Arena + Visions invest but hold fire on 4K

TVB Europe

SIS Live is putting its fleet of 14 OB HD trucks up for sale, but some potential buyers with planned multi-million pound investments have declared that they won't bid for them.

http://legacy.tvbeurope.com/main-content/full/arena-visions-invest-but-hold-fire-on-4k/gc05#.VLrUAaDpBG4

16K put through The Mill as it reimagines post

TVB Europe

Leading London post production facility The Mill is intent on resetting the bar on client-artist experience with a tapeless infrastructure capable of handling ingest, DI and master of resolution at 4K and above. In recent weeks The Mill has also completed a project at 16K resolution, although details about this have been kept under wraps.
http://www.tvbeurope.com/16k-put-through-the-mill-as-it-reimagines-post-2/

News gathering goes mobile and wearable

IBC Within minutes of Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash landing at San Francisco airport last July,  some of the 168 survivors were Tweeting commentary. They included Samsung EVP, and IBC2013 keynote, David Eun whose eye-witness testimony trended online instantly and was picked up by news outlets worldwide. http://www.ibc.org/page.cfm/action=library/libID=2/libEntryID=224/listID=4

News gathering goes mobile and wearable

IBC

http://www.ibc.org/page.cfm/action=library/libID=2/libEntryID=224/listID=4

Within minutes of Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash landing at San Francisco airport last July,  some of the 168 survivors were Tweeting commentary. They included Samsung EVP, and IBC2013 keynote, David Eun whose eye-witness testimony trended online instantly and was picked up by news outlets worldwide. Imagine then, the news value if another passenger or passengers involved in a similar incident today could stream live pictures to websites while onboard?

The scenario is one of many that is intriguing news organisations as the era of wearable computing dawns. Smart watches and voice-activated augmented eyewear loaded with HD cameras, microphones, displays and always-on WiFi, promise to make content creation and dissemination as easy as saying 'record a video.'

Broadcasters are already some way down this route. Journalists can uplink live pictures or store and forward video from camcorders via portable transmission units over the cell phone network, bypassing more expensive and cumbersome satellite systems.

This kit is already standard issue among news organisations including Sky News, AP and Al Jazeera. In a breaking situation where a satellite truck is blocked, crews are able to transmit from heart of the action.

The reach can be extended further using cameras mounted on remote controlled mini-copters. The technology, which has limits of range, as well as privacy and safety concerns, is  being trialled for operation in Europe and could provide a unique aerial view of events.

Online news producer for Vice Media, Tim Pool, has used a drone controlled from his iPhone. “I often see traditional news organisations with lots of heavy satellite equipment and trucks with satellite dishes and the technology is really expensive and it’s hard for them to get to the places I can get to,” he told IBC2013 Conference panel 'Not the nine o’clock news'.

Pool explained how he had used a Galaxy smart phone to live stream to 7,500 viewers from a Trayvon Martin protest. He noted that journalists need to be more security-aware with new technologies. “A smart phone is like carrying a tracking device,” he said. “Journalists must beware of protecting themselves and their sources.”

Smart phones are fast becoming the swiss army knives of on-the-go production. All the leading bonded wireless uplink suppliers offer phone apps which boost encoding quality,  and link vision fast and direct to the relevant news desk.

By attaching inexpensive professional-quality camera lenses, iPhone users can turn their device into a pseudo-DLSR. Other types of lens can be attached to enable 180-degree or 360-degree panoramas. These can then be unwrapped by special software and translated back into a flat image navigable by tablet users. There is also software which automatically synchronizes footage of an event from multiple cameras culled from social media, and turns it into a single interactive video.

Perhaps the technology with the most potential to upend the traditional means of newsgathering are net-connected spectacles. Due for commercial release next spring, Google Glass wearers will be able to view news feeds from EuroNews, CNN, The New York Times, Reuters and ABC News.

CNN has gone a step further and launched its citizen journalist service iReport to the Google Glass user base (some 10,000 just now) offering Glass-wearers the chance to shoot video and upload it to iReport where a CNN editor will take a judgement on whether it supports the day's news agenda.

