NAB Show Las Vegas review

InBroadcast 

NAB showed an industry in consolidation – around HDR for live and post, around IP standard 2110 and with few M&As.

p18 http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/lesommet/inbroadcast_201705/index.php?startid=18#/18

HDR

Several companies touted products that can convert HDR signals from one flavour of HDR to another, and to and from Standard Dynamic Range (SDR).

Evertz showcased new this conversion functionality in its 7814UDX-4K product family of Cross Converters which can be added via a software license. The update allows the device to transfer to and from SD and convert across HLG, PQ (SMPTE-2084) and S.Log3.

The license also makes it possible for the 7814UDX-4K to perform colour space conversion for BT.709, BT.2020, and S.Gamut3.

At the same time, SAM announced FormatFusion4 HDR conversion in its Kahuna production switcher line up (pictured) and support for 4K and HDR conversion in its mid-range KudosPro and UHD1000 products. SAM Alchemist can also transfer across different HDR flavours when using file-based assets.

Sony was also discussing HDR conversion with its HDRC-4000. This uses original algorithms, including built-in AIR Matching (AIR refers to Artistic Intent Rendering), to reproduce the image quality and colour determined during S-Log3 production — regardless of the transmission format used.

Sony’s new Content Management Station has improved the HDR capabilities of its PWS-4500 live production server system. Designed for 4K/HD live production and available by July, the appliance allows users to create metadata-enabled workflows that can help to speed up the transfer of content from production to delivery.

Furthermore, Sony is promoting the X-OCN (eXtended Tonal Range Original Camera Negative) recording format for HDR image grading. It can be recorded using Sony’s AXS-R7 portable memory recorder together with PMW-F55 and F5 cameras. To promote wider use of X-OCN, Sony is working with other companies to develop X-OCN supporting products including Assimilate, Autodesk, Avid, Filmlight and Blackmagic Design.

AJA Video Systems made several announcements aimed at high dynamic range support. In collaboration with Colorfront, AJA previewed a new HDR supported converter and frame synchronizer. AJA also confirmed support for HDR with the release of Adobe Premiere Pro. That means that editors will be able to play the Hybrid Log Gamma flavour of HDR from Premiere Pro with the AJA Kona 4 desktop I/O card or an AJA Io 4K Thunderbolt I/O device.

Live production and Vision mixing

EVS and Avid allied to support fast-turnaround live production workflows for users of their systems. Specifically, EVS has developed a connector called IPLink for Avid MediaCentral UX users that provides “rapid access” to media stored on EVS servers. It means users don’t have to leave the Avid interface to search for shots and import them into varied Interplay and Media Composer projects.

SAM claims to have the world’s first UHD master control switcher, the Masterpiece 12G-SDI. Handling SD/HD/1080p and UHD, the appliance provides a control interface to SAM’s Morpheus playout automation solution. It incorporae’s SAM’s FormatFusion 3 to provide broadcasters with more capacity to feed multiple format material into their channels.

Ross Video also added UHD support to its Carbonite range of switchers. Carbonite UHD is the latest version that transforms Carbonite Black or Black Plus models into a UHD switcher. Carbonite Black becomes a complete 1 ME UHD switcher with 4 full keyers including a UHD chroma keyer, and transition key for MediaWipes and DVE moves.

“This is an unrivalled step forward in switcher design, it simply isn’t possible to find another product at this price point that offers this level of UHD performance,” claims Ross.

Blackmagic’s new ATEM Television Studio Pro HD features 8 inputs, multiview, auxiliary and program outputs, analogue audio inputs, built in talkback, two flash based media players, professional creative transitions, a DVE for effects and more. It’s available in May for $2,295.

“When it comes to creating an entire HD program right from the switcher in real time, there simply is no faster, simpler or more affordable way to do it,” said CEO Grant Petty.

Post

Avid made a sweeping range of announcements at NAB but the most fundamental to its strategy is a long term tie-up with Microsoft to develop cloud-based apps for the media and entertainment industry.

