Friday, 10 June 2016

Game on for 8K

Broadcast 

The world’s largest sporting events have always provided broadcasters and manufacturers with the opportunity to push technological boundaries, and this year’s Olympics and Euros will be no different.


During the summer, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the European Championship in France will provide the setting for testing new broadcast kit and workflows for high-resolution capture and distribution.
Although it will offer no native 4K coverage from Rio, host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) is using the Games as a testbed for 8K. The driving force behind 8K developments is the Japanese government, which, a decade ago, set its country’s manufacturers an ambitious target of delivering live domestic 8K transmissions by 2020. The project is timed to showcase Japan plc at the Tokyo Olympics and is already ahead of target.

The chief reason that OBS appears to be leapfrogging 4K for 8K is that none of its rights holders – largely commercial and public free-to-air broadcasters – has any means of delivering it. Come 2020, that may have changed, but OBS will use this extensive test to plan for the 2018 Winter Games (PyeongChang, South Korea) and then Tokyo, when it may possibly benchmark 8K as the main production format and simply repurpose HD and 4K feeds from that.

OBS has worked with Japan state broadcaster NHK on two previous Olympics. The main difference this time is scale. “In London 2012, we had only a few experimental cameras. Now the cameras are almost commercial models,” says OBS chief technology officer Sotiris Salamouris. “We wanted to demonstrate a full, live workflow to prove that working with such demanding technology is possible.” OBS and NHK plan to produce 120 hours of live 8K action – a drop in the ocean compared with the 7,000 hours of coverage OBS will produce during the 17-day event. The 8K coverage will take in the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as events such as swimming, gymnastics, athletics and football.

The footage will be broadcast by satellite back to Japan for private screen and public venue viewing, and by broadcasters in a special theatre in the International Broadcast Centre. OBS will also record and edit the feed into packaged highlights. At the same time, it will offer a down-converted version in 4K to select rights holders as a live and a recorded package. The 8K signal standard OBS and NHK will propose for the Rio Games has a data rate of 24 Gbps, compared with 1.5 Gbps for a standard HD signal.

The signal will be produced from two NHK-commissioned 8K outside broadcast trucks from venues in Rio, both outfitted with 10 Ikegami 8K cameras. There are no specialised 8K cameras, so the Rio 8K production will incorporate 4K feeds for slow-motion replays. The 8K cameras are a mix of SHV-8000 and SHK-810, the latter being the vendor’s latest generation of 8K camera. It plans to mass produce 8K kit by 2020.
The SHK-810 boasts a 33 megapixel Super 35 CMOS sensor but is about one-tenth the size and weight of Ikegami’s first 8K camera, which debuted in 2002.

Feeds are viewable on an Ikegami 55-inch 8K LCD monitor in the trucks. SSD and P2 memory cards will be employed as recording devices. Feeds from the cameras will be transported over fibre to the trucks and routed around the units as 16 separate SDI feeds multiplexed together for manipulation by a vision mixer that has 16 inputs and four outputs, with the additional cabling requirement over an HD broadcast having a knock-on effect on set-up times.

“In an ideal world, nobody would design a solution for 4K that uses 4 x SDI feeds, let alone one for 8K, but at the moment this is the only working technology we have,” says Leader Electronics European regional development manager Kevin Salvidge. Five of Leader’s LV5490 waveform monitors are being used to monitor the 8K camera signals in the truck. The 8K broadcast will be made with 22.2 channels of audio produced from a separate OB vehicle on location and delivered to the IBC as discrete circuits.

Salamouris says the idea behind deploying 8K is as much about learning how editorial approaches might differ with a format 16 times the resolution of HD (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) as it is about trialling the tech.
“Until now, due to the limitation in the number of cameras and lenses available, most 8K has been restricted to wide shots. This has been proven to capture scenes from a wide angle in amazing detail. I believe, from our experience of moving from SD to HD and then to 4K, that while in the beginning you can shoot wider and use slower pans, we will see faster production of the type that is dominant in sports coverage today.”

Camera positions are even more carefully studied because larger lenses are not currently available for 8K cameras. From an operational point of view, it is not easy for a camera operator to set an accurate focus on a small viewfinder. In most cases, video engineers working in the OB van will be able to use the Ikegami screens to help the operator with better focusing.

Production will be 60 frames a second (fps), but Salamouris says OBS is exploring 120fps, though not for Rio. OBS and NHK plan to test one 8K camera featuring HDR/ WCG function during the opening ceremony, but it will not introduce a higher dynamic range layer into the output, despite NHK and the BBC having devised a means of introducing it. “HDR and wider colour gamut is hard today in 4K, let alone 8K,” says Salamouris.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Alongside its HD production of the 51-game Euros, Uefa’s host broadcast team will, for the first time, shoot eight matches – the curtain-raiser, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final – as full 4K productions. In preparation, Uefa has produced live 4K of multiple Champions League games over the past two seasons, including May’s final between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, which was a rehearsal for the systems to be used in France.

Uefa entrusted the task to Telegenic, an assignment for which the UK OB firm is well prepared, having had its facilities and crew chosen by Fifa to shoot 3D coverage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Sony’s live 4K broadcasts of the World Cup final from Brazil and Uefa’s first 4K test during the 2014 Champions League final.
After producing the 4K feed for the Champions League final in Milan, Telegenic will drive its T25 truck to St-Denis for the opening match of the Euros between France and Romania. The firm is also fielding its T23 vehicle at the tournament, but because of the tight match schedule, French supplier AMP Visual is covering the 4K quarter-final being held in Bordeaux and the semi-final in Lyon.

Experienced sports director John Watts is directing all the 4K games.

