Acquisition

Streaming 10-bit 4K, HDR/WCG and AI-streamlined post-production are the trends to watch in 2020 bonded cellular.

Bonded Cellular Spring 2020 Update

Need a live shot from inside an unmarked moving rental sedan during a thunderstorm? No problem.

Is Gamma Still Needed? - Part 1

Gamma is a topic that pervades almost all forms of image portrayal, including film, television and computers. Gamma has become a tradition, which means that its origins are not understood, and it is not questioned. Perhaps it is time that it was.

Lockdown has made a compelling case for 5G in broadcasting.

Broadcasters Go Mobile For Remote Production During Lockdown

The global lockdowns have come just too soon for 5G mobile services to help mitigate disruption to production and content creation.

Creative Analysis - Part 1 - The Nest From The DOP

Glasgow in December is a place and a time with a particular look, and The Nest is a production which enthusiastically embraces that aesthetic. Broadcast in the UK beginning in March 2020, it was produced for the BBC by Studio Lambert as five one-hour episodes featuring a couple, played by Martin Compston and Sophie Rundle, trying to start a family via a surrogate, played by Mirren Mack in her first…

Production & Post

Is Gamma Still Needed? - Part 1

Gamma is a topic that pervades almost all forms of image portrayal, including film, television and computers. Gamma has become a tradition, which means that its origins are not understood, and it is not questioned. Perhaps it is time that it was.

Creative Analysis - Part 1 - The Nest From The DOP

Glasgow in December is a place and a time with a particular look, and The Nest is a production which enthusiastically embraces that aesthetic. Broadcast in the UK beginning in March 2020, it was produced for the BBC by Studio Lambert as five one-hour episodes featuring a couple, played by Martin Compston and Sophie Rundle, trying to start a family via a surrogate, played by Mirren Mack in her first…

Today's focus of TV station managers, engineers, technicians, production and news crews is to avoid airing this. So far, so good.

The Shows Go On

The current social and medical situation with lockdowns and distancing is unleashing new ideas at local TV stations. Some will become the new normal.

HDR - Part 9 - An Introduction To ACES

It’s one thing to be confronted by a big pile of technology and to be confused by it. It’s another to know something about that technology and conclude that things could be a lot simpler than they are. That’s the reaction a lot of people have to color and brightness handling in modern cameras which offer more than enough options to make things confusing. Clearly, we need standardization, but with…

Hardware Infrastructure

Essential Guide: Monitoring An IP World - OTT

Monitoring has always been the engineers’ best friend as it turns apparent chaos into order and helps us understand what is going on deep inside a system to deliver high-quality pictures and sound. As OTT continues to play a more prominent role, the need to monitor internet distribution systems is becoming increasingly compelling.

Data Recording: Burst Errors - Part 20

The first burst error correcting code was the Fire Code, which was once widely used on hard disk drives. Here we look at how it works and how it was used.

New types of compression will help reduce bandwidth consumption by up to 50 percent, enabling 8K content delivery over 4K (12G) networks.

“Content-Aware” Encoding Could Be Key To Cost-Effective 8K Delivery

If an 8K content service from OTT providers like Amazon, Netflix and YouTube is ever going to be successful, and that’s still a hot topic of debate, new types of compression will have to be part of the solution. Terrestrial broadcasters don’t have the infrastructure to handle it, regardless of the compression used.

Bonded Cellular Spring 2020 Update

Need a live shot from inside an unmarked moving rental sedan during a thunderstorm? No problem.

Software Infrastructure

Data Recording: Burst Errors - Part 20

The first burst error correcting code was the Fire Code, which was once widely used on hard disk drives. Here we look at how it works and how it was used.

Complexity Barrier Drives Simpler Video Compression

Video encoding is running up against a complexity barrier that is raising costs and reducing scope for further improvements in quality.

“Content-Aware” Encoding Could Be Key To Cost-Effective 8K Delivery

If an 8K content service from OTT providers like Amazon, Netflix and YouTube is ever going to be successful, and that’s still a hot topic of debate, new types of compression will have to be part of the solution. Terrestrial broadcasters don’t have the infrastructure to handle it, regardless of the compression used.

Bonded Cellular Spring 2020 Update

Need a live shot from inside an unmarked moving rental sedan during a thunderstorm? No problem.

Audio

Audio Levels - Part 4

There are two basic reasons to know the level of an audio signal. One of these is more technical and one of them is more subjective.

The Sponsors Perspective: Reaching OTT At Scale - Pitfalls And Opportunities

OTT delivery continues to expand to meet the relentless growing consumer demand. This trend shows no chance of abating and technologists are continually looking to innovation to scale infrastructures accordingly. In this sponsors perspective, Ryan Nicometo, SVP of Product for Vecima, presents the OTT Scale – Maturity Quadrant to help decision makers clearly see the potential technical challenges and opportunities to meet the demands of OTT delivery.

