanted to purchase, and when we required it in New Zealand.

The television dramas that utilise equipment from Niche Cameras are typically reasonably large productions. This means Boshier has to be prepared for many different shooting requirements and configurations.

He added, “Typically the main unit always consists of two cameras; with second unit days requiring one-two cameras, so in effect on some days we have four cameras shooting concurrently. The purchase of three ALEXA cameras and four Alura zooms meant we could comfortably deal with a three camera scenario. As luck would have it, the particular drama that was to be using the ALEXA decided their second unit days would be a single camera. They wanted three cameras; we could afford three cameras. So the

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Niche Cameras Expands ARRI Fleet

Niche Cameras’ owner, Julian Boshier, explained, “We were given word that there was to be a batch of new drama projects going into production, and we wanted to get ourselves into a position where we could service two to three of them shooting concurrently. We wanted to join in the ALEXA revolution and with the prospect of one of the new dramas keen on giving the ALEXA a go, we purchased three of them from ARRI Australia.”

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“We received everything in time, bar one Alura 18-80 but to cover us Stefan offered to lend us an Alura 30-80 he had and that got us through until the 18-80 arrived.”

Niche Cameras now services a mixture of television drama and television commercials with their ALEXAs. The dramas shoot long days, both in studio and on location so choice of equipment is critical.

Boshier continued, “We need robust, solid and very reliable cameras that will not overheat. We need a straightforward user interface, a great compact ergonomic design for hand-held and a natural organic picture.

ALEXA delivers on all of that. Of course there are other options that we provide, but some guys just want to shoot ALEXA and some ACs just know they are in for a stress-free shoot if they are assisting on ALEXA. As a rental house, we have to be able to cover as many options as possible.”

Visit www.nichecameras.co.nz and www.arri.com.au

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AUDIO, IN FOCUS VP83 & VP83F LenshopperTM Camera-Mount Condenser Microphones The VP83 and VP83F are new ultra-compact condenser microphones designed to easily capture detailed, high-denition audio with camcorders and DSLR cameras. Developed with highly directional supercardioid/lobar polar patterns, both models provide superior off-axis rejection and deliver natural audio reproduction. Additionally, each model

VP83F

utilises an integrated, custom-designed Rycote® Lyre® shock mount, exclusively developed with Rycote for robust isolation from vibration and mechanical noise. ®

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ACQUISITION

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Panasonic Releases PX270 and GH4

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PANASONIC BUSINESS SYSTEMS released the new AJ-PX270 at its

sensitivity and produces excellent images.

2014 Roadshow, the company’s first P2 HD handheld camcorder with AVCULTRA recording. Panasonic also released the LUMIX DMC-GH4 – a new DSLM camera for commercial photographers and videographers.

The LUMIX DMC-GH4 provides 4K video recording, as well as offering outstanding still image quality and responsiveness, backed by features to support serious commercial editing and production.

Mathew Alexander, Product Manager, Broadcast, Panasonic Australia, said, “This camcorder is both smaller and lighter than our previous model, but still delivers on many of the features that you would find in one of our larger cameras. It has three 1/3 inch full high-depth MOS sensors. They’re our latest technology sensors so they have the latest low-light capabilities and dynamic range.”

Standout video capabilities offered by the camera include ultra-highbitrate 4K (100 Mbps) and Full HD recording (200 Mbps); global frame rates, allowing professionals to shoot for overseas markets; and Variable Frame Rate for slow and fast motion shooting at up to 96 frames per second in Full HD. A new optional interface unit ensures high performance when connecting to professional external monitors and recorders.

A newly designed, compact, 22x zoom lens offers a wide 28mm to tele 616mm (35mm equivalent) zoom range. The PX270’s three manual operation lens rings — zoom, focus and iris — provide a comfortable manual control similar to interchangeable lenses, but without the need for actual lens changes.

Speed and precision are the hallmarks of the DMC-GH4’s still imaging performance: including high-speed burst shooting at 12 frames per second (AFS) at full resolution, supported by a 40-shot buffer for RAW images; Contrast AF with DFD (Depth From Defocus) technology, for faster, more accurate focus at 0.07 seciii and improved continuous focus; max 1/8000sec shutter speed; an OLED LVF and monitor offering higher resolution and greater precision; and the ability to process RAW photos in-camera.

“The camera also has a very, very powerful codec set. It will do everything from 800 kilobits through to 200 megabits full production quality and it will simultaneously record those onto the MicroP2 cards in the back. So you can dual record your top line production quality and also a base band proxy if you wanted to. But also what makes this really, really cool is that, whilst you can record those, you can also live screen them,” said Alexander.

“This camera has two streaming functions, either by 3G or 4G or LTE. It will allow you to live stream off the back of it without an external computer or anything else, just with the dongle included with less than one second delay. So you can get your breaking news back to the newsroom very, very fast. Or the other option is you can FTP; you can go and shoot, just say a 10 minute interview at very high quality or house quality, go back to your room, get a connection and then it will basically FTP all that footage back to your newsroom.”

“It has professional features that you would normally find on one of our broadcast cameras; things like zebra patterning and time code. It has time code REC RUN and FREE RUN all built into it without any extra on the basics,” said Alexander. “This camera is truly comfortable in the hands of a professional photographer, in the hands of a professional videographer; it is truly a very powerful hybrid camera.

The DMC-GH4 is compatible with 22 LUMIX G digital interchangeable lenses, the most offered by any DSLM manufacturer, as well as providing access to 46 Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Visit www.panasonic.com

For applications where file size is critical, such as for wireless feeds, the camcorder incorporates a choice of AVC-LongG quality levels, including AVC-LongG50, AVC-LongG25 and AVC-LongG12. These 10-bit, 4:2:2 sampled codecs (LongG50/25*) record in much smaller file sizes, saving storage cost and transfer time while maintaining equal or better video quality to existing legacy codecs.

Addressing the need for high-speed file exchange, the PX270’s highresolution AVC-Proxy encodes in parallel with higher bandwidth production formats, enabling fast, efficient offline editing, at bit rates from 6Mbps down to 800kbps. The camcorder also offers legacy recording in DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV.

ACQUISITION

Professional interfaces include HDMI out, HD/SD-SDI out, 3G-SDI out to support 1080 60p video output, genlock in/video out for multi-camera operation, timecode in/out, USB 3.0 (host), and USB 2.0 (device). The PX270’s three 2.2M pixel MOS sensors deliver a horizontal resolution of 1000 TV lines; the camcorder achieves high F11 (59.94Hz)/F12 (50Hz)

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Blackmagic Design Announces URSA BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED Blackmagic URSA, a new high end digital film camera built to handle the ergonomics of large film crews as well as single person use. URSA has multiple accessories built in, including a 10-inch fold out on set monitor, large user upgradable Super 35 global shutter 4K image sensor, and internal dual RAW and Apple ProRes recorders.

Because the sensor and lens mount assembly can be changed, customers can choose EF or PL lens mounts, or even a broadcast video sensor with B4 mount, then upgrade the camera in the future.

Blackmagic URSA is designed to be used on high end feature films, commercials, episodic television production, documentaries, electronic news gathering, music videos and more. When used on jobs with a large crew, customers can easily dress the camera with high quality cinema lenses, rails, follow focus, matte boxes and more.

Each area of the camera has been divided into separate DOP, camera assistant and audio engineer workstations. The DOP station features a 10inch fold out on set monitor and separate 5-inch screen for settings, camera status and scopes. The camera assist station features a separate screen for camera settings, status, and scopes. An audio station features audio meters, controls, and audio connections.

Blackmagic URSA has a 4K sensor, global shutter and a wide 12 stops of dynamic range. The large Super 35 size sensor allows for creative shallow depth of field shooting and high resolution Ultra HD. 12 bit lossless compressed Cinema DNG RAW and Apple ProRes allow for easy post production workflow with minimum storage requirements.

The Blackmagic URSA features a modular camera turret that can be replaced by removing 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. There are currently 4 models to choose from, URSA PL supports PL mount lenses and URSA EF supports EF mount lenses from Canon, Zeiss and more.

The URSA Broadcast B4 model, available late 2014, features a broadcast video Ultra HD sensor and B4 lens mount used in broadcast. The URSA HDMI model has no sensor and its lens mount is replaced by a “cheese plate” of mounting points and a HDMI input, allowing any third party camera to get the benefit of the URSA camera body features.

“Our goal when developing the URSA was to build a camera that had all the cooling capacity for higher frame rates, and a large on set monitor as well as built in scopes so you had everything you need built into the camera itself.

The problem with spending so much money building in such incredible accessories is that they become outdated as sensor technology moves on. So we designed the ability to upgrade the sensor so customers can simply bolt on a new sensor and turret assembly in the future,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design.

Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com/au and www.newmagic.com.au

ACQUISITION

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ACQUISITION

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ACQUISITION

Sony Camera Updates and New Releases SONY HAS ANNOUNCED the PXW-X180 Handheld Solid-State Memory Camcorder and the PDW-850 XDCAM HD 422 camcorder, as well as updates to the F5 and F55 4K production cameras.

The PXW-X180 is the latest addition to the popular XDCAM Series. Ideal for broadcast and professional video production applications, it features three 1/3” Full HD Exmor CMOS sensors and a newly developed 25x optical zoom Sony G Lens with 26 mm wide angle.

The PXW-X180 records in MPEG HD422 at 50 Mbps, as well as XAVC Intra and Long GOP, which enable 10-bit sampling for high-definition recording of high quality pictures. The camcorder can also capture in MPEG HD420 at 35 Mbps, AVCHD and DV formats.

As well as recording on professional SxS memory cards, the camcorder can record on XQD cards, SD cards and Memory Sticks by using optional card adaptors. Providing easy selection of a variety of recording formats and recording media, the camcorder is ready to support a wide range of video production applications.

The PXW-X180 is the first Sony professional camcorder to feature a new variable neutral density (ND) filter. This new device has been developed to electronically control density and enable continuous setting adjustment from 1/4ND to 1/128ND with simple dial operation. Using the filter in conjunction with different iris and shutter speed settings, depth of field and brightness can be adjusted. This allows the use of shooting techniques such as slow shutter shooting in daylight and other bright light conditions.

“The PXW-X180 is a great journo cam that will take the place of a number of cameras in our range,” said Nick Buchner, Senior Product Manager for Content Creation at Sony Australia and New Zealand. “It has a new wide angle 25x Sony G zoom lens, which is the longest lens for a camera in this class. There are independent rings to control the focus, zoom, and iris, which from an operational point of view is much nicer than fiddling with knobs or aving to change menu controls.”

A wireless LAN module is included to enable the use of wireless functions.

Easy, one-touch operation is all that is required for wireless connection to a smartphone or tablet, which can then be used to confirm the framing of the shot set-up, monitor recording and operate the camcorder by remote (including lens angle setting/white balance adjustment/iris adjustment, etc.).

Using separately sold mobile routers and other mobile devices also allows transmission of files after shooting.

Sony continues to develop camcorders that deliver the high image quality and ease of use required by professionals for recording everything from news footage and documentaries to corporate and education productions.

ACQUISITION

The multi-use PDW-850 shoulder-mount camcorder incorporates newly developed 2/3-inch CCD image sensors and combines high performance and low power consumption in a lightweight form factor. High-quality imaging (with a signal-to-noise ratio of 62 dB) and excellent mobility make it ideal

Sony PDW-850 XDCAM HD 422 Camcorder

for use across a wide range of news reporting, documentary and general production environments.

“In the Australian market, and globally, the PDW-700 and the F800 have been incredibly popular, and the PDW-850 is essentially an updated version of those models,” said Anthony Kable, Senior Product Manager, Sony Australia and New Zealand. “The new sensor that gives it an improved signal to noise ratio, and new processors that reduce power consumption.”

“By bringing this camera out we are showing our commitment to the optical disc format. A lot of other cameras are working with memory cards, but the optical disc format has been incredibly popular in this country for lots of reasons: low cost, ease of storage, and less data wrangling needed at the end of a shoot day,” added Buchner. “Adding another, more refined disc-based camcorder we are showing that disc is still very much apart of the Sony landscape.”

The F55 and F5 cameras continue to evolve, enabling wider applications. A prototype of an ENG/EFP style shoulder buildup kit planned to be available in spring 2014, was showcased at NAB that optimises the cameras for singleperson documentary style shooting and live production work.

“What we sought to do, in keeping with the commitment to continue to develop the cameras further and not just bring out new cameras to replace them, is enhance them,” explained Buchner. “Just prior to NAB we announced the new version 4 firmware, which is a free upgrade, and this added a number of features that people had been looking forward to such as cache recording, which means you can have up to 15 seconds of material running through the cache memory so that when you hit record you are actually also capturing the previous 15 seconds, depending on the recording mode.”

In addition to the cameras’ current XAVC, RAW, MPEG-4 SStP and XDCAM HD capabilities, development of an option board implementing major HD nonlinear editing codecs is in progress.

With collaborative support provided by Apple, the F55 and F5 will be enabled to employ the ProRes codec, expanding the cameras’ creative potential and workflow flexibility. This advantage allows the F55 and F5 to be very straightforward choices for users of Apple Final Cut Pro. In addition, the F55 and F5 will implement Avid’s DNxHD format. The two companies’ collaboration has so far proved workflow integrity with a successful track record of XAVC and XDCAM workflow development. Through Sony’s implementing of DNxHD, the collaboration enters into a next level.

These developments will provide content creators with even more workflow choices, to ensure maximum post-production flexibility, speed and simplicity.

The PXW-X180 will be available from August 2014 and the PDW-850 camcorder will be available from October 2014.

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

Sony PXW-X180 Handheld Solid-State Memory Camcorder

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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide

www.content-technology.com/sportscasting

PA People Hits Top Gear with Australian Grand Prix THE P.A. PEOPLE ARE NO STRANGERS to large sporting events, counting the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and the FIFA World Cup as clients.

But, there’s something special about the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Planning in the lead up to the event commences months in advance with the company’s on-site activities commencing four weeks out from race day.

As Des Williamson, Project Manager for The P.A. People, explains, “Our involvement with the F1 event not only includes the distributed audio system, but we also provide numerous smaller PA systems for the corporate stands, press conferences and localised entertainment activities that occur around the F1 site.

“We also provide the audio system that supports the anthem singing and presentations on Pit Lane as well as a 12 screen video-wall system that is installed within race control; this allows all race officials to monitor the track in real-time during the Race.“ One of the biggest jobs for The P.A. People was the deployment and maintenance of almost 450 speakers fitted to the race barriers around the entire 5.3km circuit. As these barriers can sometimes suffer a vehicle impact, some simple engineering has gone into keeping the system functioning.