Microsoft Azure is its preferred cloud hosting platform for Avid Media Central (Pro Tools, Media Composer) platform. Avid Chairman and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr. said, "Avid is making a major play in the cloud, which is a significant step for the company. This represents the culmination of our Avid Everywhere vision and strategy for the industry, which will open up significant growth prospects for the company."

Avid has also made it easier for rerecording mixers to create Dolby Atmos immersive sound by hooking up its Pro Tools audio postproduction system with the Dolby system. The companies are working on a soon-to-be-released next version of Pro Tools that will offer native Atmos mixing capabilities for the multi-channel and object-based audio format. 

Dolby Atmos is becoming a routine part of feature releases including the forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Alien: Covenant but it is increasingly being adopted for TV.

Avid is also making a version of its flagship Media Composer available for free. Media Composer | First is a cut down version featuring four video tracks and eight audio tracks but with a number of functions present in the full fat software including publishing to social media channels including YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. Other companies including Lightworks, Blackmagic Design and most recently, Filmlight have released free software in a bid to attract new users.

The main focus of Adobe’s NAB show was updates to its collaborative workflow system Creative Cloud. There’s support for Ambisonic audio in Premiere Pro – useful for those creating content for VR enabled platforms like YouTube and Facebook. A new sound panel lets users make audio mixes and sound improvements that in the past would have required a dedicated session by an audio engineer.

Adobe’s artificial intelligence and machine learning framework called Sensei now helps users to automatically normalize audio loudness across an entire timeline with a single click in Premiere Pro or Audition. In Character Animator, Sensei will help ensure a puppet’s lip synch is matched.

Within Creative Cloud workflows, customers have access to millions of Adobe Stock video assets, including 4K and HD, and the ability to search and scrub through video directly in the application. New to this release is the ability to contribute to Adobe Stock straight from Premiere Pro, making the whole business of uploading and selling stock footage for any filmmaker much quicker and easier to do. Additionally, users of Creative Cloud will now be able to access the video library of Pond 5 within Adobe Stock.  All these new features for Adobe CC are priced at $49.99 a month.

Blackmagic Design unveiled a major new version of its widely used DaVinci Resolve system that integrates the sound editing and mixing capability it acquired from Fairlight.

With the launch of version 14 (the beta version is now available), new multi-user collaboration tools would let editing, colour grading and sound departments work on the same project at the same time. The company also reported that it has reconfigured the way it handles data, which it claims could result in significant speed improvements.

Lawo showed an IP-based sound mixer which supports all the relevant video over IP standards (SMPTE 2110, AES67, RAVENNA and DANTE) and comes with video thumbnails. The mc²96 Grand Production Console can display real-time video thumbnails to aid channel identification.  Touching a fader changes the LiveView thumbnail to full-screen mode, providing a more detailed view of that channel’s video source, such as a camera or a replay machine.

Capture and recording

Atomos’ Sumo sports a 19-inch LCD panel with 1200nit brightness and is able to map the HDR output of most cameras including Sony FS5 and FS7, Canon C300MKII and C500 or Panasonic Varicam LT to assist on-set or in post for editing and grading.

It can record 4K 12bit Raw, 10bit ProRes/DNxHR, plus it can switch and mix a live record and stream or record four HD ISO recordings using QuadLink SDI connections.  “Sumo is one of the most remarkable video products I’ve worked on,” claimed Jeromy Young, Atomos co-founder. Costing £2100, it ships around IBC2017.

A new version of the ARRI Alexa is the company’s first entirely wireless system. A low-latency HD video transmitter and WiFi radio are integrated to the latest ALEXA SXT W model. Camera setup will be quicker, says ARRI, and productions will be able to move faster, freed of the necessity to route video cables. The transmitter itself is devised by Amimon, most renowned for its Connex HD wireless box.

