FEATURE: AV IN BROADCAST
[KEY POINTS]
Denmark’s Chamber of Commerce has installed Ultra HD 4K TV studio facilities to provide the 170,000 businesses and 100 trade associations it works with, with futureproofed, high-quality video production and live broadcast capabilities, together with high-speed optical fibre connections to leading news organisations
Come together
Despite similar operational requirements, there were enough differences between broadcast and live event production to warrant specific equipment and techniques for each sector. But digital technology and data-based networking are changing that, as Kevin Hilton discovers
THE OLD adage has it that there is a tool for every job, implying that using something not designed for the task will not end up well. In creative technology there has long been a divide between equipment for corporate audiovisual presentations and live events, and what is used for television broadcasting and post production. Soon, however, this divide could be as technologically obsolete as quarter-inch tape and Beta SP video. The two markets are now coming much closer through the use of common technologies such as digital processing and control and data-based networking and distribution. This so-called convergence mirrors a similar situation that began between broadcasting and IT in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Australian manufacturer
28 March 2014
Blackmagic Design (BMD) has been at the forefront of new broadcast technologies, building on components such as HD processing cards to now offer digital cameras, vision mixers and the DaVinci colour correction system. Stuart Ashton, director of BMD in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says that in the last three to four years AV has become “a key focus” for the company. “Our production switchers,
routers and converters were originally aimed at broadcasting and post production,” comments Ashton, “but we’ve started development with AV in mind. They are now more applicable for the AV space, which we see as an opportunity for us.” The convergence between
the two markets has, says Ashton, been increasing over
the past 12 to 18 months: “The AV sector, including the corporate market, is now demanding cutting-edge technology that traditionally would have been aimed at broadcast. People are focusing on new technologies with higher resolution and bandwidth, in some cases over optical fibre.” Ashton adds that while
‘IP for audio and video is not just
used in broadcast but for all markets now, including theatre and installation’
Andreas Hilmer, Lawo
broadcasters are also testing 4K resolution equipment for Ultra High Definition (UHD) transmission, which has 2160 lines in the progressive format compared to 1080 for HD, AV companies are finding it more feasible to implement right now than their TV counterparts. “It comes down to bandwidth,” he says. “A lot is needed to get 4K into living rooms but the majority of AV projects are live so there are
Common technologies such as data-based networking and distribution are aiding the convergence of the AV and broadcast markets
IP and other IT-based technologies that were perhaps seen first in broadcasting are proving invaluable in the AV market
Demand is high among AV companies for 4K resolution equipment
not usually the issues about transmitting the pictures to the audience.”
ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION Smaller, more powerful electronics cards and faster processors have allowed manufacturers like BMD, Sony, Roland and NewTek to produce all-in-one packages offering video production, audio mixing and transmission that are as applicable to AV presentations as they are to live TV. Roland’s VR-50 HD is a HDSI, SDI and 3G video unit with a nine-fader audio mixer that can produce linear PCM for SDI, HDMI and USB audio. Simon Kenning, sales manager for Roland Systems Group UK, observes that broadcast and AV are converging for a number of reasons: “An increasing number of clients in
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