VR and UHD plus IP drive change

Broadcast 

The outside broadcast industry is adapting to the new world of 4K capture and IP workflows

p16 https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/digital-editions/8-december-2017/5124800.article

At the beginning of the year, virtual reality looked as if it would become part of the arsenal of sports production. BT Sport was particularly keen, mooting plans to stream regular EPL matches in 360-degrees during the 2017-18 season. In June it delivered the most impressive live VR production yet when its covered the Uefa Champions League final from Cardiff in 4K VR using 12 rigs.

The presentation included bespoke graphics, dedicated commentary and special VR mobile unit. By all accounts, though, the effort was extremely complex and may be one reason that BT has not followed it with any event since.

Another reason was the shock withdrawal from the market of the VR camera and stitching system used by the broadcaster. Nokia ending all development on the tech in October having dropped its price several times in previous months

The Ozo was adopted by Uefa’s production partner Deltatre for a test capture of Euro 2016 soccer games and was considered a professional solution. Unfortunately, the VR market has not taken off in the way many may have hoped. CCS Insight forecasts global sales of just 14 million VR headsets this year, rising to 25 million in 2018.

Sky continued to dabble in trials of largely short-form recorded content including in partnership with boxer Anthony Joshua. Bitten by the failure of stereoscopic 3D, Sky is perhaps wise to commit commercially until the anti-social user experience of wearing cabled head-encasing displays is solved.

Timeline TV managing director Daniel McDonnell’s remarks that “VR needs quite a lot of kit separate from the main broadcast and is a cost overhead,” recall those once applied to 3D. “As the technology develops it will be easier to fit into a single OB.”

Live VR will return. Hamish Greig, CTV’s technical director reckons, “VR streams will probably supplement traditional coverage as a unique value add.”

Discovery has earmarked VR for Olympics coverage in 2020 and before that, North One and Aurora Media - the new host broadcasters of motorsport’s Formula E (in which Discovery has a minority stake) - plot AR and VR innovation.

“The Chinese walls between TV and video games are crumbling,” Aurora MD Lawrence Duffy told Broadcast. “Anything we do has to work well and tell the story of the race, but if we are able to do it, then why wouldn’t we?”

In April, Timeline TV put UHD2 on the road as the world’s first truck with a fully uncompressed IP workflow adhering to the latest SMPTE IP transport protocol 2110.

“There is no SDI video in it all,” explains McDonnell. “Because it is 2110 compliant, video and audio are treated separately which means we can move the signals around without needing to keep them all together. The benefit of that is that we can do huge volumes in 4K now.”

UHD2 launched with capacity to operate 32 cameras and 14 servers in 4K but this represents only half of what the truck is capable. “We could add multiple vision mixers, more cameras, or a second gallery without any issues,” he says. “The truck includes two vision mixers in order to run entirely separate workflows for HDR and SDR.”

While Timeline’s main client for 4K is BT Sport, the truck has been busy producing HD work such as the World Championships Marathon live from central London in August for FilmNova and BBC1.

“The costs of a 4K OB are narrowing,” says McDonnell. “It’s still more expensive because you have more expensive kit like cameras and lenses but it’s not a significant amount more.”

OB firms were upping their 4K firepower throughout the year. CTV upgraded three of its triple expanders to UHD by investing in Sony HDC 4300s, Canon UHD lenses and SAM Kahuna mixers to simultaneously provide 4K, 1080P and 1080i streams.

“Until early 2016, 4K was mostly restricted to film type cameras to capture shallow progressive depth of field images which was impractical for sports coverage,” explains Greig. “The recent ability to use TV cameras in 4K sport production makes a completely practical workflow for acquisition.” CTV’s UHD coverage of England Test matches against South Africa for Sky Sports this summer, a case in point.

CTV plans to adapt its remaining HD OBs to meet the demands of the market “whether that be SDI Quad 4K, 4K over IP or even HD HDR for remote or simplified productions.”

Sky Sports, which become F1’s exclusive broadcaster from 2019 aired all of this season’s race calendar in UHD. Next summer’s FIFA World Cup from Russia will provide the largest all UHD live broadcast to date when all 64 matches are acquired in the format.

As the industry get to grips with IP, a fundamental shift in outside broadcasting is emerging. “We are moving toward a decentralised approach with different production elements being contributed from diverse geographical locations,” explains Daf Rees, deputy director operations Arena Television. “This can only be achieved where suitable guaranteed bandwidth of appropriate latency exists but this capacity is improving year on year.”

Gearhouse Broadcast’s deal to distribute the remote IP transport technology of Aperi and Gearhouse parent Gravity Media Group’s multimillion pound swoop for Input Media in June were part of this pattern.

“The proliferation of IP-based hardware is changing sports production by allowing us to do more on a remote basis,” GMG chief executive John Newton told Broadcast. “However, it won’t change overnight and remote production is not right in all cases.

The mammoth OB trucks run by all the leading suppliers will travel to premium sports events for some time, not least because squeezing 4K UHD over IP contribution links is currently unreliable and expensive.

“What you save on not sending crew to a venue you spend on connectivity,” added Newton.