While news organisations look to harvest an exponential increase in the amount of video perspectives captured and aired almost instantaneously, they are wary of the minefield in verifying accuracy. In the aftermath of a plane crash into the Mekong river last month video of a plane appeared on Laos TV and on several international news wires. Associated Press, though, vetted the image and found it to be of a plane that had crashed in 2012.

The crucial next step is to verify that live video streams are what they purport to be. Using a Google+ group and an open Twitter account, Dublin-based Storyful is trying to build a crowdsourced 'open newsroom' that can help verify user-generated content in real time during events like the war in Syria.

News gathering is undergoing a revolution in content and accessibility with as-yet unexplored implications for the news agenda itself. Its a hot topic and sure to be a focus of IBC2014.

Northern Ireland: Derry

Broadcast

Indies in the city have grown in confidence under the spotlight of the UK City of Culture.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/in-depth/northern-ireland-derry/5063828.article

‘Hugo’ Stereographer Talks ‘Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet’ and Filming in 3D

Hollywood Reporter

Demetri Portelli tells THR, “3D is not just hitting a button in post. It is something discussed and planned and it is very creative."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/hugo-stereographer-talks-young-prodigious-654877

Camerimage: John Turturro Talks 'Exodus,' 'Fading Gigolo' and Why He Loves Film

Hollywood Reporter

The filmmaker is the recipient of the cinematography festival's Camerimage Special Award for an Actor-Director.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/camerimage-john-turturro-talks-exodus-657354

Super16mm: An SD delivery for HD

TVB Europe

http://www.tvbeurope.com/super16mm-an-sd-delivery-for-hd/

When the BBC and fellow broadcasters in the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) finally caved in to lobbying from Directors UK and the British Society of Cinematographers and agreed that Super 16mm film was acceptable for HD broadcast, it also stipulated that the format be classified as SD for delivery.

The answer to the conundrum lies in the revised guidelines issued by the DPP. It clearly states that S16mm must be delivered as an AS-11 UK DPP SD Shim file or on Digibeta tape – which is also standard definition.

Prior to the new ruling it was only possible to include 25% of content of any programme intended for an HD channel from a non-HD source. Now a whole programme can be originated in S16 provided it is delivered as SD.

In its statement of 23 October the BBC are careful to avoid categorising Super16 as SD quality, which was perceived as one of the main concerns of the lobby group. Paul Collard, Deluxe 142′s vice president of Film and Digital Services explained: “BBC R&D conducted a very thorough comparison of 16mm with digital sources like the ARRI Alexa and it was clear that 16mm takes up a lot of bandwidth in the transmission frame and that compressors have to work much harder on that kind of material than on static-free, noise-free digital.

“They demonstrated how S16 film with grain transmitted through the HD transmission chain could go to air with artefacts and that was the issue we had to address.

“The tests proved conclusively that the TX chain can cope if an SD version is ingested, rather than an HD version, because in the SD version much of the grain has been stripped away.

“Quite simply, if you take in 16mm content as SD you create the best looking picture in the home since the transmission channel manages that better than as an HD source.”

The guidelines state: “Excessive grain can create distracting artefacts where high compression rates are used, significantly reducing the image quality delivered to the audience. S16mm film should be de-grained, to prevent a loss of resolution, de-graining must be used sparingly. To keep de-graining to a minimum, film speeds that meet production requirements should be used with adequate lighting so there is no need to push the film during processing.

Producers wishing to originate in 16mm are still asked to scan and post produce in HD or 2K but to deliver an SD master.

“We specifically asked whether it was possible to take in an HD master and down-rez at the broadcaster’s end, but it was found that that also consumes too much bandwidth on the SD chain,” Collard added.

He points to long-running ITV drama Doc Martin (post produced at Deluxe) as a prime example of a Super 16mm production that has gone exactly this route. The BBC primetime production Merlin, from Shine, was also shot on Super 16mm.

The new standard resulted from a review by the BBC of its delivery requirements following the closure of the BBC HD channel, the launch of BBC One and Two HD and consultation with industry stakeholders.

It follows a campaign led by Directors UK and supported by Kodak, Deluxe, Panavision, i-Dailies, Cinelab and the BSC to gain choice for filmmakers in their creative format. Previously, the BBC in particular had been adamant that Super 16mm was not of high enough quality for its HD channels.

