3D's slow but sure coming of age

Broadcast 

A lack of original content and funding issues have slowed growth, but progress is still being made. http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/3ds-slow-but-sure-coming-of-age/5035548.article

With the number of 3D-ready displays sold in the UK predicted to triple by the end of 2012 to 2.3 million, and with acquisition of 3D content opening up internationally, the market for 3D TV continues to grow, albeit slowly.

The economic climate is playing its part in dampening down display sales, the consumer is being exposed to too much ‘filler’ material on channels because of a dearth of original content, while poorly converted or produced stereo films are damaging the perception of 3D’s value at the box office.

For many, the trajectory charted by HD remains the most pertinent guide.

It took more than a decade from HD’s introduction for it to become a mature product, so we should not be impatient for 3D TV to reach those heights in only its second year.

“We are in a period where everyone doubts its viability, but we have moved on from experimentation to talking about programming content,” says Duncan Humphreys, creative director at CAN Communicate.

“We are talking less about the technology, more about ideas, production values and storylines that work in 3D.”

CAN’s co-pro with Renegade Pictures of 10 x 60-minute Safari 3D for Discovery’s 3net is an example of the move towards mainstream formats.

Gameshows and drama series are also being touted.

“The challenge is for innovative producers to take on the mantle and make unique programming that is enhanced by 3D, rather than filling airtime with 3D as a badge,” says Nineteen Fifteen founder Vicki Betihavas.

The spectacle of the Olympics in 3D could galvanise consumers into buying 3D-ready displays, but the wider issue in sport is funding.

“Manufacturers will only underwrite productions for so long. It’s about finding a route to market that can fund itself,” says Humphreys.

“Part of the answer lies in selling the 3D broadcast rights separately from the 2D ones so that 3D finds its own value in the market.”

Across genre, costs can be double those of a 2D HD show, particularly if high volumes of CGI are involved, but the perception that 3D is high risk and high cost needs to be tackled, says Andrew Shelley, operations manager at On Sight.

“Producers are able to strip back the component parts of a 3D production in terms of processes, equipment and people to make an efficient and quality production,” he adds.

Those that have produced 3D content for television, such as OSF, Leopard Films, Renegade, Colonial Pictures and Atlantic Productions, are small- or medium-sized indies.

Yet larger producers with repeat or volume commissions have yet to find a route, although it could be argued that Tigress Productions’ (part of Endemol) 60-minute natural history show Beautiful Freaks breaks that mould.

For David Pounds, managing director of Electric Sky, producer of 3D extreme sports series High Octane, production is becoming more affordable thanks to innovations in technology.

“New Sony and Panasonic 3D camcorders are much more manageable than rigs - although rigs are still necessary for certain projects,” he says.

“Media Composer 6 contains stereo tools, which makes 3D more readily available in edit suites. Overall, 3D tools are much more accessible.

“Having said that, producers need to seriously consider whether their company has the right sensibility and right people on board to grasp 3D. Don’t treat it as a novelty or after-thought.”

He predicts the 3D TV market will remain largely static over the next year: “It is almost impossible to fund 3D TV without a 2D channel partner backing you in some shape or form.”

Betihavas agrees: “If your programme can stack up internationally in 2D, then you have a good chance of getting it funded.”

The buzz from Mipcom was that several broadcasters in Europe and Asia have 3D in their plans, but funding sources are limited at the moment.

Discovery Europe commissioned its first tranche of 3D to play on Sky 3D and 3net in the US, and in preparation for a mooted full channel launch on the Sky platform.

The BBC also continues to experiment with various genres. Next up is the live 3D TX of the Strictly Come Dancing final. It is occasional events such as this and BBC Earth featurescale productions Walking With Dinosaurs 3D and The Enchanted Kingdom, as well as sport (expanded 3D coverage at Wimbledon 2012 is planned), that dominate the broadcaster’s strategy.

“Internationally branded, event-led 3D projects are most likely to sell, although the global 3D TV market is very fickle,” confirms Paul Berrow, chief executive of distributor Log Media.

Most stakeholders, Sky included, maintain that 3D content will only fly with user-friendly displays that don’t require glasses.

The introduction of tablets, smartphones and games consoles with 3D screens could be a “game-changer”, suggests Anthony Geffen, creative director of Atlantic Productions and Sky joint-venture Colossus Productions, which is readying the 3 x 60-minute Kew 3D for Sky.

Betihavas adds: “We need displays to get to a point where they don’t need cumbersome glasses, and where content truly is a better experience in 3D over 2D.

“There are a number of funding and distribution options; you just need to look a little harder for them, and definitely think outside the box.”

CASE STUDY: LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS

After much speculation, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally announced that up to 300 hours of the London 2012 Games will be captured in 3D.

