TV Tech - 0470 - February 2022

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editor's note

ATSC 3.0 at CES: A Good Start Although its focus continues to move away from the traditional consumer electronic devices such as TVs (and rightly so), the annual CES Show does provide the industry’s most comprehensive launchpad for new consumer video technology. In recent years, it’s also served as a touchstone on the progress made in deploying ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV).

At this year’s CES, with the pandemic continuing to overshadow industry events—resulting in a much lower number of exhibitors and attendees—we did see some legitimate progress. We first saw actual TV sets with support for NextGen TV at the 2020 CES, with new products from LG, Samsung and Sony—companies that had already invested in development of the standard. This year, those companies were joined by Hisense, who, with its ownership of Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi, among others, is the largest Chinese manufacturer of TV sets.There were also a few consumer devices, such as Tablo’s new NextGen TV box that will arrive on store shelves this spring.

But along with touting the recent surge in deployments throughout the U.S., ATSC advocates at the show were quick to remind us that the future of the standard lies not so much on the consumer side as in enterprise applications. Indeed, as research firm BIA noted in its November 2021 report, the bulk of the estimated $10B in revenues generated from ATSC 3.0 by 2030 will come from datacasting.

“Broadcaster expansion into adjacent data distribution markets [with datacasting services will] drive significant incremental non-core revenue and valuation growth,” said Rick Ducey, managing director of BIA Advisory Services. The 2030 $10.7 billion estimate is BIA’s “middle case” scenario of 20% of total spectrum capacity being used for datacasting.

And part of that datacasting scenario involves emergency alerting, a service to which ATSC 3.0 is well up to the task. According to a recent survey conducted by the NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance, what consumers want most is the granular, hyperlocal information that NextGen TV can provide.

To make these predictions a reality though, it’s imperative to get chips into the devices, whether it’s a smart phone, TV or car. That’s why the announcement that MediaTek, one of the world’s largest chipmakers, will begin developing a total solution that includes ATSC 3.0 demodulator (MT9100), a comprehensive Smart TV system on chip (SoC) family that ranges from entry 4K to premium 8K, and a ready-to-go software stack for both Android and Linux, so important.

Broadcasters marked CES this year with the news that nearly half the U.S. population is now within reach of a NextGen TV signal At CES, Tablo launched its and that number could reach 75% by the end of this summer. first NextGen TV device.

What we saw at CES interms of new consumer products was a The QUAD HDMI OTA DVR features four hybrid Tablo good start, but it’s just that, a start.

ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI tuners, Tom Butts offering OTA viewers the Content Director ability to receive both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0. tom.butts@futurenet.com

NEW WITH THIS ISSUE, we welcome a new lighting columnist to the TV Tech team! Say hello to Bruce Aleksander, a veteran of nearly 40 years in lighting technology. Bruce has worked for ABC and Belo and is now a consultant with his company “Bruce Lights!” Got an idea for a future lighting column?

Drop Bruce a line at TVLightingguy@hotmail.com.

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Vol. 40 No. 02 | February 2022 FOLLOW US

www.tvtech.com twitter.com/tvtechnology CONTENT Content Director Tom Butts, tom.butts@futurenet.com Content Manager Terry Scutt, terry.scutt@futurenet.com Senior Content Producer George Winslow, george.winslow@futurenet.com Contributors Gary Arlen, Susan Ashworth, James Careless, Steve Harvey, Kevin Hilton, Craig Johnston, Bob Kovacs and Mark R. Smith Production Manager Heather Tatrow Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban Senior Design Director Cliff Newman ADVERTISING SALES Vice President, Sales, B2B Tech Group Adam Goldstein, adam.goldstein@futurenet.com SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to www.tvtechnology.com and click on About Us, email futureplc@computerfulfillment.com, call 888-266-5828, or write P.O. Box 8692, Lowell, MA 01853.

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in the news Comcast Delivers Symmetrical 4 Gbps Speeds in New 10G Test

Broadcasters Foundation to Honor Howell, Visser NEW YORK—The Broadcasters Foundation of America has announced that Hilton H. Howell, Jr., chairman of the board and CEO of Gray Television and Atlantic American Corp. will receive the 2022 Golden Mike Award at a black-tie gala, March 14, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

The event marks the return of the Foundation’s biggest fundraiser, which did not take place in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Howell is a highly respected broadcaster with over 25 years of experience in broadcasting. In addition to serving on the Broadcasters Foundation’s Board of Directors, he is a former member of the board of directors for the National Association of Broadcasters, the Advisory Council of the Center for Leadership and Ethics for the University of Texas at Austin, and the Advisory Board of Curant Health Care. He is also a member of YPO/ WPO, the premier leadership organization of chief executives in the world, and a former member on the NBC Affiliate Board.

At the same event, BFoA will award Lesley Visser the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. Visser is the only sportscaster—male or female—to have worked on the network broadcasts of the Final Four, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Triple Crown, Olympics, US Open and World Figure Skating Championship.

BFoA Chairman Scott Herman said Visser has “an extraordinary number of ‘firsts’ in her accomplished and impressive career. We’re very proud to recognize her many accomplishments, not only as a pioneering female sportscaster, but as a prominent leader in sports broadcasting, overall.”

BFoA is the only charity devoted exclusively to providing financial assistance to colleagues in broadcasting who are in dire need. Even with the loss of major fundraising events during COVID, more than $1.8 million in monthly and one-time emergency grants was awarded in 2021, the organization said.

PHILADELPHIA—In a notable milestone in the race for faster consumer broadband services, Comcast says it has successfully tested a prototype 10G modem using the core technology that will deliver multigigabit speeds to tens of millions of homes.

The laboratory test, which Comcast said is a “world-first,” used a Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 system-on-chip (SoC) cable modem built by Broadcom to deliver upload and download speeds faster than 4 gigabits per second (Gbps) powered by 10G network technology.

The cable industry says its 10G initiative will "transform" the way entertainment, data and services are delivered into the home with broadband and network speeds exponentially faster than those currently available in most markets.

Media Monitors: P&G, Geico Biggest TV Advertisers in 2021 WHITE PLAINS, N.Y— Based on an analysis of the top 100 advertisers, Media Monitors is reporting that Procter & Gamble was the top parent company advertiser in the U.S. for the second year in a row. P&G kept the top spot by airing more than 26 million spots on radio, local cable and broadcast TV in 2021.

For the second year, P&G also increased its year-over-year instances, with 26,398,691 spots aired or 14% more instances than it did in 2020, when it aired 23,154,642, a 22% bounce from the spots aired in 2019.

In terms of individual advertising accounts, GEICO is once again the number one advertising account, airing a total of 5,945,084 instances across radio, local cable and broadcast TV. GEICO was the top advertiser on broadcast TV, but it ranked second on local cable and fourth on radio.

z George Winslow

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“The great strength of our smart network design is that we are able to exceed our customers’ demands today, even as we continuously evolve to meet the needs of the future,” said Charlie Herrin, president of technology, product, experience at Comcast Cable. “As our 10G journey continues to accelerate, customers will reap the benefits of ever-increasing security, reliability, and speed.”

10G technology builds on the work Comcast has done over the past several years to build a smarter, more virtualized network, Comcast said. In addition to providing a path to multigigabit upload and download speeds at scale, 10G updates will deliver near-term benefits to customers in the form of increased reliability, performance, and lower latency.

As part of that effort, Comcast announced in October 2021 a successful test of a complete 10G connection using a virtualized cable modem termination system (vCMTS) powered by DOCSIS 4.0 technology. z George Winslow

“Procter & Gamble has made advertising leadership a part of its core strategy for growth,” explained Media Monitors’ president and CEO Philippe Generali.

“With some of the world’s most trusted household brands like Tide, Gillette and Crest, it recognizes the value of reaching out to consumers during challenging times such as the current pandemic. The brand has continued to increase its reach and use advertising to boost sales.”

In terms of broadcast TV, P&G was also the top parent advertiser with 8,756,252 spots, airing nearly four times as many spots as number two Johnson & Johnson. Together, the two firms aired almost as many spots (a total of 11,024,353) as the eight other parent companies in the top 10 combined (a total of 12,050,439).

Broadcast TV, also reflected a trend for self-care. In addition to Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal USA, Inc. (at #6), and Unilever PLC (7) led the top 10. z George Winslow

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in the news SMPTE Partners With USC’s Entertainment Technology Center on Virtual Production Solution WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.— SMPTE has inked a deal with the Entertainment Technology Center, a department within the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California (ETC), an entertainment technology think tank and research center, to collaborate on a SMPTE solution for on-set virtual production (OSVP)—the first in the Society's planned series of Rapid Industry Solutions (RIS) intended to address quickly evolving technologies and their application across the media

NFL Regular Season Ratings Up 10%

z George Winslow

February 2022 | www.tvtech.com |

z George Winslow

OPINION

NEW YORK—Ratings for the 2021 NFL regular season highlighted once again just how important live sports are to broadcasters. In a period of generally declining audiences, the NFL regular season games averaged 17.1 million viewers on TV and digital, up 10% from the 2020 regular season and the highest average since 2015.

The games also accounted for 48 of the top 50 TV shows during the 2021 regular season, NFL Media reported, with 370 billion total minutes consumed during the 2021 regular season, the second highest ever and up 18% over 2020.

NFL games also accounted for all of the top 16 rated TV shows and 91 of the top 100.

One factor helping boost viewing was a record number of close games. During the 2021 NFL regular season, there were 34 games decided by a game-winning score on the final play – the most in a single season all-time – while 49 games were decided by a game-winning score in the final minute of regulation or overtime – tied for the most in a single season all-time, the NFL reported.

Additionally, 175 games—64% of all games—were within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter—tied for the fourth-most all-time.”

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and entertainment industry.

SMPTE says it designed the RIS program to begin delivering results within a year. In the SMPTE/ETC partnership, ETC will serve as the lead researcher in the RIS OSVP Advisory Group and will partner with SMPTE in reviewing and prioritizing the technology goals. The partnership gives the RIS initiative access to ETC's research and testing infrastructure, with technology investigations

running the gamut of ETC's capabilities, including such things as proofs of concept, early prototyping, demonstrations, and lab testing.

Both SMPTE and ETC will continue to initiate and directly resource their own internal member-driven projects. Meanwhile, SMPTE says it may allocate funds to support ETC subject matter experts and resources to tackle specific problems, while ETC may contribute resources to support joint projects where the goals and objectives of ETC membership and the RIS initiative are closely aligned.”

Growing Into Change

T

million in 2024 and 27.5 million he good news coming in 2025. It’s safe to assume that out of CES for the along the way more manufacturtelevision industry ers will add NextGen TV models, is NextGen TV shipas Hisense did at CES. ments in the U.S. blew away the As a percent of all DTV estimate for 2021: 3 million vs. shipments, NextGen TVs will the projected 800,000. grow from 2% in 2022 to 19% With LG Electronics, Samsung in 2024, which the association and Sony (and now Hisense) sees as the inflection point for offering NextGen TV support on NextGen TV, and 31% in 2025, high-end sets in the case of the Phil Kurz when it predicts maturation will former two and across the board be reached. All of this is projected to happen in the latter and a robust market for televisions while the total number of sets shipped in the in 2020 and 2021, the higher-than-forecasted U.S. is forecasted to decline and return to performance may be a bit surprising but also pre-pandemic levels. understandable.