Some observers believe that this stance was entirely about cost cutting and that outlawing S16mm was solely intended to help drive down budgets. Strong counter arguments suggest that while film is more expensive in terms of stock, its workflow is more streamlined and producers are naturally more disciplined when shooting.

Working with high volume of high-resolution digital files, it is contended, can incur significant costs in post production, which result in very little budget discrepancy between the formats.

So will producers now be inclined to greenlight more 16mm dramas if a director and DP desire it?

“We’ve probably missed the boat,” admits Collard. “The infrastructure for processing has been significantly dismantled [though West London i-Dailies and CineLabs International have the capacity and the capability]. A few creatives and productions might come out and want to use S16mm, but it’s hard to call.”

By Adrian Pennington

Full Steam Ahead for Haivision's SRT-Optimized HEVC

Streaming Media

The first commercial implementations of Haivision's HEVC encoding allied with the company's Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) protocol, are due in the new year.

http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/News/Online-Video-News/Full-Steam-Ahead-for-Haivisions-SRT-Optimized-HEVC-93274.aspx

HEVC was perhaps the hottest topic at this year's IBC show in September, but while most demos sought to showcase 4K HEVC in a controlled environment, Haivision took a different tack. The company showed off its HEVC encoding delivered via Haivision's proprietary Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) protocol—sent over the public internet from a hotel close to the conference venue.

SRT, in beta at Haivision's engineering lab HaiGear, is a transport technology that addresses the challenges associated with reliable transport of content across the unpredictable open internet and provides error correction, AES encryption, and security. It's based on an aggregation of technology used in the company's LAN-based Furnace IP video-distribution system and its KulaByte live streaming encoder/transcoder, according to Haivision chief marketing officer Peter Maag.

“The concept behind it is to incorporate network health and network characteristics to dynamically adjust the end point and deliver the optimum video quality over unpredictable networks,” says Maag. “Now that we've created that technology as a model to use in our ecosystem, we'll be bringing it to market.”

In the initial implementation, Havision’s encoders will feature SRT technology to allow for transport of high-quality, low-latency video across internet connections. The first solutions to include it will be the Makito X series of hardware H.264 video encoders and decoders designed for point to point low latency transmission, and KulaByte.

“Broadcast companies have been performing forward error correction for years, but what we are talking about is really taking ownership of the media stream end to end, from the encoder to the decoder/player device, and then tuning the workflow to eliminate any abberations in the final package," Maag says. “This end-to-end workflow is incredibly unique on the market and Haivision as a technology provider is in a unique position to bring this forward.

“HEVC squeezes the most from the network—greater bandwidth efficiencies and video quality—while SRT tames the transport of that content,” says Maag. “Combined, these new technologies present a quantum improvement for video transport. Furthermore, SRT will provide a critical framework for all internet transmissions in Haivision’s end-to-end ecosystem of video solutions. As HEVC is expected to provide higher image quality over constricted networks, SRT can enhance this application by optimizing stream performance over all network types.”

HaiGear has been active with the standard and has demonstrated live baseband HD HEVC/H.265 encoding and live IP-to-IP HD HEVC/H.264 transcoding. For video backhaul challenges, combining HEVC encoding and transcoding is essential to maximize video quality and to assure stream ubiquity.

HaiGear's demonstration of the technology combination at the IBC show in September involved a live recording from an Amsterdam hotel room transmitted direct to the Haivision booth not only over the hotel intranet but  also over the IBC's highly conjested exhibition floor network. The latency of the 720p video was about 200 milliseconds.

“That really showed the power of the technology in an end-to-end workflow and was an amazing showcase for HEVC encoding,” says Marc Cymontkowski, manager of core technology at Haivision. “We coupled HEVC with SRT to transport video over a dirty public network. That presented massive challenges because typically over such a network you would lose packets and encounter severe latency, so you've got to work around it. We have implemented all that into the SRT protocol, adding security and the ability to feedback to the decoder for adjustments. It's really quite a revolutionary demonstration.