“Every second speaker is on a separate circuit. So, in the case of impact, rather than losing an entire circuit, chances are one of the two cables will remain intact,” explains Paul Barrett – Project Engineer for The P.A. People.

The speakers are powered by seven amplifier locations around the track in custom designed ‘huts’; portable structures purpose built to house track equipment racks. There is full redundancy in the system and each hut contains a rack fitted with UPS, amplifiers, network audio bridges and FM tuner backup that can be activated in the unlikely event of a failure to the main system.

Signal distribution to the huts is achieved via the use of the AGPC’s fibre optic network that surrounds the track.

All audio distribution is via the network. A Peavey MediaMatrix sits in The PA People (hub) heart of operations in the Main Compound, directing audio traffic to and from other MediaMatrix nodes in the seven amplifier huts around the track and network interfaces mounted in Yamaha LS9 digital mixers in the F1 Press and National Press centres. Other network pick-up and drop off points include the National Media Tent, Camera positions, The Action Zone and the V8 Supercars area.

DSP,” says Paul. “We can pre-build all of the audio routing and intelligence into the system. The MediaMatrix rack is then dropped into our operations room in the Main Compound and it’s all up and running pretty painlessly.”

The main pit building is home to Race Control, where F1 officials, safety and medical staff monitor every section of the track to ensure a smooth event.

A huge video-wall provided by The P.A People dominates the control room, with cameras covering every inch of the track.

Pit Lane, aside from housing the F1 Teams themselves, hosts the Podium PA, a large-scale system for the ceremonial presentations and National Anthem.

Long-throw Bose LT4402 Series 2 cabinets hang from the Main Compound, projecting to the stands on Pit Straight. Supplemented by Bose 9702s are a number of other Bose cabinets mounted under the podium, this PA has its own dedicated Yamaha LS9 digital mixer and SB168-ES remote stage-box.

Despite extensive team radio communications, the entire pit and garage areas are fitted with PA horns throughout for emergency paging and relays.

Some medical services are located in this area, making emergency coverage critical. Like the Main Compound above, all wiring is permanent, and The P.A. People fit horns to the existing lines during bump-in.

The main race day starts early for the team, with full system checks, anthem sound checks and fine tuning of all the peripheral corporate systems all to take place before the general public arrive en masse.

Paul Barrett, Project Engineer, Grand Prix – for The P.A. People, is responsible for all networked audio.

Throughout the day, the P.A People team operate and manage all systems and additionally roam the site to ensure all systems remain functional and are meeting the needs of the tens of thousands of race fans in attendance on the day.

“It would be challenging to an event like the GP without using networked

Visit www.papeople.com

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TO KEEP FANS ENGAGED, Grass Valley has announced feature enhancements to its K2 Dyno Replay System that promise to “deliver more captivating content than ever before – helping broadcasters to tell the best possible stories to their viewers”.

K2 Dyno includes a host of upgrades, such as the new AnySpeed dynamic playback algorithm, which automatically guarantees smooth playback at any speed from zero to 200 percent and in speed transitions for ultra slow-motion 6X playout. It also integrates with Grass Valley’s latest high-speed cameras and the K2 Summit 3G Production Client, and is compatible with higher resolutions and frame rates – all while maintaining easy integration into the live production workflow.

In addition, K2 Dyno now includes 4K pan/zoom support, 6X ultra slow-motion playout (from the LDX XtremeSpeed and LDX Compact XtremeSpeed cameras), 6×2 I/0s, and an optional package for sports graphics and telestration with the tOG-Sports application developed by RT Software. All of these features are controlled from a single K2 Dyno Replay Controller touchscreen, making it the complete solution for the capture, replay, managing, editing, and playout of compelling content.

These new features will be available for K2 Dyno from May 2014.

For a complete end-to-end solution, K2 Dyno provides integration and support for ChannelFlex multicam recording into the GV STRATUS Scheduler for a collaborative, file-based production workflow, from image capture through distribution of content. Grass Valley’s EDIUS nonlinear editing software can also be installed on the K2 Dyno S controller to create content packages during breaks in the action. The operator can place K2 Dyno highlights directly on the EDIUS timeline, enhance the content, and then put the completed material in a K2 Dyno folder to cue and playback all on a single replay system.

At this year’s NAB, Grass Valley also demonstrated file sharing between an EVS XT3 and K2 Dyno.

Visit www.grassvalley.com

Orad Unveils PlayMaker Combox ORAD HAS UNVEILED PlayMaker Combox which merges PlayMaker’s 8 channel sports replay server with a fully flagged graphic solution based on Orad’s graphics platform, all packaged in a single 3U compact chassis.

PlayMaker Combox offers real time graphic transitions for highlight packaging and rich video effects, creating visually appealing highlight packages that to date could only be achieved in a postproduction environment. In addition, PlayMaker Combox provides a Windows GUI for the graphic operator to control all live graphics during the game including pre game, clock and scores etc. The graphic controller can be tailored for the specific sporting event based on Orad’s Engine Framework, and allows integration with stat collection system and other databases.

Lawo AG | Rastatt / Germany

Grass Valley Enhances K2 Dyno

New VizRT Tools for Live Sports and Analysis VIZRT HAS UPDATED its sports production packages to enable the growing interest in remote production for fast analysis and enhancements.

At NAB2014, Vizrt released a new sensorless live sports enhancement solution. The new Viz Arena introduces a powerful image-based camera tracking technology that is available as a new control centre for applying virtual enhancement effects in soccer, like offside lines, or tied-to-field replay graphic effects. Viz Arena’s live and replay graphics capabilities complement Viz Libero, Vizrt’s sports analysis system. A new version of Viz Libero is targeting broadcaster’s World Cup needs by including live player tracking and statistics data integration. In addition, Vizrt is launching Harvester, which allows remote sites to collect and process all needed content at the location.

The new version of Viz Libero, Vizrt’s sports analysis system can break-down the action from multiple angles and even run on a laptop allowing the analyst or producer traveling to a venue to create analysis of interesting action while on the move. Viz Libero can also be used in conjunction with Harvester to build conclusive virtual camera perspectives, such as creating a referee’s view or judging offside decisions from the multi-angle feeds delivered by Harvester from the venue to the studio.

The World Cup version of Viz Libero features a plugin interface to integrate with data providers such as Deltatre or STATS. Powered by Deltatre’s Magma Pro, Viz Libero integrates live player tracking and statistical data in real time, making clip processing faster and analysis more insightful.

Viz Arena, a system that inserts virtual graphics into the live video signal – including telestration graphics, logos and scores on the pitch or advertising messages – also premiered at NAB. Rather than relying on camera sensors, the new Viz Arena uses image analysis to determine position and orientation of the camera. The same high degree of precision is achieved, but now the graphics can be applied to almost any camera. Instead of many hours of set up time to link the calibrated camera to the graphics system, the new Viz Arena requires only 10 to 20 minutes to set up. Integrated with video servers, the same replay operator can tie graphics, such as highlighting a particular player, to any replay in a couple of seconds using for example a touchscreen.

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To maximise the benefits of available bandwidth when several feeds must be transported from the venue to the production base, the new Harvester platform allows feeds to be selected from the studio, without the need for an operator to make the selection at the venue. Harvester is operated from a simple user interface, such as a touchscreen or tablet device, and ensures that all the best content is retrieved. That puts it quickly in the production centre ready for re-editing, interactive multi-angle highlights, and for the rapid creation of analysis packages with Viz Libero.

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Harvester uses a compact, rack-mounted box in the outside broadcast truck, connected to the replay server. A touchdown or goal could trigger the transfer of multiple clips around the key piece of action, allowing studio highlights or analysis from different angles.

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Also new is Orad’s Pivot, a Windows-based production assistant application that further enhances PlayMaker’s production workflow.

With its intuitive, drag and drop graphic interface, Pivot can be used by any member of the production team. Pivot provides the ability to create and edit highlights playlists, tag and search clips by keywords, clips and playlists play-out on multiple outputs, and management tools for multiple servers over the network.

The operator can use the PlayMaker controller and Pivot in parallel, as the extended screen size and drag & drop operation streamline operation.

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Visit www.orad.tv

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SPORTSCASTING

The Glasgow Diaries: Chapter 9

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By David Bowers A glorious Glaswegian spring has sprung – at last! On my stroll to our project office this morning it seems even the weather has been swept up in pre-Games spirit, with both city and skies turning on their best.

WE HAVE JUST PASSED THE 100-DAYS-toOpening Ceremony milestone and accordingly are at ‘R4’, the fourth and final release of drawinvgs and associated documentation.

Two years worth of drafting and planning encompassing venue overlay drawings, timelines, sport schedules, access routes, cable containment paths and compound layouts for cabins and Outside Broadcast vans – and that’s just for starters – are about to be made available to the engineering managers and supervisors of our venues, venue technical managers (VTMs)

broadcast telecommunication operation centres (BTOCs) and commentary control rooms (CCRs), as they will be responsible for the broadcast delivery in their respective areas during the Games.

At the same time we will let these managers and supervisors know about the procedures and electronic documentation that will allow them to access our online information portal.

R4 release also takes us officially into the build stage of our 121-week project schedule.

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the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) are our three massive sea-container shipments from Sydney containing the ‘fly away’ portion of the IBC and venue BTOCs and CCRs.

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In all there are some 150 racks of equipment covering the IBC, venue telecommunications cabins and commentary control areas.

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Jim and Terry, along with the rest of the Australia-based engineering team, are due here at the end of April to breathe life into the cables and equipment, supervising their installation and commissioning.

As the IBC-housed systems are progressively put in place we are beginning phased in situ testing of the equipment that will be the backbone of the IBC studios, control rooms, monitors, switching centre and ancillary facilities.

Our fibre contractor meanwhile has just completed the first round of cable lead-in work and this week we conducted our first successful test connection to the outside world.

We’re using single mode fibre for BTOC and CCR inter-connections to both keep weight down and also provide bandwidth flexibility to scale individual systems as required.

Fox Sports Introduces Antelope Pico for A-League Final

SPORTSCASTING

grand final like never before with the Fox Sports innovations team introducing a special mini “ultra motion” camera to the coverage.

The innovations team responsible for bringing FoxKopter, Zings stumps, and ref and corner post cam to the Australian sports broadcast landscape, teamed with Gearhouse Australia

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to import a specialty mini-ultra motion camera called an Antelope Pico. The camera has been used for a UEFA Champions League match between Manchester City and Bayern Munich and in Bundesliga action in Germany.

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While Fox Sports producers have access to ultra slow motion cameras they are usually much larger. The small size of the Pico, which was

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We’ve been able to track their eight-week sea voyage through the marvellous vesselfinder website.

SVGTV’s IBC engineering project manager, Jim Tinker, and IBC engineering manager, Terry Manley, have been overseeing the IBC, BTOC and CCR design and construction for the last 18 months, taking learnings from the Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and building on that experience for Glasgow.

A-LEAGUE FANS were able to see last Sunday’s

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We have standardised our optical fibre termination to LC-style connectors for uniformity and to allow diverse patching if we have any issues.

Having our own fibre infrastructure at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, which traverses five venues, also gives us maximum flexibility to accommodate multiple simultaneous events and venue changes.

Overnight venue transitions – such as those taking place between Boxing and Netball in the SSE Hydro - would not be possible without our ability to re-route our own fibre circuits, including dedicated circuits for rights holder broadcasters (RHBs), within the required timeframe.

Communications and data handling flexibility will also allow our RHBs to cover the Games in the way that best suits their objectives.

Australia’s Ten Network for instance has announced 24-hour-a-day coverage across their two broadcast channels, TEN and ONE, all up more than 260 hours of television.

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The facility has been refurbished and expanded with temporary seating for the Games. This means the type, location and layout of the lighting had to be enhanced, too.

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Among his other priorities is the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, which highlights some of the lighting design considerations that need to be accommodated.

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They will also offer eight dedicated digital channels on their TENplay website, so Aussie viewers can watch their favourite events and athletes anywhere, at any time.

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The existing lighting angles produced reflections from the central row and the far side of the additional seating opposite the main cameras, which can bounce directly into lenses and cause flaring, similar to a star filter, as this diagram illustrates: A further consideration is the low roofline, which makes positioning lighting grids a challenge.

The designs accordingly take into account ceiling height and pitch as well as water reflection from the main and warm-up pools: a veritable orchestra of light positions and angles that will result in clean, clear pictures from anywhere in camera range.

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Although it’s full-on for our ever-expanding project team the Easter long weekend provides a little time to plan a welcome day for the Aussie engineers’ arrival next month.

Not only will it be a good Sunday excursion for our ever-expanding project team but it will also give them a taste of the extent to which Glasgow is preparing to welcome the world in July.

Our plan is to take a cruise from Spiers Wharf up the Forth and Clyde Canal to the historic Stables Pub at Glasgow Bridge, Kirkintilloch.

Built in 1812 to serve the boat crews using the Forth and Clyde Canal, this little piece of Glaswegian heritage is as welcoming today as it would have been 200 years ago, with visitors and locals soon to converge on Glasgow for the XX Commonwealth Games.

David Bowers is head of engineering and technical operations for SVGTV, which holds the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Host Broadcast contract.

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mounted on a pole cam behind the goal, allows vision of angles never before seen in Australian football coverage.

Todd Procter, Head of Innovations and Outside Broadcast Special Events, said the team ran this camera around 350 frames per second (14x faster than a normal broadcast camera), capturing all the goal mouth action and replaying key moments.

“I can’t wait … this will produce some really magnificent moments in broadcast television,” Procter said before the game.

Visit www.foxsports.com.au

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NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

SBS Uses TVUPack Mobile on PM Visit to Indonesia HAVING PURCHASED seven TVUPack 8100 mobile wireless 3G/4G/LTE uplink backpacks from Magna Systems for its news and current affairs teams, SBS has been putting them to use covering events including Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s recent trip to Indonesia, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and the recent bush fires in southern NSW. SBS’s TVUPacks are based in their Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra studios for use by SBS and NITV reporters, with one pack also in London.

SBS Director of Technology and Distribution, Noel Leslie, said, “The TVUPacks allow for greater mobility, access, and immediacy in our reporting. For instance, when SBS was covering Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s visit to Indonesia, the packs gave our reporters immediate access to cover each event and remain in contact with SBS back in Australia.”

