18 Sunday 09.09.2012
theibcdaily Are you thinking inside the box?
Branding defines channels in a competitive market, so quality and innovation have to continue to grow argues James Gilbert, joint MD, Pixel Power
It would doubtless come as a surprise to you were I to decry the importance of graphics in the modern broadcast arena. You’d expect me to do the precise opposite given Pixel Power’s tremendous reputation in the field. So for a second or two I will let someone else do the talking.
A colleague was in
conversation with a senior engineer at a major playout provider in the UK recently, a customer of ours. My colleague asked how important really are broadcast graphics today. The reply? “In a competitive environment it’s a major differentiator between channels. For example, anyone can play pop promos but how do you create the channel around that? Without branding it’s just an A/V stream.” Today’s audiences, they continued, respond well to branding too – or rather
identifying with a brand. “In a world where we are exposed to hundreds of promotional messages in a day viewers are now programmed to expect information actively fed to them. So being told what’s coming up next, what’s on other channels
Opinion
for the same broadcaster, what they can look forward to absolutely informs their decisions and drives their viewing behaviour.”
Branding is essential now and going forward. We have to deliver this consistently and this means the technology we deploy with our clients has to work with both the technical and creative teams.
So why is it, then, that when it comes to choosing integrated playout technologies – channel-
in-a-box (CIB) if you prefer – that graphics are not always given the priority that they deserve? This means that CIB technologies must prioritise the quality of graphics they can provide. Indeed you could argue
that using graphical capabilities as the starting point when considering and comparing systems is a very good idea. There are additional issues that we believe need to be clarified, not least of which is
James Gilbert: ‘Branding is essential’
the conflation of the notion that CIB means commoditised IT hardware: it doesn’t have to. Broadcasters must look at the specific task that they are requiring the technology to achieve, and at the total cost of ownership, including downtime due to failure, power
consumption as well as support costs. There can be significant advantages to a specialist broadcast manufacturer supplying the specifically developed hardware: they know that it works; it has been tested extensively; it’s fit for purpose. Of course within ‘black box’ technologies there are likely to be many off-the-shelf components tailored and installed to provide a bespoke solution for the precise task at hand. A lot of people seem to be heading down the path of assuming that off-the-shelf hardware plus a software solution equals some kind of panacea.
That’s simply not the case. What customers always need to focus on is function and not form: what are you trying to achieve with the technology, rather than simply being driven by the technology itself. 7A31
“Broadcast TV is still the most effective and reliable” Nagra
By Ian McMurray
A broadcast-to-IP gateway which will allow live TV to be delivered to IP-enabled devices without impacting a consumer’s existing live TV viewing experience has been introduced by Nagra. “While OTT is a hot topic,
broadcast TV is still the most effective and reliable technology to deliver quality content and programming,”
said Yves Pitton, senior VP, Advanced Advertising and Innovation for Nagra. “The Nagra broadcast-to-IP gateway addresses this demand by enabling service providers to deliver premium, high-quality broadcast television to any device in a secure and studio-approved environment – simply and efficiently, without the need for a high-end home media gateway or major investment on either the service provider or the consumer side.”
The Nagra gateway box utilises the company’s content protection and is powered by its OpenTV middleware. It is a new, in- home edge device that acts as an independent content access point that tunes to subscribed services and transcodes to the proper format without disrupting household viewing. It is claimed to be easy to install and use, allowing for cost- effective deployment and operations, reducing the risk
of call centre calls. Connected through
Ethernet to a Wi-Fi router, the box receives an incoming broadcast signal through a coax cable. It uses the company’s studio- certified in-home DRM solution, Nagra Persistent Rights Management (PRM) to enable secure wireless streaming of linear programming to authorised viewing devices within the home such as tablets, smartphones and PCs. The
Nagra’s new Broadcast-to- IP gateway
gateway is complemented by the Nagra Media Player, a secure media player for open devices, which the company says supports a rich and highly customisable user experience using extended rich metadata from third-party providers. 1.C81
Super Speed Compact Prime lenses
Open wide: The 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses excel in low light
Carl Zeiss By David Fox
For shooting in low light, Carl Zeiss has three new Compact Prime CP.2 Super Speed lenses with fast T1.5 apertures. The 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses cover a full- frame sensor format and use an interchangeable lens mount system to fit a variety of cameras, from DSLRs to cinema cameras. The fast T-stop “opens up
new creative possibilities in low-light situations, especially with the new high ISO HDSLRs and HD video cameras. The Super Speed name has a long history at Carl Zeiss and these new lenses are a fitting tribute to their legacy”, said Michael Schiehlen, sales director of the Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division.
As with the rest of the CP.2
family, the Super Speed lenses feature: a 14-blade iris for natural, out of focus rendition; standard cine-style
housing with gearing that allows the attachment of any standard follow-focus system; and a long, 300º focus rotation and smooth action for fine control, especially important given the shallow depth-of-field possible wide open. The lenses can be fitted with interchangeable mounts for PL-, EF-, F-, MFT- and E- mount cameras. The CP.2 35/T1.5 costs €3,700, while the other two are €3,300 each. 11.G64
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