BroadcastPro ME January 2014

TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENCE FOR TV, FILM AND RADIO

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

ISSUE 43 | JANUARY 2014

EGYPT TUNES INERTU rings in change with major radio upgrade

• Sout Al Khaleej, QatarSIGNALLING CHANGE

• Dubai film fest wrap-upMAKING A DIFFERENCE

• Cinematic Innovation Summit • Radio Mirchi, Abu Dhabi

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TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENCE FOR TV, FILM AND RADIO

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

ISSUE 43 | JANUARY 2014

EGYPT TUNES INERTU rings in change with major radio upgrade

• Sout Al Khaleej, QatarSIGNALLING CHANGE

• Dubai film fest wrap-upMAKING A DIFFERENCE

• Cinematic Innovation Summit • Radio Mirchi, Abu Dhabi

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I wish all of you a happy and blessed New Year. May 2014 be filled with new broadcast projects that are innovative, out-of-the-box and award-winning, and may each one of you have a role to play in the success of the MENA region’s TV and film industry.

Technology wise, the broadcast industry in the Middle East is almost on par with international entities with the deployment of HD/3D infrastructure and the availability of multi-platform services.

The one area where we have significantly lacked in the past has been on the content creation side. While Arabic ranks as the sixth language in the world in terms of GDP, the Middle East contributed only 0.72% of the films produced in the world between 2005 and 2010. That is seriously tragic.

The content landscape, however, has seen significant change in the last couple of years and we saw its most visible results this year at the Dubai International Film Festival. The fantastic line-up of Arab films this year is testimony to the rise of Arab cinema and more importantly, the emergence of a new ecosystem to boost production in the GCC.

From just one small Emirates Film Competition in 2003, we have several film festivals today that don’t just attract local

talent but also international celebrities. Homegrown cinema, especially, has made definite progress in the UAE with scripts becoming tighter and local filmmakers collaborating with international talent.

In addition, DIFF’s recent partnership with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take local films to new heights.

DIFF has truly created an appetite in the GCC for more Arabic content that goes beyond Hollywood and Bollywood fare. Alongside that, the UAE government is working hard to create incentives, nurture local talent and build the infrastructure required to create a healthy production ecosystem.

Content is king and while the UAE has recognised this and made significant inroads in this direction, other GCC countries need to follow suit.

May 2014 be a year, when more Arab governments resolve to promote art, culture and cinema, so that more content is created and our filmmakers can tell stories that the world will want to see and hear.

VIjaya Cherian, Editorial Director,Broadcast Division

Welcome

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10 years of cinema with DIFFGROUP CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER Dominic De Sousa

GROUP CEONadeem Hood

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16 COVERRADIO IN EGYPT

NEWS 5 New TV installations in

Ethiopia and Qatar10 Partnerships and

acquisitions

MAKING WAVES 24 Qatar Radio upgrades studio28 Radio Mirchi strikes a chord

POST PRODUCTION SPECIAL – REVIEWS42 Affordable standards conversion with Teranex 46 Adobe Creative Cloud

in this issue

JANUARY 2014

VIEWPOINT 32 LED lighting then and now 38 Ultra HD – the new reality

A DECADE OF FILMMAKING14 White paper reveals MENA production statistics52 Cinematic Innovation Summit brings together international cinema experts54 DIFF roundup

TRENDS64 Compact OB trucks

24 RADIO IN QATAR

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January 2014 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5

BREAKINGNEWS

● Hassan Chahine leaves Glocom; launches new company

PRONEWS

Ethiopia’s state broadcaster Oromia Radio and Television Organisation (ORTO) has selected Avid to power its content creation workflow, distribution and media management. As the official broadcaster of the Oromia Regional State Government in Ethiopia, ORTO is the first tapeless broadcaster in Ethiopia and has also recently switched from 12-hour to continuous 24-hour broadcasting. Enabling the transition, Avid solutions are critical to ORTO’s current and future success, Habtamu Dargie, Deputy Director General For Media Technology Development at ORTO, commented. “Having doubled the amount of available air-time, we needed to significantly enhance our production capabilities,” he explained.

ORTO required a tapeless SD/HD production and archive operation to streamline content creation and media management for its transition to a live 24-hour-a-day operation. Avid’s solution was built around its ISIS 5000 shared media storage system, to offer performance, protection, and real-time collaboration for accelerated editorial workflows.

Avid Interplay Production manages and coordinates the content creation, automates workflows and links ORTO’s journalists and editors across the production and editorial ecosystem so that projects can easily move in parallel and be completed faster.

Cédric Caumont, Sales Manager for Avid Africa said: “Like many broadcasters today, ORTO was faced with the challenge to connect creative media professionals in distributed and complex workflow

State broadcaster Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) will be upgrading its broadcast network for FIFA World Cup 2022 using Rohde & Schwarz’s DVB-T2 technology. The main contractor for the project is Media Group International, which commissioned Rohde & Schwarz to integrate, test and put the necessary broadcasting technology into operation.

The order includes delivery of new UHF transmitters and upgrading of the existing

NAB Show and CABSAT partnerNAB Show and the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) have announced that they will partner to produce the 2014 CABSAT Conference.

CABSAT 2014 will bring together visitors from 110 countries and more than 900 exhibitors for a three-day event, combining all aspects of the broader media and satellite spheres including: acquisition and production, pro/broadcast audio, management systems, post-production, content and communication, distribution and delivery, satellite and communications and connected devices.

The CABSAT Conference, in partnership with NAB Show, will feature daily keynotes, a state-of-the-industry report, technical programmes and panel discussions, focusing on the rapid changes and emerging technology and business trends in broadcasting. Sessions will also address the global transition to digital broadcasting, how these developments affect the digital media and entertainment landscape and how to monetise multi-platform services.

Commenting on the partnership, Chris Brown, Executive Vice President, Conventions and Business Operations at NAB said: “We are pleased to partner with DWTC/CABSAT to bring some of the world-class education we offer at the annual NAB Show to this region.

“In partnering with leading events such as this, we seek to support innovation and growth in media and entertainment and to contribute to a global dialogue that emanates from the broader international media community that gathers annually at NAB.”

ETHIOPIAN NETWORK UPGRADES WITH AVID

Rohde and Schwarz brings DVB to Qatar

environments, efficiently and collaboratively. It also needed to respond to a broad range of content creation and distribution demands with a single integrated platform in order to handle its new 24-hour format.

“Avid’s media management and storage solutions are integrated, open, and end-to-end, which will ultimately help ORTO rapidly create, access, and distribute content easily.”

The installation, which is now up and running, was implemented by Avid reseller Telmaco, based in Adis Ababa.

“Avid is a partner we can rely on to deliver industry leading solutions,” said Drossos Kyriazis, Telmaco’s General Director of Sales and Marketing.

“ORTO now has a streamlined end-to-end infrastructure that enables it to integrate workflows and collaborate seamlessly to create and deliver high quality, inspiring content,” he added.

The company will also integrate the associated transmitter technology and monitoring systems at all sites. Add to this a fibre-optic backbone, which will link the radio and TV broadcasting centres to the different transmitter sites. A monitoring solution from Rohde & Schwarz will be integrated here as well.

The headend in the Qatar is the first to be installed by Rohde & Schwarz as part of a full turnkey project in the Middle East.

The Oromia TV building in Adis Ababa.

transmitters to support DVB-T2. To generate the two DVB-T2 multiplexes, Rohde & Schwarz will be delivering new, fully redundant IP-based R&S AVHE100 headends. The DVB T2 network is scheduled to go on air before the end of the year. In addition, a new transmitter site for FM and DAB transmissions will be built, which will include a 340-metre-high guyed mast. Rohde & Schwarz will equip this site with seven specially configured FM transmitters and one DAB transmitter.

| www.broadcastprome.com | January 20146

PRONEWS


PRONEWS

Dubai-based Navigation Films recently installed a Facilis TerraBlock shared storage system to help manage post production on its 4K projects. Since its debut in 2010, Navigation Films has handled several prominent projects for oil and gas companies, airlines, corporations, government agencies and documentary filmmakers. To help manage an influx of 4K projects, the company has invested in a Facilis TerraBlock 24D with 24TB of shared storage space.

Commenting on the new system, Mike Charlton, Managing Director of Navigation Films said: “TerraBlock had a proven track record for being a solid system and we’ve only heard great things about it. It was also scalable, which would allow us to build upon it in the future. Additionally, a surge in 4K project inquiries made 4K compatibility a top priority for us. We knew TerraBlock could handle the massive volumes of high-res material that 4K requires.”

Since installing TerraBlock, the Navigation Films crew has come to rely extensively on the system. The team shoots on a variety of camera brands including RED, ARRI, Sony, Canon and Blackmagic on a regular basis. Once shot, the footage is ingested into a TerraBlock 24D that is connected via 1 Gbit Ethernet to two Mac Pro workstations running Avid Media Composer, Apple Final

John Kjellevold, MD, Mosart Medialab.

Qatar’s Jeem TV (formerly Al Jazeera Children’s Channel) has acquired the first season of the preschool animated series Ella Bella Bingo from Singapore-based August Media Holdings. The deal gives Jeem TV the exclusive Arabic language rights over Ella Bella Bingo in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Directed by the BAFTA winner and Emmy-nominated Director Ginger Gibbons, the series is co-produced by August Media Holdings and Norway’s Kool Productions AS.

Commenting on the potential of the series, Jyotirmoy Saha, CEO and Founder of August Media Holdings said: “After its huge success in the Scandinavian countries, we’re excited about Ella Bella Bingo’s journey to the Middle East. What is truly wonderful about this series is that children all over the world can relate to it, geographical and cultural barriers notwithstanding.”

Frank Mosvold, the creator and Executive Producer of Ella Bella Bingo added: “Ella Bella Bingo has a talented creative and production team scattered in different parts of the world – Norway, Singapore, England and India. Now, I am excited to see Ella travelling to yet another exciting destination – the Middle East.”

Production of the show’s second season is complete and the series is expected to air in Scandinavia and Asia during Q1 2014. The third season is now in production.

Albiral Display Solutions has appointed Venuetech LLC. as the new distributor of the brands Arthur Holm, Pixtron Broadcast and Albiral for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The newly appointed distributor claims that with this alliance, Albiral will assure an optimal service to the local systems integrators. Systems integrators, consultants and dealers will benefit from continuous training, engineering support in the development of specific products, logistics and after sales service. According to Nour A. Assafiri, CEO of Venuetech: “The addition of Arthur Holm products to the brands that we currently distribute will be a value addition to our portfolio. The policy of continuous innovation, the quality and the flexibility that Arthur Holm has been delivering, will perfectly fit with our business philosophy”. Henrik Holm, Albiral Display Solutions CEO, stated: “We believe that Venuetech is the perfect partner for us. Its skilled and experienced team will be our extended arm in the region.”

NAVIGATION FILMS DEPLOYS FACILIS Jeem TV buys Scandinavian series

Nour Assafiri (left), CEO of Venuetech with Henrik Holm, CEO of Albiral Display Solutions.

Cut Pro 7 and Adobe Creative Cloud, where editing ensues.

Charlton added: “I cannot stress enough how much we’ve come to rely on the system. With TerraBlock in place, I can walk in everyday confident our media is protected, because I know it will continue to work.”

Navigation Films captured one of its latest projects – a corporate promo for Dnata, the largest air travel service provider in the Middle East – in HD and 4K using a Sony F55 camera. Tapping the speed and bandwidth of TerraBlock, the crew was able to deftly handle several hours of high-res material.

Inmarsat appoints Globecomm as reseller Inmarsat has signed an agreement with Globecomm, appointing the specialised managed satellite services provider as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Global Xpress, serving the Government market in Africa and the Middle East.

Andy Start, President of Inmarsat Global Government, said: “Globecomm has been an energetic and successful partner of Inmarsat for more than seven years, and its established footprint across many African countries places it ideally to drive early growth of GX services in these exciting and emerging economies. We are very pleased to welcome Globecomm as one of the first GX VARs in the Government sector and look forward to working closely with them as GX goes live in 2014.”

Mike Charlton, Navigation Films.

Venuetech to distribute Albiral in KSA


PRONEWS

Health and fitness channel Physique TV announced its official launch in December 2013. The channel is available on the My-HD platform as well as on du and e-life networks. Claimed to be the only channel centered around health and fitness in the region, Physique TV offers a roster of shows covering healthy living.

Headquartered in Dubai, the channel plays out in HD from its fully integrated playout facility powered by OASYS Automated Playout.

Commenting on the channel’s content, Peter Einstein, General Manager of Physique TV said: “We produce about 25% of our content in-house with our own production team. The rest of it is acquired. Presently, we have about 600 hours of content available. Our production unit includes two studios with a 2500 sq.ft gym studio.

“Our mantra for the channel is ‘be your best’. In order to keep the viewers engaged, we offer a good balance in terms of content with a sprinkling of entertainment shows and dramas alongside instructional programmes. The local content is carefully planned with content in English and Arabic.”

The format of Physique TV includes a variety of entertaining, inspiring, instructional and informative shows, such as Yoga Today and Crunch, MMA All Out and Maximum Rush. The show portfolio also includes fitness-oriented reality TV such as Love in the Wild, All the Right Moves and

OSN has partnered with Fight Network to launch, the MENA’s first dedicated combat sports channel. David Butorac, CEO of OSN, said: “We are setting a new trend in sports TV entertainment in the MENA region with the launch of OSN Fight Network HD. We constantly monitor customer preferences and identified a credible opportunity to launch a channel dedicated to combat sports. “While young audiences love the adrenaline-rush of this exciting genre of diverse sporting activities, many combat sports are also gaining popularity as a fitness regimen.” OSN Fight Network HD is a strong addition to the existing portfolio of major international sporting events presently offered by OSN. The channel’s international programming will feature events and anchor shows, including Europe’s mixed martial arts, Japanese promotions DEEP and Pancrase, world-class international kickboxing and an extensive classic fights catalogue.