Even if that is a fraction of the total 5,000 hours of coverage, it can no longer be considered an experiment or just for archive, as seemed the most likely scenario six months ago.

The IOC has received feedback from major rights holders including the BBC, NBC and ESPN in support of a sizeable commitment to 3D production.

Events at 14 venues will be covered, enough for Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) to create a 10-hour daily mix of live footage and highlights.

Three outside broadcast firms will produce this separately from the 2D broadcast.

Each mobile unit will carry 12-14 rigs for around 40 camera positions.

About 20 newsgathering crews sporting Panasonic dual-lens camcorders will also contribute. These cameras will also be used track- or pool-side to get nearer to the athletes.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be covered, as will popular events such as gymnastics and track and field, in addition to sports such as swimming and canoeing, which have not previously been captured in 3D.

OBS will be contracting a 3D production specialist and will work with official sponsor Panasonic to select the right candidate.

Hopefuls include US rig developers Element Technica; Belgium OB giant Alfacam, which is already supplying the bulk of facilities to OBS; and Cameron Pace Group, which produced the X Games in 3D for ESPN earlier this year. CAN Communicate is likely to be involved in recorded 3D Olympics programming.

TIMELINE: A YEAR IN 3D

April
Formation of technology specialist Cameron Pace Group (CPG) by James Cameron and Vince Pace, targeting broadcast production companies

Sky appoints John Cassy as director of 3D

Sky produces 10-minute 3D short of the royal wedding

May
Atlantic Productions’ Flying Monsters 3D for Sky wins Bafta for Specialist Factual

Launch of Telegenic’s third 3D OB truck in time for Sky Sports 3D production of the UEFA Champions League final

June
Sky Arts airs two hours of live music in 3D for three nights from the Isle of Wight festival

July
Discovery Europe orders first 3D shows in the UK. Signs distribution deals with Sky and Virgin Media

BBC broadcasts three matches from Wimbledon’s centre Court in 3D, its first live 3D broadcast

Sky teams up with Atlantic to create Colossus Productions, a joint venture specialising in 3D

September
Merger of rig developers 3Ality Digital and Element Technica into 3Ality Technica

October
First UK horseracing event fi lmed in 3D, by CAN Communicate at Ascot for At The Races

December

BBC films the final of Strictly in 3D

Uneven year for OB sector

Broadcast

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/uneven-year-for-ob-sector/5035543.article

The royal wedding and Rugby World Cup kept outside broadcast firms busy in a quiet year, but 2012 promises to be a whole lot better. 

International sporting events tend to fall in even years but thanks to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and the decade’s biggest ad hoc event to date - the royal wedding - suppliers to the live broadcast market were kept busy.

Nonetheless, even active OB suppliers are looking to diversify to keep their expertise and facilities ticking over during the odd years and an ever-threatening recession.

SIS LIVE commercial director Phil Aspden says 2011 was: “A tough year, compounded by constant pressure on programme budgets as a consequence of the poor economic climate.”

Aspden is looking to diversify from SIS’s core OB business by building on relationships such as its joint venture with Peel Media to operate multi-client broadcast facilities at MediaCityUK.

“We intend to build the largest teleport in the north-west in support of our activities and will be looking at ways to develop our growing national fibre capability,” he explains.

The one big sporting fixture SIS was able to get its teeth into this year was Wimbledon, providing HD facilities for BBC Sport’s host coverage.

The hallowed green of Centre Court also marked NEP Visions’ first foray into live 3D broadcasting in conjunction with 3D specialists CAN Communicate and Sony.

Aired live in 3D on the BBC’s HD channel, the trio of matches culminating in the men’s singles final were produced from a pair of Visions’ Gemini trucks, which split 3D convergence and EVS operation from production.

Planning is already at an advanced stage for expanded 3D coverage of the tournament next June. On the whole, however, 3D broadcasting has got off to a slow start.

Demand remains low, with audience take-up reportedly already in decline within cinemas, and the sale of 3D-capable TVs still slow compared with the speed of HD uptake.

“From a facility provider’s point of view, the investment required to undertake 3D is difficult to justify without a broadcaster agreeing to underwrite the capital cost,” says Aspden.

CTV managing director Barry Johnstone agrees: “Outside of Sky, the demand for 3D is low and can’t justify the amount of investment needed. 3D is a risky peripheral business.”

Arena Television managing director Richard Yeowart has seen a decline in interest in 3D coverage and reports.

“We were getting weekly enquiries for OBs and aerial filming, but this has dropped back to just one a month,” he says.

Arena is waiting for 3D cameramount technology to settle, and for demand to become more stable, before making any signifi cant move into the market.

