Broadcast
The
shift to digital capture took several steps forward in 2012, with
Ultra-HD now on the horizon.
DIGITAL
ACQUISITION MOVES UP A GEAR
With
the HD equipment market swamped with competitively priced products, a
new wave of premium tech is the best way for manufacturers to
maintain margin.
Ultra-HD,
at four times HD resolution, is the response.
Having
started the year with just one mainstream choice – the Red
(original and Epic versions) – producers can now future-proof
productions in 4K with JVC’s handheld GY-HMQ10, Canon’s EOS C500
and the F5 and F55 from Sony (launching in January), while the full
8K power of Sony’s cine camera F65 is to be unleashed in
forthcoming upgrades.
For-A
debuted a 4K variable-rate camera and even minicam-maker GoPro
unveiled a 4K version of its Hero3.
Professional
4K displays are almost non-existent, with monitoring in post confined
to expensive Barco projectors.
For
high-end TV work, though, Arri still dominates.
This
year, it added the Alexa Plus 4:3, aimed at anamorphic (widescreen)
photography, to its roster.
Arguably
the biggest splash came from video processing specialist Blackmagic
Design.
Its
Digital Cinema Camera made waves at NAB 2012 with a sleek,
Apple-inspired design, LCD touch-screen control and 2.5K resolution,
with a pricetag of just £2,000. However, with shipments delayed it
remains to be seen how users will take to it in practice.
CLOUD
BEGINS TO BREAK
Hosting
all or part of a production in the cloud is inevitable, but it is not
going to happen overnight.
“The
workflow has to be bulletproof,” says Dana Ruzicka, vice president
of segment and product marketing at Avid. “Broadcasters see the
cost benefit, but are cautious because of reliability and security
concerns.”
Avid
got its cloud platform, Interplay Sphere, out of the door in
September, as did Adobe, with collaborative post using Adobe
Anywhere.
Aframe
launched its cloud production service in the US this year and says
two US networks are testing it to ease the pressures on their
fast-turnaround edits.
Quantel’s
QTube is being evaluated by ESPN, while Forbidden Technologies’
browser-based editor FORscene was used by NBC staff in New York to
cut 3,500 hours of London 2012 content, uploaded to the cloud and
outputted to its NBC Olympics TouTube channel.
LIVE
HD ON THE MOVE
The
number of systems enabling live HD signals to be sent over mobile
networks exploded in 2012.
Most
combine 3G and 4G, Wi-Fi, ethernet and satellite links to achieve
maximum bandwidth, and the main application is news gathering, where
it can offer a more fleet-of-foot and cheaper alternative to
satellite vans.
LiveU
is the market leader and Telegraph Media Group is its latest client,
with reporters equipped with camcorders and backpacks housing the
LU70 receiver/transmitter.
Dutch
developer Mobile Viewpoint’s technology was used to support the
BBC’s coverage of the Olympic torch relay.
Off
the back of that, it devised a product that combines an extendable
antenna with off-the-shelf USB modems.
REMOTE
PRODUCTION SPEEDS AHEAD
Advances
in low-latency transport of video over IP are making cost-effective
remote live production feasible.
The
BBC sent 24 streams of Olympics coverage over fibre up to Salford for
online packaging, and Sky Sports assigned NEP Visions to help it send
Sky Sports News’ coverage of the Games back to Osterley from a
five-camera flypack at a temporary studio overlooking the Olympic
Park.
Scandinavian
transport specialists T-VIPs and Nevion, whose merger will be
ratified next month, hope to dominate the market.
“We’re
involved in multiple projects where service providers are moving into
the live broadcast space and rolling out a point of presence at many
sports stadia,” says Geir Bryn-Jensen, chief executive of the
merged entity.
Sky
director of broadcast operations Darren Long is exploring remote
production of graphics or logging for F1.
“Whether
a truck is in the TV compound or 100 miles away doesn’t matter so
long as the intercoms work and quality is maintained. But if you
remove too much, it may work against you,” he says.
“I
see the technology growing with advances in network reliability, but
I wouldn’t want our directors to lose that sense of being there.”
UK
SETS THE STANDARD FOR FILE-BASED DELIVERY
The
UK is way ahead of the rest of Europe in terms of file-based
programme delivery thanks to the cross-broadcaster Digital Production
Partnership (DPP).
In
January, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, together with Sky, Channel 5,
S4C and UKTV, agreed the UK’s first common format, structure and
wrapper to enable TV programme delivery by digital file.
Emmerdale
became the first major production to adopt the AS-11 standard in
October, while Sunset + Vine’s America’s Cup programming for C4
was the first to use its metadata application.
With
technical guidelines based on MPEG4 for live production on release,
tests will build throughout 2013, including on Coronation Street and
Deal Or No Deal, ahead of near universal delivery in 2014.
Envy
is among the facilities piloting with broadcasters. “We are
assessing various systems to enable us to achieve AS-11 delivery,
including automated QC/FPA analysis and metadata insertion for final
delivery,” says senior engineer Adam Davies.
ON
YOUR MARKS, GET 4K-READY
Even
if 4K services are several years down the track, content including
documentaries is being commissioned at 4K (by Sky 3D and 3Net) for
the enhanced resolution required for 3D TV and Imax distribution.
Sony
is releasing a new XAVC codec designed to go beyond HD, 4K video
cards from Blackmagic and AJA are coming on stream, and 4K finishing
tools from Nucoda and FilmLight are in the works to compete with the
Mistika and Quantel systems already in use.
Ultra-HD
will likely be a big feature of the trend-setting Consumer
Electronics Show in January, where Samsung and Sony are among those
showcasing 4K screens.
The
next step in broadcast transmission quality from HD 720p/1080i was
supposed to be 1080p at 50/60 frames a second. But with the final
draft of the High Efficiency Video Codec to be ratified in February,
new encoding technologies should make 4K satellite delivery to the
home commercially viable.
STRIKING
UP THE KA-BAND
The
reliability of live cellular transmission is only going to increase
with the rollout of 4G networks in 2013, potentially undermining
traditional SNG, which uses vehicles or BGAN terminals.
While
providers like SIS Live say they may add backpacks to supplement SNG
coverage, they are also investing in Ka-band, a satellite frequency
that requires smaller antenna for greater bandwidth – and at lower
cost.
Eutelsat,
Avanti and ViaSat have launched satellites targeted at Ka-band in
specific regions, while Inmarsat is behind a $1.2bn (£750m) global
launch planned for 2013.
New
operators could emerge to take advantage of lower entry costs, but
SIS Live opened the country’s first Ka-band teleport at Salford in
July in a bid to stay one step ahead.
3D
WAITS IN THE WINGS
The
biggest development in 3D is still a work in progress.
While
production may get a boost with the Titan 3D, a lightweight twin-lens
camera debuted by Meduza Systems in October, the industry is looking
for glasses-free displays to give renewed impetus to 3D TV.
Leading
the pack is the encoding and viewing technology from Dolby and
Philips, which is likely to be commercially available at the end of
2013.
“Broadcasters
will need to be convinced of cases that support the need for a 4K
service to the home,” says Dolby director of broadcast imaging
Roland Vlaicu.
“One
such could be higher-resolution 3D using passive glasses [full HD to
both eyes] or autostereoscopic 3D.”
One
of the emerging technologies behind some auto-stereoscopic displays
is light field, which Envy senior engineer Adam Davies believes has
“the potential to revolutionise motion and 3D capture”.
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