Push Girls. A roster of cookery shows such as Cooking with Siba and Week in a Day with Rachael Ray, are a part of the channel’s schedule. Then there are Arabic and English news roundup shows including Shou Fee Ma Fee and What’s Up? featuring the latest health and lifestyle news including inspiring real-life stories. The objective of the channel is to inspire the audience to get fit while helping them to make informed choices about diet, lifestyle and exercise routines, explained Einstein.

Regarding the management’s plans to establish the channel in the region, Einstein said that marketing is a crucial part of launching and promoting a channel. He stated that social media campaigns and other initiatives were necessary to engage various entities to patronise the channel. Dubai Municipality has also joined hands with Physique TV to support healthy living.

The channel adopts two main sources of revenue including advertisements and distributions. For advertisements, the channel is open to brands that associate themselves with healthy living and active lifestyle.

Einstein added, “Technically, we are very sound with a brand new channel management system and we are now ready for sponsorship opportunities. We provide advertisers with a diverse array of partnership opportunities, including product integration into our in-house shows.”

PHYSIQUE TV LAUNCHES FIRST HEALTH AND FITNESS CHANNEL IN MENA

Al Jazeera is considering a bid for a majority stake in Turkish pay-TV company Digiturk to boost its soccer offering ahead of the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar. Al Jazeera’s interest stems from Digiturk’s $321 million-a-year deal for exclusive rights to Turkey’s Super League championship.

Peter Einstein, General Manager, Physique TV.

twofour54 and ADM organise media seminar

Al Jazeera mulls majority stake in Digiturk

Some of North America’s top media and entertainment executives attended ‘Spotlight on Abu Dhabi: Business and Creative Opportunities for the Media and Entertainment Industry’ held recently. The event was organised by twofour54 and Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) and hosted by Reed Smith, a global relationship law firm. By joining forces for ‘Spotlight on Abu Dhabi’, twofour54 and ADM covered a range of topics relevant to North American entertainment industry executives, including: television, film and content creation in Abu Dhabi; the protection of intellectual property rights in the UAE; how media companies are regulated in Abu Dhabi and the opportunities and challenges for media companies in the region.

OSN offers Fight Network


PRONEWS

Damien Egan, Solid State Logic.

PRONEWS

ISOL, a provider of satellite services in Lebanon, has selected Ateme’s Kyrion CM5000 for its DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) operations.

Based in the centre of Beirut, ISOL is an independent provider of production and news gathering services operating its own fleet of vehicles and flyaways. ISOL clients include leading news broadcasters in the

Lebanon-based ISOL selects ATEME Middle East and throughout the world such as Al Arabiya, Sky News Arabia, CNN, Al Hourra and the BBC.

Houssam Mansour, Head of Broadcast Operations, ISOL, said: “At ISOL, we often operate under extreme pressure, whether in Lebanon, or when covering news in other Middle East countries. We found the ATEME encoders and decoders to be very well designed for our day-to-day race against time, effectively saving us precious minutes when we need them.

“Picture quality was also important in our selection process, as we strive to delight our customers in every aspect of the offered service.”

ISOL selected ATEME’s Kyrion CM5000 encoder in a configuration that is dedicated to news professionals. The encoder includes satellite modulation to save costs and space in vehicles and flyaways and additional features that effectively simplify field operations, reduce set-up time and minimise risks of configuration errors.

ISOL’s SNG vehicle.

Al Jazeera and Sony in landmark dealSony Professional Solutions MEA (Sony PSMEA) has announced the signing of a landmark $143 million project with Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN). The project involves building state-of-the-art 3G broadcast infrastructure, including a network-wide broadcast IT project, providing unified file-based workflows for news and programme planning, production, transmission and archiving. The facility will have multiple high definition studios, and a global media management system (GMMS) offering a collaborative workflow for digital assets within the network, thereby increasing the efficiency of content management, distribution and delivery on air. Commenting on the collaboration, Mostefa Souag, Acting Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network said: “This project will enhance communication and transfer of information from and to our 70 bureaux, and between our channels especially Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Balkans and Al Jazeera America.”

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PRONEWS

10 | www.broadcastprome.com | January 2014

Harris Broadcast has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Imagine Communications.

The Imagine Communications acquisition strengthens Harris Broadcast’s end-to-end solutions portfolio, particularly enhancing its OTT, mobile video and multi-screen TV Everywhere

capabilities, while furthering interoperability of technology and systems from both the linear and non-linear TV viewing worlds.

Charlie Vogt, CEO of Harris Broadcast said: “Many of our content originator customers have been adding services for OTT and TV Everywhere, but have had to do so with bifurcated systems for linear and non-linear services.

“This acquisition enables Harris Broadcast to take a leadership position in the OTT and TV Everywhere market, while laying the foundation for the first true software defined integration of sales, scheduling, automation, playout and delivery across both linear and non-linear content distribution networks.

Harris Broadcast to acquire Imagine Communications

IBM to acquire AsperaIBM has signed a deal to acquire Aspera Inc. Aspera’s technology helps companies securely speed the movement of massive data files around the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Licensed to clients and partners either in the cloud or on premise, Aspera’s high-speed transfer technology reduces transmission times for large files or data sets by up to 99.9% – potentially cutting a 26 hour transfer of a 24 gigabyte file, sent halfway around the world, down to just 30 seconds. Aspera’s patented fasp technology overcomes inherent bottlenecks in broadband wide area networks that slow the transfer of extremely large files, such as high-definition video or scientific research files over distance.

This acquisition builds on IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative by allowing businesses to accelerate their digital supply chains between partners and suppliers. It also extends IBM’s capabilities in managed file transfer with a complementary set of capabilities to help enterprises further gain control and oversight of their data transfers.

Arab Advisors Group’s latest research has revealed that 246 government-owned FM radio stations have been broadcasting in 18 Arab countries since August 2013, while there were 220 private radio stations. The report also analysed seven regional radio stations that broadcast on FM frequencies in multiple countries.

Liberalisation in several Arab countries was the key factor for the growth in private FM radio stations. Out of the 18 countries covered in the report, three do not allow private radio stations, namely: Qatar, UAE, and Yemen. In 2011, Mauritania and Algeria allowed the licensing of private radio stations. By August 2013, Algeria had still not launched any private FM stations, while Mauritania had launched three stations.

The IABM (International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers) concluded its annual two-day International Business Conference recently. The event brought together many of the most respected figures from the broadcast technology arena in a series of keynotes and panels debating the future of the broadcast sector.

The conference commenced with key findings from the association’s latest business intelligence reports from Peter White, Director General of the IABM. He said: “Although the market is in growth year on year at around 4.5%, this conceals some wildly divergent performances. SMEs in particular seem to be

struggling with shrinking sales year on year at about 5%. Profits are also shrinking overall at a rate of minus 24%.

“Set against these figures it was something of a surprise to see that business confidence was at its highest level for over two years. So, hopefully, we will see significant overall market performance improvements in 2014.”

The overall theme of the conference – Navigating through the changing media landscape – focused on transformation and convergence in the industry. Charlie Vogt, President and CEO, Harris Broadcast suggested greater collaboration is a necessity if the incumbents are to present a coherent

BROADCAST INDUSTRY CONFIDENCE HIGHEST IN TWO YEARS

A Documentary Voices session in progress.

The need to broadcast in multiple languages to cater for expatriates adds to the number of FM radio stations even in countries where private FM radio stations do not exist. In the UAE, FM radio stations broadcast in Arabic, English, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and Persian.

Joud Hazineh, Arab Advisors research analyst wrote in the report: “By August 2013, Iraq, with 69, leads all the analysed Arab countries with the total number of radio stations, as well as privately owned ones, followed by Palestine, with 60 FM radio stations.

“Algeria, on the other hand, had the highest number of state-owned radio stations, with 56 stations, followed by the UAE with 37 state-owned radio stations.”

Private FM radio stations highest in Iraq and Palestine

Charlie Vogt, CEO, Harris Broadcast.

response to emerging threats from new entrants to the market.

John Ive, conference Chairman and Director of Business Development and Technology at IABM expanded on the idea of more co-operation in the industry: “For too long the established players in the broadcast sector have been focused on protecting their individual interests, which are all-too-often are tied up in proprietary systems.

“In the meantime, a new wave of competitors from the telco space have shown they have both the ambition, and as illustrated by recent developments, the means to disrupt the status quo.

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PRONEWS

MediaSys organised a CG/VFX event recently to showcase its updated product line. Bejoy George, MD of MediaSys, said: “Our company has been committed to the CG and VFX market for a very long time and this CG/VFX meet provided a platform to connect the CG artists to the makers of the tools they use and other artists from the industry.”

The day featured presentations and demos by manufacturers such as The Foundry, Chaos Group, and Autodesk; each presenting

John Kjellevold, MD, Mosart Medialab.

ATEM Production Studio 4K Switchers were deployed during the 2013 UAE U17 World Cup as part of a new live production workflow in the six host nation stadiums.

Organisers approached Pulse Middle East, a provider of audio visual and lighting solutions, to not only design and install the new system, but to also provide technical and operational support throughout the world championship of association football for players under the age of 17.

The various stadiums hosting the games during the U17 World Cup were the Al Ahli Stadium (Dubai), Mohamad Bin Zayed Stadium (Al Ain), Al Jazira Stadium (Abu Dhabi), Sharjah Stadium (Sharjah), Emirates Stadium (Ras Al Khaimah) and Fujairah Stadium (Fujairah).

Coverage of the World Cup’s 52 matches was filmed by up to 12 HD cameras at each venue.

HD-SDI signals were fed into an OB truck where the material was composited on a vision mixer and the clean programme feed was used to meet each of the host venues’ in-stadium matchday video requirements.

Wohler appoints Senior Exec, EMEAWohler Technologies has appointed Liam Connors to the role of Senior Sales Executive in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) for the company’s RadiantGrid business line. From Wohler’s offices in London, Connors will be responsible for RadiantGrid’s expanding U.K., European, Middle East, and African customer base. In addition to raising the profile of RadiantGrid file-based solutions, he will also manage sales of RadiantGrid products to both new

and existing customers in the broadcast, media, and entertainment markets.

Craig Newbury, Vice President of Sales for the Wohler RadiantGrid business line said: “Our RadiantGrid line of file-based media transformation solutions provides media enterprises of all sizes with cost-effective solutions for improving the efficiency of their workflows and the productivity of their operations, and I believe Liam has the insight and experience to help existing and potential customers realise the benefits of RadiantGrid.”

MEDIASYS EVENT ATTRACTS VFX PROFESSIONALS FROM THE REGION

ATEM powers live production at U17 World Cup

the latest releases of their key products. The Foundry presented the recently

released Nuke 8, Chaos Group gave a preview of the soon-to-be-released V-Ray 3.0 and a surprise sneak-peak of V-Ray for Nuke. Also highlighted were the new features of Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max 2014.

The event hosted broadcasters, video editors, graphic artists, architectural visualisation professionals, offering a networking and learning platform.

Four separate down converted HD-SDI programme outputs were taken from the OB van and fed into the stadium’s ATEM Production Studio 4K and composited using the ATEM 1 M/E broadcast panel.

“One output was a mixed programme feed of the on-pitch action, while the second output covered the stadium, capturing the supporters’ reactions as the games unfolded. The stadium’s production team then produced its own mixed programme output, which was played out on the stadium’s giant LED screens in 16:9,” explained Rami Haber of Pulse Middle East.

The production team took a further two programme outputs from the broadcaster, which were used for the television screens throughout the stadiums, hospitality suites and press commentary positions.

Haber explained: “Although Ultra HD 4K wasn’t a requirement for this World Cup, all of the stadiums expressed an interest in retaining equipment once the tournament had drawn to a close. That’s why it was important for the live production workflow to support SD, HD and even 4K formats.”

Mediasys’ CG/VFX seminar in progress.

Ronan Keating joins Postman PatAmman-based RGH Entertainment, producer of Postman Pat: The Movie, together with Icon Film Distribution, Lionsgate UK, Dreamworks Classics and Timeless Films have announced the signing of UK recording star Ronan Keating as the singing voice of Postman Pat in the upcoming Postman Pat: The Movie. Keating joins the renowned voice cast, which is led by actor Stephen Mangan (Episodes, Green Wing, Dirk Gently) as Postman Pat. Academy Award and BAFTA Award Winner Jim Broadbent (Iris, Moulin Rouge!), Rupert Grint, who achieved international fame as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, and David Tennant (Doctor Who, Harry Potter) will join Mangan and Keating in bringing the world of Postman Pat to life on the big screen. Keating also has a cameo appearance in the film, appearing as a contestant who competes against Pat for a coveted prize.

Liam Connors, Wohler EMEA.

14

PROTRENDS


According to a white paper released by Dubai Film and TV Commission (DFTC), Arabic content production is still below its fullest potential, and presents the biggest opportunity for growth in the Middle East media production market. The white paper titled Opportunities and Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa Media Production Market, was released by DFTC in association with Oliver Wyman, on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Dubai International Film festival.

The white paper stated that although Arabic is the sixth world language in terms of GDP, there is still a significant lack of Arabic media content. Between 2005 and 2010, the Middle East contributed only 0.72% of the films produced in the world. Furthermore, Arabic film and TV production represent only 0.03% of GDP in the MENA region – below comparable markets elsewhere.