The BBC’s plan to cover an additional 1000 hours of sport per year, however, is predicated on the cost efficiencies of IP and remote production. It will stream live coverage of niche sports like the British Basketball League, hockey and women’s football Super League fixtures online using a slimline production which in some cases will be a single camera controlled remotely via web browser.

“We are at the point of transition from a place where IP production is contributed back to base and passed through a relatively traditional gallery with comms and graphics and switching towards a scenario where all of that takes place in the cloud,” explains Tim Sargeant, head of production system and services BBC North and Nations.

The BBC aims to move all its live event production, including Autumnwatch and Glastonbury, onto software and into the cloud for distribution on iPlayer.

Discovery Communications’ plundering of pan-European Olympic rights in 2015 has been accompanied ever since by noises from the company about its plans to shake-up sports broadcasting.

The first test of this will be evident in February when its sports division Eurosport delivers “the first fully digital Olympics for Europe.”

More than 4,000 hours of coverage including 900 hours of live action will be available on-demand with a promise of record breaking viewing figures.

Social media is a significant new approach to previous Olympics coverage. Discovery’s partnership with Snap will see user-generated and behind-the-scenes content from South Korea published to Snapchat users.

Augmented reality will also be deployed by overlaying graphics on top of live feeds in realtime. Sensors fitted to athletes are also being trialled to measure biometric data such as heart rate and glucose levels.

Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton told Broadcast, “The Olympics helps change people’s perceptions of what Eurosport is now – our challenge is to live up to that promise and not only show big events but show them properly.”

The company is so important that NEP UK, part of the world’s largest OB group, recruited Keith Lane from Sky Sports to be its dedicated client liaison executive.

The engine of Discovery’s plans is technology provided by BAMTech, the U.S. streaming specialist with which Discovery partnered at end of 2016 and which Disney took full control of in September. Disney plans to launch an ESPN-branded on-demand service powered by BAMTech in 2018.

The technology has not proceeded without hitch. Live streams of Bundesliga games in September suffered from delays forcing Eurosport to refund subscribers. Live stream hiccups like this are far from unique and mean that broadcast delivery remains the gold standard.

Are drones spying on us?

RedShark News 

Drones are all about surveillance right? That’s why they’re so cool. For hobbyists and filmmakers alike, drones record images we never could before. Provided they are flown responsibly – generally understood to be not close to people and airports – users should not encounter any public backlash.

https://www.redsharknews.com/technology/item/5106-are-drones-spying-on-us

Ever since commercial drones began to take off, however, their use has been accompanied by concerns about invasion of privacy.

Matters are coming to a head because the rapid expansion in the global drones market promises a very different relationship between society and its use of the sky.

A report by Business Insider in August this year expects global sales of drones to surpass $12 billion in 2021 including 29 million sales of consumer drones.

What’s more, drones are being fitted with increasing battery of sensors from GPS to infrared scanners. Those on the ground, may of course, not be able to tell what on-board features a drone buzzing above them includes, meaning that a perception of being spied on can potentially persist regardless of the drone’s data gathering capabilities.

This expansion in drone technologies brings with it a number of important risks and challenges for regulators, drone manufacturers and operators. Some risks, such as compliance with aviation laws, will be obvious but other risks and threats, including those to privacy and data protection, are equally important – but the line in law is blurred.

In the absence of definitive (more accurately, widely known) legal guidelines, people who deem themselves ‘victims’ of unwanted drone attention have taken matters into their own hands.

Citizens in New Jersey and Kentucky have shot down drones like clay pigeons, one of them claiming: “We don’t know if they’re paedophiles looking for kids, we don’t know if they’re thieves. We don’t know if it’s ISIS."

It’s not necessarily NRA hotheads either. Last year in the Channel Islands a drone was downed while being flown to photograph a house nearby at the request of the owners. The shooter later referred to the drone as the "flying Peeping Tom machine”. In a later incident near London, a man (called a ‘Furious Farmer’ by The Mirror) winged a drone flying near his estate. Video of this has been viewed 275000 times on YouTube.

There is clear common sense etiquette here. Hovering over sunbathers in their back garden or zooming into a bedroom window is voyeurism at best and potentially illegal.

From a data protection perspective, however, the collection and use of all personal data of individuals (such as images, sound or location information) by equipment on-board a drone can be subject to law.

Infringe this inadvertently and you could be slapped with a half a million-pound penalty in the UK served by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

That rises exponentially next May when a new EU General Data Protection Regulation comes into force with stricter privacy laws. Get on the wrong side of this and the fine racks up to EUR 20 million or in the case of in the case of a larger business, up to 2% or 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover.

It will only be a matter of time before someone tests this in court and a legitimate drone filmmaker gets burnt.

There are guidelines and they should be pretty familiar to any producer who has to clear image rights for use in a documentary or reality show or indeed anyone has ever been asked kindly not to take pictures of their own kids at the school dance show or church nativity.

Essentially, data captured by drones is the personal data of individuals. That means drone operators should obtain the consent of the subjects of images or video recordings and be clear and upfront about its use. In particular, they should be told who the controller of the drone is, the purpose of the processing and other information such as the type of data being captured, who it may be shared with and their rights to access and correct the data.