On board the T25 are 11 Sony HDC-4300 cameras fitted with Canon 2/3-inch 4K wideangle lenses. Uefa’s camera plan also includes a 4K wire-slung Spider-Cam from German company TV Skyline, a 4K ‘beauty’ cam and another aerial angle shot from a helicopter. There will be no pitch-side wireless cameras used in the 4K mix, although two of the 4300s will be used for slo-motion replays at two times speed.

“It will be glass-to-glass 4K,” says Telegenic commercial manager Eamonn Curtin. “There will be no up-conversion from HD.”

In the truck, the 4K feeds will be routed over 3G in what is termed ‘quad-4K’. That is, split into four identical paths of HD-SDI 1080p 50, mixed in a SAM (Snell Advanced Media) Kahuna 9600, and amalgamated into a 4K picture on transmission. A dedicated 4K SNG vehicle will be on site at every match.

The signal will be uplinked and distributed to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Paris, then via satellite to broadcasters including Italy’s RAI over its free-to-air Tivùsat platform distributed by satellite company Eutelsat and Swiss telco Swisscom TV. Portuguese public broadcaster RTP is using the occasion to launch a UHD channel distributed by pay-TV operators NOS, Vodafone Portugal and Meo (Portugal Telecom).

According to Uefa, the biggest challenge involved with the production is finding the space for the additional cameras. A minimum of 46 multilateral cameras will be used at each match, with 36 used for the live match coverage and 10 for additional footage such as team arrivals and press conferences.

To keep the total number of cameras down, three (Spider-cam, stadium beauty and helicam) will be upgraded to 4K units for the relevant matches, shared with the multilateral production and down-converted for the multilateral feed.

Broadcasters are exploring how technologies for richer colour space and HDR might be added to the 4K experience. Neither are currently commercially available, so will not be used in France. However, both are under Uefa review and will be tested throughout 2016, with the aim of deploying them at the 2020 Euros (for which London will host the semi-finals and final).

VIRTUAL REALITY
Having trialled VR during the Champions League semis and final, Uefa will continue to test the emerging format at the Euros.

The rights holder has deliberately eschewed the US leader in live sports streaming, NextVR, preferring to keep the technology in-house. It will use multiple Nokia Ozo 360-degree camera rigs positioned behind the goals, on the centre line, in the tunnel and in the dressing room, in a production managed by Deltatre.
“Most broadcasters don’t have an appropriate, ready-to-air platform for this technology so we are assessing how we might bring VR to market,” says Deltatre chief product and marketing officer Carlo De Marchis.
The cameras are designed to plug into a 4K workflow, outputting a standard SDI signal (at 1 Gbps) into commercial broadcast switchers, encoders and content delivery networks – the set-up found on most broadcast trucks.

“We’ve created an app combining 2D and stereo 3D video in a virtual lounge so that users can select to watch the normal game and then dip into a fully immersive clip,” says De Marchis. Deltatre will also deliver test feeds to Gear VR, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift goggles, and a monoscopic 360-degree panoramic stream for YouTube and Facebook.

“The debate we are having is what experience feels most natural to the user,” says De Marchis. “Football is a challenge because of the size of the pitch. That’s why we are creating a mix of conventional live game and VR clips. For sports using smaller pitches, like basketball, a full live-streamed game in VR may work better.”
He adds that 3D audio is the key to unlocking live VR. At the moment, though, Uefa’s test will work from the Ozo’s eight camera mics. Football grounds are notoriously restrictive on space, with every camera position having to be justified since it effectively relegates a paying customer.

“Ideally, a more sophisticated audio arrangement is required,” he says. “We still have to figure out where we can put all the additional cables and kit.”

IMMERSIVE SOUND
As well as adding a dedicated 4K commentary position at each 4K match, Uefa will conduct Dolby Atmos immersive sound tests across all the 4K matches ahead of possible future use. Additional ceiling speakers, a plug-in for mixing consoles to monitor sound and a Dolby Digital Plus encoder have been added to Telegenic’s T25.

“We are talking about two different experiences for object-based audio,” says Dolby senior product marketing manager Rob France. “One is to bring more immersiveness for sports content, such as the sound of the PA and crowd, and the other is around personalisation and giving consumers more choice.”
France says Atmos is being tested by broadcasters, which will introduce it alongside select live events broadcast to its top-tier UHD services this year.



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Thursday, 9 June 2016

Multichannel 2.0


Cable Satellite International

 Multi-channel networks blend social media with entertainment in a way that appeals to the values of millennial audiences, so why are so many of them jumping into traditional TV.

 http://www.csimagazine.com/Digital_edition/June2016/CSIDigitaledition-June2016-final.pdf p12

“The TV set and viewing of our childhood is gone … a better TV is rising from the ashes,” declared Google president of global partnerships Daniel Alegre in the closing keynote to NAB last month.

Alegre referenced PewDiePie the 26-year old Swede who has 40 million subscribers. “This is an opportunity rather than a death knell for broadcasters,” he said. “Democracy in distribution means there is no limit to the content you can deliver to your audience.”

PewDiePie is signed to Maker Studios, one of dozens of multichannel networks with business models that started out linking millennial content creators or influencers with video aggregation platforms Yahoo, AOL, Dailymotion, Vimeo but principally YouTube.

“Put simply, the MCN model 1.0 is finished,” says Matt Heiman, co-founder, Diagonal View an MCN which began in 2008 repackaging content from ITN Source. “If you're not adding value to the client you work for and to the platform you're working with, your days are numbered.”

He adds, “The aggregator model had no value. It was required for a moment in time and funded by VC's for a moment but that day is done. It's the emperor's new clothes and everybody knows it.”

