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44 PCCW Goes OTT With Viu REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME 03 NEWS AsiaSat Launches 4K-SAT, CNN Announce HK Bureau Chief, Riedel Expands Japan Team, MediaCorp Announces CCO, Finding the Silver Bullet in the Golden Age of TV
48 FEATURES AND DEADLINES Our dates, rates and editorial features for 2016.
17 FEATURES 12 INTERBEE PREVIEW Conference and Exhibition Preview
16 ACQUISITION Japanese Productions Take
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on Blackmagic Cameras, Tiffen Unleashes Monster in Japan, Panasonic to Trial P2 Cast Cloud-Based News Production in APAC
20 SPORTSCASTING NEP Delivers President’s Cup from Korea, Imagine Delivers Complete Solution for Ten Sports India, CCTV Leads the Field with Cobham at IAAF Championships
24 NEWS OPERATIONS Ideal Systems Implements Newsroom System for CNN Indonesia, ChyronHego Partners with Hybrid, Ten Expands Dejero Deployment with GoBox
28 MEDIA IN THE CLOUD iFlix Manages
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CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN: 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel: +61 (0)2 4368 4569 Mob: +61 (0)414 671 811 Email: papers@broadcastpapers.com
Video Demand with Silver Trak’s Media Room, Quantum Releases Xcellis Shared Workflow Storage Solution, Telestream
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Releases Tempo Version 2.0, SGL Integrates with Data Expedition, Signiant Flight Gains Microsoft Azure Certification
32 POST-PRODUCTION Korean ‘Madonna’ and Oz ‘Dressmaker’ Graded with Resolve, FilmLight Powers Mumbai Post House, OS X El Capitan Now Available
36 AUDIO NTU Installs CEDAR Cambridge, SSL Duality Chosen for Leo Studio, Audinate ID22s at Massey Uni, Symetrix Processing for Beijing High Court
40 RADIO Malaysia’s Media Prima Expands Radio Operations, Jampro Antenna Upgrade Powers Up Guam Radio, Vale John Innes, New MD for Radio Free Asia
44 CONTENT DELIVERY PCCW Goes OTT with Viu, VidOvation Announces New VidOlink Systems, Triveni Digital Enhances 4K TV Service Quality with HEVC, Brightcove Simplifies Live Events
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EDITOR’S WELCOME
See you, C-band? By Phil Sandberg
The report says the use of C-band spectrum for mobile broadband can be achieved through the development of “sharing techniques” to allow mobile services to co-exist with other users of the band, such as satellite and fixed link services. It puts forward the use of exclusion zones of a 5-kilometre radius around satellite installations and says similar provisions can be made for fixed link and point-to-multipoint services that use the band. The GSMA says the report highlights an “urgent need” for regulators across
With millions of people in the Philippines depending on satellite C-band for their cable TV and other services, the PCTA says the country relies on C-band for the reception of over a hundred satellite channels, both from overseas and from within the country. These channels are distributed to over 1600 cable systems spread around the thousands of islands of the archipelago. Since the introduction of LTE operation in the Philippines in late 2014, the PCTA claims numerous cable systems have experienced serious interference problems. According to the PCTA, if LTE use of C-band frequencies is expanded, the problems will get worse. The Philippines’ tropical location and rainfall averages of up to 200mm per month in many areas render the use of higher frequency Ku-band satellite signals inappropriate for transmission critical applications like TV reception for millions of people or disaster relief. C-band’s unique characteristics make reception in tropical climates with extreme precipitation the only viable option for many users including TV channel reception. 03:00
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The report, “Use of C-Band Spectrum for Mobile Broadband in Cities: London and Shenzhen”, developed by Plum Consulting with analysis from the GSMA and handset/network provider Huawei claims that the use of additional C-band spectrum for mobile broadband in London and Shenzhen alone will generate an additional USD$440 million of economic benefit whilst protecting the continued operation of incumbent services. In a footnote, it says these economic benefits are based on the avoided infrastructure costs achieved by the availability of addition C-band spectrum to support mobile broadband services. 16:00
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The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, including nearly 800 operators and more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies. It also produces industry events such as the Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.
At the recent CASBAA Convention in Hong Kong, Philippines Cable TV Association President Ralph Casino and Chairman Gerik Paderanga presented a video, which they have also submitted to the ITU, outlining recent C-band interference issues experienced by Filipino cable operators.
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At the recent Global Mobile Broadband Forum in Hong Kong, the GSMA (formerly GSM Association) released a report which it claims reveals the economic benefits of C-band spectrum for mobile broadband.
Aside from the fact that C-band is already used to deliver video, it would seem that the “urgent need” is not universally urgent.
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Future spectrum allocations for mobile broadband and C-band spectrum will be considered at the conference and the decisions reached there will impact operators on both sides of the divide throughout the Asia-Pacific.
the globe to address the allocation of spectrum required to meet the huge growth in mobile data traffic, especially in densely populated urban areas. It also says that C-band spectrum can “… provide large contiguous channels that support the delivery of high data rate services such as video.”
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BY THE END OF NOVEMBER 2015, and the conclusion of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) in Geneva, we should know to what extent the terrestrial mobile communications industry has realised its ambition of expanding broadband services into the C-band (4 to 8GHz) segment of the radiofrequency spectrum.
However, when one considers the amount of money involved in the mobile ecosystem – from network construction and operation to handset and app development, as well as transactions – it is hard to see how bodies like the PCTA will not be drowned out. We’ll have to stay tuned. Thanks for Reading Phil Sandberg - Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com - T: +61-(0)414671811
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GPS Chooses AsiaSat 4 to Deliver 14 Channels ASIA SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CO. LTD. (AsiaSat) has announced that PT. Graha Pratama Sejahtera (GPS), a leading system integrator based in Indonesia, has launched a bouquet of 14 television channels on AsiaSat 4 at 122ºE. The services, uplinked by GPS’s facilities in Jakarta, are distributed via AsiaSat 4 in C-band to Satellite TV operators in Indonesia. With these new services, AsiaSat 4 has significantly expanded its television offerings to viewers across the country. “We are excited that we have further expanded our transmission services to the broadcast community with AsiaSat’s excellent capacity. AsiaSat 4 is a high performance satellite with exceptionally high power and superior look angle. It is an ideal platform to support our countrywide television distribution services,” said Liauw Ing Hauw, Director of GPS. “We are pleased that PT. Graha Pratama Sejahtera chose AsiaSat as its prime satellite platform for television distribution services in Indonesia. This is an exciting development of AsiaSat 4’s service expansion for the TV sector in Asia,” said Philip Balaam, Vice President, Sales and Business Development of AsiaSat. Visit www.asiasat.com
AsiaSat Launches “4K-SAT” Channel on AsiaSat 4 FTA for the Asia-Pacific ASIASAT HAS announced the launch of its first Ultra-HD (UHD) television channel “4K-SAT” at 122°E on AsiaSat 4, marking a new era for AsiaSat’s satellite broadcasting services in the region. This new UHD channel will be available free-to-air (FTA) across more than 50 countries and regions within AsiaSat 4’s enormous footprint, spanning from New Zealand to Pakistan and part of the Middle East. Asian TV operators and home viewers with an AsiaSat 4 C-band antenna and a HEVC set top box will be able to receive the UHD channel directly. The new “4K-SAT” channel broadcasts full UHD produced videos featuring fashion, lifestyle and documentaries from content partners including Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, FashionTV, and Rohde & Schwarz. “We are delighted to be at the forefront of next generation broadcasting technology, bringing to Asian viewers true UHD content. We look forward to working closely with our content and technology partners to drive UHD audience penetration in Asia,” said Sabrina Cubbon, Vice President, Marketing and Global Accounts of AsiaSat. “The launch of this UHD channel on our new AsiaSat 4 UHD broadcast platform provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to experience and promote UHD content in Asia.” The “4K-SAT” channel encoded in HEVC, is broadcasting at 50 frames per second (fps) with 10-bit colour depth. Visit www.asiasat.com
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Ideal Systems Completes New Build for Tencent’s ‘The 15 of Us’ IDEAL SYSTEMS provided the turnkey solution for Tencent’s new live-on-air TV Show, ‘The 15 of Us’ where 15 individuals from China work together to create a self-sustaining society in an isolated mountain region in Tong Lu. Tencent Online Video Department Director, Sang Soo Lei, said, “Partnering with Ideal Systems’ expertise and proven track record in implementing many first-time projects gave us the confidence to successfully deliver the show on time amidst the pressure and anticipation.” The facility covers 1.5 hectares with 120 remotely controlled HD cameras, 24 wireless and 56 shotgun microphones with a customised receiver network, and additional wireless and lighting equipment for extended coverage. The new build also supports a complete and versatile video production and content management system, power and ventilation, a post-production facility, central equipment room, and a master control room to manage the show’s on-going live feed. The show encompasses live uninterrupted broadcasting via China Tencent’s online video streaming platform that caters to over 350 million views annually. In parallel, the footage is recorded through 4 video servers enabling post-editing for nationwide distribution to TV channels. Visit www.idealsys.com
VTVcab Vietnam Selects Nagra for Next-Gen TV VIETNAM’S LARGEST CABLE OPERATOR, VTVCAB, has selected NAGRA, provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, to support the service provider’s new digital TV platform and ongoing digitisation efforts. NAGRA will provide VTVcab with its anyCAST content protection, OpenTV 5 HTML5 connectware, Gravity user interface, and MediaLive multiscreen solutions to secure and enable a range of basic cable services and advanced features, including video-on-demand, personal video recording, over-the-top, time-shifting capabilities and applications. “Our goal is to bring the highest quality programming and services to our subscribers coupled with a high-end user experience and with this new platform we are entering a new era of digital TV for Vietnam,” said Nam Bui, CTO of VTVcab. “We chose to grow our business with NAGRA for its comprehensive suite of digital TV solutions and their expertise in bringing new and advanced services to market quickly and efficiently. This will give us the extra edge to appeal to a new generation of viewers and we are very excited to see what the future will bring.” Visit https://dtv.nagra.com
CHINESE REGIONAL BROADCASTER Wenzhou TV has purchased a complete production infrastructure, conversion and switching solution from Snell as part of its upgrade to full HD production from studio to screen. The equipment was supplied via Snell’s regional partner, Beijing Xingguang Sanitec Science & Technology Co., Ltd. Already a Snell customer for both studio and OB equipment, Wenzhou TV once again turned to Snell to provide key technology for its upgrade to HD production. A Kahuna 6400, enabling simultaneous support and conversion of SD, HD and 1080p across all inputs and outputs, handles production switching. A KudosPro dual channel motion adaptive standards converter enables format and framerate conversion of non-native media, and a Pyxis router delivers multi-format signal routing. Snell IQ Modular provides video and audio processing infrastructure, including D/As, synchronisation, conversion and audio processing modules. Visit www.quantel.com and www.snellgroup.com
NXT DIGITAL, the Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) service platform from Grant Investrade Limited, part of the global Hinduja Group, has installed the iTX integrated playout platform from Grass Valley. The HITS platform will offer 500 channels to the fast-growing television market in India. NXT DIGITAL consolidates multiple broadcasters and provides a HITS distribution platform to cable networks. Networks can then customise the distribution for different subscription models, offering services such as video-on-demand (VOD) packages or using iTX to play a standard playlist of movies and special programs at fixed times on channels. NXT DIGITAL also installed Grass Valley’s iControl monitoring system, a highly adaptable television signal that’s compatible with multiple advanced electronic supervision technologies, including monitoring by exception. “With iTX, we know NXT DIGITAL will be able to serve a wide range of customers throughout India,” said Andrew Thornton, VP, Asia Pacific, Grass Valley. “The unified and streamlined workflows from iTX, from ingest to playout, help broadcasters reduce their operating expenses considerably.” Visit www.grassvalley.com
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CNN International Announces Roger Clark as HK Bureau Chief CNN INTERNATIONAL HAS ANNOUNCED the
and delivering international news to all of CNN’s networks and digital platforms.
promotion of Roger Clark to Vice President and Hong Kong Bureau Chief.
Most recently Clark was based in Jakarta acting as a senior consultant where he was instrumental in advising on the launch of CNN Indonesia.
A journalist for more than 30 years, Clark has been with CNN for over a decade, spending seven years as a Senior Director of Coverage based at the network’s headquarters in Atlanta. Clark was responsible for CNN’s day to day international newsgathering operations
Clark’s appointment in Hong Kong comes as the network announces further strategic staff appointments in Asia Pacific under the leadership of Ellana Lee, Senior Vice President and Managing Editor, CNN International.
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Senior field producer and veteran journalist Tim Schwarz has been promoted to Beijing Bureau Chief. Schwarz has more than 30 years’
experience in the industry including 23 years with CNN. He will be joined in Beijing by new International correspondent Matt Rivers. In addition, the HK bureau, a hub for newsgathering excellence, is also being boosted with the addition of an assignment editor and two CNN Style producers. The HK features department is also expanding with two new producers. “I am thrilled to be able to make these appointments as they reaffirm the importance of the Asia Pacific region and CNN’s commitment to delivering first-class journalism,” said Ellana Lee. Visit http://edition.cnn.com
Riedel Expands Team in Japan RESPONDING TO GROWING DEMAND for its solutions in Japan, Riedel Communications has augmented its Tokyo-based sales and support team with the appointment of Toshiki Kawakita as sales representative and Takako Konishi as office manager. In his new role with Riedel, Kawakita will be responsible for supporting existing customers, building new client and partner relationships, contributing to the company’s regional sales strategy, and representing Riedel at key trade events. “Toshiki and Takako join the company with valuable skills and experiences that enhance our ability to provide responsive service to a rapidly increasing customer base in Japan,” said Cameron O’Neill, sales and operations director for Riedel Communications, Asia Pacific. “We are confident that, with useful technical backgrounds and strong communications skills, both of these new additions to the Riedel team will play an important role in our continued growth.” Kawakita has 12 years of international business experience, most recently in the OEM sales department at Audio-Technica, a manufacturer of high-performance audio equipment including microphones, headphones, and conference systems. While with the company, he helped to drive significant sales gains and was instrumental in securing high-profile customers ranging from tech powerhouses to leading automotive companies. Konishi joins Riedel with experience working in the financial and efficient/renewable energy fields. Having pursued environmental studies in both Japan and Germany, she is fluent in Japanese and German, with intermediate English-language skills. She joins the company to manage the finance and administration of the Japanese office and to assist in providing timely service to Riedel’s expanding customer base. Visit www.riedel.net
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ASIA NEWS CHINA CHRISTIE, A GLOBAL LEADER in digital cinema projection, announced that Wanda Cinema Line, a subsidiary of Wanda Group and the world’s largest cinema operator with 195 theatres and 1,732 movie screens in China as at July 2015, will install upwards of 1,500 Christie Solaria Series 2K and 4K digital cinema projectors, as well as the Christie Vive Audio solution in selected theatres, over three years. Visit www.christiedigital.com
PAKISTAN THE PAKISTAN ELECTRONIC MEDIA REGULATORY AUTHORITY (PEMRA) has issued an invitation to companies interested in establishing and operating a Direct-to-Home (DTH) distribution service in Pakistan. A shortlist of applicants will be issued on November 27, 2015, with an auction for DTH licences and announcement of provisional successful bidders taking place on December 7. Visit www.pemra.gov.pk
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THE WHITESPACE ALLIANCE (WSA) announced India’s first whitespace pilot in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay at Mumbai (IIT Bombay). The program uses standards-based products and services that dynamically allocate underutilised spectrum to provide broadband Internet services. The powerful propagation characteristics of TV band signals make them ideal for use in rural areas where wired infrastructure is not cost effective to deploy, and vegetation makes line-of-sight wireless solutions unreliable.
MALAYSIAN PAY-TV OPERATOR Astro have launched a new OD (on demand) offering. OD is available to Astro customers through an Internet-connected Personal Video Recorder (PVR) at home, or via Astro on the Go (AOTG) on a smartphone, laptop or tablet, with options to suit different needs and every budget. NonAstro customers can also enjoy our OD content via AOTG.
Visit www.whitespacealliance.org
ASIA’S LEADING SATELLITE OPERATOR Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) announced that ST Teleport, a full-service satellite and fibre communications solutions provider based in Singapore, has expanded its capacity commitment and strategic partnership with AsiaSat to enhance service offerings to the VSAT and media sectors. ST Teleport’s advanced earth station complex facilities in Singapore is now capable of connecting to AsiaSat’s comprehensive fleet of satellites to offer more choices to customers.
Visit www.watchod.com
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JAPAN BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED that Blackmagic products, including Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K and ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K, were used for the live streaming and recording of seminars held at the recent TEDxFUKUOKA 2015 event in Japan. TEDxFUKUOKA is part of the worldwide set of TEDx conferences. Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
KOREA THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC)’s Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 has concluded its fifth visit (22-24 September) to the Korean host city positive about the progress being made, while underlining the importance of test events for the Games preparations. The Commission was joined for the meeting by representatives of the seven International Federations of sports on the programme of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Visit www.olympic.org
HONG KONG IMAX CORPORATION HAS ANNOUNCED that shares of IMAX China Holding, Inc., a Cayman Islands company, began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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“We are very pleased with the result of our IPO in Hong Kong,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “We believe it provides investors the ability to access our IMAX China business directly, and provides greater clarity into the performance of those assets in the fastestgrowing entertainment market in the world.”
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AUSTRALIA NBN HAS S UCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED its first broadband satellite into orbit. Blasting 36,000kms into space from Guiana Space Centre in South America, Sky Muster, is one of the world’s most-advanced communication satellites and will play a critical role in providing fast broadband access to around 400,000 Australian homes and businesses. Visit www.nbnco.com.au
NEW ZEALAND COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER AMY ADAMS has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the next stage of rolling out fast, reliable broadband to New Zealanders. There are more than 110 towns and communities noted in the RFP as potential areas for inclusion. The long list is made up of the next largest towns not covered by the first phase of the Ultra-Fast Broadband initiative. Visit www.beehive.govt.nz
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Konstantin Knauf New MD for Qvest Media Singapore
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QVEST MEDIA, a provider of IT and audiovisual solutions for broadcasting
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and media infrastructures, has announced Konstantin Knauf as Managing Director of Qvest Media Singapore. Knauf is responsible for the development and growth of the location as well as for managing the company’s project portfolio and sales activities there.
The new addition to the management team underlines Qvest Media’s approach of promoting internal talent. “We are delighted to be able to fill this position with a candidate from our management development program. Thanks to his work in large international projects such as MediaCorp in the APAC region, Konstantin Knauf is very familiar with the markets, customers and partners there,” said Peter Nöthen, CEO of Qvest Media.
Konstantin Knauf has been working for the Qvest Media for seven years, managing large infrastructure projects in Germany, the Middle East and Southeast Asia in the Consulting & Development division. As Managing Director of Qvest Media Singapore, he will be the new contact person for key customers and, in addition to managing sales activities, he will continue to supervise the realisation of the new MediaCorp broadcasting centre as
Ideal Group Appoints Mark Moore as CEO for Japan
Vizrt Names Coniglio APAC VP
IDEAL GROUP HAS APPOINTED Mark Moore as CEO of Japan. Mark will
company as Vice President Media Asset Management in the APAC region.
be responsible for the overall business development strategies, as well as identifying emerging technologies to bring to the local market. Mark has close to 20 years of experience in the broadcast industry. Having spent 15 years in Japan, he is well versed in the local business culture and his strong relations with key players in the industry will be critical to Ideal Japan’s success. Prior to joining Ideal Group, Mark has held the position of Director of Sales and Marketing for listed companies in Evertz and Media Global Links. “I’ve had the pleasure to work with Ideal Systems throughout Asia and am honoured to be part of this impressive group,” said Moore. “I look forward to the challenge ahead of establishing Ideal Japan as the leader in bringing cutting edge technologies to the Japanese market.” Jim Butler, Managing Director of Ideal Group, said, “We are very pleased to have Mark join us having worked together for many years. Mark brings a wealth of experience to Ideal Group and his understanding of the local industry, culture and language is an asset to expand the scope of operations in Japan.” Visit www.idealsys.com
JAA Systems Appoints David Chan as GM
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VIZRT HAS ANNOUNCED that Straker Coniglio has joined the
Coniglio has worked in the television industry for over 20 years in several professions such as video journalist, editing, directing, and producing. His work has appeared on CNN, NBC, ESPN, and other international outlets including freelancing in LA and Honolulu. Coniglio was honoured with two Emmy awards before leaving television to help vendors design solutions that meet the needs of major broadcasters. “Straker Coniglio is an excellent fit to the APAC management, one that brings both a wealth of experience, with long proven sales and management history, Straker is the right person to lead the MAM team in APAC to the next stage,” said Michael Namatinia, President, Vizrt APAC “I am excited to be joining the leading the most innovative company in the MAM space,” said Straker. “Vizrt has a great reputation for successful MAM deployments across the world. The team in APAC in particular is one of the most experienced having already had much success in helping customers bring order to the chaos of file-based workflows.” Visit www.vizrt.com
Timlin Takes on BDM Role with Cine Equipment INDUSTRY VETERAN ANDREW TIMLIN has been appointed as Business
DAVID CHAN IS NOW HEADING THE COMPANY that supports dealers and users
Development Manager for the Cine Equipment Group of Companies, based in Singapore.
of Jünger Audio products in South East Asia. JAA Systems Sdn Bhd has appointed Mr. Chan as its new General Manager. He will be based in Jünger Audio’s office in Malaysia.
Cine Equipment has been a leading supplier of Film, Broadcast, Post and Lighting equipment in South East Asia over the past 20 years acting as the dealer for ARRI, Cooke, Zeiss, CMotion, Quantel, Panasonic VariCam, Leica, Ronford-Baker, and other brands. With Timlin now on board, the company is expanding it presence into the audio sector.
Mr. Chan, who has many years of experience in the broadcast industry, will manage and run the daily operations of JAA Systems Sdn Bhd. This company was established in 2014 to provide technical support to broadcast customers in South East Asia, in particular those using Jünger Audio products and systems.
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Visit www.qvestmedia.com
“I am thrilled to be joining JAA Systems Sdn Bhd,” says Mr. Chan. “As Jünger Audio has become a household name to most broadcasters here, it is essential to maintain good relationships and provide the best support to all clients.” Visit www.jaasys.com
Timlin’s previous experience includes GM of GearHouse Broadcast (Australia), BDM for Panavision Asia-Pacific and CEO of Broadcam Australia. “I’m very much looking forward to this new challenge in this exciting region,” says Andrew Timlin. “South East Asia plays a more and more crucial role in film/TV production, with large scale film making facilities now in operation in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippine and Indonesia. I feel that the timing is right for me to come and see what how I can improve the local market by providing the best equipment from the best production equipment sales company in South East Asia.” Visit www.cine-equipment.com
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MediaCorp Appoints Cheah Chee Kong Chief Content Officer MEDIACORP HAS ANNOUNCED the appointment of industry veteran Cheah Chee Kong as Chief Content Officer; a move the Singapore company says underlines its commitment to creating quality content. Mr Cheah will join MediaCorp on 9 November 2015 to drive the content strategy and development for its extensive portfolio of entertainment products across its TV and digital platforms as well as content syndication.
where he held creative, content and marketing portfolios. He has over 20 years’ experience in the media industry, starting as a producer in Television Corporation of Singapore – what is MediaCorp today.
On his appointment, Mr Cheah said, “The role of Chief Content Officer is one of the most exciting jobs in the industry and I’m thrilled to be joining the MediaCorp team at this juncture. MediaCorp continues to be a great incubator for creativity and talent, both as a content creator and as a partner to individuals and companies in the industry.”
Mr Cheah reports to CEO Shaun Seow, who said, “I am delighted that Chee Kong, or CheeK as he is better known, is rejoining us at MediaCorp. His experience and expertise will ensure we continue to develop relevant, innovative and marketable content for Singapore and the international market.”
Prior to this, Mr Cheah was at Scripps Networks Interactive, Asia Pacific
Visit www.mediacorp.sg
Ideal Systems Expands Indonesia Team with Firdaus Sikumbang FIRDAUS SIKUMBANG HAS JOINED Ideal Systems Indonesia as Broadcast Project Manager as part of Ideal Systems’ continued growth in Indonesia. Firdaus has more than 15 years of experience in broadcast industry, one and a half years as broadcast engineer with ANTV and more than 13 years at Global TV Indonesia as system engineer. Firdaus was deeply involved in a number of
broadcast projects at Global TV, especially in Master Control area and other areas such as Media Preparation, post production and studios. He was one of the key members in MNC project team, which was tasked to build the integrated system at “MNC Studio’s Kebon Jeruk”. “Firdaus joins us at a very exciting time for Ideal in Indonesia to assist with ongoing projects and to work with on the development of a number of exciting new services that Ideal will be launching in Indonesia in the coming months,” Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO Ideal Systems S.E.A. Visit www.idealsys.com
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Magna Expands Tedial Partnership in Asia Pacific IN ONE OF THE MORE HIGH PROFILE MOVES of its kind this year Magna Systems and Engineering has significantly expanded and bolstered its partnership with media asset management specialists Tedial across the Asia Pacific region. The move sees additional resources and infrastructure in pre-sales, sales, service and support. Included are two additional Tedial specialists as full time solutions architects based in Magna’s Sydney offices with responsibilities that reach across all of Magna’s other offices including New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. Magna Systems Executive Chairman, Robert Clemesha, said, “Our partnership with Tedial provides a tier one offering in the Asia Pacific region that offers the most benefits to our clients. Smart media professionals today demand tangible benefits from the business of media management and require business solutions that applies IT practices and technologies to all of their media orientated operations in order to maximise the capabilities of their modern multi-discipline facilities. Tedial has a proven pedigree of delivering these benefits and many more.” Tedial has won many admirers lately including the IABM who recently gave the company its Game Changer Award in recognition of the company’s innovative technology and in particular Tedial Evolution, the Next Generation
MediaGeniX Opens Offices in Thailand and Singapore MEDIAGENIX, THE PROVIDER OF broadcast management systems, has taken another step in its commitment to the Asia-Pacific region opening an office in Singapore and another in Thailand to serve growing demand. Managing Director Asia, Johan Vanmarcke, will lead the offices. MediaGeniX develops and implements WHATS’On, a Broadcast Management System that is the backbone for broadcasters, ondemand service providers, platform and telco operators. MediaGeniX provides customers with a solution for channel management including scheduling, promotions, media & rights management and reporting. The two offices will together form the new branch MediaGeniX Pte Ltd, which will function as an account management and implementation base to feel and respond to the market’s heartbeat. It will leverage the MediaGeniX expertise in the region and offer Asia-based customers access to its solution and services, the broadcast management system WHATS’On, attuned to the specific needs and requirements of the Asian market. Visit www.mediagenix.tv
RTHK Appoints New Director of Broadcasting
NEWS + PEOPLE
Robert concluded, “With the Magna Systems Tedial partnership media professionals and Part of the Magna Systems and Engineering Tedial Asia Pacific partnership team (l-r) David Abel, Barry Pegg, broadcasters across Esther Mesas, Robert Clemesha, Dave Demmocks, and the Asia Pacific Pedro Gomez. now have a full range of scalable, flexible solutions that adapt to legacy systems and enable fast, advanced updates and changes to address any fast-evolving business. They also have the benefit of Magna Systems’ 47 years experience in the IT, broadcast, telecoms and communications industries to support them.” Visit www.magnasys.tv and www.tedial.com
Record Growth for Indian Set-Top Shipments MEMBER COUNTRIES of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have experienced record growth in the Set-Top-Box market for the third quarter of 2015. According to a new report from research firm Dataxis, “The STB Market in SAARC countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)-Q32015”, STB shipments to SAARC countries have witnessed 73% quarter-on-quarter growth during the Q3 2015. In the quarter under consideration, 7.34 million STBs were shipped in the SAARC region with an estimated value of USD$176 million. With pay-tv industry in all major SAARC countries moving toward digitization – mandatory or voluntary – STBs of all kind from SD to HDTV and hybrid boxes are witnessing steady and robust growth. India leads the STB shipments for the period – driven, in part, by rapid digitization in the phase 3 cities of India – accounting for about 97% of the total shipments to the SAARC region in the September ended quarter of 2015, according to the Dataxis analysis. Skyworth tops the STB shipments to SAARC in the Q3 2015. The company reportedly has plans to locally manufacture STBs for the Indian market. Local manufacturing in India, which accounted for just 5% of total STBs sold during the first and second phase of seeding, is showing steady growth in the third phase. Dataxis estimates that the sale of made-in-India STBs will witness growth up to 15% in the fourth phase of digitization.
wing as Director of Broadcasting. Mr. Leung is a veteran media professional who possesses extensive experiences in both production and administration and has held key posts in various media fields, both local and overseas.
