Newsletter from 13/01/2015
The Fantastic Four Meet 4K
MOBILE PRODUCTION
403 HD OBVans - An Overview on the Installed Hardware
In our online catalogues we currently present 403 HD OBVans/Trucks. These 403 HD OBVans are distributed accross all five continents and represent trucks with four camera channels up to trucks with more than 30 camera channels. We have analyzed the installed hardware and present following the market shares for 20 product groups. Internationally working freelance Cameramen, SloMo operators, Sound engineers or vision editors can find out which product skills are the most appropriate for working in across most of the HD OBVans/Trucks and the manufactures can see how good their marketing strategies are working across the various countries.
Get all the 20 charts here
Ross Mobile Productions: New Kid on the Block Ramps Up Quickly
In October 2013, Ross Video charted out a new strategic roadmap by acquiring South Florida-based Mobile Content Providers (MCP) and, in doing so, officially entered the remote-production market. Just over a year later, Ross Mobile Productions (RMP) has already experienced tremendous growth, increasing its fleet from two to five trucks and gaining a foothold in the linear-TV market after primarily serving streaming shows in the past. “To say we’ve grown quickly is an understatement,” says MCP founder Mitch Rubenstein, now president of RMP. “We now have an office in New York, and, in Florida, we moved into a new office that is twice the size of [our previous location], partially in order to build more trucks.
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Denmark's TV2 Upgrades SNG Truck with BroaMan MUX22
BroaMan’s Danish distributor Danmon has been providing broadcast solutions to the country’s public service broadcaster TV2 for nearly two decades. But when last year the company decided to upgrade its SNG OB truck (DNK-47) from SD to HD, the Odense based facility moved its commentator intercom onto a Clear-Com platform and added a BroaMan Mux22 transmission device for signal routing. This has enabled them to transport multiple data and video signals down a single fibre in the SNG truck, including 6/2 HD-SDI, RS422 and sync network, using Dante as their audio platform.
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STUDIO PRODUCTION
TNDV Brings Multi-Camera Production Expertise to Reality TV
As Reality TV’s ongoing success is tied to the unusual and unexpected, the nontraditional approach of mobile production specialist TNDV has proven an ideal match for programs like 19 Kids And Counting and The Real Housewives of Atlanta — two shows that have recently relied on TNDV’s multi-camera expertise for special episodes. TNDV also recently wrapped a multi-camera shoot for a second 19 Kids And Counting wedding — this one featuring Jessa Duggar — to air later in 2015. “Most of the footage we shoot for these shows aren’t seen for weeks or even months,” said Nic Dugger, president and owner, TNDV, of his experience shooting the similarly surnamed 19 Kids and Counting family. “While it’s fun to keep the plot twists under our hats, the real challenge is bringing our multi-camera experience to programs that are typically accustomed to single-camera, film-style shooting teams.”
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BUI Relies on FOR-A's VRCAM2 Virtual Studio System for Student Training
Powered by Brainstorm’s software technology, the VRCAM2 provides the school with a virtual studio using a one-man-operated, no-cameraman environment. As Bangkok University prides itself on having a high-quality range of broadcast equipment available to its students, operation of the VRCAM2 has been included in the school’s curriculum for courses on set design and newscast production since 2013. The university is now also offering a new course specifically for virtual studio system technology for television production. VRCAM2 includes expanded camera positions, sensored cameras, and a host of other useful additional control functions and effects for program production.
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SPORTS
Powersoft Joins the Legends
Built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Seoul’s Sangam Stadium could scarcely have hosted a more unusual ‘World Final’ than when some of the best gamers on the planet assembled recently for the League of Legends showdown. Based on the online game that has swept the globe (and particularly Korea), some 45,000 thronged to witness this online sport (or ‘e-game’) as the Star Horn Royal Club from China took on Samsung White, and fingers clicked furiously across a computer mouse.And with an estimated further 40 million people watching around the world — either online, in cinemas or on the ESPN3 sports channel, production values were set high.
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SHOWS
XL and Vis-A-Vis Video Collaborate for Alfie Boe Tour
Tony Award winning tenor Alfie Boe completed a very successful UK arena tour just before Christmas with video designed by Stuart Merser of Vis-A-Vis Video and the camera / projection package supplied by XL Video. Stuart was asked by Boe’s new management company Vector Management to direct the live video on the strength of his intricate and powerful work for Il Divo. Over time, he has developed a distinctive visual aesthetic which works extremely well with this classical / musical theatre / pop crossover genre of music and style of performance, and ahead of this tour, he talked extensively with Alfie himself and the tour’s Production Director Dave Nelson, before presenting a series of ideas for how video might work in a live concert context.
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Clay Paky with Roberto Benigni for "The 10 Commandments"
Roberto Benigni only rarely appears on television, but every time he does he makes history. "The 10 Commandments" repeated the huge success "the Divine Comedy" had a few years ago. The new show, written and performed by the great Tuscan showman himself, was broadcast live on 16 and 17 December from Cinecittà by RAI 1. The figures speak for themselves: ten million viewers on each of the two evenings with an audience share just short of 35%. Most of all, though, it was a page of television history that many will remember for the cultural depth it had for the country as a whole: the show was a reinterpretation of the biblical Ten Commandments in sociological terms, highly contextualized in the cultural fabric of today's world, with a clear message of love for life.