“Any major investment made now would have to be written off over two years, which isn’t where we see ourselves,” says Yeowart.

“I think uptake will depend on the right technology being introduced.” The only OB fi rm with a strong 3D business is Telegenic, because of its ties with Sky. It felt confident enough to launch a third dedicated 3D vehicle in time for Sky Sports to host 3D production of the UEFA Champions League final from Wembley, and has announced plans for a fourth, this time for nonsports entertainment work.

Branching out into ad hoc and nonsports events seems to be key to making these uneven years pay. Johnstone, who is also chief operating officer of CTV’s parent company Euro Media Group (EMG), observes that walk in business across the group has increased.

He says the noncontractual business, including the Asian Winter Games in Kazakhstan, concerts and nonsports series like One Born Every Minute and The Hotel, seems buoyant.

Arena TV will close the year 7% up on 2010 after completing its OB14 truck, which is aimed at the ad hoc market of music and events coverage.

Yeowart, meanwhile, notes a “very stable 2011” when few mainstream contracts changed hands.

“Apart from couple that are currently doing the rounds, most contracts were ongoing across the sector so there was little churn in 2011.”

NEP Visions managing director Steve Jenkins oversaw 20% growth in turnover this year, which he attributes to “organic growth in the UK market and broadening our client base”.

Yet the challenge of tight budgets and minimal margins hasn’t gone away.

“Increasing fuel costs are outside our control and the investment in technology has not got any cheaper,” he says. Visions’ robotic camera subsidiary Roll to Record retained the Big Brother contract for Channel 5, upgrading the kit to HD.

“In terms of hours, it’s a massive departure for C5,” says Mike Bass, the company’s commercial director.

“We’ve set it up as a massive flyaway kit, with all three shows running concurrently off a huge router. It’s a significant step forward in terms of technology, and I think it really does show in the resulting picture quality.”

The biggest piece of ad hoc work was without question April’s royal wedding, when large swathes of the UK’s OB armoury were corralled in Green Park supplying the host ITN, Sky and BBC HD broadcast, as well as numerous international broadcasters.

NEP Visions and Aerial Camera Systems covered the inside of Westminster Abbey, with cameras for the host broadcast of the ceremony itself.

SIS supplied eight OB units, a specialist sound truck, 13 uplink units and an array of RF communications, including 13 radio cameras for the host and another 40 satellite uplink trucks for clients including NBC News and France Télévisions.
But this event will be dwarfed by the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee next June. The total OB requirement (led by the BBC) is expected to be up to four times bigger than for the royal wedding.

Live music

Music concerts have also become good regular and ad hoc staples for broadcasters, particularly as the popularity (and ticket cost) of live music rises.

The BBC has been the leader in this field with its coverage of multiday events like Glastonbury (OB supported by SIS). One notable first this year was broadcasting Coldplay’s headline set live around the world.

The BBC also had extensive live broadcasts from the Reading (SIS) and T in the Park (six OB trucks from NEP Visions) festivals, but Sky 3D and Telegenic also made an impact in this area with live 3D coverage of the Isle of Wight festival in June, part of Sky’s experiment in 3D festivals across the summer.

All eyes are now turning towards London 2012. Indeed, preparation has been going on all year. SIS has almost all of its SNG vehicles and OB fleet committed over the Olympic period, for broadcasters including the BBC as well as OBS, the Olympic host broadcaster.

SIS continues to pursue business from nonrights holders and is planning a bespoke playout and editing facility at its Corsham St office, which has the advantage of close proximity to the Olympic Park.

The UEFA European Football Championship in Ukraine and Poland (from June 2012) will absorb further capacity from at least two UK OB companies (Arena and Telegenic).

Yeowart says he believes the high demand during this crunch period means that “some competitors are charging rate card plus a premium for these events, [rather than rate card less a discount]”.

Visions will be taking care of NBC’s needs at London 2012 but Jenkins is mindful that when an event the size of the Olympics is on home turf, “you don’t overstretch yourself against your regular year round customers”.

He adds: “A number of events have reshuffl ed their schedule either side of the Games and we have to take thatn into account to ensure there is capacity in terms of human resource and kit.