The government was also proactive during the period by promoting the make in India campaign in the sector. The decisions of Airtel Digital TV, Dish DTH and Videocon D2H, the three major DTH players, to opt for indigenous brands have also boosted the Indian STB industry.
RTHK believe that Mr. Leung will be able to lead their professional team to play to their role as public broadcaster in an impartial manner, to hold fast to the principle of editorial independence, and to provide infotainment programmes to the community through the convergence of radio and television services with internet on-line programming and various new media technologies in this Transmedia Era.
Another notable trend, according to the Dataxis Research, is the increase in demand for High-Definition and Ultra HD STBs in the region. Dataxis’s analysis of STB shipment for the Q2 2015 and Q3 2015, depicts steady growth in the volume of HD STBs shipped to India. The rise in the number of HD and UHD STBs has also contributed to a rise in the average selling price of STBs to the country.
Visit http://rthk.hk
Visit www.dataxis.com
RADIO TELEVISION HONG KONG (RTHK) has announced Mr. Leung Ka-
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MAM which provides a suite of Media IT tools that includes MPM and BPM workflow tools as well as MAM and Hierarchical Storage Management.
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Finding the Silver Bullet in the Golden Age of TV By Keith Ford THE BROADCAST INDUSTRY is in the midst of a shake-up, as all involved well know and recognise. The factor that is up in the air is one of scale. How much will new platforms impact more traditional viewing methods, and how quickly? Speaking at the ASTRA Conference 2015, Hernan Lopez, President & CEO Fox International Channels, faces the question head-on and poses a strategy for succeeding in this ever-evolving landscape. “The numbers are really staggering,” said Lopez. “Creators are coming to television in droves to create some of the best television shows we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes. In the year 2000, 136 television scripted shows were made in the US. This year some people say there will be 400 scripted television shows, and each of them will cost at least twice as much to make. The current era of television has been universally recognised as a Golden Age, with premium drama reaching heights of critical acclaim that have never been seen, in both a sense of quality and volume. Many rate incredibly well; AMC’s The Walking Dead surpasses 20 million viewers in the US alone and HBO’s Game of Thrones is their most watched series ever. Despite all of this, business models are being questioned and deemed to be failing. “There’s a lot of anxiety among main investors. Some people on one extreme argue that we are watching television, but we’re only doing it on our tablets, desktops, and smart phones, ‘personal screens’. They argue that this transition makes the traditional media business models obsolete. And the only way in which you can reach a 30 year old, or anybody under 30 today, is on their smart phone,” said Lopez. When it comes to the question of succeeding in the current landscape, there are a variety of strategies. The old adage that ‘Content is King’ is one that is inevitably trotted out in a discussion such as this, as does the idea that distribution is, in fact, King. The jockeying for position is worthy of Game of Thrones itself, and the allegiances inspire just as much passion. “One position is that as long as you have your content, you’ll be fine. When the whole market thinks that way though, it’s no surprise that first the cost of licensing shows goes up, then followed by how much of it is made, and the cost of the content that we make,” explained Lopez. “So on one point it’s fair to ask the question, how much is too much? Have we reached the point where there’s so much content that consumers are over-served? That in their mind content has become commoditised so distribution is king again? “Distribution has always been and will always be essential. Without distribution you have no chance. Without your product in front of consumers, obviously you have no chance of being sold at all. One school of thought
however, very popular in Silicon Valley, is if you just make your product absolutely great, consumers will magically find you. So this is the school of thought that essentially minimises the value of distribution. “Netflix and Amazon are companies that come from the tech war, yet when you buy a new television set, and you see that both Netflix and Amazon have paid money to have their own dedicated button on the remote control, you see that they too understand the value of distribution, they’re just trying to get it in a different way, but they know that it’s essential to their business.” This is where the changes to the broadcast industry necessitate another dimension. 20 years ago having content and distribution might have been enough, but in the new world of massively increased competition consumers need a shortcut to finding the content they want. “The most time-tested way of doing it is called a brand. Under the argument that the content is king, the brand is the castle. Content obviously comes before brand; a brand without content is like a castle without a king. But a king, even the most powerful king, one day will be gone, yet the castle, the brand, if you build it right, if you maintain it, can thrive for generations,” explained Lopez. When a customer calls a subscription television service for the first time they don’t ask if it has The Walking Dead, argues Lopez, they ask if it carries the FX channel. “Let’s say that you do have distribution, you do have content, you do have brand. That all used to be enough up until maybe two years ago,” said Hernan. “It won’t be enough in the future if you don’t have a great user experience.” “There is a fundamental reason to be optimistic about the future of the television industry. Consumers are spending more time in front of more screens than ever, and that cultural impact is attracting more talent to the television industry, both from the creative side and the technology side. There is, I believe, a pot of gold in this new golden age in TV, but it’s not for everybody. It is for the companies that find the formula. If anybody tells you that there’s a single silver bullet that will get you that pot of gold, don’t believe it; you need many,” concluded Hernan Lopez. Visit http://foxinternationalchannels.com
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Fox International Channels Chooses MediaHub Australia Playout Platform
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FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS (FIC) Australia, a division of 21st Century FOX, recently chose MediaHub Australia as its playout platform for all of its channels throughout Australia and New Zealand including the entertainment channel FX, and factual channels National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild, and Nat Geo People.
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FIC Director of Technical Operations, Stephen Lloyd, said, “FIC was seeking a 21st century, high-quality, technology-led, efficient Australian-based full service media playout operation. We found that and more in MediaHub, who demonstrated a great can-do working culture with the ability to be flexible and responsive ensuring we get the best on-air presentation for our viewers, which is what matters most. I look forward to a productive partnership in the years ahead.” The implementation began in what was an incredibly tight timeframe from signing contracts to parallel broadcast operations. A fact and a feat not lost on Lloyd who remarked, “In just eight weeks MediaHub have managed to
MediaHub Australia CEO, Alan Sweeney, said, “We are absolutely delighted to have an organisation of Fox International Channels’ stature as a partner and to be handling and managing the playout for all of their channels. Not only are the Fox International Channels premium channels, but their decision to partner with MediaHub further validates our offering to the market in general. MediaHub is open for business and very ready to manage new channels and data services as the market requires.” The FX, Nat Geo (to Foxtel and SKY NZ), Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo People channels will be live and on air through MediaHub on 1 December 2015. Visit www.mediahubaustralia.com
NEWS + PEOPLE
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provide the total Australia and New Zealand playout platform and services for all FIC channels with very a compelling SLA target. This includes full data centre services for FIC, presentation, monitoring, logging, and delivery of all feeds to Foxtel and SKY NZ. “
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Inter BEE 2015 PREVIEW International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition
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4K, 8K and Beyond at InterBEE 2015 HELD UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), InterBEE 2015, Japan’s pre-eminent event for video, audio and communications professionals will be held at Makuhari Messe (Mihama Ward, Chiba City) over three days from November 18 (Wednesday) to 20 (Friday), 2015. With Japan embracing 4K and already dipping its toe into 8K, exhibitors and speakers will be putting forward technological proposals and new products aimed at 4K/8K production. In the first Keynote at InterBEE 2015 entitled “4K/8K Roadmap 2015: Future Business Outlook”, there will be presentations from Mr. Yoshida, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; Mr. Hamada, Chief Engineer of NHK, and others from SKY Perfect JSAT, NTT Plala, Jupiter Telecommunications and NexTV-F. In a special project called “InterBEE Connected”, nine themes that are now attracting a interest in the broadcasting world will be taken up with talks and panel discussions every day by key persons working on the frontline of broadcast communication cooperation. In the second Keynote session, “Start of the Official Commercial Broadcaster Television Portal ‘TVer’ Service: Thinking about the Future of Video Distribution”, there will be appearances by representatives from Nippon Television Network, TV Asahi, TBS TV, TV Tokyo and Fuji TV as panelists. InterBEE will feature an outdoor flight demonstration highlighting aerial photography by drones, technology that is currently in high demand. A special speech, “Thinking About the Next Generation Services in Television Broadcasting As We Welcome the ‘My Number’ Era”, will be given by Mr. Iizumi, the Tokushima Prefectural Governor, and there will be a panel discussion moderated by Prof. Sudo from The University of Tokyo Graduate School.
A complimentary session, Taking on the Challenge of Next Generation Entertainment, will also be held on Wednesday, November 18, and will examine “live entertainment” that fuses video, sound, lighting and performance and “content technology” to provide new experiences such as VR, AR, and interactive. Leaders of overseas companies and organisations will also introduce advanced initiatives and the latest trends every day. These will include cloud utilisation proposals by Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and initiatives aimed at the Rio Olympics by the Brazilian TV Broadcasting Technology Association. A number of free symposiums will also be held during InterBEE 2015, including: ¡
Video Symposium: “New Content Production Trends: Impact of the Visualisation of Big Data”
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Audio Symposium: “Present and Future of the 700M Band Wireless Switch: Four Years Before the Complete Frequency Switch in 2019”
There will also be a series of Tutorial Sessions aimed at young engineers. Held in conjunction with InterBEE 2015 will be the 3rd Japan Post Production Conference. Finally, the Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association will be sponsoring the 52nd JBA Symposium of Broadcast Technology which will tackle topics including: Pictorial Image Technology; Production Engineering; Sound Broadcasting/Audio; Datacasting/Digital Services; Transmission; Information Technology/Networks; Network Linkage/Communication; and Broadcast Engineering. Visit www.inter-bee.com
Ideal Systems Takes on IP and 4K IDEAL SYSTEMS (Hall 3, Booth 3207) will be at InterBEE 2015 under the leadership of new Japan CEO Mark Moore and will highlight Evertz’s Software Defined Video Networking (SDVN) with a focus on moving 4K / 8K content over IP. The company will also feature Evertz’s DREAMCATCHER IPbased 4K replay system. Also on show will be the SOFTCAST fully integrated 4K playout solution, and IP analysers from PROVIDIUS. DEJERO will also demonstrate its bonded cellular technology for content acquisition.
INTER BEE 2015 PREVIEW
The new SC-AutoPlay is the SOFTCAST application for Linear Channel and Multi-Channel Automation and Playout in SD, HD, 4K and IP. A key advantage of SC-Autoplay is that it automates traditional video server playout with device control of third party devices such as GPI’s, graphics and subtitles and can also operate as an IT Channel in a Box configuration running on standard IT hardware.
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As the industry migrates towards an IP-centric facility, Evertz’ Software Defined Video Networking (SDVN) allows content providers to transition from SDI to IP without compromise. Leveraging Evertz high capacity switch fabrics (including EXE and/or 3080IPX) with Evertz MAGNUM unified control system, the SDVN solution can be applied throughout the facility for production, playout, and WAN distribution. Evertz’ SDVN offers broadcasters, content distributors and a flexible, format agnostic and scalable infrastructure for SD, HD, 3G, and Ultra HD (4K and 8K) video. Evertz’s DREAMCATCHER is changing the face of production and instant replay. DREAMCATCHER’s rapid editing capabilities combined with enhanced production workflow allow replay operators to be true craftsman in their profession Visit www.idealsys.com
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Riedel Products on Display at InterBEE 2015 At InterBEE 2015, exhibiting on the Otaritec stand, Riedel will be showcasing MediorNet MicroN, Tango TNG-200 Fully Networked Platform Supporting RAVENNA/AES67 and AVB, RSP-2318 Smartpanel, and STX-200 Professional Broadcast-Grade Interface. MICRON IS AN 80G media distribution network device for Riedel’s MediorNet line of media transport and management solutions. Working seamlessly with the MediorNet MetroN core fibre router, MicroN is a highdensity signal interface with a complete array of audio, video, and data inputs and outputs, including 24 SD/HD/3G-SDI I/Os, two MADI optical digital audio ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, two sync reference I/Os, and eight 10Gb MediorNet high-speed links. MicroN is available as a fully networked MediorNet device, as well as in a point-to-point edition, at a very competitive price point.
into an efficient intercom system that users can tailor according to their needs. The asymmetric 40 x 80 matrix size of “My First Riedel” is another Riedel innovation, allowing for standard premium-quality stereo audio connections to panels. The new RSP-2318 Smartpanel offers features and capabilities that will enrich the user experience and change the way broadcasters and A/V professionals communicate. As the world’s first control panel designed to serve as a powerful multifunctional user interface, the Riedel device boasts a unique feature set that includes three high-resolution, sunlight-readable, multitouch colour displays; premium-quality stereo audio; a multilingual character set; and 18 keys in just 1 RU. These features make Riedel’s new Smartpanel a powerful user interface that can be further expanded through the use of apps. Three apps are available offering different levels of functionality. RAVENNA/AES67 and AVB connectivity are standard, with AES3 over CAT/coax optional.
The Tango TNG-200 represents Riedel’s first network-based platform supporting RAVENNA/AES67 and AVB standards. With its own dedicated intercom application, the platform can be turned into a flexible, cuttingedge solution for a variety of communications scenarios. The unit itself is equipped with a high-resolution, full-colour TFT display that ensures perfect readability at all times. Intuitive front-panel controls simplify the recall of presets and adjustment of audio levels. Along with powerful processing capabilities, the Tango TNG-200 features two integrated Riedel digital partylines, two RAVENNA/AES67- and AVB-compatible ports, two Ethernet ports, one option slot, and redundant power supplies.
Riedel’s STX-200 professional broadcast-grade interface brings any Skype user worldwide into the professional broadcast environment. Licensed by Microsoft, the new Riedel product meets broadcasters’ increasing need for a reliable single-box solution that enables them to bring live contributions from both reporters and viewers into live programming — all while avoiding typical problems such as consumer PCs running common Skype clients, the need to add scan and HDMI-to-SDI converters, or audio dropouts and menu pop-ups on the live feed. Serving as more than a stand-alone product, Riedel’s STX-200 integrates Skype into the intercom solution to enable even more powerful, flexible applications and workflows. The 1-RU box offers broadcast-quality HD-SDI and balanced XLR audio I/Os and is packaged with professional Microsoft Skype TX software. The STX-200’s broad feature set includes remote management and monitoring of Skype calls.
“My First Riedel”, a dedicated intercom application, turns the Tango platform
Visit www.riedel.net
Ultra 4K Test & Measurement - SD to 12G-SDI
Build, test and commission UHD-TV products and infrastructure with complete confidence
www.omnitek.tv
12G/6G/3G/HD/SD-SDI for UHD & DCI DisplayPort up to 4K60 and HDMI 4K Analysis ○ Eye pattern with automatic measurement ○ Jitter Meters, Spectrum and Histogram ○ Status, ANC decode & Watch ○ Gamut check ○ Audio PPM & Status ○ Zoom View, Data View, Cable View ○ SDI & inter-link timing measurement 4K Generation ○ Uncompressed sequence capture & playout ○ Active video AND ancillary information ○ User-defined 4K moving test patterns ○ Jitter insertion, voltage & slew-rate control ○ SDI inter-link delay insertion 4K Conversion ○ High quality up, down and cross ○ conversion between all I/Os ○ Remote control & SNMP automation
Visit Omnitek on the TechnoHouse booth - Hall 5/5402
INTER BEE 2015 PREVIEW
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INTER BEE 2015 PREVIEW
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INTER BEE 2015 PREVIEW
Dan Dugan Introduces Auto Mic Mixer at InterBee DAN DUGAN SOUND DESIGN, INC. is demonstrating the new Dugan Model N automatic microphone mixer with Dante I/O at InterBEE 2015. The Model N has primary and secondary Dante network connectors and is Power over Ethernet (PoE) capable. It provides 32 channels of Dugan auto-mixing at 96K or 64 channels at 48K. Dugan Speech System, Music System and Gain Limiting algorithms are all supported. In addition the Model N includes a new scene memory that can record and recall all operating settings, either globally or by unit, in a library of named scenes. Like other digital Dugans, the Dugan Model N can be controlled from its front panel, the Dugan Control Panel for Java (supplied free), the updated Dugan Control Panel for iPad (coming soon), and/or the Dugan Model K Tactile Control Panel. The front panel features a complete miniature Dugan Control Panel on a bright OLED display, operated by navigation keys and a rotary encoder for setting values. The product offers standard Dugan linking for larger systems, or alternatively, 16 channels of ADAT I/O. Visit www.dandugan.com
Harmonic Unleashes Broadcaster Potential AT INTERBEE 2015, Harmonic (Hall 3, Booth 3308) will highlight solutions designed to help broadcasters and service providers unleash the full potential of their SD, HD and Ultra HD (UHD) content with the industry’s most flexible media-over-IP architecture. From IP playout to fully virtualised UHD media processing workflows, Harmonic will demonstrate how its video processing, virtualised video infrastructure and channel playout solutions enable the creation, delivery and monetisation of amazing video experiences with agility and cost-efficiency.
INTER BEE 2015 PREVIEW
The company also will showcase beautiful imagery from the NASA TV UHD channel launched jointly by Harmonic and NASA. The channel, which represents the first consumer UHD channel in North America, features mesmerising images of rocket launches, earth views, life on the International Space Station and deep space.
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Ultra 4K Tool Box on Display from Omnitek EXHIBITNG ON THE TECHNOHOUSE BOOTH (Hall 5, Booth 5402) at InterBEE 2015, Omnitek is showing the Ultra 4K Tool Box featuring the analysis, generation and conversion of UHDTV signals including the world’s very first 12G-SDI Physical Layer analysis and generation toolset. The Ultra supports SD through to 4K60 UHDTV via quad 3G, dual 6G, 12G-SDI and DisplayPort. The Ultra has recently seen the addition of a fully featured 12G-SDI Physical Layer toolset, the likes of which have hitherto only been seen on high-end oscilloscopes. The Ultra, at a fraction of the cost, provides real-time 12G-SDI Eye with automatic rise & fall-time measurement, Jitter meters, waveform, histogram and Jitter spectrum analysis. On the generator side, output Jitter insertion, voltage control and slew-rate control are supported – a comprehensive suite of tools essential for 4K product development. Full gearbox conversion between the Ultra’s I/O is provided, enabling for example, 4K60 over quad-link 3G Square Division to single-link 12G 2-Sample Interleave conversion. Ultra also offers SD to 4K moving test pattern uncompressed generation and capture. Visit www.omnitek.tv
SGL Highlighting FlashNet at InterBEE AT INTERBEE 2015, SGL (Booth 2623) will highlight their FlashNet content management solution, which is designed to integrate seamlessly with MAM or automation control systems to provide significant improvements to workflow efficiency without intruding on the users’ familiar desktop. SGL will have a Sony Optical Disk Archive (ODA) on its booth and will demonstrate the fully integrated SGL FlashNet and Sony ODA workflow. SGL’s integration with Sony ODA opens up a world of workflow possibilities, from disaster recovery solutions to management of archive material over disparate geographic areas.
Harmonic will showcase its new fully converged platform for broadcast and OTT delivery of SD, HD and UHD/4K content at InterBEE 2015, the Electra X3 Advanced Media Processor.
SGL will show a FlashNet and FOR-A LTR–100HS workflow demonstration. SGL FlashNet is fully integrated with FOR-A’s LTR100HS standalone video archiving recorder. Fitted with an LTO drive, the LTR-100HS combined with SGL FlashNet provides a fully scalable archive workflow.
Featuring real-time encoding of SD, HD and UHD/4K media, integrated high-quality branding and graphics, and reliable transport stream playout, Electra X3 offers content and service providers market-leading video quality, unparalleled function integration and increased operational flexibility in a cost-effective appliance.
Cloud storage is playing an increasing role within archiving workflows. SGL, working closely with both Aspera and Data Expedition, enables broadcasters and content owners to transfer media to AWS cloud service at a guaranteed speed, providing an additional means of storage and disaster recovery workflows.
Harmonic will also showcase the Spectrum X next-generation media server system. Spectrum X elevates the industry’s most trusted server platform to new levels of flexibility, efficiency and reliability. Designed for production and playout applications, the Spectrum X media server system eases the transition to IP broadcast workflows by integrating SDI and IP I/O in the same chassis.
Whilst the fully implemented Avid Interplay Archive provides a seamless user experience, smaller work groups may require a paired down version. SGL’s support for Avid Web Services means that customers can use the archive capabilities that they currently require, but can employ Avid Integrated Archive at any time in the future without the need to re-archive any content.
Polaris is a new suite of playout management tools integrated with Harmonic’s market-leading Spectrum media server family. Designed to address the full range of playout applications for broadcasters, the Polaris suite represents the company’s first offering in the emerging media orchestration category, which is important as workflows consolidate and simplify, and video delivery becomes virtualised. The suite includes the Polaris Elite multichannel playout automation system, Polaris Advance integrated channel playout automation system, Polaris Live manual device control application and Polaris Play channel-in-a-box automation software. Visit www.harmonicinc.com
The latest version of FlashWeb includes enhanced search capabilities and simplified navigation allowing broadcasters and content owners to easily archive and restore material to any configured FlashNet disk or tape group. This can be achieved without the need for a controlling MAM or automation system. SGL is introducing the upcoming version of its FlashNet API, supporting REST via its new web service. This will further simplify FlashNet integration for partners and is to be formally released later in the year. Visit www.sglbroadcast.com
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Principal Sponsor
INNOVATING DIGITAL CONNECTIONS
Until recently, a viewer had to use a personal computer or laptop to watch online services such as catch-up TV or movies on demand. Now, with Connected TV, it is possible to access content from the comfort of your sofa and watch your favourite shows on television. The last few years have seen an increase in media industry activities around Connected TV. Content owners, broadcasters and technology providers are working together to find business models that will make Connected TV commercially viable and change the way we consume radio and television content. DBS-2016 aims to stimulate thinking among delegates on the business and technology strategies that will safeguard and grow radio and television services in the highly competitive connected era. The three-day event will address the multiplatform delivery of radio and TV in the future, the software defined platforms, networks and services, the transformation in the broadcasting field, the immersive audio and television experiences and the emergence of OTT as a pay and FTA service.
CONFERENCE
EXHIBITION
Save the Dates
29 February-3 March 2016 Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur Contact: dbs@abu.org.my
www.abu.org.my/dbsymposium
WORKSHOPS
ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition
Power Rangers Use ARRI AMIRA Cameras POWER RANGERS, THE ICONIC TV SHOW about a group of ordinary teens who morph into superheroes and save the world from evil recently wrapped production in Auckland. Power Rangers – Dino Charge, the 23rd series of the show, exclusively used ARRI AMIRA cameras for the entire shoot. Here the two DOPs on Power Rangers – Dino Charge, DJ Stipsen and Kevin Riley, explain the shoot, its challenges and why they chose AMIRA cameras. DJ Stipsen explained, “Over the years that Power Rangers has been shooting they have used a variety of cameras and formats. Starting with 16mm film for drama and 35mm for green screen/wire work, then going digital with Red One, followed by the ALEXA. The producers have always been open to format change so they can keep pace with evolving camera technologies. We looked at all options in the digital realm for this series to find a format that would deliver the best possible pictures while maintaining the show’s style, having an easy post process and staying within budget. “The AMIRA was just released and there were a couple of things that when comparing all the camera options, put the AMIRA in the lead. One
was that it was small, lightweight yet very robust – we had Steadicam full time on main unit and 2nd unit generally do a lot of handheld work. Another was the ability to go from 24 FPS up 200 FPS at the flick of a switch with no reboot time and stay at 2K 12bit ProRes 4444 – again, 2nd unit shoot a lot of off speed.” After talking with the producers, post supervisor and VFX house it was decided that 2K would be acceptable for the show, even with the amount of green screen and wire work that 2nd unit would be doing, and wouldn’t hinder the VFX team. Stipsen continued, “Post love the ease of the ProRes 4444 format and we liked the rendering of flesh tones that the ARRI ALEXA family of cameras delivers. As we needed three camera bodies at all times across the two units, and due to the fact that the ALEXA and AMIRA share the same chip we knew we could, at a pinch, use an ALEXA on set as an additional camera.” Power Rangers – Dino Charge Main Unit ran two AMIRA camera bodies full time with Production mode, Dolly and Steadicam configurations as the default. For the most part, even when on sticks, the cameras would utilise sliders of various lengths either to get onto the eye line or to
correct over the shoulder masking on the fly. As he reflected on the entire production and how the AMIRAs handled everything they threw at them, DJ Stipsen concluded, “We didn’t have any ‘typical’ shots’ on Power Rangers – Dino Charge. We did have some ‘rules’ around main and 2nd unit though. Generally Main unit would shoot the humans and drama and 2nd unit would shoot the action, fights and monsters. 2nd unit did a lot more handheld work than Main, and I know they loved the AMIRA for this. Main Unit shot a lot more production mode and Steadicam, which again the AMIRA was a winner for because of its lightweight.” Visit www.arri.com.au
the essence of venerated Kiwi climber and adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand cinematographer David Paul NZCS knew he would be asking a lot of his camera. For the six-part, prestige drama he needed a camera to capture feature-quality images, but he would need to carry that same camera up high snowy mountain slopes where the progress would be no more than three steps up, two steps back.