For broadcasters around the country who The COVID-19 pandemic motivated U.S. have voluntarily chosen to endure the shorthouseholds to replace existing TVs with new term pain of hammering out channel-sharing models or add another TV as families tended agreements and the expenses involved in to stay in rather than seek entertainment lighting up a host ATSC 3.0 station in markets, outside of the home. According to a five-year this is good news. estimate from CTA released at CES, U.S. TV The challenge they face will not be waiting shipments exceeded 49 million units in 2020 around for viewers to buy sets to receive and 46 million in 2021—banner years for the their new TV service. The true challenge will industry. be educating viewers about the benefits of The interesting thing is that even as TV NextGen TV and giving them a reason to use shipments in the U.S. are expected to decline those features, thereby engaging more closely over the next four years—from 40 million with broadcasters and opening up new revenue units this year to 37 million in 2025—the opportunities. It simply won’t be good enough number and percentage of sets shipping with for NextGen TV to come along for the ride in the NextGen TV feature will see impressive the feature package of the TVs consumers buy. gains.

Viewers must know how they can derive a The forecast projects the number of sets better TV viewing experience from NextGen with NextGen TV to climb from 4.5 million TV and be motivated to do so. l this year to nearly 7.9 million the next, 15.75

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tv tech the best of 2021 TV Tech is delighted to announce the winners of the Best of 2021 Awards, recognizing the outstanding broadcast products and solutions from the last 15 months.

“These awards showcase the innovation coming out of R&D teams across the industry, and once again the entries have been of the highest standard,” said Future B2B group content director, James McKeown.

“Congratulations to the winners, but also a huge doff of the cap to all those who have entered this year’s program!”

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CES 2022

ces 2022

Attendance at the 2022 CES was approximately 40,000 according to CTA

CES: NextGen TV Gains Traction Advocates tout new consumer products, TV sales and opportunities beyond traditional TV

By Gary Arlen

LAS VEGAS—For NextGen TV promoters at the International CES2022 last month, their hopeful and visionary messages befit the event’s circumstances: lots of enthusiasm and promise amid a hybrid and sometimes surreal (virtual and otherwise) background.

The ATSC 3.0 presence included a roster of new products (including new receivers, see sidebar, p. 12 ), expectations for expanded automotive data services plus encouraging words that NextGen TV is a “money-making machine” (in the words of Gaian Solutions CEO Chandra Kotaru).

NOT YOUR FATHER’S CES Although NextGen TV was front and center—literally—in the central Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the overall focus of CES has moved beyond home devices and into a broader range of business technology, especially health/wellness and automotive services.

The COVID-affected event (with attendance of approximately 40,000, barely

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one-quarter the size of the 2020 show) offered major changes in familiar venues with a lot fewer exhibitors.

For example, on “Media Day” just before the official CES opening, major exhibitors traditionally mount a one-hour extravaganza to introduce their new products to throngs of journalists. Pertinently, the big electronics makers who have already announced NextGen TV products (LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony) barely referenced their video devices in their prerecorded announcements this year, with a scant word about NextGen TV. Only Hisense, the Chinese TV set maker, which is now among the top five U.S. TV brands, spent a considerable portion of its Media Day pitch describing its new NextGen TV devices.

Similarly, the CES conference sessions about ATSC 3.0 provided an erratic range of enlightenment plus tutorials—affected in part because the live sessions (which were streamed in real time from Las Vegas) were missing speakers who opted to skip the trip.

Thus the overall impression of ATSC at CES was a familiar blend of encouraging promises and substantial factual tidbits about a work in progress.

twitter.com/tvtechnology

‘AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY’ To summarize the industry’s major developments and outlook, the Advanced TV Standards Committee organized “CES 2022: A Look Ahead from ATSC.” The webcast featured remarks from Chandra Kotaru, founder and CEO of Gaian Solutions; Mark Aitken, senior vice president of technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group and president of ONE Media 3.0, LLC; and Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV broadcaster business organization.

Aitken focused on home-based network gateways that can receive both 3.0 and 1.0 signals.

“We’re seeing those products coming to market,” Aitken said. “It’s not just about bigscreen TV.” He cited the integration of 5G wireless technology with ATSC 3.0 services.

“All of these are coming together and providing opportunities for consumers to have new experiences, not just great pictures,” Aitken stressed, with a focus on availability “across all platforms and weaving them together in new ways.” He predicted that in 2022, the speed of adding stations and introducing new vertical service categories will accelerate.

On the video side, Aitken characterized the expansion of diginets as “an exciting opportunity” for broadcasters, emphasizing the “excess of 3.0 capacity for data service” and focused on the growing interest in vehicle connectivity.

“There’s a huge drive by automotive and others who are reaching out to us,” he said, noting that they “see a role for broadcast.”

Gaian’s Kotaru called NextGen TV a “money making machine,” emphasizing his company’s efforts to “show a marketplace where broadcasters can collaborate” to form alliances and work together.

Schelle, in addition to citing the sales figures and forecasts that CTA has issued (expecting that more than 4.5 million NextGen TV sets will be sold in 2022), pointed out the local customization that 3.0 enables.

She pointed to the Gray TV station (WCTV) in Tallahassee, Fla., which offers specific applications for communities in Florida and Georgia which its signal reaches.

ATSC said that a precertification lab is nearly ready to go online in Shanghai, intended to help Chinese manufacturers “accelerate their path to earning the NEXTGEN TV logo.”

AUTOMOTIVE, SPORTS BETTING AND INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION Fulfilling its promise to look at the combination of over-the-air and over-the-top integration, the CES session on “NextGen

CES 2022

ces 2022

The ATSC booth in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center

TV - New Opportunities for Broadcast & Broadband” examined the “second generation of digital TV,” as moderator Noland described it.

Nick Colsey, vice president of Business Development at Sony Group Corp., noted that the CTA sales forecast of 4.5 million NextGen TV sets will represent about one-quarter of total U.S. TV sales. Colsey acknowledged that setmakers are using different operating systems (LG uses WebOS, Samsung uses

What’s New in NextGen TV Consumer Products In addition to additional new NextGen TV-supported TVs from LG, Samsung and Sony, Hisense, the large Chinese TV set maker, joined the 3.0 line-up, introducing three models (U7, U8 and U9) of its 4K TV sets with NextGen TV tuners, in sizes ranging from 55-inches to 85-inches. Prices start at $800 with the high-end U9 model (making it among the most affordable NextGen TV sets on the market) targeted for introduction in late summer at about $3,200.

Skyworth, another Chinese TV maker, plans to market one 4K receiver (model UD8500 in 65- and 75-inch versions) with an ATSC 3.0 tuner later this year, although no other details were available.

Nuvvyo introduced its latest Tablo ATSC 3.0 Quad HDMI OTA DVR, which can receive 1.0 and 3.0 signals. Like earlier Tablo models, it includes a 24-hour program guide and manual digital video recorder functionality. The device also supports external USB hard drives. It connects to any OTA antenna.

VBox Communications unveiled its android TV Gateway, a hybrid live TV and datacasting receiver. It runs certified Android TV OS and supports the ATSC 3.0 broadcast format, including free over-the-air signals as well as streaming OTT content, an electronic services guide and broadcast apps. The VBox Gateway connects to live ATSC 1.0

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Tizen, Sony and newcomer Hisense use Android) but that they all use the HTML5 layer, which is “agnostic.”

“This makes it a lot easier for developers,” he added. Noland pointed out that developing content for NextGen TV is “exactly like the Web.” “Everyone who knows how to make web pages will know how to make broadcast apps,” she said, noting that the growing kit of design tools includes readymade tools for developers.

Colsey also picked up ATSC’s frequent refrain about the importance of the automotive category. “Cars of the future are going to need very big data updates to handle all of the functionality within the car,” he said “That software update has to come from somewhere… IP multicast delivery of those software updates is much more efficient than hogging up the 5G bandwidth.”

He predicted that “efficient delivery of those updates plus the entertainment services” will make it attractive for car makers to invest in receivers.

Colsey’s enthusiasm was based on Sony’s participation in the Pearl TV Motown Test Track project, which involved Sony Electronics’ CXD2885 (“Clover”) chip. The test showed the successful transmission of A/V media files to devices traveling at highway speeds while connectivity transitioned smoothly between transmitters aimed at moving vehicles.

and ATSC 3.0 broadcast feeds (via HDMI connections) and recasts video content (up to 4K resolution) to multiple connected devices.

Gaian Solutions Hisense joined LG, showed customizable Samsung and Sony in and skinnable receivlaunching TV sets that ers available for the support NextGen TV. immediate launch of NextGenTV services for diverse use cases. The company says its platform offers more than a dozen receiver apps.

MediaTek introduced an ATSC 3.0 turnkey solution. Its Software on a Chip includes a demodulator and comprehensive Smart TV SoC family that ranges from Entry 4K to Premium 8K, plus a software stack for both Android and Linux.

ATSC’s Noland said that, “six or seven manufacturers are working on STBs, some of which are nearly done with development.”

Although she did not identify the prospective makers (beyond the ones exhibiting at CES) Noland added that a few others want to “white label” their boxes and partner with a consumer electronics company that has a distribution channel. Gary Arlen

ces 2022 Colsey said he expects broadcasters will work with OEMs to explore “a lot of opportunities for revenue” by producing overlay experiences. He also cited the growing category of sports betting. “If you could place a bet on a live TV game from the comfort of your remote control, there is a huge business opportunity there,” Colsey said. “We’re very open to those kinds of opportunities.”

Noland also pushed the value of NextGen TV in the education market, since it is “infinitely scalable” with no deployment problems because of widespread availability of TV signals.

As for expanding ATSC beyond the U.S. and its current presence in South Korea and the recent Jamaican alliance, Noland noted that there’s also interest in India.

“Every country brings a new technical challenge and a new interest… such as pedestrian speeds on handheld device,” She pointed out that TV penetration is very low throughout India, while smartphones are almost ubiquitous. Hence, she said, “India is pushing direct-to-mobile” opportunities and its motivating use case will be “to offload video traffic from cellular networks

“Everyone who knows how to make web pages will know how to make broadcast apps.”

MADELEINE NOLAND, ATSC

to broadcast.”

Noland also explained that the NAB was working on 3.0 technical developments at its NAB Labs, including “scalable video” projects featuring UHD/4K enhancement via the internet.

CHALLENGES TO ACTUAL PROGRESS Not everyone was impressed with the NextGen TV promises and visions that flowed from CES. John Abel, a former NAB top executive and currently head of Team Lightbulb consulting practice, cited several reasons for his skepticism of the oft-repeated ATSC 3.0 verbiage.