“Most attention has been paid to the power of HEVC to decode 4K, but since we focus a lot on enterprise video we understand that people across corporate, education, government or military organisations value the ability to  squeeze the most of out of contribution links," says Cymontkowski. "HEVC offers the market an incremental quality for a given bandwidth which they can now maximise with application of SRT.

“It's likely we'll see SRT come out as a higher performance source encoder as well as enabling point-to-point connections.”

Elemental: “Realtime 4K/HEVC a technical reality”

TVB Europe

Late last month Japanese telco K-Opticom used high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) to stream the eight hour Osaka Marathon in 4K, laying claim to be a world first 4K transmission in realtime.

http://legacy.tvbeurope.com/main-content/full/elemental-realtime-4k-hevc-a-technical-reality/ga77#.VLrbrqDpBG4

BBC Readying to Air 'Doctor Who’s' 50th Anniversary 3D Episode

The Hollywood Reporter

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/bbc-readying-air-doctor-who-654873

Earlier this year, BBC shelved plans to produce additional 3D programming, but this didn’t affect the broadcaster’s risky decision to create and broadcast the upcoming 50th anniversary episode of its long-running sci-fi hit Doctor Who in the format.

Although science fiction seems to be a natural genre for 3D, the BBC had been reluctant to upset the tight shooting schedules or audience expectations of one of its best-selling franchises.“I hope that in watching this the TV drama industry will go away and evaluate how best to proceed with 3D,” series producer Marcus Wilsonsaid. “I was one of 3D's skeptics. Now I am a convert. … Stereo adds another layer of richness to the show.”

STORY: 'Doctor Who's' Matt Smith to Star in 'American Psycho' Musical 

It is also not planning to reverse its decision to end a two-year trial into 3D TV production, which has seen it experiment with Strictly Come Dancing live in 3D and produce one-off original 3D drama Mr Stink. The final program in the trial, a 50-minute natural history show about microscopic creatures called Hidden Kingdom, airs next year.

“The BBC has done a lot in that [trial] period, and it is responsible of the BBC to check the format out rather than just launch with open ended commitment,” said Wilson. “I don't think we are quite at a stage in terms of budget or in ease of workflow where a 2D and 3D series production would work, but creatively 3D does add to the story. When the time is right we'll attack 3D again.”

The 75-minute Doctor Who special was shot on paired Arri Alexa Ms in keeping with the look of the rest of the series, which was shot on Alexas.

“If Arri had not introduced the Alexa M we would not have been able to make this [3D episode],” explained Wilson. “Shooting with a pair of full-bodied Alexa cameras would have made the rigs so much more immobile, but the lighter Alexa M's allowed us to shoot almost as usual.”

Lead VFX house on the project's 1700-plus shots was Milk, formed by the team who had previously worked at Mill TV on the VFX for seven seasons of Doctor Who. (Mill TV, which was a TV VFX unit of London’s The Mill, was closed in April.)

Stereo post supervisor on the Dr Who 3D episode, David Wigram said: “We had some growing pains because the show was so established. In part this was because the previous [2D] episode was being finished at the same time as the 3D and next [2D] episode was being prepared, so having to juggle between conventional and 3D camera systems and post processes was a minor headache.”

Added stereographer and lead stereo supervisor Adam Sculthorp: “When it came to design we wanted the show to feel exactly the same as its accustomed visual style, but we went bold with the 3D without it becoming, in any way, a gimmick.”

Partly to prevent story leaks but also to capitalize on the show's international fanbase, The Day of the Doctor will be simulcast on November 23 on the BBC in the U.K. in 3D and 2D, on BBC America in the U.S, on Canada's Space channel, in Australia and in select U.K. cinemas in 3D.

The technology Choices Facing The Cinema Industry

IBC

http://www.ibc.org/page.cfm/action=library/libID=2/libEntryID=225/listID=4

“The industry's biggest fear is that technology in the home is rising faster than the tech in the cinema,” warned Howard Lukk, Vice President, Production Technology at Walt Disney Studios. “So how do we make the cinema experience the premium experience?”

Lukk was speaking at IBC2013's state of the nation digital cinema summit in a session exploring the future of cinema featuring stakeholders from Hollywood studios, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, exhibitors and SMPTE.