Although, collectively the MENA region has been active in its film and TV

The road toproduction in MENADubai Film and TV Commission (DFTC), in partnership with Oliver Wyman, a global

management consulting firm, released a white paper examining key areas for growth and investment in the MENA media production market, with recommendations for how

countries in the region can build world-class media ecosystems

production, none of the local ecosystems have yet to truly meet global standards. While the region has some obvious strengths, like its diverse and unique locations, ecosystems in MENA need to focus on some specific priorities in order to advance, these include:

Film: Developing a targeted incentive structure to attract the global film production market

TV: Improving the structural issue with TV audience measurement through the implementation and adoption of people-meters in key markets

Both: Enabling the creation of a readily available pool of production talent

Improvements in each area will not only enable the MENA region to open up to the global production market, but will also foster the organic growth of local Arabic content production. As media production grows, it will justify the incremental investment in production infrastructure and content development, and draw in the talent required to support it.

Egypt established itself early as the leading media ecosystem in Arabic film and TV content production, largely due to its indigenous actors, directors, and other artists (Egypt is also home to a vibrant music industry). Lebanon is also known for its deep talent pool, fostering short-form production such as TV shows and commercials, and more recently expanding into international formats and film. With varied location offerings and proximity to the United States and Europe, Morocco has become a preferred site for Hollywood film production. Jordan has also benefited from its history-rich locations and the creation of a strong film commission to ease the filming process. More recently, however, power has begun to shift towards the Gulf countries, where governments are beginning to take a vested interest in the creation of media ecosystems.

More recently, however, power has begun to shift towards the Gulf countries, where governments are beginning to take a vested interest in the creation of media ecosystems. The UAE, in particular, has played an active role, with the government to develop its media landscape. The white paper revealed Dubai’s strong potential to become a global media production hub meeting the highest industry standards.

Dubai’s TECOM Media Cluster has taken measures to: ensure ease in doing business, build the necessary infrastructure, and to develop the talent and financing required to move to the next level. Thanks to its many business parks, it has established itself as an economic hub, hosting nearly 5,000 companies, with 1,800 of them located within its Media Cluster (Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, International

FIGURE 1: DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC FILM AND TV CONTENT IS SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW PAR

Arabic is the sixth world language in termsof GDP…

…but it lacks in content production when benchmarking comparable markets

GDP PPP PER LANGUAGE*US$ BN 2012

BENCHMARK OF FILM AND TV SERIES PRODUCTIVITY†% FILM AND TV SERIES PRODUCTIONS PER GDP BN 2011

English

Chinese Mandarin

Spanish

Japanese

German

Arabic

RussianFrench

Portuguese 2.087

2.975

3.080

3.329

4.018

4.533

7.364

7.648

15.986

0.13

0.07

2.0x

0.03

Arabic Portuguese Turkish

4.3x

Turkish 1.196 14th ranked language

9th ranked language

6th ranked language

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15

Media Production Zone), spanning the entire media value chain.

The paper highlighted the achievements of Dubai in the areas of production infrastructure, such as the state-of-the-art sound stages at Dubai Studio City and the creation of the Dubai Film and TV Commission, which provides the necessary framework to ease the production process for filmmakers.

Due to this focused effort and facilitation from the government and private entities, in less than a decade, Dubai has experienced significant growth in media production. In fact, and even taking the 2008 recession into account, Dubai production experienced a 9% CAGR through 2012. Dubai’s film production industry has grown over the last few years with 19 films being shot in 2012, originating from various countries such as the U.A.E., India, United States, China, Germany, and France.

Indeed, Dubai’s film production industry has benefited from an existing production capability for TV programmes and commercials and from being an attractive shooting location. Advertisers have been consistently drawn to its diverse

PROTRENDS

January 2014 | www.broadcastprome.com |

TABLE 2: HISTORICALLY, EGYPT HAS BEEN THE LEADER IN FILM AND TV PRODUCTION, PRODUCING NEARLY 70% OF TV SERIES AND 30% OF FEATURE FILMS

TABLE 3: THE KEY TO DEVELOPING A HEALTHY PRODUCTION ECOSYSTEM DEPENDS ON FIVE MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

as an internationally renowned media production hub would strengthen and progress dramatically.

Jeff Youssef, Associate Partner at Oliver Wyman, said: “The global media and entertainment industry generated nearly USD1.6 trillion in revenue last year, and the direct benefits – from employment opportunities to cultural enrichment – generated for a country by the core film and TV industry are substantial. Media production is becoming increasingly important in a number of countries in the MENA region. However, markets need to assess their performance against key production requirements and take concrete steps to address their shortfalls.”

Lack of people’s: A challengeThe MENA region’s pan-Arab TV market suffers due to its lack of a reliable TV audience measurement system. Without timely and reliable data, advertisers cannot be confident in their investment, and they are less likely to spend the full amount they would normally allocate to Pan-Arab TV. Thus, the Pan-Arab TV advertising market is heavily depressed compared to benchmarks. Pan-Arab TV advertising spend as a proportion of regional GDP is 2.6 times lower than Western markets and two times lower than Asia Pacific countries. Significantly lower advertising spend has further implications down the rest of the media chain, reducing broadcaster revenue potential and negatively impacting the spend on content production. PRO

location offerings, enabling it to develop a sustainable, year-round industry. This can be seen through the significant percentage of Dubai-based crew deployed on large film productions shot in Dubai such as Syriana (2005), Mission: Impossible –- Ghost Protocol (2011), Switch (2012), and The Bourne Legacy (2012).

Jamal Al Sharif, Chairman of Dubai Film & TV Commission, commented on the findings: “Dubai has become the regional trailblazer for the media industry in recent years, benefitting both the emirate and the UAE at large. We acknowledge that gaps remain in areas such as the production of Arabic content, providing access to talent, and audience measurement, and steps are already being taken to improve these. In fact, the first annual report of TV audience figures was released by TView just this November, and these will be released regularly from now on, providing film and TV producers with the insights they need to secure investment. Building talent and increasing Arabic content are major pillars of the Dubai Film and TV Commission’s mandate and so these areas will be a key focus for us moving forward.”

Three key actions stood out which could dramatically change Dubai’s global position and help take it to the next level: improving access to talent by offering longer-term residency to production crew; developing more formalised film incentives; and improving TV audience measurement across the region. According to the paper, if Dubai develops and implements such changes, its position

of local content. Due to the lack of a

systematic and accurate way of measuring

the demand for content, focus has shifted

toward the development of “sure-wins” with

proven track-records.

This risk aversion can partly explain the

explosion of dubbed Turkish series. Several

early big successes paved the way for

repetition of this winning formula. As a result,

since 2007, 65 Turkish TV dramas have been

dubbed into Arabic and shown across all

major Arabic-language broadcasters.6 The

increasing demand for Turkish content is

readily seen in its price, which in just five

years, commands nearly fifty times its original

value. Series such as Hareem Al-Sultan7 have

sold for US$80 to 90 K per episode, and Kuzey

Güney8 reached US$ 120 K per episode.9

International formats have also made their

mark in a similar way, with rights being sold

to regional producers in order to be localized

for shows such as Arab Idol, Arab’s Got Talent,

The Voice, and Top Chef.

CENTERS OF TV PRODUCTION

In terms of local, pan-Arab TV content, Egypt

has historically been the dominant force,

producing nearly 67% of all regionally-

produced TV series. Although clearly the

largest production center, Egypt’s content

primarily services its home market, with little

carry across the region [Exhibit 5]. Syrian

dramas have also made their mark, offering a

highly attractive opportunity to broadcasters

given their low production costs. Syrian-

based soaps have become a central part of

Ramadan primetime programming, but have

experienced serious set-backs due to the

political turmoil.

International TV content has had ample

opportunity to take hold in the region.

This has partly been driven by the lack of

reliable TV Audience Measurement (TAM)

in the region, which has caused investors

to hesitate on investing in the development

EXHIBIT 4: DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC FILM AND TV CONTENT IS SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW PAR

BENCHMARK OF FILM AND TV SERIES PRODUCTIVITY†

% FILM AND TV SERIES PRODUCTIONS PER GDP BN (2011)


0.03

2.0x

0.074.3x

0.13

Arabic is the sixth world language in terms of GDP…

…but it lacks in content production whenbenchmarking comparable markets

English

Chinese Mandarin

Spanish

Japanese

German

Arabic

Russian

French

Turkish

Portuguese

15.986

7.648

7.364

4.533

4.018

3.329

3.080

2.975

1.196

2.807

6th ranked language

14th ranked language

9th ranked language

GDP (PPP) PER LANGUAGE*US$ BN (2012)

* Analysis considers the proportion of mother-tongue speakers in each country to estimate language GDP per country.

† Considers films produced in 2011 spoken in the given language (IMDB) and TV Series produced in Arab Countries, Brazil, Portugal and Turkey in 2011.

Sources: Oliver Wyman analysis by crossing GDP (World Bank – http://www.worldbank.org/) and Language speakers ( Joshua Project – http://joshuaproject.net/); Arab TV Series production – Arab Media Forum, “Arab Media Outlook 2011-2015,” p. 84; Portuguese TV Series production – “Obitel Transnacionalização da Ficção Televisiva nos Países Ibero-Americanos,” pp.126, 144, 452; Turkish TV Series production – http://www.iamcr.org/medindturkey; Film production – Considers number of films in IMDB database through advanced search tool (http://www.imdb.com/search/).

6 Dubai Film & TV Commission; Turkishdramasblogspot.com; IMDB.com.

7 Turkish name: Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century). This series first aired in the Middle East in 2011.

8 First aired in the Middle East in 2013.

9 Oliver Wyman, Regional Interviews, August, 2013.

EXHIBIT 5: HISTORICALLY, EGYPT HAS BEEN THE LEADER IN FILM AND TV PRODUCTION, PRODUCING NEARLY 70% OF TV SERIES AND 30% OF FEATURE FILMS

Syria6%Jordan

11%

Lebanon19%

Gulf29%

Egypt34%

Lebanon2%

Jordan0%

Iraq6%Syria

7%

Gulf19%

Egypt67%

FEATURE FILMS BY PRODUCTION LOCATION 2012 TV SERIES BY PRODUCTION LOCATION 2012

Source: Expert Oliver Wyman interviews; Arab Ad, “Main production and dubbing centers in the Arab world,” (October 2012), pp. 68-78; IMDB title database search by country through advanced search tool (http://www.imdb.com/search/); Oliver Wyman analysis.

Copyright © 2013 Oliver Wyman 1312 Copyright © 2013 Oliver Wyman

of local content. Due to the lack of a

systematic and accurate way of measuring

the demand for content, focus has shifted

toward the development of “sure-wins” with

proven track-records.

This risk aversion can partly explain the

explosion of dubbed Turkish series. Several

early big successes paved the way for

repetition of this winning formula. As a result,

since 2007, 65 Turkish TV dramas have been

dubbed into Arabic and shown across all

major Arabic-language broadcasters.6 The

increasing demand for Turkish content is

readily seen in its price, which in just five

years, commands nearly fifty times its original

value. Series such as Hareem Al-Sultan7 have

sold for US$80 to 90 K per episode, and Kuzey

Güney8 reached US$ 120 K per episode.9

International formats have also made their

mark in a similar way, with rights being sold

to regional producers in order to be localized

for shows such as Arab Idol, Arab’s Got Talent,

The Voice, and Top Chef.

CENTERS OF TV PRODUCTION

In terms of local, pan-Arab TV content, Egypt

has historically been the dominant force,

producing nearly 67% of all regionally-

produced TV series. Although clearly the

largest production center, Egypt’s content

primarily services its home market, with little

carry across the region [Exhibit 5]. Syrian

dramas have also made their mark, offering a

highly attractive opportunity to broadcasters

given their low production costs. Syrian-

based soaps have become a central part of

Ramadan primetime programming, but have

experienced serious set-backs due to the

political turmoil.

International TV content has had ample

opportunity to take hold in the region.

This has partly been driven by the lack of

reliable TV Audience Measurement (TAM)

in the region, which has caused investors

to hesitate on investing in the development

EXHIBIT 4: DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC FILM AND TV CONTENT IS SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW PAR

BENCHMARK OF FILM AND TV SERIES PRODUCTIVITY†

% FILM AND TV SERIES PRODUCTIONS PER GDP BN (2011)


0.03

2.0x

0.074.3x

0.13

Arabic is the sixth world language in terms of GDP…

…but it lacks in content production whenbenchmarking comparable markets

English

Chinese Mandarin

Spanish

Japanese

German

Arabic

Russian

French

Turkish

Portuguese

15.986

7.648

7.364

4.533

4.018

3.329

3.080

2.975

1.196

2.807

6th ranked language

14th ranked language

9th ranked language

GDP (PPP) PER LANGUAGE*US$ BN (2012)

* Analysis considers the proportion of mother-tongue speakers in each country to estimate language GDP per country.

† Considers films produced in 2011 spoken in the given language (IMDB) and TV Series produced in Arab Countries, Brazil, Portugal and Turkey in 2011.

Sources: Oliver Wyman analysis by crossing GDP (World Bank – http://www.worldbank.org/) and Language speakers ( Joshua Project – http://joshuaproject.net/); Arab TV Series production – Arab Media Forum, “Arab Media Outlook 2011-2015,” p. 84; Portuguese TV Series production – “Obitel Transnacionalização da Ficção Televisiva nos Países Ibero-Americanos,” pp.126, 144, 452; Turkish TV Series production – http://www.iamcr.org/medindturkey; Film production – Considers number of films in IMDB database through advanced search tool (http://www.imdb.com/search/).

6 Dubai Film & TV Commission; Turkishdramasblogspot.com; IMDB.com.

7 Turkish name: Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century). This series first aired in the Middle East in 2011.