Citing last month's launch by Fullscreen of a SVOD service and YouTube's launch of subscription channel Red, he says the old MCN ecosystem has imploded in the last 12 months.

“The classic MCNs were sandwiched between the content creators and the audience for YouTube channels,” agrees Ampere Analysis research director Richard Broughton. “Uncharitably you could call them middlemen. But that's not necessarily true any more.”

The dynamics of MCNs are changing and in doing so altering the strategies of pay TV operators.

MCNs had to evolve. YouTube revenue was $5bn in 2015 of which the Google-platform takes 45% and the MCNs and content creators share the remaining $2.9bn, most of which flows back to the original content creators leaving MCNs with little margin.

“MCNs began to verticalise to get closer to content creators,” explains Broughton. Awesomeness TV's move to more in-house production of teen content saw it create Richey Rich which it then sold to Netflix. Tastemade concentrates on food, Stylehaul on fashion. “If you can produce content then you no longer have to give away the majority of revenue that comes from advertising.”

A parallel strategy is to work more closely with brands and ease the reliance on pre-roll ads. Examples include Fullscreen's partnership with GroupM to form influencer marketing group Playa, which will exclusively service GroupM and WPP clients. Stylehaul, owned by RTL, targets a niche fashion and lifestyle audience hooking up content creators with cosmetic and fashion brands for product placement and paid reviews.

Influencer marketing “matters where the big agencies that have historically bought lots of TV and lots of preroll ads, recognize this as a way to market and reach customers," says Fullscreen CEO George Strompolos.

“Millenial audiences are far more accepting of a brand's involvement,” notes James Kirkham Head of Copa90 at Bigballs Media. “We have Hyundai and Nissan funding documentaries around the world. Brands want authenticity and to connect to consumers in a different way.”

Both strategies trend beyond UGC toward a more professional content creation. Nonetheless, the bulk of MCNs are still reliant on ad revenue and largely on the billion daily views generated by YouTube.

Or they were until Facebook entered the video game, giving MCNs distribution options and more bargaining power.

“In the early days of MCNs you needed to be on YouTube,” says Rightster CEO Ashley Mackenzie. “But since Facebook decided to take video seriously you truly do have options. It's a genuine multiplatform era.”

“Facebook is actively working on ways to compensate creators and has the wherewithal to unseat the market leader,” reckons Glenn Ginsburg, SVP global partnerships, The QYOU.

Nor are Facebook and YouTube the only horses in town. Instagram, Twitter, Twitch and emerging platforms like Musical.ly offer different distribution paths, although Mackenzie dismisses the 8 billion daily views on Snapchat as a “vanity project” until it offers monetization products.

“Social and mobile becoming one is key. Having separate strategies was lunacy,” says Kirkham. “The emergence of Instagram and Snapchat shows how people are only accessing the internet through their mobile device.”

For Dan’l Hewitt, UK MD of Maker Studios, mobile first networks “demonstrate the insatiable appetite audiences have to connect.”

Those MCNs that successfully verticalised, and/or added brand affiliations have been able to use multiple outlets to disseminate content and grow their audiences.

The MCN demographic

It's worth underlining the MCN demographic. A recent survey in the U.S., commissioned by Defy Media, found that younger audiences watch more hours of video on digital outlets than on TV because, the survey suggested, they find it more enjoyable and relevant to their lives.

AOL's OTT Reality Check report last November found that 42% of people prefer to watch TV shows online.

“The genuine heavy user is the 10-18 year old kid,” confirms MacKenzie. Hewitt paints a broader picture. “MCNs respond to the habits of media consumers. The new iPhone has a 4K video camera which anyone can use to create great looking content.”

Julia Barry, editorial director, Sky On Demand, agrees that audiences are young but thinks there's an untapped older market. “There’s a real opportunity to grow the reach of this content and bring more eyeballs to it by putting it into our Sky ecosystem and opening up access.”

Rising Value

Traditional media has had its eye on MCNs for some time. Those who bet early have seen some serious returns on their investment. The poster child is Awesomeness TV which DreamWorks acquired for $95m in 2013. When DreamWorks sold a quarter stake last year to Hearst it valued Awesomeness at $350m. Verizon's recent deal for 24.5% values the network at $650m.

There's no starker illustration of the value that traditional media is placing on MCNs than Verizon's acquisition of AOL for $4.4 billion a year ago. Since then it launched mobile video network Go90, fuelling it with content from Awesomeness TV.

“MCNs are typically being sold at 25 to 35 times revenue, a figure which reflects their massive growth rate and longer term strategic importance,” says Ampere's Broughton. “They are seeing 100-200% growth every year so you can imagine, over the course of five years, that the initial 35 X ratio might come down to something of a more typical 5 X ratio.”

Recognising that their audiences are flat or in decline, traditional broadcasters are seizing on MCNs as a short cut to recapturing millennials lost to digital. “One of the attractive things about MCNs is the international nature of their audience,” says Broughton. “Investing in one is a relatively cheap way to address audiences in other territories without the expence of launching new properties.”


MTG has taken control of Swedish MCN Splay, Fullscreen is owned by AT&T and The Chernin Group; Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 spent $83m on Collective Digital Studio merged it with its in house MCN Studio71.

The RTL Group, makers of X Factor via its content arm FremantleMedia, has been particularly aggressive. Via FreemantleMedia it invested in European multichannel network Divimove and took control of Canadian MCN BroadbandTV which itself recently acquired Indian MCN YoBoHo.