There is an air of inevitability about the introduction of Ultra HD TV. Even the iPad 4, Playstation 4 and the new Xbox console support 4K and further out plans are fomenting in Japan to air the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at sixteen times HD resolution.

“Bluntly, we are in an arms race with other leisure experiences,” said Phil Clapp, President of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC). “The cinema industry must be like a shark: moving forward, otherwise it won't survive. We need to keep cinema at the cutting edge.”

A number of technology options are being discussed to upgrade the visual bar. These include higher spatial resolution, larger colour space, extended dynamic range, improved temporal resolution, improved compression and laser projection. Which, if any or all, of these will audiences notice, or which can exhibitors market as a gold standard?

Resolution alone is not sufficient, according to the IBC panel because of limitations in the human visual system. “The cost of the resolution (to implement from capture to screen) probably exceeds the value to the viewer, especially if you are sitting way back from the screen,” argued David Monk, CEO, European Digital Cinema Forum. “The same is true for cinema or TV. Going beyond 4K in an auditorium environment is a total waste of money.”

“To see the difference between HD and Ultra HD you have to be standing quite close to the screen,” agreed Wendy Aylsworth, SVP technology at Warner Bros. Technical Operations - and president of SMPTE. She believes greater dynamic range and broader colour range are of greater visual benefit.

High frame rates (HFR) are believed to smooth motion blur and provide a more intensely realistic image. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey introduced HFR to mainstream audiences but audience responses were mixed.

“The industry as a whole failed in the way it marketed HFR to consumers,” declared Clapp. “Where HFR was locally marketed not only did it drive audience numbers but exhibitors were able to charge a premium for it.”

Upping the light levels is another incremental advantage with proponents claiming that laser illumination will lift stereoscopic films from their current gloom. Laser projectors are only just hitting the market and are currently too expensive to excite more than a handful of premium theatre owners.

“Exhibitors have spent money on new digital projectors and are now being told that they have to upgrade again, or worse, that they need a whole new system,” said Clapp. “That is a difficult sell in this economic climate.”

SMPTE and the studios are inclined toward moving forward on all characteristics hand in hand but it's a slow process. Any change needs a revision of the Digital Cinema Package.

Exhibitors might eye alternative content as a means to increase revenue and make better use of existing theatre infrastructure. Estimated at $300m worldwide today, 'event cinema', is predicted to achieve $1bn by 2020 [IHS Screen Digest] with the November 23 simulcast of Dr Who's 3D 75-minute 50^th anniversary episode in UK cinemas with a broadcast on BBC one and networks worldwide, one example.

Another avenue of alternate uses of theatre space is to actively encourage audiences to interact with movies on the big screen with their smartphones and iPads.

“We've had some successful trials of second screening but it only works for repeat customers of a movie they have already seen,” revealed Lukk. “It won't work on new features because it's a big distraction to other customers. I wouldn't even consider it a theatrical experience. People love it, but they don't come with a cinematic expectation.”

He pointed out that for second screening to take-off, the “woefully inadequate” theatre infrastructure has to be upgraded: “Imagine the WiFi you need for 200 iPads.”

Anathema as the idea may be to a filmmaker's traditional understanding of cinema, Clapp urged an open-minded approach.

“We have to think about product placement with databases of on-screen action linked to iPads. It's about taking metadata out of the projector and creating a new participatory experience. There are some opportunities to make second screen interaction a deliberate part of cinema going.”

Ironically the single technology that may make the biggest difference just now to the perception of the picture, is better sound. IBC2013's session on Immersive Audio aired this debate too.

There are several competing next generation sound systems most notably Barco's Auro 11.1 which is backed by DTS Multi Dimensional Audio, and the Atmos system from Dolby. Theatre owners and studios have asked for a common file format for immersive sound in DCPs in order to protect their investments in new sound systems but with a potential goldmine for the audio system that can monopolise the future of cinema sound, this is one battle which has barely begun.

TV Everywhere billing and customer care challenges

Digital TV Europe

TV Everywhere presents challenges for billing and customer care systems that were only ever designed to serve single premises hardware or define customers as a building with a street address,

http://www.digitaltveurope.net/120921/tv-everywhere-billing-and-customer-care-challenges/

Kaltura Releases MediaGo, a Netflix-Like Experience for Any Site

StreamingMedia

Calling it the killer app for media, Kaltura says MediaGo is an out-of-the-box solution with flexible sales models.