ACQUISITION
“The choice of a Sony F55 camera for this production was a no-brainer,” Paul says, “I can just grab it and I am ready to go. I have used all the main cameras, and so sometimes people wonder out loud why it is now my camera of choice, but when they see the pictures they go quiet.”
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For Hillary he shot with the Sony PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K digital camera for nine weeks in Auckland, two weeks in Mount Cook, and two weeks in Nepal. The challenge for Paul was to visually retell Sir Ed’s life up to the Everest climb, his Antarctic and New Zealand adventures, and his turmoil after the death of his wife in Nepal. With six hours of flagship television to shoot, the schedule left no room for superfluous gear or second chances. “I loved the pressure of shooting a six-part
series about Sir Ed,” says Paul. “It’s a chance we’ll never get again. Yet so much of it comes back to the images. I think of the Sony F55 like some of the Vision 3 Kodak film stocks – it’s not imposing anything on you. Unlike some digital cameras it is not saying ‘this is your look’, it is saying ‘here is your image, you can go and do what you want with it’.”
Although the Sony F55 has the option of recording true 4K thanks to a native super 35mm 4K sensor, this project was shot in HD. Paul says going HD allowed them to use internal recording cards, minimising the size and weight of the kit. He chose the SR-SQ recording codec and 4:4:4 for the cleanest green screen shots. For a second camera, Paul chose an S-Log capable Sony Alpha a7S fitted with a PL mount, forming a kit that he slipped into his backpack
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Another imposition lifted by the Sony F55 is the rolling shutter look normally associated with CMOS imagers. “The global shutter is a huge advance,” says Paul. “Suddenly you are not worrying about vertical lines or panning. The motion overall has a much nicer feel to it, even within a static frame – it’s quite subtle, but add these little things together and they count for something.”
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when flying to Nepal, just in case the main camera baggage went astray. Paul and his AC Sam Mathews repacked the camera baggage several times, eventually stripping the Nepal main camera kit down to just five cases. “We simply couldn’t have managed this with any other type of camera,” he says, “But we had to fly up into the mountains and the villages, where the planes aren’t very big.” Hillary premieres on New Zealand’s TV One in 2016. Visit http://pro.sony.com.au or http://pro.sony.co.nz
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Japanese Productions Take on Blackmagic Cameras Blackmagic Design has announced that TV Asahi, a Japanese broadcast network, uses Blackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K and Blackmagic Studio Camera HD for its new web-streaming studio. Hit comedy series, ‘Busu together Yaiyu’, produced by major Japanese broadcast network Fuji TV, also uses Blackmagic cameras with Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera as the show’s main production cameras. DaVinci Resolve Studio, along with other Blackmagic Design products, is also used in post-production. TV ASAHI, located in Roppongi, Tokyo, offers various programs such as news, sports, music, drama, and variety shows. They have built a dedicated studio for streaming programs and installed two ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4Ks, ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel, Blackmagic Studio Camera HD, HyperDeck Studio, UltraStudio Express, Mini Converters SDI to HDMI and SmartScope Duo. “This studio is for Internet programs, which means we have very limited budget and space, and only had a short time to build our system for the studio. Therefore, we needed something high quality, compact and affordable. Blackmagic has it all,” said Yosuke Kimura, manager, technical department, TV Asahi. “We need to provide a different service to paid subscribers and non paid subscribers, so we use dual switchers for the two different streams. The ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel or the Software Control panel can be connected to either switcher so that we can swap depending on the situation and continue our service. For example, we use the first ATEM switcher for main switching and use the second one to ‘cover’ what non paid audiences cannot see,” said Kimura. ”The program out and AUX out from the switcher are sent to four UltraStudio Express devices for capturing, allowing full streaming video for paid subscribers, free version of the streaming video for non paid subscriber and backup for both can be streamed via four computers. We also use the SmartScope Duo for monitoring full streaming video and free version,” he continued. There are five cameras used in the studio, including a Blackmagic Studio Camera HD. Three HyperDeck Studios are used as players for video clips shown during programs and as recorders. “Recorded data will be saved in an archive. We sometimes stream those after live streaming as on demand streaming. Since it’s recorded onto SSD, it allows us to edit and archive the footage more efficiently,” said Kimura. “We designed the three walls of the studio differently so that we could use this studio with different set designs when we move our equipment. However, the studio itself is very small, so we needed a very wide lens. Blackmagic Studio Camera HD is compatible with the wide lens we wanted use. The camera itself is compact, so it is suitable for use for such small space. Also, it is not only affordable and compact, but also has great colour correction tool for the camera.” “Busu to Yajyu,” (The Ugly and The Beast) is a love-comedy airing every Saturday at 11:40pm. Its lead characters are not so good-looking college coeds who fall in love with each other’s best friends. Production and post production for this tale of outcasts who are using each other to find love is done by VASC Inc., a group company of Fuji TV.
“We wanted to use multiple cameras, so we chose Blackmagic Cinema Camera MFT and EF models as well as Pocket Cinema Camera. Blackmagic cameras are capable of shooting in log and they are superior in showing highlight details compared to cameras that are mainly used for TV drama shooting in Japan. For example, if we shoot under the light filtering through the trees, regular cameras clip the highlights because the difference of shades is too wide between shadowy and sunny places. However, Blackmagic cameras can capture the details in such highlighted areas,” said Shinichi Kaitani, the DoP of VASC Inc. Blackmagic’s Cinema Camera MFT with Speed Booster and Yashika/ Contacs mount Carl Zeiss lens perform “A” camera duties, while the EF model with Canon lens is the “B” camera and is used mainly for close up shots. The Pocket Cinema Camera was the production’s “C” camera. The “A” and “B” cameras’ SDI outputs and the HDMI output of the Pocket Cinema Camera were converted on set to SDI using Blackmagic’s Mini Converter HDMI to SDI, with Vask also using a Blackmagic HDLink Pro DVI to apply a LUT on their preview monitor. “We use the Pocket Cinema Camera and take full advantage of its small size. For example, we set it up inside a student’s locker on the college campus. While there are other compact cameras we could use, the Pocket Cinema Camera offers the best image quality, which is what we wanted for this project,“ Kaitani said. “By using the Blackmagic cameras we have the flexibility to achieve our creativity. If we used conventional cameras, we would not be able to use multiple cameras because of budget restrictions. Also, with the wide dynamic range of the Blackmagic cameras, we can shoot where there are big differences between shadow and highlight without bringing in additional lighting.” After shooting each scene, the DIT makes a copy of the SSDs and SD cards while the camera staff prepares for next scene. Footage is then graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio on set. “Busu to Yajyu”’s producer, Takuya Ikea of Fuji TV drama production centre, concluded, “With a limited budget, we are looking for a better way to make great work and came up with a great workflow using Blackmagic cameras. Their picture quality is way better than what we attained for other projects I have worked on. Many of my colleagues, after seeing the results, were curious as to what kind of camera I used for this project. Even the actors are very happy about the look. And being able to check the final look of the footage by grading on set is a great tool. I plan to use this very successful workflow, from both creative and economic standpoints, for other programs.” Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
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Tiffen Unleashes Monster in Japan TOHO STUDIOS, the legendary Tokyo production house responsible for the original Godzilla and its current remake, as well as Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa, has purchased the new Tiffen Steadicam M-1 camera stabiliser for all its current and future feature projects.
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Senior Cameraman Kosuke Yamada has been looking at the M-1 since its launch, and was further excited about bringing a rig to Japan after he completed the 6-Day SOA (Steadicam Operators Association) Classic workshop in the US with Jerry Holway and Steadicam’s inventor Garrett Brown. Assisting him on the language front during the workshop was Tiffen/Steadicam’s US sales manager Dan Ikeda, one of Tiffen’s senior workshop instructors.
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Yamada-san’s experience as a cinematographer was gained well before the SOA workshop, with a 13 year camera assistant’s path at TOHO Studios leading four years ago to the top job as TOHO’s Cinematographer. According to Yamada-san, the first reason he chose the M-1 was its stability.
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“When I used the M-1 for the first time at the SOA workshop,” he said. “I felt a firm sense of stability that I had never felt before. No matter how much lighter cameras become, the quality of the image largely depends on its stability in use. “The M-1 can accommodate various shooting styles and equipment, and I think this is perhaps the biggest strength of it, but also very important is the ease with which you can achieve dynamic balance and smoothness of the gimbal.” “A further reason was the modular design. Unlike the USA, it is difficult for us to customise our rigs here in Japan as we often do not have enough information or equipment, but with the M-1, we can upgrade it later if it is necessary. We are really impressed and happy with it.” TOHO’s M-1 stabiliser is the first to be delivered to an Asia-based customer, beating Taiwan by a day. A recent showing of the M1 at Beijing BIRTV broadcast exhibition has already resulted in more systems going to Chinese broadcasters and film-makers. All Tiffen M-1 systems in Asia have been ordered with the Fawcett Exovest. The supportive exoskeleton design of Exovest frees the chest from constraint by providing support on the hip and shoulder. The industry’s benchmark ISO-
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TOHO’s famous character with (from left) Brett Smith, Sales director, Tiffen International Asia-Pacific; Gin-Ichi Corp Steadicam Sales manager, Kazuhito Kashiwabara; and TOHO chief cameraman Kosuke Yamada with the new M-1.
Elastic G70X arm completes the package, making M-1 the most advanced stabiliser in feature production. The Steadicam M1 system was supplied by Tiffen’s Japanese distributor, Gin-ichi Corp, who boast Steadicam factory support training, offering local time-zone support to TOHO and broadcasters like NHK, CX Fuji and TV Asahi who have purchased Steadicam Archer 2, Zephyr and Shadow stabilisers over the last two years. Visit www.tiffen.com/steadicam
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Panasonic to Trial P2 Cast Cloud-Based News Production in APAC PANASONIC WILL BE INVITING APAC broadcasters to trial its P2 Cast
cost distribution, within a short time frame and with reduced staffing.
cloud-based news production system and expects to commence the trials in early 2016.
The service has been tested for the past several months by major international broadcasters. Panasonic’s P2 Cast APAC hub will be located in Hong Kong.
P2 Cast is designed to meet the demands of a rapid news cycle and dramatically increase the speed of delivery of high quality news content to air. Since P2 Cast is a cloud based network service that utilises IP infrastructure, news workflow is streamlined, leaving camera operators free to concentrate on getting the perfect shot. P2 Cast leverages the network features of Panasonic’s P2 HD camcorders with AVC-ULTRA recording – the AJ-PX5000G, AJ-PX800, and AJ-PX270 – so content is uploaded to the cloud and is immediately available for review, download, and editing. Footage can quickly and reliably be sent from the field to be edited for broadcast, so breaking news can immediately be delivered to viewers.
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A major P2 Cast advantage is its ability via the cloud to move low bit rate, yet high-quality, proxy video off a camcorder in the field. This allows either the camera operator or newsroom editors to quickly create a video sequence of the desired clips, and then automatically pull back only the original high-quality and high bit rate video selected for air from the camera.
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High-resolution video can range in quality from AVC-LongG12 12Mbps through to AVC-Intra Class100 100Mbps, depending on preference and available bandwidth. AVC-ULTRA cameras in the field can be connected with the newsroom through mobile networks (4G/LTE, Wi-Fi, or dedicated connection) and the cloud, making it possible to instantly produce news from events as they occur. With distribution formats for video content diversifying and opportunities for utilising raw news resources increasing, P2 Cast facilitates everything from the gathering of news footage to low-
P2 Cast workflow features include: 1. Proxy file sharing – Shared storage is prepared on the server. The proxy files uploaded from camcorders can be browsed and played from news stations. The proxy file can be downloaded and used for breaking news. 2. Highlight editing, high-quality footage transfer – At a station, the editor can highlight edit (In point/Out point) the proxy files that have been uploaded on the server, thus creating an EDL (Edit Decision List) and transfer it to the camera. Based on the EDL, the camera selects just the desired high-quality footage and transfers it back to the server. 3. New, efficient workflows using metadata – Cameras and cameramen are pre-assigned IDs and metadata is sent from the newsroom to the camcorders in the field. Metadata can be automatically recorded with footage shot in the field, and the data can then be used in the editing process to dramatically increase the searchability of the raw footage and shorten the time required for archiving and re-accessing data for other uses. Metadata makes it possible to search content by keyword – the name of the cameraman or interviewee for example – making locating and distributing content to affiliates around the world much faster. Future features Panasonic wants to develop include the ability to search metadata using voice or face recognition of filmed subjects, and checking and performing firmware updates. Visit www.panasonic.com.sg
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Portable Multicamera Recorder Switcher CONVERGENT DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED Apollo, a portable HD multicamera recorder/switcher. Apollo can simultaneously record up to four HD video signals, along with a fifth channel of either a live-switch between the four or a quad-split reference view. Apollo can also function as a four-channel live switcher while simultaneously recording the four isolated HD video signals. The size of a small tablet and able to run for hours on a camcorder battery, Apollo is truly portable and the only device of its kind that can both record multiple HD camera feeds as well as live-switch between them. All cameras stay in sync with matching timecode. A single SSD contains all of the multicamera media, dramatically reducing turnaround time for post. There are two SSD slots on Apollo, allowing for twice the record time or mirror recording for safety backup. Apollo utilises industry-standard 2.5” SSD media, either manufactured by Convergent Design or qualified 3rd party models. Using the new Apollo Media Manager App, recordings can be exported as separate Apple ProRes files or as a single multicamera QuickTime file that drops directly into the timeline of supporting NLEs such as Final Cut Pro-X. Additional functions are planned for release in the first quarter of 2016, including two-channel 4K/UHD video recording, DNxHD recording, and cascade interconnect between up to three Apollos for up to twelve HD channel or six 4K/UHD channel simultaneous recording. These and other additional functions will be made available via a free firmware update. A remote keypad control unit will be offered along with a rack mount and other accessories. Apollo is scheduled for release in December 2015 and comes with an SSD to USB3 adapter, a 5-pack of SSD mounting handles, and a universal AC power supply included. Owners of the Convergent Design Odyssey7Q and Odyssey7Q+ will be able to purchase an Apollo Option for their devices as an upgrade. Apollo Features include: ¡ Monitor –
Four HD Streams; Switched/Quad View; Image Analysis Tools; Custom 3D-LUTs; SDI and HDMI I/O
¡ Record – Apple ProRes;
4x HD + Quad/Live; Single File; SSD Media;
Embedded Audio ¡ Switch – No Genlock Required; Touchscreen Interface; 2x SDI/1x HDMI
Output; XML EDL for Post; Compact/Lightweight ¡ Play – Switched/Quad View; Output to HDMI/SDI; Intuitive Controls;
Playlist/Scrubbing; Clip Markers Recording features include: HD video recording, up to four signals simultaneously; 1080p24 / 1080p30 / 1080i60 / 720p60 (60hz territories);
Covering Dispersed Locations ABONAIR has launched its AB-MultiZone technology for the coverage of massive areas and multiple venues. AB-MultiZone introduces continuous, unlimited coverage with a single receiver connecting up to 250 MIMO antennas, and roaming from one coverage zone to another seamlessly and automatically without dropping even a single pixel. AB-MultiZone addresses the coverage challenges of dispersed locations like golf courses, race tracks or separate venues. ABonAir’s robust wireless broadcast systems enable broadcast professionals to transmit content directly from the field to the control centre, providing the benefits of unique shooting angles, original content and flexible setups. Traditionally, in large area coverage the transition from one zone to the next was not smooth, requiring a complex antenna and cable installation, or even a second receiver. Connecting the different system elements (receiver and antennas) are fibre optic cables which are already in place in most locations. The system can be deployed in multiple topologies for ease of installation: daisy chain, star or any combination of the two, enabling flexible topologies based on venue requirements. The system automatically identifies the topology in place, making setup simple and easy. Visit www.abonair.com
1080p25 / 1080i50/720p50 (50hz territories); Apple ProRes HQ/422/LT; Record four HD signals and one quad-split view; Record four HD signals and one live switch; Up to four SDI inputs or three SDI & one HDMI; Embedded audio or analog input; Loss of any signal does not interrupt recording of other channels; Apollo Media Manager App outputs four separate files or one master multi-camera QuickTime for simplified post; Dual SSDs allow spanning (long record time) or mirroring (simultaneous backup); and 3.5 hours recording time at highest quality [2TB of 4x HD signals & live switch, 1080p30, Apple ProRes 422(HQ); 8.5 hours in Apple ProRes 422(LT)] Switching/Monitoring features include: No Genlock required; Touchscreen interface; Monitor outputs for switched or quad view; Two SDI outputs, one HDMI output; Preset or Custom Monitoring LUTs; and Image Analysis tools: False Colour, Focus Assist, Histogram, Pixel Zoom, Spot Meter, Vectorscope, Waveform, and Zebra; 7.7” OLED panel for true blacks and accurate colours. Additional features available in a free firmware update (early 2016) will include: Dual 4K/UHD recording (Apple ProRes in 24p, 25p, 30p); DNxHD recording; Record XML file Edit Decision List from Live Switch; Remote keyboard control pad; Audio delay; On-screen source naming; and Cascade interconnect for 12-channel HD/6-channel 4K recording. Visit www.convergent-design.com/apollo
U.S. to Introduce Drone Registration U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY Anthony Foxx and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta have announced the creation of a task force to develop recommendations for a registration process for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The task force will be composed of 25 to 30 diverse representatives from the UAS and manned aviation industries, the federal government, and other stakeholders. The group will advise the Department on which aircraft should be exempt from registration due to a low safety risk, including toys and certain other small UAS. The task force also will explore options for a streamlined system that would make registration less burdensome for commercial UAS operators. The task force may make additional safety recommendations as it deems appropriate. “Registering unmanned aircraft will help build a culture of accountability and responsibility, especially with new users who have no experience operating in the U.S. aviation system,” Foxx said. “It will help protect public safety in the air and on the ground.” Visit www.transportation.gov
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NEP Delivers 2015 President’s Cup From Korea NEP AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST OUTSIDE BROADCAST (OB) of 2015 has just successfully wrapped: the biennial Presidents Cup golf tournament from Korea.
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NEP Australia facilitated four days of gripping PGA action from Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon on behalf of the host broadcaster, NBC Sports Group, and unilateral broadcast clients PGA TOUR, Golf Channel, Jupiter TV Japan, Chinese Golf Network, and Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) South Korea. The Presidents Cup tournament has been held outside the United States on five occasions and NEP Australia (formerly Global Television) has facilitated two of them, delivering Melbourne in 2011 and now Korea. 38 tonnes of broadcast technical equipment were shipped to Incheon via sea and air from Sydney, and the NEP team laid more than 42 kilometres of cabling and set up the infrastructure to support this massive international broadcast. A total of 54 high definition cameras captured every shot. NEP also provided flyaway kits, including its large format HDP1, to accommodate the broadcast requirements of NBC Sports and its unilateral broadcast partners.
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“These large scale events challenge our industry’s technical delivery capabilities and the NEP Australia team is always up to the task of delivering world class solutions on behalf of NBC.”
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27 NEP broadcast technical experts travelled to Incheon for the event, supported by more than 200 NBC crew.
The 2015 Presidents Cup was televised to a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion viewers.
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NBC Coordinating Producer, Tom Roy, said, “NEPA has done a wonderful job providing the facilities for our broadcast. With their extensive planning and on-site expertise we have utilised their resources in our production to showcase one of golf’s most prestigious global events.”
The Presidents Cup is among the most anticipated and keenly followed events on the PGA TOUR. Every two years 24 top players – 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world, excluding the UK and Europe – engage in four days of team match-play competition.
NEP Project Director, Andrew Quinn, said, “It’s a privilege for NEP Australia
Visit www.nepinc.com
BEIN MEDIA GROUP LLC ANNOUNCED that it has acquired the remaining 50% of the shares held by MP & Silva of its beIN SPORTS channels in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. beIN MEDIA GROUP had entered into a 50/50 joint venture with MP & Silva in 2013 but will assume full control of all of its channels in the Asian market. Full control of these channels will allow beIN MEDIA GROUP to fully implement its market strategy in the region in terms of both production, expanded programming and content. beIN’s recently acquired exclusive TV rights to La Liga, Spain’s top flight soccer league will now be available incountry on its fully acquired channels in Asia.
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to be asked by NBC to be involved again in the broadcast of the 2015 Presidents Cup following a successful Melbourne event in 2011. Being awarded the Korea project reinforces how NEP Australia is just as capable of supplying large flyaway equipment-based broadcast solutions as we are at supplying truck-based solutions.
Rounding off a turnkey broadcast solution for NBC, NEP supplied and delivered radio frequency (RF) camera, graphics and edit workflow packages.
beIN MEDIA GROUP Acquires Full Ownership of Channels in Asia
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CABLE TV Brings Live Bundesliga to HK CABLE TV, one of the broadcasters of the German Bundesliga in Hong Kong, has made available the live telecasts of the new season. CABLE TV has been showcasing the European football league for over twenty seasons since 1994/95. Viewers of CABLE TV will continue to enjoy non-stop live Bundesliga action from 2015 to 2017 on CABLE TV Sports platform. Commencing with the new season, CABLE TV will deliver up to 8 games per round and over 200 live matches per season. Kick-off times remain the same on Friday late night and on Saturday and Sunday nights, Hong Kong time. For matches that kickoff at the same time on Saturdays, CABLE TV Sports will bring in the most attractive matchups across various channels.
Commenting on the news, Nasser Al Khelaifi, Chairman and Chief Executive of beIN MEDIA GROUP, said, “Our priority is to continue expanding our reach in Asia. Our latest Australian acquisition has been very successful. Our intention is to continue in building a solid network of countries in the AsiaPacific region and deliver world-class content and stellar sports programming in markets with high growth potential.”
CABLE TV strives to provide professional analysis and Cantonese commentary to all Bundesliga programmes. All matches on channels hd201/ Channel 61, hd202/ Channel 62 and hd203/ Channel 64 will be broadcast with full Cantonese and English commentaries, while matches on Channel 63 will be narrated in English. Soccer fans can grasp all the stunning moments and superb scoring of the overlapping Saturday games in the postmatch highlights made available immediately on hd201 and Channel 61, prior to the second live match coverage on Saturday night.
Said Marco Auletta, CEO of MP & Silva, “We are very proud of what we have achieved. This JV has shown the unique capability and expertise of MP & Silva in pioneering a new way of media rights distribution in Southeast Asian markets. It has successfully created more competition in the region for the benefit of both rights holders and fans.”
Mr. Ronald Chiu, Executive Director, i-CABLE Sports Limited, said, “The Bundesliga is one of the flagship programming initiatives in CABLE TV¡¦s football arsenal since its inception in 1994. Our professionalism and expertise in broadcasting the German football league has gained wide recognition and confidence of viewers over the years.”
Visit www.beinmediagroup.com and www.mpsilva.com
Visit www.i-cablecomm.com
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Imagine Delivers Complete Solution for Ten Sports India IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS, a leader in video and advertising solutions
retrieve sports content anytime at any stage.
serving the media and entertainment, multichannel video programming distributors and enterprise markets, has announced the completion of a major broadcast facility upgrade at Ten Sports, part of the Zee Entertainment Group. Ten Sports’ new broadcast facility, recently relocated from the UAE to India, relies on an end-to-end sports production and playout solution from Imagine Communications and supports the production and distribution of its entire family of channels.
“Our existing IT infrastructure was dated and consisted of independent islands of storage, which lacked fast throughput — slowing the entire ingest to playout process,” said Sanjeev Bhargava, Vice President – Engineering, Ten Sports. “We selected Imagine Communications to enable us to build a more efficient workflow capable of handling the demands of modern day sports production, from ingest through to playout and archive. Furthermore, as our parent company, Zee Entertainment, is also an Imagine Communications’ playout solutions customer, we knew this solution was robust enough to meet our exacting requirements.
The solution includes the Imagine Communications D-Series automated content management and distribution system controlling Nexio playout servers running Nexio Motion and Insight software that create automated processes to move and manage media. Ten Sports executes ingest, asset management, and playout on a Nexio Farad high-performance online storage network with intrinsic mirroring for absolute content security. Imagine Communications also provided the core infrastructure at Ten Sports, including the Nexio IconMaster branding and master control switcher. The industry-leading Platinum MX router with integrated Platinum SX Pro multiviewer capabilities provides signal routing, distribution and monitoring capabilities, enabling clean and quiet switching for on-air applications in a small physical footprint. The upgrade has enabled Ten Sports to optimise workflow across the network, from ingest to playout, including all media management, branding and master control. Rich metadata tagging gives Ten Sports the flexibility to
“The Nexio IconMaster is a key component of the system and is exclusively used by our sports channels, streamlining the function of fade-in/out during live switching from one event to another — a feature that is extremely important in a sports production environment.” “There are many factors to consider during any relocation and upgrade,” added Raj Yadav, Regional Sales Manager South Asia at Imagine Communications. “For Ten Sports, this included the ability to work with a single supplier to provide the end-to-end technology and have this underpinned with local support. For a group that has eight sports channels covering regional and international sporting events, keeping the facility on air during the relocation and upgrade process was critical.” Visit www.imaginecommunications.com
CCTV Leads the Field with Cobham at IAAF Championships COBHAM TACTICAL COMMUNICATIONS AND SURVEILLANCE and its Chinese business partner, CSS Group, provided Cobham’s Solo H.264 ENG TX transmitters, the new PRORXD HD receivers, and associated camera control systems on behalf of host broadcaster CCTV for track and field coverage of the IAAF World Championships in Beijing from 22 – 30 August 2015. The historic Beijing National Stadium, known as the ‘bird’s nest’, that hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, was the focal point for CCTV’s coverage where CSS Group deployed four Solo H.264 ENG TX, PRORXD HD receivers, and respective camera control systems. Cobham liaised with CSS for installation, testing, and operations before, and during the nine-day games to assist the host broadcaster produce the pragmatic general multicast (PGM) for regional broadcasters around the world. Video signals from the stadium were sent to the central production compound over standard HD-SDI fibre optic systems. Camera control was achieved with Cobham’s specialist four-in-one system enabling four cameras to be controlled over the one UHF channel. The UHF transmitting unit was placed in the stadium and connected to the production
compound’s remote control panel with a pair of 500m audio cables. CSS Group President, Product and Application Development, Roger Wong, said, “Cobham’s Solo ENG and respective camera control systems always provide the very best performance in video quality and robust reliability. We thank them, as well as CCTV for their trust in us to deliver high-quality professional broadcast signals to the world broadcasting community.” Cobham Broadcast Sales Manager, Asia Pacific, Sue Gilks, added, “High quality images are essential for live sport coverage and we are delighted that CSS Group and CCTV had such a high degree of success with our technology in their coverage of a world class event.” Visit www.cobham.com
Olympic Channel Recruits for 2016 Launch THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) is gearing up for the 2016 launch of the Olympic TV Channel with the recruitment of key staff to be based at the channel’s Spanish production centre. While the Commercial focus of the Olympic Channel will be based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Production of the Channel – Programming, Content generation and acquisition, including News and the technical operations of the Channel – will be headquartered in the Spanish capital, Madrid. The Olympic Channel will broadcast on a permanent basis on both traditional and digital platforms. In preparation for the channel’s launch, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) has been calling for applications for a number of positions, including Assistant Producer (Digital Content), Duty Editors, Digital Producer, Broadcast Systems Engineer, Broadcast IT Network Engineer and Media Manager.