“It is always the same panelists saying

essentially the same things… promoting what is happening or what could happen with ATSC 3.0,” Abel told TV Tech. He noted that “many of the panelists have a financial interest in the success” or are “paid to promote the standard,” and added that the credibility of their descriptions of “future potential” supplants “actual demonstrations or applications.”

Abel also pointed out “networks are mainly silent on ATSC 3.0, and I don’t recall ever seeing a network rep speaking on one of these panels.” He also noted that, “There are no real-world examples of how stations are using 3.0 to their advantage.”

“As a former advocate of over-the-air reception, I am surprised that no broadcasters are beating their chests about perfecting or improving OTA,” Abel continued, asking rhetorically, “Why not? I’m sure the answer has to do with retransmission consent revenues.”

Putting the NextGen TV process in perspective, Abel summarized, “ATSC 3.0 is not moving at internet speed. When technologies do not move at internet speed, they rarely become real in today’s world.” l

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franken fm

Next-Generation ‘Franken FMs’ on the Rise ATSC 3.0 enables hybrid digital/analog operations analog fashion was covered by the ATSC A/322 standard, with its 3.0 signal “pulled in” to occupy 5.509 MHz of its 6-MHz berth and the rest given over to an FM carrier.

By James E. O’Neal Part 1 of 2

WASHINGTON—It’s been more than a decade since the first so-called “Franken FM” radio stations took to the air—stations licensed as Ch. 6 TV operations, but using their 87.75 MHz audio carrier to create a standalone FM broadcast service receivable by most FM radios.

Frankens have long been a thorn in the side of legitimate FM operators, and during their existence, the FCC has heard plenty about them. However, as the commission has been pre-occupied with more pressing matters such as spectrum auctions and repacks, little, if any action has been directed at these “mongrel” FMs, with regulators perhaps hoping that they would vanish last year when all LPTVs were forced to either “go digital or go dark.”

However, just like the Hydra in Greek mythology, cutting off the head proved not to be the answer in eradicating the beast—others soon grew back, or in the case of Franken FMs, some creative RF engineering work allowed LPTV Ch. 6 licensees to retain analog audio services despite their move to digital broadcasting.

The first of the “next-generation” Franken stations—KBKF-LD, a Venture Technologies property in San Jose, Calif.— took to the air in the spring of 2021, with an FCC-issued STA to operate an ATSC 3.0 TV channel with a “tagalong” FM carrier. In applying for the STA, the station opined that such hybrid digital/

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REACTION TO ‘NEXT-GEN’ FRANKENS’ Currently, there are at least half-dozen of these “second-generation” Frankens, and given the FCC’s apparent willingness to grant STAs coupled with the number of Ch. 6 TV authorizations, others may soon appear.

As such hybridized use of a U.S. DTV channel was not on the table when the NextGen TV standard was being drafted, the arrival of this new wave of Frankens has raised some eyebrows—and questions, just as when the first of the quasi-legal 87.75 FMs popped up back in analog Ch. 6 days.

Several individuals who have been closely involved with the ATSC 3.0 standard were polled for their opinions on this new wave.

“During development of ATSC 3.0, a number of use cases were discussed; many were documented. I can’t recall this being one of them.”

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MADELEINE NOLAND, ATSC

“During development of ATSC 3.0, a number of use cases were discussed; many were documented,” said ATSC President, Madeine Noland. “I can’t recall this being one of them.

ATSC 3.0 was designed to be flexible and to accommodate a wide variety of use cases and business plans. Beyond that, we cannot say whether this use case falls within the intent of ATSC 3.0, as authorized by the FCC for the U.S.” Richard Chernock, a long-time contributor to the ATSC 3.0 initiative stated that “the assumption going forward in the design of ATSC in the U.S. was to establish a full 6 MHz channel. Anything less would reduce 3.0’s capabilities. In my opinion, to use 3.0 for the Franken FMs is to actually lower spectral efficiency.”

However, Chernock added “using ATSC 3.0 technology to carry radio audio is a lot more efficient than to use FM. You could go into any big city with a lot of FMs and you could put them all into one 3.0 channel.”

Chernock said that he would have to do the math to get a precise figure of the number of discrete audio program streams that could be digitally transmitted within an ATSC 3.0 6-MHz channel, but he speculated that it could easily approach 1,000 given the efficiency of today’s codecs.

S. Merrill Weiss, who has been deeply involved in both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 standards work, feels that the jury is still out regarding hybrid DTV/FM transmissions.

“After reviewing all the publicly available technical material that I could obtain on the proposal to combine ATSC digital signals with FM analog signals in a single Ch. 6 emission, I found a dearth of information on either practical operating parameters and systems, or testing of equipment beyond very rudimentary prototypes,” said Weiss.

He expressed several concerns, one of them being the possible impact on 3.0 reception associated with the necessary “squeezing in” of DTV transmission bandwidth to accommodate an FM carrier. “The center frequency of the digital signal would be about 160 kHz below the channel center, and it is not known to me whether consumer receivers being sold can be pulled that far,” said Weiss. “The system may work and be useful, but the information is not available yet to prove it. Once this is released, a judgement on the practicality and utility of such a system may become possible.”

Mark Aitken, ATSC 3.0 “evangelist” and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s senior vice president of advanced technology, remarked that he was not surprised at all about the “second coming” of Franken FMs after last July’s mandatory shutoff of remaining analog LPTVs. “Actually, I think I played a role in get-

ting them in business with 3.0,” said Aitken, explaining that his own involvement into “stretching” a TV channel’s utility “came about quite some time ago” when he was asked if it were possible to accommodate multiple services within a single television channel’s spectrum allocation.

“The question posed to me several years ago was ‘if I had 6 MHz of spectrum and wanted to offer a narrowband 5G service, could I do that in conjunction with ATSC 3.0?’” reflected Aitken. “I thought about it and said ‘yeah.’ I demonstrated it later. This was with a narrowband Internet of Things service. I showed that we could carry two separate RF services within a single channel. I probably should have taken out a patent!”

PUTTING SPECTRUM TO ‘GOOD USE?’ Asked whether he thought a Franken FM was a legitimate application of the ATSC 3.0 or a misuse, Aitken took a neutral stance.

“I’m not going to argue against folks who want to use technology to their advantage,” he said. “The large number of Franken FMs that existed are from people who are not in the TV business. With the limitations of FM

spectrum, they are making use of the FCC rules and channel segmentation philosophy. They’re putting it to good use.”

He explained that by its very nature, ATSC 3.0 is designed to be extremely flexible and extensible. “Numerically—and this is not understood by most folks with regard to ATSC 3.0—you can get to any number of bandwidths,” said Aitken.

-40.000

This is the reason that the [3.0] bootstrap itself is only 4.5 MHz wide. We wanted to make sure that in the future 5 MHz raster spectrum could be used by others by using the 3.0 standard.

This is not ensconced or codified in the standard, as it was feared that the FCC might do an ‘about face’ and reduce [U.S.] TV channel bandwidth to 5 MHz, so this was dropped out of the specification. A channel bandwidth of 8 MHz is, in fact, codified within the ATSC 3.0 standard and is being tried in India.”

As Sinclair owns a number of Ch. 6 TV stations that could potentially become Franken FMs, Aitken—when asked about such a possibility—said that he didn’t see this happening anytime soon, although the possibility of gaining more utility from television broadcast spectrum is always intriguing.

“I would think there’s no current interest [in Franken FMs],” he said. “Sinclair is not really interested in radio, as its core business is video. I don’t want to preclude this possibility in the future, but right now we’re focused on rolling out ATSC 3.0.”l

This spectrum plot depicts the relative positions of digital television and analog FM radio signals within a 6-MHz TV broadcast channel.

Part Two of this article will examine the technology necessary for creating a “next-generation Franken FM.”

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diversity in broadcasting

Opening Up More Opportunities in Broadcasting NAB’s Michelle Duke discusses the organization’s diversity efforts

By Tom Butts

WASHINGTON—In 2020, the NAB announced the appointment of Michelle Duke, president of the NAB Leadership Foundation, as its first Chief Diversity Officer.

In the new position—which is in addition to her work on the Foundation—Duke leads NAB’s internal efforts to further equity and inclusion at all levels of the organization and elevate NAB’s external role as a resource to NAB member companies in their own efforts to increase and promote industry diversity, per the announcement.

TV Tech recently sat down with Duke to discuss NAB’s efforts in providing more opportunities in a more diverse workforce.

You’ve been in your position now for a year and a half, and a very challenging one at that with the continuing issues with the pandemic. What has been your biggest challenge?

Michelle Duke: The fact that we’re not in one another’s presence has been fairly dif-

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ficult but I think that in some ways that has opened up opportunities for us to have some of these conversations online helping broadcasters advance their own diversity strategies and inclusion in particular. Creating an inclusive environment is tied directly to the culture within your organization, whether you’re inside of a particular building or not. And so, the biggest challenge for organizations is, ‘if I really want to do something, where do I start?’

For me, the biggest challenge is trying to determine how to create tools and products and resources that can meet the needs of our diverse membership. Our membership is incredibly diverse in radio and television, small, medium and large markets and networks or affiliates and there are independent owners and corporations and it’s difficult to try and be everything to everyone.

And so over time, I realized that the best thing we can do is be a conduit and serve as a resource and a connector to information and to create tools that can assist broadcasters as they start to build out their Michelle Duke own strategies.

diversity in broadcasting

The best thing we can do is be a conduit and serve as a resource and a connector to information and to create tools that can assist broadcasters as they start to build out their own strategies.

Can you highlight what current campaigns are initiatives that you and your staff are working on right now?

MD: We’ve launched our Diversity Equity and Inclusion resource center that includes consultants and training in resources like websites and papers that stations can use in developing their diversity strategies that fit any budget. Last year, we started a diversity symposium that would have been held at the show in October, but we did it virtually in November. And we plan to do that again in April at the NAB Show.

The symposium is a way for individuals who are either diversity practitioners in our industry and or responsible for leading the diversity charge at their station or their organization to meet and greet and listen to experts provide ideas and solutions on how they can continue to advance their diversity strategy.

We’re also looking at creating a playbook for broadcasters to assist them with their recruitment and retention efforts. When you talk about diversity, it’s so much broader than recruitment and retention. We’re also working with organizations that target diverse college students and individuals with the skills that we need for our industry. We’re targeting those organizations to build relationships and partnerships that will make it easier for broadcast and broadcasters to attract these individuals.

There are a lot of people who don’t really know about these types of careers in technology and engineering opportunities in the field in sales, for example. So when we talk about being a conduit, we’re looking at building relationships with organizations that can give us a platform to educate students about existing opportunities, and then take the next step to assist broadcasters with connecting to those students, so that they can be recruited into our industry.

The concept of offering a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum even before college has gained traction in recent years. Can you comment on the importance of this?