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Kaltura-Releases-MediaGo-a-Netflix-Like-Experience-for-Any-Site-93127.aspx


Kaltura has released MediaGo, the company’s self-proclaimed "world's first Netflix-style out-of-the-box OTT video portal."
Already deployed by two major media brands, the white-label product is also targeted at retailers and service providers that wish to distribute, publish, and monetize content via subscriptions and/or advertising on any device.
Explaining the market need, Kaltura president and co-founder Michal Tsur used the airline sector as analogy. “In the early days of online, consumers went to online aggregators of airline companies to buy tickets because players like Expedia had established their own infrastructure,” she said. “Now consumers are more likely to go direct to the website of an airline company where typically they get the best deal and the best customer experience.”
In the same way, Tsur finds that the media industry has matured. “Certain players, especially those that don't have lot of infrastructure of their own, are looking for easy-to-deploy out-of-the-box solutions.”
One of these, she says, is Turkish media conglomerate Dogus, which has deployed Kaltura’s open source platform for its TVYO multi-screen online video service.
“The biggest cost for media brands in establishing a direct-to-consumer pay-per-view or hybrid pay-per-view/advertising offer is content marketing and licensing,” says Tsur. “MediaGo helps facilitate an on-the-go experience for groups such as kids and younger viewers who are constantly connected to devices.”
Kaltura has been strong in enterprise and education sectors where its suite is often branded as "corporate tube" or "YouTube for the enterprise."
“In media we didn't yet find the killer app,” Tsur says. “Most video platform providers are selling media management solutions to media companies alongside APIs to integrate into their existing portals, but not a killer app.”
Could its "Netflix out-of-the-box" be the missing piece? Restrained from revealing the names of the first signatures until 10 to 14 days time, Tsur says there are two first adopters of the product, one of which is a global media brand focused on younger viewers and the other a more niche media offering.
For the payment gateway and subscriber management, Kaltura is partnering with Evergent although Tsur says Kaltura is agnostic and will integrate with a client's preferred e-commerce system.
Other features of MediaGo include content discovery, the ability to browse and search within genre and rule-based playlists and editors picks, and social tools such as comments, user ratings, and social network integration. The multi-device player can be personalized with features like resume playback, watch queue, and content preferences and recommendations.
MediaGo offers media preparation and operation from ingestion and transcoding to delivery; a video CMS that includes metadata, playlists, account settings, and analytics; and a CRM (customer relationship management) portal.
“It's important for us to have an out-of-box product because it offers flexibility to the client,” says Tsur. “Depending on their content, they will want to adopt different sales models.”
Retailers are in a strong position, she says, to capitalize on demand for online video. “They know how to sell and package stuff in general, and video is another opportunity for them. What they are missing is a mechanism for delivering the video, as it requires infrastructure that makes paid OTT delivery simple and seamless.
“Our observation is that where consumers subscribe to premium content delivery service aggregators like Netflix, they will be reluctant to subscribe to many additional rival aggregators or content malls.
“What they will subscribe to, however, are certain distinct offerings offered by specific media brands that focus on a certain demographic. These may include two to three sports sites, children's content sites, and sites offering educational 'electronic nanny' content, as well as a couple of additional specialist content offerings appealing to different family members. Retail aggregators need to have a flexible model for providing that content, so that they can compete for consumers’ e-pocket.”
Kaltura will charge a fee for MediaGo dependent on the number of subscribers and number of credit card transactions.
Tsur anticipates that within a year MediaGo will have signed “a few dozen” media brands and two to three tier one service providers. It has deals with large retailers in the works, she said.
The company continues to invest heavily in Europe and counts the BFI, Ikea, Standard Chartered, Nestle, Ericsson, SAP,?Danone, Manchester United, Manchester Met University,?the Danish Library, and Turkcell among new customers.
It is also looking to grow the Kaltura community with a new series of executive video forums. Two forums a quarter will be scheduled starting January, hosted in London, with the first themed around how media companies can create a social experience with online video. Last month's Kaltura Connect conference in NYC attracted 700 delegates.