8 First aired in the Middle East in 2013.

9 Oliver Wyman, Regional Interviews, August, 2013.

EXHIBIT 5: HISTORICALLY, EGYPT HAS BEEN THE LEADER IN FILM AND TV PRODUCTION, PRODUCING NEARLY 70% OF TV SERIES AND 30% OF FEATURE FILMS

Syria6%Jordan

11%

Lebanon19%

Gulf29%

Egypt34%

Lebanon2%

Jordan0%

Iraq6%Syria

7%

Gulf19%

Egypt67%

FEATURE FILMS BY PRODUCTION LOCATION 2012 TV SERIES BY PRODUCTION LOCATION 2012

Source: Expert Oliver Wyman interviews; Arab Ad, “Main production and dubbing centers in the Arab world,” (October 2012), pp. 68-78; IMDB title database search by country through advanced search tool (http://www.imdb.com/search/); Oliver Wyman analysis.

Copyright © 2013 Oliver Wyman 1312 Copyright © 2013 Oliver Wyman

IMPORTANCEREQUIREMENTS DESCRIPTION TV PRODUCTION FILM PRODUCTION

1. Locations Versatile offering of locations for 1st 1st background scenes (e.g. mountains, beaches, forest, sand dunes, rivers, city landscape)

2. Production infrastructure and support 2nd 2nd Soundstages, workshops, green screens, and quality film equipment

3. Incentives and Incentives or investment in the required 5th 3rdinvestment returns tools and structure to facilitate Film and TV production activity (e.g. rebates or film funds, TV audience measurement)

4. City infrastructure Quality infrastructure (e.g. 4th 4thand safety accommodation, public transportation, well-run airport), economic stability and safety, social infrastructure (e.g. restaurants, other activities)

5. Access to talent Availability of talent to execute all areas 3rd 5th of production and ease of acquiring and staffing talent

FEATURE FILMS BY PRODUCTION LOCATION 2012

TV SERIES BY PRODUCTION LOCATION 2012

Lebanon 2%Jordan 0%

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SOURCE: OLIVER WYMAN


PROEGYPT

Egypt’s national broadcaster ERTU

replaced its existing radio infrastructure with

a state-of-the-art solution encompassing automation

and archiving. In an exclusive interview with

Vibhuti Arora, systems supplier and integrator

SCISYS shares the details of the project

Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), Egypt’s national broadcaster, recently overhauled its radio facilities. The USD 2.5m project was undertaken by German solutions provider SCISYS in conjunction with its local partner Interact Computer Stores.

The objective of the project was to replace ERTU's first generation radio automation system with a state-of-the-art broadcast solution for its 22 radio channels. The project also entailed the installation of a long-term audio archive with a capacity of up to 500,000 hours of audio.

Rather than deploying just another radio automation system, ERTU called for the implementation of a comprehensive enterprise-wide answer to the challenging demands of a modern public service broadcast station.

Snapshot• End user – Egyptian Radio and

Television Union (ERTU)• Key systems integrator – SCISYS,

Interact Computer Stores• Local Agency – Egypt Plus• Key vendors – SCISYS, Amily, Magix

(Sequoia), Algorithmix (reNOVAtor), iZotope (Alloy), RME, CISCO, HP

Egypt tunes into smarter radio


PROEGYPT

The system needed to be installed at ERTU’s headquarters in Maspero.

SCISYS deployed its Dira (branded as dira!) radio automation system and its radio archive system to cater to ERTU’s multiple requirements.

Dira is a modular production and playout solution for radio. It supports the complete workflow of a radio organisation encompassing audio acquisition and ingest, material and programme exchange, pre-production and editing, media asset management, scheduling and long-term programme planning, manual, semi-automatic and automatic on-air playout, broadcast reporting and reconciliation, post-production, archiving as well as integrated system management.

For each of these domains the Dira product line offers appropriate software modules. Various configuration options provide solutions for different

network formats such as current affairs, information and service networks, mainstream programmes and classic or religious networks.

With 40 production studios, 21 on-air studios and 125 workstations for journalists daily producing, scheduling and playing out 50 national and international programmes, this installation is one of the largest broadcast radio systems in the region. It runs 24/7 in multiple languages. To facilitate regional studios communicating with the headquarters in Maspero, Dira Mediapool is used as a web-client to download and upload material via the web.

The turnkey project was carried out in two phases by SCISYS. Phase one included the delivery of all material installation and its factory acceptance testing at its factory in Bochum, Germany as well as the implementation of fibre.

Phase two of the project comprised on-site installation of the broadcast solution and training for ERTU's staff.

The new solution enables ERTU to stay on-air with its scheduled programme regardless of any unpredictable events that may interfere with the daily routine. In addition to the main system in Maspero, a dedicated recovery system at a second site, serves as a fail-safe and can run independently.

The on-site implementation, including infrastructure, final configuration, training and a three-month trial period, took less than one year. However, the delivery was handed over to ERTU only in late summer last year, owing to the unexpected delay caused by political disturbances in Egypt.

Although the shipment arrived at customs in Cairo in January 2011, the political situation in Egypt prohibited the uninterrupted on-site resumption of the

SCISYS offers a comprehensive enterprise-wide answer to the challenging demands of ERTU's extensive network. Top right: The ERTU building in Maspero.


The collaborative use of the Dira radio production and playout system and the Dira digital audio archive solution is an important part of ERTU’s infrastructure.

project. Instead, the delivery of 19 wooden boxes with high-tech broadcast equipment remained at the airport customs and later, at the ERTU warehouse. It was only after political recovery in Cairo, almost two years later, that the project was revived.

The solutionsSeveral hundred radio professionals were required to concurrently work across several enterprises on an integrated solution that allows for efficient collaboration between ERTU’s diverse broadcast operation covering 50 national and international programmes in 30 different languages.

The multi-pronged project came with its own set of challenges, explains Wael Yasin, Key Account Manager at SCISYS.

“One of the challenges for SCISYS was to provide a solution that catered for operating a radio production system in a multilingual environment,” he says.

The key requirement of the project was an uninterrupted 24/7 on-air operation including the radio operators’ access to media assets and related programme

schedules at any point in time, regardless of potential power losses, unavailability of network connections or even emergency cases, where access to the broadcast building is impossible.

“In order to serve ERTU with the maximum possible performance and resilience, SCISYS deployed a combined production, playout and archive system on a mirrored server and storage platform and so, provided full data replication over three locations," he adds.

The collaborative use of the Dira radio production and playout system and the Dira digital audio archive solution is an important element in ERTU’s infrastructure. It allows users to search, browse and access content from both databases, and easily transfer it into their work context.

The Dira Multisite feature provides seamless access to both, the Dira digital audio archive as well as the Dira production and playout system.

The new solution replaced an IBM/Jutel Radio Man system that takes all aspects of an enterprise broadcast operation into account. The delivered solution comprises a server-client based architecture driven by the Dira Archserv asset management server component forming a middle layer between the MS SQL server and all connected client applications. Around 42,000 audio items together with its respective metadata have been migrated from an IBM DB2 database to the Dira Archserv database that is based on MS SQL.

The production and broadcast automation system aims to cover the entire audio production and playout processes. Beginning with the audio acquisition, journalists ingest their content as file or stream, which goes to MAM. Once available in MAM, the ingested material runs through the production and approval processes before it is made available for programme planners. Only items declared as “ready for transmission” are accessible to the dedicated playout outlets.

Commenting on the scope of the project and how it was successfully executed, Michael Pridat, Technical Project Manager, SCISYS Deutschland GmbH says: “Overall, it was a fascinating and challenging project in a demanding environment. One of the key success factors in the project was the setup

PROEGYPT

Find out more at www.aja.com

Mediasys Tel: +971 4 4503795 • www.mediasysdubai.com

B e c a u s e i t m a t t e r s ™.




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PROEGYPT

of our partner network in Cairo. Our on-site representation EgyptPlus, the systems integrator Interact and our on-site engineer Ismael Youssry reliably supported us, especially in days where we could not be on-site at ERTU ourselves.”

The installation of a digital audio archive is one of the highights of the project. This hard-disk based storage system integrates seamlessly with the production system, both of which are accessed using the Dira Highlander client. The scalable archive stores up to 190,000 hours of audio at this stage with the scope for expansion to store ERTU’s 500,000 hours of audio heritage.

The audio library seamlessly integrates into the production and playout process. Automatic archiving of produced content is crucial as is easy search, retrieval and transfer of archived content back to the playout system.

The server and storage back-end is split into two halves across two floors. If either floor is not available the system can still work without operational limitation. The client workstations are deployed across seven floors with 21 on-air studios and 40 production studios.

An online storage area network (SAN) solution was chosen against the near-line and off-line LTO solutions for the former’s long-term advantages.

“We suggested storing each audio asset on two mirrored in-house SAN instances as well as another mirrored off-site instance connected via a lease-line Ethernet network connection. In case any one or two of the instances are not available, one remains accessible for the provision of requested data. This architecture ensures that all content remains available at any point in time for immediate access and avoids the requirement for the restoration of time-intense backups, in case one or two of the SAN instances fail,” explains Yasin.

ERTU decided to have an emergency broadcast centre at a different location, where SCISYS installed the third instance of the core system. The site provides independent facilities including fully equipped studios. All content and programme schedules are mirrored in real-time to the third site once created at Maspero. It is just a matter of moving staff to the emergency broadcast centre, loading a broadcast plan to the on-air workstation and opening a fader on the mixing console to start operations from there.

The workflowPlanning a broadcast, acquiring and finding material, editing audio, scheduling the actual running order and playing out the scheduled items are the main tasks in radio production. To execute these, the editor requires a tightly integrated, comfortable and powerful suite of tools whose core is the editorial client. Further on, flexibility and compatibility are expected from those tools on existing systems.

Instead of separate user interfaces and applications for various content types, like spoken word and script items, Dira presents a single, unified front end to all media stocks without sacrificing any metadata quality. Dira Highlander allows for an arbitrary number of metadata sets through the definitions of views on the audio material and secondary items, which include presenter texts and notes.

The integrated system management solution Dira ISM enables the administrators and support staff to monitor the overall health of the system, says Mona Wahdan, Manager of Automation System at ERTU.

An online storage area network (SAN) solution was chosen against the near-line and off-line LTO solutions for the former’s long-term advantages.

“The integrated system management solution Dira ISM enables us administrators and support staff to monitor the overall system's health, including software processes and hardware”Mona Wahdan, Manager of Automation System, ERTU

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PROEGYPT

“It includes software processes and hardware. In case of support requests or system health alarm messages, minimum response times are achieved as we can directly to the respective workspace and take action,” she explains.

Dira Highlander, however, only provides the user with the information actually valid for a certain item in a user-configurable view that can present the most relevant information first. The actual metadata set available to an item is determined when creating it, by selecting an appropriate, pre-defined template for the piece. The amount of data on any template is completely up to the customer, items with a need for a large amount of metadata can be presented in a tabulated window, thus separating information needed at first glance from detailed, but less frequently accessed information.

With the capability to have any hierarchy of stores in their personal area, journalists can collect all relevant material in one place. Subsequently, any audio can be placed to the schedule or called up

for editing, thus providing a seamless integration with all other required tools.

Third-party applications such as advertisement management or craft editing are integrated making use of Dira connect or API technology.

Multi-track edits of the built-in editors created on one edit workstation can be completed at any other location even a different site within the network with the third party craft editor from Magix Sequoia.

Commenting on the successful execution of the project, Amira Sharabia, Head of Central Directorate for Studio Projects at ERTU says: “ERTU is proud of the completion of this important project. The new system tightly integrates all involved radio sub-systems of our broadcast operation. This includes the new digital archive, the disaster recovery site and also the regional sites. The new radio broadcast automation and archive system is customised to exactly meet ERTU’s demands. Its future-oriented design offers scalability towards expansions whenever necessary.” PRO

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Media Asset Management and Programme Planning

3rd Party Systems

Search Browse Schedule Archive

Highlander

CD Extract

Highlander

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Amily

Craft Editing

Magix Sequoia

Audio Mastering

AlgorithmixreNOVAtor

VST plug-ins

iZotope Alloy

Mediapool

Ingest Produce

Data / FileExchange

Integration

Playout Report

Onair Control

Cartplayer ReconciliationAudio Recorder

Multi-trackEditor Startrack

Single-trackEditor Onion

BroadcastProtocol

Audio Player Scheduler Media Pool

The figure on the left depicts the Dira radio broadcast automation and archive system workflow.

“The new system tightly integrates all involved radio sub-systems of our broadcast operation. This includes the new digital archive, the disaster recovery site and also the regional sites”Amira Sharabia, Head of Central Directorate for Studio Projects at ERTU

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PROQATAR

Qatar-based Sout Al Khaleej recently upgraded its existing facility to add a new radio studio and centralise its operations.

BroadcastPro ME takes a closer look at the project

Sout Al Khaleej, a Khaleeji radio station owned by one of Qatar Media Corporation's divisions recently fitted out additional studios and edit suites at its facility in Katara, the cultural home of Qatar and the seat of Doha's film festival. INC Systems Integrations was contracted to undertake this project, which included fitting out four new rooms and upgrading two others.

Azzam Salahat, Project Manager for INC System Integrations, says the end user’s main objective was to add another radio studio to the existing facility and upgrade the existing setup to ensure a centralised technical structure for its radio operations.

“Sout Al Khaleej was looking to add a

new studio, a DJ room, an edit suite and a ProTools room to its existing operations.

“In addition to this, they wanted to upgrade their existing studio 1 and DJ 1. All of these needed to be connected to a new Central Apparatus Room (CAR) that we built in order to centralise the operations at the facility,” he explains.

A significant addition to the new setup is a visual radio feature in each studio, should the end user have such a requirement in the future. The new setup allows Sout Al Khaleej to broadcast using visual radio service as well as provide radio over internet as IP radio.

The workflow involves all of the studios and technical rooms at Sout Al

INC kits out Qatari radio station

Tech Specs• Studer on Air 3000 for

Studios 1 and 2• Studer on Air 2500 for DJ

room and edit suite• Studer on Air 3000

as central router• VSM as a controller for the router• Maya CENTAURI III 4000

for IP streaming• BRC 300 as video camera• BRS200 video switcher


PROQATAR

Top: Studio 1 at Sout Al Khaleej.Bottom: Studer Vista 1 - the digital mixing console, the central apparatus room at Sout Al Khaleej.