Leslie added, “One of the great things about using the TVUPacks is that we can manage them remotely from Master Control. In this way we can check levels and optimise settings to get the best quality. If the broadcast isn’t live we can adjust the delay and latency to improve the signal. If it’s going out live we use the lowest latency and always the best bit rates. 4G is always preferable to 3G but we can also use a combination of 4G and 3G cards if necessary as this boosts the bonded system the TVUPack uses. SBS Master Control also allocates and monitors the TVU receivers and can confirm when all is OK to start the broadcast. Most of the time the TVUPack solution performs quite brilliantly.”

In addition to the Prime Minister’s trip to Indonesia, SBS also used the TVUPacks during the recent NSW bush fires – something that could have been potentially problematic due to the lack of cellular coverage.

SBS purchased local SIM cards for this trip, meaning the reporter could file from each location instantly without needing satellite licences or any satellite time, as they only had to rely on cellular availability. The Canberra TVUPack and receiver were used, augmenting the other fibre kit SBS had for the trip. The camera crew on the ground supplied the signal to SBS back in Australia, which was then distributed out to all the other Australian networks via Telstra’s DVN SWISH network.

Leslie explained, “There was very little cellular signal but SBS was able to remotely manipulate the signal to and from the TVUPacks to such a degree that we could get a more than acceptable feed. There is also the added advantage of Master Control being able to change settings rather than requiring the cameraman to do it, as this means they can concentrate solely on getting the footage SBS needs. The TVUPack has a status screen so the camera operators could see the changes we were making during the bush fires, without it affecting their operation of the pack.”

SBS uses the TVUPack 8100, a 3G/4G/LTE uplink solution for cameras with industry standard SDI and composite connections. The TVUPack 8100 is often used by broadcasters such as SBS to solve the common challenge of covering live breaking news from locations that are difficult or costly to access using traditional ENG technologies.

TVU has also developed TVUAnywhere, an app that enables broadcasters to transmit quality live footage when a TVUPack isn’t available. SBS used the TVUAnywhere app innovatively to broadcast footage from one of the yachts in the last Sydney to Hobart race.

Visit www.magnasys.tv

NEWS OPERATIONS

TVB Transforms Newsroom Operations with Sonaps SONY HAS ANNOUNCED the successful implementation of its

from live events, tape-based acquisition, disc-based media or solid-state

MediaBackbone Sonaps network production system and MediaBackbone Ensemble content and storage management system within the newsroom infrastructure of Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), a leading commercial television station in Hong Kong.

memory-based media, raw content shot by TVB’s camera crews can now

TVB and Sony first embarked on this newsroom transformation project towards the end of 2012, in addition to a planned upgrade of TVB’s production equipment to High Definition (HD). TVB also required filebased operation, increased flexibility and storage, more workstations and an integrated library system. TVB undertook a thorough investigation of systems on the market and eventually selected Sony, as the MediaBackbone Sonaps system was able to address those requirements. A phased migration approach ensured that the challenges of migrating from an SD system to a total HD tapeless workflow were overcome without affecting TVB’s daily operations, and Sony’s engineers were also deployed to ensure that TVB’s staff members were fully trained in various aspects of the day-to-day operations of the system.

their central storage.

Following the implementation, TVB has successfully transformed the overall workflow of its newsroom – from ingest, editing, playout to archiving – and fully migrated to a file based workflow using XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX formats. The MediaBackbone Sonaps system accepts a wide range of inputs including commonly-used acquisition formats like MP4, AVC-Intra, WMV, MPEG-2 Long GOP, DV and AVI, therefore whether

be uploaded directly to TVB’s Sonaps central storage from an ingest terminal or Sony HD non-linear editor (NLE) – XPRI-NS. Even from remote sites, TVB’s crews can easily upload vital news content via the Internet to “In the ever-changing world of production technology, there are certainly many challenges faced in newsroom management. It is critical for broadcasters to implement a workflow that works practically and not just technically, and newsroom managers should ideally have an end-to-end workflow which covers all the steps through to delivery,” said Mr. Norihisa Mizuno, Head of Broadcast & Content Creation Solutions, Professional Solutions Company (PSAP), Sony Corporation of Hong Kong Limited.

“We chose to work with Sony as they were able to fulfil our specific news production requirements. In addition, Sony’s system offers more storage hours in HD, the bandwidth supports more HD NLE with file-based export, plus file-based import and XDCAM ingest. Another benefit of using MediaBackbone Sonaps is that the scheduled tasks are highly automated with ingestion,” said Mr. Lam Chun Wing, Chief Engineer, Broadcasting Department, TVB. Visit http://pro.sony.com.au

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NEWS OPERATIONS

Seven Expands TVUPack Mobile Broadcasting Fleet ACCORDING TO DAVE WATTS, Telecommunications and IT Infrastructure Manager with Australia’s Seven Network, the flexibility of TVUPacks was the main reason the network has again expanded its fleet of units with more packs recently purchased through TVU’s Australian dealer Magna Systems and Engineering.

Seven use the TVUPack TM8100, a 3G/4G/LTE uplink solution weighing only 5.9kg that boots up and broadcasts live in less than one minute. The TM8100 automatically connects to all available wireless connections, stores up to eight hours of footage on an internal solid-state hard drive and can be remotely browsed. The TM8100 also becomes a wireless hotspot when connected to the Internet, enabling video crews to edit stories in the field and send the finished story back to the broadcast facility through the pack.

According to Watts, “We trialled the TVUPacks locally and in the USA and were so happy with them we’ve rolled them out across Australia.

They are perfect for when we can’t get a truck to the site and represent another very efficient mobile broadcasting tool for us to use. They are in use daily Australia-wide as we have some stationed in each capital city.”

Recently Seven took the TVUPacks overseas to the UK and Bali with the packs performing well in both countries.

Watts concluded, “The TVUPacks work very well both in Australia and overseas. You do have to take into account that when you use them you’re working within a public network via a mobile carrier but with the right SIM cards we always get the results we need. They save us time and money as we can get out to more places and having a good relationship with Magna Systems and TVU has also really helped as they take onboard our input, so we work well together.”

Visit www.magnasys.tv

More Tools for Enterprise sQ QUANTEL HAS ANNOUNCED major developments for its Enterprise sQ news and sports production system. These include advancements in filebased workflows and management that help integrate Enterprise sQ even more fully with a facility’s IT infrastructure.

Enhancements for sQ editors announced at NAB include: Optical Flow for high quality slow or fast motion; improved audio handling when working the video effects; AVCHD softmount; XAVC support; and improved shapes performance. In addition, the Marco field editor also gains the same toolset as the rest of Quantel’s broadcast product range with the addition of an HSL keyer. Also, the range of laptop computers on which Marco supports SDI is greatly expanded with the announcement of support for the AJA Io XT. Enhanced IT integration comes courtesy of four developments to sQ Fileflow: FTP client support – making it easier to integrate Enterprise sQ systems into existing FTP-based workflows, which are widely used in broadcast.

New Profiles capabilities – allowing the priorities of individual jobs to be automatically specified, giving more control with less management time.

NEWS OPERATIONS

New Fileflow UI – now a cross-platform HTML-5 browser-based interface.

Built with the benefit of extensive user feedback, the new UI streamlines and simplifies all operations.

Easy deployment – secure role-based access and per-location access credentials that fit in naturally with existing IT infrastructures and policies.

These enhancements provide secure access into the system and give every user the right tools.

Meanwhile, AS-11 is a new vendor-neutral subset of the MXF file format to use for delivery of finished programming from program producers and distributors to broadcast stations. The new file-based delivery standard is now supported on Enterprise sQ. Visit www.quantel.com

Mosart Newscast Automation 3.6 WITH THE RELEASE OF MOSART NEWSCAST AUTOMATION version 3.6 at the 2014 NAB Show, Mosart has introduced new “boxed stories” functionality. Designed for an intuitive touchscreen interface, it puts the focus back on the news story rather than on individual technical events.

By making all stories and their elements in the rundown executable at the push of a button, this feature allows journalists to concentrate on telling those stories and lets directors focus on the flow of the news show as a whole.

In another updated feature, content and sources from any point of the rundown can be sent to studio walls, both directly and through preprogrammed salvos taken to air at a single click. These innovations in the Mosart product improve nonlinear news production by giving directors instant content access and further enhancing the Mosart automation system’s ability to perform in breaking news situations, during deviations from the NRCS rundown, and when directors are making on-the-fly decisions about which content and assets to use.

Mosart has also announced support for video playout from Viz Engines.

By playing video content straight from the Viz Engine, Mosart opens the door to a cost-effective setup that achieves more functionality with less hardware.

Also new is Mosart Cue Cards, a stand-alone tablet-based application that gives presenters live and direct access to vital information in the newsroom computer system (NRCS) rundown, allowing them to be updated on and make personal script notes for both the current and any future story.

Requiring only a tablet device and an Internet connection, Cue Cards helps presenters in the studio and journalists working live on location to stay up to date on selected stories, thus eliminating the need to maintain direct access to the NRCS or to ask the producer for updates.

Meanwhile, Mosart Multi-Studio Solution is a software package for larger broadcasters with multiple studios. Combining Mosart Media Router and Mosart Template Sharing, the package enables sharing of resources and coordination across several control rooms. New functionality added to the Mosart Media Router enables the sharing of video wall, lighting, and camera resources.

Visit www.mosart.no

Backpacking with LiveU LIVEU, THE DEVELOPER OF portable live video acquisition, contribution and management solutions, has added to its range of bonded 3G/4G uplink solutions for broadcast and online media to offer a one-stop-shop for live news, sports and event coverage.

This includes: LiveU’s new professional-grade LU500 backpack, weighing only 2.2 lbs (1 kg), based on LiveU’s fourth-generation patented bonding algorithms and powered by LiveU’s multi-processor video encoding engine.

LiveU Central, a comprehensive central management system that allows full control and monitoring of the entire ecosystem and content via any browser-supported device. The system includes enhanced point-to-multipoint distribution; the LiveU Matrix for real-time previews and flexible online management of multiple feeds for live broadcasts and social newsgathering; geo-location for each LiveU unit; and enhanced remote control.

LiveU’s mobile application for smartphones and tablets, the LU-Smart, with its innovative handheld Smart Grip; LiveU’s Xtender external antenna solution for extra-resilient signal in extreme scenarios; and hybrid solutions with microwave and satellite technologies.

Visit www.liveu.tv

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Animal Logic Makes Everything Awesome for The Lego Movie

By Keith Ford Prior to the release of the fun and inventive animated film ‘The LEGO Movie’, few would have guessed that a cinema experience centred on the blocks could possibly be amongst the biggest movies of the year. However, having grossed north of $450 million worldwide so far, that’s exactly what has happened.

A GREAT DEAL OF THAT SUCCESS can quite rightly be attributed to the work of Sydney-based Animal Logic. Animal Logic was responsible for the entire animation process, working closely with the directors and LEGO themselves.

In charge of wrangling the different departments of Animal Logic into a shared pipeline is CG Supervisor Aidan Sarsfield.

“You can imagine we have animators, we have assets teams, we have lighters, we have effects guys, we have all sorts of different people and they all require different inputs and outputs for their different departments, and my responsibility is to get them all talking together and working together to create a very fluid and creative environment,” explains Sarsfield.

“It’s really important that you enable them to just do their thing. You want an animator to just animate; you don’t want them to worry about the rigs and the technical side of things. You want them to just do their fun stuff, and the same goes for every department.”

‘The LEGO Movie’ is a film that wishes to stay as close to its heritage as possible. This doesn’t just mean using some characters that have been licensed over the years in building sets or video games, though they are there. Nor is it simply in the idea of play and structured creativity that forms the backbone of the films message. It is embedded right down to the framework within which they developed the movie. Settings are created in a way that is plausible and real, truly as though it were a stop-motion fan made film writ large.

“At the front end we were actually using LDD (LEGO Digital Designer). That is a publically available Lego piece of software that you can download from the Internet and it’s specifically for building Lego models. It controls connectivity between bricks and it’s got the brick library, so anyone who is out there can go and download that and start building stuff,” said Sarsfield. “All the way down the pipe, we’ve got Maya, XSI, Houdini, Nuke, all sorts of different packages, but the thing that really brings it all together is all our proprietary software.

“The biggest difference between any of the other projects that we’ve done and this project is the fact that we really focussed on building a brick based approach, so there was a lot of things that we bolted into our regular processes and procedures that involved specifically catering to bricks and some of the more specific problems that they pose.”

Everything that can be seen in the movie could theoretically be made with physical LEGO bricks if someone had the time and inclination, a feat that was incredibly important to everyone involved.

“Creatively, everybody was very, very specific about wanting to make this a brick film. This wasn’t going to be one of those LEGO properties where you’ve got bendy characters and you have sort of large swathes of the environment that are built out of big chunks of geometry that clearly aren’t bricks. This was always going to be about making bricks and making it look like it was really made out of Lego and that really was like the biggest challenge,” Sarsfield added.

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POST PRODUCTION  Continued from Page 27

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Animal Logic was so intent on getting it right that they had LEGO bricks strewn throughout the building that the animators could tinker with to get a feel for actually using LEGO. They even sent models to LEGO in Denmark to check for structural testing.

“We did have a pretty tight collaboration with LEGO Denmark. So there was some of the designers - because when you’re building something in CG and we’re animators and we make animated films, we don’t really care about the structural integrity of a LEGO model, but when we started to work closely with LEGO in Denmark and their designers, they would often take some of our designs and rework them to a certain extent to give them that structural integrity, which also adds another level of realism on some of these key designs,” explained Sarsfield.

Co-director Chris McKay was chosen specifically for his background in stopmotion animation, having directed for both ‘Robot Chicken’ and ‘Moral Orel’, but didn’t have any experience working with computer animation. That’s where Rob Coleman came in.

“I came in almost a year later so the team was pretty well in place, but Zareh (Nalbandian, Animal Logic CEO) had asked me to get involved to help lend some leadership to the animation group, to be here because McKay had not worked in computer animation before. I have supervised some big shows and computer animation and because a lot of people that we were working with had also worked with me here in Sydney on Happy Feet 2, so I had knowledge of people skills,” said Head of Animation, Rob Coleman.

“So the brief and spec to us they wanted to create the best - the biggest brick film ever done, they wanted to stay true to the LEGO minifigs and the LEGO bricks, so it was working with the team to find a style of animation that looked like it was done in stop motion, but was actually done in computer animation. McKay certainly gave tons of input on films that he liked that he’d seen previously, brick films that we could look at on YouTube and then his actual approach, if he had done it in stop motion, what would be the things he’d do. Like carving out the hole to its shoulders so we could shrug the shoulders or carving away the centre post for the neck so that we could actually have them tip their heads forward and back, which they can’t do if we stay true to it.”

