theibcdaily For the latest show news and updates follow #IBC2014 Cloud comes of age Conference Analysis By Catherine Wright
Cloud computing has been a hot topic for the last three years but broadcasters are now beginning to adopt bespoke solutions, despite remaining concerns over the security of their content. NRK in Denmark or Fox Sports in the US and Australia were some of the
examples pinpointed during a conference called ‘Can broadcasters get real benefit from their Cloud?’ hosted by Paul Drinkwater from Partner Media Industry Lead, IBM. David Peto, the CEO from Aframe, reflected on the rapid evolution of customer demands. “In the beginning, they were interested in cloud solutions but were not really sure how it could be relevant to them, especially as in the early days there were
Documentaries get 4K treatment By Adrian Pennington
Claiming that 4K is a reality for many of its customers while looking ahead to a world of 8K, Sony has cemented its position in ultra resolution acquisition with a number innovations. Documentary producers can future-proof their content in 4K using the PXW-FS7, a shoulder mounted unit with adjustable viewfinders designed specifically for run-and-gun operations and use in harsh environments. The Euro 7-8000 XDCAM camera houses a large format CMOS sensor and shoots 4K Quad Full HDi in 60fps and super slow- motion 240fps HD, at up to 14 f-stops. “The creative possibilities of shallow depth of field can now be applied to new genres such as documentaries,” said Dennis Lennie, a DP and producer who works for Sony. Demonstration content shot by Lennie is being shown on the stand. “The dynamic range in particular is incredible.” Bolstering this new
product is a shoulder mounted accessory for the F55, tailored for documentaries, and an upgrade to the F5 giving users 4K recording capability. A companion E-mount 28-135mm full frame – 35mm, interchangeable power zoom lens is also debuted. To view it all, Sony will
launch next March a 30-inch Euro 30,000 4K OLED monitor, the BVM X300. It is well known that Sony
produced the 4K outside broadcasts from the Maracanã stadium in Rio this summer. Among its
few concrete examples. But we are now firmly an enterprise business and sell directly into the major network broadcasters.” One of the key challenges is to make sure that the creative process does not feel any different for the broadcaster. “They do not want to know about the cloud, they just want to get the work done, without running through hoops,” explained Bill Roberts, the senior director of video product
management at Adobe. Fox Sports in LA, for instance, went to Aframe “ which became the central portal through which all their video is loaded. It is then automatically transcoded into the correct format and they can then choose which bits of content they like and drop them into their Quantels before going to air,” described David Peto. “Cloud has come a long way in the last few years, because we have listened to our consumers, most notably to improve data transparency,” indicated Jonathan Wisler, the European general manager of Softlayer in the Netherlands.
Powering A Pixel Factory Pixel Power By Carolyn Giardina
Dennis Lennie with the PXW-FS7: “The dynamic range is incredible”
other 4K experiments was a recording of the World Cup final using a pair of F65 cameras whose 8K signals were stitched together to form a 12K x 2K video. A Euro 18,000 Super Resolution Demosaicing Processor is available this October. Action was also recorded using F65’s at 120fps for live super motion 4K clips, a significant development in rounding out Sony’s 4K sports production arsenal. Meanwhile, Sony continues to work on 8K production kit as part of a Japanese government supported task force intent on broadcasting the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in the super hi-resolution format, with tests beginning 2016. “We have a special project team working on that and there will be ramifications to our future product since we only have the F65 to produce 8K just now,” said Sony Professional Europe head of AV Media, Olivier Bovis. Hall12
Pixel Power has brought together a software implementation of its realtime graphics engine Clarity with its Gallium workflow toolset to create a unified graphics and media assembly system for file-based environments. This system, dubbed Pixel Factory, is developed to automatically generate content such as different versions of a programme or promo, channel branding, and localisation or personalisation of content.
Clarity incorporates DVE as well as character generation and layered 3D graphics. By implementing it in software to run on standard hardware, Pixel Power has also made it resolution independent, including 4K.
Pixel Factory is managed by Gallium, which collects
instructions on the content to build through direct links to business, asset management or playout systems, or through a watch-folder operation based on Excel spreadsheets. “This is a single vendor solution to a real issue, which can be dropped into any infrastructure quickly, easily and cost-effectively,” said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “We even offer a pay as you go version – Pixel OnDemand – so broadcasters can try it at minimal cost.”
Also in the news, Pixel Power has completed an agreement with Digimetrics that will see the Aurora file-based quality control system integrated into Gallium. “It tackles all aspects of quality control in smart test plans, and performs the tests extremely quickly. Even 4K files can be tested faster than realtime,” Gilbert said.
Pixel Power is demonstrating its integration with Aurora on its stand. 7.A31
MADI option launch: A new addition to the MUX22 series has been showcased at IBC, making the platform compatible with the MADI audio format. Broadcast Manufactur (BroaMan) launched the original MUX22 video, audio and intercom module last year. Offering up to 16 3G/HD/SD-SDI I/O configurable video ports with built-in CWDM multiplexer, it allows multiple signals to be multiplexed over just one single fibre each. The new MADI board is populated with four duplex SC MADI ports, offering 256 inputs and 256 outputs, and each MADI port is fully AES10 compatible, offering 56 or 64- channel MADI I/O. As with all MUX22 devices the new MUX22 MADI can support up to eight video channels
with a selectable number of dual inputs and dual outputs. It is also equipped with a sync board for video tri/bi-level or audio word clock sync, either with RS485 or GPIO ports, and can provide fibre tunnels for any third-party products. The audio engine is equipped with a single channel router, enabling routing from/to any MADI stream, either within the same device or between the remote Optocore, BroaMan or ProGrid devices. “The MADI option will push the MUX22 series even more,” said BroaMan managing director Tine Helme (pictured), adding that the new arrival had already stoked a lot of interest at BroaMan’s IBC stand. “It’s the first day of the show but we’ve already heard of some great new projects and have made some new partners.” 8.C60
In Brief
Team-up for HEVC encoding A partnership with Kalray, a developer and manufacturer of manycore processors, has been announced that will enable high density realtime HEVC video encoders. Based on Kalray’s massively parallel Multi Purpose Processor Array (MPPA) chip, Digigram said it would integrate the resulting technology into new IP-based products to offer efficient high-density HEVC HD and Ultra HD video encoding in broadcast and OTT applications. Kalray’s technology is already used in a large spectrum of applications, including the VoIP applications supported by Digigram products. “[The technology] takes full advantage of both the MPPA’s unique parallel architecture and its video-optimised instruction set to bring a truly disruptive video encoding offering to the market,” said Kalray president and CEO Eric Baissus. Digigram president and CEO Philippe Delacroix said the technology partnership would enable the very quick introduction of realtime HEVC encoding to the Digigram product line. “This in turn will enable our customers to dramatically reduce bandwidth requirements and accelerate their deployment of Ultra HD TV to multiscreen OTT applications,” he added. 8.C51
Content gets wise to viewer habits The latest version of the ContentWise personalisation, discovery and recommendations platform for digital TV is making its debut at IBC. New updates ensure ContentWise 5 can help TV service providers address growing consumer demand for more personalised multiscreen video experiences. New features include predictive browsing, personalised genres and an updated UX engine to give operators more control over UI elements without changes to client code.
ContentWise analyses what, when and where each user is watching and determines the ideal combination of content duration, type, structure and genre that best fits the discovery style of each user. 14.K05
theibcdaily 101
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104