Such ‘privacy notices’ could take the form of letters posted to people’s homes (accompanied by the address of a website where the photos will be published), or messages on social media, according to the ICO.

Proportionate processing

That may be seem pretty clear cut but there is also the issue of proportionate processing. This, according to legal expert Sally Annereau of Taylor Wessing, means ensuring that only personal data that is adequate relevant and not excessive for the purposes are collected.

So, what happens if you are in any way unclear about how the data collected by your UAV is being used by the manufacturer of the drone or its operating system?

That’s the issue confronting drone maker D.J.I just now. It’s being taken to court by a department of the U.S government alleging that D.J.I’s commercial drones and software may be sending sensitive information about American infrastructure back to China.

This fits into two stereotypes. The first is that we are all in the web of technology giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon and have abdicated control over every aspect of our lives to computer key strokes, smartphones and global CCTV like Google StreetView.

It also speaks to the paranoia that much of this data is being siphoned off to the Chinese who, it’s feared, will turn us all into Manchurian Candidates.

As the New York Times, which reports this story points out, D.J.I. stands as a symbol of China’s growing technology prowess – and therefore something to be shot down. DJI has about a three quarter share of the entire market.

Now, if Da Jiang Innovations Science and Technology Company were an American company, or a German one, would it have received half as much suspicion and attention? Parrot, a French based firm which has seized a large part of the commercial and civil quadcopter market – the type that actually do scan crop yields and map power lines - hasn’t received any of the same reputationally damaging charges.

The current U.S case against D.J.I is only the latest in a line of accusations – all unfounded - trained against it. In April 2016 the firm felt the need to issue a statement stressing that it does not routinely share customer information or drone video with Chinese authorities — or any authorities for that matter. Its extensive privacy policy can be seen online on its website.

“Unless a customer has chosen to sync flight data via the DJI GO app or sent the aircraft back to DJI, we would have no flight data to provide,” DJI’s statement read. “The policy is the same for requests from authorities in China, in the U.S., in Europe, and anywhere else in the world. 

“When you fly a DJI drone, nobody but you can see the live video feed or the recorded video it generates — unless you decide otherwise.”

Sensible advice. Who is in control? You are.

The enduring and mysterious legacy of Max Headroom

RedShark News

He became a cult legend, infuenced one of the most bizarre incidents on telelvision, and his legacy can still be felt today. Ladies and gentlemen may we re-introduce M M Ma Max H H Head Headroom!

https://www.redsharknews.com/distribution/item/5086-the-enduring-and-mysterious-legacy-of-max-headroom

There's a scene in Blade Runner 2049 in which Deckard and K discuss the meaning of life in a dystopian Las Vegas casino featuring holographic projections of Elvis and Frank Sinatra. The retro holograms glitch and stutter into life, like scratches on vinyl, but in disturbing and sinister fashion to suggest digital meltdown, technology out of control.

It’s likely director Denis Villeneuve wasn’t aware of it but this visual concept and tonal mood was arguably established by a British TV character of the 1980s. Cult hit Max Headroom has seaped into popular culture ever since.

One of the enduring legends surrounding Headroom was a bizarre TV hacking incident in the U.S which happened thirty years ago this week and remains unresolved to this day.

Genesis

In 1985 Peter Wagg, a producer for Chrysalis Records, was approached by Channel 4 to develop a MTV-style music show. Wagg’s idea was to breakup otherwise unrelated music videos with some sort of funky graphical sequence. He turned the idea over to writer and ad agency creative George Stone who came up with the show’s name, ‘maximum headroom’ to represent filling the viewer’s head full of sound and vision. They weren’t blind though to the pun "Max. Headroom, 6.5 feet’ a sign used in multi-storey car parks across the land. Indeed, this became part of the narrative built up around the character.

Stone brought in Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, animation specialists with pop promos for Elvis Costello’s ‘Accidents Will Happen’ video and Tom Tom Club’s Genius of Love on their CV. Morton had worked on Pink Floyd animated feature The Wall and would subsequently direct video game live action adaptation Super Mario Bros.

Credited as co-creators, the trio morphed the idea into a weird computer generated presenter in a suit which Morton deliberately and cheekily thought would annoy anyone who liked MTV and which Wagg described as “like Johnny Carson meets Terry Wogan.”

At this point in development the character appears to have taken on a life of its own, with the co-creators inventing a whole back story for Max which led them to expand the initial series of thirteen short sequences into an hour long feature made for U.S cable network HBO.

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future featured the exploits of an investigative journalist working to uncover a form of subliminal and lethal advertising known as ‘blipverts’ at the mysterious Network 23. While tracking the story Carter’s head meets a parking barrier in his open-top sports car. Knocked unconscious, possibly dead, the network download his brain, reconstitute him as a computer model of himself, and puts him out on air. Max Headroom is born.

Both Carter and his digital alter-ego are played by American actor Matt Frewer in a weird transatlantic accent. Frewer had appeared in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and subsequently had parts in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Lawnmower Man 2, Watchmen (as the villain Moloch), Steven Spielberg’s The BFG and Netflix’s Carnage but Max remains his best known performance.