TIMELINE: A YEAR IN OUTSIDE BROADCAST

January
NEP Visions secures multimillion-dollar deal to supply equipment and technical crew for the seventh Asian Winter Games

2011 World Indoor Bowls Championships live on BBC (Arqiva, Input Media)

S4C’s live coverage channel S4C2 is axed February Six Nations Rugby Final gives BBC1 more than 9.5 million viewers

April
Royal wedding goes live to 2 billion viewers worldwide with OB services provided by NEP Visions, SIS LIVE, Arqiva, Arena, Bow Tie and others

YouTube rolls out a dedicated live-TV section with plans to enable thousands of channel partners to also stream content live

London Marathon is broadcast live worldwide to 159 countries (SIS, NEP Visions, Aerial Camera)

May UEFA Champions League Final 2011 (NEP Visions), FA Cup Final and Europa Cup (both SIS), Chelsea Flower Show (SIS)

June
BBC Wimbledon live in 3D (NEP Visions, CAN and Sony), as well as full HD coverage of every match at Wimbledon on seven courts (SIS)

Glastonbury live across the BBC (SIS and others)

SIS enters into formal arbitration after a failed attempt earlier this year by British diplomats to recover its £15m fee for providing OB facilities at last year’s Commonwealth Games in India August

SIS warns staff to be on their guard for further attacks after the company’s outside broadcast trucks are attacked by rioters in London and Manchester

September
Channel 5’s Big Brother live in HD (Roll to Record)

October
Endemol’s Deal Or No Deal goes out live for a two-week daily run (BBC S&PP)

OB firm NEP Cymru trials a new camera set-up that aims to deliver live pictures from the barrel of a wave for the Quiksilver Pro France surfing contest

November
Children In Need night - seven hours of live HD broadcast (BBC S&PP)

Sky Sports announces it is to launch a dedicated Formula One channel when it starts broadcasting the series in March 2012

CASE STUDY: HORSE SHOW OF THE YEAR

In October, Sky 3D covered its first live equestrian event, the Horse Of The Year Show from Birmingham NEC.

The six day event was produced as a joint 2D and 3D operation out of two Telegenic trucks.

“The challenge with anything new is to get the camera angles right without the benefi t of being able to test them beforehand,” says Robin Broomfield, operations development manager at Sky 3D.

His solution was to work with the experience that the directors and production team gained on other sports, and transfer that into the equestrian field.

“It’s known, for example, that lower angles look much better for what we’re after,” says Broomfield.

“In equestrian we were lucky because the camera angles are generally low anyway. What I also found, when comparing 2D and 3D, was not only does 3D give you the depth, the distance between the fences and so on, but it also gives you a sense of the size of the fences and the size of the horses. It felt like a more real experience than watching it in 2D.”

He adds: “There were a couple of angles we couldn’t get into - the handheld RFs being one of them - so one of the Steadicams had to be 2D. But we had six of our standard 3D rigs working in the ring [3ality rigs with Sony 1500s] and a couple of minicams on the fences. We also had a special Sky 3D fence.”

More than 60 people worked on the event with 16 cameras as well as the two OB trucks.

“One covered the event and 3D operation, and the other was for studio and replay operation,” Broomfield explains.

BBC trial puts Daleks in the living room

Broadcast

Toy Daleks that move in time with their on-screen counterparts in an episode of Doctor Who have been demonstrated by researchers at BBC R&D North.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/bbc-trial-puts-daleks-in-the-living-room/5034990.article

The prototype is part of a wider project called Universal Control, which is investigating how video played on a connected-TV or internet-enabled set-top box can be used to control other devices in the living room.

“It’s a playful illustration that shows the possibilities that exist to producers when we start to think about future connectivity in a home environment in which all devices will be IP connected,” explained R&D North project director Adrian Woolard.

“Effectively this puts another actor in the living room, enabling a production team to write a script and include it as part of the viewer’s experience.”

In the experiment, devised by trainee technologist Andrew Bonney, a 2 ft-high remote-controlled toy mirrored the movements of a Dalek from a sequence in Doctor Who.

Bonney had programmed the model, which was triggered automatically by timecode in the video sent over wi-fi from a MythTV open-source DVR.

In future, such metadata could be embedded into the video at the point of acquisition and applied to any commercial set-top box or connected TV.

Universal Control is primarily aimed at transferring the functions of a platform like YouView to devices and user interfaces that are more user-friendly to people with physical disabilities.

BBC R&D is also exploring the impact of dual-screen usage on content production at the points of acquisition and pre-production.

It has developed an iPad app for production teams to input data while video is captured, so that it is instantly available to all members of the production team and kept along with the video in perpetuity.

Is 3D living up to the hype?

Broadcast

Sales of 3D TV sets in the UK remain small and few commissions are yet available. But as the market matures, new business models are emerging, finds Adrian Pennington.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/production-feature/is-3d-living-up-to-the-hype/5034467.article

The hyperbole surrounding 3D, with almost every film release, TV commission or hardware development making news, belies the fact that the market is still extremely young. Take-up of 3D TV sets remains small – fewer than 500,000 in the UK, according to media consultant Futuresource – as does the number of distribution outlets, while there are warnings that the box office performance of 3D films is in decline.

