Acquisition

HDR - Part 12 - The Right Side Of Lenses

There are a number of reasons why people like old lenses, and they’re all very valid. Cameras and lenses so good they’re invisible are a recent development. Most of the best films ever made, by default, predate today’s spotless pictures, and artists have always been a rebellious bunch in any case. This, though, is an article about why it’s not always a good idea to rebel, at least without knowing…

KENS-5 morning anchor Sarah Forgany going live from her living room.

Lockdown Lighting

Lets’ start by stating the obvious: TV reporters are not trained lighting designers. When the pandemic hit, stations were forced to figure out new ways of socially distanced, on-air reporting, and initially asked reporters to pick a well-lit room in their house and place a lamp behind the camera to illuminate their face.

Creative Analysis - Part 3 - The Road Bad & The Place Dark From The Cinematographer

Planning the cinematography of a production which is quite literally about darkness is a challenge. Shooting a documentary with a skeleton crew in a place where power cuts are every day is an even bigger challenge. Director of photography Miguel Angel Viñas faced all that and more on The Road Bad and the Place Dark, a documentary shot in Sierra Leone for medical charity Médecins du Monde.

Physical distancing has changed how local TV programs are produced and it helps keep stations on the air.

How Does Your Station Compare?

Engineers and production crews help local TV stations maintain distancing and a sunny on-air personality.

Production & Post

HDR - Part 12 - The Right Side Of Lenses

There are a number of reasons why people like old lenses, and they’re all very valid. Cameras and lenses so good they’re invisible are a recent development. Most of the best films ever made, by default, predate today’s spotless pictures, and artists have always been a rebellious bunch in any case. This, though, is an article about why it’s not always a good idea to rebel, at least without knowing…

Core Insights - Leveraging Cloud Operations For Live Broadcast

More broadcasters are seeing the benefits of moving their operations to the cloud, especially as we are becoming more reliant on remote working. But the transition isn’t necessarily a linear move and hybrid working practices help us balance the unique requirements of large media files and the flexibility cloud systems offer.

Essential Guide: Multiviewers For Flexible Operations

IP and COTS infrastructure designs are giving us the opportunity to think about broadcast systems in an entirely different manner. Although broadcast engineers have been designing studio facilities to be flexible from the earliest days of television, the addition of IP and COTS takes this to a new level allowing us to continually reallocate infrastructure components to make the best use of expensive resource.

Creative Analysis - Part 3 - The Road Bad & The Place Dark From The Cinematographer

Planning the cinematography of a production which is quite literally about darkness is a challenge. Shooting a documentary with a skeleton crew in a place where power cuts are every day is an even bigger challenge. Director of photography Miguel Angel Viñas faced all that and more on The Road Bad and the Place Dark, a documentary shot in Sierra Leone for medical charity Médecins du Monde.

Hardware Infrastructure

The Sponsors Perspective: Broadcasters Now Need To Care About Quality Viewing Experiences

Thanks to Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming video, content owners and broadcasters have a very different relationship with the end consumer – often a direct one.

Core Insights - Leveraging Cloud Operations For Live Broadcast

More broadcasters are seeing the benefits of moving their operations to the cloud, especially as we are becoming more reliant on remote working. But the transition isn’t necessarily a linear move and hybrid working practices help us balance the unique requirements of large media files and the flexibility cloud systems offer.

Essential Guide: Multiviewers For Flexible Operations

IP and COTS infrastructure designs are giving us the opportunity to think about broadcast systems in an entirely different manner. Although broadcast engineers have been designing studio facilities to be flexible from the earliest days of television, the addition of IP and COTS takes this to a new level allowing us to continually reallocate infrastructure components to make the best use of expensive resource.

The Sponsors Perspective: The Move Towards Next Generation Platforms

Whenever I’m asked about my opinion on the transition to IP, I always state that the impact can’t be appreciated until its history is understood. This brings into context the need for broadcasters to educate and surround themselves with those who have in depth knowledge and understanding of the subject.

Software Infrastructure

Core Insights - Leveraging Cloud Operations For Live Broadcast

More broadcasters are seeing the benefits of moving their operations to the cloud, especially as we are becoming more reliant on remote working. But the transition isn’t necessarily a linear move and hybrid working practices help us balance the unique requirements of large media files and the flexibility cloud systems offer.

The H.266 codec has been designed with 8K content in mind. Photo by Chris Meads on Unsplash

MPEG Latest H.266 Codec Runs Into Stiff Competition

The latest MPEG codec H.266 has been unveiled by Germany’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute with claims it will at least double the compression efficiency of its predecessor H.265, also known as HEVC.

Working Remotely Means Different Things To Different People, But Everyone Benefits

Cloud computing is helping a myriad of professional organizations expand their reach and implement new types of IP workflows that were not possible previously. It has also allowed media companies to work virtually anywhere.

Data Recording and Transmission: Reed-Solomon Error Correcting Codes - Part 21

The explosion in digital technology that led to Compact Discs, DVD, personal computers, digital cameras, the Internet and digital television broadcasting relies heavily on a small number of enabling technologies, one of which is the use of Reed-Solomon error correcting codes.

Audio

The Sponsors Perspective: The Move Towards Next Generation Platforms

Whenever I’m asked about my opinion on the transition to IP, I always state that the impact can’t be appreciated until its history is understood. This brings into context the need for broadcasters to educate and surround themselves with those who have in depth knowledge and understanding of the subject.