With computer-generated graphics still a thing of the future in the mid-eighties, the production team used prosthetics to emphasise Frewer’s already well-defined facial features, shot him head and shoulders against a neon-striped background and added the now trademark freeze-frame blips in the edit.

Shot amid bleak London landscapes, the look of the feature echoed the sci-fi paranoia of Blade Runner (1982) and Brazil (1985) and had the cyberpunk mentality of William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer.

A franchise followed including a two-season run of Max Headroom in which he interviewed celebrities like Michael Caine and Jack Lemmon in front of a studio audience, the C4 music series, an array of official merchandise and global commercials for Coca-Cola – ironically enough directed by Ridley Scott.

Synthpop act Art of Noise recorded Paranoimia with Max on vocals and a promo featuring the character which reached 12 in the UK charts in 1986.

Chrysalis by the way owned the intellectual copyright.

Other references include Back to the Future Part II (1989) in which Marty McFly walks into a retro diner and is greeted by a digital maitre d' with white hair, a gentle voice, and smooth, almost plastic skin.

At the peak of the personality’s popularity art seemed to imitate life when, on November 22, 1987, all transmissions at Chicago's WGN-TV – including of a local NFL victory - were rudely interrupted by a character appearing to be Max Headroom - in fact a crude interpretation or homage.

A second hack hours later was made on a local PBS station. Lasting just a couple of minutes, this was one of the strangest crimes in TV history - a rare broadcast signal intrusion, with no clear motive, method, or culprits.
Thirty years on, the hacker has never been found and remains a source of theory and counter theory on internet forums.

Just as quickly, Max faded away but his sarcastic wit and stuttering delivery reverberate and now appears oddly prescient.

Here is a human amnesiac whose only means of communicating is via TV. He exists in a near future is one in which television has become the sinister, global governing body. In a pre-digital TV era, he is exposed to hundreds if not thousands of simultaneous channels and his commentary on them is acerbic to say the least.

In that you can perhaps see Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe as a successor. Every YouTube star and the Google channel itself is forecast and mocked. Video as the medium of mass control is evident in everything from Bond movie The World is Not Enough to Kingsman and even Despicable Me 3 (at a stretch).

The early films of David Cronenberg, like Scanners (1981), is an obvious reference for the fusion of man, machine and media with Luc Besson’s 2014 Lucy taking this stream of consciousness the logical next step.

Indeed, Max Headroom can be read as the first artificial intelligent character on TV, as a satire on the nature of fake news and on the role TV presenters or TV personalities have on our lives.

The hack itself is a neatly subversive attempt to reveal our thrawl to the gods of TV and is charmingly analogue and anodyne when we consider the ransom demands for bitcoin by criminal gangs threatening to leak shows online today.

Of course, this could be reading too much into what was admittedly – and intentionally – an annoying low-fi stunt that bizarrely went viral.

Mad Max we s s s sal salute salute you.

HDMI 2.1 arrives and supports 10K TV – but don’t panic

RedShark News

There’s nothing like being prepared – and armed with the latest version of HDMI you can be as prepared as you will ever need to be for a future of ultra-resolution and high frame rate video. Despite all the chatter - on RedShark as much as anywhere else - about the coming tide of extreme resolution content there’s no need to junk your TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players, video streamers, sound bars, computers or HDMI cables any time soon.

https://www.redsharknews.com/technology/item/5098-hdmi-2-1-arrives-and-supports-10k-tv-%E2%80%93-but-don%E2%80%99t-panic

However, TVs and other consumer products badged as having HDMI 2.1 will begin appearing at CES in January and throughout next year so it’s worth getting the basics down.

High Definition Multimedia Interface is of course the main audio/video connection for consumer displays and carries both video and audio in one cable, with digital encryption.

The latest spec, announced last March and released this week, is a future-proofed design that supports a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates including 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to an astonishing 10K.

To shunt that increased data through, HDMI 2.1 will only work at its full potential by using a new cable which supports 48Gbps bandwidth – up from the 18Gbps in HDMI 2.0.

The new Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable will look the same as current cables and even have the same connector (so it works with all HDMI 2.0 device) but it will ensure high-bandwidth dependent features are delivered including uncompressed 8K video with HDR. 

We kind of skimmed over the 10K resolution figure – and that’s because we really are in the realms of the not likely for at least a decade territory. Its rated to that resolution for commercial AV, industrial and specialty usages according to developers the HDMI Forum, which includes consumer electronics leaders and stakeholders like Qualcomm, AMD, JVC, Google, Microsoft, Philips, Sky, Sony, Technicolor and Sharp.

Refresh rate is more interesting, as broadcasters of sports like Sky and BT Sport are keen to up the frame rate to at least 60 and ideally to 120Hz to erase the ugly blurring that blights otherwise pristine live action 4K pictures.