Yet extrapolating that to mean that stereo vision is a fad that will soon fade away is a stretch too far. Futuresource predicts the installed base of 3D-ready displays will triple by the end of 2012 to 2.3 million (9% of UK households) and there are several new 3D channels in Europe, India and Africa opening up. Provided production is treated with care, there is no reason not to consider 3D a money-making option.

Onsight chief operating officer Andy Shelley says: “It is very early days and in some respects the business model is still forming. A lot of the productions we worked on, such as Kew 3D and Meerkats 3D, have multiple deliverables from TV to theatrical release and IMAX to help make the model work.

“If the idea is good enough, and it fits the right kind of target demographic, then a broadcaster like Sky will help to make budgets work. People can also make 3D more profitable for themselves by striking co-pro deals or banking material for archive.”

New model

Even what is arguably Europe’s most successful 3D TV producer admits that the natural business model of going to one broadcaster does not work in 3D.

“We’ve had to look at other models, and what is encouraging is that theatrical is beginning to kick in,” says Atlantic Productions chief executive Anthony Geffen, noting that the cinema run for Flying Monsters 3D in Europe and the US is “beginning to make some good money”.

Paul Berrow, who runs Log Media, distributor of Carmen In 3D and the 2011 World Music Awards, also in 3D, calls for realistic expectations.

“It is incredibly unpredictable because you are starting from a blank canvas that is being filled in at random,” he says. “The big players such as Discovery and Sky are moving at an entirely different pace from some European territories that have only just entered the fray.

“Everyone is trying to get empirical evidence about what works for what type of audience. Consequently, the market changes every month with different feedback from broadcasters. What sold last year might not be wanted now.”

He advises that internationally branded one-off event programming – such as music concerts and action sports – remains the best option while distribution remains limited.

“Glasses are probably the biggest stumbling block to 3D TV growth but there also has to be something to drive people to purchase 3D TVs and 3D subscriptions,” he adds.

There is an oft-quoted analogy that the status of the 3D market mirrors that of HD, which took the best part of 15 years to mature.

“In the early days of HD, there was the exact same situation: a number of people worried that this was never going to work because HD incurred technical overheads, new creative issues and slow market penetration,” says Shelley.

“As more people engage with 3D production – some producers are onto their second and third projects – the skill sets will grow and 3D will become less alien. Though whether 3D has the same wide market potential as HD or will remain a niche means of telling a story, I am less sure.”

For stereographic supervisor David Cox, the main barrier is justification. “The relatively small 3D TV audience doesn’t create an impetus to generate either more channels or higher budgets, as it doesn’t provide high enough commercial revenue as yet.

“I think this will change as more 3D-ready TVs are bought and as viewers increasingly source their content beyond traditional broadcasters, such as streaming channels.”

Game changer

The arrival of 3D-capable mobile and tablet devices that have the advantage of not requiring special glasses “could be a significant game changer,” Geffen says. “More people will see 3D content on tablets and it will make them want to see it on TV. Our future 3D projects will start to link content on those new platforms. It will define our business model going forward.”

Geffen is the first to admit that the handful of 3D TV commissions currently available are being won by a select few companies. “The principal backing for 3D will inevitably go to those few companies that have proved themselves and committed resources to learn the necessary skills,” he says.

“They will be the companies that have to deliver on a big scale. But that does not cut off innovation from other people. There is absolutely a place for producers on much lower budgets, experimenting with cheaper technology. People need to scale back a bit and put the emphasis on why 3D illuminates a story better than 2D.”

For Geffen, the number one impediment remains a lack of knowledge and experience of 3D. “It’s just not easy to do. Kit is still problematic because you will always have complications with a rig. At the cheaper end, new, integrated 3D cameras are very limited so a lot of stuff shot on them wouldn’t meet the technical specs of broadcasters.”

Berrow says there is no easy formula but suggests producers “do their research extremely carefully, and recognise that the market can change from the time you start to when you are ready to sell. Be very conservative about the genre you take on, but creatively ambitious in inception.”

Arguably, there is more opportunity for small and medium-sized organisations to get involved in 3D because they are likely to be more agile.

“The key thing to recognise is that 3D is a premium product and not to see it as some ticket to get otherwise uninteresting and unworthy programmes financed,” says Cox.

The technical difficulty of 3D is a red herring – if you believe the experts who ask you to employ an expert. “Producers shouldn’t be considering kit as such,” says Cox.

“They should be involving the right professionals who know which kit they want to use to provide the ability and efficiency needed for any given production. If producers have been put off 3D in the past directly because of kit, in most cases they are simply talking to the wrong people, or perhaps trying to do it themselves without prior experience.”

Shelley says there is no silver bullet that will reduce the cost of making 3D. “What is happening is that manufacturers are talking to each other and developing innovative products that fill in the gaps in the workflow to reduce costs.”