MD: I think it’s incredibly important. I’d love to see our industry create our own STEM-oriented program at the high school level. I decided I wanted to be a journalist in high school, and I’m not suggesting that everyone makes that decision at that particular point in their lives, but if we can expose them to such opportunities earlier in life, that would be great.

Do you have a way of measuring success in your diversity efforts?

MD: Yes, we measure our success in terms of exposure with our Collegiate programs, so ‘how many students are now aware of and have an interest in careers in our industry and how does this translate into them being hired? With our Broadcast Leadership Training program, we measure in terms of promotions in the industry, and level of influence. These are senior level executives, and we’ve had over 65% the last that we counted, promoted one or more times. In terms of people in the highest levels of the industry about at least 12 to 13 of them have been on the NAB Board and over 59 have purchased stations. We look at attendance at our symposiums and internship participation levels, just to be sure that what we’re providing is what the industry needs, and to look for ways where we can improve the impact our programs have on the industry. l

lighting technology

What Does Good Lighting Have in Common With Renaissance Paintings?

Whether a video screen or artist's canvas, the display surface is limited to two dimensions

I

t might surprise signal depth to us, you to know independent of binthat lighting for ocular vision. Chief television has a among these visual lot in common with cues is shading.

Renaissance paint“Shadow is the ing—not necessarily means by which the subject matter, bodies display their but in the limitations form,” Leonardo da of how the work is Vinci said. All shape displayed on a flat is clothed in subtle EXPERTISE surface. We perceive shades of shadow BRUCE the world through and light. The art ALEKSANDER binocular vision. Two term “chiaroscuoverlapping fields of view allow ro” describes the use of light us to perceive depth and shape. and shadow to give shape to But when you photograph an three-dimensional objects. image, you’re using a single lens, Another term we use for this is rather than two eyes. Our sensa“modeling.” tion of depth, called stereopsis, Highlights and shadows define disappears when an image is the shapes of things and are able captured by only a single “eye.” to do so independently of binocIn fact, one method that I use to ular vision. That’s how we create gauge how a shot will look to the the illusion of shape, without the camera is to cover one eye while benefit of actual depth on a flat viewing it. display.

That’s how a camera sees— one-eyed.

LEONARDO DA VINCI Our display technology is Research has suggested that likewise limited because it’s one reason Leonardo da Vinci flat. Whether it’s a video screen was an exceptional innovator or an artist’s canvas, the final in realistic drawing was due to display surface is limited to two the unusual way he saw things. dimensions. In that respect, we It’s thought that his eyes didn’t face the same limitations as quite align, which denied him the Renaissance artist: How to the full use of binocular vision. effectively portray three-dimenBased on his self-portraits, da sions using a two-dimensional Vinci is thought to have had medium. exotropia, which is a type of eye Long before the advent of film misalignment in which one eye or video, artists struggled to turns outward. create images of depth and viRembrandt appears to have brance in a flat medium. Dealing had a similar eye problem, with the two dimensions of their based on his self-portraits. An canvases, they recognized that alternate theory suggests that there were visual “cues” that both artists may have had one

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overly dominant eye, with the same results.

Whatever the case, they would have seen a more monocular view of the world, lacking the stereopsis that provides depth Mona Lisa,

by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF

perception. They would have seen things much as a single camera lens would—flattened, except for shading. Developing an alternate way to render depth was essential for them, as an adaptation to their unique way of seeing the world. Their visual quirks ended up illuminating all realistic painting today.

This defect made them more sensitive to the other visual cues that represent depth, such as shading and perspective. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that one of the great early television lighting directors and educators, Imero Fiorentino, also lacked binocular vision.

Fiorentino lost the use of an eye

lighting technology

Rembrandt van Rijn, SelfPortrait Leaning on a Stone Sill 1639, from the Rosenwald Collection

the cameras to “see.”

Going further, we can create lighting that establishes the appropriate setting and mood. And, of course, render the faces of the actors/participants in pleasing and appropriate ways.

Once again, the fundamental tools of light and shadow build all of that. Whether we call it chiaroscuro or modeling, it describes the same thing. ThreePoint-Lighting is an offshoot with the same goal. It’s the creation of contrasting layers to define shape and impart a sense of depth.

MODELED LIGHTING REVEALS FORM One of the reasons that I’m writing about lighting within an historical context is to open a conversation that goes beyond hardware. Lighting is more than just turning on lights. It’s the creation of plausible spaces out of two-dimensional screens that represent the fleshed-out world in an accident.

What could have been a handicap in a highly visual field forced him to be more acutely aware of how contrast defined shapes in the two-dimensional medium of television. Fiorentino didn’t advertise that he was blind in one eye. Perhaps he assumed that his clients might be less likely to hire a half-blind lighting guy.

In retrospect, he could have boasted that such “limitations” actually improved on his considerable talent for lighting, as they had helped Leonardo and Rembrandt in their art.

We may not set out to create a masterpiece on the order of da Vinci, but we are trying to create

images that will connect with our audience from their two-dimensional screens. In this effort, the shading techniques of the old masters are there for us to use in the contrasting brushstrokes of light and shadow.

of three dimensions.

With the production changes brought about by the pandemic, we seem to have stumbled into a period where haphazard illumination and ring-lights are deemed “good enough for TV.” It shouldn’t be.

Special guests and regular on-air contributors may be reporting from home, but they’re not in the trenches. Elevating the quality of those shots is an easy reach. And while every location doesn’t have to aspire to the level of great art, we can at least make pleasing images that permit people to tell their tales without the distraction of indiscriminate lighting and confusing shadows.

Toward that end, I hope you’ll join me in future columns as we look at ways to present your shows in a better light. l Bruce Aleksander invites comments from those interested in lighting at TVLightingguy@hotmail.com.

Girl with a Pearl Earring,

by Johannes Vermeer, CC BY-SA 4.0

IF ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE, I WANT BETTER LIGHTING Most of the lighting that we do in studios and on location is designed to create a plausible place that we might find around the corner: Realistic, but enhanced to look good on camera.

Interesting enough to hold the audience, without distracting it. At a minimum, we need to provide enough illumination for

One of the reasons I’m writing about lighting within an historical context is to open a conversation that goes beyond hardware. twitter.com/tvtechnology | www.tvtech.com | February 2022

19

Years of Olympic Games Emerge as a Timeline of Breakthrough Technologies

Haywood Magee/Getty Images

media tech

The first Olympic Games to be telecast over the air into homes were the 1948 London Games, which were transmitted by the BBC within the British Isles.

S

ince the first modern timing result, causing major conOlympic Games in 1896 fusion and conflict. at Athens, Greece, a The first company to take on steady drumbeat of new the Olympics challenge for timing technology has emerged at the accuracy was Heuer (now TAG athletic events—beginning with Heuer), which, in the 1920s, crea quest for more precise timing ated the first stopwatch accurate devices to today’s 4K television to one-hundredth of a second. broadcasting with immersive This device was called the Mikrosound. graph Pocket Chronometer and it In the beginning, new Olymbecame the stopwatch of choice EXPERTISE pics technology was all about for timekeepers at the 1920, Frank Beacham athlete timing. That first year, 1924 and 1928 Olympics. This 1896, the big technology launch was lasted until electronic timekeeping the newly invented stopwatch. It was sorely replaced mechanical timers in the 1960s. needed to record the times of the winners.

The crude early stopwatches only timed to FILM TECH BEGINS 0.2 of a second, though, and it would take At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, early years to improve their accuracy. During those film technology came into play. It was used early games, every stopwatch had a different to analyze the movement performance of the

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athletes. Étienne-Jules Marey employed a new technique called “chronophotography,” a process that captured movement over several film frames, which could be subsequently arranged like an animation.

In 1924, radio broadcasting began at the Paris Olympics. At the time, however, the lack of an international broadcasting standard meant the audience was limited mainly to radio receivers in France. Also, organizers feared that radio might have a negative impact on the sale of entry tickets, so radio’s beginnings were hindered.

Those fears, of course, were unfounded.

Radio broadcasting of the Games developed rapidly. The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin were covered in 28 languages in 2,500 broadcasts. By 1948, the radio coverage of the Olympic Games spanned the globe.

The first Olympic Games to be televised

media tech were the Berlin Olympics in 1936. The closed circuit telecast of events was shown on screens around Berlin, where more than 162,000 people viewed the events captured with three television cameras. This was also the first competition to use telex transmissions of results, and zeppelins were employed to quickly transport film newsreel footage to other European cities.

The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin were immortalized by a full-length feature film, “Olympia,” produced by Leni Riefenstahl, the pioneering German filmmaker. Her production embraced many technical innovations, including an underwater camera, tracking shots, aerial images and multiple viewpoints of events.

The first Olympic Games to be telecast over-the-air into homes were the 1948 London Games, which were transmitted by the BBC within the British Isles. An audience of 500,000 people followed the competitions up to 125 miles away from the actual event.

Worldwide television came first to the Rome Olympics in 1960. Four years later, at the 1964 Tokyo Games, video was carried internationally without the need for videotapes to be flown overseas. The Games were telecast to the United States using Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite. From there, the signal was beamed to Europe using Relay 1, an early low-orbit experimental communications satellite used to send transmissions across the Pacific Ocean.

Also, for the first time during the 1964 Games, an entire marathon race was broadcast live, close-pickup microphones enhanced

Each Olympic Games broadcast has progressively introduced new technical improvements, including the arrival of color television in the 1960s. the sound and slow-motion replays were used in the coverage. Swimmers using wearables could also measure movements and biomechanical patterns during training sessions. In 1964, the competitors’ times were first shown live on television.

In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, electronic scoreboards were used for display of real-time scores. In China, 2008, GPS was used for the first time in rowing competitions, allowing viewers to see the progress as the race progressed.

Each Olympic Games broadcast has progressively introduced new technical improvements, including the arrival of color television in the 1960s; high definition in 2008; and the more than 230 hours of live 3D broadcast in 2012. Dolby’s 5.1 surround sound soon dramatically improved the audio technology.

MINI CAMERAS, CLOSED CAPTIONING One of the key figures in the development

ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Julius Barnathan, President of Broadcast Operations and Engineering at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

of sports television was the late Julius Barnathan, ABC’s president of Broadcast Operations and Engineering. During his 40 years at the network, Barnathan—not an engineer himself—was responsible for many technical developments at the Olympics, including the use of handheld and miniature cameras at events and closed captioning for the deaf.

He is also credited with adapting slow-motion technology to color cameras, developing the use of long-lens cameras to capture events that take place over great distances and introducing the use of small square inset pictures behind reporters.

In the summer of 2021, NBC combined 4K, HDR and live, on-the-fly Dolby Atmos immersive sound. Though this feed was not available to most audiences, the breathtaking images were a major advance for Olympics’ technology and will soon be available to mass audiences.

Although individual broadcast networks had previously worked in a cloud environment when covering the Olympics, the 2021 Games in Tokyo were the first time Olympic Broadcasting Services used the cloud for broadcast production, a major shift from traditional satellite transmission. This allowed the broadcasts to overcome many limitations from the COVID-19 pandemic.