Additional refresh rate features in the spec are said to ensure “an added level of smooth and seamless motion and transitions for gaming, movies and video”. For gamers in particular this includes something called Variable Refresh Rate to reduce or eliminates lag, stutter and frame tearing for more fluid gameplay. Another mode reduces latency for real-time interactive virtual reality while ‘Quick Media Switching’ for movies and video eliminates the delay that can result in blank screens before content is displayed.

eARC is the next evolution of Audio Return Channel, which allows simpler connections between AV devices like TVs, video players and sound systems. eARC “supports the most advanced audio formats and highest audio quality”. For that read Dolby Atmos and other object-based audio systems.

Also requiring an uplift in cable bandwidth – at the top end where 8K video at frame rates of 60 or more are being displayed – is high dynamic range. The HDMI 2.1 spec calls this Dynamic HDR    

which vary how each scene or even each frame looks by optimising each individual frame’s ideal values for depth, detail, brightness, contrast and wider colour gamuts – provided this metadata is present in the content in the first place.

HDMI 2.1 cables can be expected on the market early next year along with display devices to support them and it will become the defacto standard.  As we observe it will be some time before content starts coming down the track that is even close to the maximum potential of this interface, but at least you know which way the industry thinks media is headed.

The value of cutting edge

AV Magazine

The Emirates are stereotyped as a market where cost is no barrier. For all its bling, this is
a misconception.

https://www.avinteractive.com/features/countries-regions/value-cutting-edge-30-11-2017/

“There are projects where cost is not a concern, but many of the normal projects that our customers compete on are tight on budget,” says Andy Lee, sales and account manager, Datapath. “When they say ‘tight on budget’, I agree that the price is higher than in other markets, but they are competitive in this market. One of the reasons we’ve seen this now is because of lower (global) oil prices.”

Melinda Von Horvath, Peerless-AV’s vice-president of sales and marketing for EMEA, reckons clients have a good knowledge and understanding of how and where best to spend money. “Price points can be a challenge and, in some cases, there’s a real need for entry-level products,” she says. “The key criteria are application, closely followed by design and brand perception. Needless to say, price does play a huge role in decision making in UAE considering competition from the Chinese market.”

Ahmed Sousa, solutions architect, MEA and Turkey, Polycom says it’s also important that there is no off-the-shelf solution to many company’s IT needs. “They require specially designed packages of services, software, hardware and installations. This relies on the interoperability of vendor solutions.”

Crestron’s UAE regional manager, Armin Mehrain, goes as far to suggest the main challenge always has and will be cost. “Unlike western countries, this market is very price driven and quality is secondary when making choices,” he says. “Usually projects get specified with cutting edge solutions, but as the project proceeds it will change to low cost solutions due to budget issues.”

Although the UAE serves nearby countries with technical expertise and solutions, the market needs education about new technologies, he feels: “It’s not easy to convince this region with new technologies. They will ask if you have references in the region before they accept your solution.

“This is a very emotional market,” Mehrain adds. “Getting close to decision-making staff can win or lose you a project. Corruption is lower compared to before but it’s still there.”

Despite having a record year for sales in the Middle East, gaining a foothold in the UAE market remains a challenge for Peerless-AV. Von Horvath points to the importance of strong distribution partners, as well as a local office and resident salesforce with excellent knowledge of regional trends and trading practices.

“Many large projects are funded by government or semi-governmental bodies, hence a lot of projects are in the control of the state,” adds Lee. “There is private funding, mostly in residential construction and hospitality. In either case a regional partner is essential.”

Respondents stress that businesses will struggle to gain a foothold in the UAE market if they don’t spend enough time building trust with potential customers.

“Mutual trust is at the core of any successful business deal in the UAE and there are a number of factors that can help build it,” says Eleuterio Fernandes, MENA sales director, Exterity. “In the UAE, users want lots of on-the-ground support which a call centre cannot provide.”

Overall though, AV culture in the UAE is cutting-edge. According to InfoComm Asia, the country’s AV market is predicted to be worth $707 million by 2018, up from $656.2 million in 2016, much of it from transportation and hospitality (parks and hotel resorts) sectors, with a great opportunity for outdoor display and video communications.

“There are tremendous opportunities for consultants and architects from work specified in the UK and US, as well as ongoing building development in the education, transportation, government and hospitality sectors,” says Von Horvath. “Certain countries haven’t yet reached their highest potential but this is changing rapidly. The market is also increasingly price competitive as more and more AV companies open offices there.”

There’s an interesting contrast between the technology being deployed in the UAE and its users. “The UAE is a hub of technological innovation, but users can be quite conservative and completing business deals can take time,” explains Fernandes. “Many users will only consider investing in a technology if an industry peer has recommended it to them, so any business that wants to grow its footprint in the UAE needs to build a strong network alongside offering the latest technology.”

Expo 2020 – Dubai

The Expo 2020 will focus more attention on the region. Opening on 20 October 2020 in southern Dubai, the event is projected to attract 25 million visitors, 70 per cent from outside the UAE. More than 200 countries, companies, charities and educational institutions will participate.

‘District 2020’, the area which the expo occupies, will undergo extensive redevelopment after the six month event. It’s planned to have one of the world’s first 5G mobile networks and function as a Free Trade Zone, allowing businesses to operate tax-exempt and entirely foreign-owned. Siemens has agreed to build a new logistics hub there. Planners hope District 2020 will more than double in size to become a city in its own right.