“The investments are bets that digital platforms, reaching global audiences at scale, will continue to grow,” says Ginsburg of The QYOU which curates short form video and sells the package to payTV providers. “MCNs represent a key access point to the new talent, IP and formats and have operations built to manage and monetize audiences, making them obvious targets for traditional players.”

In a flat to declining market broadcast and payTV stakeholders identify MCNs as a source of growth. Explains Broughton, “There is often a short termist view that if you launch an MCN then that might cannibalise your core business, but actually operators should looking to 2020 as the point when online media makes more money than pay TV.”

However, there aren't too many MCNs left to snap up, putting even more of a premium on those that remain (e.g The QYOU, Digiflare) and leaving media organisations with a choice: build your own (Endemol's organic MCN brand Endemol Beyond], buy one at great expense, or attempt to curate them. Services from Sling and Comcast fold MCN-produced content into their linear channels.

Sky made a series of insight investments, including in U.S MCN Pluto TV and sports network Whistle ahead of launching Sky on Demand on Sky Q which curates content from digital creators including Barcroft Media, Red Bull Media House and GoPro. Vice is launching its first European linear channel, Viceland, with Sky in September.

“Traditional players are recognizing opportunities to capture ARPU from these audiences away from online-only platforms by investing in content that has, in many cases, huge built-in audiences,” says Mano Kulasingam, co-CEO, Digiflare.

The MCN deal

What do MCNs get out of the move? “The opportunity to tap into the enormous ad inventory, marketing budgets, and distribution that the pay TV platforms can offer,” says Kulasingam.

“Many MCNs have very low margins, almost negative numbers, so allying with a major broadcaster or content creator makes sense,” summises Broughton. “They can access ad sales teams for cross media campaigns and tap into big brands and production expertise. Alliances also offer a way of getting content onto broadcast platforms which is where the bulk of money still is. Plus it means investment. There are only so many times an MCN can go back to the market to raise capital.”

Last year, Disney-owned Maker Studios began pitching original show ideas using its 5000 strong talent roster to broadcasters. The Disney-owned MCN generates 700 million monthly views in the UK alone. Among its first commissions was a GamesMaster-style video game show from indie Somethin’ Else.

“Talent must buy into the idea, says Hewitt, because they will be expected to activate their online fan base, across YouTube and other channels to drive them to tune in to linear TV.

Maker also launched Revelmode, a network built around PewDiePie which includes an animated series featuring the gaming vlogger.

“MCNs play a crucial role in helping channels and content creators monetize their assets and have a vital role to play in the future of TV,” suggests Kai-Christian Borchers, co-founder, Three Screen Solutions. “There is still value in the term MCN, although some with a network of channels across different platforms might be better called multi platform networks.”

One of Borchers' clients is Red Bull, the archetypal brand-turned-content creator. “Red Bull is not making money with their immense portfoilo of VOD content or leveraging it anywhere near as much as they could because it has used it to date as a pure branding vehicle,” he suggests. But this is changing with the imminent launch of Red Bull's linear TV channel.

Content creators and the MCNs who manage them are reaching a level of maturity, allowing them to depend less on large-scale content aggregator platforms and toward attracting revenue through direct-to-viewer platforms.

“This development has been helped by the greater availability of technologies (like Digiflare's own app publishing platform Videa that make it possible to create and deploy a purpose-fit suite of apps from the ground up – even without specialised software development expertise,” notes Kulasingam.

He says that experimenting with direct-to-viewer models opens up the potential for MCNs to drive customer satisfaction with the user experience and simultaneously address problems with device and platform fragmentation.

“Direct-to-viewer enhances an MCN’s ability to control exactly how content is showcased while growing ARPU,” he argues. “Meanwhile, the risk of brand dilution or outright damage from inappropriate, directly-opposed, or offensive advertising (for instance) is either reduced or eliminated. “

The next step for MCNs who manage recognizable brands and personalities is to explore partnerships across the full breadth and depth of the media landscape.

“MCNs now exist less as aggregated networks of channels for advertising and more as sophisticated organizations that encompass the entire spectrum of content creation and delivery,” describes Kulasingam. “They handle everything from talent discovery and acquisition to video content production, audience engagement, and advertising.

“Whether through direct-to-viewer models or by integration with pay TV platforms, MCNs will be able to enhance production values, acquire new talent, and obtain a higher degree of personalisation in the design and functionality of the platform. In the next few years, the ability to exercise control over the way their content is discovered and delivered is going be a fundamental part of any MCN’s strategy for reaching and engaging new audiences.”



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Wednesday, 8 June 2016

Most Illuminating: Cirro Light


British Cinematographer

By some estimates, 90% of all film and TV shows shot in the UK use kit sourced from Cirro Light.

The company was launched by David Morphy and John Coppen to distribute Kino Flo lighting equipment beyond the borders of Hollywood, where Kino Flo was already an established presence on the sets of US shows, and it looked to Cirro Lite to expand internationally.

At the same time, Morphy took on LA-based Lightning Strikes, another iconic piece of kit used to create a multitude of explosive effects – some early examples include the machine gun in Schindler's List and the train crash in the channel tunnel at the climax of Mission: Impossible. Some of the early customised controllers are still on show at Cirro Lite.

Since inception in 1992, equipment it has supplied for sale or rental has been used on iconic movies from In the Name Of The Father and Saving Private Ryan, the Harry Potter and James Bond franchises, up to the last London-set series of 24 and, currently shooting, Disney's Beauty And The Beast, for which the company says it is supplying an astounding one million watts of Soft Sun units to light the stages at Shepperton. 

Cirro Lite is proud to have more Lightning Strikes' equipment in stock than anywhere in the world, outside of the manufacturer's home. This includes the new SoftSun units which features a monstrous 100,000KW continuous flicker-free fixture.