ARRI is also giving its Amira and Alexa Mini cameras software boosts which among other things improves their capacity to perform multi-camera shoots. The Amira's v5 software improves the cameras’ SDI output data rate sufficiently to allow external UHD recording at frame rates up to 60 fps.

"This helps producers to use the Amira’s shallow depth of field and give a cinematic look to live music concerts, TV soaps, and other fast-paced, multi-camera productions," states the firm.

The Alexa Mini’s v4.0 update features EXT Sync - the ability to slave up to 15 Minis to one master Mini camera, each with parameters like the frame rate or shutter angle synchronized – useful to simplify complex set-ups for VR and VFX applications.

Mobile links specialist Dejero partnered with ExpertFile, a search engine and content platform, to counter so-called fake news. ExpertFile is described as a “unique international resource for identifying subject matter experts”.  Its directory of contacts, covering over 25,000 topics is now accessible from Dejero’s LIVE+ Control management system from a web browser within the newsroom or in the field.

“In this era of fake news, there has never been a more critical need in broadcast news for credible sources,” explained Peter Evans, founder / CEO, ExpertFile.

JVC has a new command and control workstation to work with its ProHD Mobile Bridge and Portable Bridge bonded cellular technologies for ENG and multi-camera live productions. This can access all the active ‘Bridge’ cameras in an organisation and superimpose their locations over a street map with live image previews. The workstation will also allow the operator to access each Bridge camera on the network, take control, or manage settings.

Panasonic showed a prototype 360 degree 4K device that stitches the uncompressed output from four 4K cameras in real time with apparently very low latency. This means that it can be put to use without the need for complex external processing on live broadcasts of sport, concerts and other stadium events. It’s due for release in August.

BBC puts IP at heart of Cardiff HQ

Broadcast

BBC Wales’ new £120m headquarters in Cardiff will be the corporation’s first to be outfitted entirely with IP infrastructure.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/bbc-puts-ip-at-heart-of-cardiff-hq/5117682.article?blocktitle=Latest-News&contentID=1151

The building, due to open in late 2019, is part of a corporation-wide strategy to shift transport of signals to IP networks. The aim is to make cost savings and pave the way for future digital innovation.

The strategy has three main prongs. The first is the rollout by BT of an IP network linking all 21 broadcasting centres and local radio stations in the UK, as well as connecting to its main overseas bureaux and partners for playout of the BBC’s TV channels.

The network will carry all video, audio and data traffic, as well as fixed-line telephony, ISDN and broadband services. IP contribution links have already been introduced at major BBC ingest points in London and Salford, home of Five Live and BBC Sport.

“We will be more flexible in our ability to add extra services and capacity for major events,” said BBC head of product, systems and services Tim Sargeant.

“With a few exceptions, news and sport are using IP contribution as default.”

The IP network will also make it easier for the BBC to work with, and explore, emerging, data-hungry formats like UHD, 360-degree content and objectbased broadcasting.

BT’s seven-year contract is worth more than £100m, with an option for the BBC to extend it for a further three years. It is intended to save the BBC tens of millions of pounds. 

A second phase will extend IP connectivity within BBC facilities. The main challenge will be integrating incoming IP technology with existing HD-SDI video systems.

“Cardiff is a key new build and we’re putting IP at its core,” said Sargeant. “The procurement process is in the design stage. It will be among the first of a new generation using SMPTE 2110 to underpin video and IP routing. That’s relatively easy to do in a green build, but much harder in older hubs like Pacific Quay and MediaCityUK.

The technology installed there, such as HD-SDI routers, still has a lot of life to run. The plan is to introduce IP technology around the edge rather than rip and replace, unless there is a compelling reason to do so.”

There’s also an “active discussion” about the BBC’s approach to live streaming, which could lead to the broadcaster introducing parallel IP production technologies.

“The heavy lifting at BBC national and regional facilities will run uncompressed video, but there are a number of other internet technologies we must consider,” said Sargeant.