“Customers are always looking for the latest in the market and in the industry,” says Lee. “One glance at October’s Gitex Technology Week in Dubai shows local customers and government pushing forward for new technologies.”

These include Flying Taxis – autonomous two-seater craft developed by German drone firm Volocopter – and which are proposed to launch in the emirate in five years.

“The (UAE) governments are driving to develop AI and robotics, smart city projects and hi-tech start-ups,” notes Lee.

Green credentials are part of the smart city formula. “No longer a concept of the future, custom electric charging stations are a reality in the US and will no doubt inspire similar projects in the UEA,” says Von Horvath.

Taking inspiration from Dubai’s model for relatively autonomous economic development, neighbouring Saudi Arabia has a $500 billion smart city project in the northwest of the country on the go. ‘NEOM’ is envisaged as an area free from “anything traditional,” according to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at its launch, most notably the country’s existing bureaucratic and cultural obstacles.

The city-state would be powered entirely by wind and solar energy. Entertainment and biotechnology industries would be encouraged. The project is also intended to serve as a model for how robotics, drones and automation could perform a wide range of civic duties.

“Most smart city projects are driven by IT and the pro AV market does not have much to offer – unless pro AV products are integrated with IT,” says Lee.

Qatar World Cup 2022

Adjacent to UAE, but currently subject of a trade block from the Emirates and Saudi is Qatar, controversial host of the soccer World Cup 2022.

$200 billion is pouring into infrastructure, including a new rail network, hotels and roads ahead of the tournament. The Norman Foster-designed 86,250-seat Lusail stadium is one of nine new stadia under construction.

Mehrain reports that the authorities have put the AV part on hold, concerned that if they put the equipment in now it will be obsolete by 2022. “They will wait and decide on the AV later. Any project in Qatar must be executed by a local company or in joined venture.”

The region has not handled any global event of this scale previously. “The infrastructure is not yet good enough for a World Cup,” says Lee. “There’s lots of construction and hence a lot of requirement for stadium technology, hospitality and broadcast.

“As most of the talent is based in the UAE, the barrier is starting to impact the business,” he reports. The pro AV work is not in full swing so the impact is not so much now. Once the AV has to go in it’s going to be difficult if the regional trade barrier still exists. Shipping may not be a real issue as you can directly move the shipment to Qatar. But moving manpower based in the region will be a challenge.”

Turkey – state keeps AV alive

An unstable economy, a South Eastern border with Syria, terrorist attacks in its bigger cities and “variable politics” are affecting the overall performance of the AV market, preventing investment according to Crestron’s local distributor SF SES VE ISIK Sistemleri A.S.

The hospitality vertical has been directly impacted due to the fall in tourist numbers. “For example, we have three major hotel investments delayed this year due to the problems,” says the firm. “The tour sound and lighting vertical market is dead as well. Rental companies are not investing in any product these days.

“Regardless, we are still trying to create business opportunities and continue to maintain our position in the Turkish market.”

The corporate vertical has kept Turkish AV alive, according to the distributor, “thanks to many renovations and new management premises by banks moving to Istanbul which have boosted meeting room and huddle space investments.”

Datapath’s Lee suggests that the macro political situation hasn’t affected pro AV very much; “It may even give a boost as the government invests in more military and control room applications.”

He agrees that economic problems are creating daily difficulties. “As pro AV continues to grow, more investors and IT integrators are trying to get into the game,” he reports. “The aggressive stance and price policies are creating a decrease in margins.”

The government plays a key role here. “Interactive screens in education, digital signage for municipalities, new stadiums… all these are government supported, which is a guarantee to pro AV market sustainability,” says Murat Aydin, MD at Astel (distributor for Absen, Panasonic, Christie and Philips). “The biggest airport in Europe will be a huge opportunity for many pro AV brands and products.”

New airport opening

Istanbul New Airport opens next year on the outskirts of Turkey’s largest city. It will replace Ataturk airport as Turkey’s major gateway hub with an annual capacity for 90 million travellers.

Operator iGA’s plans includes in-store digital solutions for retailers, 3D hologram systems, smart shopping carts with a charging function, mobile cash-registers and customer profiling through data.  A ‘Magic Mirror’ application will allow customers to see virtually how watches, clothes or make-up products will look on them without physically trying them on.

“On top of that, pro AV products and solutions awareness is increasing, digital screens are now starting to replace traditional billboards and signs,” says Aydin. “When you consider all these aspects, the Turkish market has interesting potential.”

The sales channel, though, is primitive. “Often big distributors do system integration at the same time which creates problems for normal SIs as they give direct prices and even direct sales to the end customer when they find out about the project,” says Lee.

Distributor Astel reponds that “only a couple of companies in Turkey are capable of doing high level AV installations and integrations. Therefore, we cannot say that Turkey has a mature AV sales channels and integration market. Due to the small market and low education level, you can’t form a professional dealer network to represent your brands.

There are only a handful of dealers in Turkey that can complete a full AV system project. This is why a distributor company has to play the role of being a consultant first. We are trying to give as much training as possible in our premises to educate our staff and our dealer’s staff to improve the AV integration market in Turkey.”