One of the most impressive ways that the Animal Logic team stayed true to stop motion animated films and the tactile experience of playing with LEGO is in the imperfections. It ranges from the weathered ‘80’s space guy Benny all the way through to varying degrees of separation between bricks, specifically to add plausability to the movie.

POST PRODUCTION

“There’s a lot of things in there that we did develop was how to vary the connectivity and what types of bricks do you use and there’s a lot of tech involved. They’re all legitimate LEGO bricks, but we developed a lot of tech to enable us to fill those volumes with different types of bricks and change the way that their colours work and all that kind of stuff, and that went all the way through the pipe down to effects and connectivity and how the different bricks go together,” explained Sarsfield.

“Some of the other stuff, too, that you might notice when you look at those things is the connection between the bricks is often not perfect. The way that the bricks stack, if you were to do like a regular animated film with LEGO, it would all look mathematically perfect with every single brick sitting comfortably on top of each other. We spent a lot of time making sure that there was an inaccuracy and there was a certain tolerance between the bricks that put little gaps in there that were random and made it look sort of real, like somebody had built it and not pressed it together properly.”

“We deliberately, by the way, made decisions about everything in Lord Business’s office. We had different settings than out in the wild west for example because his world is perfect,” added Production Designer, Grant Freckleton.

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“We still kept a little bit in there to keep it looking real, but less gaps.”

There are then all sorts of decisions made about the other elements that add to the overall feel of a film such as this. Elements such as water and smoke bring all sorts of new problem to bear.

“The effects guys did a lot of test simulations that involved how the bricks would move if you were doing stop motion and Grant spent a lot of time reviewing them and the different types of bricks that we used and also things like having them fade off,” said Sarsfield. “So in usual simulations you have things reduce in size and there’s the materials change, all that kind of stuff, and we had to make a mapping between what you’d expect to see in reality and what you’d do if you were doing it in stop motion with bricks.

“There’s lots of things like explosions and water and those kinds of things where the colour will change, but in very specific increments that are based on the actual brick palette to reduce opacity and things like that. Grant spent a lot of time with the effects guys simulating water and doing tests.”

“There’s lot of little decisions there. Depending on the scene we might choose to make it look like real water, but render it out of LEGO bricks. If it was a slightly more stylised scene, sometimes we would try and make it look like cartoon water made out of LEGO bricks. Then there’s a lot of decision making about how many layers of blue do we have in there and when does it get too messy, when does it hurt your eyes in stereo when it’s whizzing through the screen in slow motion blur, so it was a lot of trial and error and a lot of thinking about it in the effects department iterating.”

In use to render the movie was Glimpse, a system created in Max Liani’s spare time.

“Max Liani, who was the lighting supervisor on ‘Walking with Dinosaurs 3D’, as a hobby, just for fun was making some render engine just, you know, on weekends,” explained Freckleton. “It was originally just designed as a way of previewing lighting more so than actually rendering itself, so ‘Dinosaurs’ was all rendered in RenderMan, but the lighting artist would preview their lighting set ups using real time rendering and it was CPU based, it wasn’t GPU based like a lot of real time renders and it was really, really fast and really, really efficient. So we ended up embracing that initially as a sort of hybrid system, I guess where Glimpse, from what I recall, was doing a lot of the reflections.”

“Coming off the back of ‘Dinosaurs’ we’d seen the potential for that and basically what we thought was we would take Glimpse and we would make it a ray accelerator for PRMan and it would be purely to do with raytracing,” adds Sarsfield. “PRMan, historically, has only just moved into raytracing.

I mean, one of the biggest issues that you have with LEGO is geometric complexity, all of the bricks have internal detail, all this kind of stuff and PRMan struggles with that when you’re doing raytracing, so we thought we were going to take Max’s technology and introduce it as a ray accelerator. As it turned out, we got in there and we started doing it and then thought we’re actually going to take it a lot further than that.”

“Max and Luke Emrose turned it into a primary renderer and it started to produce incredibly efficient results. We got to the point where animation layout effects, we were using Glimpse as the primary renderer to do all our reviews,” concluded Freckleton.

Visit www.animallogic.com

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Avid Unveils Media Composer Cloud, Updates Artist Suite AVID HAS ANNOUNCED new updates for the Avid Artist Suite video creative solutions, focused on helping media organisations and creative professionals acquire, use, and deploy Media Composer video editing software in more powerful, efficient, and profitable ways. The company has also introduced Media Composer | Cloud, bringing cloud-enabled editing capabilities to video editors.

licensing with new monthly and annual Media Composer subscription options, or own the software outright and get one year of Avid support and upgrades, with additional upgrades available thereafter through annual support plan renewal.

Media Composer | Cloud (formerly Interplay Sphere) gives Media Composer editors the choice to connect remotely and access, edit, and collaborate with others as if they were on premises. This enables editors and assistants to shape stories collaboratively and remotely in the cloud, and enables production companies shooting on location to accelerate dailies tasks and get a head start on editing.

For large-scale media enterprises, post-production houses, and educational institutions, Avid now also offers a floating licensing for Media Composer, making it possible to purchase a “pack” of shared licenses to deploy facility-wide using a single system ID. The floating license server software can be installed on a Windows-based computer at the facility, with the server software accessible from any Mac- or Windows-based computer, even off-site, enabling multiple editors to use Media Composer on any number of workstations.

Avid has also introduced Media Composer | Software subscription

Visit www.avid.com

Autodesk Introduces Smoke 2015 AUTODESK SMOKE 2015 introduces new creative tools and performance enhancements. In addition, Smoke 2015 will soon be available as a Desktop Subscription, so customers can access the software on a pay-as-you-go basis for the first time.

Smoke 2015 now features 3D Tracker, a new Timeline FX workflow, added hardware support and optimisation for the new Mac Pro running OS X Mavericks and better interoperability with Final Cut Pro X. Key features include:  New re-architected Timeline FX offers new effects capabilities for editors

 New timeline-integrated 3D tracker allows editors to match original camera movements in a clip in order to realistically add new elements  Improved support for Blackmagic DesignLink card and UltraStudio for Thunderbolt devices and extended video IO support for AJA Video Systems to offer dual stream stereoscopic output;  Improved integration with Final Cut Pro X that supports more timeline and effects metadata for a fast, high fidelity project transfer between the apps.

Visit www.autodesk.com

Think Thinkout outofofthe thebox box with withDVS DVSVENICE. VENICE. VENICE VENICE is so much is so much more more than athan classic a classic videovideo server.server.

It offers It offers you flexible you flexible solutions solutions for migrating for migrating to file-based to file-based broadcasting broadcasting workflows. workflows.

ExcelExcel in media in media operations: operations: ingestingest all your all media; your media; transfer, transfer, transform transform and play and them play them out beyond out beyond the boundaries the boundaries of proprietary of proprietary solutions. solutions.

Leading Leading Solutions Solutions for Post for Production Post Production and Broadcast and Broadcast www.dvs.de www.dvs.de E-mail: E-mail: sales.australia@rohde-schwarz.com sales.australia@rohde-schwarz.com

VENICE VENICE Media Media Production Production Hub. Hub. ❙ Flexible ❙ Flexible ❙ Open ❙ Open ❙ Future-proof ❙ Future-proof

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT Brightcove Moves Ad Insertion to the Cloud

By Keith Ford

Resulting from the recent $US49 million acquisition of Unicorn Media, provider of cloud video ad insertion technology, by Brightcove, a global provider of cloud services for video, is Brightcove Once.

UNICORN MEDIA CREATED ONCE as a cloudbased ad insertion and video stitching service that addresses the limitations of traditional online video ad technology. The Once service reduces or eliminates the need for platformspecific ad technology and makes it possible for digital media companies to reliably deliver live or on-demand video with dynamically customised programming and targeted advertising to a range of devices.

have been watching, because I’ve got a good Internet connection, the equivalent of 720p bit rate. When it resumes because it’s a new stream, it’s gone back down to a 320, 240 pixel blurry dot on my screen, and I’ve got to wait till it figures out that I’m on a good connection and gives me a better stream. Brightcove traditionally has done a lot of things to optimise that experience, but it’s still not what you’re used to if you’re watching broadcast television.

“Once is a very exciting technology that basically moves the decisions around placing

“What we do with the Once technology is instead of all complex logic happening at the

“ What we do with the Once technology is instead of all complex logic happening at the player, we push it up into a totally cloud

based system, the ad decisioning is all happening still with the ad

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

platform, whether it’s Double Click or other ad platforms

adverts in a stream from the client to a server.

So today, if you’re watching on a desktop, or on an iPhone or Android device, or even a smart TV, when you’re watching the content and it gets to the point where it’s got to place an ad, the client has been sitting there, the player, which is, Brightcove has technology that does this, it goes ‘Oh, time to put the ad in’,” explained Brightcove Vice President of Australia and New Zealand, Mark Blair.

At this point the content is stopped and the ad server is contacted, given the client information and the ads sent back. The problem with this method is that it can very often cause a delay not simply between the content and the ads, but between the ads themselves. The end result of this can be a frustrating experience for the end users, who often don’t like ads at the best of times.

“In between the quality of the ad might have dropped to a lower quality in the video. When the video starts playing again, because the way most of the adaptive technology works, it starts at a lower bit rate,” Blair continued. “So I might

player, we push it up into a totally cloud based system, the ad decisioning is all happening still with the ad platform, whether it’s Double Click or other ad platforms. But there’s a gigabit Ethernet connection between our servers and their servers, which means that it allows us to manipulate the bit stream itself to insert the ads. For the end user they’re just getting one stream. So for them it’s a seamless experience, there’s no renegotiation of the bit rates, because it is just one stream, and so if you’re on high quality you’re getting a high quality ad, the same quality ad as you are content, you’re getting the same audio levels, so the audio levels don’t drop in and out, which happens on online video as well.”

The benefits are not simply on the consumer end though, with content distributors also profiting from consumers having a more pleasant experience. However, the real positive of Brightcove Once is tied to the single stream.

Due to the ads being contained within the same stream as the content it is much more difficult to use an ad blocker to circumvent advertising. ‘Bad

ads’ can also be avoided with Brightcove Once.

“The predominant ad standard is called ‘VAST’, and turns out like things like HTML: some people write really good VAST and some people write not so good VAST. And we normalise that in the cloud, so that when we take a request in, we go ‘Oh, that VAST isn’t quite correct, let’s correct it’,” said Blair.

“The beauty of that is we mitigate the risk of bad ads breaking the player, because in the case of a really badly written ad, it can actually, particularly with Flash, can break out of the soundbox of the Flash player that you’re running in, and break the player, so you can have the player not play the content. It reduces that problem, which again has an impact both in terms of lower support issues, increases content plays, increases our plays, so again the revenue increases.”

The final advantage of the Once system is the broader device reach without adding additional costs, which makes versioning a much simpler and less expensive process.

“One of the unique pieces that Once allows is because it stitches into a single stream, we can present that stream as a progressive download, so the most simple video format that’s available today, with the ads in, and we can work with the client so that when someone on a Blackberry watches the content, they can go “Oh, that’s a Blackberry, it hasn’t got all the bells and whistles of HOS support that IOS or Android has, so we’re going to give it a progressive download stream”. The content plays and they’ve got a broader reach of devices, so again increasing their inventory fill, which is going to increase revenue,” concluded Blair.

Visit www.brightcove.com

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Media Forecast: Cloudy with a Chance of Fibre

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As file-based workflows evolve, there is increased potential to take advantage of hosted platforms and secure data networks. Here is a round-up of just some of the providers seeding the cloud.

AAPT (BROADCAST AND MEDIA SERVICES) Contact: John Mobbs Tel: +61 4 2093 5313 Jon.mobbs@aapt.com.au Email: Connecting broadcasters, production houses, venues and cloud-based media providers, AAPT provides high capacity network services ranging from metrobased dark fibre through to fully-managed inter-capital networks.

Its recent acquisition by communications provider TPG has expanded AAPT’s footprint exponentially via access to the TPG-owned PipeNetworks dark fibre network and TrustedCloud platform. The result is a compelling single network solution for metro and inter-capital network services, as well as data centre connectivity, cloud services, VDC, storage and international connectivity.

ASPERA, AN IBM COMPANY Tel: +65 6933 9535 Email: sales@asperasoft.com Website: asperasoft.com With the unstoppable explosion of large content files in a world where IT and networking infrastructures are more diverse and flexible than ever, Aspera focuses on supplying innovative file transfer solutions that help organizations operate and collaborate more effectively on a global scale.

At the root of Aspera’s success lies its innovative, patented, highly efficient bulk data transport technology: FASP (fast, adaptive, secure protocol). This technology is unique and core to all Aspera high-performance file transfer software. Consistently ranked first in every WAN transfer throughput benchmark it was ever evaluated in, FASP outperforms software and hardware WAN acceleration solutions alike.

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Aspera serves media and entertainment organizations that need to move large volumes of data over wide area networks in practical time frames.

A pioneer in the enablement of high-speed, data-intensive workflows throughout the media enterprise, Aspera has unlocked the cloud for big data with high-performance digital transport, now available on demand.

Founded in 2004 and now part of IBM Software, Aspera is headquartered in Emeryville, California with satellite offices in the UK, France and Singapore.

Aspera software can be purchased directly and through an expansive network of reselling partners worldwide. In addition to offering a complete portfolio of software products and a comprehensive SDK platform, Aspera provides engineering services to support the custom-tailored implementation of its solutions and transfer technology.

FRONT PORCH DIGITAL Contact: Tel: Email: Website:

Rino Petricola, Senior Vice President, General Manager +33 (0) 4 50 88 37 70 rpetricola@fpdigital.com fpdigital.com

Front Porch Digital is a global leader in solutions for migrating, managing, and monetising media content. Operating on-site and in the cloud, the company’s purpose-built software employs the latest technologies to deliver truly flexible and scalable media workflows. Solutions delivered by Front Porch Digital efficiently manage large and complex media files and workflows while ensuring optimal performance and utmost security.

A pioneer in the field of cloud-based content storage management (CSM) and media asset management, in 2011 Front Porch Digital launched LYNXSM, the industry’s first cloud-based CSM platform, which was also the first to integrate cloud-based online video publishing. Front Porch Digital’s

LYNX technology is an integrated cloud-based environment for managing assets on a global scale, from any device and any location. LYNX is a “CSM as a Service” offering that encompasses all the features and benefits of the company’s flagship DIVArchive® technology. The platform provides cost-effective cloud storage, archiving, and preservation tuned for big data, along with SaaS-based media asset management, for a fraction of the cost of other cloud-service providers. LYNX services provide a route to sustained profitability in fluid and competitive operating conditions by offering rapid infrastructure deployment on demand, matching IT investment to revenue opportunities, and making it easier to bring new channels to market, for both play to air and online delivery.