During 2021, the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) produced more than 9,500 of content—30 percent more than during 2016 Rio Games. Some of that video content was in 8K resolution for the first time. Partnered with Alibaba Cloud, the OBS Cloud service transformed how the Olympic Games are broadcast to the widest possible audience.

Since 2010, tablets and smartphones connected to the internet have become a major viewing medium beyond traditional television. With these portable devices being carried everywhere, the fans throughout the world have become interconnected. Viewers can now share images and participate in the Olympic events via social networks.

Of the top five countries with the most passionate Olympics fans, the United States takes the top spot. That’s followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Germany.

The Olympic Games, over the past 125 years, have developed into an impressive showcase for the latest media technology.

There is no better gauge of cutting-edge engineering than in the world’s top athletic competitions. l Frank Beacham is a New York City-based writer and media producer.

twitter.com/tvtechnology | www.tvtech.com | February 2022

21

cloudspotter’s journal

Cloud Production Assessment IP in the studio is not even close to IP in the cloud

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avigating our traditionHow IP is tailored in a cloud vs. al production ecosysan on-prem (or ground) activity is tems at scale can be a governing factor in what can be complicated enough. accomplished in which environMoving some or all that environment. Users should not assume ment to the cloud—well, that’s a that the IP applications in a live horse of a different color. While studio (i.e., SMPTE ST 2110) are steady progress continues in the same as IP in other producmoving portions of the production environments. Take just the tion world into the cloud, many latency and timing aspects for elements and workflows need to live, switched studio environEXPERTISE be solidified before the producments on the ground—that’s simKarl Paulsen tion world—as we know it today— ply not deployable in a cloud-only can be fully satisfied. application or on a widespread Spawned in part from the COVID-19 protocommercial offering, at this time. col changes to the entire television and media working environment, “production in the FUNCTIONAL AWARENESS cloud” seemed to move forward rapidly. AcThese statements are not intended to cording to findings from Devoncroft surveys degrade the value, potential or range of conducted during the pandemic, the imporcapabilities for the cloud. On the contrary, the tance of “cloud production” has accelerated perspective is about functional awareness. dramatically to the top of the importance For example, consistent, broadcast-qualfood chain. ity, real-time production in the cloud has Until COVID-19, the top leader had clearly opportunistic capabilities when appropriately been identified as the “transition to IP,” which confined using a finite set of parameters had become the most important industry under the umbrella of a select set of usually focus on technology since around 2019. proprietary products from a limited array of providers. Cloud playout is a perfectly mature example where systems address needed capaDEPENDING ON IP bilities within the confines of the application The terminology “production in the cloud” they are employing. has become quite broad and possibly even Understand the perspective. In-the-cloud misleading. To set the stage, we need to set live production is simply not the same IP some perspective on the meaning of “IP.” animal when compared to a studio-grade, Networks, whether on-prem or in the cloud well-engineered, ground-based managed netrely upon IP. The anomaly attached to the work fabric using a system such as in SMPTE’s term “internet protocol” or simply IP, beST 2110 and their associated protocols. comes a slightly less contentious topic once Furthermore, one would not expect weekend the marketing term is removed.

IP is a definition that must be properly applied to actual applications and in the appropriate space for which the usage applies. In the technology stack, “IP in the studio” (i.e., full bandwidth, uncompressed signal systems) is not even close to “IP in the cloud” except by its namesake, internet protocol. Cloud and ground are not interchangeable. Collectively, there is considerable differentiation in structure, layers and applications—a topic well outside the space available here.

The terminology “production in the cloud” has become quite broad and possibly even misleading.

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NFL live football games to be produced in the cloud with the same level of production value we’ve seen accomplished when using two or more mobile units, 12+ cameras, 10–15 slomos, and a set of five M/E production switchers.

Over time, this analogy is expected to change as evidenced by what we’ve already witnessed during the pandemic. Everything changed and some of those changes have indeed remained.

CLOUD LAYERS Structurally, elements of a cloud-enabled production environment consist of one to multiple layers supporting various segments of the production ecosystem. Much of this rudimentary cloud workflow is accomplished through software-enabled sets of applications relegated to pools of servers and storage elements. For complete integration, all the other necessary components are a more complicated matter, in similar ways that ground-based (onprem) implementation use SDI or ST 2110.

One initial requirement to getting content into and through this chain is the preparation necessary to get content from its source (the ground) to the cloud and back again to the intended destination(s). This hurdle is gradually being resolved as owner/operators take new steps to reaching those goals.

None of these capabilities happened overnight. Years of development continue today as cloud service providers ramp up with experienced, technically savvy professionals whose goal is to move the entire media ecosystem into the cloud.

The technology needed to enable these capabilities include compression rate and transport improvements, synchronization of multicamera images, audio-manipulation in real time, communications and non-AV signaling such as tally or foldback, and a serious level of effects capabilities that model today’s ground-based production switchers in the studio and from the field.

OFFLINE TO ONLINE Emerging development for cloud-servicebased production and editorial purposes follow a similar agenda to when linear to nonlinear (ground-based) productions advanced to digital some 25–30 years ago.

Those who remember online linear tape editing during the 1980–’90s certainly recall the enthusiasm (and complications) of initializing the online editing world into offline for preproduction purposes. Timeline-wise, offline (the predecessor to nonlinear editing) was a multiyear effort, which occurred

cloudspotter’s journal

well before the desktop-editing revolution.

Offline, developed as a tool for rough-cutting a conceptual product that then generated an edit-decision-list (EDL), was the goal, which was then exported to the online (usually videotape-based) cutting environment.

Several iterations of this workflow followed, taking the offline editorial version (compressed, usually motion-JPEG video) up a notch, which used better image compression, faster computer processors and high-volume disk storage. Within a few years, that evolution essentially drove the demise of the online linear edit suite and through the harmonization of high-performance disk-based storage, moved into the world of desktop editorial production.

Cloud-production is now following similar steps, but at a much faster time frame.

Fig. 1: Select examples where services are available or utilized for varying workflow levels of the media and studio-quality production ecosystem

for high-bandwidth, uncompressed, signal transport in turn limits profitability for any commercial entrepreneur.

By previous comparison, high bandwidth, standard-definition linear video (270 Mbps) in the late 1980s was relatively complex to apply to any network. A T1 (1.544 Mbps) line (popular at that time for transport) was insufficient for real-time SD video. A DS3 (44.7 Mbps) line was cost-prohibitive, even on a part-time basis and commanded at a minimum 6:1 compression ratio just to reach 270 Mbps. Some used an ASI-transport over another carrier, but again, this was costly, harder to find, and required high-priced terminal equipment to convert the SDI signals for ASI transport.

FAST FORWARD PARALLEL DEMISE Think of cloud vs. studio production in a similar framework to how the demise of linear videotape for editorial production progressed.

None of this happened instantaneously. For a parallel perspective of where the cloud is headed for media production, take another look at how the industry has evolved comparatively.

Today, users first need to get the source content to the cloud. Ingest, at data rates comparable to studio-quality IP is impractical, unnecessary, extremely expensive and not very cost-conscious. Access point costs

Today’s HD video (1.5 or 3 Gbps) transports have a similar level of complication when moving uncompressed HD (ST 292M/424 SDI) or even ST 2110-20 IP video into the cloud.

Uncompressed doesn’t make economic sense as alternative solutions for smaller-scaled production using proprietary implementations in a compressed signal domain (e.g., NDI or GV AMPP) are appreciable options.

Once in the cloud, software solutions for what were once silicon-centric hardware-based devices must take over. Unless that cloud is a private co-lo and can facilitate placing physical hardware there that can be

managed remotely, everything shifts to codebased software systems.

To make real-time, live, cloud production work efficiently and effectively, each of those previously exampled dimensions need to change the signal structure to accommodate the cost and signal transport infrastructure and to address the needed production elements and services. (See Fig. 1 for selected relative comparisons.) Such changes demand that users compress the video signal to a format (e.g., JPEG-XS), which can be affordably transported from the studio (ground) to the nonlinear compressed dimension and eventually up into the cloud world.

This new work is ongoing, making very good progress, and is a key topic in the eyes of the media-production entities within the major cloud services providers. We fully expect that given demand by the enterprise user, such capabilities will be forthcoming, cost-effective and viable for many.

The advice for today is that content production technical professionals need to immediately start exploring what it will take to stay in this loop—as this train has left the station and will reach full speed in a very short period of time. l Karl Paulsen is chief technology officer at Diversified and a frequent contributor to TV Tech in storage, IP, and cloud technologies. Contact him at kpaulsen@diversifiedus.com.

twitter.com/tvtechnology | www.tvtech.com | February 2022

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eye on tech | product and services Canon EOS R5 C Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera

Mo-Sys Engineering G30

The Canon EOS R5 C 8K camera includes a high-resolution, full frame CMOS sensor, DIGIC X processor and RF Mount, which enable 8K capture, and 45 megapixel still photo capture at burst speeds up to 20 fps, all in a single body. In a first for Canon, the EOS R5 C has been fitted with a dedicated Timecode In/Out terminal. The camera can record in 8K 30p RAW, and can reach 8K 60p when attached to an external power supply. It also has HDR support via PQ and HLG, as well as Canon Log 3 gamma. Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF system enables the EOS R5 C to offer Eye AF and EOS iTR AF X auto focus technology, which tracks people’s eyes in real time and can also follow their head as they look away from the camera. z For more information, visit canon.com

Mo-Sys Engineering’s G30 gyro-stabilized head offers the performance of more expensive systems and the usability and ease of setup of simpler gimbal devices. The G30 features Balance assist, a smart axis hold feature for faster set-up of camera payloads; an innovative control console for fast, accurate operation in the heat of production and a universal camera cage to accommodate all practical camera payloads. At the heart of the G30 is a unique 45-degree frame geometry, large enough to accommodate any camera rig, including large ENG cameras and complete digital cinematography camera rigs. The short, stiff frame provides rigidity for camera payloads up to 66 pounds, with high-torque direct drive motors for smooth, precise movement and stabilization. The result is a gyro-stabilized head that has complete freedom of pan and tilt in any configuration, along with a +/-45-degree roll. z For more information, visit www.mo-sys.com.

Marshall Electronics CV605-U3 PTZ Camera

Accessories for ARRI Orbiter LED Luminaire

The CV605-U3 PTZ camera with USB-C, IP and HDMI connectivity is designed for video conferencing, collaboration and streaming. The USB-C and IP output options offer flexible connectivity while support for HDMI opens up options for monitoring and switching workflows. IP output with H.265- and H.264-encoded video enables one-cable camera setup and operation. Certified by Zoom, the CV605-U3 can operate seamlessly within a Zoom Room infrastructure. It starts with an 85-degree angle of view with ultra-low distortion and high-quality video. The CV605-U3 is suitable for use in USB-C and IP networked HD workflows and delivers ultra-clear images with accurate color. z For more information, visit www.marshall-usa.com.