Core Insights - Operating An IP Broadcast Facility

Whether we’re routing signals or remotely operating equipment, the need for reliable system control is one of the most important aspects of a broadcast facility. But as we migrate to IP, some of the working practices we took for granted with SDI operation don’t necessarily transfer and this is most evident in signal routing.

Essential Guide: The Liberation Of Broadcast Technology

For many years broadcasters have been working with static systems that are difficult to change and upgrade. Although we have video and audio routing, the often-tangled mess of jackfield patch-cords is testament to how flexible broadcast systems really need to be to meet the demands of modern program making.

Playout & Transmission

Essential Guide: OTT (or is it ABR?)

Program delivery to mobile devices and smart televisions has fueled the growth for internet delivery. But one of the challenges broadcasters and media content providers face is that the internet was never originally designed to stream large amounts of video and audio with virtually no dropout or latency.

Data Recording: Burst Errors - Part 20

The first burst error correcting code was the Fire Code, which was once widely used on hard disk drives. Here we look at how it works and how it was used.

Bonded Cellular Spring 2020 Update

Need a live shot from inside an unmarked moving rental sedan during a thunderstorm? No problem.

Is Gamma Still Needed? - Part 1

Gamma is a topic that pervades almost all forms of image portrayal, including film, television and computers. Gamma has become a tradition, which means that its origins are not understood, and it is not questioned. Perhaps it is time that it was.

Distribution & Delivery

Essential Guide: OTT (or is it ABR?)

Program delivery to mobile devices and smart televisions has fueled the growth for internet delivery. But one of the challenges broadcasters and media content providers face is that the internet was never originally designed to stream large amounts of video and audio with virtually no dropout or latency.

Essential Guide: Monitoring An IP World - OTT

Monitoring has always been the engineers’ best friend as it turns apparent chaos into order and helps us understand what is going on deep inside a system to deliver high-quality pictures and sound. As OTT continues to play a more prominent role, the need to monitor internet distribution systems is becoming increasingly compelling.

Is Gamma Still Needed? - Part 1

Gamma is a topic that pervades almost all forms of image portrayal, including film, television and computers. Gamma has become a tradition, which means that its origins are not understood, and it is not questioned. Perhaps it is time that it was.

Software-Defined Automation: Are We Nearly There Yet? Part II

Playout automation has been enabling fewer people to control more channels for decades but we’re not quite at the point where human interaction can be eliminated altogether. Since most linear broadcasters will either move to a software-based deployment for their channels themselves or give them to a service provider that carries out that transformation for them, The Broadcast Bridge assesses the benefits and the challenges in so doing. Part II…

Test, QC & Monitoring

Essential Guide: OTT (or is it ABR?)

Program delivery to mobile devices and smart televisions has fueled the growth for internet delivery. But one of the challenges broadcasters and media content providers face is that the internet was never originally designed to stream large amounts of video and audio with virtually no dropout or latency.

Essential Guide: Monitoring An IP World - OTT

Monitoring has always been the engineers’ best friend as it turns apparent chaos into order and helps us understand what is going on deep inside a system to deliver high-quality pictures and sound. As OTT continues to play a more prominent role, the need to monitor internet distribution systems is becoming increasingly compelling.

Data Recording: Burst Errors - Part 20

The first burst error correcting code was the Fire Code, which was once widely used on hard disk drives. Here we look at how it works and how it was used.

Is Gamma Still Needed? - Part 1

Gamma is a topic that pervades almost all forms of image portrayal, including film, television and computers. Gamma has become a tradition, which means that its origins are not understood, and it is not questioned. Perhaps it is time that it was.

Services

Essential Guide: OTT (or is it ABR?)

Program delivery to mobile devices and smart televisions has fueled the growth for internet delivery. But one of the challenges broadcasters and media content providers face is that the internet was never originally designed to stream large amounts of video and audio with virtually no dropout or latency.

Essential Guide: Monitoring An IP World - OTT

Monitoring has always been the engineers’ best friend as it turns apparent chaos into order and helps us understand what is going on deep inside a system to deliver high-quality pictures and sound. As OTT continues to play a more prominent role, the need to monitor internet distribution systems is becoming increasingly compelling.

Software-Defined Automation: Are We Nearly There Yet? Part II

Playout automation has been enabling fewer people to control more channels for decades but we’re not quite at the point where human interaction can be eliminated altogether. Since most linear broadcasters will either move to a software-based deployment for their channels themselves or give them to a service provider that carries out that transformation for them, The Broadcast Bridge assesses the benefits and the challenges in so doing. Part II…

IBC has provided an annual meeting place for the Media, Entertainment & Technology community for more than 50 years.

IBC 2020 Show Falls Victim To COVID-19

In a move that was not unexpected due to current pandemic conditions around the world, the annual IBC 2020 show in Amsterdam, set to take place on September 11-14, has been cancelled. In recent weeks two major exhibitors - Panasonic and Ross Video - had already cancelled their participation citing the safety of its employees. The annual conference typically hosts an average of 55,000 visitors from across the globe.