At the recent 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the world’s largest marketing communications group, WPP, outlined the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for the Olympic Channel. “You need to evolve to new consumption behaviours in both younger demographics and in fast-growth markets, more online and more mobile,” he said. “The challenge will be to deliver a solution that reaches this new audience, linking to platforms they are already engaged with and extending the window of the Games outside the two- or four-year period. You have to get more continuity into the offer. The world is ready for a mobile first social content platform united under a powerful purpose that resonates with people around the world. And the IOC has the potential to create just that.” Visit www.obs.tv and www.olympic.org
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IPC to Sell Broadcast Rights for Korea Paralympic Winter Games THE PARALYMPIC MOVEMENT’S global governing body will be responsible for marketing the international broadcast rights for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) has appointed the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to act as the exclusive sales agent for international broadcast rights for the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. Under the terms of the IPC-IOC agreement, a Games Organising Committee is responsible for selling the international broadcast rights to the Paralympic Games. However PyeongChang 2018 has given the responsibility for marketing and negotiating international broadcast agreements to the IPC. The IPC struck similar agreements with both the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Organising Committees leading to record breaking results. Xavier Gonzalez, IPC Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with PyeongChang 2018 for the IPC to act as the exclusive international sales agent for the next Paralympic Winter Games. “Through the IPC taking on a similar role for the 2014 and 2016 Games, we have not only built loyalty with rights holders but continuity with TV viewers who are able to see more hours of Paralympic sport coverage than ever before.” Visit www.pyeongchang2018.com
Telekom Malaysia Continues Strategic Collaboration with FAM TELEKOM MALAYSIA BERHAD (TM), Malaysia’s Convergence Champion, and the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) have officially announced its sponsorship for Malaysia Cup, where TM becomes the Title Sponsor and the most coveted trophy is now known as ‘TM Piala Malaysia’ from this year until 2017. With the three-year deal, TM’s brand will be integrated with Piala Malaysia’s logo. As such, TM’s marketing rights that include entitlements that allow them to build a strong association with the Malaysia Cup trophy as well as the teams in the compeition for promotional and on-ground activities. At the same event, TM has also sealed a commercial sponsorship agreement with the FMLLP, making TM the Co-Sponsor for the Malaysia Super League (MSL) for the year 2016 and 2017. The agreement also marks the renewal of TM’s continued support towards local football development and uplifting the standards of Malaysian football, which will see TM’s logo being displayed on National Team’s training jerseys as well as on its official stationeries, and related marketing and communications materials.
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TM is a long-standing supporter of Malaysian sports and athletes with its partnerships with sports-related organisation such as the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the National Sports Council (MSN), besides its ongoing Mencari Ramli TV reality show.
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Commenting on the partnership, Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, Group Chief Executive Officer, TM, shared, “TM is proud to be able to secure the Title Sponsor for the coveted Malaysia Cup this year, reflecting our support towards the development of local football. Never is this more evident than with the Malaysia Cup, one of Asia’s oldest football tournaments and still never failed to draw thousands of people.” Visit www.tm.com.my
NEP Forms Business Unit for International Events
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NEP GROUP INC. HAS ANNOUNCED it has formed a new business unit dedicated to supporting the broadcasting needs of major international events. The new major projects group will leverage the company’s worldwide assets to provide a variety of broadcast and event solutions around the globe coupling NEP’s flypack capabilities with its host broadcasting capabilities.
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NEP CEO, Kevin Rabbitt, said, “We see a growing market for major international events that require more than a standard OB. Since our founding, NEP has provided custom, high-quality broadcast infrastructure, technical support and host broadcast services for these types of events, but this new team will allow us to provide a dedicated service line focused solely on these major international events and projects.” NEP’s new major projects group will draw on their worldwide team of over 600 engineers and technical experts to help create custom solutions for each project. NEP’s pool of talent includes experts in broadcast engineering; infrastructure design and systems integration; technical management and logistics management; workflow and cloud-based production solutions; post-production solutions; and more. “NEP is uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive broadcast solutions for major international events around the world. We offer local support around the globe, the industry’s largest pool of resources, and leading technical expertise,” said NEP’s COO, Keith Andrews. “Additionally, we have proven experience providing in-depth solutions for broadcasters and organising committees at events such as the Commonwealth Games, the G20 Summit in Brisbane, Asian Games in Doha and Almaty, Wimbledon and many, many more.” As part of this new major projects group, NEP is forming a dedicated team in Europe. NEP has tapped Brian Clark to be Sales Director, and lead the engagement with their clients and partners for this new initiative. He will work in tandem with a Project Director who will have a commercial and technical focus. Visit www.nepinc.com
VSM to be the Default Control System in All Future Streamline OB Vans L-S-B BROADCAST TECHNOLOGIES, the German-based specialist in Broadcast Control Systems, and its VSM system is set as the default control system in all Streamline OB Vans to be built in the future. With the Streamline OB Van family, Broadcast Solutions GmbH, one of Europe’s biggest and fastest growing system integrators, offers pre-engineered and nearly “off-the-shelf” OB Vans for every broadcasting environment. Broadcast Solutions offers Streamline OB Vans in five different versions – from 4, 6, 8, 12 to 16 cameras. All Streamline OB’s come with highly developed and pre-engineered solutions and are delivered turn-key to the customer – fitting in any outdoor broadcasting environment. Depending on the Streamline version VSM is working in, the VSM system is implemented with a standardised feature set. Common to every VSM system in all Streamline versions, the control systems has direct access to all relevant hardware within the vehicle: router, multiviewer, audio and vision mixer, intercom and glue equipment. Furthermore VSM controls the Labels and Tally signals, so there is no need for an additional tally system. Used in the Streamline versions S12 and S16 VSM is implemented referring to its full feature set. In the smaller Streamline OB Vans (S 4, S6 and S8), VSM offers video router control, audio router control, vision mixer control with Tally and Labelling, multiviewer Tally, Labels, GPIO, Tally and several LCD Panels, depending on the Streamline version. Visit www.l-s-b.de and www.broadcast-solutions.de
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Ventuz Technology Launches Online Asset Store SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Ventuz Technology has enhanced its service with an online asset store. The Ventuz Store provides a space where Ventuz users can buy and sell their 3D real-time creations. The Ventuz Store is part of the efforts of Ventuz Technology to enhance user friendliness and make its software more accessible for newcomers. By utilising assets from the Ventuz Store, rookies can not only improve their production quality, but also learn from the scene creation skills of the contributors. “We want to make sure that even someone who is new to Ventuz can produce a presentable result in a reasonable amount of time”, said Erik Beaumont, COO of Ventuz. At the same time, the Ventuz Store functions as an additional chance for revenue for skilled Ventuz operators and agencies, who are invited to offer their assets for download on the site. Contributors can sell entire scenes, 3D models and textures, but also Ventuz specific plug-ins and add-ons, such as shaders and logic. Visit www.ventuz-store.com
Truck-End Unit for Mini-Camera Interface STUDIO TECHNOLOGIES, manufacturer of audio, video and fibre-optic solutions, has introduced a new, portable truck-end unit for its Live-Link Mini Remote Camera Interface System. Live-Link Mini provides all the resources needed for a range of single-camera live events. Interconnected through one single-mode optical fibre, the system delivers the same, solid performance whether the camera-end and truck-end units are hundreds of feet or miles apart. Housed in a lightweight aluminium enclosure that includes an integrated carry handle, the portable truck-end unit weighs less than four pounds, making it well-suited for “run-and-gun” operations in which the quick transport and setup of broadcast equipment is essential. Highlights of the unit include dual SDI outputs (active “mults”), two analogue de-embed audio outputs and dual-channel party-line (PL) intercom support. The PL intercom interface can provide power for user belt packs or can be connected to an existing powered system. The Live Link Mini Remote Camera Interface System offers one SDI path in each direction, supporting a wide range of SD-, HD- and 3G video signals making it an ideal camera extender system for electronic news gathering (ENG), uplink truck and specialised broadcast, corporate and education applications. For quick and reliable field deployment, the camera- and truckend units interconnect using one single-mode optical fibre. Standard optical, video and audio connectors are used throughout.
RT Software Standardises on AJA Corvid 88 BROADCAST GRAPHICS SYSTEMS DEVELOPER RT Software has standardised on using AJA Video Systems’ Corvid 88 video card in its 4K real-time broadcast graphics systems. The company is also integrating AJA’s Io 4K with Thunderbolt 2 and 4K support into its up-and-coming 4K camera stitching solution, tOG-Vista. RT Software’s first system to integrate Corvid 88 is a tOG-VR 3D solution currently deployed at BT Sports to facilitate exclusive 4K broadcasts of the 2015/2016 UEFA Champions League season. As part of the launch of BT Sports’ new 4K channel and studio upgrade, RT Software supplied and assisted with the implementation of the augmented reality solution that delivers studio floor graphics during demanding live broadcasts. RT Software integrated Corvid 88 into the live studio workflow to facilitate the real-time render of on-air broadcast graphics. The in-studio setup consists of up to four cameras, each with its own render PC using Corvid cards. ”This is the first time we’ve used AJA cards, and we’ve been really impressed with their reliability,” says Luke Harrison, Technical Product Marketing Manager at RT Software. ”We chose to go with Corvid 88 because we needed cards with multi-directional capabilities for configuring video and audio I/O. Our products are operator driven, so the fact that Corvid 88 lets our users monitor graphics at their workstations is great. This last-minute quality check is a huge advantage when it comes to live broadcasts, and BT Sports couldn’t be more satisfied with the results.” Visit www.aja.com and http://rtsw.co.uk
Redefining Sports Audio Production with Lawo KICK NEW AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY from Lawo, KICK, will ensure the evolution of audio production for major live sports. When interfaced with modern image analysis and tracking systems, KICK’s unique, patent-pending, technology guarantees a consistent, fullyautomated, high-quality, close-ball audio mix for sports such as soccer, rugby and American football. KICK’s intuitive graphical user interface allows easy adjustment of all of all of its parameters, including the placement of microphones, their polar patterns and microphone prioritisation. The system ensures transparent sound pickup with its excellent ‘noise-tokick’ ratio, significantly reducing crowd noise. It also ensures a consistent audio level without noticeable fades for seamless inclusion in a broadcast mix, and delivers a mix that is 100% repeatable from match to match. It remains highly accurate, even after 90 minutes of play. KICK is available as a software-only solution for productions using Lawo mc² mixing consoles, as well as a hardware bundled solution for productions using consoles from other manufacturers. It requires a standard host PC (running Windows 7 or Windows 8) for the host application, and an HTML5 capable browser for the user interface. Visit www.lawo.com
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Mark Roberts Motion Control Releases Polycam
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POLYCAM FROM MARK ROBERTS MOTION CONTROL is an IPbased robotic camera system that enables networked cameras to simultaneously track a subject of interest from multiple perspectives. Ideal for live broadcasting events such as sporting events, concerts, studio-based productions, conferences and parliamentary and judiciary installations, the system enables automated, constant and fluid tracking. The recent IBC 2015 show in Amsterdam saw a demonstration of the synchronised tracking capabilities of Polycam on a 12-screen television wall, each following a different football player simultaneously. The IP-
based system control allows a single operator to automatically control the synchronous movement of numerous cameras so that the primary perspective is instantly changeable to any of the networked camera positions. The tracking interface used alongside this Polycam system analyses where the action is happening and allows for automated zooming, pan, focus and tilt ability of the camera lens, keeping each player a constant size on screen. Visit www.mrmoco.com
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Ideal Systems Implements Newsroom System for CNN Indonesia CNN INDONESIA’S 24-hour newsroom solution was fully delivered by Ideal Systems ahead of its official launch on Indonesian National Day, broadcasting in full 1080i HD through Transvision. Featuring a new turnkey newsroom solution, the channel launch was a collaboration between CNN International and CT Corp Indonesia. Ideal was the prime systems integrator tasked with designing and building the new facility located at the Trans Corp Headquarters, Jakarta, Indonesia. “Ideal Systems is a renowned system integrator in the Asia Pacific region. We had clear milestones to achieve in order to successfully roll out the channel launch and gave Ideal the challenge to provide us with an integrated solution. With Ideal’s extensive experience and capabilities on providing system solutions for 24 hours news channels, I was confident in their competence to deliver the final turnkey solution for CNN Indonesia Newsroom,” as quoted by Johnny Yeung, Technical Director of Transmedia, the media group under CT Corp Indonesia. The facility planning was of utmost importance given the complexity of the IT infrastructure and layout of the premises. The design needed to accommodate complex workflows, from handling ingest and content acquisition, editing and MAM, story creation, rundown generation and studio playout. CNN Indonesia is an Indonesian-language news channel with 80% of content generated locally and 20% coming from CNN International. It was essential the system supported multiple business entities in differing physical locations, all the while providing full access to the Newsroom Computer System for Transmedia users. A unified system was necessary for the channel to tap into CNN International’s pool of journalist material and to share content from global affiliate partnerships. This requirement and setup posed a particular challenge on many levels for the onsite wiring team during the installation phase in parallel with the tight deadline imposed by CNN for the critical launch date of the channel.
“We were very impressed with Ideal Systems professionalism and understanding of our requirements throughout all phases of the project, from our initial request to final deliverance,” said Eka Abraham, Head of IT Department, CNN Indonesia. “The support provided by Ideal was critical in minimising disruptions and technical issues in order to fulfil our deadline for launch.” A key component of the solution was implementing AVID’s News Production System complete with NRCS, studio playback, non-linear editing, transcoding, content archive management, and network-attached storage. CNN Indonesia needed a capable platform to streamline its news production workflow and safeguard their content and media assets. The complete solution integrates technologies including SGL’s Flashnet, a resilient and scalable content storage management system for archive and recovery, and also an ingest solution with MOG Tech enabling an automated workflow with support for multiple-formats and resolutions to CNN’s ingest requirements. CNN Indonesia needed a completely interoperable solution to work seamlessly with the AVID workflow environment proposed by Ideal Systems. Integration of a digital MATV system was also implemented to broadcast digital television signals for free-to-view and subscription, FM radio and DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). “The CNN Indonesia project is a key tier one reference for Ideal Systems as we embark on further expansion in Indonesia,” said Fintan McKiernan, CEO of Ideal Singapore. “We are building up a local team in Indonesia who will be able to provide a wider range of products and services than has previously been available to Indonesian Broadcasters. Ideal has already deployed 4K broadcast systems in Asia, so we will be ready to support Indonesian broadcasters with expert knowledge when they begin to offer 4K services.” Visit www.idealsys.com
CNN Indonesia Unifies Production with mxfSPEEDRAIL CNN IS AMONG THE WORLD’S LEADERS in online news and
workflow environment.
information delivery. In August 2015 Turner Broadcasting has formed a partnership with PT Trans Media Corporate to launch CNN Indonesia as a 24-hour news channel and website in Bahasa Indonesia. CNN is now reaching millions of Indonesians, being the first local-language channel on Southeast Asia.
CNN Indonesia also needed to unify its media into the format XDCAM HD 35Mbps, for HiRes versions of the material and H264 800 Kbps for LoRes versions. The media was distributed between Avid ISIS 7500 and 5500, with the requirement to delete the HiRes material that was controlled by Media Manager once this has been moved into archive, while keeping the LoRes available for posterior usage.
The CNN Indonesia TV Channel is also supported by the presence of CNNIndonesia.com news portal. Predictions states that over 100 million people in Indonesia will have access to Internet in 2016, so the presence of a multi-platform brand became very important and is supporting the programs that are aired on television.
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Trans Media is now operating CNN Indonesia from its facilities in Jakarta, while CNN provides the software and outline the broadcast aired.
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Ideal Systems is an industry leading, multi-national, systems integrator headed in Asia Pacific that provides innovative solutions to broadcasting industry, telecoms and enterprise. As MOG corporate partner, Ideal Systems covers the consultancy and conceptualisation, helping in the complete design, build and after support of mxfSPEEDRAIL systems installation. CNN Indonesia workflow is based on Avid solutions: editors, storage and media asset management. Therefore, the broadcaster needed a completely interoperable solution able to seamlessly work with Avid
The broadcaster proceeded with the installation of 4 mxfSPEEDRAIL F1000 systems, enabling an automated workflow with support for ingesting multiple-formats and multiple-resolutions into Avid environment, while ensuring a solid performance and great interoperability between platforms. With mxfSPEEDRAIL the assets are now immediately ingested into the news production division that uses Avid editors and MAM. The ingested files are wrapped from MXF and .mov files into the in-house format XDCAM HD 35Mbps for HiRes and H264 800Kbps proxy by mxfSPEEDRAIL F1000, that immediately sends it to Avid ISIS 7500 and 5500 respectively. When the HiRes is sent to archive, the Media Manager has privilege to delete it, keeping the proxy version in Avid ISIS 5500. By using mxfSPEEDRAIL the customer has the contents immediately checked-in into Avid Interplay in multiple resolution. Visit www.mog-technologies.com
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Indonesia Introduces New Visa Regulations for Visiting Journalists FOREIGN JOURNALISTS AND MOVIE CREWS looking to work in Indonesia will have to deal with more red tape following the introduction of new visa regulations announced by the Director General for Political Affairs and General Administration at the Home Affairs Ministry, Soedarmo. Under the new rules, visiting journalists and movie crews will need: A permit issued by the Coordinating Team for Visiting Foreigners at the
Foreign Affairs Ministry (a task force coordinated by the Foreign Affairs Ministry whose members come from the State Intelligence Body (BIN), the National Police, immigration and other institutions); A permit from the Directorate General for Political Affairs and General
Administration at the Home Affairs Ministry; For those working in designated “remote areas” of the country, a permit
from the National Unity and Politic Affairs Body, which is under local administration; and While working, journalists will be required to show IDs officially issued by
Indonesian representatives abroad. Director General Soedarmo stated that the procedures would also apply to journalist’s “local partners like activists of the foreign NGOs that have local representatives in Indonesia”. Soedarmo said the reason for the introduction of the new procedure was that there were still many foreign journalists and foreign movie crew members who work in Indonesia only with general visas like a tourist visas. In a statement criticising the new visa requirements, the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club said it is “… gravely concerned about Wednesday’s policy announcement by an official at the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding foreign journalists and foreign television and movie crews visiting Indonesia to work. “The continuation and expansion of restrictive state policies on visiting journalists is a sad reminder of the authoritarian Suharto regime, and a stain on Indonesia’s transition to democracy and claims by its government that it supports a free press and human rights.” “The new stringent requirements are particularly troubling given that the Indonesian government already takes weeks if not months to issue approvals for foreign journalists and film crews to visit Indonesia to work – if at all. While the JFCC does not condone foreign journalists entering the country on tourist visas in violation of Indonesian immigration regulations, there is often little choice given the glacial pace at which the Indonesian government and its embassies abroad go in approving visiting journalist visa requests. “The JFCC protests any move by the Indonesian authorities to restrict access to any part of the country for journalists, or to implement policies aimed at curtailing the activities of any media organization or movie company from working in Indonesia, whether they are based here or not.” Visit www.jfcc.info
Network Ten Expands Dejero Deployment with GoBox DEJERO HAS ANNOUNCED that Network Ten, one of Australia’s leading commercial TV networks, has expanded its deployment of Dejero’s LIVE+ GoBox professional-grade transmitters. With the rugged and portable LIVE+ GoBox units, Network Ten’s mobile journalists are able to broadcast live from virtually any location using bonded cellular, Wi-Fi, and portable satellite connections, or record up to 40 hours of HD video for later broadcast. “Our deployment of Dejero’s LIVE+ mobile transmitters last year in our metro stations throughout Australia was a great success, and the units were very well-received by our field news crews. Therefore, when we recently needed additional equipment to cover black spots in our traditional microwave news coverage, the LIVE+ GoBox transmitters were the obvious choice,” said Glen Bathie, Network Ten project manager. The new LIVE+ GoBox units join the fleet of LIVE+ mobile transmitters purchased by Network Ten last October to enable live coverage of breaking news throughout Australia. The GoBox transmitters have been deployed in New South Wales and Queensland to supplement the mobile transmitter units already in use there. Network Ten news crews use the GoBox transmitters to broadcast live news crosses and also to supply feeds of live entertainment programs. Dejero’s LIVE+ Broadcast Servers installed at the network’s broadcast centres in Brisbane and Sydney receive the remote transmissions and process them for air. In addition to providing high-quality video of breaking news that can be inserted into live news programs, the news crews are able to execute live crosses in situations that are impractical using traditional microwave links. For example, a Network Ten camera operator recently used a LIVE+ GoBox to facilitate a cross from a ski resort while he and the correspondent rode up the mountain on a chairlift. “As our most rugged solution, LIVE+ GoBox can be set up anywhere to transmit low-latency and high-quality HD video quickly and reliably, even in the most challenging conditions and in areas with marginal cellular coverage,” said Brian Cram, CEO of Dejero. “This range is particularly important in a continent as vast as Australia, where news might be breaking in a remote region hundreds of kilometres away from a Network Ten broadcast centre.” Visit www.dejero.com
ChyronHego and Hybrid Partner to Offer Virtual Set Solutions CHYRONHEGO HAS FORGED a partnership with Hybrid, a leading manufacturer of virtual reality and robotics solutions for the digital media and broadcast industries. Under the OEM agreement, ChyronHego will work with Hybrid to develop and market solutions based on Hybrid’s line of advanced tracking and trackless virtual studio and robotic camera head technologies. “With the Hybrid solutions, we’ll be able to fill an important product niche and offer our customers best-of-breed technologies for building extremely compelling, visually striking, and realistic sets. With Hybrid’s state-of-the-art instrumented camera heads, we’ll be able to offer a truly complete solution that is also applicable in sports, a very large
growth market for ChyronHego,” said Kevin Prince, senior vice president, business development, ChyronHego. Through the partnership, ChyronHego will serve as an OEM for Hybrid’s technologies but retain the Hybrid branding and positioning for the Neon (trackless) and Krypton (tracking) virtual set solutions. ChyronHego will act as the primary sales and marketing organisation for the Hybrid products, and Hybrid will work closely with ChyronHego to continue developing the products in alignment with ChyronHego’s overall strategy for virtual and augmented reality solutions. Visit www.chyronhego.com
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Deutsche Welle Goes Over-the-Top in Vietnam DEUTSCHE WELLE (DW) has expanded its partnership with Vietnamese telecommunication provider FPT in an agreement that will see DW’s English channel added to FPT’s over-the-top (OTT) television service. The launch of DW’s international English language channel on FPT’s OTT platform, FPT Play, on June 28, 2015, delivers DW to another 5 milliion users across Vietnam. DW and FPT Play is an expansion on FPT’s IPTV service, which has carried DW since 2009. The channel (DW) on FPT (both OTT and IPTV) includes a selection of DW shows broadcast with Vietnamese subtitles. Petra schneider, DW’s Director of Distribution, said, “We are excited about this collaboration with FPT, as it enables our target audience in Vietnam to access our unique programming via the FPT Play app that is accessible through mobile, smart TV and web services.” At the centre of DW’s new English channel is DW News, which provides audiences around the world with international news and information around the clock in English. Visit www.dw.de
Aveco Announces ASTRA Studio 3 AT IBC 2105, AVECO, a worldwide studio production automation and master control specialist, will demonstrate ASTRA Studio 3, the company’s third-generation news production automation system in Stand 3.B67. Astra Studio 3 includes a host of new features, including floating shots that provide unique flexibility in handling a director’s breaking news requests outside a planned rundown, with the flexibility to handle events across multiple stories. Astra Studio 3 MAM integration allows video search results to get to air instantly outside of a rundown during breaking news, and includes the ability to integrate with multiple third-party MAMs in a facility. Key to ASTRA Studio 3’s flexibility is a new Template Editor used to develop and modify story templates that specify how a story is presented. Other features include one-button release of CG control during times of breaking news, an advanced mode for news magazine and episodic studio recording, improved video search and additional local/remote preview capabilities.
Channel NewsAsia Opens Vietnam News Bureau in Hanoi
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APAC REGIONAL BROADCASTER CHANNEL NEWSASIA has launched a Vietnam news bureau. The office, located in Hanoi, is the channel’s 14th dedicated bureau in Southeast and East Asia.
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Government officials, business leaders, and partners attended the event in Hanoi. Channel NewsAsia’s Correspondent based in Hanoi, Tan Qiuyi, who has been based there since late last year, will file first-hand reports on the developments in a country that has one of the fastest growing economies in the region. Ms Debra Soon, Head of MediaCorp’s News and Premier Segment announced the opening of the bureau last year at Channel NewsAsia’s Vietnam Business Insights forum. Ms Soon said, “With our bureau in place here in Hanoi, we are extending our capability to report with depth and integrity. This is what the channel stands for, to create better understanding of Asia and what it has to offer the world.” Visit www.channelnewsasia.com
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Reuters Launches Partner Marketplace
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REUTERS RECENTLY ANNOUNCED the launch of Reuters Partner
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Marketplace, a service offering clients fully-licensed video content from a range of specialist providers, available via a single, tiered usage subscription. All partners are handpicked by Reuters and cover an array of topics, including animated news content, celebrity news, and viral videos. Covering the most topical stories and footage of breaking news events as they happen, Reuters Partner Marketplace provides content complementary to Reuters output, giving a different angle on topical stories. Launch partners include: Next Media Animations – Offering animated news, science and innovation explainers. Hollywood.TV – A source for celebrity gossip and videos of the stars.
