26 Friday 07.09.2012
theibcdaily Our creativity has green potential
New grouping wants to work with broadcasters, mobile operators and manufacturers of consumer and professional equipment on sustainability
By Simon Tuff, chair of EBU Strategic Programme on Green Broadcasting
When the topic of sustainable products, processes or behaviour is broached it will commonly elicit the response ‘Well we can’t go back and live in caves’. The fact is that we don’t have to. But the requirement to be more sustainable need not be bad news for the broadcasting industry because it’s an industry well equipped with both creativity and adaptability. We have the potential to develop the tools needed to turn our businesses towards being based on sustainable principles. Let us start by considering whether our industry can survive as the sources of the essential elements for electronic components deplete. The earth has finite resources, such as the rare earth elements used in a variety of communication technologies, the oil used to create energy and the plastics used in items from cases and insulators to components and packaging and water, which is often forgotten but equally important. Where elements are scarce, prices will soar. Thus the sustainable
approach to managing changing technologies, products and their components requires consideration of lifecycle. The best product examples allow for upgrades to extend life, re-use in less demanding applications (when
the demands of critical tasks has moved on) and total or partial recycling when their useful life is over. This reduction in the rate of obsolescence should also reduce the cost of project work and the demands on capital but it could also transform equipment manufacture, through re-use of materials and components, to the refurbishment and up grading of existing equipment. This consideration of the complete lifecycle should also include the energy used in extracting raw materials as well as that used in design, manufacture and delivery. These elements combine to form the product’s embodied energy and their total can be substantial. Research has shown that for some categories of computer equipment about 80% of the energy consumed throughout the product lifecycle is embodied, leaving just 20% consumed in use, repair, remanufacture, recycling and disposal.
The power consumption of the industry is probably its greatest environmental impact and although this has been reduced in consumer products by better product design and extensive use of effective standby modes, it is frequently counteracted by promoting the use of larger or multiple screens, by having more loudspeakers in home cinemas and by encouraging audiences to interact with us by using a multiplicity of devices whilst
Updates for ATEM
Blackmagic Design By Carolyn Giardina
A new free software update adds audio mixing capability to Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher and ATEM Television Studio. ATEM Switcher 3.2 audio mixer software lets customers mix embedded audio from SDI and HDMI inputs, as well as external audio inputs. For ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher, audio mixer software also supports mixing audio from its two built-in media players. All ATEM switcher models now include a built-in audio mixer that uses embedded
HDMI and SDI audio from cameras, media servers decks and other inputs so customers do not need an external audio mixer. ATEM Switcher 3.2 audio mixer software also enables audio mixing from external audio sources via dedicated audio ports. “Now adding the ability to mix and control programme audio directly within the ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher and ATEM Television Studio models is very exciting,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We had previously released the audio mixer software for the ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher and the feedback we had from customers was awesome.” 7.H20
consumers, shareholders and in fact all stakeholders. Already some positive initiatives have been developed to assess environmental impact and therefore be able to make changes:
Albert9 (BBC and BAFTA) and ecoprod (TF1) – these are carbon calculators specifically designed to help broadcasters assess the carbon impact of their productions Victoria (BBC) – a calculator that is being developed to assess the overall environmental impact of technology projects. The Green Broadcasting
watching or listening. Add to this the fact that global populations and standards of living are all rising (the global population is expected to exceed nine billion in 2050) and it should not be a surprise to find the proportion of broadcasting as part of our global carbon footprint is rising too.
The initiatives There is a serious economic element here as well. The long- term trend for energy prices is up and most governments appear to be committed to carbon taxes. So energy is almost certainly going to get more expensive. Not only does our increasingly IT based technology consume more power than the equipment it is replacing, which will all need cooling and adding to the fact that broadcast facilities already frequently require serious cooling for studio lighting etc. This creates a problem that is well
worth solving and we can learn much from the IT industry here. Distribution is another power- hungry part of the broadcasting business and although TV transmitters use a large amount of power and often offer scope for improvement, they do at least serve large numbers of viewers. Research by BBC R&D indicates that IP distribution uses three times the power of terrestrial transmission per viewer hour. Perhaps we should consider this fact when planning our distribution strategy and the factors we need to incorporate. Recognising these issues, and the fact that we need to work collectively to show leadership, the EBU’s Technical Committee has created a Strategic Programme on Green Broadcasting. The group wants to work with
broadcasters, as well as mobile operators and manufacturers of consumer and professional equipment, to help harness the value of sustainability both for
group has been investigating research findings as to energy use via broadcast transmission versus VoD type approaches. Although it is true that an individual broadcaster or manufacturer alone cannot change society, working together, on similar initiatives, can be very effective. It has worked well for our community in other domains, such as the production of interoperable standards and the roll out of HDTV.
As an industry that plays a key
role in setting the agenda in modern society and business it would be manifestly unwise for us to ignore these issues and not to take a more effective role in changing behaviour. The longer we ignore these issues, the greater will be the eventual cost of addressing them. So let’s work together and take a lead on improving the sustainability of the broadcasting industry. So whether you’re an EBU member or not, come and talk to one of the Greener Broadcasting Team on the EBU stand (10.F20).
eFF range revamped By Carolyn Giardina
Emotion Systems’ is introducing eFF Scale, a file- based video scaler and the company’s first video product. It is also demonstrating eFF Audio, its rebranded flagship eFF software that
automatically analyses and fixes audio loudness violations in file-based media.
Aimed at potential clients including post production companies and broadcasters, eFF Scaler initially targets users who work with uncompressed files such as DPX or QuickTime. The company said it would soon
support MXF files with a range of video codecs. The eFF Audio demo will showcase MXF functionality as well as multiple language UI support. “As file-based delivery becomes widespread, the use of MXF based broadcast workflows has increased significantly,” said MC Patel, CEO of Emotion Systems.
“And although MXF is, rightly, an extremely flexible format, it means that there are few hard and fast standards, which can lead to issues of
interoperability.
“eFF Audio is, however, largely agnostic to those issues and has been tested with a comprehensive range of MXF files where it unwraps, measures and fixes audio files, then re-inserts and rewraps the fixed audio
The eFF UI in action
without changing any other essence.”
The loudness compliance
tool is recommended for uses in master control rooms, as well as video editing and finishing suites. 6.C28b
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