Khaleej linked to a central router, with a number of final outputs available such as audio, IP stream and visual radio.

“This installation has ensured that Sout Al Khaleej has the flexibility to broadcast in different ways,” explains Salahat.

The key kit included Studer Audio mixers, Studer audio router and a VSM (virtual studio manager)controller, among others.

The Studer OnAir 2500 system with 18 faders for the edit room offers a wide range of features that can be easily activated, deactivated or customised using the configuration user interface. It is a self-contained architecture that includes a compact digital broadcast console with minimal external core and wiring complexity and set-up.

“The OnAir 3000 digital and production mixing consoles installed in both studio 1 and 2 come in a completely new design that leaves minimum room for error,” explains Salahat.

“With hot swappable desk modules, controller card and DSP cards, error messages on both the GUI and external alarm signal features, Studer is a reliable fit in the broadcasting environment. Maintaining the flexibility in specification and simplicity of learning by incorporating the (Touch’n’Action) user interface that has been used in the previous successful OnAir 2000 model.”

OnAir 3000 has also been used as a central router with the Studer Router 1000 software that can be operated easily and does not require any extensive training and controls the OnAir 3000 mixing desk I/O system.

Adeeb Abed, General Manager at INC Systems Integrations says: “VSM system has been a great addition to the Studer OnAir 3000. It offers a safe and flexible operation through the user panels and interfaces that can be configured without limitations to meet the requirements of Sout Al Khaleej. It offers the simplicity


Top:The digital production and mixing console in the studio.Bottom: Adeeb Abed, General Manager at INC Systems Integrations.

of installation due to the IP infrastructure of the VSM (virtual system management) network including all of its control panels, interfaces and external devices.

“For any future expansion requirement by Sout Al Khaleej, VSM can be integrated with most of the popular broadcast equipment including video routers, video switchers, audio routers, audio consoles, multi-viewers, intercoms and several other third-party devices.”

With this installation, Sout Al Khaleej has been able to segregate its rooms for different kinds of programmes.

Studio 1, for instance, is being used for talk shows and entertainment as well as educational programmes, while Studio 2 is built to be used as a music production studio. This studio is particularly significant as it has been created to enable local artists to create their albums that will premiere on the radio station. It will also receive the guest singers to sing and participate in interviews. In fact, some well-known music artists have already created their albums in this room although Sout Al Khaleej wanted to keep their names under wraps until the launch of those songs. A special DJ room has also been fitted out to facilitate interviews and talk shows, while a new edit suite has been handed out to the client for voice-over

programmes and recorded content. The studios use a mix of disc and

tapeless devices until they fully transition to a tapeless workflow in the future.

“We have built these studios in the classic radio studio style but with high-end equipment,” explains Salahat.

The project went on air in Q4 2013. As with all such projects, one of the

key challenges for the integrator was enabling the staff at Sout Alkhaleej to migrate from a manual workflow to a more automated setup.

“This was a huge challenge,” says Salahat. “We had to integrate the new setup

with the old, while it was still on air. We undertook this successfully. We have tested this fully and it is working very well,” he adds.

The system, which is centralised with a central audio matrix, is also open to expansion. Although this project was awarded to INC in December 2012, the facility could not be fitted out until mid 2013, because the site was not ready. Since then, the systems integrator worked on site for three months with a dedicated team including a project manager, an engineer and five technicians.

Sout Al Khaleej is now on air with its new system.

- Vijaya Cherian PRO

PROQATAR

“For any future expansion requirement by Sout Al Khaleej, VSM can be integrated with most of the popular broadcast equipment including video routers” Adeeb Abed, General Manager, INC System Integrations

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PROINTERVIEW

Launched in February 2012, Radio Mirchi, is a recent

Indian export to the UAE. The Hindi and English radio station

owned by Abu Dhabi Media, caters to the South Asian

audience, and is best known for its offering of Bollywood

music. Station Head Sandeep Sud talks about the channel’s launch and the journey so far

Radio Mirchi strikes a chord


PROINTERVIEW

How has the journey been so far? Can you share some figures and ratings of your channel? It has been a fantastic journey full of learnings so far. We are growing stronger by the year. Only two years old and we have established a loyal listenership in the market, which is poised to grow further.

What is the Hindi radio industry worth in the UAE and what is your share of the pie?There are different estimates of the size of the radio industry in UAE, but we estimate the value of the Hindi radio industry at around USD 23 million. Given the scenario, as any market leader, we would want to target 40 to 45% share of this pie – but it is still early as we are only two years old in the UAE. Radio Mirchi is available on 97.3 FM Abu Dhabi, 88.8 FM Dubai and Northern Emirates and 95.6 FM Al Ain.It currently hosts popular shows such as Mirchi Mornings and Bumper to Bumper among others.

What expectations did you have when you first brought the brand to the UAE?We have always been a market leader in India and this being the first international venture for the brand, we wanted to establish leadership here too. We were certainly conscious of the fact that the legacy of the brand will only help bring in listeners initially, but it is then left up to the station to deliver. If not, listeners would go back to listen to the other stations, some of which have been around for more than a decade. We can’t rest on our laurels.Hence, we developed our content, based on a lot of research in terms of listening habits, LEP (leisure, entertainment and pastime study), and other factors. The going has been good so far.

What were the main challenges in launching the radio station here and what are the challenges of running a radio station here?We were launching a brand that is extremely popular in India, hence the

“There are different estimates of the size of the radio industry in UAE, but we estimate the value of the Hindi radio industry at around USD 23 million” Sandeep Sud, Station Head, Radio Mirchi

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All music and audio content is stored on the PC and is instantly available for playback at the touch of a button. Recorded audio is known as carts. Presenters can manually play carts or setup sequences to play automatically. Audio can be edited using the inbuilt SmoothEdit feature. The Find Cart feature helps locate the audio files.Full automation of the system allows the station to run round the clock without interruptions. The Myriad family also includes music and advert scheduling, CD ripping utilities, multi-media playout (for digital platforms) and reporting administration utilities. The Myriad studio-based playout and automation system includes the Audio Wall, Instant Carts, SmoothEdit, Log Screen and Song / Link Database. Also built in is the Myriad Manager to assist in administrative jobs and advanced advert manager for inserting advertisements where required.

Scheduling of music and jingles is done using AutoTrack that includes basic link scheduling for a complete station scheduling solution. Live updates including text, links and pictures to web and WAP sites as well as text information to Digital Radio (DAB) services are provided by an application in the software called OCP. Myriad OCP or Online Content Processor is designed to enhance digital broadcasts with additional information and content, driven directly by the ‘live’ information provided by Myriad. It allows you to add dynamic DAB DLS text to your DAB broadcasts and add information, hyperlinks, pictures and other information to your web broadcast. Myriad OCP gets information about what is playing and what is going to play, directly from Myriad and can be used to update DAB streams, local files, HTML pages and WAP pages accordingly. PRO - Vibhuti Arora

PROINTERVIEW

“We estimate the value of the Hindi radio industry at around USD 23 million” Sandeep Sud, Station Head, Radio Mirchi

expectations were that much more. Since we were the only channel to have a pan UAE reach, our content had to cater to a wider audience. We invested in a lot of research to develop our product. We are proud of our progress and look forward to continuing to meet our audiences' needs and expectations. Is the UAE a tough market? What factors ensure survival in this market?The competitive scenario in the UAE is very much like in any city in India, with multiple players vying for a share of the pie. Having said that, we love it here because we love competition. Besides, we operate in a scenario, wherein the listeners’ preferences are constantly evolving. Hence, robust regular research is how we try and ensure that we stay on top of the game. In a nutshell, we don’t just talk, we also listen!

How is this market unique and in what ways is it different from India?In my mind, a couple of things are different here in terms of the listener profile. In the UAE, we cater to a South Asian audience that includes people from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh unlike in India. So for example, if there is a cricket match between India and Pakistan, we take a neutral approach. Secondly, the music needs here are quite different from that in India. The audiences here are early adapters to the breaking music, more so than they are in India. It is therefore, important for us to balance the needs of the audience here while staying true to the core values of our brand. Last but not the least, with the limited choice of content on other mediums for many, radio is a mainstream medium delivering larger audiences, share of revenues and therefore, fulfilling larger needs. What is the turnover/revenue of the channel? Can you share some figures with us?As mentioned, we would want to achieve leadership in both listenership and revenues. We are happy to report that, so far, we are in line with the projections on both fronts. Which system does your station run on? We use the Myriad software in our studios. The heart of the package is Myriad Playout which provides manual, live assisted or fully automated radio playout.

Radio Mirchi Station Head, Sandeep Sud.Bottom right: The Radio Mirchi team.

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PROLIGHTING

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filmmaking, broadcasting environments and television production. The wider

adoption of LED lighting in production will continue to evolve due to technological

advances and innovation

LED lighting continues to make its mark in broadcasting, television production and filmmaking, and since its introduction to the market, the humble LED light has evolved into a high quality alternative to traditional lighting options. The art of lighting in film and television is universally understood – it creates moods and atmosphere and is a vital constituent of every scene. LED has adapted well to these environments while bringing much needed benefits into the mix, such as

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PROLIGHTING

cost-effectiveness due to the long lifespan with no bulb replacements, and energy efficiency of the LED (in some instances LEDs use up to 85% less energy than tungsten lights). Other benefits include less heat generation, which translates into greatly reduced cooling costs and shorter strike times, and innovative features such as remotely controlled internal dimming, focus and colour adjustment.

In the past, there was the perception that LED lighting could not match traditional lighting in terms of quality and output. Initially, there may have been some truth to that statement but with the advances in LED technology, these lights are exceeding the quality benchmarks for colour temperature and performance.

Traditionally, light fixtures have been measured using the colour rendering index (CRI). This index was developed over 40 years ago and was originally designed to test the colour accuracy of tungsten lamps. A CRI of 100 indicates perfect daylight quality, and many LED fixtures on the market claim high CRI values in the 90s. However, this can be misleading due to the fact that the

measurement is actually an average of just eight colour samples. There are some LEDs in the market that reproduce good performance in these eight colour samples and high CRI numbers, but do not generate all the colours in the visible spectrum. The better LED fixtures have good CRI numbers but also produce a continuous spectrum of light. This can be seen by how accurately skin tones are reproduced to the human eye or camera.

So what separates one LED lighting manufacturer from another? It all starts with how an LED is manufactured. Manufacturers work closely with leading suppliers to select the highest quality LEDs that meet the specific colour and output requirements.

Low cost, off-the-shelf LEDs or those bought from a catalogue simply do not produce the correct or consistent colour. As a result, LED lights for use in film and television applications must be manufactured and selected to very tight standards, ensuring that the end result exceeds customer expectations and helps to produce high-quality images.

A high performing 5mm LED package comprises a series of components that

“With the advances in LED technology, these lights are exceeding the quality benchmarks for colour temperature and performance” Chris Marchitelli, VP, Litepanels

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Managing heat is critical to maintaining the colour accuracy and maximising the life expectancy of the LED.

must be manufactured to the highest quality standards, including the LED die, phosphors and structural materials. In addition, the tightest quality control processes need to be in place to ensure that manufactured LEDs do, in fact, measure up. Ideally, these processes should take place at the manufacturing stage, and again after assembly, where the final photometrics testing must be completed.

Other components of the common 5mm LED package include the actual LED chip, the anode and cathode post and, perhaps, most importantly for this application, the lens. The lensing of an LED must be flawless as it has an effect on the light beam patterns, which must be consistent. It also needs to ensure smooth fall offs, and that there are no chromatic aberrations. Manufacturers go as far as to custom mould the LED lens based on individual customer needs.

Contrary to popular belief, LED lights do indeed produce heat. However, the amount of heat generated is far less than traditional tungsten bulbs as the individual LED lights are much more efficient. Inside the small bubble of the LED is a phosphor coating which glows when stimulated and the greater the voltage differential between the phosphor and the base, the brighter the light that is emitted. The more LEDs that are used in panel type fixtures, the greater the amount of heat generated. Managing that heat is critical to maintaining the colour accuracy, and maximising the life expectancy of the LED. This is accomplished by not overdriving them

through controlled current management, and designing the fixture with the proper thermal management, which include active or passive heat sinks.

LED Fresnels are still fairly new to the market and provide a more collimated light source than the previous LED panels. They offer more control and their traditional and familiar design makes them ideal for both studio and location applications. Recent breakthroughs in surface mount LED technology are now allowing for higher wattage LED emitters. These emitters produce intense heat in a concentrated area, and have in turn driven the need for breakthroughs in thermal management.

Thermal management should be a specific focus as it deserves particular attention during the design and manufacture process. Many different topologies may be used for heat exchange using convection, conduction or radiation. For Fresnel lighting the use of heat sink technology is most effective – a combination of convection and radiation – as a means to dissipate heat. In addition, the use of fans may be effective in blowing heat off the heat sink and moving it away from the LED. In the past, the use of fans was not an option due to noise and reliability concerns, but advancements in fan technology has seen the adoption of bearing-less, laminar blade fans into Fresnel lighting.

LED lighting continues to prove its popularity and effectiveness in filmmaking, broadcasting environments and television production. In addition to long-term cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency, LEDs offer inherent advantages to the human element of the industry – gaffers, lighting technicians and on-screen talent. The wider adoption of LED lighting in this industry will, no doubt, continue to evolve due to technological advances and innovation so that it can deliver more benefits to applications and truly become the dominant force in entertainment lighting. PRO

PROLIGHTING

“Recent breakthroughs in surface mount LED technology are now allowing for higher wattage LED emitters” Chris Marchitelli, VP, Litepanels

Chris Marchitelli is Marketing VP of Litepanels.