“ASTRA Studio 3 incorporates feedback from existing ASTRA Studio 2 customers to make this new system even more capable and powerful,” said Pavel Potuzak, Aveco’s founder and CEO. “ASTRA Studio 3 enables our customers to produce newscasts, magazine shows, and other studio productions easier, with more impressive graphics and effects and with lower operating costs.”
Rumble – Delivers social video news from around the world, with over 13,000 creators contributing to a portfolio of over 80,000 videos.
Visit www.aveco.com
Visit http://thomsonreuters.com
Hristo Guertchev, Senior Product Manager for Reuters, said, “Reuters Partner Marketplace will help our clients enrich their coverage, save time and resources and access a growing pool of content, all through our easily accessed and dependable web-based delivery platform Media Express.”
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Ross Video Releases Inception Version 9 ROSS VIDEO RECENTLY ANNOUNCED that Inception version 9.0
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has shipped and is available for both new and existing customers on an active maintenance plan. Version v9 expands upon the browser-based newsroom and social media platform, offering an instant messaging system, and further improving customisation with the addition of columns and validators that can be tailored to various environments.
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“We’re breaking new ground and have designed a product that meets the needs of news in the 21st century. The features in Inception v9 have been driven by requests from our rapidly growing customer base,” said Shawn Snider, Marketing Product Manager for Inception. Inception version 9 is introducing an integrated notification and instant messaging system, permitting users to communicate directly within the newsroom. Users can quickly send one-on-one messages,
engage in group chats and virtual meetings, or share documents and photos within the conversation. Inception has also added the ability to customise the running order, assignment, and story grids, with users being able to add custom columns with various validation and presentation options such as dropdown lists, checkboxes, and date and time fields, among others. Visit www.rossvideo.com
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Imagine Provides News Production and Playout Solution for PTNI IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS, a leader in video and advertising solutions serving the media and entertainment, multichannel video programming distributors and enterprise markets, has implemented a major upgrade of a news production and playout facility at People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI) in the Philippines through its reseller Composite Technology Inc. This upgrade provides the broadcaster’s PTV4 news channel with the ability to deliver higher-quality news packages to air faster and more efficiently, while retaining the control and management needed to preserve the station’s reputation. The Imagine Communications solution covers two distinct areas of operation: the highly dynamic and reactive production and editing area for the news system and a dedicated area of the scheduled playout. Both are built around scalable Imagine Communications Nexio video servers, with Nexio Motion content management and Insight advanced metadata systems providing intelligence, automation and accessibility. The integrated system simplifies the management of the content on and between the operational areas, as well as allowing journalists to locate and use the right content at the right time.
Critical for the dynamic live news presentation, where events cannot be missed or lost, is the content storage system, which uses the Nexio Farad high-performance online storage network. This incorporates Imagine Communications’ Intrinsic Mirroring for absolute content security and resilience. Playout control uses Imagine Communications’ market-proven ADC playout automation system, along with IconStation graphics and Nexio IconMaster branding and master control switcher. Both edit-in-place high-resolution Velocity ESX workstations and proxybased Velocity PRX clients are also included in the solution. The Nexio server system automatically generates browse-resolution proxies and instantly conforms offline edits for maximum speed in getting stories to air, as well as providing access to all journalists and editors. “Our ambitious plans meant we needed a more efficient workflow in news production,” said Richard Valdez, engineering head at PTNI. “Because it was able to deliver a complete and well-integrated solution, we were confident that Imagine Communications was the right partner to help us raise production standards and operational efficiency.” Visit www.imaginecommunications.com
Mobile App for Journalist Security THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MEDIA FOUNDATION (IWMF) has
provide key information about their location and status.
released Reporta, a free and comprehensive personal safety app for iPhone and Android devices that journalists working in potentially dangerous environments can utilise to quickly implement their security protocols. The app is designed specifically for journalists worldwide and available in six languages — Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Turkish.
A customisable alert function that allows journalists to let key contacts know when their safety or that of a colleague’s may be at risk. An SOS feature that can be used to send an emergency message with the touch of a button.
“Journalists covering conflict zones, working in repressive environments, or reporting on sensitive or highly charged issues are too often the targets of attacks,” said Elisa Lees Muñoz, Executive Director of IWMF. “Reporta was developed with the goal to harness the power of the one piece of technology that most journalists use every day – a mobile phone. Now, more than ever, it is critical to equip journalists with a free tool to help them stay safe and best positioned to continue to tell the significant stories of our time.”
Reporta’s launch comes at a time when violence against journalists is on the rise. The last three years have been widely reported as the deadliest period on record. Too often, journalists reporting on corruption, conflicts, and other illegal or sensitive activities face threats of harassment, abduction, or even imprisonment. In addition, IWMF research found that nearly two-thirds of women in media had experienced intimidation, threats, or abuse as a direct result of their work.
Reporta empowers journalists to be proactive with their security protocols, making it easy to issue notifications containing photos, audio, or video to designated, pre-loaded contacts using the app’s three essential features:
Reporta was made possible by a grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Al-Monitor, Inter-American Development Bank, and Facebook provided additional support.
An automated and customisable check-in system that allows journalists to
Visit www.reporta.org
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DEJERO HAS ANNOUNCED a new release of its LIVE+ Mobile App, designed to empower mobile journalists and video contributors to broadcast live from virtually anywhere using their smartphones or tablets. The latest LIVE+ Mobile App by Dejero includes enhancements that give advanced users greater control when broadcasting live or recording video for later use, including an exposure and focus lock feature and a simplified on-screen zoom capability. A new automatic exposure and automatic focus (AE/AF) lock feature delivers more advanced control for situations in which automatic adjustments are not always ideal, such as challenging lighting situations or when there is movement within the frame. Now, by tapping and holding onto a specific area within the frame, users can choose what to lock the focus on, as well as manually adjust and lock the exposure level. This prevents the camera from automatically refocusing and adjusting the exposure, which can be distracting for viewers, and it also keeps the focus and exposure constant when the user is reframing the scene. In addition, the new on-screen zoom bar enables users to zoom in and out on the
subject with a simple sliding motion. Dejero’s LIVE+ Mobile App is suitable for covering breaking news, impromptu interviews, and live events, and it provides an excellent backup system if the primary camera or transmitter fails. Users can capture high-quality live video (up to 1080p) from virtually anywhere, record video for later broadcast, or import and upload edited video files to designated servers when traditional broadcast equipment is not at the scene. Because the app is extremely easy to use, it can be deployed by news organisations to every person in the operation, giving even nonnews professionals the ability to broadcast from the scene of any breaking news they might happen upon. The LIVE+ Mobile App for iOS is now available for free download from the Apple App Store. A license is required to send live feeds and recorded or edited files to server destinations. Visit www.dejero.com
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iflix Chooses High Volume Asset Management Workflow Solution from Silver Trak IFLIX IS ONE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA’S leading Internet TV services and offers subscribers unlimited access to tens of thousands of hours of entertainment in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. iflix users enjoy unlimited access to a library of top international, Asian regional and local content on up to five devices of their choice including smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, TVs and other connected devices. Speaking at the recent CASBAA Convention in Hong Kong, Mark Britt, Co-Founder and Group CEO of iflix, released new figures which, after 20 weeks of operation, saw the service sitting at 670,000 activated accounts with average viewing hours in the Philippines at 2 hours 20 per viewer per day and an average of one hour 40 minutes in Thailand and Malaysia. The number of hours watched since launch total 4.2 million. To service this expanding user base, iFlix needed a high capacity workflow solution that would allow it to securely receive and ingest large volumes of premium content. For that solution, iFlix turned to Silver Trak and its Media Room smart media asset management system. According to Silver Trak MD Christian Christiansen, “iflix is a major operation and they have thousands of hours of content that flows through their system at any one time. The company recently announced a succession of landmark content deals with Hollywood and international studios including MGM, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox to name a few, so their library and offering is very substantial. With that in mind they came to us for a high volume workflow solution that gives iflix the ability to easily, efficiently, and securely receive and transcode premium content from multiple studio partners for processing. The critical challenge here was developing a workflow that could comfortably handle the sheer volume of content. This was no mean feat.” With the challenge and requirements clearly defined Silver Trak’s in-house development team set about creating a custom-built workflow solution that encompassed a wide range of Silver Trak’s services and included its Media Room smart media asset management system at its core.Christiansen continued, “Media Room was critical to the iflix workflow solution as, due to its flexibility and scalability, it allows their smaller suppliers to easily access the Silver Trak ecosystem and deliver content in the same, completely automated way, as any major supplier. This is a big plus as far as efficiency of delivery is concerned.” Silver Trak’s Media Room smart media storage, management and delivery service is used by some of the region’s largest free to air broadcasters,
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software for media and entertainment, has announced that CNN Indonesia has installed SGL FlashNet as the archive management solution for its Avid Interplay PAM system. FlashNet is a key part of CNN Indonesia’s new turnkey newsroom system at its facility at the Trans Corp Headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia. SGL fully designed and configured the FlashNet installation, working alongside systems integrator, Ideal Systems. The integrated SGL FlashNet and Avid Interplay PAM installed at CNN Indonesia provides operators with a number of key features including: partial file restore from within Avid Media Composer; automated tracking and management of archived content across the lifecycle of the archived asset; high-speed retrieval of recently archived assets; and lifecycle management
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streaming companies and content providers including Foxtel, Icon Film Distribution, Transmission Films and Entertainment One. Media Room addresses the specific needs of any broadcaster, production house, post production house or distributor who has media assets they want to store, manage and deliver from the convenience of any web connected device. In simple terms it gives the user 100% control over their assets and the ability to use Silver Trak’s services such as QC, file storage or Aspera fasp high speed data transfers without paying any licence fees and without leaving the comfort of their seat. The Media Room workflow designed and developed by Silver Trak, enabled content to be sent by iflix and its suppliers, received in Media Room, ingested automatically, edited, QC’d, transcoded and then ultimately delivered to its final destination within the iflix transcoding platform. “Not only did we custom create and build this workflow to be as straightforward and easy to use as possible but such is its efficiency that it can manage over 2500 hours of content per month,” says Christian Christiansen concluded. “Media Room is a unique smart media asset management system as it has been custom designed, developed and built in-house at Silver Trak. In iflix’s case its uniqueness is even more apparent as we custom-tailored the system to integrate iflix’s content requirements with Silver Trak’s full suite of broadcast services. In addition, all iflix’s assets are stored redundantly and all are easily accessible at anytime. This means iflix and their suppliers can upload, view, amend and deliver those assets 24/7 and all assets are QC’d and secure. All they need is a web-enabled device and Media Room’s enormously powerful workflow is immediately at their disposal.” Visit www.silvertrak.com.au
SGL Provides CNN Indonesia with Avid Archive and DR Workflows SGL, THE PROVIDER OF content archive and storage management
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of long-term archived assets between on-site and off-site storage, providing DR workflows, long term asset security and business continuity processes. CNN Indonesia’s Interplay PAM operators and the Avid PAM automated workflow, archives and restores to-and-from SGL FlashNet to disk and tape archives on-site. FlashNet Storage Manager automatically manages the creation, duplication, verification and deletion of archived material in, and between, CNN Indonesia’s on-site disc and tape archive and its off-site DR tape archive for DR purposes throughout the lifecycle of material. An off-site standby FlashNet archive management system is also available for business continuity purposes if DR is required. Visit www.sglbroadcast.com and www.idealsys.com
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Avid Accelerates Production and Enhances Collaboration at MediaCorp AVID HAS ANNOUNCED that MediaCorp recently embraced Avid Everywhere and adopted a complete end-to-end production infrastructure made up of solutions built upon the Avid MediaCentral Platform. The new workflow, implemented by Avid partner Qvest Media, will enable MediaCorp to produce content more collaboratively, deliver media to multiple platforms and channels, and improve operational efficiency. “Avid solutions provide an integrated environment that enables us to reduce production bottlenecks and improve overall turnaround time,” said Norraine Yusof, Senior Vice President of Campus Technology Development, at MediaCorp. “We have been able to integrate multiple legacy systems, giving our content creators a single user-interface while creating a platform-based approach for promoting an open and collaborative production environment.” MediaCorp operates seven television channels and 13 radio stations. Previously, a disconnected infrastructure made sharing files and projects a cumbersome process. Qvest Media was commissioned to conduct the workflow and systems design, lead the overall installation, and serve as master systems integrator for the MediaCorp implementation. The new workflow features advanced media management solutions from the Avid Media Suite, including a fully centralised Interplay | Production media
asset management system that enables more than 160 team members in different departments to easily collaborate, share media, and work on projects simultaneously. Avid MediaCentral | UX provides a browser-based single user interface for interaction across the entire production process. To effectively store, archive, and monetise a massive amount of content, the network deployed cutting-edge media storage solutions from the Avid Storage Suite. By storing all of their media on a fully integrated and connected Avid ISIS shared storage system, production teams can quickly find assets, edit media, and share content. MediaCorp creative teams are using audio and video solutions from the Avid Artist Suite to create the highest-quality content. Media Composer with Avid Resolution Independence gives video production teams the ability to acquire, edit, and deliver content in any format and resolution. Meanwhile, Pro Tools helps MediaCorp audio teams create mixes for radio commercials, promo trailers, audio post-production, and more. The 64-bit audio engine architecture in Pro Tools 12 enables mixers to handle massive projects without straining computer resources. Pro Tools | S6 control surfaces provide audio mixers with flexible workflows and precision control. Visit www.avid.com
Etere Manages Hanoi TV Media Cycle VIETNAM’S HANOI TV has selected Etere technology to manage its entire media cycle. Hanoi TV has adopted the Etere Media Cycle Management System which features video management, scheduling system, transcoding, archiving, desk storage and automation capabilities. The system is also designed with a web interface that helps to drive efficiency for the network. Etere Media Management is designed to streamlines the process of ingesting, quality control, indexing, transforming, and storage and retrieval of digital content.
Etere also equipped Hanoi TV with two Harmonic Mediadecks and a Grass Valley master control that supports the entire Media Cycle Management System. The Hanoi TV media cycle management workflow includes: MAM for video management; Etere transcoding; two Telestream Vantage transcoding units; an HSM archive; Spectra LTo6 library with 2 drives and 100 slots; Disk storage; Web interface; Proxy preview; Scheduling system; and Playout automation. Visit www.etere.com
Quantum Unveils Xcellis Shared Workflow Storage Solution QUANTUM CORP. HAS INTRODUCED Xcellis, a shared workflow storage solution that consolidates media and metadata management, extends connectivity options for both Fibre Channel and Ethernet clients, and supports hosted applications. Xcellis greatly enhances productivity in collaborative media environments by integrating the most important components of workflow storage into a single, easy-to-manage, fully scalable hardware solution. The solution supports online work in process, ingest and delivery, and archive through Quantum’s portfolio of Lattus object storage, LTO tape and Q-Cloud services, all running on the StorNext 5 media workflow platform. Xcellis combines the power of SAN and the low-cost connectivity of NAS in a single, continuously scalable system, thereby simplifying the storage architecture and streamlining operations. Xcellis integrates real-time and “non-real-time” media production support elements in the same system. The Xcellis Workflow Director controls shared client access privileges and provides simultaneous client connectivity across all popular network types, including Fibre Channel and IP for SMB, CIFS, NFS and Quantum’s higher-performing Distributed LAN Client (DLC) — while also supporting hosted applications. Optimised for modern workflows, Xcellis also recognises that many operations do not require high-speed Fibre Channel and can instead take advantage of low-cost IP NAS connectivity. Xcellis improves productivity by eliminating the need for separate islands of storage and allowing all clients and workflow automation operations such as transcode, QA and delivery to share storage with complete transparent access to all assets and content, regardless of interface type or operating system.
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Optimised high-speed Fibre Channel SAN connectivity, along with costeffective LAN, SMB and NFS sharing options, and IP connectivity.
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Intelligent, policy-driven file movement across LTO tape (LTO-6 and LTO-7), LTFS, object storage and cloud archive systems for an optimal balance of media access and storage TCO.
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High-speed collaboration across Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
Xcellis users can scale smoothly to the largest possible system with no replacement of original hardware investment and no interruption. While nearly doubling the number of files that Quantum workflow storage can handle, Xcellis also enables users to: ¡
Scale capacity and bandwidth independently to realise the performance characteristics ideal for their operations, tuning performance to the roles of different individuals within the workflow.
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Protect and maximise their investment by paying only for what they require and eliminating disruptive and costly hardware changes as their system grows.
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Independently and economically scale performance and capacity, now up to 10 billion unmanaged files, or 1.4 billion managed files in up to 64 file system volumes.
Xcellis also features StorNext Connect, the full-featured management tool that supports users in configuring, deploying and scaling the entire storage system and clients and also helps them to identify and resolve issues quickly for optimal performance and maximum uptime. Visit www.stornext.com
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Telestream Releases Tempo Version 2.0 Retiming Software TELESTREAM, a leading provider of video transcoding and workflow automation solutions, has announced the release of the latest version of its flagship Vantage media processing platform with specific enhancements to its Tempo time adjustment system. This enterpriseclass software system allows content owners, producers, and distributors to quickly, easily, and efficiently ingest, edit, transform, package, monetise and distribute their media. First unveiled at NAB 2015, Tempo is a time adjustment solution that helps re-time file-based content and intelligently adjust the running time of shows and segments. It utilises new time adjustment algorithms that deliver superior quality and faster turn-around times. With a Tempo system, users have both a retiming solution and a Vantage node – when not retiming assets, the Lightspeed server resources can be used for other Vantage tasks, thereby maximising return on investment in production tools. Tempo v2.0 includes an enhanced user interface, which provides more control over asset timing. VU meters in the portal player enable segmenting files on ‘silence’, whilst intuitive on-screen markers segment content visually and provide a ‘jump to’ capability. The ability to save and recall projects allows users to mark up a file with segments and timing options, save that as a configuration, and then recall and load it at a later time. Also, Tempo v2.0 features retiming of SCC caption and STL subtitle files as well as advanced support for interlaced content. Developed as an integral element of Telestream’s Vantage media processing platform, Tempo v2.0 is a complete solution, running on a Lightspeed K80 Server with Vantage Transcode Pro. Within this intelligent software environment, new compression and expansion algorithms deliver superior quality and faster turn-around times. Simultaneously, new methods of interpolation adjust the effective sampling rate of each media stream in a way that produces no noticeable visual or audible artifacts. With Tempo, retiming is applied longitudinally across the entire asset, resulting in much better and more consistent quality. Visit www.telestream.net
GLOOKAST Launches INGESTER LT for ISIS | 1000 GLOOKAST, an innovator in MXF workflow solutions, has announced
MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & DAM
the launch of a new version of its file-based ingest solution, Gloobox INGESTER. This new version offers an entry-level turnkey file ingest solution, primarily designed to work in conjunction with Avid’s new ISIS | 1000 entry-level storage system.
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Gloobox INGESTER LT is designed to provide users with a means to easily automate and create efficiencies for ingesting XDCAMHD or AVC-Intra files into ISIS | 1000 or other entry-level shared storage systems. It supports the openness of ISIS | 1000 and can create files that are compatible with both Avid Media Composer, as well as Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Avid Interplay | Production Integration can be added as an option to INGESTER LT. For facilities that wish to manage media through integration with thirdparty asset management software, files created by INGESTER LT and its associated metadata are compatible with Cantemo Portal. “We are excited to offer an entry-level solution that allows smaller post production facilities and broadcasters to implement automated file-based ingest workflows,” said Edel Garcia, Executive Vice President of Operations at GLOOKAST. “Our goal was to offer a file-ingest appliance solution for under $10K and INGESTER LT achieves that.” Visit www.glookast.com
Portable Thunderbolt SSD Flash Drive from JMR Electronics JMR ELECTRONICS, INC., a manufacturer and systems integrator of scalable storage solutions has announced the general availability of their new Lightning LTNG-XTD portable Thunderbolt SSD Flash Drive. The ultra-compact PCIe Flash Drive with Thunderbolt 2 interface is a portable bus-powered drive requiring no external power source, and is introduced with 256GB storage capacity, with 512GB and 1.02TB models being added in the future. The new SSD drive is the ideal high performance alternative to USB thumb drives, portable SATA based hard disk drives and current SSD storage products in the market. It easily connects to a compatible Mac or Windows computer with a Thunderbolt port, or at the end of a Thunderbolt device daisy chain, via its attached Thunderbolt cable. The LTNG-XTD SSD Flash Drive leverages the latest generation M.2 PCIe SSD technology, coupling a 20Gb/s Thunderbolt 2 interface that provides real world sustained read and write file transfer speeds of between 1,200 to 1,400 MB/s. The unit incorporates a PCIe Generation 3 flash controller, enabling it to easily outperform 6Gb/s SATA SSDs and 5Gb/s USB 3.0 flash drives. The flash drive is compatible and certified for use with OS X (including Yosemite) and Windows 7+ OS. Visit www.jmr.com
Lexar Announces New CFast 2.0 Cards LEXAR HAS ANNOUNCED two additions to its CFast memory card line: the Lexar Professional 3600x CFast 2.0 card and the Lexar Professional 3500x CFast 2.0 card. Both are designed to capture highquality 4K video and meet the exacting speed and capacity demands of professional cinematographers, filmmakers, and content creators. These cards leverage new thresholds of performance and maximise the capabilities of next-generation cinema-grade video cameras.
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Micron Consumer Products Group Marketing Manager APAC, Mathew Luu, explained, “More and more cinematographers and videographers are embracing cutting-edge video cameras for important shoots. The goal in developing the Professional 3600x and 3500x CFast 2.0 cards is to provide them with the fastest memory cards available to capture high quality 4K video and beyond.”
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The Lexar Professional 3600x CFast 2.0 card provides read transfer speed up to 540MB per second (3600x). The new card will be available in 256GB and 128GB capacities, and is specifically optimised for ARRI cameras.
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Lexar has also launched the Lexar Professional 2933x and 1400x XQD 2.0 cards, as well as the Lexar Professional Workflow XR2 (XQD 2.0 USB 3.0 reader) for professional videographers, photographers, and enthusiasts. Designed for use with the latest generation of high-definition camcorders and high-resolution DSLRs, the new XQD 2.0 cards deliver read transfer speeds up to 2933x (440MB per second) and 1400x (210MB per second) respectively, enabling an accelerated workflow that allows users to quickly capture and store high-quality images and 4K video. These new rugged, high-speed cards support both PCI Express Gen 2 and USB 3.0 interfaces. The Lexar Professional Workflow XR2 (XQD 2.0 USB 3.0 reader) is compatible with both the Professional Workflow HR2 (Thunderbolt 2/ USB 3.0 reader and storage drive hub) and Professional Workflow HR1 (USB 3.0 reader and storage drive hub). Visit www.lexar.com
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SGL Announces Integration with Data Expedition SGL, A LEADING PROVIDER OF content archive and storage management software for media and entertainment, has announced that its flagship content management software FlashNet is now fully integrated with Data Expedition, Inc.’s ExpeDat Gateway for Amazon S3. This latest integration enables broadcasters and content owners to transfer media directly to Amazon Web Services (AWS) at maximum speed, providing an additional means of storage and disaster recovery workflows. FlashNet integrated with ExpeDat Gateway for Amazon S3 provides a highly cost-effective file transfer solution, enabling files to be transferred to and from S3 at up to 700 Mbit/s. Once data is stored in S3 it can be moved to Amazon Glacier using a standard AWS interface, providing a more affordable long-term storage option. The combined SGL and Data Expedition solution can be deployed quickly and is highly scalable. FlashNet’s rules-based implementation provides fully-automated data duplication across multiple storage layers and locations. Using FlashNet operators can create additional rules that send material directly to the cloud. The FlashNet archive is able to track and record exactly where material is at any given time, regardless of long-term storage method, and can alert third-party systems, such as the MAM, that content is available for download. “The cloud is becoming a viable option for broadcasters and content owners who want secure, long-term storage for disaster recovery workflows. By transferring data to the cloud using the combination of FlashNet and ExpeDat Gateway for Amazon S3, users can very quickly and easily store their material. FlashNet provides a rich set of tools to optimise the benefits of the various archiving platforms, including tape, disk, optical disk and cloud,” explains Lee Sheppard, SGL’s Director of Product Management. Visit www.sglbroadcast.com and www.dataexpedition.com
ATTO Technology Announces Support for Mac OS X 10.11 ATTO TECHNOLOGY, INC., has affirmed its commitment to Apple technology innovations by announcing driver support for El Capitan, the latest update to Mac OS X that brings enhanced usability, performance and security. The announcement makes ATTO the only high-performance connectivity provider with a full range of storage and network connectivity solutions to support Apple’s new operating system. Mac OS X has long been a platform of choice for creative professionals, and applications such as 4K digital video production and editing now bring challenges including greatly expanded file sizes, project complexity and storage footprint. ATTO continues to innovate and provide solutions to power these and other high-performance environments, including the most demanding applications used for government and education, scientific research, and video surveillance. “ATTO’s decades-long relationship with Apple, and the release of these drivers, demonstrate our commitment to Mac users,” said Tom Kolniak, Director of Products at ATTO Technology. “Our consistent support for Apple operating system updates recognises their need to keep pace with the latest technology for accessing high-performance storage and networks.” The announcement of El Capitan support follows ATTO’s release of Xtend SAN 4.0. Optimised for OS X 10.11, Xtend SAN 4.0 represents a major overhaul and includes a refreshed GUI and other enhancements to ensure optimal performance of block-based iSCSI transfers in OS X environments. Visit www.attotech.com
Imagine Products Supporting Mac OS X El Capitan IMAGINE PRODUCTS, INC. has announced that all their Macintosh applications support El Capitan, the latest Mac OS X update. Imagine Products, Inc has been developing workflow applications for the media, broadcasting and entertainment industry for over 25 years. Their array of applications boast simple to use, elegant user interfaces with powerful backends that are affordable for both professionals and beginners. Mac OS has been a well-established platform of choice in the industry for decades and Imagine Product’s has been a dedicated supporter since 1991. “We’ve been developing Mac software for a long time. It’s one of the most stable and the most widely used platform in the media and entertainment industry,” said Dan Montgomery, the President of Imagine Products, Inc. “We appreciate and emulate Apple’s constant technological advances for our industry and the world.” Imagine Product’s popular LTFS archiving application, PreRoll Post is optimised for OS X 10.11. PreRoll Post takes advantage of the Linear Tape File System and can be paired with any LTO tape drive or Sony’s Optical Disc Archive (ODA). Visit www.imagineproducts.com
Signiant Flight Gains Microsoft Azure Certification SIGNIANT, a leader in intelligent file movement software, has announced that Signiant Flight has been validated for compatibility with Microsoft Azure as an Azure Certified solution and can now be purchased via the Azure Marketplace. As one of the first SaaS offerings in the Developer Services category, Flight gives Azure customers easy access to a scalable solution for fast uploads into Azure blob storage. Signiant Flight enables automatic movement of large data sets into and out of object storage in a security-enhanced and reliable manner, at speeds up to 200 times faster than a standard transfer. As the only multi-tenant, auto-scaling acceleration solution on the market, Flight is extremely easy to deploy and manage – and it is highly elastic to accommodate wide variations in data volume and large numbers of endpoints. “Signiant is thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with Microsoft to bring Flight to the next-generation Azure Marketplace,” said Rick Clarkson, VP Product Management. “Our unique SaaS acceleration offering is being broadly adopted across a wide range of data-intensive cloud applications, and we are seeing increasing demand for Azure. This new, low-friction way to discover and try Flight is consistent with the core value proposition of the product, and customers are responding enthusiastically.” “We are pleased to include Signiant in our Azure Certified SaaS program within our enhanced Azure Marketplace,” said Dan Sandlin, Senior Partner Director, Microsoft Business Evangelism. “The addition of the Developer Services category, and the inclusion of more flexible pricing options, will further enable our customers to integrate Azure into their applications and meet their business goals.” Customers can purchase Flight through the Azure Marketplace using an existing Microsoft enterprise agreement, and recent refinements to Microsoft’s online store further enhance the procurement experience for businesses. Companies like Signiant can now offer true SaaS solutions rather than being limited to bring-your-ownlicense models or machine images of on-premises software, along with the associated constraint of pricing in units of time. The Azure Marketplace is the only channel through which Flight is available on a pay-as-you-go basis with no minimum commitment. Visit www.signiant.com
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Korean Mystery Film “Madonna” Graded with DaVinci Resolve
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BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED that the Korean mystery film ‘Madonna’, which premiered as one of the official selections in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Film Festival, was graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Eligio Kim at Seoul based KT&G Sangsangmadang.