Telemetrics PS-RM2-48 Multifunction Intelligent Power Supply Telemetrics’ new PS-RM2-48 is a multifunction intelligent power supply unit for its robotic camera control systems. It includes a small LCD display for status diagnostics and Ethernet connectivity, which gives users the ability to monitor the PSU remotely within the software of the Telemetrics RCCP-2A control panel, It also provides reliable and safe DC power for cameras, lenses, prompters, confidence monitors and fiber adapters, which eliminates the need to run extension cords across the floor that can pose a safety hazard. The low-voltage DC power supply complies with the latest safe working directives in Europe. Measuring 19 inches in a 2U chassis, the The PS-RM2-48 also includes Ethernet connectivity, giving users the ability to control and monitor the power supply remotely. z For more infor-

mation, visit www. telemetricsinc.com.

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XXXXXXXX February 2022 2021| www.tvtech.com | www.tvtechnology.com | twitter.com/tvtechnology | twitter.com/tvtechnology

ARRI has introduced several additions to its Orbiter LED luminaire, including the Orbiter Docking Ring, Orbiter Bag-o-Light, Orbiter Glass Cover and Orbiter Dome Mini. The Docking Ring expands the toolbox of lighting designers and DPs by enabling the Orbiter to accept various industry standard, third-party optics, expanding the fixture’s application possibilities. The Orbiter Bag-o-Light creates pleasing, soft and nearly shadow-free illumination. The accessory, which looks like a huge tube, can be attached to Orbiter’s 15-degree Open Face optic. The Orbiter Glass Cover is a small, compact, lightweight optical accessory that allows for unrestricted light output without affecting color temperature or quality. The Orbiter Dome Mini provides high-quality omnidirectional light at a high intensity, suitable for near distance applications with limited available space. z For more information, visit www.arri.com.

Otter Director Video production tech company Otter Network has debuted two video content creation and management products, Director 2.0 and Teleport that provide tools for producing, managing and distributing high-quality videos affordably through a technology-driven, full-stack platform. Otter Director is designed for multicamera video shoots or live streams using any iPhone or Android device. It gives users the power to stream or record footage on up to four devices simultaneously anywhere in the world, seamlessly switch camera angles with the touch of a button, livestream content, and easily edit in post production. Teleport is being positioned as a new way for creators and larger enterprises with established content, audiences or subscribers to recapture lost revenue and better monetize their video content. Both Teleport and Otter Director are now available for demo and free trial, respectively. z For more information, visit www.otter.network.

equipment guide | intercoms

IntraCom’s VCOM Manages Total Media Productions’ Remote Comms USER REPORT

By Sandor Bondorowsky President and Founder Total Media Productions

CARLSTADT, N.J.—Total Media Productions is a multicamera production company that offers turnkey services for a variety of producers, from network TV to online OTT platforms. In addition to providing a complete complement of equipment necessary for streaming and live broadcasts, such as cameras, audio, playback and recording gear, we also provide production management and full crewing for any project.

Everyone on our team is multifunctional, including myself, but my background as a technical director in broadcast TV has prepared me to efficiently determine the technical requirements of our projects and evaluate the most appropriate solutions.

When the pandemic hit full force, we had to scramble to ascertain how best to deal with remote productions—which had become obligatory during the shutdown—and we knew immediately that one of the critical components was a single, secure, efficient and user-friendly comprehensive system that gave us communications and a viewing component that would work remotely across any network.

CONNECTING 12 LOCATIONS Our first request was to help with the reunion show for “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” We had to figure out how to connect 12 locations with audio, video and communications, so we looked for an intercom solution.

We quickly discovered that most candidates were limited to the number of individual users they

Sandor Bondorowsky’s production company used IntraCom Systems’ VCOM system on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” to connect 12 locations with audio, video and communications.

could support, and that was a critical consideration for us.

When we found IntraCom Systems we knew that it provided the obvious answer to our search with its VCOM Matrix Communication Platform.

VCOM WebRTC is a cloud SaaSready multichannel, multi-access (aka “matrix”) communications solution for professional and mission critical applications that is scalable to thousands of users and supports virtually an unlimited number of channels.

VCOM is highly interoperable with support for SIP, NDI and four wire interfacing. The success of using it for that first show paved the way for us to offer those services to other producers and we are still building upon that success. On some shows, such as the “StanCam” Twitter show for the MTV VMA’s, we have had more than 50 individual users logged in to VCOM with eight different video channels to view EVS playbacks, multiviews of remotes, PGM and much more.

VCOM’s flexibility allows it to be used in the cloud or installed

on premise, which works great for our varied production environments. In terms of operating VCOM, it had a very short learning curve.

WEBRTC VIDEO FEEDS Our favorite feature is VCOM’s integration of WebRTC video feeds. We use MediaLooks for our video transport from remote locations and we’re able to add feeds as viewable sources in VCOM. For example, a producer working remotely could have one login (into VCOM) that gives them complete PL and P-P comms, including IFB to all talent, and also be able to view multiple video feeds such as a multiview of all talent, program feed, playbacks, graphics, etc. That’s huge!

Since VCOM has served as our communications backbone we’ve used it for numerous shows, including “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” “MTV Video Music Awards,” “Golden Globes,” “Country Music Television Awards,” “BET Awards,” “Powerball First Millionaire”

(part of Dick Clark’s “New Year’s Rockin Eve”) 2021 and 2022, “ACM Awards,” “MTV Challenge Reunion,” “Amazon the Boys Reunion,” “MTV Siesta Key Reunion,” “Black Ink Crew Reunion” and more.

Since we found VCOM at the beginning of the pandemic, it’s been a part of our service offerings and we’ve been on a monthly recurring SaaS plan with IntraCom. One of our next projects is an installation for The Orlando Ballet. I’m on the board of that organization and wouldn’t provide them with anything but the best. l Sandor Bondorowsky, president and founder of Total Media Productions, is a technical director by trade. Sandy is responsible for all business operations, and development for Total Media Productions, but also directs and engineers many of the company’s productions.

Sandy can be reached at sandy@ total-media.com.

For more information about IntraCom visit www.intracomsystems.com.

twitter.com/tvtechnology | www.tvtech.com | February 2022

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equipment guide | cellular eng

‘Sports4CLE’ Breaks Sports News With Comrex LiveShot USER REPORT

By Mike Bacon Vice President Classic Teleproductions

CLEVELAND—I started Classic Teleproductions video production in Northeast Ohio 41 years ago. We’re now a 79-time Emmy Award-winning production company with 12 full-time clients. We employ several hundred freelancers nationwide, including on-air talent, producers, cameramen, technicians and engineers.

A major portion of our work involves sports and news coverage, and we work with all the major networks. In addition to everything else, we produce a live sports show in conjunction with “The Plain Dealer,” Ohio’s largest daily newspaper as well as their website, www.cleveland.com.

Our daily sports show was initially called “More Sports & Les Levine.” Les passed away rather suddenly in February of last year and “The Plain Dealer” asked us if we wanted to continue. We did some research and learned that while Cleveland is crazy about sports and sports shows are highly marketable in Northeast Ohio, broadcasters are spending less time devoted to sports coverage. We came across a 2019 study from Pew Research that showed that 34% of news viewers found local sports coverage to be neither important or interesting.

This showed us that we needed to come up with something unique, and we resolved that our new sports show, “Sports4CLE” needed to be as timely and informative as possible.

had while working in radio. The gear was easy to use and Comrex was great to work with. We bought our LiveShot in February of 2021, and after a month we decided to buy three more.

One of the most important parts about LiveShot for me is that we aren’t locked in to purchasing a data plan. We made our investment by purchasing the equipment, and we’ve got the modems, but there isn’t a usage charge. We can control our data directly, and can save money if we’re able to use an internet connection.

SCOOP THE COMPETITION Last season, the Cleveland Browns were scheduled to play a nationally televised game on a Saturday, which was moved to Monday because 20 team members had been infected with COVID. On game day, they were slated to announce which players would be able to play at 2:00 p.m.

At 10:15 a.m., we got a tip that they were

going to announce it within minutes. We were able to get a cameraman to drive over with a LiveShot, get our announcer into the studio, and break the news before any other station.

This was a special update we posted online, and it had more than 15,000 hits in the first hour.

Since we started “Sports4CLE” eight months ago, our audience has grown fourfold, which is unprecedented. With our previous show, we were happy with a quarter of a million views per month, but now we’re averaging more than a million—and we’re just scratching the surface with what we can do. LiveShot gives us huge budget capabilities without a huge budget investment. l Mike Bacon is the founder and vice-president of Classic Teleproductions. He can be reached at 330-963-7763 and michael. bacon@classicteleproductions.com.

For more information on Comrex, visit www. comrex.com.

BREAKING NEWS WITH LIVESHOT I needed something to give us the ability to go live anywhere so that we could tie in sponsors and also break sports stories as they happened. My idea was “let’s be everywhere and make a big splash!”

We had looked at some of the bonded cellular solutions, and became familiar with several of them, but I didn’t want to make a $100K front-end investment. Then I learned about the Comrex LiveShot.

I knew Comrex from 30 years ago when I had used Comrex gear for some wild ideas I’d

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Classic Teleproductions used Comrex’s LiveShot to capture breaking news in ways that helped “Sports4CLE” quadruple its audience.

twitter.com/tvtechnology

equipment guide | cellular eng

Portugal’s First 5G-Enabled Stadiums Upgrade Coverage With TVU USER REPORT

By Ricardo Silva Project Manager Ibertelco

LISBON, Portugal—At Ibertelco, where we provide the Portuguese media market with equipment, turnkey solutions and services, we firmly believe in the capabilities of 5G and the enhancements it brings with it, particularly when it comes to live sports coverage.

With 5G, the network capacity can handle a far greater volume of data within the stadium, which provides a superior experience to fans in the stands and those watching from home.

Those in the stands can choose the angle from which to see the game or activate one of the broadcast cameras, among other more immersive activities.

One high-profile 5G sports project occurred in the spring of 2021 when our customer, Portuguese telco provider NOS was asked to supply Portugal’s first 5G-enabled stadiums—Estádio da Luz and Estádio José Alvalade—with video-over-IP delivery solutions.

NOS equipped both stadiums with full 5G communications infrastructure and technologies from TVU Networks were used to supply additional camera angles, live holographic interviews, and smartphone-generated sports coverage at these 5G-enabled stadiums. .

5G stadium application, we selected four TVU One 5G mobile transmitters and three 5G mobile phones with the TVU Anywhere app to deliver live, high-definition, low-latency video from the field to four dual-channel TVU transceivers at an OB van on site. From there the signals were streamed and broadcast to viewers across the globe.

In addition to its typical 18-camera coverage, Portuguese broadcaster Benfica TV (BTV) added seven 5G feeds to its May 6th broadcast from Estádio da Luz (SL Benfica vs. FC Porto).

The 5G cameras were placed in areas not accessible with manned, wired cameras, such as near the goal; a walkway at the top of the stadium; the tunnel from the locker rooms to the field, and beside player benches.