For example, Avid’s Media Composer 6 has stereo tools for offline editing, while Onsight has developed its own free software patch to streamline 3D editorial into Final Cut Pro.

“Budgets really depend on the type and complexity of the show,” says Shelley. “For some, it can be twice as much as 2D or it can be 20% more. A lot of cost can be reduced by careful forward planning.”

Shelley says the year ahead will help define 3D TV. “Sky will continue to innovate and there is movement among a number of European broadcasters. Plus the Olympics will be a real test-bed for how to cover an event of that scale in 3D and will hopefully showcase what is possible to the consumer.”

Who owns the viewer?

CSI

 

With the introduction of connected TV products, a battle is breaking out for the attention of the TV viewer. This subject was tackled in an IBC debate by executives from DirecTV, Pace and others. http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/Who-owns-the-viewer.php

The Future of Broadcasting

CSI 

IBC’s opening plenary threw together a trio of TV heavyweights to debate The Future of Broadcasting and in particular how broadcasters should respond to the threat posed by mobile and internet delivery platforms. http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/The-future-of-broadcasting.php

The Broadcast Technology Survey 2011: Broadcasters and In-house facilities

Broadcast

Taking a pragmatic approach 

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/taking-a-pragmatic-approach/5031429.article

Middle management and senior staff with kit-buying influence at large-scale London-based broadcasters were the majority respondents to this portion of the survey, with most characterising themselves as either “early adopters” of new technology (29%) or “enthusiasts, ahead of the curve” (29%), something that surprised John Maxwell Hobbs, head of technology, BBC Scotland.

“I would have expected the larger area to be pragmatists,” he says. “Some could be said to roll out ahead of the curve [BSkyB’s Harlequin 1, Pacific Quay], but the reality is that there are fewer early adopters than this survey suggests.”

It could be that people prefer to be perceived as technological groundbreakers when a more pragmatic approach is borne out in practice. However, there is broad agreement that file-based workfl ows and the parallel shift to HD present the most highprofile challenges in the year ahead.

Less than a third of respondents say that SD is the most prominent format, with the transition to HD well under way and coinciding with decisions to migrate to tapeless operations.

That, in turn, causes issues for storing increasingly large volumes of HD files from card-recording cameras.

“Because most post systems still use proprietary and fairly expensive storage, we are having to manage a massive amount of media, far more than we can hold in a work-in-progress post environment,” says Maxwell Hobbs.

“There’s still a missing step in the workflow, which is post ingest, pre-post - normally viewed as the logging phase - where we need an easier way to log and consolidate media before sending to post.”

Turner Broadcasting Systems vice president of engineering Steve Fish still sees a huge amount of tape but also calls for a universal interchange format “because I can guarantee if I have a tape, it will play first time but if someone sends me a file, it won’t”.

The categories of archive and metadata were not included in the list of tech challenges because these elements are viewed as part of a file-based workflow, suggests Dave Colfer, vice-president, technology, Viacom International Media Networks.

“By its very nature, file delivery has to be intertwined with discussions and solutions covering workflow, IP networking and content delivery, and how this content can be stored and archived,” he says.

Given the conversations the production community is having about second- screen viewing and the general rise in on-demand consumption, the individual issues of multiplatform delivery, VoD (both 18%),

IP networking and online video (both 15%) were not flagged by broadcasters as highly as anticipated.

Collectively, though, they represent a vital part of strategy and an area that is set to grow in importance with the penetration of connected-TVs and smart devices.

Fish admits surprise that the response was so low “because multiplatform VoD is without doubt one of the most painful places to be at the moment. The issue is that every single deal you do has a different spec.”

MTV is piloting a VoD and multiplatform project in Germany and could provide the basis for further deployment across the MTV enterprise. Colfer forecasts “a far closer connection and integration with our linear systems and services over the next 18 months”.

As far as stereo 3D is concerned, most respondents (32%) are taking a watching brief, with another 29% saying they won’t get involved at all, while 21% claim they are pioneering the format.

A year into the launch of Sky 3D and with more than 100 hours of original 3D commissions under its belt, BSkyB is arguably leading the way in this field, while most commercial and public-service broad casters have yet to find a business and technical model that works.

In the first category, Turner is “experimenting and thinking about how best to exploit it”, says Fish. “But we have doubts about the current home experience of 3D.”

In terms of procurement, it seems broadcasters are circumspect in their buying procedure, at pains to gauge opinion and information from a wide variety of sources. While 43% obtain at least two quotes for a contract, views are also sought from peers, and product or systems demos are important for more than a third.

The internet is also an important tool for comparing and contrasting prices and specifications, according to 29%. Investment decisions are largely the result of standard upgrades (47%).