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Written and directed by Shin Su-won, “Madonna” follows Moon Hye-rim (Seo Young-hee), an assistant nurse at a hospital, who is offered a deal by hospital supervisor Kim Sang-woo (Kim Young-min) to find the family of a brain dead girl nicknamed “Madonna” (Kwon So-hyun) and persuade them to donate the girl’s heart to Sang-woo’s paralysed father. Moon, however, uncovers Madonna’s extremely painful past as her investigation intensifies. The story unfolds mostly in a hospital ward, which director Shin wanted to appear filled with an atmosphere of death. Eligio Kim created the “death” look with a low-key style in DaVinci Resolve, but the director thought the faces of the characters in the resulting images were not bright enough. “When I was making the low key style, the faces went darker than in the original footage and it became difficult to see the facial expressions. That was the biggest challenge as brightening faces would bring about intensive tracking work,” said Kim. “Fortunately, DaVinci Resolve’s tracking feature saved me a lot of time by automatically tracking the faces in most of the shots with accuracy.” ‘Madonna’ was shot on a low budget, and the cinematographer chose a contrasty gamma curve designed for a quick turnaround time with shooting. “This also made the initial editing easier but the simplicity came at the expense of flexibility in colour grading,” said Eligio Kim. “For more room for creativity in the final colour grade, we decided to replace that contrasty
He continued, “Changing gamma for the footage can be time consuming if you don’t take the proper measures, as it might not only affect Gamma space itself but also other metadata, which would result in more colour correction work for each shot.” “Knowing DaVinci Resolve could work with a wide range of different formats, including the file that stores the metadata for the footage, we changed the Gamma Space option by simply selecting the log curve while leaving any other metadata intact. Easy and simple,” he concluded.
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FilmLight Powers Mumbai’s Newest Post House NUBE STUDIO, set up to provide uncompromised grading services for
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As a facility aimed at the top end of production, an important requirement is the potential to work natively with raw files from any camera on the same timeline. The Baselight system is renowned for its ability to accommodate all professional formats, and also fully supports grading metadata of any complexity, including primaries, secondaries, keys, shapes, tracks, LUTs and Truelight Colour Spaces. This allows the colourist to explore all the details from the camera, and achieve the look the cinematographer intended. “Baselight delivers on every feature without restricting the creative process,” said senior colourist and co-founder Navin Shetty. “I am able to concentrate on grading and never compromise on quality or inspiration.”
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curve with a flat log curve and apply a LUT provided by DaVinci Resolve to the footage.”
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the Indian market, has opened with a Baselight TWO grading workstation as its centrepiece. The colour-driven facility is providing services for commercials, music videos, television and film throughout the region.
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“Even at HDR 4K, Baselight delivers real-time playback as soon as the content is in the system,” added Shetty. “Clients are not kept waiting, and with the help of the superior grading tools they can see the final result immediately. For clients, the faster system equals staying within budget.” For FilmLight, CEO, Wolfgang Lempp, said, “We are proud to be associated with India’s leading colourist, Navin Shetty. He is very particular about the quality and output of his films. What he and his business head, Ranjan
Karkera, have recognised is that directors and producers want to come to a post house and see great pictures just the way they imagined them.” “At FilmLight we developed our core systems to provide real-time performance even when there is a multi-level grade on top of the raw image,” he added. “Baselight takes away the technical constraints of transcoding, proxies and unpredictable performance and leaves the colourist to achieve the best look in the shortest time.” Open only since June of 2015, Nube already boasts an impressive 100+ TVC’s, with a client register including: BMW, Philips, Godrej Air, Cadbury, Flip Kart, Maruti, Amazon, Dabur, Yardley, Myntra, Pepperfry, OLX, Sunsilk, Intex, KIT KAT, Kohler, Honda, Nescafe, Britannia, Nerolac, TATA, Airtel, Grofers, STAR TV, EPSON, Mahindra, Olay, Jaguar, Lava, Lifebuoy, Renault, Mentos and Solly Sport. Visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk
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DaVinci Resolve Studio Used to Grade ‘The Dressmaker’ BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED that Trish Cahill at Melbourne and Sydney, Australia based post production facility Soundfirm graded Australian film ‘The Dressmaker’ using DaVinci Resolve Studio. Based on the book by Rosalie Ham, ‘The Dressmaker’ takes place in the 1950s and follows Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage (Kate Winslet) as she returns to her hometown to take care of her ill mother, Molly (Judy Davis), from whom she was sent away at the age of ten because of false accusations of murder. The film is produced by Sue Maslin, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and also stars Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, and Sarah Snook. “I made the decision to take ‘The Dressmaker’ to Soundfirm as it is a ‘one stop shop’ for state of the art sound and picture post production and enabled us to work with a world class team of professionals who cared deeply about the story,” said Sue. “I couldn’t be happier with the creative results that Resolve delivered in the hands of Don McAlpine and Trish Cahill.” Trish said, “We had the opportunity to experiment a little with the memory scenes where Kate Winslet’s character remembers moments from her childhood, which needed to look different from the present. We ended up with a moody contrast look with a desaturated, ashy palette. Wherever we had skies and silhouette trees we graded, keyed and dropped the mids. There was definitely a focus on the environment.” In one day for night shot, the camera is on a dolly moving towards a silo, and Trish was tasked with retaining this camera movement while creating a starry nighttime sky. “It fell into place very quickly using Resolve’s super fast tracker for grades and the intuitive keyer to control the various areas of the image,” said Trish. “The very next shot is the two main characters gazing up at the stars and talking about the night sky, and the shot needed stars. I made numerous one-pixel windows with a slight blur and lots of brightness and started moving them all over the place, occasionally making some brighter than others to recreate the randomness of a starry sky.” DaVinci Resolve Studio’s tracker also proved beneficial when protecting the performances and subtlety of the actors’ eyes and faces while maintaining the rich and tonal look for the film. “We have gorgeous actors with beautiful blue eyes, which were sometimes a challenge to maintain in warmly lit scenes. This is where Resolve’s tracker also came in handy,” said Trish. “To be able to go through the film and highlight the moments and selective colours we needed and yet keep the frame rich, vivid and inviting on a whole was a
Deluxe Sydney Expands Localisation Services for Asia-Pacific DELUXE ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES GROUP has announced significant enhancements to its Sydney studio. The studio, strategically located to reach key Southeast Asian markets in Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, now offers a wide array of digital localisation solutions to clients which build on its international distribution network, including a North Asian hub in Hong Kong. Deluxe Australia extends its localisation services including Scripting, Transcription, Dubbing, Subtitling, and Audio Description to clients in production, advertising, corporate and government industries. Deluxe’s new localisation team recently completed their first project in Sydney: work on seven original series for the launch of Amazon Japan, including the Golden Globe-winning comedy series “Transparent” and the Emmy-winning children’s series “Tumble Leaf.” The Sydney facility, which includes leading animation studio Iloura and a full suite of film & TV picture and sound post production services, will operate a wider range of digital broadcasting, media, cinema, and creative services across content through Deluxe’s digital distribution network. “Deluxe Australia has well-established existing operations, such as Post, Animation & VFX, Digital Cinema and OTT broadcasting, but now with its completed localization expansion the Sydney studio is unmatched in the region,” said Alaric McAusland, Managing Director, Deluxe Australia. Visit www.bydeluxe.com
case of having our cake and eating it too.” DaVinci Resolve Studio was also used for the online edit of the film at Soundfirm, which has a number of Resolve Studio suites in both its Melbourne and Sydney facilities. And according to Jonathan Burton, digital imaging supervisor at Soundfirm, “The flexibility of the system really allowed for it to form the backbone of the DI post workflow, especially given that the production wanted to retain the 4K RAW files all the way to the final mastering of the film.” He explained, “Resolve was used as the primary conform tool at Soundfirm Melbourne where the offline edit of the film was also done. There is a big advantage in being able to conform the film as the edit progresses, allowing the production to go between the online and offline versions of the cut and ultimately reflect any minor edit tweaks until the final picture lock off. Resolve was next used to handle all of the VFX I/O, creating deliveries to go to the VFX team along with temp grades, reviews and returns of VFX finals to go back into the online. “The final conformed Resolve projects were then sent up to our grading theatre at Fox Studios in Sydney, and DaVinci Resolve’s Consolidate Clips tool was used to move all the media and manage the transition between facilities.” Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
Animal Logic Opens in Vancouver AUSTRALIAN VISUAL EFFECTS and animation studio Animal Logic has officially opened in Canada, with the first of the team moving into their new 45,000 sq ft studio in Yaletown, Vancouver. Animal Logic announced that the new studio will be led by its current Group Head of Production, Sharon Taylor, who will now take up the role of Executive Vice President & General Manager in Vancouver. Zareh Nalbandian, Chairman and CEO of Animal Logic, said, “Sharon has been a key driver in the growth and success of Animal Logic over the last ten years. I’m confident that her deep knowledge of our company and its culture, coupled with her collaborative leadership style and amazing energy, will ensure the success of our new Vancouver studio.” Taylor, in partnership with the Vancouver management team, will lead the growth of the Cambie Street studio, as it ramps up for the start of production on The LEGO Movie Sequel in January 2016. As announced in May this year, The LEGO Movie Sequel is the first film in what is a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. – a slate of three productions for Animal Logic’s Vancouver studio. Sharon Taylor, EVP & General Manager of Animal Logic, Vancouver, said, “We are delighted to officially open our doors in Vancouver. The city has such a rich and diverse talent pool that it made perfect sense for us to expand our operations into Canada to support our growing slate of animated productions.” Visit www.animallogic.com
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Pixspan Integrates with Autodesk Creative Finishing Suite PIXSPAN, INC. HAS ANNOUNCED that Autodesk, Inc. has integrated Pixspan’s full resolution bit-exact software in the Autodesk Creative Finishing suite. Autodesk’s upcoming Flame Extension 1 release will integrate Pixspan within Flame Premium, Flame, Flare, and Lustre to allow savings on storage and network costs as well as faster collaboration while preserving 100 percent of the quality. The Autodesk Creative Finishing suite will be able to publish and share Pixspan’s .pxz smaller file format among its applications. Pixspan’s software is comprised of the free “Pixspan Reader”, which is available to all Flame users and permits seamless decoding of Pixspan’s format, and Pixspan’s subscription-based option that enables saving, exporting, and publishing in the .pxz format. Pixspan subscriptions will be available through select resellers and system integrators, including some Autodesk Specialized Partners. “With the aid of Pixspan, Autodesk Creative Finishing customers can take advantage of savings on storage and network costs while preserving maximum quality. This is an example of Autodesk’s commitment to improving the customer experience while maximising existing hardware and software investments, without compromising quality,” said Steve McNeill, Autodesk director of Product Management and Development. “We are pleased that Autodesk, as a premier provider of visual effects and finishing products, with its leadership in creative finishing, has integrated Pixspan’s capabilities in such a seamless way,” said Michael Rowny, Pixspan’s CEO. “All Creative Finishing customers will now have access to the more efficient workflows for Digital Intermediates and ARRIRaw, so important for high resolution projects.” Visit www.pixspan.com and www.autodesk.com
Cinegy Introduces World’s Fastest Video Codec CINEGY, DEVELOPER AND PRODUCER of software technology for digital video processing, asset management, video compression, automation, and playout, has unveiled “DANIEL2”, believed to be the world’s fastest video codec. The new DANIEL2 codec is an acquisition and production codec designed for recording from camera sources, editing, and postproduction as well as playout and was developed from inception to be GPU based with no dependence on legacy codec architectures. DANIEL2 can decode up to 1100 frames per second at 8K (7680×4320), which translates to over 17,000 frames of full HD per second. Cinegy Managing Director, Jan Weigner, said, “Today, even if users could decode multiple 4K or 8K streams using a CPU, which they cannot, they would probably still want to use the power of the GPU for effects and filters. Then there is the issue of system bus bandwidth bottlenecks for those trying to transfer decoded streams to the GPU’s memory. This is where DANIEL2 shines as streams a fraction of the size of their uncompressed counterparts are read from disk, or via a network, and are passed to the GPU for decompression faster than uncompressed frames can be copied.”
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As a result of its architecture, DANIEL2 offers three key benefits. It uses far less system bandwidth, consumes less disc or network bandwidth, and frees a CPU from the heavy lifting of video stream decoding so it can perform other tasks.
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To verify its speed and accuracy, Cinegy used DANIEL2 on its IBC stand to decode multiple 8K and 4K streams while performing real time compositing, colour correction, scaling, and titling. The results were all displayed in real time 8K. The hardware platform used for the DANIEL2 IBC demo was an off-theshelf sub-$1000 PC, in this case equipped with an Intel quad core i7-6700K processor, and an Nvidia GTX980Ti or Quadro M6000 graphics card. Visit www.cinegy.com
Paragon Software Group Releases NTFS for Mac 14 PARAGON SOFTWARE GROUP has announced the release of Paragon NTFS for Mac 14. Paragon NTFS for Mac 14 is the industry’s fastest driver giving OS X full read and write access to Windowsformatted NTFS partitions. The new version is fully compatible with Apple’s new operating system OS X 10.11 El Capitan and still supports all versions back to 10.8 Mountain Lion. Internal tests show Paragon NTFS for Mac 14 matches the file transfer speed of Apple’s native driver on SSDs. Paragon NTFS 14 for Mac achieved 700MB/sec (write) and 800MB/sec (read) on the internal SSD of a MacBook Pro. It also performs as well as HFS+ with external storage: 250MB/sec write and 240MB/sec read on a two-SSD RAID device, and 210MB/sec write and 210MB/sec read on an ordinary external drive. To ensure a higher level of security, El Capitan delivers a new protection feature. System Integrity Protection prevents modifications to certain system files, folders and processes. This protects components on disk and at run-time, only allowing system binaries to be modified by the system installer and software updates. Code injection and runtime attachments to system binaries are no longer allowed. Paragon NTFS for Mac 14 is fully compatible with Apple’s new security policy ensuring fast, hassle-free and safe access to NTFS partitions from El Capitan. Once the program is installed, the user can get started right away: conveniently navigate contents and read, edit, copy or create files and folders. The program guarantees advanced support of NTFS file systems and provides fast and transparent read/write access to any NTFS partition under OS X 10.11. Visit www.paragon-software.com
Make.tv Launch ACQUIRE Plugin for Avid MediaCentral Platform MAKE.TV RECENTLY ANNOUNCED its latest development, make.tv ACQUIRE. The new plugin enables third-party solution providers to integrate the functions of the make.tv Live Video Cloud into their own applications. As part of this development, make.tv announced that Avid has certified the integration of the make.tv ACQUIRE plugin within the Avid MediaCentral Platform ecosystem, using the Avid Connectivity Toolkit. With make.tv ACQUIRE, Avid MediaCentral Platform users can utilise access to the make.tv Live Video Cloud and all its features. News productions can be enriched with live feeds from smartphones and tablets. For example, news reporters can upload live streams using the free make.tv MOBILE APP and, at any time, the producer can determine the location of his roving reporters thanks to geo-localisation, query their online status and communicate via a chat function and integrated intercom. On top of this, a tally light in the make.tv MOBILE APP notifies the reporter as soon as the supplied live stream is on-air. As a result, make.tv is becoming a daily business tool for Avid users and news reporters all over the world. The compatibility with other make.tv tools, such as make.tv SELECTOR and make.tv MANAGER, means that the content generated can be selected, managed and distributed with flexibility. Producers also have the option of transferring their content to Avid Interplay | Production. “In our Internet live production tool, we are bringing together all of the features essential for the cloud-based acquisition, production and distribution of video content. Live formats such as news, events, sports and conferences can now be produced more quickly, more independently and most cost-effectively than ever before,” said Andreas Jacobi, CEO of make.tv. “The certification for the Avid MediaCentral Platform is a significant step on our journey towards revolutionising live productions through cloud-based architectures.” Visit www.make.tv
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OS X El Capitan Now Available as a Free Update APPLE HAS ANNOUNCED that OS X El Capitan, the latest major release of their desktop operating system, is available as a free update for Mac users. El Capitan builds on the features and design of OS X Yosemite, refining the Mac experience with updates to window management, built-in apps and Spotlight search, and performance improvements to make everyday activities — like launching and switching apps, opening PDFs and accessing email — faster and more responsive. “People love using their Macs, and one of the biggest reasons is the power and ease-of-use of OS X,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “El Capitan refines the Mac experience and improves performance in a lot of little ways that make a very big difference. Feedback from our OS X beta program has been incredibly positive and we think customers are going to love their Macs even more with El Capitan.” El Capitan gives you simpler and smarter ways to do the things you do most with your Mac. A streamlined Mission Control makes it easier to see and organise everything you have open on your Mac. With a single swipe, Mission Control arranges all your windows in a single layer so you can find the window you need even faster. OS X El Capitan improves system performance across your Mac; making many of the things you do everyday faster and more responsive. Metal, Apple’s graphics technology, accelerates Core Animation and Core Graphics to boost system-level rendering by up to 50 percent, and efficiency by up to 40 percent, resulting in faster graphics performance for everyday apps. Metal also takes full advantage of your CPU and GPU, delivering up to 10 times faster draw call performance for a richer, more fluid experience in games and pro apps. El Capitan also features enhanced international language support, including a new Chinese system font for both Traditional and Simplified, with 50,000 characters for crisp on-screen readability. Chinese keyboard input methods now offer regularly updated vocabulary lists and a smarter candidate window. El Capitan makes entering Japanese text faster by automatically transforming Hiragana into written Japanese and reducing the need to individually select and confirm word conversions. Visit www.apple.com
Blackmagic Design Announces Fusion 8 Public Beta BLACKMAGIC DESIGN HAS ANNOUNCED the public beta of the free version of Fusion 8 is now available for download from the Blackmagic Design website. This beta is for the free version of Fusion 8 and is available for both Mac OS X and Windows. This public beta is also the first ever Mac compatible release of Fusion, which was previously a Windows only product. By bringing the free version of Fusion 8 to the Mac, high end visual effects are available to even more users than ever before, opening the door to millions of motion graphic artists, broadcast designers, video editors, visual effects compositors, and 3D animators. In addition, projects can be easily moved between Mac and Windows versions of Fusion so customers can work on the platform of their choice. Featuring a powerful node based interface, Fusion makes it extremely easy to build sophisticated visual effects compositions very quickly. Nodes are small icons that represent effects, filters and other image processing operations that can be connected together in any order to create unlimited visual effects. Nodes are laid out logically like a flow chart, so customers won’t waste time hunting through nested stacks of confusing layers with filters and effects. Unlike timeline based applications, it’s easy to see and adjust any part of a project in Fusion by simply clicking on a node. With a massive toolset consisting of hundreds of built in tools, customers can pull keys, track objects, rotoscope, retouch images, animate titles, create particle effects and much more, all in a true 3D workspace. Fusion can also import 3D models, point cloud data, cameras or even entire 3D scenes from Maya, 3ds Max or Lightwave and render them seamlessly with other elements. Deep pixel tools can be used to add volumetric fog, lighting and reflection mapping of rendered objects using world position passes so customers can create atmospheric effects that render in seconds, instead of hours. “Since we announced our plans to bring Fusion 8 to Mac OS X, we’ve had a massive response from the creative community,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “This is something that animators, designers and visual effects artists have wanted on the Mac for a very long time. Because it was written specifically for Windows, bringing Fusion to Mac OS X wasn’t just a simple port. Our engineering team has been working tirelessly to rewrite parts of the Fusion code base so it runs incredibly well on Mac OS X, while also improving the Windows version. This new free version of Fusion 8 for Mac and Windows will make it accessible to many more users than ever.” Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com
Shotgun Announces New Review and Pipeline Features SHOTGUN SOFTWARE HAS ANNOUNCED a new set of features and updates that will make it easier for teams to review, share and provide feedback on creative projects. The upcoming Shotgun release will include new review and approval features and an updated Client Review Site to streamline collaboration and communication within teams, across sites and with clients. Shotgun’s Pipeline Toolkit is also being updated with the Shotgun Panel, which will let artists communicate directly with other artists and see only the information relevant to their tasks directly inside creative tools like Autodesk Maya and The Foundry’s Nuke , along with a refreshed Workfiles tool to find and navigate to relevant files more quickly. ”These updates address some of the biggest bottlenecks we see affecting our clients today: fluid review and approval pipelines, simple and integrated ways for studios to present their work and communicate securely, and simple and fast ways for artists to reference key info right inside of creative applications like Maya and Nuke so they don’t lose time switching contexts and applications,” said Don Parker, co-founder, Shotgun Software and Senior Product Manager, Autodesk. “This will be our second major release this year that focuses on these bottlenecks, and we’re excited to get these new tools into the hands of our clients.”
A new global view allows users to easily access and manage media across all of their studio's projects from one, easy-to-access location in Shotgun. Other improvements include new browsing options, playlists and a preference to launch media in RV, the desktop image/movie player. Now studios can more quickly invite multiple client contacts to review work, control password options that cover a wider range of security requirements, and collaborate faster with clients by uploading attachments and replying to notes. A Shotgun Panel inside Maya, Nuke and other artist tools means that artists now have a simple mini-Shotgun UI directly inside their most commonly used applications giving them quick access to important information and utilities, and the ability to communicate with other artists on their team without having to go out to a web browser. The panel can also be integrated directly into proprietary pipelines, and is customisable to support each studio's specific workflow. With Toolkit Workfiles Refresh, users can browse, load and save files faster with improved navigation for finding files and getting them loaded. Visit www.shotgunsoftware.com
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Nanyang Technological University Installs CEDAR Cambridge A CEDAR CAMBRIDGE SYSTEM now lies at the heart of Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Centre for IT Services, Event and Media Support Section, which provides services related to video and audio pre- and postproduction, graphic design, motion graphics, 3D animation, photography and print to all of NTU’s faculties and departments including the National Institute of Education. “Quite often we encounter issues with the audio channels of our video recordings,” says Senior Assistant Director, Mr Eric Wei. “We get interference noises and only discover them after the shoot is over. We needed a system that could reduce or even remove them.”
CEDAR Audio’s managing director, Gordon Reid, picks up the story, “At any given time, I trained up to five of Eric’s colleagues. I was delighted with their existing knowledge of the system which was due, in large part, to support from CDA Pro Audio Asia’s general manager Joel Chia and managing director Rick Dowel, who had already conducted sessions on specific modules such as Declickle, Declip, and Auto dehiss, as well as running through the overall picture of what CEDAR Cambridge can do.” The university was well prepared in terms of accompanying equipment, having installed a pair of ATC SCM25A monitors, which meant that they could hear the initial problems clearly and gauge the noise reduction necessary.
Mr Wei and his colleagues had long sought a solution, but previous efforts with software plug-ins failed to live up to expectations. Instead, they have now installed to a CEDAR Cambridge audio restoration system, supplied and installed by CDA Pro Audio (Asia), which represents CEDAR in Singapore and Malaysia.
Mr Wei observes, “The most obvious difference is the quality of the audio after the unwanted noises have been removed. The original, high-quality audio signal is still intact. I don’t think I have come across any system that can beat what CEDAR can do in terms of noise removal.”
“When we had the opportunity and financial resources to purchase the CEDAR Cambridge system, it was an easy ‘no brainer’ decision,” Mr Wei continues. “Integration was quite straightforward, and what is more important is the ability to use the system properly.”
He concluded that the technology has benefitted NTU greatly, saying, “In the future, when any of our video recordings have unwanted noise, we are more than well-equipped to handle the situation.” Visit www.cedaraudio.com and www.cda-proaudio.com
Symetrix Delivers Effective Processing for Beijing High Court WITH RESPONSIBILITIES THAT INCLUDE the live transmission/ recording of court proceedings and the management of case-related documents, it stands to reason that no chances can be taken when it comes to the AV infrastructure of the Beijing Higher People’s Court. In this spirit, the Court recently pressed ahead with an audio system installation in which Symetrix DSPs play an integral role. In delivering the best possible solution, the project entailed cooperation between two of China’s leading specialists in professional technology. Whilst distribution heavyweight and long-running Symetrix provider EZPro was primarily responsible for supply and system tuning, Beijing Jinqiao Times Culture Development Co served as systems integrator in charge of product purchase and system specification. “EZPro has a very close relationship with Jinqiao Times,” reports Zhang Yangyang, the company’s sales manager for northern China. “When Jinqiao Times told us that they had a project that was in need of reliable and flexible DSP products, we recommended Symetrix – and it quickly became clear that their solutions could indeed meet the substantial requirements of the High Court’s Executive Command Center.” With as many as 46 inputs and 14 outputs to manage, and frequent changes to the configuration, flexible routing and processing were critical.