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Adrian Luciano, Director, Media 1300 653 351 Adrian.luciano@nextgen.com.au www.nextgengroup.com.au

Nextgen Group is a leading provider of network connectivity, data centre facilities and cloud services for Australian businesses, government agencies and telecommunications service providers. We deliver innovative and customised solutions to our customers, keeping them at the forefront of technological change.

The company offers an aggregated 1Gbit video and data service connecting 19 sporting venues throughout Australia and has partnered with Sydney Teleport for after-hours master control services.

Beyond the sporting arena, the company operates 18,000 kilometres of fibre running diversely through all Australian capital cities, as well as metro fibre links. Described by the company as “an open book in terms of bandwidth”, Nextgen can provide services of up to 100Gbit to client premises.

An array of ten data centres provides the platform for Nextgen Cloud Services, including service, storage, back-up, and recovery. The company is also looking to provide rendering in the cloud for post and VFX houses.

SOHONET Tel: +61 (0)2 9925 4355 Email: contact@future.com.au, sales@sohonet.com Website: www.sohonet.com Represented in Australia, NZ and Southeast Asia by Future Reality, Sohonet provides services including secure high-speed networking, Internet connectivity, hosting, data management and digital negative management for file-based productions.

Sohonet is excited to announce the launch of Sohonet AWS Direct Connect services, as announced at NAB 2014. Working in conjunction with Amazon Web Services, Sohonet are now able to offer a direct connection from your offices worldwide to the AWS infrastructure, providing customers with increased flexibility and a reliable, high-speed conduit to a range of remote storage and compute services. Sohonet is committed to extending the reach of the Sohonet Media Network to the increasing number of cloud platforms that are supporting media workflows and further announcements will follow in the coming months.

Offering dedicated connectivity, with speeds of 50Mbit/s up to 10Gbit/s, Sohonet is able to provide the flexibility, security and reliability that our network is known for. Additionally, in bringing the AWS service directly to our Community of Interest network we are able to leverage the joint infrastructure to provide a significant saving on data egress charges, of up to 85% less than standard rates.

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TELSTRA DIGITAL MEDIA & CONTENT SERVICES Contact: Email: Tel: Website:

Anna Lockwood, GM Business Development – Media Practice Ana.Lockwood@team.telstra.com 02 9867 3741 telstra.com/enterprise/digitalmedia

The digital era brings great opportunities to drive new revenues and engage your audience. But it also presents complex challenges in the management of your digital content – and in delivering it to a full spectrum of screens and devices. With our extensive experience, expertise and scale, we can help meet these challenges and maximise your digital potential.

To make the most of your digital content, you can monetise it through advertising, subscription and pay-per-view delivery. You can boost new revenue streams, by delivering interactive content in high quality to almost any digital channel your viewers choose, whilst providing a personalised experience, through data insights and analytics.

At the same time, we can help reduce the growing cost and complexity of storing and managing content. We can also streamline content creation and delivery, making it faster and easier for you to transport or get your content to market.

Telstra Digital Media & Content Services also simplifies the digital-content challenge by offering a tailored single-provider solution to capture, manage, distribute and measure across your digital touchpoints. Which means you can take advantage of everything this new world has to offer, without the difficulty of liaising with multiple vendors.

VOCUS COMMUNICATIONS Founded in 2008, Vocus Communications (ASX:VOC) owns and operates a global telecommunications network connecting Australia and New Zealand to the global Internet backbone in the USA and Singapore. We utilise our domestic network to provide telecommunications services to end clients, ISP’s and telecommunications markets.

Vocus’ additional telecommunications services also include data centre colo and dark fibre solutions. Vocus is run by highly skilled technicians who pride themselves on extensive experience designing and building carrier networks. The executive team and board of directors have a broad range of skills, with over 70 years combined experience in owning, operating and advising in the telecommunications and business sectors.

In December 2010 Vocus acquired Data Centreprovider E3 Networks. In March 2011, Vocus acquired Perth Data Centre Perth iX, increasing its Data Centre coverage in Australia. In April 2011, Vocus acquired the assets of Melbourne based Dark Fibre provider Digital River Networks. In 2012, it acquired MaxNet and Ipera, both Data Centre providers.

Vocus has peering agreements (via direct Gigabit Inter connects) with some of the world’s major sources of content, including Google, Akamai, Limelight, Microsoft, Facebook, and Salesforce.  Dark Fibre gives you complete control and security with a dedicated physical connection between you and your mission critical data and applications.  IP Transit – Our customers include iiNet, Google, Vodafone and Primus.

As well as having multiple Points of Presence (PoPs) in all capital cities throughout Australia, Vocus operates 4 US PoPs, 3 NZ PoPs, Hong Kong PoP and a Singapore PoP which is more than any other Australian IP provider.  Our state-of-the-art, carrier neutral, purpose built data centres offer significant cost savings and exceptional reliability and security. We also have connectivity in over 70 Data Centres including Equinix, Global Switch, Polaris, Datacom, Fujitsu, Transact and Next DC Facilities.  Metro and Intercapital Ethernet services ranging from 10Mbps through to 1Gbps.  Vocus is an AWS Direct connect partner supplying connectivity into Amazon at Equinix SY3 from 50Mbps to 10Gbps

Smoothing the Path to Optimal Cloud-Based Operations

By Steve Reynolds CTO, Imagine Communications AS MEDIA BUSINESSES set out their commercial goals for maximising revenue while delivering content to audiences on an evergrowing range of viewing platforms, they are increasingly looking towards virtualisation and the cloud.

Broadcasters and service operators are looking for a path to the cloud that enables them to realise its full potential benefits, from the flexibility, dynamic scalability and improved economics to the operational efficiency of being able to tightly integrate end-toend functionality within the Cloud or data centre. This can include diverse functions such as traffic, billing, software-defined workflow management, branding, playout, and adaptive bit rate transcoding for TV Everywhere viewing and more. At the same time, they need to be able to transition to the cloud at their own pace, integrating new virtualised infrastructure with their existing on-premises systems and workflows to leverage their existing investments.

To meet these needs, we at Imagine Communications have introduced MediaCentral, a software- and IP-based framework for enabling customers to migrate their media operations and workflows to the cloud.

The modular, service-oriented approach of MediaCentral also opens up new revenue opportunities, as capabilities such as addressable, impression-based advertising can be easily added into existing workflows to enable the creation of targeted campaigns based on demographic, geographic, and other segmentation approaches.

Advertisers and media planners will be able to plan highly focused campaigns across the whole range of devices and platforms including linear television, tablets and mobiles, video on demand and OTT. At this year’s NAB Show, we launched LandmarkOSI Cloud. Powered by the MediaCentral framework and leveraging the scalability of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, LandmarkOSI Cloud provides flexible, cost-saving deployment models that enable customers to adapt more quickly to new business models and delivery platforms. Designed for use in multichannel environments and across diverse geographies, LandmarkOSI Cloud provides broadcasters, networks and content distributors with advanced sales, CRM, traffic, billing and data analytics capabilities to efficiently manage station inventory and increase revenue.

The introduction of LandmarkOSI Cloud was just one of the new cloud-enabled solutions we featured at the NAB Show. We featured an innovative demonstration of playout in the cloud that combined cloud-originated and local IP sources. Leveraging both public and private clouds, network programming originating from the cloud was regionalised within a private cloud in our booth, including the transcoding and integration of live uncompressed baseband-over-IP source content. The resulting customised feeds were distributed in compressed, adaptive bit rate (ABR) and uncompressed IP formats and baseband SDI for both traditional television and TV Everywhere viewing.

The demonstration highlighted the benefits of the cloud in reducing infrastructure requirements and enabling elastic, cost-effective scaling.

As the broadcast and media industry continues to undergo major transformations, the cloud and virtualisation will be integral to our customers’ collective future, changing the way they manage, deliver and monetise video content. At the same time, their investments in on-premises infrastructure can be maximised by using them in a hybrid deployment approach, and they are able to move to the cloud in steps consistent with their business goals. The MediaCentral framework and our new cloud-based solutions are ideally positioned to help smooth customers’ transition to the cloud while maximising its benefits.

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Silver Trak Takes to the Cloud with Aspera, Digistor AS ONE OF SYDNEY’S leading broadcast services companies, Silver Trak Digital offers an enhanced media storage, management and delivery service called Media Room. Designed for broadcasters, production houses, post-production houses and distributors, Media Room makes it possible to store, manage and deliver high-resolution media assets online, 24×7, without breaking the bank.

This sort of service needs a sophisticated and powerful foundation. So, when Silver Trak were building Media Room, they came to Digistor for the technology they needed.

“Silver Trak Digital was looking for a file transfer solution that could get Media Room really firing,” says Digistor Account Manager, Johann Pretorius.

“We introduced Tim Creswell and Chris Christiansen from Silver Trak Digital to John Wastcoat and Michelle Munson (CEO) from Aspera. From these discussions, Digistor supplied Aspera Orchestrator to help automate the backbone of Media Room, and Aspera Connect to provide high-speed secure file transfer."

“We knew it was the right fit for Silver Trak,” says Silver Trak Managing Director, Christian Christensen. “Unlike many other cloud-based solutions which start with low-res proxies, Media Room can upload and store highres broadcast files, so it fully supports broadcast file workflows. This means it needs to be able to deliver huge amounts of data very quickly. The Aspera technology is the essential component that makes this possible."

“The customisation available within Orchestrator made the integration into Media Room seamless,” says Pretorius. “The Aspera Orchestrator development team worked remotely from the US, clearly demonstrating their accessibility and willingness to work with developers here in Australia.”

Visit www.silvertrak.com.au, http:// asperasoft.com and www.digistor.com.au

FujiFilm LTO Tapes are DAMsmart ESTABLISHED IN 2007, DAMsmart has grown to be one of Australia’s leading digitisation and archiving companies. As the company has grown so has its exclusive use of Fujifilm LTO media.

DAMsmart GM Joe Kelly explained, “We’ve always had a good relationship with the Fujifilm Australia team and have used many of their products before, including data tape and optical tapes so we knew they were good quality. When we started DAMsmart having Fujifilm LTO tape as our prime data media choice was a no brainer. In the last seven years, we have written approximately 12 peta bytes of data to thousands of Fujifilm LTO tapes and I can count the number of errors or issues on one hand. They really are that good.”

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DAMsmart have a who’s who list of clients that they have provided digitisation and archiving services to including the NFSA, SBS TV, Prime Television, The Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS), the Olympic Council of Asia and MediaCorp Singapore.

DAMsmart not only writes and archives all its data to Fujifilm LTO tape but all duplicates are also on the same LTO tape. The consistency and reliability is critical, according to Kelly.

Kelly sees Linear Tape File System (LTO) tape as being the cornerstone of data management in storage and archiving for many years to come concluding, “DAMsmart are continually pushing and building LTO-based solutions for our customers. LTFS was a real game changer and now with Fujifilm’s Barium Ferrite coated LTO-6 tapes, another game changer due to its superior technology over using standard metal particles, we can make our clients’ archives even more open and accessible whilst having the highest levels of reliability and durability. Fujifilm has supported DAMsmart in our goal of using and implementing open standards as opposed to closed proprietary systems and the results have paid off.”

Visit www.fujifilm.com.au

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Māori TV Upgrades Audio with Harman Consoles doing the sound for a live music show that requires mixing multiple hosts talking at once plus a live band.”

Māori Television wanted to avoid having to patch the consoles into external effects devices, and chose the Studer consoles because they had enough built-in effects to handle all the processing for all the shows that are produced at Māori Television. Ease of use was equally important – “we wanted consoles that were intuitive to use, so that most of the people in our studio would be able to operate them,” said Dickie.

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In addition, the consoles had to be able to link together so they could share sources between Māori Televisions two broadcast studios. The Vista 5 M3 offers access of up to 240 channels, ensuring the station would have all the inputs it needs. Along with the Vista 5 M3 and On Air 2500, Māori Television purchased three Studer Compact Stagebox expansion units, a 32-in/16-out and two 16-in/16-out models.

MĀORI TELEVISION PROVIDES a range of local and international programming for New Zealand’s audiences across the country and online.

Founded in 2004, the station is dedicated to the revitalisation and normalisation of the Māori language and culture through high-quality, readily accessible programming in both Māori and English. Māori Television recently upgraded its studios with the addition of HARMAN’s Studer Vista 5 M3 and OnAir 2500 digital consoles.

HARMAN Professional Australian distributor Jands Ltd. installed the 32-fader Vista 5 M3 and 12-fader OnAir 2500 consoles in Māori Television studios.

The studio needed to replace its aging analogue mixing desks and make the move to digital. They wanted consoles that were flexible and easy to use.

“Our studios are used for a variety of shows, including live news and current affairs programs, talk shows, sports programming and more,” said Kane Dickie, sound team leader. “One of the most challenging requirements is

Before Māori TV purchased them, Jands set up the complete system on their premises to allow Kane and his team to try them out. The Māori TV staff took to the consoles immediately, giving high marks to the consoles’ easy, fast and responsive operation, accessible control layouts, convenient Vistonics and Touch’n’Action colour touch screens, and variety of useful built-in effects. “ Now that the Vista 5 M3 and On Air 2500 are up and running at Māori Television, Kane confirms their initial positive experience with the consoles at Jands.

“The transition from analogue to digital consoles went smoothly. In addition to doing everything we need them to and then some, we’ve noticed that the Studer consoles’ preamps have made all of our mics sound much cleaner. In addition, all of the old analogue buzz we could never get rid of in the past has disappeared,” he said.

Visit www.harman.com

Soundfirm Installs Australia’s First Meyer Sound Cinema System SOUNDFIRM HAS SELECTED a Meyer Sound cinema loudspeaker system for its Dolby Atmos dubbing stage in its new Melbourne location. The large mixing room is the country’s first to feature an all-Meyer Sound screen channel and surround loudspeaker system. Owner Roger Savage, a veteran re-recording mixer whose film credits include the family classic “Babe” and the musical “Moulin Rouge!”, selected the Meyer Sound system.

“When we decided to install an Atmos room, we needed surround loudspeakers capable of full-range response, and Meyer Sound sounded so much better than anything else we’d experienced,” says Savage.