However, attempts to gain a technological edge over the competition, a changing approach to workflow and systems intended to cut costs weigh in equally (40%).

Indeed, return on investment is considered the most important buying criteria by more than half of respondents but, interestingly, no one rates price alone as the key reason to purchase.

“We actively shape our buying decisions; it is not down to any procurement department,” says Fish. “Our criteria centres on functionality. If it’s bleeding edge, we build in extra time to make sure it works because it will never be the same as you envisioned or how the salesperson described it.”

PLAYOUT: HUNTING FOR A UNIVERSAL FORMAT

In the playout and managed services sector, there’s a clear trend towards integrated software systems, using off-the-shelf IT hardware for channel provision.

“We are seeing playout servers with multifunctional operation including playout in any file format, multiple graphics layers, up-down conversion and audio limiting,” says WRN Broadcast head of engineering Dave Travis.

“The nature of a particular channel will dictate whether it’s possible to move to software systems,” explains Steve Plunkett, director of technology and innovation at Red Bee.

“A movie channel, for example, with very predictable, nonlive content is easier to migrate to an IT based platform than perhaps regional opt-in/opt-out channels, which require a more traditional broadcast infrastructure.”

“Clients are less concerned about technology, so long as the solution meets their requirements,” says Jean-Louis Lods, head of projects and proposals at Chello DMC.

“We still do best-of-breed technology as appropriate, but it’s a balance of achieving what clients need at the lowest price.”

It’s difficult to put a specific deadline on the end of tape since there will be some requirements to visit a tape archive for some time to come. At Chello DMC, 70% of all content is file delivered, and it processes 9,000 components (MXF files, WAV audio files and subtitle files) digitally per month.

“Today, about 30% of digital delivered material is HD and we think by the end of the year that will be around 40%,” reports Lods. At WRN, 80% of content is file delivered - all of it HD.

“We are pushing people to go to digital file and we try to encourage that with financial incentives,” says Travis.

Like Fish, Plunkett notes that the swift move to data is throwing up a level of incompatibility when transcoding between fi le formats, which didn’t happen with the more predictable nature of tape.

“When we receive [an MXF-wrapped] file, we have a much higher degree of uncertainty that it will play on our system,” he says.

“If we receive a fi le shortly before a transmission window, we suffer signifi cantly if that fi le is not as accessible as anticipated. It is in everyone’s interests to come up with some common file format that is genuinely interoperable.”

He points to the Digital Production Partnership (DPP), a coalition driven by the UK’s broadcasters, as leading the hunt for a new universal file format.

A hire level of service

Broadcast

With the advancing technologies of file-based production, the role of kit-hire companies has developed into an all-round support package for producers. Adrian Pennington reports.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/production-feature/a-hire-level-of-service/5030046.article

Time was when you went to a kit-hire company and did just that - hired kit. Now, many producers seek a more collaborative relationship to help solve the complexities of file-based production. Hire firms, or as some prefer to be termed ‘facilities providers’, have adapted their businesses to suit.

“Technology is changing on an almost weekly basis and it is up to us to keep up to date on it,” says Olly Wiggins, company director of S+O Media, which runs training courses for producers. “That means doing a lot of homework on firmware updates and codecs, and checking user blogs for notes on how footage has been ingested. We go into jobs now as a consultation process with the producer and the post company.”

More reputable hire firms don’t just let kit walk out of the door; they also provide advice on the most suitable camera or recording device for the project, perhaps throwing in basic training and trouble-shooting aftersales support.

The wider adoption of digital acquisition and file-based workflows, accelerated with the recent shortage of HDCam tape from Japan, has led some outfits to offer a more comprehensive service to help a production through the data minefield before, during and after production.

“Hire companies will increasingly play a part in planning,” says Mark Bos, production executive at Talkback Thames. “It’s about having an open conversation and finding the people in those companies with the relevant experience so that from the moment an AP gets a camera out of its box, they understand how they are going to wrangle the data.”

Talkback Thames was among the first producers to chart file-based production and it retains a significanttechnical resource in-house, making it less reliant on hire shops. “Some producers have more experience of tapeless production than others, but those that are less resourced do get benefit from hire companies over and above kit rental,” says Duncan Martin, managing director of Pro Motion Hire, which advised on RDF’s data plan for Sky’s Monster Munchies.

“We increasingly act in an advisory role and are much more closely involved since the back-end of a project has come to the forefront,” agrees Graham Hawkins, company director of 24-7 Drama (part of Visual Impact Group), which assisted Darlow Smithson in preparing an Arri Alexa workflow for documentary The Perfect Storm.