Support for the specified Audinate Dante network and provision for redundant set-up were other factors that ultimately led Jinqiao Times to specify three Symetrix SymNet Radius AEC open architecture Dantescalable DSPs. These are used in conjunction with two SymNet xIn 12 expanders to ensure there is sufficient capacity available at all times.
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“In the audio system, the large number of inputs made for a rather complex requirement for signal routing and control,” confirms Beijing EZPro systems engineer Mr. Fan. “However, with the choice of the Symetrix products, we have been able to group the input sources through the SymNet Composer software, simplifying the entire operation considerably.” The selection of the Symetrix DSPs has also had another important benefit with regard to their inclusion of the AV industry’s lowest-latency acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) algorithm. This functionality is especially advantageous when video conferences are taking place between the Beijing Higher People’s Court and judicial bodies in other regions. “The AEC function eradicates distracting echo and obtrusive noise while delivering pristine full-bandwidth audio to both near and far ends. It’s a really great feature for this kind of application,” says Zhang. Visit www.symetrix.co
ITU Approves Standards for Advanced Audio Broadcasting
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THE ITU MEMBERSHIP has unanimously approved open standards, Recommendation ITU-R BS.2088-0, aimed at delivering advanced sound for broadcasting services.
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The new global standards will facilitate the production and exchange of advanced audio files by allowing a single file to carry a complete audio programme containing audio samples as well as metadata for any combination of object, channel, and scene-based audio. The new file format was developed based on the existing and widely used RIFF/WAV file format in order to facilitate its application and implementation. The new audio standards will enable ‘immersive audio’, which will
complement Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV). Future technical capabilities for audio will also allow viewers to select their own menu of services. They will be able to decide on and adjust the level of immersive sound in their living rooms, creating dynamic sound imaging. These features become possible with ‘object based coding’, which will allow viewers to personalise their viewing and listening experience ‘at the point of consumption’. This could include setting language and dialogue levels and selecting different aspects or sections of programming, which could also bring added benefits for people with disabilities. Visit www.itu.int
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DESIGNED AS A UNIQUE state-of-the-art performance and recording space, Leo Studio boasts a full complement of high-end recording gear and musical instruments, at the heart of which is a 24-channel Solid State Logic Duality. Opening its doors just two months ago, Leo Studio is already highlyregarded, with famed Asian celebrities and many established local artists using the studio even before the doors officially opened. When considering the design philosophy behind Leo Studio, chart topping Asian Pop music producer/Leo Studio Consultant, Eric Ng and veteran recording/mixing Engineer, Frank Lee primarily focused on creating an inspiring recording environment for musicians. “A recording studio should not only have great equipment like Duality, but should also be a comfortable, creative space.” says Ng “We wanted the live room to be a stimulating environment that would excite the artists and make them feel welcome. The first thing clients say when they go into the studio is ‘wow!’” And hence the decision for Eric to rope in Thomas Ng as interior designer to please the clients’ eyes as well as their ears. Ng [Eric] and Lee built the studio from the ground up, tapping into their experiences in the industry for inspiration, with Ng specifying the equipment, and Lee handling the acoustical design. “For the past ten years or so, we have been doing most of our work in-the-box.” continues Ng. “When it came time to build the studio, we asked ourselves, ‘What do we miss about having a great studio?’ The first thing that came to mind was an SSL mixing console. There’s no question about the sound quality — it’s the best.” Duality’s streamlined hybrid workflow was also an attraction to Ng and Lee. “We record almost exclusively in Pro Tools, so we knew we needed a console
and a controller with total recall. Duality seemed like the obvious choice because it integrates the classic SSL design with DAW control. We are really impressed with how quickly we can get back to a previous session.” Interestingly, the control room at Leo Studio is not outfitted with hoards of expensive outboard gear. “We knew we could get amazing results from Duality’s onboard processing, so we found we didn’t need a lot of outboard gear for this studio. One of the features that really struck me about the Duality is the dual SuperAnalogue and Variable Harmonic Drive (VHD) mic preamp,” continues Ng. “You can run the preamps clean, but when you switch to VHD, you overdrive the preamp to get this saturated sound that is perfect on some instruments. “After everything was up and running, we started doing some test recordings and were overwhelmed to hear what we’d been missing over the past decade without the SSL: it sounds so good!” Visit www.solidstatelogic.com
SUMMA. THE WORLD AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. Inspired by the simplicity and intuitiveness of tablet technology, Summa is designed for a broad range of operator levels, with an easy-to-use touchscreen interface which uses established finger gestures to navigate the system. Designed for live broadcast applications, with a focus on instinctive operation, Summa simplifies even complex workflow tasks with common procedures that are just a touch away. Leading-edge Bluefin2 DSP and the same high-performance Hydra2 router technology featured on the Apollo and Artemis consoles means Summa is fully integrated with the wider broadcast community. Lean, refined and simple – more reasons why the world’s most successful broadcasters rely on Calrec.
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Audinate Ramps Up APAC Activity for a Big 2016
Kiwa Digital Releases VoiceQ 2.0 KIWA DIGITAL HAS RELEASED VOICEQ 2.0, a streamlined
AUDINATE, THE SYDNEY BASED COMPANY behind the Dante networking solution, has zoomed past 500 Dante-enabled products and opened a new office in Hong Kong as it looks towards a big 2016. More than 500 Dante-enabled products are now available from more than 225 licensed manufacturers worldwide, including Yamaha, Bose, and Shure, a 60 per cent increase in the past 12 months. Audinate’s Dante technology transforms audio into a smart, connected medium that can be used for a huge range of professional audio and commercial needs, replacing bundles of audio cables with a single network cable that can be controlled through software. It has become the de facto standard for commercial audio installed in stadiums, hotels, theme parks, and major live events. “The 500th Dante-enabled product represents a significant milestone for Audinate and our Dante OEM partners,” Audinate CEO, Lee Ellison, said. “Customer research tells us that the single biggest factor when selecting an audio networking solution, is the number of available products on the market. With hundreds of products launched in the past 12 months, Dante has reached the tipping point and has become the industry standard for Audio over IP networking.”
postproduction cueing application designed to save time and improve accuracy with synchronised dialogue in films, television programs and games. Through the use of intuitive workflows and simple easy-to-use features, VoiceQ provides extremely accurate lip-synched processes and tools that considerably simplify dialogue replacement and dubbing for international versions. The software presents the script to actors in the traditional rythmo band, presenting a frame-accurate cue for every word yet utilizing digital technology to gain significant time and cost savings. Working with ProTools and other Digital Audio Workstations (DAW’s), VoiceQ harnesses the power of Mac OSX, providing an abundance of simple easy-to-use features for all production and studio professionals. Visit www.voiceq.com
Audient iD22s Populate New iMac Lab at NZ’s Massey University
According to InfoComm, Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing market in the professional AV industry, and that holds true for Audinate as well. Audinate now has 44 Dante licensees in Asia, and 47 per cent of those manufacturers have signed on in just the past 12 months. Fuelled by the overall growth of the AV industry in Asia and the widespread adoption of Audinate’s Dante media networking technology in the region, Audinate’s new Hong Kong office will provide business development, technical sales and customer support.
“The fast adoption of Dante among AV manufacturers in Asia is truly exciting, and is proof that Dante has become the de facto standard in audio networking,” Wong said. “These manufacturers are selecting Dante to ensure their products have guaranteed interoperability with the hundreds of other Dante-enabled products available worldwide.” Visit www.audinate.com
CREATIVE MEDIA Production students at Massey University are learning
AUDIO TECHNOLOGY COMPANY IZOTOPE INC. has integrated with Premiere Pro’s open extension API to allow users access to RX Loudness Control directly within the media export function. RX Loudness Control offers the ability to perform loudness correction to quickly and accurately meet global broadcast media loudness specifications. “We’re extremely excited to extend this feature to Premiere Pro users,” says Rob D’Amico, Director of Product Management at iZotope, Inc. “For the first time ever, Premiere Pro users will have access to offline loudness correction from within the app.” To ensure audio mixes comply with any global loudness standard, RX Loudness Control utilises advanced algorithms developed specifically to deliver the highest quality loudness correction quickly. Premiere Pro users can utilise these time-saving tools to export their final audio mix without taking additional steps to meet these specifications.
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This streamlined workflow will not only ensure compliant material, but will also provide editors with more time for creativity.
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Visit www.izotope.com
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Ben Wong has been appointed Director of Sales for Asia Pacific and will lead Audinate’s team from the new Hong Kong office.
iZotope Integrates RX Loudness Control with Premiere Pro API
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sound design with the help of 25 Audient iD22 audio interface units in a brand new Mac Pro teaching suite this semester. Described as “a great addition to our new School”, by Associate Professor and Head of School, Andre Ktori, the iMac lab has been operational since July. Neil Aldridge, Sound Design programme leader, says, “We’re loving the Audient iD22s. We are by no means using them to their full potential yet, that’ll come when the Commercial Music degree starts up. Having said that, the iD22s are a great asset to the Sound Design paper. The students find them intuitive and easy to use: simple to set up and straightforward to operate. Combine this with the super clean audio path, and the iD22s have become an integral and seamless part of the student’s artistic process.” Each iD22 features two Class-A mic pres with additional ADC, helping to transform each of the iMac-based DAWs into a world-class recording system. As far as Aldridge was concerned, choosing Audient was an easy decision. “I have an ASP510 which I use in my 5.1 set up for film work. Based on my experiences with that, the DDA heritage that Audient grew from and the excellent customer support I’ve always received when I’ve been in touch with them, I had no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending Audient for Massey University.” The brand new Commercial Music degree, which is already enrolling students for its 2016 intake, will also have Aldridge at its helm. Preparations are well under way to ensure that the teaching studio for the new degree is up to scratch, with a 48-channel ASP8024 console on order from New Zealand Audient distributor, Protel. Visit http://audient.com and www.protel.co.nz
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Clear-Com Unveils HelixNet Version 3.0
DirectOut Delivers Enhanced Feature Set for ANNA-LISA GERMAN MANUFACTURER AND MADI SPECIALIST, DirectOut Technologies has launched brand new remote software for their MADI analyser and signal generator, ANNA-LISA.
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ANNA-LISA is a handheld device with a simple traffic light style LED Go/No Go indication. It is equipped with two MADI I/Os; a coaxial BNC port and an SFP cage for single mode or multimode transceivers. It is compatible with all MADI formats and checks for AES10 conformity, sample rate, format, signal amplitude and jitter. The onboard generator has three presets for different test signals.
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CLEAR-COM HAS LAUNCHED HelixNet Version 3.0, a free software-only update to the acclaimed HelixNet digital network partyline platform. The new version unlocks the HelixNet system in response to the growing need for more communication channels to support live performances and live productions. With this new update, the HelixNet multiplies its basic channel count by three, with a new offering of 12 channels per HMS-4X Main Station. In the previous version, users had to link three HMS-4X Stations together in order to achieve the same number of channels. This capability brings greater capacity and flexibility to larger productions that require more distinctive talk groups. Furthermore, an additional 12 channels can be added simply by purchasing a licence, effectively enabling a single HMS-4X to provide a total of 24 channels. In order to support this expanded channel count of HelixNet, any combination of Main Stations or Remote Stations (HRM) can be configured to function as expansion key stations. With multiple devices acting as one system, users are able to address all users on HelixNet with a single headset/ mic/loudspeaker. Pressing the “All Talk” key will affect all channels in a linked and expanded system.
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DirectOut managing director, Stephan Flock, remarked, “I’m delighted with the extremely positive feedback that we’re getting for the ANNALISA remote app. Our only regret is that we weren’t able to bring it out sooner, but our users all agree that the even more comprehensive analysis tools provided by the software were worth the wait!” Visit www.directout.eu
The New 10MX Atomic Clock from Antelope Audio
HelixNet 3.0 also features a free browser-based software tool for the first time, called Core Configuration Manager (CCM). This enables easy online set-up and configuration of all HelixNet devices via the latest versions of all major browsers on Mac, PC and tablet platforms. CCM offers visual representation of all connected devices and functions, and the save/restore function allows easy duplication of systems. All configurations can be edited via the CCM software, or via the traditional menu system on the HelixNet Main Station.
ANTELOPE AUDIO HAS ANNOUNCED its latest innovation in audio
Visit www.clearcom.com
clocking technology: the 10MX Atomic Clock.
NUGEN Audio Releases New DSP Version of VisLM-H2
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The newly-launched remote software, which is available as an app for ANDROID devices and connected via Bluetooth, offers a significantly enhanced feature set for ANNA-LISA users. Functions include advanced analysis of signal parameters including amplitude and jitter measurement; monitoring of AES3 channel state; bit scope for monitoring audio and subframe data; 128 channel level meter and output gain adjustment; and finally, a channel-based routing matrix for both MADI I/Os and all signal generator presets.
NUGEN AUDIO HAS INTRODUCED a new DSP option for its industryleading VisLM-H2 visual loudness meter, targeted to users of Avid Pro Tools HDX systems. Leveraging advanced AAX DSP hybrid technology, VisLM-H2 DSP integrates seamlessly into the professional Avid HDX environment and optimally deploys Avid audio engine resources for the Pro Tools power user. Joining ISL 2 DSP, NUGEN Audio’s true peak limiter for HDX, VisLM-H2 DSP enables users to take advantage of the full capability of their NUGEN Audio loudness tools within the context of a highly optimised HDX environment. “VisLM-H2 DSP completes our lineup of loudness offerings for HDX workstations,” said Jon Schorah, creative director, NUGEN Audio. “With VisLM-H2 DSP, HDX users can handle loudness at their workstations in the fastest and smartest manner and gain maximum benefit from their HDX systems.” Visit www.nugenaudio.com
The 10MX builds on Antelope’s clocking legacy by fusing proven technologies and advances in industrial design to deliver a product without compromise. The new product combines the atomic precision of the legendary 10M with the sophisticated Acoustically Focused Clocking (AFC) algorithms of the Trinity into an aesthetically stunning 1U enclosure. “The 10M Rubidium Atomic Clock and Trinity Master Clock combination has proven to be the ‘gold standard’ and the ultimate clocking reference in many top recording, mastering and post-production facilities around the world,” commented Igor Levin, CEO and founder, Antelope Audio. “In our development of the 10MX, we wanted to raise the bar. We listened to our customers and delivered exactly what they asked for: the best features of the 10M and Trinity in a combined, 1U package.” As digital devices continue to proliferate the audio signal chain, high quality clocking solutions have never been more critical. The Antelope 10MX is perfectly suited to recording, mixing and mastering environments and is an ideal companion to a variety of live sound applications in delivering refined clarity and three-dimensionality. Housed in a compact and futuristically designed 1U rack box, the 10MX is manufactured with premium components to deliver the most stable clocking solution in the world. The 10MX features multiple atomic outputs, enabling up to ten devices to be clocked simultaneously over 10MHz. Four BNC outputs provide Word Clock (WC) signal, supporting an astounding sampling rate of up to 768 kHz. In addition, four more WC outputs are available through AES and S/PDIF. Visit www.antelopeaudio.com
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RADIO The original broadcast media
www.content-technology.com/radio
Malaysia’s Media Prima Expands Radio Operations MEDIA PRIMA BERHAD, one of Malaysia’s leading fully-integrated media investment groups has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement to acquire Copyright Laureate Sdn Bhd (CLSB), which operates Ultra FM and Pi Mai FM radio broadcasting stations, for a total cash consideration of RM20 million (USD$4.74 million). The purchase would see Media Prima owning 100 per cent stake in the two radio stations. Media Prima Group Managing Director, Dato’ Sri Amrin Awaluddin, said, “The acquisition provides tremendous potential in terms of revenue growth for the Group and is in line with our business strategy of procuring strategic media assets to add to our existing portfolio. The move will
Ad Revenue Growth for Australian Metropolitan Radio The Australian commercial radio industry has recorded growth in metropolitan advertising revenue of 12.43% for September, to a total of AUD$70.823 million (USD$51.52 million), according to figures sourced by Deloitte and released by industry body Commercial Radio Australia (CRA). September figures for the individual markets showed that Adelaide led growth figures, reporting a large increase of 25.98% to $6.607 million, Perth was up 18.02% to $9.711 million, Sydney was also up 12.78% to $21.868 million, Melbourne rose by 8.91% to $21.832 million and Brisbane was also up 7.15% to $10.805 million. The year-to-date figures show growth across all markets with a rise of 8.82% to $195.544 million. Adelaide was up 16.61% to $18.495 million; Sydney increased 9.76% to $60.436 million, Perth up 8.26% to $26.148 million, Melbourne rose 7.93% to $60.224 million; and Brisbane up 4.95% to $30.241 million.
Jampro Antenna Upgrade Powers Up Guam Radio KZGZ RADIO, known regionally as Power 98 FM Top 40 radio, along with its sister stations KGUM and most recently KPXP, got a major boost from when their parent company Sorensen Pacific Broadcasting recently upgraded their Jampro Antennas from a two-frequency system to a three-frequency system. The upgrade, which involved the purchase and installation of Jampro’s JSWB high-power, super broadband FM antenna, now allows the station to extend its reach to listeners throughout Guam. The Jampro JSWB Broadband FM side mount antenna is designed for multiple frequency broadcast applications that require moderate to high power capability. Each element is fabricated with high strength thick wall brass and copper. Capable of handling 10 kW to 100 kW, the JSWB is one of the highest power Broadband side mount FM antennas available on a single frequency. The JSWB is a circularly polarised antenna ideally suited for HD Radio digital broadcasting simultaneously with the user’s analogue signal.
Visit www.commercialradio.com.au
Visit www.jampro.com
accelerates time to air for news content gathered in the field. The companies unveiled a remote newsgathering solution featuring ENCO’s iDAD mobile application and Yellowtec iXM recording microphones, giving reporters a high-quality, handheld system to record, process and transfer audio files back to the studio. The collaborative workflow reduces equipment costs, eliminating the need to use expensive field recorders to gather interviews in the field. Reporters and sources speak into the iXM microphone, which incorporates auto levelling. ENCO’s iDAD app can connect wirelessly to the iXM’s internal WiFi storage device, allowing iDAD to directly access iXM recordings for editing and director transfer to a radio station’s DAD audio library. iDAD can also remotely control the ENCO DAD automation system at the studio. The iXM incorporates only two large buttons and three light-up status icons, essentially cancelling any learning curve for the reporter. Visit www.enco.com and www.yellowtec.com
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“Jampro has been working with Sorensen Pacific Broadcasting for a number of years and we were ready to help its stations’ upgrade as soon as they said the word,” says Alex M. Perchevitch, Jampro President.
ENCO HAS ANNOUNCED a new partnership with Yellowtec that
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He added that the newly acquired radio stations are expected to derive potential synergistic benefits from collaborative sales and marketing strategies between the radio and other media platforms within the Group as well as enjoy significant cost savings through consolidation of back office and operational costs.
The Deloitte figures report actual revenue received by metropolitan commercial radio stations and include all metropolitan agency and direct revenue.
ENCO and Yellowtec Simplify Remote Newsgathering
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also allow the Group to realise new opportunities and grow our radio advertising share to complement our leadership position in television, content production, print, out-of-home and online digital platforms.”
WorldDMB Becomes WorldDAB WORLDDMB HAS CHANGED its name to WorldDAB. This move is to ensure that the name reflects the primary mission of the organisation, which is to promote the adoption of DAB / DAB+ digital radio around the world. As the organisation engages with a growing number of international stakeholders – including policy makers, regulators, broadcasters, receiver manufacturers and the automotive sector – it is important that the organisation’s messaging, including its name, is consistent with this core objective. In the last four years, the DAB family of standards has made enormous progress – particularly in Europe and Australia. There are growing signs of interest in other territories. It is clear transnational co-operation will play a critical part in driving the success of the standard. WorldDAB aims to play a leading role in this process. The new logo will be used on all new materials produced by the organisation. Visit www.worlddab.org
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OCTOBER 28 SAW the Australian broadcasting industry lose one of its longest serving and most esteemed engineers with the passing of John Somerville Innes. Born in 1934, John’s career in broadcast engineering spanned more than 60 years and earned him industry recognition and respect worldwide. He was a great mentor to many young engineers and largely regarded as the foremost authority on MF transmission in the country. John’s passion for broadcasting was lifelong. He obtained his Amateur Radio license in 1955 and one of his earliest jobs was repairing twoway radio systems for a taxi company. Prior to the advent of Australian television in 1956, John worked on HF and VHF transmitters before transferring his talents to the TV industry. He was instrumental in
Radio Free Asia Announces New Managing Director, Northeast Asia RADIO FREE ASIA (RFA) has announced that distinguished journalist and former diplomat Bay Fang will serve as RFA’s new Managing Director, with responsibility for Northeast Asia. “Bay’s experience as a Beijing-based correspondent who also reported from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to her diplomatic career, make her an asset to RFA in advancing our mission of gathering news in some of the world’s toughest media environments,” said Libby Liu, President of RFA. “I have long admired the work of Radio Free Asia journalists, and am thrilled to be joining an organisation with such an important mandate,” Fang said. “Bringing objective, accurate, and timely news to people in countries that restrict free press is a cause that is more critical than ever. I hope to help RFA continue to break stories and deliver impactful journalism in some of the most challenging regions of the world.” As Managing Director, Northeast Asia, Fang will work closely with the directors of five language services to manage the daily and long-term operations of RFA Mandarin, Tibetan, Cantonese, Uyghur, and Korean. She will oversee a year-long investigative series across all the language services, and help to increase the impact of RFA’s programming. Visit www.rfa.org
establishing ATN7 Sydney and BTQ9 Brisbane, joined RCA as a field engineer and eventually became Chief Engineer for the same company. In 1977 John branched out into his own business operations, initially with transformer manufacturing and ultimately founding the company that became Innes Corporation. His charter was always to provide the best engineering service to all broadcasters but he had a special affiliation with the smaller community groups and independent radio stations. His vast and detailed knowledge of AM transmission sites around Australia was unique and he remained active in a consulting role to the industry until selling his business in 2014. The volume of heartfelt tributes flowing in from around the world are testimony to the high regard in which John was held by the broadcast community and he will be sorely missed. He was universally acknowledged as a gentleman of great honour and integrity.
ENCO iWatch App for Connectivity to Automation ENCO HAS DEVELOPED an iWatch app, which gives radio broadcasters in the field connectivity to ENCO DAD automation systems back at the studio. The in-house developed app offers the same control capability as ENCO’s iDAD mobile app, which was released three years ago to streamline live remote and newsgathering workflows. For broadcasters, the remote control functions of both iDAD and the new iWatch app simplify and enhance remote options via ENCO’s DAD Command Language. These are presented on the app’s GUI through a clean array of user-definable buttons. The differentiator for the iWatch user is a further reduction of clutter; rather than fumbling with a mobile device while conducting an interview or live broadcast, the user can simply press a button on a wristwatch to send a command back to the studio. “A broadcaster can easily do live remotes and control the automation system from the convenience of his or her wrist,” said Ken Frommert, general manager, ENCO. “It brings further ease of use to the process while holding a microphone, for example, and additionally frees up mobile phones and tablets for other production or communication needs.” Visit www.enco.com
New MW and SW Antennas from Ampegon
GatesAir Powers-Up Transmitters
AMPEGON HAS INTRODUCED a folded monopole 50 kW antenna system
GATESAIR IS OFFERING a cost-efficient exciter upgrade to its large base of Platinum Z and ZX transmitter customers. The Flexiva Power-Up Program targets worldwide FM broadcasters seeking a low-cost path to the increased power levels of elevated HD Radio sidebands, and provides competitive analogue audio improvements without requiring investment in a new transmitter.
with new design concept and optimised antenna structure. The folded monopole antenna is fully grounded with no need of a base insulator for the placement of the antenna. This is an advantage for the antenna setup; maintenance of components and auxiliary systems installed on the antenna structure is simplified. Constructed as a single unit, the folded monopole antenna consists of the mast and the radiating element. The guy ropes supporting the mast are each divided by a single insulator. The upper section forms the “antenna cage”, which is connected to the mast on one side, and by ropes to the insulated feed point at the base of the antenna.
The Flexiva Power Up Program allows Platinum Z and ZX customers to raise HD Radio power by up to 237 percent upon integrating the Flexiva FAX-50 FM exciter. This, along with GatesAir’s innovations in hybrid crest factor reduction to increase output power, ensures that HD Radio broadcasters can broaden their market penetration.
Ampegon has also introduced a new folded dipole shortwave antenna system. The new antenna design concept and an optimised antenna structure is used for the introduction of the single band folded dipole antenna system, available in the RF power range up to 50 kW.
An extension of the program allows customers to additionally upgrade to current-generation GatesAir Flexiva Importer and Exporter units, ensuring the full multichannel and audio quality benefits of a complete Gen4 Exgine architecture. The current-generation Importer, Exporter and exciter units also eliminate spinning disks in favour of 100 percent solid-state operation.
The antenna system features key performance indicators like VSWR ≤ 1.5 in the perational frequency band (Z0 = 300 W) and a gain of 8 dBi.
The base Flexiva Power-Up package includes the FAX-50 FM/HD Radio exciter, an installation kit, and a video installation guide.