For Kino Flo, Cirro Lite acts as a western Europe distributor (most rental houses having a dedicated Kino Flo department) and the company predominantly sells product into the established film lighting rental companies.
“Kino Flo changed way the cinematographers choose to film by allowing them to get out of the studio on location,” says Morphy. “The product's soft, cool ability to work efficiently on location allowed DPs to light creatively in a way that they were not able to do before.”

“We also distribute Dedolight, which is one of the finest precision optics systems ever made,” explains Morphy. “Its instruments give more control and accuracy than any other hard light fixture and are a justified favourite among a great many cinematographers.”

Cirro Lite's inventory of award-winning lighting and accessories further includes Matthews Studio Equipment – the original 'Hollywood' grip company known for its lighting support kit. “Their current offering is world class and shows the pedigree of such an established industry innovator,” says Morphy.

All of the products from Cirro Lite are uniquely the creation and invention of filmmakers and technicians from the studio floor, and this is reflected in both the design and quality of all the product lines on offer. Cirro Mist, the only product manufactured in-house, is tuned specifically to produce a fine, safe, visually-light mist for the camera and studio environment.

When it comes to the revolution sweeping film and TV lighting, Cirro Lite is not slow to offer solid state fixtures, but has also adopted a cautious approach.

“There have been well-documented colour problems with the technology in the way the camera reacts to the light and we're very conscious about colour quality,” Morphy says. “Our LED offer, based on Kino Flo Celebs and Dedolight's DLEDs, has been very high quality. LED is an important innovation for those who want to take advantage of its unique properties. Our priority is to give users the confidence that they are not going to end up in trouble on site. If something looks great to the eye, but results in technical issues on set, we have not done our job.”

The Dedo LED range (Ledzilla, DLED 2.0 up to 12.0) and the Celebs, are beginning to offer an alternative to traditional sources on shoots in part because of the advantages of colour tuning, stable dimming and battery operation. Wolf Hall is an example of Kino Flo Celeb 400s recently being used on a high quality drama.

“Light distribution is perfectly even, with a full range of very fine dimming, plus very stable colour performance,” he says. “You can now have small, portable daylight LED fixtures with dimming control, where you previously used a lot of gel or had to go HMI, which is a great time-saver on set.”

Cirro Lite is preparing to launch the new Kino Flo range of LEDs which are able to modify light to suit digital cameras. “In the old days you had one or two film stocks, Fuji and Kodak with colour space really targeted at just the Kodak. Now, with over 30 digital cinema cameras on the market from different manufacturers, and each with different chipsets and different digital film stock, one light cannot address every single camera. The new Kino Flo range will enable cinematographers to adjust the light hue to the camera. It is set to be an extremely useful piece of kit. I'd say it will be a game changer.”

Handily based out of Acton, north west London, Cirro Lite has expanded its original HQ with a second showroom on a mezzanine. “Camera-operators, cinematographers and gaffers come here in pre-production and production to look at what's new or to solve a particular problem or achieve a certain effect. Very much part of what we do is to offer both product knowledge coupled with industry knowledge to DPs and gaffers helping them to make educated choices.

“We encourage professionals – who want to come in and handle, test and learn about the latest technology – to book an appointment,” says Morphy, who was originally involved in lighting live shows for The Rolling Stones, as well as film and television lighting, before setting up Cirro Lite. “If anybody wants to pop in for an hour it is always great to see them. We invite feedback on all new equipment that comes to market and welcome anyone who wants to become part of that family. It is only through feedback from the industry that we can advance product and a European point-of-view is especially important because the way we shoot and work on location is different to the US market.”

For example, crew can work from an articulated truck in the US but you'd be lucky to get one down a side street here. “There are logistical issues to packaging kit which need careful consideration,” says Morphy. “Even shooting in houses is different due to the age (generally smaller spaces) of British property which impacts the style of shooting. We take this very seriously and we feed it back to the developer.”

Morphy regularly passes on input gained from talking with local gaffers and DPs to the lighting developer. “We do have a say in the design of the latest product. It's a very inclusive process.”


In addition to lighting products Cirro Lite also offers a lighting design service, including web studio design and audio visual lighting design.
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Tuesday, 7 June 2016

AV in Defence: The element of surprise

AV Magazine

It would be alarming if security weren't at the heart of defence, intelligence, MoD, and Home Office AV applications. There's a pressing need to securely manage multiple classifications of information to ensure that the right content is being delivered only to the recipients who are authorized to view it.


Thinklogical has developed a specialised practice to help AV designers deliver secure KVM and video signal extension and matrix switching systems that meet demanding security requirements. 

“Our products have been designed to allow the management of multi-classification information through a single, fibre-optic-based system – the only one of its kind to be approved for use by NATO, the US Department of Defense, and other government agencies,” states Robert Ventresca, vp marketing, Thinklogical. “In addition, this system allows organisations to enhance cyber security and minimise the intentional or accidental insider threat by allowing computers and video servers to be removed from the command and control room floor to a secure facility elsewhere, limiting access to the computer USB ports and hard drives.”

Security is just as important even for IPTV systems which may mainly be delivering entertainment to personnel in barracks. It means assurance that only authorized administrators can make decisions about where and how sensitive content can be distributed.

“Security is a critical element in the set-up of distribution solutions for defence, and is the topic that is often discussed first and foremost,” agrees Mark Stanborough, sales manager, Cabletime.

Other elements aside from security are increasingly important though. IPTV providers still have to demonstrate their solutions are cost-effective and flexible without compromising on quality, and they also need to be energy efficient.