The monitoring system incorporates three Acheron 80 screen loudspeakers, eight HMS-12 and 29 HMS-10 cinema surround loudspeakers, six X-800C high-power cinema subwoofers, and two 500HP subwoofers in the rear for surround low end.

Chris Goodes, Soundfirm’s chief re-recording mixer, has mixed a number of projects in the new room. “The first thing I took to was the top end,” he says. “The Acherons are so much better than what we’d been using before.

The dialogue clarity is outstanding, and you can trust what you’re doing with equalisation. You never have to question whether the speaker is changing the sound.”

Projects mixed by Goodes since opening include: “The Monkey King,” an Atmos mix for the Chinese market; “Predestination,” a feature starring Ethan Hawke; “Deep Sea Challenge,” a James Cameron documentary; and “Hidden Universe” for IMAX release.

Savage appreciates the streamlined installation of the 48 V remotely powered surround loudspeakers. “Installation and setup was much easier than the conventional approach,” he notes. “You simply run a single cable with 48 V power and audio for the internally bi-amplified surrounds.”

The new mixing theatre also includes a Harrison Trion mixing console with 240 inputs, five Avid Pro Tools systems, a 10-meter-wide screen, and a Christie 4K projector with 3D capability.

Visit www.meyersound.com

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Audio Soars with JetStream Plus LOGITEK ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS has released the JetStream Plus, audio router with dense 240-channel AoIP networking. Occupying only 4 rack units, the JetStream Plus provides ample audio I/O for both rack rooms and big studios, and can operate multiple Logitek digital consoles simultaneously. As with Logitek’s JetStream Mini, the JetStream Plus offers high density I/O that is configurable by the user to precisely tailor audio and networking requirements with a minimum of components and with minimal rack space.

Fifteen card slots are provided for analogue inputs, digital inputs, analogue outputs, digital outputs, SDI inputs and microphone preamps. A drop-down front panel makes access to cards easy, and redundant power supplies ensure robust performance. Any size Logitek console (Pilot, ROC, Mosaic, Artisan or vMix+) can be accommodated, and up to four consoles (36 faders total) may be operated via the JetStream Plus. The JetStream Plus readily interfaces to many hard disk audio playout systems as well as TV program automation control systems. It also connects directly to the studio-size JetStream Mini, allowing users to build a fully integrated facility via IP networking with a minimum of hardware.

Visit www.logitekaudio.com

Fairlight, Quantel Bring Video to Audio Editors FAIRLIGHT AND QUANTEL have announced the release of Fairlight’s new audio post Gateway integration module with Quantel QTube.

Quantel’s QTube technology provides industry partners with direct access to audio, video and metadata held on its Enterprise sQ production systems.

QTube has a RESTful API which is available to companies such as Fairlight, and enables development of new workflows with minimal engineering overhead.

The Quantel QTube API gives Fairlight audio editing systems instant, real-time access to Quantel video compositions directly within the Fairlight software.

Fairlight’s Gateway accesses the Quantel Enterprise sQ storage, with no rendering or video file import required, providing frame accurate playback, jogging and scrubbing over a local LAN network or even over the internet.

Extensive search functions allow the operator to quickly find pending work, and import audio assets from the Quantel server with ease. At the end of the session, the final audio is laid back directly to the Quantel server via Fairlight Gateway.

Visit www.quantel.com and www.fairlight.com.au

CEDAR Audio Enforces “Retouch” Patent CEDAR AUDIO HAS CONCLUDED an agreement with Diamond Cut Productions Inc. in respect of U.S. Patent No. 7,978,862, which is commonly known as “the Retouch patent”.

Having acknowledged the validity of CEDAR’s patent, Diamond Cut Productions has issued a notice of recall for its DC8 and DCForensic8 products stating:

AUDIO

“To settle the lawsuit brought by CEDAR Audio Limited asserting claims of infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,978,862, Diamond Cut Productions Inc. has agreed to discontinue the Direct Spectral Editing feature of its DC8 and DCForensics8 software, and recall all versions of its DC8 and DCForensics8 with Direct Spectral Editing sold in the United States. DCP will no longer support the DC8 and DCForensics8 products with Direct Spectral Editing.”

Visit www.cedaraudio.com

Jünger Audio Shows Voice Processor AT NAB 2014, Jünger Audio showed its D*AP4 VAP Voice Processor – designed for engineers working in radio stations, TV production voice-over studios and feature film ADR facilities.

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The unit includes Jünger Audio’s proprietary Spectral Signature dynamic EQ – a new tool that offers automatic and dynamic EQ control to balance spectral differences. By analysing incoming audio and comparing its spectrum with individually predetermined voice ‘fingerprints’, the unit can automatically apply dynamic EQ corrections to give a consistent sound.

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The D*AP4 VAP also includes processing such as HP/LP filtering, versatile dynamics section, full parametric EQ and de-essing, and is designed even for non-technical radio staff such as producers and journalists.

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Jünger Audio has also provided a dedicated voice leveller combined with an auto-mixer circuit to help mixed voice programs into loudness-based broadcasting on the fly. Using the optional SDI I/O card automated voice over for SDI embedded audio becomes an attractive feature of the D*AP4 VAP. Available as either an insert into a mixing desk or as a stand-alone unit, D*AP4 VAP offers interfaces that allow integration in existing environments via an AES insert. The unit can also be used with an optional analogue board that adds two high quality mic-preamps.

Visit www.jungeraudio.com

Fibre-Based Audio Distribution System

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AT NAB 2014 CLEAR-COM presented ProGrid, a fibre-based infrastructure system that enables users to transport and distribute audio, intercom, video and control data.

ProGrid is based on the open AES3 and AES10 (MADI) standards, providing fibre-based transport, routing and format conversion as well as distribution of audio, intercom, video and control data with full management and diagnostic capabilities over the Optocore and SANE platform.

A versatile, modular approach enables users to size the system to match the demands of a specific production and budget, and to manage future expansion. The system is also quick to set up and break down.

Clear-Com also offers the BroaMan MUX-22 video distribution device, which further broadens the company’s capabilities to provide scalable, protocol independent transport of up to eight 3G/HD/SD-SDI video signals in each device. The MUX-22 can operate with the ProGrid systems or as a standalone solution.

Visit www.clearcom.com

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SONIFEX, the manufacturer of interface products for radio & TV has announced OnAir Solutions as its new Australian distributor.

Sonifex makes products used in stations around the world, including the Signal LED range of signs, Redbox analogue, digital and SDI interface equipment, and portable commentator mixers. OnAir Solutions will be offering the extensive range of Sonifex products for both one-off applications and integrated into larger projects.

Marcus Brooke, Managing Director of Sonifex, said, “We welcome OnAir Solutions into the Sonifex team and look forward to working together to grow the Australian market.”

Paul Dengate, Managing Director of OnAir Solutions, commented, “We have a broad range of skills to service the TV and radio broadcast markets and the Sonifex product range fits in very well with our future plans.”

Visit www.onair.com.au

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Final Mix Post Gets Real with Studer Vista 5 SYDNEY COMPANY FINAL MIX POST specialise in broadcast audio.

If you’ve watched any top rating Australian reality or talent show in the last couple of years, you’ve heard their work. Active in both Sydney and Melbourne, their skills have been deployed to handle aspiring singers and the celebrities that judge them, and amateur cooks and the chefs that challenge them.

Capturing audio from unscripted judging panels or multiple game show contestants is difficult; if you leave all microphones open, the mix gets noisy, if you turn someone down when they’re not talking, you might miss them when they speak unexpectedly. Broadcast doesn’t get second chances, so it has to be right the first time. That’s why Final Mix Post use their Studer Vista 5 digital mixer with VistaMix automatic mixing.

John Simpson of Final Mix Post is a long-time user of Studer mixers.

“They sound fantastic,” said John. “They’re also very reliable and an intuitive surface to work on.”

Final Mix Post’s Studer Vista 5 has been John’s go-to surface for most jobs, and he keeps abreast of new products from the Swiss manufacturer. While visiting Studer to demo new gear, John was blown away by VistaMix, which can run on any Vista system with an SCoreLive DSP engine and software version 4.9.

“It was so good we had to have it!” exclaimed John. “It’s the best version of an automixer I’ve used. It mixes way better than even we can.”

John upgraded his Vista 5 to run the new feature and immediately rolled it out. The first show to get the VistaMix treatment was Network 10’s A League of Their Own, a fast-paced, sports-themed comedic panel show hosted by comedian Tommy Little. Filmed at Sydney’s Fox Studios, it was a technically demanding job for John.

“The show was so rapid fire it was almost impossible to capture” John related. “We also had a PA for an audience of 400, and reverse monitors for each side of the panel. We did it with three VistaMix feeds – VistaMix across both panels and another instance as a master. We implemented it from the rehearsals and it’s been fantastic.”

In addition to cleaning up the live audio feeds, VistaMix also helped in the edit suite.

“It made the post production much easier because the dialogue track was much tighter,” John explained.

VistaMix is now an integral part of all Final Mix Post’s work.

“VistaMix is a game changer for us – it’s exceeded all expectations and it’s a regular part of our setups,” John continued. “It’s across the judging panel on X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent, and we’ll be using it on The Voice as well.”

Studer is now rolling out its automix technology across other models in its range. In addition to the Vista family, VistaMix is now also available on Studer’s OnAir range of consoles, cleaning up mixes across the full range of broadcast applications.

Visit www.jands.com.au

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Digital Community Radio Network Launches for Australian Youth

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YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS AUSTRALIA not only have another choice of

a national level and the

radio channel, but also a new broadcast training platform, following the launch of community digital radio channel, SYN Nation.

opportunity to learn the ins

Launched by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the service brings together programming produced and presented entirely by communities of young people around Australia, starting with Byron Bay (NSW), Canberra and Hobart (Tasmania), along with Melbourne, Warrnambool and Gippsland in Victoria.

said SYN General Manager Tahlia Azaria.

“Young people are at the forefront of new technology and SYN Nation is a great example of that. This project is innovative in the way it uses digital and online media and will help amplify the diverse voices of young people across this country,” said Mr Turnbull.

SYN Nation broadcasts on digital radio to Melbourne-wide audiences and streams nationally at syn.org.au, with additional digital media content including videos and podcasts contributed regularly by each community to create a constantly evolving repository of youth made media from around the country.

and outs of media-making,” SYN Nation is an initiative by SYN Media and has been developed with the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation in collaboration with the Community

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Broadcasting Association of Australia’s Digital Radio Project.

Visit syn.org.au

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View Time-Lapse of the Studio Build In early 2013, after a successful fundraising campaign combined with a generous grant or two, SYN Media was able to upgrade its two existing radio studios and build a third to facilitate training and a separate, DAB+ broadcast. The upgrades were carried out

by Agile Broadcast.

Scan the QR code or visit https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=4ZkOg37FzW8

“More than just a broadcast service, SYN Nation offers young people living in all corners of the country a platform to have their perspectives heard at

World’s “Most Integrated” Digital Radio Chip FRONTIER SILICON used the recent Hong Kong Electronics Fair to unveil

and new tools to accelerate development times for manufacturers.

Kino 4, its next generation digital radio chip which integrates four previously separate chips, to deliver significant improvements in performance, cost and power consumption. This new chip builds on the performance and reliability standards of earlier generations of the Kino chip series.

Kino 4 is designed to power all major categories of consumer digital radio devices. Key areas of focus include portable radios, radio receivers with Bluetooth connectivity, multi-function devices, and a wide range of automotive aftermarket products.

The approach enables power consumption 50% lower than Kino 3; patent pending features for improved user experience, e.g. significantly faster scan times; smaller form-factor – with potential to be deployed in smartphones;

Blowing a Raspberry on Internet Radio

RADIO

The Kino 4 chip will also enable the next generation of hybrid or smart radios, which combine broadcast and IP return path functionality.

The first release of Kino 4 will support the DAB family of standards. Longer term, the chip has the capability to support other global standards, including HD Radio and DRM. Kino 4 will meet all technology requirements of the UK’s Digital Tick minimum specifications for both domestic and automotive digital radio devices.

Visit www.frontier-silicon.com

they were hearing to the web page.

broadcasts powered by the Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer that is plugged into a TV and a keyboard.

Heidi and Sasha connected a Raspberry Pi to studio-quality sound equipment. They then live-streamed the sounds of the localised space via 3G to the Internet. The entire kit fitted in a medium-sized box and was powered by a small form factor battery, commonly used in golf carts.

Broadcasts from empty rooms, an initiative by Sasha Grbich and Heidi Angove, was a live-streamed radio show that explored after-dark soundscapes at historic spaces in Port Adelaide. Listeners tuned in via a web radio station http://broadcast.sashagrbich.com and were able to post descriptions of what

The Raspberry Pi has a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC), which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 512 megabytes of RAM. It does not include a built-in hard disk or SSD, but it uses an SD card for booting and persistent storage.

TWO ADELAIDE AUDIO ARTISTS have concluded a series of live Internet

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support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation, Telstra Foundation and

Developed by Melbourne-based community youth broadcaster SYN Media, the service is being driven by young leaders based at local community radio stations in each region, with the support of established media industry mentors from the likes of the ABC and SBS, community stations Triple R, PBS FM, Joy 94.9, 2RRR, RTR and 3ZZZ, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

Until now, the alternative, less efficient approach to integration has been to place the various processing blocks on individual pieces of silicon and then to combine them into a single chip package (system-in-package). Uniquely for a digital radio solution, Kino 4 combines RF, baseband, application processor, audio decode and DAC functionality on a single piece of silicon – with no requirement for external MCU, DAC or tuner.

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StreamGuys, Orban Bring Internet Radio Ecosystem to Life STREAMGUYS AND ORBAN HAVE JOINED FORCES to bring an affordable turnkey streaming service to market that addresses the complete internet radio ecosystem. The service aims to help broadcasters cover the entire media landscape of where audiences exist today – and effectively monetise streams to accelerate return on investment.

quality of service; as well as business software and playout tools to build audiences and drive revenue opportunities.

The new StreamGuys/Orban solution allows broadcasters to use the entire turnkey package, or choose the elements they need today with options to scale moving forward. The overall solution emphasizes reliable content delivery and business growth regardless of how many services a particular broadcast requires – ensuring that independent radio stations and large network operators receive equal attention while establishing and growing an online identity.

+ Deliver: StreamGuys’ cloud-based streaming architecture reliably streams live and on-demand content to the web, mobile and in-car devices, internet radios and OTT media players.

The complete collection of services address the entire content lifecycle, including front-end processing and multiplatform content delivery to ensure

+ Process: Orban’s audio processing products prepare broadcast signals for multi-platform delivery, retaining optimal signal integrity while encoding metadata-rich streams into multiple formats.