Visit www.ampegon.com
Visit www.gatesair.com
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DTS to Acquire HD Radio Developer iBiquity DTS, INC., a provider of high-definition audio solutions and audio enhancement technologies, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer of digital HD Radio technology for AM/FM audio and data broadcasting for approximately USD$172 million. DTS expects to finance the transaction through a combination of cash on hand and debt. iBiquity is the exclusive developer and licensor of HD Radio technology, the sole method approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for upgrading AM/FM broadcasting from analogue to digital. HD Radio technology features improved audio quality, expanded content choices and new digital data services such as album cover art and real-time traffic updates. In particular, iBiquity has very successfully driven penetration of HD Radio technology in the North American automotive OEM market. Every one of the 36 major auto brands serving the U.S. market offers HD Radio technology on some of their vehicles, many as standard equipment. The
Audion Releases VoxPro 5 Recording Suite AUDION LABS’ VOXPRO 5 is a powerful yet easy to use digital audio recorder and editor for control and newsrooms. It is packed with recording and editing capabilities providing a creative, reliable platform to create onair content in tight time frames. The system consists of two components, robust Windows software and an intuitive desktop USB controller. The software can record or import any common audio file format for drag-and-drop layering in the simple multi-track window. New audio processing effects include adjustable normalisation, pitch shift and time stretch. The system can assign an unlimited number of users with passwordprotected folders and files allowing each of them to quickly resume editing from where they left off. Networked systems automatically share files, so users can move between studios with ease and without having to manually transfer content. Visit www.audionlabs.com
Omnia Releases VOCO 8 for Networked Microphone Management THE NEW OMNIA VOCO 8 solves the problem of multiple-mic audio processing in just 2RU of rack space. VOCO 8 gives the ability to quickly manage and adjust many mics with just a single laptop connection. VOCO 8 features eight high-quality microphone preamplifiers and as many as eight channels of 3-band microphone processing (two channels of processing come standard). Comprehensive audio I/O includes analogue, AES/EBU and Livewire+/AES67 for all eight channels. All preamps and audio I/O are always available, regardless of whether or not they are licensed for processing. Even more useful: since most studios don’t require eight separate mic channels, a single VOCO 8 unit can easily be used to process mics in multiple studios.
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VOCO 8 is equipped with a flexible preset and session management system which allows all processing settings and audio routing to quickly be recalled using front panel controls, intuitive remote control software, or from external automation systems. Presets can be shared among multiple networked VOCO 8 units in the same facility, or on the other side of the globe without the need to manually update presets on each unit.
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Visit www.telosalliance.com
Company’s technology was built into approximately 35% of cars sold in the U.S. in 2014, and DTS expects the majority of North American vehicles to come equipped with HD Radio technology over time. “DTS has long been at the forefront of the highest quality audio technology, and we saw a similar spirit at iBiquity, which identified an opportunity to revolutionise traditional AM/FM broadcasting and is now strongly positioned to capitalise on broadcast radio’s ongoing digital upgrade,” said Jon Kirchner, chairman and CEO of DTS. “We are excited to join forces with DTS, a true pioneer in high definition audio,” said Bob Struble, president and CEO of iBiquity. “In DTS, we have found a like-minded partner and we look forward to bringing our breakthrough HD Radio technology to the DTS portfolio of solutions.” iBiquity Digital Corporation is a privately held company based in Columbia, Maryland with approximately 120 employees. After closing, Bob Struble will continue to lead the HD Radio business for DTS. Visit www.dts.com and www.ibiquity.com
Version 6 of Belar’s Modulation Monitor Software BELAR ELECTRONICS has released Version 6 of its FMHD-1 modulation monitor software, integrating key benefits for HD Radio diversity delay. The new software includes an option for Belar’s Automatic Delay Correction (ADC) module. Customers can request the field-upgradeable ADC module for both new and existing FMHD-1 mod monitors. The ADC module enables direct communication between the FMHD-1 monitor and the device containing the diversity delay in the broadcast air chain. The communication is accomplished by establishing an IP connection between the two devices. The new software update also gives broadcasters a clearer picture into overall performance monitoring. Viewable on the FMHD-1 front panel or desktop/ laptop/mobile devices over IP using Belar WizWin software, the new software release delivers a series of dynamic graphics to more effectively capture and communicate modulation activity.
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Voltair Version 2.0 from 25-Seven 25-SEVEN SYSTEMS has released Voltair version 2.0 software. According to 25-Seven Systems founder Geoff Steadman, “Version 2.0 for Voltair is all about monitoring and metrics. Using v2.0 software, stations and groups will be able to monitor encoding quality metrics in real time at both local and enterprise levels. With this access, programmers can build and extract encoding history data for correlation with playlists, ratings numbers and other important metrics. “Data-driven programmers have been vocal about their desire to see and use for themselves the same information we use to build Voltair’s confidence display,” says Steadman. “This new capability is for programmers who require even deeper levels of data analysis.” In addition to the option for deep-data reporting, Voltair v2.0 software adds new standard features to Voltair clients’ toolkits, such as the ability to monitor system health via IP, and an enhanced web interface. Visit www.telosalliance.com
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Are You a Media Technology Vendor/Developer with Existing or Planned Business Interests in China? Are You Looking to Import China-made Products or Outsource Manufacturing? Want to Tap Into the World’s Biggest Media Market? Keep Up on the Background to Technology Trends Across Greater China
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For Your Trial Subscription, Visit www.chinameiti.biz THE TEAM NANCY YAN WANG Nancy is a graduate of the Communication University of China and holds a Bachelor Degree in Audio Engineering. Her technical thesis was published in Chinese national broadcast magazine, CATV Technology. Following social practice with China Central TV Network (CCTV) and Zhejiang Satellite TV Network, Nancy worked with Fujian Satellite TV Network for five years as an Audio Engineer. In 2005, Nancy took on the role of Marketing Coordinator in the International Marketing Department of manufacturer Miller Camera Support where she built strong relationships with dealers and broadcast professionals alike and travelled extensively to visit Chinese customers and help extend Miller’s business in the China market.
PHIL SANDBERG Phil Sandberg has spent over 25 years reporting on technology and policy issues affecting the TV, radio and recording industries throughout Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. He is the founder of Content+Technology magazine and Broadcastpapers.com
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In 2010, she completed a Business Marketing course with TAFE NSW and graduated with Distinction. She has also undertaken online marketing for the SMPTE Australia Section. She currently divides her time between Australia and China.
His other credits include TV Technology & Production magazine, Broadcast Engineering News, Internet World Australia, the IBC Daily News, Radio World, Production Solutions, Pro Sound News Asia, Personal Investor magazine and The Australian newspaper.
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Nancy can be reached via chinameiti@gmail.com
You can reach him via papers@broadcastpapers.com
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CONTENT DELIVERY Terrestrial, Mobile, Broadband
www.content-technology.com/delivery
The Viu from PCCW – OTT Translating Into Eyeballs It promises to be a cross-cultural, cross-platform streaming steamroller delivering premium Asian content throughout the region and to the rest of the world. Having made its Hong Kong debut, PCCW Media’s Viu Over-the-Top (OTT) video service is set to progressively roll out across Asia, including India, and the Middle East. BASED ON A FREEMIUM MODEL, Viu offers Hong Kong users instant access to premium content sourced from Korea, Japan, Mainland China and Taiwan on multi-platforms and devices. Speaking at the recent CASBAA Convention, MD of PCCW Media, Janice Lee said “It’s a global OTT service that we’re trying to bring from Hong Kong to the rest of the world and position it as a global brand that serves Asian content to a global audience.
CONTENT DELIVERY
“We put a lot of emphasis on the localisation of the service overall,” says Lee, “and it comes as three aspects - one which is content. So, we look at localisation in terms of content and in terms of technology in its delivery, in getting the service into the consumer’s hand and the language.
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“If you’re trying to launch a service in Asia, Asia’s really not one market. For a market that is so diverse there are some common denominators at the moment. Some content does travel very well across Asia. At the moment it’s the Korean content which has very great viewership across most of the Asian countries. The service is not just for Korean content. It’s Korean, Japanese, Hong Kong, mainland content, Taiwanese content. It’s a bouquet of Asian content, essentially, and then added to that in each of the market that we’re going to roll out in we will add more local flavour, as we roll out in Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia, we will also add some local content into it as well. That’s localisation in terms of the content aspects. “We’ve set a really high bar for ourselves to turn around the subtitling within eight hours so what happens is, at 10 o’clock, it finishes broadcast in Korea and we have a team that works overnight to get the subtitling out by the morning. Now, as a broadcaster ourselves, it historically didn’t get
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“It’s an extension of what we’ve been doing in the past few years around our OTT strategy. We already have a global OTT service, previously called Vuclip, we’re rebranding it as Viu, and then adding on a lot more premium content to serve various markets. We are currently in operation in ten countries with about 8 million subscribers in India, in Middle East, growing in South East Asia.” Topping the list of content is exclusive first-time viewing in Hong Kong of the latest popular Korean drama series and variety shows offered with Traditional Chinese subtitling eight hours after Korea telecast.
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MON done that fast. Hong Kong was seeing products maybe two or three months after Korea. But, what happened is we saw there was a gap and it allowed room for piracy because viewers actually were there watching content online. It’s quite borderless and they want to see that content almost at the same time that it’s being broadcast in its country of origin. We want to provide a legal means for viewers to access the service. “Second of all, it’s the quality of the subtitling because right now they might be going online to search for the content and then they find that the subtitle may not be in their own language or, for Hong Kong market, it maybe in simplified Chinese and they want it in complex Chinese, and so we’re trying to solve all this for the consumer and make the legal service easy enough for them to access because we then progress outside of Hong Kong. “You look at Malaysia and Indonesia, and you have to subtitle it in Malay Bahasa and Indonesia Bahasa and try to turn that around between eight and 24 hours is how we differentiate our service because ultimately we don’t own or produce all the content that we offer on the service but it is the value-add that we can create around it that we believe allows the user or hopefully appeal to the user in a different way.”
THE PLATFORM Technologically, PCCW has chalked up some 12 years’ experience in IP delivery of content, beginning with now TV, Hong Kong’s first IPTV and
largest pay-TV service, and Moov, Hong Kong’s first OTT music platform.
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The Viu OTT video service launch is a strategic move to further expand upon PCCW Media’s earlier investment in Vuclip, a mobile video platform with over 8 million subscribers across 10 countries.
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“We’ve got a subscriber base in India, we’ve got a subscriber base in Hong Kong and a user base that’s growing in South East Asia, Middle East, but the accessibility and the penetration of devices and the bandwidth and the consistency of the bandwidth that you get whether it’s on mobile or fixed line actually varies greatly,” says Janice Lee.
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“In India and Indonesia, everyone’s been talking about it’s going to be largely a mobile market because fixed line broadband is physically a challenge to get high bandwidth to make it ubiquitous to a large part of the population and mobile handsets and smart phones are getting cheaper and cheaper. “3G and 4G are rolling out rapidly in Indonesia, in India, in many of these emerging markets, but we’ve got to recognise that the base that is there right now does not have access, not all of them have access to the 3G and 4G data network. We get around that with Vuclip, the company that we invested in earlier in the year. They have adaptive technology which allows for encoding on the fly.” Lee says that while the service would be offered as an app in highly connected territories like
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“We could serve four different quality of streams to users so it could run from 480 to 1080P and we can detect what phones you’re using and give you the best quality stream that you can get, but in places where 3G and 4G are just being rolled out, even if we’re sitting across the room you may get inconsistency in terms of the bandwidth so what does encoding on the fly does is that once we detect what phones you’re using we give you the optimal stream and as the bandwidth changes and fluctuates we actually encode differently on the fly. So, what it means to the consumer is you see less buffering because if we offer you one consistent stream from the time you access the service then your bandwidth changes depending where you are moving to and you may get buffering because you’re actually not getting enough sufficient bandwidth, so this helps resolve that issue.” As well as the challenges of network bandwidth, the Viu service has also had to face the challenge of multiple handset manufacturers, models and operating systems. “It’s like the subtitling,” says the PCCW Media Managing Director. “It’s quite laborious and it’s not a very glamourous part of what you see. It’s basically testing 8500 phones. What Viu has done is tested 8500 phones that can run video because it’s that sort of rigorous testing, not all of them are standardised, especially the newer phones going to these markets.”
MONETISATION
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will offer Viu as a ‘Freemium’ service with some local customisation. “It will vary market by market which part is free, which part is premium,” says Janice Lee. “If we look across the markets, let’s say Indonesia, again, because it’s a market that grabs a lot of attention because of its sheer market size, but also because of the growing middle class that will have increasing spending power. “At the moment, pay TV penetration, despite the many years, is still relatively low in Indonesia. The subscription habit is building, but what you can’t ignore is the increasing spend on advertising as the middle class grows. For markets like, say, Indonesia, it will be more freeskewed versus subscription-skewed. “Local operation is important for us so we’re accessing operations in Malaysia, in Singapore, not just for ad sales but also as mentioned for the language and also for the creation of the content that has to be quite local.” Also helping with monetisation is partnering with local Telcos across the region. “We see Telco as an important partner for the Asian market that we go into,” says Lee. “For two reasons, one is billing, so, in some markets unless you’re able to collect micro payment it’s
Malaysia’s ASTRO Goes On-Demand MALAYSIAN PAY-TV OPERATOR Astro has launched a new OD (on demand) offering. OD is available to Astro customers through an Internetconnected Personal Video Recorder (PVR) at home, or via Astro on the Go (AOTG) on a smartphone, laptop or tablet. Non-Astro customers can also enjoy our OD content via AOTG. Astro has an aggressive target of 500k connected PVRs by year’s end from its current 181k connected boxes. It also aims to increase total AOTG downloads from 1.8mn currently to reach 2.5mn by year end, and increase viewership of active users from 140 minutes weekly to more than 180 minutes by year’s end. A new download feature for AOTG is now available, where programmes can be downloaded on mobile devices for offline viewing later. Dato’ Rohana Rozhan, Chief Executive Officer of Astro said, “Cloud storage is changing the way we do business. Astro has taken a leap forward in the delivery of On Demand content by leveraging on the cloud eco system which provides us the ability to scale up our OD catalogue easily. At the same time, it enables us to improve content
delivery and hence enhance the users’ viewing experience across different types of devices including the set top box, smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs. “Our next growth focus is to cater to the content needs of every individual within the households, what we call the ‘individual space’, the ‘smart device space’, and the ‘in home and mobile spaces’. It’s a group that we hope to grow from around from 800k registered individual users currently to more than three million in five years.” The OD offering includes three options: ¡
OD Free: Those who have connected their PVRs to their home Wi-Fi will be able to access programming for free.
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OD Plus which provides on demand access to an expanded selection of local and international movies, blockbusters, complete box-sets of TV series and kids content, at RM15.90 (USD$3.78)/month.
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OD Store: Customers can take their pick and pay for the latest cinema releases and watch them instantly.
Visit www.watchod.com
difficult to offer a subscription service, so Telcos are actually our great partners in each of the markets from that respect. “Second of all, they’re actually looking for diversity for content and services that they can offer the subscribers. This world is getting just more diverse and people want more personal content so it’s really not one size fits all. We feel our service has quite a good core strength in Asian content to start with which differentiates it.” “Currently we’re in ten markets, we will be rolling out this new Viu app to all of these markets plus we’re adding on new markets as well. So, Hong Kong and Singapore are two new markets we’ll add to that. Hong Kong we just launched. Singapore we’re launching towards the end of the year and then from Q1 we’re rolling out to the rest of South East Asia, market by market.” Visit www.pccw.com
Netflix for Sth Korea, Singapore, HK, Taiwan NETFLIX, INC. HAS ANNOUNCED it will expand into broadband-dense territories of South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan in early 2016 as it moves to complete its global roll-out by the end of next year. Once launched, Internet users will be able to subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of popular TV shows and movies in high-definition or even Ultra HD 4K on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Netflix recently became available in Asia for the first time with the launch of service in Japan. Netflix will be available at launch on smart TVs, tablets and smartphones, computers and a range of Internet-capable game consoles and set-top boxes. Visit www.netflix.com
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Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, in territories with less developed infrastructure, it could be a browser-based product.
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CONTENT DELIVERY
VidOvation Announces New VidOlink Systems VIDOVATION HAS ANNOUNCED the release of their two new VidOlink wireless transmission systems. The VidOlink Ranger2 has been developed as a low cost long-range transmission system and the VidOlink Tally & Control is a complimentary means to add tally and camera control (CCU) functionality to new and existing wireless video transmission systems. Made possible by coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, the VidOlink Ranger2 can transmit wireless HD video as far two miles with line-of-sight on the 5.8GHz band. VidOvation launched this unit to meet the demand for a lower cost alternative to the original VidOlink Ranger transmission system. VidOvation also launched the lightweight VidOlink Reacher wireless system for lower budget applications such as video assist and pulling focus. This unit can transmit zero delay HD video up to 2000 ft. In terms of performance, the VidOlink Ranger2 will take a stance right in the middle effectively opening up a new best-cost solution. The VidOlink Tally & Control is an easy way to add tally and camera control (CCU) functionality to those who are already moving an HD SDI or HDMI video signal. Using the 403 – 473 MHz band, this unit can transmit tally and CCU functions such as RB Gain, Iris, A Iris mode, M Ped, Gain, Shutter, Bars, CC Filter select, ND Filter select, AWB, ABB, etc. Additionally, data can also be sent down our RF over fibre SMPTE units so with just one cable you can have RF, Data and power to your receive point. Options are available for Sony, Panasonic, Ikegami, Thomson and Hitachi. Visit http://vidovation.com
Media Links Developing New Range of IP Gateway Solutions
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MEDIA LINKS EMEA HAS ANNOUNCED it is to develop a new range of IP gateway solutions for broadcasters following unprecedented interest at IBC. Like Media Links’ current product portfolio, the new broadcast friendly range converts established broadcast signals for transport over IP across established internal and external networks.
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“We are excited about developing the new range which will be available at an entry level price point, opening doors to a wider market place,” confirms John Smith, head of Media Links EMEA. “Following discussions at IBC we anticipate sports broadcasters will be particularly interested in this technology as it enables signals to be transmitted from numerous remote venues such as football stadiums or other sports facilities, over established telcos networks, with both hitless switching and zero data loss. We are already working with one major broadcaster to achieve this, now making the much talked about subject of remote production over IP, a viable workflow.
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“Media Links’ IP gateways work by enabling traditional 3DHDI/SDI broadcast signals to be encoded into an IP data stream,” explains Smith. “Sync is ensured with IP Genlock over multiple points on the network, using IEEE 1588V2 Precision Time Protocol. This space and time coding means our broadcast clients can now achieve signal transport and clean switching over both local and also, more importantly, wide area networks, as well as being scalable.”
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Visit www.medialinks.com
Brightcove Simplifies Creation of Live Event Video Experiences BRIGHTCOVE INC., a leading provider of cloud services for video, has
engagement for each stage of the live event lifecycle:
announced the availability of Brightcove Gallery Live Event, which provides a “live-event-in-a-box” solution for companies who want to live stream events for external and internal audiences. Live Event is built within Brightcove Gallery, the company’s video experience publishing solution, and provides marketers and corporate communications professionals with an easy-to-use toolkit to promote and publish live streamed events without dedicated IT or other technical support. With this new release, Brightcove Gallery adds support for live events to its current capabilities to create video destinations, including video landing pages and video portals, which drive business results.
Pre-event promotion – For the pre-event stage, marketers have features such as a countdown clock, a calendar event download, lead capture forms, and social sharing widgets to capture site visitor interest, create buzz around the event, and allow companies to promote live events before they air.
For external brand events that engage audiences or for internal events such as CEO townhalls, Brightcove Gallery Live Event provides enterprises with an easy-to-use toolkit to build a live event destination that seamlessly matches the look and feel of the owner’s web property and incorporates best practices to drive meaningful business results. The toolkit provides a set of intuitive templates to create video experiences that drive audience
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Live event streaming – During the live video event, the destination page features the live video while supporting social widgets and chat features foster engagement and create a sense of community around the event. Post-event VOD – After the live stream, the post-event tools enable organisations to create video-on-demand (VOD) sites of the live event content and implement calls-to-action (CTAs) for follow up. There is also an option for site visitors to submit email addresses to subscribe to future events or notifications from the brand.
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Brightcove Gallery Live Event is available through the Brightcove Video Marketing Suite (VMS), and is available automatically to all VMS customers. Visit www.brightcove.com
Unified Streaming Expands Availability in the Cloud
CONTENT DELIVERY
UNIFIED STREAMING, a leading provider of cross-platform videostreaming technologies, announced the availability of Unified Origin in Microsoft Azure. Unified Origin lets companies stream their media content from one unified source to multiple clients and devices.
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More and more companies want to take ownership. They don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket and commit to a certain set-up for a long time. To be successful they need to be flexible, keep a short time-to-market and be cost-effective. And that is exactly what Unified Streaming’s software in an Azure environment can offer. Unified Origin wraps the platform specific solutions available for MPEGDASH, Apple (HTTP Live Streaming), Adobe (HTTP Dynamic Streaming) and Microsoft (Smooth Streaming) into one. Because it all happens on-the-
fly, it eliminates massive storage needs. Origin is a future proof solution due to its flexibility, for example, new formats and DRM flavours can be easily integrated into Unified Origin. Companies do not have to re-encode their entire catalogue when a new format or device enters the market. By combining it with Azure storage and Azure Virtual Machines, companies can create a set-up that can be scaled for use on an on-demand basis. The solution therefore is very flexible and cost-effective. By utilising Azure with Unified Origin, a high level of accessibility for all sorts is reached. It’s scalable, easy to use, cost-effective offering excellent DRM support, for solutions such as Marlin, PlayReady, Widevine and Fairplay. Visit www.unified-streaming.com
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AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC., a global leader in content delivery
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network (CDN) services, and Microsoft Corp. have announced a partnership in which access to the Akamai CDN will be fully integrated into Microsoft Azure. The forthcoming Azure CDN offering is designed to optimise performance of content and applications deployed and delivered on Azure. As part of the companies’ expanded relationship, Microsoft is also bringing to market a series of first-party services that include Akamai’s market-leading CDN, acceleration and security solutions. Microsoft enterprise customers will be able to purchase any Akamai offering as “self-select” options through the Azure portal or as part of their organisation’s Microsoft enterprise agreement. In addition, customers will receive integrated, one-stop service and support from Microsoft and Akamai.
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Microsoft customers are expected to be able to purchase an Azure CDN offering and deploy onto the Akamai Network architecture via the Azure portal in early 2016. In addition, a managed roll-out of Microsoft firstparty services for CDN, acceleration and security based on Akamai will be available to targeted enterprises next month.
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TSL Products Releases New TallyMan Virtual Panel T SL PRODUCTS USERS can now access the functionality provided in every TallyMan system out-of-the-box in an intuitive interface that is fully customisable to the end users requirement. The fully customised interfaces provides limited interaction with key functions of broadcast equipment without the learning curve and the risk of accidental errors when using the full manufacturer provided interfaces. The TallyMan virtual panel is compatible with every TallyMan installation, new and existing. Almost every new device in a facility has a control interface, whether Serial, SNMP, TCP/UDP or web browser interface, and the TallyMan Virtual panel gives access to all, including: ¡ Signal flow management – Control of Video and Audio routers, including
internal routers of audio consoles and Vision Switchers.
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Grouped Signal flow management – facilitating 4K, SD-follow-HD and audio-follow-video functionality across or within routing devices.
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Procedure automation – Simplify multi step procedures across multiple devices into a single button press or without any human interaction with live feedback on the virtual panel.
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Virtual patching – remove the time consuming patching in dynamic installs such as Outside broadcast vehicles, TallyMan contains a fully fledged GPI router with presets.
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Custom IP and Serial interfaces – to allow interaction with in-house systems and devices without additional development.
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Triveni Digital Enhances 4K TV Service Quality with HEVC TRIVENI DIGITAL HAS ANNOUNCED a new HEVC functionality for its StreamScope MT-50 transport stream analysis and troubleshooting tool, enabling broadcast and cable operators to address the growing consumer demand for 4K television services. Through advanced features such as HEVC support, intelligent filtering, closed captioning analyses, and audio monitoring, the StreamScope MT-50 allows operators to swiftly detect and resolve transport stream errors, ensuring superior quality of service (QoS) for viewers. The StreamScope MT-50 supports a broad range of video compression schemes, from HEVC to H.264 and MPEG-2, allowing operators to make a smooth transition to an all-HEVC infrastructure. As new video formats and compression technologies emerge in the future, the software-based solution will make it easy and affordable for operators to adapt, eliminating the need for any additional hardware. The new HEVC capability is available for all versions of the StreamScope MT-50, including the StreamScope Portal, an ultraportable, touchscreen tablet-based analyser featuring the industry’s most comprehensive MPEG analysis engine. The HEVC capability is also part of the StreamScope MT-50 HDT, which offers a 10 GigE interface option and a 16:9 HD touchscreen for easy, efficient transport stream analysis and troubleshooting. In addition to HEVC support, the StreamScope MT-50 includes advanced closed-caption and audio monitoring features to guarantee a world-class audio experience for viewers. Transport stream errors are classified and filtered based on error severity scales defined by industry standards, such as DVB-SI, SCTE-142, and ATSC A/78, allowing for quick error resolution. Visit www.trivenidigital.com
Witbe Set a Milestone in Root Cause Analysis on OTT Landscape WITBE, A LEADER in Quality of Experience (QoE) Test and Monitoring, has unveiled the coupling of its Witbe Smartping with the other major Witbe Monitoring Technologies. By making this algorithm compatible with any Witbe Robot running Windows environment, this innovation enables any company to combine Smartping’s potential with other Witbe tests. They can now use its unique features in correlation with the Witbe OTT, Witbe Streaming or Witbe Application Tests, and with the Witbe Mean Opinion Score Technology. This innovation is all about combining on single appliances the monitoring of the Quality being actually delivered to the End-Users (whatever the device, the service or the network), and the instant localisation of any network issue that might have an impact on the Quality. To do so, the Witbe R&D teams successfully made compatible the Witbe Smartping, mapping the network routes & bottlenecks taken for service delivery, with the Witbe Video, Data and Application Robots, monitoring the Quality actually delivered. Combined with the comparison feature on the Witbe Portal (webaccessed reporting interface), this new compatibility aims to give any team comprehensible and automatic Root Cause Analysis of their services’ Quality issues. It allows anyone to easily correlate Smartping measures with any other Witbe metrics, and to proactively diagnose the deterioration and their causes of what matters: the Quality perceived by the End-User. Developed as a response to several companies departments’ needs, this innovation is a groundbreaking step for OTT Monitoring. The Witbe MOS Algorithm metrics and alerts can now be combined with Witbe Smartping’s capabilities. Jerkiness, blueriness, blockiness, frozen or black screens, content delivery errors: their real-time detection is now immediately combined with precise localisation and diagnosis of the delivery issue. Visit www.witbe.net
CONTENT DELIVERY
Microsoft Customers to Receive Access to Akamai’s CDN
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ASIA
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MEDIA PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY As well as the features below, EVERY ISSUE of Content+Technology contains features on the following:
C+T AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND FEATURES + DEADLINES 2014 Image Acquisition Media in the Cloud Content Transmission & Delivery News Operations Sportscasting Post-Production & VFX
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C+T AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND FEATURES + DEADLINES 2016 ISSUE
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