“There’s definitely been an increase in the amount and diversity of AV we’re being asked to supply,” reports Amy Cronshaw, account manager, AVMI. “It’s still predominantly for strategy and training-based facilities especially when new troops are being readied for theatre.”

AVMI supplies kit including high-res touch-screens to MoD HQs at Northwood and Whitehall. When it comes to new technologies, Cronshaw says AVMI brings these to the MOD's attention but also that the department is “a lot more open” to innovation then previously.

“Everything has to be security vetted and it’s definitely a longer process than in other areas of our business but we are very selective in the types of technologies we choose to put forward to the MOD.”

On land
The government's ￡178 billion overall defence equipment and support budget planned over the next decade includes squadrons of F-35 jets, nine maritime patrol aircraft and four submarines. And new public address systems at its mainland bases.

The existing systems are antiquated and typically based on telephony wires making them unfit for modern emergencies such as warning personnel about mortar attacks or mid-air collisions.

“At RAF Lossiemouth the old circuit controls were shared with the street lights and when this was converted to fibre the installers inadvertently ripped out all the copper wires and they lost all PA function,” says Kevin Sherwood, field sales director, CIE Group. “On many sites the basic infrastructure is held together with string and glue. These are gradually being updated to IP networks running over fibre and CAT6 / CAT7 cables.”

SCIDA (Site Co-ordinating Installation Design Authority) oversee all MoD communication information infrastructure to exacting standards.

“On some sites there are black and red wires,” says Sherwood. “Black is fine, we can touch those, but red is top secret and we're forbidden to go anywhere near them. That said, the MoD is more open to using new technology than any government body. You'll get fifty engineers telling you why not to use something in other departments, so it's quite refreshing when you get to a RAF base, you suggest a solution and they just say 'yes'.” 

CIE has done half a dozen revamps of barracks since the Defence Review including Air Command HQ High Wycombe, the SAS camp at RAF St Athan, and RNAS Yeovilton, the dive and airsea rescue crash facility. 

“Where it used to be very hard to get your foot in the door, the MoD is starting to go to the market and find reputable companies and talk to not one but four or five of them which opens up the competition,” says Sherwood.

At sea 
Defence departments the world over have realised that they can offer their employees stationed away for weeks on end a more 'home from home' experience. Indeed, cadets expect to access Netflix and watch their own videos from their smart phones on TVs in their accomodation “using a proper AV solution rather than a CRT TV or a digital flat panel from Argos,” says Tim Hoddy, head of sales, UK and Ireland at Tripleplay Services.

That holds true for delivery of TV services on boats. “A military ship has similar business drivers to that of a corporate or bank,” says Hoddy. “There's a need to deliver digital media across the organisation – for both entertainment and information -  such that the organisation has centralised control over the content.”

TriplePlay outfitted British aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales with a 500 screen IPTV systems. These vessels don't carry dedicated AV technicians so the kit has to be reliable and managed by non-specialists at sea.

“The overwhelming driver is for a solution that doesn't rely on external internet connections,” says Hoddy. “Like many corporate installs the ship's IPTV has to be self contained.”

Military craft are often designed a long way in advance of implementation so that the exact weight and size can be factored in, but this can cause problems if a piece of AV kit – a server, say – goes obsolete in the meantime.

“You can put kit in storage so that it is not 'end of lifed' but then you may have issues servicing it down the line,” says Hoddy. “Alternatively, a software-based system like ours can always be upgraded.”

Aircraft carriers are also massive communities – with one big difference: they move.
“A ship set up in Portsmouth with satellite receiver cards won't be able to receive that programming when it rounds the Cape,” says Hoddy. “Unless the system has a means by which the crew can easily swap media delivery from one set of satellites to another.

Given the amount of time they are at sea the people who live on these towns need time off so shift patterns are common. Tripleplay can programme a time shift so that when crew come in from work at 7am they can still watch Corrie in a schedule that make sense for them. “You can't underestimate the importance of this on a moveable town when you need an element of normality,” says Hoddy.

Rapid response
Mitsubishi partnered with French company IRTS to create a mobile instant control room screen for rapid set-up in emergency situations, such as in conflict zones or areas afflicted by outbreaks of disease.

“The criteria we were given is that the solution had to be capable of set-up by not more than two people, without tools and in just 15 minutes,” explained Peter Van Dijk, senior business development manager, export, display systems group, Mitsubishi Electric.

The prototype flypack arrangement comprises of four LCD screens which can be locked together by clips and height adjusted by a motorised lift.

Into space
Rocket research isn’t something you might associate with professional audio but when you are firing people into space, you need to check your ship is up to the job.

NASA’s Space Power facility in Ohio houses a chamber that recreates the pressure levels in a real launch scenario and uses XTA processing.

The massive acoustic chamber is excited with a variety of LF and HF pressure transducers, capable of generating pressures well over 150dB across a wide spectrum to simulate what would be happening at a real launch.

“Just as with standard aeronautics, there are lives directly at stake and this has to drive how all testing, verification and development is driven,” says Waring Hayes,
technical brand manager, XTA Electronics.

The fact that NASA have chosen to use equipment designed for audio reproduction to control equipment designed to shake the rivets from a rocket, and adapt its use to their needs would suggest they are innovating rather than being wholly conservative. On the other hand, their desire to stick to well tested, rugged equipment, instead of designing their own would suggest that they like to keep risk low.


For a second project XTA are working on in Munich, there are discussions about modifying its firmware to adapt it for NASA requirements. “This is a low risk strategy as the changes are minor, but significant to the success of integration,” says Waring.