The Sponsors Perspective: TAG Video Systems Introduces New Business Model For Broadcast Technology

With the emergence of the cloud into the media production and delivery space, the broadcast and media industry must embrace an entirely new approach to acquiring and deploying technology. Large capital expenditures (CapEx) are increasingly being replaced by operating expense (OpEx) budgets that are more flexible and aligned with the operational requirements of broadcast facilities.

Digital Audio - Part 1

It seems almost superfluous today to specify that audio is digital because most audio capture, production and distribution today is done numerically. This was not always the case and at one time audio was primarily done without the help of numbers and the term digital audio was introduced to distinguish the new technology from what went before.

Audio Levels - Part 5

There is level and then there is loudness. Neither can be measured absolutely, but by adopting standardized approaches it is possible to have measurements that are useful.

Playout & Transmission

The Sponsors Perspective: Broadcasters Now Need To Care About Quality Viewing Experiences

Thanks to Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming video, content owners and broadcasters have a very different relationship with the end consumer – often a direct one.

If you need a magnifying glass to see a better TV picture, it’s probably not a serious paradigm shift.

Content Delivery Crossroads

What has changed the most over the course of broadcast TV technical history is the price of admission, the elimination of generation loss, HD and IP.

The general look of an app on a commercial ATSC 3.0-enabled set tuned to Las Vegas host station KVCW 3.0.

Sinclair Begins Commercial ATSC 3.0 Broadcasts

“We’re productizing a transformation, not a transition.” Mark Aitken, President of Sinclair’s One Media.

Data Recording and Transmission: Reed-Solomon Error Correcting Codes - Part 21

The explosion in digital technology that led to Compact Discs, DVD, personal computers, digital cameras, the Internet and digital television broadcasting relies heavily on a small number of enabling technologies, one of which is the use of Reed-Solomon error correcting codes.

Distribution & Delivery

The Sponsors Perspective: Broadcasters Now Need To Care About Quality Viewing Experiences

Thanks to Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming video, content owners and broadcasters have a very different relationship with the end consumer – often a direct one.

Core Insights - Leveraging Cloud Operations For Live Broadcast

More broadcasters are seeing the benefits of moving their operations to the cloud, especially as we are becoming more reliant on remote working. But the transition isn’t necessarily a linear move and hybrid working practices help us balance the unique requirements of large media files and the flexibility cloud systems offer.

Akamai is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By Billykamenides, on behalf of Akamai Technologies.

Broadcasters Hit By Sharp Rise In Credentials Stuffing Attacks

Broadcasters and video service providers have become ever more attractive targets of credential stuffing attacks for cyber criminals seeking both content and subscribers’ personal details.

Essential Guide: Multiviewers For Flexible Operations

IP and COTS infrastructure designs are giving us the opportunity to think about broadcast systems in an entirely different manner. Although broadcast engineers have been designing studio facilities to be flexible from the earliest days of television, the addition of IP and COTS takes this to a new level allowing us to continually reallocate infrastructure components to make the best use of expensive resource.

Test, QC & Monitoring

HDR - Part 12 - The Right Side Of Lenses

There are a number of reasons why people like old lenses, and they’re all very valid. Cameras and lenses so good they’re invisible are a recent development. Most of the best films ever made, by default, predate today’s spotless pictures, and artists have always been a rebellious bunch in any case. This, though, is an article about why it’s not always a good idea to rebel, at least without knowing…

The Sponsors Perspective: Broadcasters Now Need To Care About Quality Viewing Experiences

Thanks to Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming video, content owners and broadcasters have a very different relationship with the end consumer – often a direct one.

Core Insights - Leveraging Cloud Operations For Live Broadcast

More broadcasters are seeing the benefits of moving their operations to the cloud, especially as we are becoming more reliant on remote working. But the transition isn’t necessarily a linear move and hybrid working practices help us balance the unique requirements of large media files and the flexibility cloud systems offer.

Essential Guide: Multiviewers For Flexible Operations

IP and COTS infrastructure designs are giving us the opportunity to think about broadcast systems in an entirely different manner. Although broadcast engineers have been designing studio facilities to be flexible from the earliest days of television, the addition of IP and COTS takes this to a new level allowing us to continually reallocate infrastructure components to make the best use of expensive resource.

Services

Core Insights - Leveraging Cloud Operations For Live Broadcast

More broadcasters are seeing the benefits of moving their operations to the cloud, especially as we are becoming more reliant on remote working. But the transition isn’t necessarily a linear move and hybrid working practices help us balance the unique requirements of large media files and the flexibility cloud systems offer.

Essential Guide: Multiviewers For Flexible Operations

IP and COTS infrastructure designs are giving us the opportunity to think about broadcast systems in an entirely different manner. Although broadcast engineers have been designing studio facilities to be flexible from the earliest days of television, the addition of IP and COTS takes this to a new level allowing us to continually reallocate infrastructure components to make the best use of expensive resource.

Working Remotely Means Different Things To Different People, But Everyone Benefits

Cloud computing is helping a myriad of professional organizations expand their reach and implement new types of IP workflows that were not possible previously. It has also allowed media companies to work virtually anywhere.

The Sponsors Perspective: Social Revolution Highlights Need For Effective Media Monitoring

When broadcast TV was the only media consumption option available to consumers – video monitoring was regarded as a luxury. Today it is seen as an essential requirement in all forms of media content delivery.