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PRO4K

The standards are progressing rapidly, so industry players must decide how much and how quickly they must invest in 4K UHDTV technology to match

consumer demand when the new services begin

4K reality check

2160p (4k)

1080ip

720p

480p


PRO4K

The 4K UHDTV high-resolution picture format (3840 × 2160 pixels per frame) is emerging as the standard for new multimedia services. It has huge artistic advantages compared with conventional SD and HD production, both for content acquisition and special effects, as well as archiving and repurposing.

4K UHDTV offers opportunities for new service development and differentiation, and many broadcast and media organisations have already started experimental production and services or announced 4K UHDTV plans. For example, Netflix has announced plans for a 4K UHDTV movie service in 2014. BBC and Sky TV this year carried out 4K UHDTV live field tests for sports, and Japanese broadcasters plan to start 4K UHDTV services prior to the 2014 World Cup.

Consumer pull or market push?The much higher resolution of 4K UHDTV than HDTV enables producers to capture far more detail in scenes and, in turn, provide a more immersive experience, whether bringing to life vast wilderness panoramas or offering crisp, clear action from a sports event. Producers enjoy greater freedom in camera placement and greater artistic licence when they are able to capture a wider field of view, that enables closer viewer engagement. With enhanced post-production effects, the programme director — or, in the case of interactive services, the viewer — can take advantage of very high quality zoom to concentrate on a specific part of the action.

Currently, the main driver for 4K UHDTV comes from the display industry, where manufacturers are looking for the next exciting innovation to tempt consumers to invest in new displays. Though 2013 saw many additions to the available range of 4K UHDTV displays and prices have dropped below USD 1000, consumer demand is still low. In fact, some analysts predict that widespread adoption of 4K UHDTV will not occur until 2020.

Consumers are hesitating for several reasons. Many have only just purchased HD displays and aren’t ready for a new investment. Until recently, the

only 4K UHDTV displays offered to consumers were 55 inches or bigger, making them impractical for many consumers’ living rooms. Finally, there simply isn’t yet enough 4K content available to consumers, whether direct-to-the-home or via media players.

For broadcasters, the cost of creating a 4K UHDTV channel ranges from $10-$15 million (roughly five times that of a new HD service, according to Deloitte), so the decision to upgrade existing equipment and infrastructure is weighty. While cost will inhibit the launch of 4K UHDTV services, and thereby delay consumers’ purchase decisions, manufacturer initiatives such as the launch of 4K UHDTV media players by Sony will help stimulate the market even though content remains limited.

How are manufacturers supporting 4K UHDTV?4K UHDTV introduces new artistic opportunities in terms of field of view, resolution (picture detail), extended colour gamut, and improved motion portrayal (progressive scan at higher frame rates), which broadcast and media companies can use in creating new services and differentiating existing services. 4K UHDTV stimulates viewers to start new subscriptions. Improved quality of content delivered to large home displays gives producers broader artistic scope and freedom to create stunning material.

Supporting the desire for better production capabilities, camera

“Currently, the main driver for 4K UHDTV comes from the display industry, where manufacturers are looking for the next exciting innovation to tempt consumers to invest in new displays”Paola Hobson, Product Manager — Conversion at Snell


possible frame rates and any service that is defined. However, experiments by broadcasters at 50p and 59.94p have been very successful, so whereas content producers have the option of initial acquisition at frame rates up to 120Hz, the first consumer services will most likely be based on 50p or 60p.

The 4K standard supports 10- or 12-bit colour depth, which could enable a more exciting user experience, or cause issues of backwards compatibility with current 8-bit systems. With up to 120 frames per second, uncompressed 4K UHDTV material has high storage requirements. Even a 30-minute 4K UHDTV@50p programme at 10 bits per pixel will occupy more than 900 GB uncompressed, compared with around 90 GB for a 30-minute 1080 50i programme at 8 bits per pixel.

Fortunately, storage costs continue to decrease while capacity rises. In parallel, new compression methods provide very efficient encoding with minimal picture degradation. HEVC is just one codec helping to reduce 4K UHDTV storage requirements, and tests demonstrate much higher compression ratios for the same picture quality as compared with codecs such as JPEG2000 or H.264. One study reported efficiency gains of 35% and better for HEVC when compared with H.264 for entertainment applications.

4K UHDTV transmission is likely to be compressed, at least initially, as even today’s high-bandwidth links to consumers’ homes have insufficient capacity. However, as improved compression technologies emerge along with more efficient transport mechanisms and higher bandwidth to the home, transmission issues will diminish.

Conclusion4K UHDTV not only promises broadcasters, media organisations, and content owners the opportunity to develop revenue streams from innovative new services, but also offers producers more artistic freedom. Many elements in the equipment chain from production to consumer are already available or are in development, bringing 4K UHDTV within the reach of many organisations. PRO

Paola Hobson is Product Manager —Conversion at Snell.

manufacturers already offer a good selection of 4K UHDTV cameras. Monitoring downconverters enable easy integration of 4K UHDTV into facilities.

4K production methods, already established in the digital cinema domain, don’t require the complex rigs needed for 3D production. The 4K effects and editing tools already used for film and digital cinema, along with low-cost data storage, make 4K UHDTV post-production feasible on reasonably powerful workstations, in turn, allowing broadcasters and media organisations to benefit immediately as new 4K UHDTV technologies emerge.

Post-production companies using software standards converter have proved high-quality motion compensated conversion of 4K material to different frame rates, thus demonstrating how broadcasters and content owners can maximise revenue from costly 4K productions.

The transfer of 4K movies into screen productions can be simple, due to the similar resolutions of UHDTV and digital cinema content, so movie companies are scanning their back catalogues into 4K formats, anticipating future 4K UHDTV delivery mechanisms and services. New movies, especially those made for TV, as well as drama series, are now being mastered at resolutions of 4K and greater.

The availability of compelling 4K UHDTV content will attract consumers, enabling broadcasters and media companies to demonstrate revenue-generating service innovation and advanced compression technology, including the emerging High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC), will facilitate service delivery. Both Eutelsat and ASTRA have announced 4K UHDTV transmission capability. Eutelsat’s demonstration channel allows broadcasters to experiment with 4K UHDTV services at 40 Mbps compressed using MPEG-4, or on ASTRA at 20 Mbps. Testing by Netflix and other content owners has suggested that bandwidths as low as 15 Mbps could be used for 4K UHDTV service delivery.

Investing in 4K UHDTV Although ITU-R recommendation BT.2020 specifies the technical parameters for 4K UHDTV, there remain many practical questions to consider. Because the standard allows for frame rates from 23.98p up to 120p, media companies must ensure that the 4K UHDTV equipment they buy will support the full range of

PRO4K

“The availability of compelling 4K UHDTV content will attract consumers, enabling broadcasters and media companies to demonstrate revenue-generating service innovation and advanced compression technology”Paola Hobson, Product Manager — Conversion, Snell


PROREVIEW

As the demand for higher resolutions in production increases, so does the need for standards converters in post. Blackmagic Design's recently acquired Teranex is a product

to watch out for, says post production specialist Tony Ruthnam

In the past few years, Blackmagic Design has slowly and surely become the post-production equipment manufacturer to watch. Through smart acquisitions and high standard R&D and manufacturing, it is perhaps one of the few companies to provide tools spanning production to delivery, servicing all forms of media, from film to web.

The Teranex standards converter is an example of one of Blackmagic's success stories. Originally developed as the VC100 and intended for military purposes, the unit was an amazing standards converter, used quite extensively in the recent past in 2D to 3D conversions.

Judging by the competition, especially the Alchemist Ph.C made by Snell, this is a serious piece of kit to have in your post-production arsenal. The prices on

both these units, however, made them financially out of reach for smaller post-production houses. Blackmagic Design entered this scene and changed the dynamics of post. After acquiring the company, Blackmagic Design proceeded to upgrade the internals and swap out the older chipsets with more modern chips, which has enabled it to not only reduce the manufacturing costs, but also significantly drop the price of the unit, all the way down to $1995 for the standard 2D version and $3995 for the 3D version, making it finally accessible to a larger audience.

Essentially a standards converter allowing you to convert a signal from one format to another, the Teranex is sleek, small and rack-mountable, taking up 1U of rack space. The front portion is made up of buttons to choose the

Teranexto the rescue

Snapshot• Product: Teranex• Brand: Blackmagic Design• Price: $1995 for the 2D unit

$3995 for the 3D unit


PROREVIEW

Teranex 2D (front and back).

various settings along with a small LCD to check settings and menus as well as monitor picture and audio in some cases. More on this feature to follow.

The LCD monitor is crisp and clear with a matte finish, significantly reducing reflections and glare. The back is made up of a plethora of connections, and based on which unit you pick, there could be a lot, such as in the 2D unit or there could be a lot more such as the 3D unit. Other than 3D processing such as dual channel stereo 3D, the 3D unit is also capable of 4:4:4 signal processing, whereas the 2D unit is limited to 4:2:2 signal processing. There are six preset buttons on the front panel for you to store your preferred setups as well as a lock button to prevent accidental changes. The unit also doubles as a test signal generator with various options available.

Operating Teranex – at least at a basic level – is very straightforward. You connect a video source – which can be SD to 2K, analogue, HDMI, or 3Gb/s HD-SDI – and select the ‘In’ button to choose which video and audio sources your signal is coming in from (SDI embedded, analogue, AES/EBU). Once the connection is established, the unit will automatically

detect the input video format. Teranex operates on a simple principle

– the output determines everything. Once your input has been set up, you choose the output format. You do so by pressing the OUT button. You can then modify the following options: • de-interlacing, • upscaling, • downscaling, • aspect ratio conversion, • changing frame-rate.

As you can imagine, this gives you absolute control and total freedom in modifying the signal output to any format that you can think of, in order to match exactly the specs that you require. The outputs are also exactly the same as the input so you can output 3Gb/s HD-SDI, HDMI and component/composite analogue. All flavours of input are supported all the way up to 10 bit and up to eight channels of audio on AES/EBU as well as up to four channels of balanced analogue audio are supported on a DB-25 connector. The 'upgraded' 3D version has XLR connectors as well for audio.

Now, this is where the previously mentioned in-built LCD monitor comes into play. The little monitor, as previously mentioned, not only provides the user a way of accessing the user interface to modify settings, but also to check the output in terms of checking out the applied settings. The monitor acts as a confidence monitor, allowing you to check the noise reduction, resizing, proc-amp, etc. Teranex really shines when it comes to noise reduction and ARC settings. You do have some ghosting that appears on certain fast-moving shots but overall, the quality is really high.

The unit is quite noisy as it is fan-cooled, and given that it connects to the

“Teranex operates on a simple principle — the output determines everything. Once your input has been set up, you choose the output format”Tony Ruthnam, Freelance Editor


host system through a thunderbolt cable, at this point, until you can locate really long thunderbolt cables, you are limited to having Teranex right next to the system.

I decided to really push the unit and try out some unusual workflows. Having recently completed a documentary series, we had a ton of GoPro footage lying around, along with a couple of actual GoPro units. GoPros are fantastic little cameras, that enable you to shoot in places no others can. However, dealing with footage in post is a whole new matter. The camera shoots to H264 in an MP4 container, which requires a full conversion pass in order to make the footage more edit-suite friendly. This can be quite cumbersome and take up a lot of time. Luckily, the GoPro is equipped with an HDMI out (cable sold separately) allowing you to play out straight into the HDMI in port at the back of Teranex and ingest in realtime, saving you quite a bit of time in transcoding. However, you’ve got to watch out for the onscreen indicators of GoPro and just make sure that they are turned off or that there is sufficient pre-roll. Bear in mind

that this is an undocumented workflow so it does require a bit of finessing.

As a standards converter, Teranex represents outstanding value for money – what used to cost thousands of dollars – and for those setting up an edit suite that needs a little more than simple I/O, it’s an attractive solution, even without the conversion capabilities.

The unit can be used as a standards converter or by connecting it to a thunderbolt enabled NLE, used as an IO for capture for your favourite NLE such as Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut Pro. It is also compatible with Photoshop and even Protools although these features were not tested in this review.

The unit also comes with Blackmagic Ultrascope bundled for monitoring video signal levels, which is a very welcome extra.

Blacmagic Design is definitely a company to watch out for in the future. If Teranex is an indication of things to come, well then, we’re in for some serious treats in the upcoming months! PRO

PROREVIEW

Pros• Compact package and

affordable price• Great noise reduction and

conversion features• Can be used as IO for most NLEs

Cons• Noisy fans• Limited by thunderbolt cable length• Better algorithm for dealing

with fast moving images

Wishlist• 4K up and down conversion• Extra-long thunderbolt cable option• 4:4:4 signal processing on 2D unit

Tony Ruthnam is a Freelance Editor based in Abu Dhabi.


PROREVIEW

Adobe introduced the successor to its Creative Suite recently – the Adobe Creative Cloud solution. Adobe expert Renji Mathews brings you the lowdown on the new entrant

Creative Cloud


PROREVIEW

Premiere Pro also takes full advantage of computers with multiple GPU cards for significantly accelerated export times.

A moment of silence for the Adobe Creative Suite please...thank you! And now, meet its successor, Adobe Creative Cloud. It has been completely reinvented to support a more intuitive and connected way of creating, whilst retaining all the creative applications. Although Creative Cloud’s subscription-based model has generated a lot of controversy, we won’t be talking about that here. Instead, this article will review of two of the thoroughbreds in Adobe’s post-production stable.

At the heart of Adobe Creative Cloud’s video/post tools is Adobe Premiere Pro CC that comes with a ton of new features. The latest iteration enables users to sync all their settings, workspaces, preferences and keyboard shortcuts securely to the cloud, deploying them on edit bays anywhere in the world by just logging in with the same account. It also sports a redesigned timeline displaying critical information to the editor at a glance. Duplicate frame indicators ensure that media is never accidentally reused through edit indicators make simple edit tasks easier than ever. Clear effects badges on the clips give easy access to effects and parameters directly from the timeline.