A producer will liaise over pre-production with a post house since it will be the delivery point for materials, but hire firms’ advice on camera choice is increasingly sought, as different codecs and workflows can cause havoc in post if not fully understood.

“Instead of four camera choices, there are now up to 20 different models and all sorts of possible format recording routes, making it arguably the biggest change to impact production in recent times,” suggests Martin.

“Hire companies have to see the bigger picture. We have one eye on what the broadcaster says is a recognisable HD format, one ear on the producer’s request for a certain creative look, and keep the budget at the back of our mind. Our task is to find the most workable solution. All of that has meant we’ve had to acquire new skills.”

The first step for any fi le-based production is to devise a full test of the workfl ow, something a hire company can help implement.

“Record test footage on drives and in folders - labelled as if for the actual production - send that back to the edit suite to make sure the whole process is going to work and publish it to everyone,” advises S+O Media’s Wiggins, who assisted Zeppotron on its EX3 shoot of ITV1’s The Marriage Ref. “If you do this two weeks before shooting, there is time to fix any problems.”

Nailing workfl ow does not just affect time and cost but is essential to convince insurers the rushes are not at risk. “We are effectively the laboratory of the production. Providing data security is a primary function,” says Hawkins.

The golden rule is to back up, back up and back up again. LTO and optical disc are popular choices. Each insurer has a slightly different take on how many drives the media needs to be transferred to. Typically, three will do the trick, but some insurance companies are reportedly less prescriptive.

The job of safeguarding rushes on set is a key production management decision. Generally, the higher the budget, the more data will be processed, and the more specialised the role. For drama, where raw data is more likely to be captured from digital cinema cameras, a digital imaging technician (DIT) is almost a pre-requisite.

“Every man and his dog with a MacBook can call themselves a DIT but their function is highly specialised,” says Hawkins. “A DIT works very closely with a DoP and post-production to advise, for example, on how colorimetry works with certain lighting styles ahead of a grade, as well as maintaining data integrity.”

24-7 Drama supplied a mobile workstation for on-set playback and dailies, plus a hire technician, for Red Productions’ BBC1 drama Exile.

“A producer should understand the critical role a DIT plays in the success of a shoot by ensuring the person has a voice on set if things go wrong,” says Hawkins.

Producers of multi-camera ob-docs, where ratios can be as high as 80:1, are more likely to employ a data wrangler, but allowing time and space to work is just as important.

“When we supply a data wrangler, we make it clear they are not pushed into a corner of a room to do it,” says Wiggins. “PMs can look at the savings made by not buying X amount of tape stock, plus the smaller digitising costs, and put that money towards an experienced wrangler. Most producers have first-hand experience of something going wrong, and problems can often be prevented if the person handling the data is given time and space to do it - and if they are qualified to do it.”

On tighter budgets, there is often no room for extra data-only crew so multi-skilling comes into play. Talkback Thames, for example, trained its own data wranglers for productions including Escape To The Country, combining the role with that of location sound operator. “We needed someone to take full responsibility fi ve days a week, handling 30-40 hours of footage per episode,” says Talkback Thames’ Bos. “That couldn’t be left to a PD or AP. In case someone falls ill, we also trained up location assistants.”

Will the vogue for greater hire company involvement dip as more producers acquire experience of building data workfl ows? Wiggins does not think so: “Because we have been involved at the start of the process, helping select kit that has a definitive bearing on the creative brief, look and style of a project, as well as its effi ciency, we would hope customers would be happy to phone us about any aspect of the process. We’re far more than box shifters and much more a creative partner.”

CASE STUDY: FREMANTLEMEDIA AND HOTCAM

Fremantle Media regularly asks HotCam to provide consultation for its Worldwide Entertainment producers before they embark on production of a format such as Got Talent or The X Factor.

“Fremantle will fly in up to 40 people, usually producers, from places as diverse as Thailand and Canada and we will explain to them, in detail, how they can produce a highly complex formatted, multi-camera show from a technical standpoint,” explains Trevor Hotz, managing director of HotCam.

This includes everything from the camera angles and lighting that work best for auditions, to the reasons for not having an OB truck and why Britain’s Got Talent needs so many galleries.

“It’s certainly a much more formal arrangement than some of the consultations we do on other shows such as Coach Trip or Freddie Flintoff Vs The World. But in essence, providing our expertise in this way is just partof the rental service,” says Hotz. “The most important piece of advice we give is to allow budget for a media manager. You can get a runner to do it but I’d strongly advise against it. If you do, you’re putting the success of a production squarely in the hands of someone who also has a million and one other things to do.

“An experienced media manager will be worth their weight in gold. They’ll do all the housekeeping for a producer and look after the media, so footage ends up in the right place at the right time and cards are not accidentally wiped or footage transferred to the wrong format.”