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4 TVBEurope Opinion Twenty years a-growing


HAVING HIRED me to edit the start-up TVBEurope in early 1993, the first time New York-based founder and publisher Paul Gallo and I formally met was at a press conference at a Heathrow hotel. Sony had called the press conference to explain a new phenomenon called digital compression, as applied to its soon-to-launch VTR format Digital Betacam. Paul had flown in overnight


from JFK, and after a quick wash-up (during which time I eagerly tried to impress him with my knowledge of European broadcasting!) we headed into the Sony event. As the lights went down and Sony presenter John Ive introduced the concepts of Long Group of Pictures and inter/intra frame compression, I busily took notes while my new publisher slowly nodded off to sleep with his head resting on my shoulder! After the press conference we took a limousine (God be with the days) into our head office in central London, at that time still the Express Newspapers building on Blackfriars Bridge (known to journalists at the Black Lubjanka). There to meet us was the European sales team over a few beers in the private subsidised bar on the ground floor of the building (God be with those days!). This issue, celebrating 20 years since our first publication, we have tried to recreate a feeling of the European broadcasting landscape as it was at that time. Turn to page 19 for a shameless trip down memory lane — which hopefully will make interesting reading whether you were involved in the TV technology business at that time or not. Some of the major issues we addressed in April 1993 included: Is Europe set to abandon HDTV development, allowing the nascent US format to become a global standard?


Starting page 19,


Fergal Ringrose takes a trip down memory lane to the


first issue of TVBEurope in April 1993


Who is the first facility in England to purchase the Lightworks random access editing system? What are the big topics set for the Mondreux ITS in June? What is the thinking behind Avid Techology’s Open Media Framework? What are the issues as Sony


What was the outcome of the


first-ever European Seminar on Digital Television in Geneva? 1125/60 versus 1250/50:


what flavour of HDTV is likely to be succeed?


Could digital compression


transmission technology enable hundreds of new TV channels


in the next few years? Would it be possible to actually


automate machines and playout systems, and link both to programme planning and airtime sales? With Ampex, Panasonic and


Sony set to release low cost component VTRs, where does that leave composite digital D-2?


Sapec encodes UHD for Mobile World trials


By Fergal Ringrose


DURING MOBILEWorld Congress 2013 in Barcelona late February there was a world pioneer experience: DTT transmission of Ultra High Definition (UHDTV) signals. A group of Spanish companies and universities participated in this experience by providing resources in different parts of the value chain: RTVE, Abertis, Sapec, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, La Salle, Sony and


Apuntolapospo, with the support of the EBU. The new DVB-T2 standard


was the modulation scheme used for the transmission, which among other features optimises its transmission spectrum allowing higher bit-rates in the same UHF bandwidth. The UHDTV signal in 4K format increases by four times the number of pixels over HDTV — from 1920x1080 to 3840 pixels x 2160 lines, improving the quality and depth of the


prepares to launch Digital Betacam this summer? What does it mean for Betacam SP? Big issues for 1993 — sitting alongside major issues for 2013 in our News & Analysis, NAB Preview and Workflow sections. A special feature for this month is ‘Beyond HD: Future Directions’, a future-gazing project by George Jarrett in conversation with Nick Rashby, AJA; Karl Schubert, Grass Valley; Richard Scott, Harris Broadcast; and Katsunori Yamanouchi, Sony Professional Europe. Plenty of forward- looking discussion in this section (starting page 26), which might well take us some way towards the European television broadcasting landscape in 2033! — Fergal Ringrose


images and thus the quality of the user experience (QoE). For UHDTV transmission


by DTT, compression is needed on the signal (6.5Gbps) at speeds permissible on the available bandwidth of the DVB-T2 modulator, configured at 35Mbps. ITU H.264 standard (MPEG-4/ AVC) at HP@L4 was used to perform such compression for the trials. Sapec was responsible for this UHDTV signal encoding. The images displayed on an 84-inch Sony screen (over 2m. of screen) provided a sense of realism that made a great impression on all MWC visitors, due mainly to the high resolution and high quality of the UHDTV-encoded images.


Workflow efficiency is the Object for NAB


GLOOKAST, INNOVATOR in MXF workflow applications, has joined Object Matrix’s growing community of technology partners. This partnership provides Object Matrix customers with a sophisticated ingest management solution that is integrated with MatrixStore,


Object Matrix’s nearline solution, at an API level. Glookast products resolve the file-based workflow challenges that organisations face on a daily basis. At NAB 2013 in Las Vegas, Object Matrix and Glookast plan to unveil the core technology


that will enable substantial improvements in workflow while reducing total investment in infrastructure. “The collaboration between Glookast and Object Matrix targets a tight integration of the ingest, parking, editing, finishing and nearline archiving


processes by means of a reliable workflow that is capable of reducing the online storage footprint and consequently the overall production cost,” said Guilherme Da Silva, CEO, Glookast. www.glookast.com www.object-matrix.com


www.tvbeurope.com April 2013


EDITORIAL Editorial Director Fergal Ringrose


tvbeurope@mediateam.ie Media House, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland +3531 294 7783 Fax: +3531 294 7799


Editor Melanie Dayasena-Lowe melanie.dayasena-lowe@intentmedia.co.uk


Staff Writer Jake Young


jake.young@intentmedia.co.uk


Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 354 6002


Editorial Consultant Adrian Pennington Associate Editor David Fox USA Correspondent Carolyn Giardina Contributors Mike Clark, David Davies, Richard Dean, Chris Forrester, Mark Hill, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Heather McLean, Bob Pank, Nick Radlo, Neal Romanek, Philip Stevens, Reinhard E Wagner


Digital Content ManagerTim Frost Office Manager Lianne Davey


Head of Design & Production Adam Butler


Editorial Production Manager Dawn Boultwood


Senior Production Executive Alistair Taylor


Publisher Steve Connolly


steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000


Sales Manager Ben Ewles


ben.ewles@intentmedia.co.uk +44 207 354 6000


Managing Director Stuart Dinsey US SALES


Michael Mitchell


Broadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY 11740


mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv +1 (631) 673 0072


JAPAN AND KOREA SALES Sho Harihara Sales & Project,


Yukari Media Incorporated sho@yukarimedia.com +81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800


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TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN, England


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© Intent Media 2013. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. TVB Europe is mailed to qualified persons residing on the European continent. Subscription rates £64/€96/$120.


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