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Wednesday, 1 June 2016

Specialist Camera Systems

InBroadcast 

Developments in acquiring ultra motion, low light action and high resolution.

Super slo motion shots are among the most prized in sports for the ability to show technique, incident and emotion in hyper-detail. Perhaps the biggest recent development is Infinite from Belgium's I-MOVIX. Referred to by CEO Laurent Renard, as “a brand-new radically innovative solution,” Infinite is based on the Phantom Flex4K camera and I-MOVIX X10 platform. It is capable of recording over an hour of continuous loop recording in HD in conjunction with a server, where it only requires a single channel, saving cost and space in the mobile truck and it can even record onboard for use without a server. The system's ability to provide 'trigger-less coverage' means a dedicated operator is not required, which simplifies the camera workflow.

 The firm's X10 UHD RF system, launched last year, enables live and replay operation with standard RF equipment now including the Clip-On 4 or L1700 wireless cameraback solutions from Vislink.
I-Movix has also added IP-based remote production capabilities to its range. The upgrade allows production teams to add I-Movix cameras, in different locations, to a network and then manage and control them from a central media centre.

Germany's Antelope Camera Systems has updated its Colibri Deflicker, a tool engineered to eliminate interference between the flickering produced by most artificial lights and the high-speed frame-rate of the camera. The unit takes a HD-SDI signal and outputs a flicker-free feed in real-time without visible artifacts. Also new is Cobra Link – a multi-channel fibre-optic transmission system. Designed for high-speed camera systems, this unit outputs two 3G HD-SDI video signals, and operates over distances of up to 3Km.

The Phantom Flex 4K is known as a top of the range ultra motion imager but makers Vision Research are to bring out a mid-range version. Anticipated in the IBC2016 timeframe, the Phantom VEO is capable of capturing up to 1500 fps at 2.5K resolution recording to standard CFast 2.0 cards.


Low-light
The main markets for ultra-high-sensitivity cameras reside in surveillance, airbourne reconnaissance, astronomy or niches like cave exploration but broadcasters can also find uses for them. Last year Canon launched the ME-20F-SH, a $30000 HD camera with a staggering ISO in excess of 4 million which has been used to capture the nocturnal behaviour of Tarsier monkeys for a Sky 1 documentary. Now the model has a baby brother ME200S-SH camera which uses the same sensor as Canon's C100 for Super35 sizing. It records to an external device via SDi or HDMI (unlike the ME-20 which has no onboard recording) and can be configured a number of different ways from either studio or on-the-go use. It doesn’t have the ultra-high ISO of the ME20, but still offers a max 204,800 sensitivity, two NDs and an IR cut filter and only costs $4999.

Sony’s new UMC-S3C is an interchangeable-lens Super 35mm camera which weighs 400g, boasts an ISO range up to 409,600 and a 4K resolution, which may make it preferable over the competition. It will also record to onboard memory cards which makes it more practical for run and gun style.

Cineflex also has a high-sensitivity camera aimed more at ENG and broadcast markets. The V14-HS features a 3CMOS sensor that “assures high contrast color imagery in dark, misty and foggy conditions.” It also includes a software package called Smart Payload Technology which consists of features like unlimited signal bandwidth and video tagged with geographic metadata like street names enabling augmented views in real-time or post production.


4K for VR

If people are going to have screens strapped to their faces it pays to make the video as high resolution as possible, not least to offset the information lost in stitching the multiple feeds together.

NakedEYE from Indiecam is a 4K back-to-back lensed global shutter camera for 360 video. Indiecam says nakedEYE provides “unique POV-style VR shots from moving objects, vehicles, athletes and remote locations”. The square high speed sensors have a resolution of 2K x 2K each and are synchronized to record CinemaDNG RAW-files. The whole unit, including the lenses which are made by Japanese firm Entaniya, measures just 3.09 inches diameter and weighs 13.4 ounces.

At the end of last year Z Cam launched a small micro four-thirds 4K UHD camera, the E1 Camera. Funded by Kickstarter campaign and marketed by the company as a Go Pro-like action cam, it has received reviews for its application as a micro-cinematic camera. Rather than shooting on a drone or VR rig it may be best used as a b-roll camera for tight places or for pre-visualization. Its notable characteristics include a CMOS sensor, rolling shutter and interchangeable lens system with support for autofocus lenses from Olympus, Panasonic, Lumix, Leica and Sigma. It's available from US retailer Adorama.com priced $699.

As is its tradition Blackmagic Design didn't stint on announcements a NAB, making 14 of them the pick of which was a 4K Duplicator (priced $1995) works by for recording UHD files to 25 SD cards simultaneously in realtime. The idea is that content creators, such as concert promoters, might sell UHD versions of the live performance right after it's finished.

The new 7-inch URSA Studio Viewfinder turns a Blackmagic URSA Mini into a professional studio camera. A software update to the camera adds features such as talkback, tally, camera control and lens control from BMD's ATEM live production switchers. At NAB Blackmagic also showed off a VR rig from 360 Designs that uses its Micro Cameras. A Mini Eye rig holding ten cameras is priced $55,000.

Action cams

Small HD POV cams include the Codex Action Cam, an imager capable of shooting 12-bit RAW at up to 60fps to a Codex Camera Control Recorder housed in the same small body; IO Industries' Flare Camera Series and the Cerberus from LMP Lux Media Plan. This is a modular system combining three 2/3” sensors using the identical processing hardware and making the camera heads interchangeable.