NEP UK discuss the future of live VR and remote production

SVG Europe

Taking stock of the latest technological changes as 2017 draws to a close, SVG Europe found NEP UK’s Keith Lane (VP Client Services) and Simon Moorhead (MD) to be in expansive mood as they considered the present and future potential of VR, the outlook for the OB business as a whole, and its own current progress with regards to IP workflow implementation.

https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/nep-uks-keith-lane-and-simon-moorhead-discuss-the-future-of-live-vr-and-remote-production/

Live VR has yet to take off as some predicted it might. What will it take for it to really go commercial? 

Keith Lane: We have been involved in productions where live VR has been used to bring an immersive view point to the consumer, it does have an audience but can have a limiting feel due to the restriction in the number of angles and content that can be captured.

The technology of capture and delivery has improved and continues to do so, as a result VR is being considered more by rights holders and production teams. It needs to be complementary to the main broadcast but also add an enhancement to the coverage, an insight that allows the consumer to really experience the event from a different perspective and with additional content.

The momentum is picking up but it will still take time to hit the masses. The funding for this experience is often led by consumer tech businesses. The next big step is to establish a financial case by a broadcaster or rights holder that makes VR a live regular product, along with what the consumer wants and values and is prepared to pay for.

We are now constructing two IP-based trucks available in Spring 2018 based around SAM infrastructure, Arista routers, Calrec sound desks and SAM visions mixers. Our IP-based trucks will also be capable of 2110 operation.

We are also in the process of constructing a fully redundant IP-based fly pack system capable of supporting 15 galleries plus and providing feeds to other rights holding broadcasters.

Simon Moorhead: VR is undoubtedly a broadcast concept that has piqued audience interest; for gamers, being immersed in a virtual setting is surely the ultimate in participation and experience. The ability to harness live VR in a broadcast context is one of the most transformational advances for the audience – being fully immersed, virtually, into a live event, be it sport, music or entertainment brings the viewer directly into the venue and feeling closer to the performance.

To achieve this augmentation of the live event requires a robust video delivery connection that can cope with the bandwidth requirement, ensuring minimal latency and consistency of video relay, and this is where the broadcaster is at the mercy of the viewers’ data connectivity or, more specifically, the ability of the internet service provider to super-serve this new broadcast medium.

For these reasons, I see that the broadcasters need to feel confident in the delivery platform, the potential for mass consumption by the potential available audience, and their willingness to either pay for this enhanced experience or have their experience impinged with hard-coded advertising.

Is the OB business becoming increasingly polarised between major sports events requiring large trucks and sizeable crew at venue and a more slimmed down and remote style of production over IP? 

Lane: The type and scale of production will dictate to a degree the choice of equipment and manpower on site; as we see more flexible connectivity being made available the opportunity to do ‘remote/at home’ productions will increase.

Costs are increasing and budgets are getting tighter but the need to keep or even improve production output against those constraints see us adapting what we provide.  Remote productions aren’t new, the decisions are often based on what and how much you ‘remote’ your operation away from the event. Now that the bandwidth and low latency networks are becoming more attainable this will be the key to unlock this workflow more.

The opportunity for broadcasters to decentralise their operation, where different parts of the production can be in different regions, will be high on the agenda of many of them. We need to be flexible in our offering. The OB business needs to keep agile and look to provide different production environments to clients, whether that be large trucks and fly packs for large events or small quickly deployable units that can reduce time and increase efficiency and provide discreet sources if required and on pass to that IP network.

Moorhead: In my personal experience, I don’t think so. At NEP in the UK, we very much cater for our client’s specific requirements and delivering their technical/operational workflow. We work with our clients to tailor a bespoke solution, which meets both their editorial and budgetary objectives. What continues to be a theme is that clients like to have an OB truck and/or flypack broadcast solution coupled with the full complement of crew required to deliver their sporting event.

Where possible, programme makers tend to prefer being as close to the action as possible, ensuring that they faithfully translate and broadcast every facet of the event, maximising on the peripheral benefits of location production to give the audience an in-depth experience which is both immersive and editorially superior to that of a ticket holder in the crowd.

There is no doubt that location production affords the programme maker and their production teams to cast the net wide and deep, enabling the almost seamless capture and dissemination of the build-up to the event, breaking news and behind the scenes developments.

Whilst there has been investigation and discussion with some clients around the concept of remote production workflows, this is always balanced against the potential loss of the qualitative benefits associated with location production, as discussed above. In some circumstances where geography and the associated costs of logistics impact significantly the quantitative/budgetary objective – remote is certainly becoming a workflow that is being closely examined and considered. However, where this relates to domestic event coverage, clients don’t (currently) seem to be sufficiently swayed by any potential economies over the qualitative benefits of location production.

What impact is the delay in standardising IP and HDR having on your equipment purchasing decisions? 

Keith Lane: When we approached the rebuild of our trucks and fly packs after the fire, we didn’t feel IP was mature enough for us to commit to. We needed to keep the flexibility and functionality that SDI has given us. Admittedly the number of sources required for UHD did make the sheer scale of the infrastructure challenging but doable.