“Facebook Live is an IP production technology and it is coming without regard for our friendly broadcast standards. It’s got scale and cash and uses internet technology rather than purposebuilt broadcast technology.

“There is a growing interest among the production community in approaches for very low-cost, low-effort production with which to engage social platforms.”

Although there isn’t a huge difference between the cost of likefor- like SDI and IP equipment, the BBC expects the flexibility offered by IP solutions will mean that savings will be made over time.

“We are seeing a simultaneous shift towards service models with cost savings associated with that,” said Sargeant.

Technicolor moves Troy VFX workflow to the cloud

Broadcast

BBC and Netflix drama Troy: Fall Of A City is making use of a new cloud-based shot delivery system developed by Technicolor.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/technicolor-moves-troy-vfx-workflow-to-the-cloud/5117438.article?blocktitle=Latest-News&contentID=1151

Technicolor Pulse integrates remote file management, content player and VFX pulls into a single, cloud-based platform.

The benefit to production teams is said to be improved control of content and the ability to track thousands of files and other elements.

The 8 x 60-minute Wild Mercury and Kudos production, currently shooting in South Africa, is sending around 1.2TB per day of files over Pulse for post-production in the UK. That equates to an estimated 190TB in total, or 50,000 sound and picture files.

Around 250 shots per episode will be managed over Pulse, with some 200 pulls per shot.

“It would take two to four days to pull original camera files from an LTO tape but now it can take minutes to a few hours,” said Technicolor vice-president of product strategy George Kilpatrick. “The whole process is much faster and it removes human error.”

Pulse operates on either Technicolor’s private cloud or on AWS public cloud.

“Studios and content creators are still nervous about utilising public cloud,” said Kilpatrick. “We are keen to tap the scale of [Google or Amazon] public cloud since we believe a public cloud is just as secure as a private one.”

The company has also developed Rush, a public cloud platform for providing access to dailies assets. This will be integrated into Pulse alongside third-party applications. “If we hold all the original camera files, we could also hold all other file-based content for production, like stills, scripts and storyboards,” said Kilpatrick.

Pulse can be licensed for use independently of any of the firm’s post facilities.

“We are trying to get away from a facilities-based approach and instead use the cloud to make a virtual production environment,” he added. “People want to exploit various tax breaks, or film in exotic locations, where there’s not necessarily going to be a facility. We want to free up creatives to get the advantages of a service in the cloud and offer the same level of Technicolor expertise.”

A VFX pull is the name given to the process of sending selected frames to a VFX house. The companies providing the VFX work for Troy are yet to be appointed

Developer seals deal for studio site in Liverpool

Broadcast

A £35m TV and film studio in Liverpool has moved a step closer with finalisation of the purchase of a 350,000 sq m site by property developer Capital & Centric.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/developer-seals-deal-for-studio-site-in-liverpool/5117437.article?blocktitle=Latest-News&contentID=1151

Broadcast understands that at least two studio operators based in the south of England are now bidding to lease, buy or manage the site.

This is part of a consultation process by the developer that will determine the studios’ facilities.

Planning permission is still required for a portion of the site, meaning that construction is unlikely to get under way before April 2018, according to Capital & Centric co-founder Tim Heatley.

He said: “We want to work with an operator who can give us market knowledge and operate the studios for us.”

The developer has a 250-year lease with Liverpool City Council to deliver a hub for film, TV and the creative industries on the site of a building previously owned by Littlewoods.

Capital & Centric previously developed The Foundry, a creative industries complex in Manchester.

Claire Poyser, managing director of Liverpool-based indie Lime Pictures, said: “Any four-waller is a tremendously positive move since there is a desperate need for simple infrastructure. However, time is of the essence and we’ve yet to see details of the proposal.”