During the game in which Sporting CP won the title of

champion of Liga NOS on May 11 at Estádio José Alvalade, Portuguese broadcaster TVI employed its own unique application of NOS 5G with a post-game roaming reporter and holographic player interview.

HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGES Social media influencer Guilherme Geirinhas covered Sporting CP’s celebration after winning the league title using the TVU Anywhere app on his phone and a TVU One wireless video transmitter. Signals from the reporter’s phone were sent to a TVU transceiver at an OB van on site for live broadcast and streaming. The holographic image of Sporting CP captain Sebastian Coates was sent via a TVU One 5G device to a TVU transceiver at the TVI studio after his team’s win. From the studio, a TVI host conducted a

live interview with the hologram version of Coates.

The strengthened aggregated cellular connections, sub-second latency and increased signal quality of TVU Networks’ technology means our customers can meet the full potential of live video coverage over a 5G infrastructure.

Ricardo Silva is based in Lisbon and serves as the presales/sales manager and project manager for Ibertelco. Founded in 1997, Ibertelco is the leading AV/media Solutions provider for the Portuguese media and entertainment market and a TVU Partner in the region. More information on the company can be found at www. ibertelco.com/. Ricardo Silva can be reached at ricardo.n.silva@ ibertelco.pt. l For more information on TVU Networks, visit www.tvunetworks.

5G TECH SUPPORT With TVU Networks, we’ve found a partner that can provide the level of transmission reliability over IP and technical support required for large-scale broadband innovation. For the recent

TVU equipment was used over 5G networks in Estádio da Luz and Estádio José Alvalade stadiums to supply additional camera angles, a live holographic interview and smartphone-generated sports coverage. twitter.com/tvtechnology | www.tvtech.com | February 2022

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equipment guide | signal conversion

VSiN Improves Audience Experiences With ENCO’s enCaption4 USER REPORT

By Miles Gwyn Director of Broadcast Operations VSiN

LAS VEGAS—VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, is the first sports media company dedicated to providing news, analysis and proprietary data to the millions of Americans who wager on sports and make sports betting a multibillion-dollar industry. First launched on satellite radio in 2017, we expanded to television in August 2019 and fans can now watch our content on Comcast Xfinity, YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sling TV, Rogers Sportsnet, Spectrum LA Sportsnet, NESN, MSG Networks, Marquee Sports Network, MASN and AT&T Pittsburgh, plus our own website (VSiN.com) and app.

One of our first broadcast partnerships required us to provide three hours of live captioning daily. We worked with a closed caption service provider that used human transcribers—it was expensive for a relatively small company like ours, but was doable for that limited number of hours.

We eventually wanted to caption all of our content to create a better experience for our audience. As our live programming grew exponentially—we now produce 21 hours of live content every weekday and 17 hours on weekends—the cost of human captioning became prohibitive. A tipping point came last summer as we planned our launch on YouTubeTV, which recommended that all programming be captioned.

had access to caption data.

Our enCaption4 system takes an SDI feed from our master control and embeds the closed captions into an SDI output using the unit’s integrated, DoCaption-powered caption encoder card. The resulting signal is sent to Roberts Communications Network in Las Vegas, who then distributes it to our website, app, and broadcast partners in the required formats.

THE AUTOMATION IMPERATIVE

SPEECH TO TEXT CHALLENGES

We had been keeping an eye on automated captioning solutions, but the investment didn’t make sense when we were doing just a handful of hours. Now, an automated solution was the only viable option for us.

We sent ENCO some sample shows to caption, and were impressed by the accuracy. We use a lot of unique betting terminology, and enCaption4 got a lot of things right that even human captioners might have trouble with.

We started testing a demo unit in August, then went live with it in September. That process was very easy—we basically flipped a switch, and all of our distribution partners

We continue to be impressed by the accuracy of enCaption4’s automated speech-totext. We have contributors from all over the country—including Massachusetts, Louisiana, Colorado and the Midwest—with all the challenges that come with regional accents and different ways of speaking. But enCaption4 does a good job of hearing what our talent is saying and turning it around. It’s remarkable that even if we have trouble audibly making out what a speaker is saying, we can read it correctly in the captions.

The cost savings with enCaption4 have been enormous. We can now do our full 21

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February 2022 | www.tvtech.com |

Ken Sporich (L) and Miles Gwyn use enCaption4 to take an SDI feed from their master control and embed the closed captions into an SDI output using the unit’s integrated, DoCaption-powered caption encoder card.

twitter.com/tvtechnology

hours of daily programming at a similar cost to what we were paying for three hours each day of live human captioning.

Our purchase of enCaption4 has effectively paid for itself, not only in those direct cost savings but also in time, manpower, and effort. We used to spend time setting up the live sessions, managing connectivity to the service provider, and scheduling captioners—all of which took time away from focusing on the quality of our broadcasts. With enCaption4, we don’t have to worry about that anymore.

It’s so easy and works so well that we just set it and forget it.

The enCaption4 has been critical in helping expand our live programming, and it’s a feather in our cap with our broadcast partners that we can offer closed captioning data that’s this accurate. l Miles Gwyn is director of broadcast operations and Ken Sporich is chief engineer at VSiN. He can be reached at miles@vsin.com.

For more information, visit www.enco.com or contact Sam Bortz at ENCO Systems in Michigan at 248-827-4440.

equipment guide | signal conversion

Saddleback Church Taps MultiDyne to Help Create ‘Cinematic Look’ USER REPORT and other connectivity.

The entire control room was built around having a traditional CCU in that space. From an integration standpoint, it became very easy to completely shift to a cinema-style camera but still maintain the same sort of infrastructure and overall room design.

By Joel Smith Project Development Amplio Systems

LAKE FOREST, Calif.—Saddleback Church is one of the original “megachurches” from more than 30 years ago. They helped pioneer the large church movement and have just kept growing, with 19 campuses across the globe. The multicamera content they produce using a traditional control room in Lake Forest is seen at all those locations and streamed on YouTube.

Saddleback wanted to upgrade to RED KOMODO cameras for a more “cinematic look,” so they reached out to Amplio Systems, which works with hundreds of churches around the country to help improve their operations. Saddleback loves the RED color science and the fact that it’s a global shutter camera.

Another reason Saddleback selected this camera was so their team could shoot on location and have the same look and feel as their weekend service content. Plus, it’s a sub-$6,000 camera, so that allowed them to increase their camera count and helped their camera dollars go further.

EQUIPPED WITH SILVERBACK V The challenge was that RED KOMODO cameras do not have all the connections required to properly integrate into a live broadcast workflow.

We needed another partner to make the digital cinema camera function in a true broadcast environment so we equipped eight of Saddleback’s 12 new cameras, including four handheld cameras, with MultiDyne SilverBack V camera-mountable fiber-optic transmission systems.

The SilverBack V is about the same size as a V-mount battery. However, since it’s

ENABLING BROADCAST WORKFLOWS

Saddleback Church used MultiDyne’s SilverBack V camera-mountable fiber-optic transmission systems to seamlessly tie new cameras. providing a more cinematic look for its productions.

powered from the base station, it requires no battery, so it mimics the broadcast workflow that had been in place at Saddleback for decades.

Once you move to a cinema-style camera, the rig becomes a fairly complicated structure to build. Thankfully, the SilverBack fits into it beautifully. The SilverBack ships with all the cables and accessories you need, so it was plug-and-play once we received the system. It has worked straight out of the box, and the price point provided an incredible value that checked another important box.

We take the signal from each SilverBack and send it via fiber back to the control room. From there, the camera signal is routed to a base station, which manages the I/O

There’s a network link, so we connect the camera over the production Ethernet for camera control through the SilverBack. We also send serial data from the Skaarhoj remote control panel as well as RS-232 to the Fujinon lens that travels through the SilverBack. We also have two intercom channels— tally and GPIO through the SilverBack.

The viewfinder mode in the SilverBack is very helpful because it allows the camera operator to switch between an operator monitor and a return video feed, same as a traditional broadcast-style camera monitor—something they were used to having in a broadcast workflow.

All the outputs at the base station allow us to send signals to a router, engineering setup or the switcher. Because that mirrors a traditional broadcast CCU, it has everything that’s needed in the live broadcast environment at Saddleback.

Ultimately, the SilverBack choice was all about reliability. MultiDyne was the key to making this project successful. We couldn’t have supported the church’s desire for this camera choice without the partnership we have with MultiDyne and their commitment to excellence. l Joel Smith is project development at Amplio Systems, which works with churches to help them carry out their mission. He can be reached at 800-267-1437 and jsmith@ampliosystems. com.

For more information on Multidyne, contact Jesse Foster at jesse@multidyne.com or visit www.multidyne.com.

twitter.com/tvtechnology | www.tvtech.com | February 2022

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equipment guide | signal conversion, intercoms & cellular ENG buyers briefs

Signal Conversion Cobalt Digital 9905-MPx

Blackmagic Design Micro Converter 12G Blackmagic Design’s Micro Converter 12G models allow customers to use HDMI equipment with professional SDI systems. The Micro Converter SDI to HDMI 12G model is designed for monitoring in all SD, HD, 4K and Ultra HD standards up to 2160p60. The Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI 12G model can convert in both directions, in different standards at the same time. Key features include: extremely small design for portable operation; support for upgrading software via USB connection; 3D LUT for monitoring on SDI to HDMI model; support for HDR via SDI and HDMI; support for 12G-SDI and HDMI timecode standards; has 12G-SDI technology with built in SDI re-clocking; includes camera control features for Blackmagic ATEM switchers; support for all video standards in NTSC, PAL, 720 HD, 1080 HD and 2160 Ultra HD. z For more information visit

www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Cobalt Digital’s 9905-MPx multi-channel audio/video processor answers the need for handling and processing multiple video feeds in an openGear card. The scaler/frame synchronizer handles up to four independent 3G signals in a single, dense, cost-effective package that provides broadcast-processing functions without quality compromises. The card includes individual up/down/cross conversion scalers with full ARC control for conversions to/ from 4:3 and 16:9. The multipath design offers discrete AES and MADI audio embedding/routing/mixing/de-embedding to any of the four paths. Standard 3D LUT features and available color correction accommodate SDR and HDR processing for downstream HDR systems, on a per-channel basis. Logo insertion is supported as well as ancillary data insertion/extraction.

Up to 24 channels of processing are accommodated in one frame, representing a new level of openGear packaging density for multi-input support and flexibility. z For more information, visit www.cobaltdigital.com.

FOR-A FA-9600 Signal Processor Designed for live HDR broadcast production, each of the FA-9600 multipurpose signal processor’s two 3G/HD/SD-SDI inputs include: frame synchronizer, HDR and Wide Color Gamut support and conversion of multiple formats. Supported formats include: 12G, 4K (UHD), 1080p, and HD/SD-SDI. Its 12G-SDI terminals provide support for 4K production (with optional software), while an optional expansion card adds four additional channels of 3G-SDI I/O or six channels of 12G-SDI distributed output. Built-in LUTs–as well as support of 3D LUTs for SDR-HDR, HDR-HDR, and HDR-SDR conversions in mixed SDR and HDR production environments–deliver unprecedented conversion accuracy. A newly developed color processing circuit supports the latest gamut and dynamic range specifications, and an optional converter circuit is available for up/down/cross conversion. z For more information visit www.for-a.com.