Commonly used tasks like nudging clips up and down across different tracks now have keyboard shortcuts. The much requested paste attributes functionality lets you copy only the desired audio/video effects from one clip to another. You can also copy and paste ranges of clips in the timeline now. Multicam editing has also received a total revamp in the new suite. It’s a relief to see intelligent syncing based on the audio tracks, a welcome feature if you are using DSLR footage that does not support time-code. Media management gets a boost with the new Link & Locate feature – quickly track down media files and backups saved on multiple drives.

Another great addition is the Lumetri Deep Colour Engine, (the brains of Speedgrade, Adobe’s colour grading software) that allows for selection from a rich palette of high-quality pre-built looks using the built-in looks browser. Add looks as easily as adding a dissolve!

The only drawback is that these preset looks are not editable, nor can you create your own without the Speedgrade software. You can also import LUTs from other systems. Edit and mix audio with precision using the new Audio Clip Mixer.

Fine-tune audio with the TC Electronic Radar Loudness meter, and access effects plug-ins like VST3 and Audio units (limited to Mac OS only). This version also adds brand new capabilities for importing and manipulating closed captions, allowing you to import, view, edit, adjust positioning and layout, and export media with closed captions — either embedded or as separate files.

Premiere Pro now integrates with Adobe Anywhere for video, which is a modern, collaborative workflow platform that empowers users of Adobe professional video solutions to work together, using centralised media across any network. The team members can work with files on a shared server, make and review edits without downloading the media files and eliminate geographic boundaries.

Premiere Pro also takes full advantage of computers with multiple GPU cards for significantly accelerated export times. The application is updated with HiDPI support for enhanced viewing on screens like Apple’s retina display. Yet another addition is the smoother

In Brief How Adobe Creative Cloud

Subscription works• Buy a single app or the entire

suite with a monthly plan.• Install and run all the apps

from your hard drive; you do not run any app from a browser.

• You are required to be online when you install and license your apps. For annual memberships, connect to the web at least once a month to validate your licence.

• Install your apps on two computers – can be a combination of Mac and Windows computers.

• Get 20GB of cloud storage for saving settings & preferences; file sharing and collaboration.


workflow when importing or exporting Avid or Final Cut Pro projects. AAF import is more accurate and the big news is that Avid and MXF-wrapped DNxHD media works natively with Premiere Pro. You can extend the power of Adobe Premiere Pro using the integration with Adobe Story, a scriptwriting tool and the Adobe Exchange panel, a convenient way to browse, install and find support for free and paid add-ons.

Adobe After Effects CC Adobe recently announced its partnership with Maxon, the creator of Cinema 4D, one of the best 3D apps in the market. Cinema 4D plays well with After Effects and has always been the 3D app of choice for several motion graphic artists around the world. Adobe has taken this integration to a new level with the new live 3D pipeline. Entire projects from Cinema 4D can now be imported into After Effects CC as if they were footage items without the need for pre-rendering. Once placed in a composition, their pixels are rendered on the fly as you jump between frames. You can also extract scene data from project files, including the position of lights and cameras, and add new camera moves with a camera you create in After Effects. Access individual layers from the original Cinema 4D file and multi-pass render components such as only highlights or shadows.

I honestly don’t think this pipeline is ready for real-world production just yet because the integrated rendering is pretty slow, even on a hefty system. It’s great for a quick 3D logo or text animation, but I wouldn’t use it for anything more at this point in time.

On the VFX front, Adobe’s Rotobrush has been greatly enhanced with the addition of the new Refine Edge tool. After you have created a basic Matte with Rotobrush, Refine Edge then detects the partially transparent areas where you brush along the Matte edge, revealing fine details such as strands of hair, as well as motion-blurred or out of focus areas. If you’ve ever tried to mask or key hair before, you will understand how tricky this is and how significant this new tool is going to be to your workflow.

A separate Refine Soft Matte effect has been added, enabling you to recover more detail from images that you have already cut out or keyed. The greatly enhanced Warp Stabilizer, rechristened Warp Stabilizer VFX, is yet another amazing tool. It’s like having a small Mocha AE inside After Effects. You can now reveal the underlying tracking points the Warp Stabilizer creates when analysing your footage, and delete undesired ones to make sure it doesn’t try to stabilise the wrong feature. You

PROREVIEW

"If you’ve ever tried to mask or key hair before, you will understand how tricky this is and how significant this new tool [Refine Edge] is going to be to your workflow"Renji Mathews, Adobe Certified Expert

The Premiere interface showing Lumetri.


can also now reverse the stabilisation, which allows you to add effects that track the original movement in the footage as well as composite other layers over the shot and have them follow the movement inside that footage. The dramatically improved 3D camera tracker now includes the ability to set ground plane and origin point. It works faster, better, more reliably and even makes it easier to exchange information (like ground plane and origin) with other 3D applications.

In addition to these major features, there are other important ones such as bicubic resampling, which provides better results whether you’re scaling a layer up or down. The new Pixel Motion Blur (I’ve waited a long time for this) can add or enhance motion blur for moving objects in live footage and rendered scenes. This effect adds realism, exaggerates movement, matches shots, and makes stutter or strobing footage easier to watch.

It is especially useful when compositing CG elements into live action footage.

A greatly enhanced find command takes you directly to the compositions and layers that have missing fonts or effects, saving you a lot of time. I love the seemingly simple additions to the programme such as layer snapping, which addresses After Effects’ earlier limited ability to snap layers around. It’s going to make arranging layers, and in particular, building 3D objects in After Effects CC, simpler.

I was disappointed that there is no direct support for Arabic in Premiere Pro and After Effects. The best alternative workflow is the tried and tested method of importing Arabic material created in Photoshop or Illustrator. Arabic language support is available for Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and InDesign in the Creative Cloud suite.

So, the question remains, is the upgrade to Adobe Creative Cloud worth it? Or more importantly, are you ready or willing to buy into Adobe’s subscription model? While Adobe has not done anything drastic with the subscription implementation since launch, it has fulfilled the promise of releasing significant and useful updates for the software much faster and with more features.

I saw more than 175 new features being added across the CC suite in separate updates, as I was writing this article. I consider myself software agnostic, being equally at home with rival products from Apple and Avid. But what I like the most about the Adobe suite is the unparalleled workflow that its dynamic linking capability offers. I love the fact that I can move effortlessly from Premiere Pro to After Effects or Photoshop or Audition or all of them, without dealing with import/export hurdles. This functionality alone, to me, is worth staying with Adobe. Add to that a plethora of tools that Creative Cloud offers, and you have a software that offers you the best in post production. PRO

Pros & ConsProsPremiere Pro:• Improved File handling and relinking of

media; better media browser and timeline, audio syncing for multicam; Lumetri deep colour engine with preset looks.

After Effects• 3D Live pipeline; free copy of Cinema 4D

Lite; greatly improved Warp Stabiliser and 3D camera tracking; new Refine Edge tool, Pixel Motion Blur and Layer Shaping.

ConsPremiere Pro:• High-spec GPU required for Mercury Playback

Engine; rendering is not the fastest and colour grading is not as clever as FCPX.

After Effects• Rendering in After Effects when using 3D

live pipeline is very slow; high spec GPU is required; and no Arabic support.

PROREVIEW

Renji Mathews is an Adobe Certified Expert in Premiere Pro and After Effects and is a faculty member at the College of Fine Arts & Design, University of Sharjah.

Cineware Plugin inside After Effects with an imported model from Cinema 4D lite.


PRODIFF

The first ever Cinematic Innovation Summit in Dubai attracted more than 200 global leaders from cinema, technology, gaming and financing to discuss the future of cinema. A report

The inaugural Cinematic Innovation Summit took place in Dubai on December 5 and 6, 2013, preceding the 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). A first-of-its-kind event, the summit was dedicated entirely to the future of cinematic innovation, throwing a spotlight on the changes to come.

Bringing together up to 200 global leaders from cinema, technology, video games, financing, and other sectors, the summit aimed to leave a positive footprint on the local industry and encourage international filmmakers to embrace local locations, facilities and talent for their ventures.

Co-organised by the Centre for New Cinema and Naseba, and held in conjunction with the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), the summit aimed to warm up the industry to the future of cinema that includes interactive cinema, computer-generated actors, vast new film financing opportunities, and more.

‘Future of animation’ was one of the main themes of the opening day of the two-day Cinematic Innovation Summit, held at Atlantis, The Palm. The topic was addressed by the team behind top-grossing original film of 2013, the animated comedy The Croods. Movie producer and visual effects supervisor,

Cinematic Innovation Summit brings cinema

heads together

Jane Hartwell and Markus Manninen, led the panel discussion that showcased groundbreaking techniques that promise to change the animation industry and offered a glimpse into what’s to come for animation and storytelling.

Hartwell highlighted the production process of The Croods and said: “As a team, the biggest challenge we faced was to enhance the viewer’s experience to the point that they could get the feeling of physically touching the objects – this challenge was the main aspiration for the movie.”

The day also featured a motion capture demonstration by Knight Vision Studios.


PRODIFF

Andy Serkis receives an award for his contribution to the art of performance capture from His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The studio thrilled the attendees by showcasing their 15 years’ experience in production and visual effects, including key VFX positions on films such as Iron Man, James Cameron’s Avatar, The Amazing Spiderman, and 2012.

Renowned for his portrayal of the depraved creature Gollum in Lord of the Rings trilogy and the revolutionary chimpanzee Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Andy Serkis was one of the leading speakers at the two-day summit.

He said that young filmmakers are about to enter one of the most exciting times in cinema.

Commenting on how technology is taking storytelling to the next level, he said: “The authoring of the role is very special, it’s all about the actor, producer, director and the designer coming together and bringing a ‘character’ to life. We will be utilising this in the feature film Animal Farm, based on the namesake novel by George Orwell, where all the characters would be performance captured. We are doing different experiments at Imaginarium, where I am directing remotely and can see a real time playback of what has been shot.”

Reiterating the importance of storytelling and creativity in filmmaking, he said: “But in the end, the success of film will be based on storytelling. Technology should be used to complement the drama not distract from it because for me it’s down to the refraction and reflection of the eyes. This is down to the individual actor.”

Visionaries and experts who addressed the attending audience on day one, included David Glasser, Chief Operating Officer of The Weinstein Company, Producer of the Bridget Jones’s Diary, Jonathan Cavendish, Actor and thespian Stephen Lang, David Linde, CEO of Lava Bear, Guillaume de Fondaumière, Co-CEO, Quantic Dream and CGI leader Dr. Paul Debevec.

Day two of the summit kicked off with a keynote presentation by two-time technical Academy Award winner and co-founder of Pixar, Alvy Ray Smith, who highlighted his aim to recreate the future of cinema once again.

He said: “My next holy grail is a complete CG-generated live-action movie. That’s the next step and game-changer for me”.

However, Smith stressed, in line with earlier discussions at the

summit, that “digital humans on screen is not the replacement of actors but merely the representation of the actors on the screen”.

Recently movies are increasingly using digitised actors to portray characters. Both Stephen Lang and Andy Serkis have thrived in the progressively CGI-oriented industry. They were quizzed by Dr. Paul Debevec, a CGI leader with the experience of working on The Matrix trilogy, Avatar and The Hulk, on whether actors should be concerned or should they be excited with this eminent change.

Stephen Lang emphasised on the opportunities for actors through CG and explained: “It’s definitely a collaborative effort. As an actor, I want my performance to be the best it can be and if that means a stuntman or even an animator can enhance the performance, then that’s great.”

Collaboration of East and West in the past has resulted in Tom Cruise performing stunts on the top of Burj Khalifa, Iron Man 3 being adapted for Chinese audience and Ang Lee directing Life of Pi with Indian cast. Cooperation between East and West was one of the main areas of debate for the day. The panel discussion featured Reliance Entertainment’s CEO Sanjeev Lamba, Troy Craig Poon, CEO, Perfect Storm Entertainment, Head of Investment Banking from FFA Private Bank, Julien Khabbaz, David Linde, CEO, Lava Bear Films and Khalid Benkirane, Film Financing Grants Manager, Doha Film Institute.

Besides partnering with Stephen Spielberg for DreamWorks Studios, Nicholas Cage’s Saturn Films and Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions for Hollywood movies, Reliance Entertainment also produces and distributes several Bollywood movies.

Lamba said: “Throughout India’s 100- year film history, the sector was dominated by family businesses. However, in the last 10 years, that trend is changing which has given companies like ours the opportunity to enter the market. This has in turn led to an increase in the level of co-operation and sharing of not just talent but also technology. This has opened new doors for Indian cinema to become more dominant in the west and vice-versa.”

Executive Producer of Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, David Linde concluded: “There have already been cases of Indian filmmakers producing

movies not just for the Indian market but also the west, such as Bend It Like Beckham and it would be very interesting to see how movies like this will help shape future collaborations and market trends.”

The attending audience also witnessed a demonstration of Audio Spotlight. The demo was done by Joseph Pompei, Founder and Owner of Holosonics, who showcased a truly directional audio system which generates high quality sound and is installed in Walt Disney, Yale Art Gallery, Boston Museum of Science and the Seattle Space Needle.

The summit was closed by celebrated Producer Walter Parkes. He has developed and written stories that have demanded the use of some of the most advanced filmmaking technologies available: from the first computer tech-thrillers WarGames and Sneakers, to Gladiator, Minority Report and the Men in Black series. While presenting his vision for the future, Parkes pointed out that the key to his success was not to think about the technology first. PRO


PRODIFF

The 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival saw a convergence of celebrities, cinema and more to mark a milestone in the history of the festival. A report

The 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) concluded last month after eight days of glamourous galas, appearances by the region’s top film personalities, question and answer sessions, and a dedicated industry forum featuring workshops, seminars and commercial platforms.