VFX leaders voice Brexit concerns

Broadcast 

European visual effects houses have urged for calm and rationale thinking as the UK and EU work towards Brexit.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/vfx-leaders-voice-brexit-concerns/5117442.article?blocktitle=Latest-News&contentID=1151

“We need to calm down; there’s a lot of rubbish being talked,” Neil Hatton, UK Screen Alliance told the FMX visual effects conference in Stuttgart. “At the moment the UK film and TV industry is at an all-time high but people are asking if this is the zenith. We may contract a little in the short-term but I don’t think it’s all downhill from here. In fact, I think it will go higher.”

Concerns over the impact of Brexit on the status of European vfx artists working at London-based facilities were raised at the panel session ‘VFX in Europe’.

Michael Coldewey, chief executive of Munich-based vfx shop Trixter believes that German artists working in the UK are concerned.

“Everyone is afraid about whether they can continue to work for vfx facilities in the UK,@ he said. “No-one knows what is going on. There is a lot of talk and we all need to calm down. On the other hand, Brexit may be good for the German vfx industry if all the German artists in London relocate back home.”

Hatton explained that ensuring there are reciprocal agreements between the EU and UK for vfx artists was a top priority of the trade body.

“We need to make sure that all those EU artists already working in the UK can stay,” he said. “We need to make sure there’s a visa policy that works for vfx in the UK and that we don’t get choked up by quotas for EU labour. That’s at the top of my remit.”

He added, “No matter where you are in the world, the shortage of vfx talent is a major issue. We need to make sure we retain the talent we train in the UK so that they don’t all disappear to Canada.”

The chief executive of Paris facility Mikros Image and head of Technicolor post production services France, Gilles Gaillard said, “The workforce is international and the growth of the global vfx industry is in part based on artists being able to collaborate creatively across borders. It is vital to have people move freely between studios.”

Digital soccer network Copa90 outlines ambitious growth targets

Sports Video Group

UK-based digital network BigBalls Media is poised to overtake ESPN by volume of unique viewers it attracts per month, according to its CEO, Tom Thirlwall. He claims the company, whose chief brand is the soccer-focussed channel Copa90, is on target to exceed the 105 million monthly unique views recorded across ESPN’s digital properties by the end of 2017.

http://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/digital-soccer-network-copa90-outlines-ambitious-growth-targets/

“ESPN do 105 million a month and are the most valuable sports media brand in the world. By the end of the year we will have overtaken ESPN [in monthly views],” Thirlwall predicts.

In March the site drew 53 million uniques, and in April it pulled in 65 million. “We will continue to see growth,” says Thirlwall. “Our ambition is to be the world’s most influential football media business by the time the 2018 World Cup kicks off.”

The startling fact about Copa90 is that it has achieved this without any football rights. Instead, it offers soccer features and commentary – 90 percent of which it produces in-house – and targets millennial 16- to 24-year-olds. It also runs a Creator Network, described as an invite-only global creative community of 150 “talented and creative” football fans.

“We are not saying that one way of producing and presenting sport matters more or that the old guard is irrelevant,” says Thirlwall. “We are just saying that rights aren’t everything. We’ve proved that it’s not all about rights. There is much more context and rich narrative to be told outside of the pure match action.

“We launched on the principles of telling the stories around the 90 minutes,” he adds. “The young audience we reach feels disenfranchised from the broadcast packaged version of the game. We’ve concentrated on becoming a brand in the most relevant [media] spaces that they are inhabiting.”

Gearing up for 2018

Driven by Fantasy Football, coverage of the NFL, College Football, MLB pennant races, and U.S. Open tennis among other properties, ESPN has consistently outperformed CBS Sports and the Yahoo! Sports-NBC Sports Network for the best part of two years. That reign could be coming to end – when measured by the number of uniques – as Copa90 gears up for the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Its rise has not gone unnoticed among big media. In 2015, Liberty Global acquired a stake worth $10.7 million in  which by some estimates made Bigballs Media worth over $50 million. Then, in January this year, Time Warner’s Turner International division bought another undisclosed stake.