+ Monetise: Dynamic, server-side ad insertion technologies help broadcasters reliably target audiences without complex integrations. + Play: The latest HTML5 and Flash player options ensure audiences can tune in from anywhere while mobile apps drive listener engagement.

Visit www.streamguys.com

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ENCO Virtualised Automation System AS WITH ITS ENCO1, ENCO’s ENCO1SS allows broadcasters to operate their ENCO DAD automation system in a virtualised environment by utilising existing IP Audio technologies. Because the system has been virtualised, any station or studio can be controlled from anywhere via a thin client.

While the first version used two specialised servers with failover software, the ENCO1SS uses a single fault tolerant server provided by Stratus.

Stratus servers are known for their dependable operation and serve a

wide range of industries. The Stratus server eliminates the complexity of other high-availability solutions and provides substitution of any failing hardware components to deliver uninterrupted automation operation.

Running on VMware or HyperV, ENCO1SS provides true hardware mirroring so that failure is nearly impossible. ENCO and Stratus also promise proactive 24/7/365 monitoring of systems, ensuring overnight replacement of any system component if needed.

Visit www.enco.com

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RAVENNA-AES67-Enabled PCIe Sound Card DIGIGRAM HAS ANNOUNCED the release of the LX-IP RAVENNA PCIe sound card, the company’s first RAVENNA / AES67enabled product. Featuring ultra-low latency down to one audio sample per IP packet, up to 256 RAVENNA I/O channels from multiple RAVENNA streams, and a full MADI interface, the new card is ideal for high-density audio production or automation applications in radio and TV broadcast studios.

Digigram’s LX-IP sound card makes it easy for users to record and play as many as 128/128 audio-over-IP RAVENNA channels simultaneously in and out of a desktop computer. Boasting ultra-low round-trip latency down to three milliseconds, interoperability with all AES67 requirements, an embedded 128 x 128 switching matrix, Grandmaster PTP clock abilities, and high redundancy assured by two Gigabit Ethernet connections, this reliable hardware solution enables broadcasters to maintain high performance regardless of the computational load presented by the increasingly demanding applications running on the host system. As an option, an optical MADI interface may be directly connected to the embedded switching matrix to provide 64/64 inputs/outputs.

This new release is slated to be the first of many Digigram solutions that will be enabled with RAVENNA technology.

Visit www.digigram.com

Lawo Advancements for Radio Consoles NAB THIS YEAR saw Lawo launch the crystalCLEAR virtual radio mixing console. crystalCLEAR optimises radio workflows by a smart console interface that is always aware of context, adapting to the skills of the user and the type of sources being used. crystalCLEAR’s entire control surface is software, driven by a multi-touch optimised interface on a high-resolution computer display. Without the limitations of physical knobs, buttons and faders, the virtual console presents the user with only relevant controls and information, hiding anything not needed for the task at hand.

Lawo’s virtual radio mixing console can be instantly reconfigured by recalling a SCENE or PRESET. Different shows and different users are easily accommodated. And unlike a physical surface, crystalCLEAR remembers every detail when loading a SCENE, even the fader positions. crystalCLEAR is fast, intuitive, easy handling and configuring.

Lawo also introduced integrated AutoMix and AutoGain features as part of the 4.4 software update for its Lawo crystal and sapphire radio mixing consoles.

RADIO

AutoMix automatically adjusts the levels of active and inactive microphones, while keeping a constant ambient level. As a result, mixing and hosting a talkshow becomes a breeze. The console takes over control of the microphone mix, while the talent simply conducts the interview. AutoMix reduces ambient noise from open microphones while it keeps the overall volume of the mix at a constant level. AutoMix also works perfectly as a ducking function for voice-overs live on air.

Striving for even more simplification, Lawo integrated its new AutoGain feature, and so the talent can calibrate all microphone signals easily and without understanding technical dB values and overloads. By the press of a button, AutoGain levels microphone analog gains automatically within seconds, while the talent just talks into the microphone.

Visit www.lawo.com

Interactive Audio Ads for Internet and Mobile Radio INTERACTIVE AUDIO ADVERTISING SERVICE XAPPmedia has launched XAPP Ads – a proprietary technology and end-to-end advertising service for Internet radio publishers and advertisers. XAPP Ads are hands free, eyes free, voice activated ads that provide a new solution for monetising the Internet radio and mobile audio audiences.

XAPP Ads provide consumers a choice to connect directly with brands through the convenience of voice when offers are relevant and quickly get back to listening when they are not. XAPP Ads drive instant conversions for advertisers and increase ad inventory yield for audio publishers.

The U.S. National Public Radio (NPR) network is the first publisher to make XAPPmedia’s interactive audio technology available to underwriters and sponsors with Lumber Liquidators as its launch sponsor. NPR’s programming reaches nearly 23 million listeners monthly on its digital platforms.

XAPP Ads can be created in minutes by publishers or advertisers through a cloud-hosted point-and-click interface with no programming required. XAPP Ads leverage traditional advertising audio creative, which makes them more cost effective to build than other digital rich media advertisements. XAPP Ads can also be paired with on-screen tiles, but the key focus is allowing consumers to respond to audio advertising by voice. Many options are provided for connecting consumers to brand offers including voice activated actions such as:  Call Now

 More Info

 Download App

 Buy It

 Send email

 Send coupon

Even when listening hands-free and eyes-free, an offer can be engaged by voice, leading to more convenience for consumers, more conversions for advertisers and a super-premium ad format for publishers.

Visit http://xappmedia.com

Signal Transport over IP for Radio Broadcasters GATESAIR, formerly part of Harris Broadcast, has announced an end-to-end, interoperable solution for transporting AES-192 signals over IP. The complete solution utilizes the Intraplex IP Link and Flexiva FAX exciter at its core, giving broadcasters an architecture to leverage next-generation digital signal transport techniques. The IP Link, regarded for its robust and feature-rich transport capabilities, supports AES-192 transport over the network. IP Link uses all available networks to ensure audio and data reach their destination intact and without interruption, feeding AES-192 streams directly into the FAX exciter for over-the-air delivery. This eliminates additional processing stages at the transmitter site, allowing broadcasters to safely move those components back to the studio.

The GatesAir solution works across any of three leading on-air processor brands (Omnia, Orban and Wheatstone) and is equipped to deliver stereo composite baseband over AES-192. This flexibility ensures that broadcasters aren’t locked into using a specific solution, freeing them to use their preferred processing platform to maintain a high-quality digital signal across the entire transport chain.

The robust, reliable end-to-end connectivity of the entire solution means that broadcasters interested in using AES-192 to establish a high-quality digital link can safely rely on the IP network for transport. The high-speed nature of AES-192 transport — typically 4.5MB/s per stream — requires a robust solution to ensure successful delivery of these signals.

Visit www.gatesair.com

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Astralinks Upgrades with Adtec

By Keith Ford ASTRALINKS, AN AUSTRALIAN provider of

a critical element with people doing content delivery here in Australia – is that most clients require the signal path to be 10-bit,” said Garry.

Satellite News Gathering (SNG) services, recently upgraded their fleet of four trucks to MPEG4 and HD. In order to do this they required a new batch of encoders that could handle the new workflow, which is where Adtec and Garry Mahoney, owner of Interface Technologies Australia, came in.

“We were in the market for new encoders in order to upgrade our fleet to digital programmes, as all of our fleet now have HD and MPEG-4 capability. We had some of that capability, but last year it wasn’t universal so we wanted to get everything up to MPEG-4 and HD,” explained Craig Beckett, Astralinks Managing Director. “We really did some exhaustive tests on the other main players in the market and Adtec just came up on top really. Quality was equal with the best, but functionality was better; there were just better capabilities and it’s more user friendly.”

“You don’t have to turn it on and go to a menu and muck around, you just power it up and you just say ‘Right, that’s how it’s set. Done’. It’s just so simple. So that kind of thing fitted in really nicely.

The Adtecs start up very quickly as well,” said Garry Mahoney, Managing Director of Interface Technologies Australia, Adtec’s distributor.

At the time that Craig began his search for the perfect product, Adtec were not producing a 10-bit encoder, which was a vital requirement for Astralinks’ needs. They were however working on

Astralinks ordered a total of six encoders to bring their entire fleet up to speed, with one truck already having all their required capabilities.

This meant three trucks fitted out with a fully redundant back up. So far four encoders have been delivered, with the final two en route. The two trucks that have been upgraded have already been busy. one and Mahoney was able to get one to Astralinks for testing as soon as the EM-100 was available.

“Prior to the EM-100 Adtec were only using eight bit encoders, but eight wasn’t enough for our needs. While there’s a lot of debate about whether 10-bit is necessary or not, I think in the market there’s a perception that it’s necessary that you need ten for capability, even though technically it may not make all the difference. Therefore you need to be able to provide it when it’s required,” said Beckett.

“The trucks have already been used extensively, particularly on Royal Tour coverage. We did coverage both for the local networks and for ITV in London,” said Beckett.

Astralinks have also used the upgraded trucks on Network Ten’s coverage on the National Championship’s swimming, Seven’s Autumn Carnival horseracing, live crosses for Iraqi television covering Iraqi’s voting in their elections from polling booths in Sydney, and the Stawell Gift.

“So we limited our choices to those encoders that have a ten bit capability and while Adtec are new to that area, we tested them extensively and compared them with others on the market,” he added. “They compared very favourably and are very user friendly.”

“What I think it comes down to – when you make a choice like this – performance is pretty well the same, but it’s how you achieve that. It’s the support from the manufacturer. You have to have the right feeling about it and that’s what we have from Adtec. If there’s every going to be a problem, do they respond? And I can tell you, they do.

Surprisingly fast,” concluded Mahoney.

“We started talking to Craig and that’s rather

Visit www.interfacetech.com.au

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AVW BROADCAST (SYDNEY) has announced a new distribution agreement with Deviser Technologies. Deviser Tech is a manufacturer of precision Fibre-Optic, Radio Frequency and Spectrum measurement and testing tools for Broadcasters, Cellular and Satellite Service Engineers.

AVW business manager Stefan Hunt said, “We spoke with a lot of manufacturers of test and measurement equipment before deciding to partner with Deviser; they ticked the box when it came to product support, build-quality, range of test equipment and price considerations.”

Visit www.avwbroadcast.com.au

SCA Launches Apprenticeship Program AUSTRALIA’S SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO (SCA) has announced the launch of the 2014 Broadcast Engineer Apprenticeship Program, aimed at providing valuable learning and development opportunities for young professionals.

experienced engineers, the participants will undertake a formal qualification to help them develop a successful career in the broadcast technology field.

The program will see the creation of a further 11 broadcast engineer trainees undertake a four-year, full-time, paid apprenticeship at one of SCA’s broadcast centres across the country.

The 11 apprentices join other continuing apprentices within the business who are already working towards their qualification and halfway through their program. Previous apprentices have gained broadcast technology roles and continue to work in our business.

In addition to working alongside highly

Visit www.southerncrossaustereo.com.au

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Globecast Enters the OTT Stream

By Keith Ford Globecast Australia, a leading provider of broadcast services in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, has launched Globestream, an OTT (Over the Top) Internet streaming service. It has been designed to be an extension of the services that Globecast already provide in their broadcast facilities.

“GLOBESTREAM REALLY IS a very natural progression of our existing product offering because as a business, we have a mission statement to be the leading provider of broadcast services across all platforms in the Australasian region. Whether it’s contributing content via fibre or via our fleet of SNG trucks, we now have the ability to distribute this content onto the various platforms that consumers engage with. This was fundamental to our business’ long term strategy,” said Globecast Australia CEO, Simon Farnsworth.

“There are over 350 linear channels which currently enter our broadcast centre and over a single weekend we manage over 5,000 ad hoc feeds - be they for sport or news. Being able to say to our clients, ‘not only can we deliver your content to your broadcast base, we can also publish it on the internet,’ is a very attractive proposition, as the higher up the value chain you encode content, the better the quality will be for our clients end user.

With the rapid growth and continued need for live and video-on-demand content, providing this service to end users in high quality formats is integral to our clients business, this is why Globestream’s offering is an exciting new chapter for Globecast.”

When delivering to YouTube the feed can be delivered at up to 1080p resolution if requested by the client, with YouTube itself generating different versions of the content at varying resolutions. That feed can then be embedded across social networks exactly as any other YouTube video would be.

“Providing an Over-The-Top service has been an aspect of Globecast’s long-term roadmap for a number of years. The development process of Globestream has been carefully planned and executed to ensure the service provides the quality and reliability Globecast customers have come to expect.

There are enormous opportunities for a service such as Globestream in the realms of concerts and music festivals. It allows for specific security measures to be implemented in line with our client’s requirements, so a concert or festival for example taking place in Melbourne could have the Melbourne area geoblocked to incentivise locals to attend, while the rest of the world can watch a free feed or any specific segment they please. The key to Globestream is its flexibility.

“The business is committed to investing in capital which we have done to ensure we have the appropriate facilities to provide this service, so yes, in a sense we’ve taken a bit of a risk in that we have invested in technology before we have an established customer base using this service However, we strongly believe in the service Globestream provides and the function it performs as an essential extension to our product offering. The launch of Globestream highlights our commitment to innovation and customer service and where we want our business moving forward,” said Farnsworth.

Aside from Globestream’s providing broadcast quality services for the internet, the service also offers Master Control Room monitoring and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week The technology platform allows for full time channels or Adhoc events that can be streamed live.

“Effectively we have a series of ‘boxes’ allowing Globestream the ability to convert any feed we currently receive into our broadcast center to the format our clients require, be it for smart TV’s, laptops and tablets, smart phones or

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any other device they desire. We have the ability to define what profile our clients require distributing and depending on that, we can deliver content across multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, PC and Mac,” explained Paul Suters, Director of Engineering and Operations. “If we’re delivering content to YouTube, it will generally be a single feed. We deliver to a URL or a URL on a stream ID. However if it’s an ad hoc service, we set up that service, define where we’re delivering to, set up the parameters and switch an input out to that feed.”

Paul Suters, Director of Engineering & Operations, Globecast Australia

“Our OTT service can be utilised in simplistic forms or more complex forms.

The simplistic being if a client has their own video player, we encode their content high up the value chain and point it towards that IP address. We also provide the complete lock, stock and barrel offering for clients without their own video player,” added Farnsworth.

“There are a multiple ways to deal with security depending on what the hosted site requires, so we work with various DRMs as necessary. Depending on their requirements, it could be as simple as a token based mechanism or as complex as a full Digital Rights Management solution. Each situation will be addressed individually to fulfil the specifications,” said Suters.