Now that the first few standards in SMPTE ST2110 have been agreed, we can see the adoption being much easier. The ability to carry audio, video and data and to separate them out now allows us to provide a workflow that isn’t restricted and far more scalable, particularly when we move to HDR and HFR.

The next step for the UHD productions we do will probably be HDR. There is still a limited amount of equipment out on the market, although this has improved over the last 12 months. Our decisions on equipment to support HDR and SDR was difficult to make then, monitoring, conversion as an example. There is a better understanding of the requirement to support HDR and to produce an acceptable SDR image as well, that workflow and equipment choice will still be a challenge in 2018.

Finally, how has the appetite for UHD developed during 2017 and how do you anticipate this will change looking ahead? 

Lane: UHD has continued to be a big part of our operations. We continue to provide facilities for Sky Sports EPL coverage which is 124 games a season. The appetite for UHD is increasing, we have had a few additional events we covered this year. We took the trucks down to the Allianz stadium in Turin to cover Juventus v AC Milan in March this year; this was a joint production between Sky Italia, Juventus and Serie A.

The demand at the moment is really driven through the broadcasters who have a means to transmit UHD. That said, we are seeing more rights holders and requests from production companies who need to consider UHD for their broadcast partners who do have a requirement for UHD.

Sigma Cine Zooms capture the post-apocalypse

VMI

Content marketing for VMI http://vmi.tv/case-studies/article/135

 To survive in a world destroyed by global warming a family needs to make a heartbreaking decision which could split them apart forever. This is the dystopian vision of writer-director Gagan Singh whose short film Famished is being prepared for entry into film festivals worldwide.

Singh made the film with cinematographer Erick Alcaraz as part of their graduate degree in Practical Filmmaking at the Met Film School located at Ealing Studios.

It’s their second collaboration following Serbor, a relationship drama with a witchcraft twist.

For the post-apocalyptic world of Famished, the filmmakers wanted as naturalistic a look as possible. They shot for four days on location rural Hertfordshire, away from urban life, and used as much natural light as possible. That included sole use of candle light for night time scenes.

“We had to get the sense of the space our characters are trapped in, which is a cabin in the woods, and tried to use as less light as possible to suggest an isolated world where all normal systems no longer work,” explains Alcaraz. “Consequently, I needed a very fast lens but one which would be open enough to achieve depth. Once we’d established the setting, I could frame mainly on the actor’s faces since the fate of this family is primarily told through dialogue.

“I went to VMI thinking we needed Zeiss Master Primes or Cookes but when I got talking to Barry [Bassett] he suggested trying a brand new set of Sigma T1.5 Cine Primes and pairing them with the latest 4K Canon C700 camcorder which had also just arrived.”

 The Sigma T1.5 Cine Primes with the Sigma Cine Cine zooms are among the latest optics available from VMI. They are available in native PL, E or Canon EF mounts and are also engineered for 4K with very high resolution, high contrast – perfect for the project’s 4K low light recording.

“I found the look of the Sigmas amazing to be honest. The lens is quite fast, the aperture opens all the way to F1.5 and has a very quick response focus wise. The lens is not very heavy which is quite helpful bearing in mind the weight of the camera plus all the extra accessories. This enabled us to achieve a faster production schedule which is so important when you are working on a tight budget. Also, the curvature of the lens gives a very nice contrast to the image helping to enhance the colours and shaping the faces beautifully. So, working with candlelight was the best decision I could've take. I will definitely use them again.”

Alcarez felt the C700 performed fairly well in low light. “I think this camera is on the same range as the Alexa. You need to give them both an extra push in the darkest areas in order to get the best of the camera,” he says. “The camera needs to get levels of information in order to not crunch the blacks.”

When it comes to the camera’s ergonomics, Alcarez found a perfect fit for the job. “The viewfinder is one of the best ones I've ever worked with. It’s so sharp and comfortable for the eye, as well giving you full access to the menu of the camera without needing to change your position while shooting. The camera is a bit heavy over time but not as much as the ALEXA Classic is in comparison. Also, the shoulder mount that the camera has rigged is a lifesaver. Very comfortable to use with a great grip to it.”

The finished film will be around 11-12 minutes, suitable for film festival entry. Alcarez is also in charge of postproduction, editing in Premiere and grading using Resolve.

The Met’s BA in Practical Filmmaking course prepares the next generation of smart screen creatives.  It builds creative and technical skills essential to succeed in today’s film and TV industries with professional tutors and high-calibre guest speakers who teach the fundamentals of storytelling, production and screen business skills.

The course makes a virtue of real-life experience where aspiring filmmakers can build an attractive portfolio and put their knowledge into practice by working with external companies and creating projects for industry clients.

“Every time over the past year when I’ve needed equipment I’ve gone to VMI not only because they have an amazing catalogue of camera gear but because the experience is not just about renting kit,” informs Alcarez. “Barry and the other guys are always there to give advice. They take the time to listen to what I need and will make suggestions instead of trying to make the lease bigger. It’s that care and attention which I value.”

Famished will not only help Singh and Alcarez complete their degree but they hope to use it as a calling card for a higher budget feature length production.

VMI wish them the very greatest success.