“Turner has big brands for us to partner with distribution platforms for our content,” says Thirlwall, citing CNN and Bleacher Report.The investment, by Turner’s Digital Ventures & Innovation Group will be used for international expansion, content production and distribution, and the enhancement of its data capabilities. Turner and Bigballs Media also signed a commercial agreement that will see the two share distribution and content production expertise.

It will have some way to go, though, before it tops ESPN’s estimated market cap of $50 billion.

Since launch in 2012, Copa90 – which Thirlwall says will now supercede BigBalls Media as the company’s trading name – has scored over 1.5 billion video views. Users spend an average of 47 minutes per week with its content.

“The way we have presented a [football] game continues to be different and distinct from broadcast media,” he says. “If you are broadcast media it is very hard to get away from the thing that made you money. Everyone got comfortable with viewing football in a certain way. For the audience that tends to subscribe then this formula does work. This older audience is comfortable seeing ex-footballers in suits next to the main pundit.”

However, he adds, “we set out to connect to younger fans by presenting content that feels like it’s coming from fan culture.”

Copa90 is not averse to working with ‘old media’. Last year it teamed with UK broadcaster ITV to create The Fans Daily, an on-demand show centred around the 2016 UEFA Euros.

Among Copa90’s most popular all-time features is a documentary about the Belgrade derby (Red Star v Partizan). “In terms of where that match ranks in terms of rights it would be well down the list, but the story about the game is so much more interesting and clearly shows there is much more interest among the average football fan than just about the most high profile games.”

He also notes that younger fans have a broader diet in terms of the teams they support. “Our fans are equally adept at jumping onto a Belgrade derby as they are a game with Manchester United or Real Madrid. We see our audience as having a first club allegiance such as a team in the EPL but beyond that keeping an eye on a team in La Liga, Seria A and a favourite Bundesliga team too.”

He continues: “The younger audience may not be watching as many live games at home – in part because it’s expensive and it’s on their parent’s media [the TV] – but their appetite for the game is growing voraciously.”

Thirlwall suggests that the sports media industry will continue its path toward “blended” revenue models in which the live pay-TV rights co-exist with digital reach.

“Everyone has seen the pace of change pick up and no-one wants to be saddled with expensive rights, declining ad revenues and a declining audience with no foot in the future,” he says.

'My Life As A Courgette' director reveals details of next projects

Screen Daily

Claude Barras is working on animated features based on Oedipus and deforestation.

My Life as a Courgette director Claude Barras has revealed details of his next two projects.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/my-life-as-a-corguette-director-reveals-details-of-next-projects/5117381.article?blocktitle=LATEST-FILM-NEWS&contentID=40562

They are an adaptation of Oedipus for children and an original script about deforestation.

Speaking to Screen at the FMX visual effects conference in Stuttgart, Barras said that both will be stop motion feature animations aimed at children.

“The story about deforestation is more mainstream,” Barras said. “It is set in the jungle in Borneo and features a young girl and a orangutan.”

The Oedipus story is in concept art stage. Barras said he is consulting with child psychologists to determine the right age at which to pitch the story; the original tale features patricide and incest.

“This will be very low budget. The concept art currently mixes stop motion with emoticons for facial expression and masks for the character’s heads.”

My Life As A Courgette (also known as My Life As A Zucchini) was nominated for the best animated picture Oscar this year and also selected as the Swiss entry for best foreign language film. It opens in the UK on 21 May.

Also at FMX

Also present at FMX was Aardman Animations’ co-founder Peter Lord and Hugh Welchman, director of Loving Vincent.

Dubbed the world’s first fully painted feature film, the $5.5m budgeted Loving Vincent is composed of 65000 animated oil paintings. The film releases later this year.

Welchman explained that the production had patented special workstations for the process which enabled dozens of animators to paint on canvas “on an industrial scale”.

Lord talked about producing animated stories in virtual reality for the BBC and Google Spotlight.

“I hope we as a studio will do more because it is a fascinating and exciting new frontier,” he said.