“We could also say to broadcasters here in Australia instead of you selling your content around the world to various networks, why don’t you put that as a managed IP service that’s encoded here in Australia and then you manage the geo-blocking at the CDN level to allow anyone around the world to access that. You can put a pay wall in front of it, so you can build an IP subscription business from Australia without having to step foot overseas yourself, and likewise for the content coming the other way,” added Farnsworth.

Visit www.globecast.com.au

Simon Farnsworth, CEO Globecast Australia

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IDC Unveils New Video Products INTERNATIONAL DATACASTING expanded its portfolio of solutions at the 2014 NAB Show in Las Vegas with the launch of new products for high performance video contribution, targeted ad insertion, and the latest video compression technologies to deliver premium content in Ultra High Definition format.

The new TITAN 3 Contribution Encoder delivers low latency encoding without requiring a proprietary decoder. It boasts a flexible internal modulator, as well as full support for all the leading audio and video formats and BISS encryption. TITAN 3 tackles the unique challenges of professional outside broadcasting and is suited for real-time critical content such as live sports.

The LASER Multi Program Splicer (MPS) enables seamless content and ad insertion on multiple channels simultaneously. The LASER MPS also extends IDC’s LASER Targeted Ad Insertion Platform by integrating with existing receive-site equipment, and providing support for long-format program insertion.

IDC is also developing a 4K Ultra High Definition system as part of a new joint development program with the European Space Agency. The goal of the program is to enable the cost-effective delivery of live 4K UHD broadcast via satellite for distribution to the home and to digital cinema screens using the new HEVC compression algorithm.

Visit www.datacast.com

Virtualised Media Processing from Harmonic HARMONIC HAS ANNOUNCED VOS, an extensible software platform and architecture designed to shape the future of video production and delivery.

VOS will enable completely virtualised media processing from a single software platform, encompassing historically discreet functions from ingest to playout, graphics, branding, compression, packaging and delivery for broadcast and multiscreen applications.

Harmonic says VOS has the potential to fundamentally change the video delivery ecosystem by bringing all media processing functions into one simplified, unified platform and workflow, for increased operational flexibility, scalability and efficiency. Operating virtually in IT data centre environments, VOS can scale up or down to accommodate peaks in demand based on capacity and functional requirements across all video services.

VOS includes Harmonic’s PURE Compression Engine, providing video quality and bandwidth efficiency for SD, HD and Ultra HD formats, MPEG-2, MPEG-4/ AVC and HEVC compression over CBR, VBR and ABR streams.

Harmonic has also announced Electra XVM, the first product to be delivered based on VOS. Electra XVM is an integrated package of VOS functionality including the PURE Compression Engine, playout, advanced graphics, packaging and delivery, and operates in data centre environments on OpenStack or VMware vSphere environments for maximum operational flexibility.

Visit www.harmonicinc.com

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New Snell Signal Assurance and Monitoring Solutions SNELL HAS ANNOUNCED new signal assurance and monitoring modules, including a media timing solution that helps broadcasters deliver greater operational efficiencies and ensure high quality media output across multiple screens. Part of Snell’s Live TV broadcast infrastructure offering, the solution can be deployed with or without existing Snell equipment, supporting fast, flexible and open technology architectures.

Snell says the signal assurance and intelligent monitoring solution answers an emerging issue for many broadcasters: how to maintain high-quality video and audio output when repeatedly processing media for delivery to multiple platforms, services and locations. This video and audio processing often puts sound and visual elements out of sync, particularly where it occurs through different workflows.

MEDIAPROXY HAS INTRODUCED its next generation LogServer suite of products, including newly designed user interfaces.

The latest update to the flagship LogServer ASI logging and monitoring platform now includes LogJam Remote and Extract to Remote features, enabling automated transcoding and burn-in workflows to remote storage or cloud-based applications. Configuration Editor also includes several additions allowing for easily applying settings across multiple channels and enhanced configuration across transport stream sources.

Specifically, Snell signal assurance and intelligent monitoring includes:

LogServer now offers DVR/PVR-style clip based MPEG recording, suitable for competitive logging of native broadcast quality media, offering an enterprise grade solution for corporate networks, previously only available via consumer grade set top boxes with local disk storage.

Lip sync module (IQSAM00) – live video/audio timing measurement to quickly detect and correct when audio is out of sync with the action on screen, delivering continuous assurance that channel timing is correct.

ETR290 ASI priority monitoring is also available for both ATSC and DVB compliant transport streams via comprehensive native and HTML5 user interfaces available for Windows desktop and mobile platforms.

A new intelligent content monitoring module (IQHIP10) – provides in depth signal analysis of the media stream to the network monitoring system, allowing more subtle video, audio and metadata errors to be captured.

Mediaproxy’s new ATSC and DVB transport steam analyser, TSAnalyzer, features a versatile toolset for analysing a wide range of transport stream types and formats. Beyond forensics on file-based and live network stream sources, TSAnalyzer allows for connection to any LogServer ASI or IP. Once connected, extensive features for section bit rates, EIT, ETR290 as well as Closed Caption and multiple DVB Subtitles and Teletext sources is made available via the user interface.

New cost-effective quad split monitor (IQQSM00) – provides a local monitoring solution for up to four signals. Providing a single HDMI output allows integration with modern flat panel displays used almost exclusively in local monitoring applications, with a second SDI output for remote monitoring applications or server storage if required.

Monitoring by exception (RollMap) – Integrating information from all parts of the system, including the modules above, allows RollMap to display an operator friendly ‘exception-based’ view of the system so that any error alerts become instantly available. This allows rapid diagnosis and decision making, along with an in-depth history report for event tracking.

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Next Generation of LogServer from Mediaproxy

New C&M application look and feel – The suite of RollX control and monitoring applications continues to be improved and enhanced with a choice of light or dark themes, docking panes, a more intuitive menu structure, and revised icons.

Visit www.snellgroup.com.

The latest version of Mediaproxy’s hybrid multi-viewer now supports live proxy streams generated by LogServer ASI as well as native MPEG decode in the same layout. Unlimited layout configurations allow for live monitoring of multiple Closed Captions, DVB Subtitle and Teletext streams, multi-channel audio and loudness.

LogPlayer Mobile is a native iOS 7 application for Apple iPad devices.

Unlike HTML5-based applications, which provide access to media via the built-in web browser on mobile devices, LogPlayer Mobile offers a familiar user interface and high-performance App to access recorded media and live streams.

Visit www.mediaproxy.com

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Be an integral part of Australia’s most dynamic and capable outside broadcast (OB) facilities provider delivering thousands of hours of live television annually for Australian and International Broadcasters

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OTT, Second and Multi-Screens at BroadcastAsia2014 SOCIAL MEDIA, OTT and multi-platform screening are some of the key trends to watch in 2014. The application of these technologies will be intertwined throughout the BroadcastAsia2014 exhibition and conferences from 17 to 20 June at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Visitors will not only get to experience the convergence of technologies, they will also get to unlock new business pathways with access to networking with major global industry players.

Assist in the growth and continued success by ensuring the condition and quality of our equipment, systems and deliverables is maintained to industry leading standards.

The successful candidate will be:  Proactive, enthusiastic, attentive and adaptive  The role requires the candidate’s thought processes and modus operandi to be:  Organised, methodical, logical, analytical, systematic, exacting, diligent, observant and conscientious The successful candidate will have:

They will be able to observe how broadcasters, pay-TV operators and online video and content service providers are working together to connect the audience through the latest technologies. Technologies such as 4K/UHD, OTT, multi-screen and multi-platform streaming enhance the viewer experience in ways not possible before.

 Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Exhibitors who have confirmed their participation and will be showcasing the latest technologies in DVB-T2, File-based Management Systems, MultiPlatform Streaming and Nextgen Broadcasting include Coship, Dalet, Dayang, DB Broadcast, Elber, Envivio, EVS, Gospell, Imagine Communications and GatesAir, NEC, Orad, Pace, Pilat Media, Playbox, Quantel, Ross Video, Screen Systems, Skyworth, Telestream, Thomson Networks, Toshiba, VIZRT, Wasp3D and Wohler.

Process design, implementation and delivery

BroadcastAsia2014 International Conference will delve deep into OTT as well as the role of social media in the future of TV, whilst the Creative Content Production Conference 2014 will focus on content creation and distribution, and the technical aspects of 4K. An insightful series of conference tracks will cover the latest disruptive technologies that enable companies to increase eyeballs, with specialised tracks on Asian audiences and strategies for success in Asia. Experts from EVS, Media Prima Digital, MediaCorp, Nielsen and Sony will present case studies and share their thought-provoking ideas at the conferences.

Visit www.Broadcast-Asia.com.

Advertiser Index Co./Last Name......................Page AJA...................................................... 3 Amber Technology................17, 25 Avid Technology Pty Ltd.............31 Blackmagic Design......................... 5 Grass Valley APAC.........................11

IRT Electronics Pty Ltd.................41 Jands Pty Ltd..................................13 Lumina Broadcast Systems........43 Magna Systems & Engineering ..........................................................IFC Quinto Communications Pty Ltd ............................................................. 9 Riedel Communications GmbH

 Honed and demonstrable organisational skills  Minimum 5 years’ experience in roles involving:  Maintenance and repair procedure Quality control systems and management Broadcast systems and equipment operation Project management The successful candidate will also have the following skills and experience:  Highly computer and software literate  Stock control and procurement  Budgeting and cost control  Team building and mentorship  Ability to educate, train, instruct and engage others in tasks and processes  Technical documentation, computer aided design & technical drawing  Strong analytical skills, knowledge of reliability engineering RCM / RCA Email curriculum vitae and introductory letter to: humanresources@gearhousebroadcast.com.au

& Co. KG...........................................19 Rohde & Schwarz Pty Ltd...........29 Ross Video Asia.............................15 Sennheiser Australia Pty Ltd.......... ............................................... 7, 23, 37 Studiotech Australia...................... 4 Techtel Pty Ltd................................. 6 Lawo.................................................21

Broadcast Asia............................. IBC Imagine........................................ OBC Sony..................................................14 Sportscasting.................................18 SBC....................................................33 ABE ...................................................34 On Air.........................................10,39 Ob Group.........................................45

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Support and maintain our comprehensive and cutting edge portfolio of broadcast technology, systems, equipment and mobile production facilities.

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TIME shifter Sound Comes to Hollywood Metropolitan Studios (now Hollywood Center Studios) has a rich and colourful history that mirrors the development of Hollywood and the growth of the entertainment industry. The studio has played host to some of the most notable productions of the past century, including such iconic television shows as I Love Lucy, The Addams Family, Jeopardy, Rockford Files and Mad TV, and classic film productions such as When Harry Met Sally and The Player.

AL AND CHARLES CHRISTIE, owners of Metropolitan Studios, were among the early converts to the idea of movie sound and quickly had two of their stages outfitted with Vitaphone equipment, the same system Warner Bros. used to produce The Jazz Singer.

The 1927 Warner Bros. film The Jazz Singer is widely credited with ushering in the era of movie sound. Although not the first Hollywood picture to feature sound — that honour goes to Don Juan, released a year earlier — it was the first to include synchronised dialogue and its enormous success touched off a mad dash among movie studios and production companies to jump on the talkie bandwagon.

The first sound feature produced at Metropolitan was Black Waters, a now lost 1929 crime drama based on a Broadway play. Starring James Kirkwood and Mary Brian (who was known as “the sweetest girl in pictures”), the film was also the first “all talkie” produced by a British company; British and Dominions Film Corporation brought the production to Hollywood because no suitable sound equipment could be found in England. The film was directed by Marshall Nielan, who also wrote the story for a much more famous talkie shot on the Metropolitan lot, the Howard Hughes epic Hell’s Angels.

In the Vitaphone system, sound was recorded to 33 1/3 rpm discs and played back on a turntable synchronised to a film projector. The shortcomings of the system were famously satirised in the 1952 MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain. They were also the reason that Vitaphone lost out in a format war with Movietone, a system where sound was recorded on film. Within a few years, Vitaphone was no longer used for movies.

Sound, of course, remained, as did the studio’s two sound stages.

Now known as Stage 1 and Stage 2 at Hollywood Center Studios, they continue to be used virtually every day by television, commercial and film productions.

Visit www.HollywoodCenter.com

Talkies Down Under ACCORDING TO THE OXFORD COMPANION to Australian Film, sound shorts synchronised with cylinder or disc were screened in Australia during the “silent era” with the early 1920s seeing Ray Allsop, Ronald Davis and George Malcolm experimenting with the medium.

In 1927, the Australian subsidiary of U.S. company De Forest Phonofilms shot “sound-on-film” coverage of the opening of the first Federal Parliament sitting in Australia’s new capital city, Canberra. Company founder, Dr Lee de Forest, had “perfected an amplification process that enabled a mass audience to experience sound-on-film, a system first developed in the United Kingdom in 1906 by Eugene Lauste.”

Following the Australian exhibition releases of The Jazz Singer and The Red Dance, local technicians scrambled to develop affordable systems that could compete with the more expensive overseas technology.

Early Australian talkies released in the late 1920s/early 1930s included: Fellers; The Windjammer; Southward Ho! With Mawson; Spur of the Moment; Isle Of Intrigue; A Co-Respondents Course; Diggers; Siege Of The South; The Haunted Barn; and The Cheaters.

The latter film was produced by pioneering women film makers, the McDonagh sisters – Isabel, Paulette and Phyllis. Unable to find a distributor for the silent version of The Cheaters at a time when American sound films were flooding the Australian market, the McDonaghs, along with family friend (and financier) Neville Macken, converted the film first to a part-talkie with three synchronised sequences using a system developed by Sid Guest at Vocalion Records in Melbourne. The system used a synchroniser invented by Guest to link a movie camera with an imported 33rpm disc recorder.

The Cheaters was then reworked as a “full-talkie” using the Standardtone sound-on-film system, invented by Jack Fletcher, to re-shoot the close-ups and dub the wide shots.

TIME SHIFTER

According to The Oxford Companion to Australian Film, “from 1930, sound-on-film archived dominance over sound-on-disc.

The first all-talking features to be released – A.R. Harwood’s Isle Of Intrigue and Spur Of The Moment (1931) – both used a locally developed sound-on-film system. For the next 20 years, optical sound recording remained the standard around the world”.

“Aren’t you a bit overdressed for a DJ?” In the Vitaphone system, sound was recorded to 33 1/3 rpm discs and played back on a turntable synchronised to a film projector.

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