AJA Video FS-HDR FS-HDR is a versatile 1RU, rackmount universal converter/frame synchronizer for real-time HDR transforms as well as 4K/HD up/down/ cross conversions. Fusing AJA’s production-proven FS frame synchronization and conversion technology with video and color space processing algorithms from Colorfront Engine, FS-HDR matches the real-time, low-latency processing and color fidelity demands that broadcast, OTT, post-production and ProAV environments require. z For more information visit www.aja.com.

Imagine Communications Selenio Network Processor (SNP) Updates The 1RU Selenio Network Processor (SNP) software-defined signal processing platform supports both IP and SDI and a broad range of applications. SNP can upconvert to UHD/HDR, convert between SDR and different HDR systems and provide production multiviewers with HDR support. The benefit of the SNP architecture is that new applications can be developed rapidly to support market needs, like JPEG XS, a transformational codec offering visually lossless compression at ratios between 5:1 and 20:1 with very low latency, making it ideal for contribution circuits and remote production.

The SNP JPEG XS software identity supports resolutions up to UHD/4K and HDR. z For more information visit https:// imaginecommunications.com.

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February 2022 | www.tvtech.com |

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equipment guide | signal conversion, intercoms & cellular ENG buyers briefs

Signal Conversion Lynx Technik CDH 1411: 12G SDI to HDMI Converter yellobrik

Lawo 4K/HDR Format Converter

This new yellobrik is designed to be an ideal tool for monitoring and display applications with features that include a clean HDMI feed of the SDI signal–direct conversion without scaling, burn-in windows for timecode, 16-channel audio level meters, safe area markets, H/V delay to view the horizontal and vertical blanking intervals and more. The CDH 1411 is also available with various fiber I/O connectivity to allow facilities to transmit an SDI signal over fiber with the fiber transmitter option or receive an SDI fiber input and convert to electrical SDI and HDMI for display as well as send and receive SDI fiber signals simultaneously. The module can also be equipped with CWDM fiber for multiplexed applications with 18 wavelength selections. As with all yellobrik models, the CDH 1411 is compatible with yelloGUI software and can be used standalone or installed in a yellobrik rack frame for larger systems installations.

The vm_udx virtual module app for V__matrix C100 blades currently provides a format conversion engine that can process four SD, HD, 3G or one UHD path for IP and/or SDI signals, with capacities that will be boosted in the very near future. In addition to up, down and cross conversion, vm_udx also provides audio embedding/de-embedding, proc amp and RGB/YUV color correction as well as color space conversion (SDR to/from HDR) functionality. This is being used by a Norwegian TV station that offers its premium OTT subscribers real-time 4K sports coverage—and upconverted commercials—although the broadcaster’s infrastructure is still HD-based. z For more

information visit https://lawo.com.

z For more information visit www.lynx-technik.com.

COBALT DIGITAL ENGINEERING BEYOND THE SIGNAL™

equipment guide | signal conversion, intercoms & cellular ENG buyers briefs

Intercoms

Clear-Com Agent-IC Mobile App Clear-Com’s Agent-IC Mobile App has been critical at enabling seamless communications for remote production activities during COVID-19 and has been widely used to provide an easy-to-implement communication solution between facility-based staff and production teams on location for field reporting, live event production, remote coordination, and other critical tasks. Production personnel working from home who have downloaded the app onto their smartphone, tablet or wearable device can connect to a host Eclipse HX digital matrix or local and remote LQ IP interfaces over 3G, 4G, LTE and Wi-Fi networks. App users have a fully functional intercom panel that can monitor the intercom system and receive IFB feeds.

Grass Valley/Telos Alliance Telos Infinity VIP on AMPP

z For more information visit

Grass Valley and the Telos Alliance have released Telos Infinity VIP on AMPP, a professional intercom solution for cloud-based media production workflows. Developed as part of the Grass Valley Technology Alliance, Infinity VIP on AMPP supports essential intercom functionality that is already well known to production professionals, including partylines, IFBs, groups and peer-topeer communication. Key features include: cloud native application with control surfaces and workflows familiar to production professionals; support for key intercom system features, including unlimited PLs, IFBs and groups; the ability to share intercom and audio with the AMPP fabric for embedded intercom or mix-minus feeds; a choice of virtual panel sizes running in an HTML-5 browser window; an option to integrate with existing physical intercom systems, and consolidated usage monitoring with other AMPP applications for a single commercial experience.

www.clearcom.com.

z For more information, visit www.grassvalley.com.

Reidel RSP-1216HL SmartPanel RSP-1216HL SmartPanel is a new 1RU model in Riedel’s 1200 Series of intelligent intercom and control panels for real-time video, audio, data, and communications networks and is a compact version of the app-based RSP-1232HL SmartPanel user interface. Like its big brother, the fully IP-centric RSP-1216HL features a full-color, high-resolution, sunlight-readable touchscreen, as well as a unique hybrid-lever key design that combines lever- and rotary-style key styles, allowing users to control countless parameters with a single key.

The new panel also has the same rich connectivity options as its bigger counterpart, with support for AES3 and SMPTE 2110-30 (AES67) connections together with GPIO, analog, or AES67 4-Wire, as well as front and rear USB connectivity. The equally smart but significantly slimmer RSP-1216HL offers a single speaker and 16 hybrid-lever keys, compared with the RSP-1232HL’s two speakers and 32 hybrid-lever keys. z For more information visit www.riedel.net.

RTS VLink RTS VLink virtual intercom control panel enables remote users to interface with RTS intercom matrices via the internet using a simple software application. Allowing users a new degree of control and flexibility from anywhere in the world—including from home—VLink has enabled hundreds of broadcasters to work remotely during the past two years and helped them maintain vital public information services while users practice social distancing protocols. VLink can be downloaded from the RTSwebsite for Windows, Mac or web browser applications; for iOS and Android applications, downloads are available at the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. z For more information visit https://rtsintercoms.com.

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equipment guide | signal conversion, intercoms & cellular eng buyers briefs

Cellular ENG Dejero EnGo 265 Dejero’s new EnGo 265 mobile transmitter for news teams and live events broadcasters is designed to be a reliable, simple to use, and rugged replacement for Dejero’s EnGo 260. It includes notable new features, bolstering security and provides even lower latency at just 0.5 seconds over bonded cellular connections. EnGo 265 features Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology, which combines multiple network connections to transmit broadcast-quality live video. It also features high-efficiency antennas and world-class RF design; improved security to protect video streams; a new GateWay mode to reliably, securely and quickly transfer large files, access to MAM and newsroom systems, and the ability to publish content; a wired remote to conveniently start and stop of live streams and status monitoring; and a significant algorithm enhancement that further improves reliability in challenging environments and enables glassto-glass latency as low as 0.5 seconds. z For more information visit www.dejero.com.

LiveU LU800 PRO4 The LU800 PRO4 offers far reaching multicamera capabilities together with flexible business models– allowing users to enrich productions with significant cost-savings. The portable field encoder enables complex remote productions (REMI), allowing users to send up to four fully frame-synced feeds in high resolution (1080p50/60, 10-bit HDR) from a single unit to any remote production center–physical or cloud-based. This allows users to reduce costs and have minimal staff on-site, critical with today’s social distancing guidelines. z For more information visit www.liveu.tv.

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people on the move For possible inclusion, send information to tvtech@futurenet.com with People News in the subject line.

DAVID PERKINS

CASEY KESPOHL

AMANDA FLYNN

MICHAEL HAYES

Manager of Service and Support Riedel Americas

VP of Brand Strategy & Development CBS Stations

VP of Customer Relations, Business Development USSI Global

COO & Deputy Group Head Hearst Television

David Perkins has been named manager of service and support for Riedel Americas. He will oversee Riedel’s internal technical support and service teams, enhancing the processes used to service customers and continue ongoing training related to evolving technical service requirements. Before joining Riedel, Perkins was director of client services for Bitcentral where he undertook strategic analysis, training and projects across the department.

Casey Kespohl has been named vice president, brand strategy and development, CBS Stations, reporting to Wendy McMahon, president and co-head, CBS News and Stations. In the newly created position, he will be responsible for strengthening CBS Stations’ branded content and marketing across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms and work with CBS leadership to develop brand strategies across CBS News and Stations.

USSI Global has promoted Amanda Flynn to vice president of customer relations and business development where she will focus on expanding the client base for installation and repair services within the company’s Digital Signage and Electronic Business and Consumer Solutions. Flynn joined the company in 2008 and was promoted three years ago to director of business development and customer relations.

Michael Hayes has been promoted from executive vice president to chief operating officer and deputy group head of Hearst Television. In addition to his new responsibilities, Hayes will continue to share oversight of the TV and radio stations with Ashley Gold and Eric Meyrowitz, also executive vice presidents of Hearst Television. Previously, he was the president and GM at Hearst’s WTAE-TV, the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh.

MARCUS RILEY

DAVE CROSSEN

FLORIAN SCHLEICH

BARBARA FORD GRANT

Senior Dir. of Content Strategy, Inclusive Journalism The E.W. Scripps Co.

President C2HR

Standards VP SMPTE

President NEP Prysm

C2HR (Content & Connectivity Human Resources) announced its 2022 executive committee, with President Dave Crossen, senior VP of HR for NBC Broadcasting & Content Distribution, beginning his second term. Also starting another term in leadership roles are VP Julie Neimat, executive VP of employee experience and HR operations for Discovery Inc.; and Secretary Sandy Gunn, senior VP of HR for Comcast Advertising.

Florian Schleich has been elected SMPTE standards vice president and will direct SMPTE standards projects. His term began Jan. 1.

In addition to implementing and authoring SMPTE standards, he is part of the user community in his current role managing technology partnerships and standards at Netflix. Schleich works with SMPTE and other bodies to ensure standards and specifications address industry needs and to drive successful implementation.

Barbara Ford Grant has been appointed president of NEP Group’s newly formed NEP Prysm Stages business unit. Part of NEP Virtual Studios, NEP Prysm Stages was launched in late 2021 to support the company’s growing global network of permanent stages designed for film and TV. Ford Grant joins NEP from Meow Wolf where she served as CTO, overseeing its mixed-reality platform and IT divisions. Previously, she was senior VP of digital production services at HBO.

The E.W. Scripps Co. has promoted Marcus Riley to senior director of content strategy and inclusive journalism for the Local Media division, to help Scripps TV stations better connect with audiences.

He has served as senior director of content strategy for the Scripps Local Media’s northern region. He will continue to work with stations in that region and work with all Scripps local news teams to developing best practices and expertise.

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