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Level 42 Adds DPA Microphones to its Tour Roster
British pop/rock band Level 42 has recently introduced a selection of DPA microphones into its live sound arsenal, including DPA d:facto™ Vocal Microphones, d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones for brass and toms, and a d:dicate™ 4011 Cardioid Recording Microphone for the ride cymbal. One of the mainstays of the British music scene for over three decades, the band is currently undergoing an audio transition that has seen them switch to DPA microphones and introduce in-ear monitors so they can do away with a 'whole stage full of wedges'. According to Mark ‘Joey’ Jowitt, who has been Level 42's sound engineer since 1999, seeing the last of the wedges was a wonderful feeling.
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PRODUCTS
Broadcast Pix Partners with Sportzcast to Link Rapid CG Graphics with Scoreboards
Broadcast Pix™ announced a new partnership with Sportzcast, a sports automation company based in Winter Springs, Fla., to deliver real-time scoreboard data to Broadcast Pix integrated production switchers with the optional Rapid CG™ 3 graphics software for dynamic graphics during live sporting events. With its Scorebot hardware, which is integrated with the scoreboard at the venue, and LiveXML software, which is a plug-in installed in the Broadcast Pix system, Sportzcast retrieves clock and score data, sends it to the cloud, and provides it in a standardized format to licensed users during productions. LiveXML software creates a dynamic .XML file in a standardized format, so data can be easily incorporated into graphics without manual data entry.
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Czech Republic’s Production 1 Makes the Move to Soundcraft Vi3000 Digital Console
Production 1 is one of the Czech Republic’s busiest live sound companies, providing audio, video, lighting and staging for high-profile events like the Old Punx Tour 2014 at the Masters of Rock Café in Zlín, the Pilsner Fest 2014 in Pizen, The Faktor Fest 2014 concert on Sokol Island and many more. Recently, Production 1 added a HARMAN Soundcraft Vi3000 digital live sound console to its growing live sound inventory. The Soundcraft Vi3000 offers a host of high-end features including a new ergonomic design, 96 channels to mix, new internal SpiderCore 40-bit floating point DSP, Dante compatibility and much more. The Soundcraft Vi3000 features a control surface with four Vistonics II™ touchscreen interfaces, making it the only console in its class that can be used by two engineers at the same time. The Vi3000 provides extensive connectivity and routing options and offers a host of built-in Lexicon reverb/delays, dbx compression and effects.
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JVC to Showcase 4KCAM Product Line at CES 2015
JVC Professional Video, a division of JVCKENWOOD USA Corporation, demonstrated the GY-LS300 and GY-HM200, two of its new 4KCAM camcorders, in the JVCKENWOOD booth (1711) at the 2015 International CES, which runs Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas, Nev. “With its Super 35 sensor, the new GY-LS300 marks JVC’s official entry into the large imager camera market,” said Dave Walton, assistant vice president of marketing communications. “Plus, we’ve also introduced the GY-HM200, which is our most affordable streaming camcorder, and it’s loaded with professional features for ENG and commercial production.”
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3D/4K ARISING
CEA: Viewers want 4K UHD, Smart TVs
While the television remains viewers’ primary means of accessing video content, the number of consumers watching video content via streaming (63 per cent) is gaining on those who watch through a traditional service provider (68 per cent), according to a pair of new studies from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). CEA’s OTT Video Consumption and 4K Ultra HD Update: Consumer Adoption and Awareness studies also show one-third of consumers (33 per cent) may purchase a 4K Ultra-High Definition TV (UHD) within the next three years, while almost half of consumers (44 per cent) indicate they are likely to purchase a ‘smart’ or Internet-enabled TV, a function commonly available with 4K UHD televisions.
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Samsung Unveils its SUHD Future with Next-Gen 4KTVs and UHD Alliance
The new SUHD TV line is claimed to celebrate a major milestone in the Ultra HD era, surpassing previous displays, delivering superior picture quality in terms of contrast, brightness and colour. All Samsung SUHD TVs will have a re-mastering engine to deliver what is says is an unrivalled viewing experience utilising Samsung's proprietary, eco-friendly nano-crystal technology and intelligent SUHD re-mastering to deliver clear advances in contrast, brightness, colour reproduction. The technology provides viewers with 64 times more colour expression than conventional TVs, producing images with darker blacks and an elevated brightness 2.5 times brighter and with twice the colour adjustment points.
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Sony Looks for 4KTV Edge with Sharpest Image, Thinnest Screen
Slugging it out with its Korean arch-rivals for 4KTV dominance, Sony has unveiled its latest BRAVIA 4K Ultra HD TVs, designed to enhance image quality and provide expanded access to content. The new line of sets was built with a new 4K Processor X1 which, says the CE giant, further advances the colour accuracy, contrast and clarity of the Sony 4K viewing experience. The new XBR X900C Series features a new ultra-thin floating style, making it Sony's thinnest TVs yet with almost edge-to-edge viewing. The new models range in size from 43" to 75" and include four new series and ten new models. Claiming to be the industry leader in 4KTV picture quality, Sony said that its commitment to developing technologies to enhance the viewing experience is showcased in its new line-up, with the processor built to enhance colour, contrast and clarity while improving the streaming quality of images that 4K/Ultra HD content providers supply.
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