IO Industries also has a 4K mini-cam, the 4KSDI which sites a Super 35mm global shutter CMOS sensor with 12 stops of dynamic range in its aluminum chassis. It uses four standard 3G/HD-SDI outputs for the signal and permits interchangeable lens mounts including Arri PL, Nikon F and Canon EF, allowing a range of familiar lenses to be used. For stereo 3D or panoramic configurations, or live-to-air broadcasts, an HD sync reference is included for multi-camera synchronization.

8K for VFX

A production ecosystem for 8K is being pursued full steam ahead by mainly Japanese manufacturers in order to showcase Japan Inc ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Hitachi and Ikegami have new 8K systems cameras and Canon is working on one too. It won't be due until 2018 though. A protoype at NAB was housed in a C300 M11 and was shown recording to four Convergent Design Odyssey7Qs in four 4K quadrants and displayed on Canon's prototype 55-inch reference monitor.

“8K is much more challenging than the move from SD to HD and the industry is still facing the challenge of going to 4K,” warned Canon's professional video products manager, Tim Smith.

Canon will have an eye on the cine film market where the overhead of information gathered from high-resolution sensors are a bonus for VFX-intensive productions and emerging forms of volumetric imaging.

RED has beaten Canon to it. The Weapon sports an 8K (8192 x 4320) sensor and is already in use on Marvel Studios' Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 with a Codex assisted workflow. The camera can capture 8K resolution at up to 75 frames per second (fps) although with multiple cameras, the amount of REDcode RAW data generated on this vfx blockbuster topped 100 TB in just a month's shooting.

Chinese company Kinefinity has new 5K and 6K Terra cameras which resemble REDcameras in design. They both record as ProRes 422 or in KineRAW, which can be transcoded into CinemaDNG and ProRres by the company’s own software.

The Terra 5K has dual shutter modes: a rolling shutter for a wide latitude, low noise, and fast frame rates up to 15 f-stops and a global shutter up to 13 stops. It can shoot 5K up to 60 fps, and costs $5K body only. The Terra version uses a 6K CMOS sensor with rolling shutter with up to 14 f-stops latitude (at 25fps). It costs $6000 and both are available via European distributor MJIT Berlin.

The future is light-field
A camera being launched by Silicon Valley tech developer Lytro later this year is able to record video through a microlens array comprising millions of lenslets onto a 755 RAW megapixel sensor up to 300 fps. The technique, known as light-field, captures the depth, direction and intensity of light rays in a scene as data to enable greater flexibility in altering the image in post.

“Currently, key creative decisions such as the frame rate are ‘baked in’ at the time of capture,” explains Jon Karafin, head of light-field video, product management, Lytro. “Light-field means you can computationally change the shutter time, frame rate and aperture after the event. For the film and TV community, that means they can get shots that previously weren’t possible. Computers, storage and bandwidth have finally caught up to a point that makes light-field practical, with the level of quality for demanding production."


While cinematographers may baulk at the idea, the Lytro Cinema Camera can simulate existing lenses, for example by applying an anamorphic lens to scenes in post. The first version is built like a tank so can only be used in studio and it's being offered for rent, inclusive of technicians and server from $125K.
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Hollywood Tech Retreat shifts attention to UK

Screen Daily
A behind-the-scenes look at Game Of Thrones, visual effects rendered in the Cloud and a blow-by-blow account of the virtual production techniques used to create Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book are highlights of the HPA Tech Retreat which debuts in the UK next month (July 13-14).
Trade body HPA, which recently rebranded from the Hollywood Post Alliance to the Hollywood Professional Association, is targeting facility engineers, CTOs and post producers to a local reworking of the conference and networking event, which it has organised in the US since 1993.
It arrives in the UK at an auspicious time, given the country’s explosion in staging and post production of studio features and high-end TV drama.
“It’s an acknowledgment from the powers that be in LA that UK houses have a lot of influence on the worldwide stage,” said Framestore CTO Steve MacPherson.
“With facilities in Montreal, Vancouver and India, there’s a lot of activity which is not LA based so the ‘Hollywood’ in the HPA brand is less about location and more about the concept of a global post community.”
It was the merger last May with technical standards body SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) - and in particular the influence of SMPTE’s 500-plus UK members - which drove the decision to launch in the UK.
The North American retreat is located in Palm Springs. The UK venue is Heythrop Park, Oxfordshire.
Game Of Thrones
Steve Beres, HBO’s vice-president for west coast media and production operations, will open the two-day event with a spotlight on the latest series of fantasy epic Game Of Thrones. This will include an explanation of the show’s use of Dolby Atmos object-based audio and the challenges delivering this to the home.
Shot in Belfast, the post-production for Game Of Thrones is shared roughly 50/50 between UK and LA facilities.
Also on the agenda is a focus on Disney’s The Jungle Book, which mixed principal photography on soundstages in LA with CG characters and environments created by MPC in London (and primates handled by Weta Digital).
Focus on the Cloud
The conference will also address the future of collaborative post, which could lie in the Cloud thanks to its inherent cost savings.
Every piece of media including dailies, rough cuts, archive and even final content delivery can now be managed across continents from remote servers.
“This is massively important,” said Framestore’s MacPherson, a panellist. “I think it’s very easy to leave the tap running [on using Cloud resources] without proper modelling but Cloud can solve major issues of capital investment.”
The noise around virtual reality will not be ignored. “Studios are taking it seriously as an opportunity for additional revenue streams,” noted Simon Gauntlett, CTO, Digital TV Group.
“There are production challenges like where to hide crew and how to direct a viewer’s attention. There are also the purely technical issue of how to deliver content to different devices.
“If Fox, for example, wants to make a VR of Alien: Covenant, it will have to make different versions for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive and dozens of others. That’s not scaleable without standards which is where HPA and SMPTE can begin to act.”
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