DIFF showcased 174 films from 57 different countries in 43 languages, including more than 100 films from the Arab world.

The lineup of films for 2013 was the most diverse in the festival’s ten years, said DIFF Chairman Abdulhamid Juma.

“At our tenth edition, we see the fruits of our labour over the past decade. We have seen the variety and calibre

Celebrating Arab cinema

of the films in our Arab and AsiaAfrica Muhr competitions grow exponentially year on year, showing that our awards programme is nurturing a spirit of innovation and healthy competition among filmmakers from emerging markets. DIFF’s reputation as a prime launch-pad for new films is now well established, and our industry programmes make the Dubai Film Market an epicentre for the business side of cinema each year.”

The festival had many firsts this year including the first ever Cinematic Summit, a tie-up with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a book on 100 best Arab filmmakers, to mention a few.

In another first, Aflamnah, the MENA region’s first crowdfunding

platform for creative ideas, brought two crowdfunded films to DIFF 2013.

Moving Images marked the first initiative in the Arab world, dedicated to artists’ films and filmmakers’ art. This long-term initiative that includes screenings and talks, as well as the sharing of expertise and ideas, brought together DIFF and seminal art and culture organisations – Sharjah Art Foundation and Art Dubai.

Shivani Pandya, Managing Director of DIFF, commented: “Moving Images explores the intersection of visual art and film, two disciplines that are very closely linked. Visual aesthetic is a crucial part of cinema, with filmmakers using it to shape and create characters and worlds. Both art and film are exceptional mediums

The team of acclaimed Palestinian film Omar on the opening night of DIFF.

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PRODIFF

for encouraging thought, presenting new ideas, and inspiring audiences.”

Yet another achievement at DIFF 2013 was the hugely successful Dubai Film Market. The business centre of DIFF exceeded past records in terms of requested meetings between attending film professionals. The Dubai Film Connection, DIFF’s project market, which matches projects originating in the Arab world with international funding and production partners attracted 332 pre-booked meetings for its projects, against 271 that were booked during the duration of DIFF 2012.

DIFF added a distinctive programming segment this year called ‘Iraqi Legacy: Children of the Future’ to shine the spotlight on films from the country’s burgeoning generation of new filmmakers.

Iraqi cinema is enjoying a renaissance, thanks to young filmmakers who defy the usual beginners’ odds – lack of funding, having to prove oneself to investors – in addition to a lack of infrastructure, no government support, and more than a decade of deadly violence and upheaval in their home country.

Many filmmakers are affiliated with the Iraqi Independent cinema centre, established by two Iraqi filmmakers, Mohamed Al Darraji and Ouday

Rasheed. The centre has produced several feature films that have gained international attention, and has trained young short filmmakers who provide a bedrock for a nascent industry.

Honours and accolades Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Martin Sheen, one of America’s most celebrated actors of his generation and veteran Egyptian film critic Samir Farid, who has championed Arab cinema for nearly 50 years, were given the Lifetime Achievement Award at DIFF 2013.

Ten Arab cinema talents including directors, actors and directors of photography, were honoured during the festival for their distinguished contributions in the top 100 films of Arab Cinema. This followed the announcement of the selection, which was compiled following an extensive voting process that included 475 key Arab film critics, professionals and cultural figures from all across the region.

DIFF – a launch pad for new and upcoming filmmakersOne of the panel discussions hosted by DIFF discussed the future of independent films in the region and how broadcasters can help give them more visibility. Moderated by Vijaya Cherian, Editor of BroadcastPro ME, the panel featured an impressive mix of broadcasters from Europe and the region.

Broadcasters in countries such as France and Germany are legislated by governments to contribute a certain percentage (3% in Germany) of their

“Moving Images explores the intersection of visual art and film, two disciplines that are very closely linked to shape and create characters and worlds” Shivani Pandya, MD, DIFF

Chairman of DIFF, Abdulhamid Juma with DIFF 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Martin Sheen.

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The winners of Muhr Awards on the closing night of DIFF 2013. revenues for film production. While regional broadcasters have the willingness to support filmmakers, there isn’t enough appetite for indie films in the region. Co-productions with international entities is the way forward to encourage young filmmakers to make experimental cinema.

Film festivals in the region are yet another way to give these films more visibility. Releasing films on VoD platforms was a potential solution that emerged during the discussion.

Awards and incentive schemes for young filmmakers in the course of film festivals is a good way to attract talent towards this creative medium. Muhr Awards distributed USD 575,000 to dozens of the Arab world’s best filmmakers as well as their counterparts from Asia and Africa. Both first-time directors and cinema legends such as Syrian Director Mohamed Malas and Egyptian Filmmaker Mohamed Khan entered new films in DIFF 2013, beating hundreds of other entrants.

The Emirati Muhr line-up, comprised 15 films that had their world premieres during the festival, including Nayla Al Khaja’s The Neighbour. The programme grew by 50%, reflecting a significant increase in submissions from strong first-time filmmakers, explained DIFF Artistic Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali.

He continued: “This year’s Muhr Emirati field demonstrates growing confidence and skill in our local artists.

With more training facilities and funding opportunities available, a genuine cinema community has grown in the UAE, and with it the film industry will continue to make steady progression.

“Since DIFF’s inception we have consistently cultivated local talent.”

The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority’s campaign, ‘Soul of Dubai,’ showcased three short films in the Muhr Emirati category.

The awards of $115,000 represented three Dubai International Film Festival awards of $25,000 for projects participating in its Dubai Film Connection (DFC), a co-production market that pairs projects by regional film professionals with international producing and funding bodies.

Abdulhamid Juma, reflecting on the landmark decennial edition, said: “The sense of community this year was palpable. We are seeing recurrent visitors, both film professionals and cinema lovers, from the region and beyond.

“There is a feeling that Arab cinema has ‘arrived,’ with increasing numbers of Arab films on the world stage, winning awards at the most prestigious festivals, and gaining currency even with audiences who have never visited the region.

"The Muhr Awards represents a strong community of artistic peers who are working together in a common project of celebrating and elevating the standard of cinema in emerging markets, and it is remarkable for DIFF to be at the centre of that phenomenon.”

In another noteworthy development, it was observed that 40% of the films in the festival’s Arab programming segments were directed by women, making the region one of the most advanced for female filmmakers in the world.

Arab female directors have been highly visible on the world stage in recent years due to breakout success stories like Lebanese Director Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now, which was the highest-grossing Arab film ever, and Saudi Director Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda, the Kingdom’s first entry for the Foreign Language Oscar – and the country’s first feature by a female director. PRO

PRODIFF

“There is a feeling that Arab cinema has ‘arrived,’ with increasing numbers of Arab films on the world stage” Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director, DIFF

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Calrec Audio’s Apollo and Artemis platforms now include a new suite of features and enhancements that provide additional functionality tailored to the changing dynamics of modern broadcast.

A major new feature is designed to protect Hydra2 sources and destinations when they are being addressed by multiple users across a network. Any user receiving a source can control mic gain, phantom power (48v), or SRC using their own input controls, but they are protected against making accidental changes that may affect the other users also receiving that same source. Users with connections to a Hydra2 destination are protected against other users’ unintentional changes to their connections. This protection scheme applies to direct control of sources

RASCULAR EXTENDS ROUTER LIFE Rascular, a supplier of PC-based multi-device control, has announced the full launch of RouteMaster, using TCP/IP to control the serial-only routers.

By deploying RouteMaster, users can control an existing router installation from any web browser via computer, tablet and even mobile phone using Rascular’s web panels. RouteMaster’s support for web-based control panels, built using standards-compliant HTML5 technologies, allows custom control panels to be used on any system, providing unrivalled levels of control flexibility for router installations.

RouteMaster also allows the addition of low-cost hardware panels to existing installations. It facilitates the use of these cost-effective hardware panels – such as Blackmagic Smart Control – to be used with any supported routers. And because RouteMaster supports a wide range of protocols, users can upgrade or replace routers without changing either the control system or the hardware panels.

In addition, because RouteMaster supports both serial and TCP/IP connections, customers can use network protocols to control an RS422 router. This has the advantage that users can extend the number of simultaneous client connections far beyond the number of serial ports available on existing installations, a clear cost saving without technical compromise.

Archimedia Technology has launched Archimedia Master Player v1.5. An upgrade to the company’s software player, v1.5 now supports the remainder of all common master formats in use around the world today — including the long-awaited, studio-driven SMPTE IMF — and contains new features that make the player a true 4K-era replacement for videotape machines for master-grade quality control (QC) and archiving functions.

“Videotape players are becoming less common in general, and are almost useless in workflows that include any 4K, DCP, DPX, or IMF. At the same time,

modern file formats are becoming more useful, but that means they are also becoming more structurally complex,” said Mark Gray, Archimedia President and CEO.

“For those and so many other reasons, we’ve upgraded our player to give media professionals in the file-based world all the advantages they had with videotape, and extend those advantages into the most modern and demanding professional formats. Now they can QC master files in HD and 4K and view what’s going into and out of their archives in HD and 4K. Plus, they can do it more affordably than with videotape

players or mastering tools, which can be prohibitively expensive and might not offer an upgrade path to 4K.”

Archimedia has added support for Avid’s DNxHD format, Industrial Light & Magic’s OpenEXR format, Panasonic’s AVC-Intra format, Sony’s IMX and XDCAM formats, and the newest SMPTE format, IMF. Other new features include the ability to browse and automatically check Digital Cinema and IMF packages — that is, their XML metadata files — for completeness and checksum integrity, and additional support for increased 4K frame-rate speeds up to 60 frames per second with Quad 3G-SDI..

StreamGuys more interactive StreamGuys has launched its HTML5 player to help broadcasters and streaming services retain and increase audiences with a multiplatform approach, ensuring one player can accommodate revenue-supported live streams on iOS, Android and other mobile and desktop devices.

StreamGuys’ new interactive player supports all popular mobile devices in alignment with the HTML5 markup language. It is popular among broadcasters, publishers and advertisers for its multi-device support.

StreamGuys offers integrated metadata support, which seamlessly synchronises live audio streams with relevant data of interest to consumers. This gives broadcasters and audio publishers a unique opportunity to offer audiences a full-featured, interactive HTML5 player that works on every device. Radio stations, musical artists and other service providers can now easily, and dynamically, display artist and song title information, Amazon live links, social network connections and more alongside audio streams.

Archimedia masters the software player

and destinations, as well as bulk changes made through memory recalls.

The Mic Open Systems feature is used to control external devices relative to the on-air status of a signal source. Mic Open Systems can cut or dim the feed to a loudspeaker to avoid feedback or control relays for switching purposes, such as turning on “on air” lights. There are five Mic Open Systems available on the console.

The latest software also includes loudness meters to monitor and regulate average loudness levels over the duration of a programme. Operators can freely assign 16 loudness meters to any source or output, and these meters can be assigned to the console’s meter upstand.

Calrec Audio speaks up

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62

PROPRODUCTS


Miller lighter than airMiller Air is the new lightweight tripod from Miller that has been specifically designed for DSLR and lighter shooting systems up to 5 kg/11 lbs in weight. The tripod comes with the Miller genuine fluid head pan and tilt technology and it is compact, lightweight and versatile with a 10-year lifespan. The tripod eliminates the need for a spreader, the three-position leg angle locks take Solo down to a ground-hugging 23cm (9.2”) to a rock solid operating height to 161cm (63”) with stability. For all surfaces the Solo 75 tripod can be adapted to suit all terrains by winding up the rubber feet to reveal spikes. It comes with a quick release sliding camera plate and self-adjusting rapid lock system for quick action.

IMT improves connectivity Integrated Microwave Technologies (IMT) brings its latest RF Central microLite HD Transmitters. Comprising the RF Central microLite HD camera-top transmitter and two RF Central microLite HD camera-back transmitters including the Anton/Bauer and V-Clip mount options, the complete microLite family of HD transmitters offers a full range of docking options for compatibility with nearly every camera to the market.

Users can mount the RF Central microLite HD camera-top transmitter via a hot shoe, as well as pair it with Litepanels camera-mounted lighting solutions. For both the Anton/Bauer and V-Clip battery docking options, the mount is positioned on both sides of the clamshell transmitter, allowing it to be connected to the camera. The battery can then be mounted to the transmitter. As a result, users can employ the battery to power up the transmitter and to pass power through to the camera. The RF Central microLite HD camera-back Anton/Bauer transmitter conveniently mounts between the Gold Mount and Anton/Bauer Logic Series battery. The newest addition to the award-winning RF Central family of microLite HD products, the RF Central V-Clip microLite HD Transmitter mounts on the end of the cameras between a plate and any V-mount battery.

Telestream integrates with Blackmagic Telestream has announced the integration of Blackmagic Design’s Intensity and DeckLink high performance capture and playback devices with Wirecast Pro 5. This integration allows users to take a live Wirecast programme feed and capture it to a Blackmagic Design product, for use in editing, effects or other broadcast design workflows. This enables even more flexible live streaming production workflows.

“Our customers have asked for a way to take an SDI programme feed directly out of Wirecast,” said Filippa Hasselstrom, Director of

Desktop Product Marketing at Telestream. “We are pleased to announce this

can now be accomplished as a result of the integration with Blackmagic Design using the Wirecast 5 Output SDK.”

“It’s very exciting to see Blackmagic Design’s desktop video products integrated with Wirecast,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “Using Wirecast with Blackmagic’s DeckLink and Intensity products will give customers a high performance, seamless SDI streaming workflow.”

Integration with DeckLink and Intensity products was enabled by Wirecast’s new Output SDK, which was introduced with the release of Wirecast 5. This SDK provides hardware manufacturers the ability to easily integrate their products directly with Wirecast.

Marshall in the palmMarshall Electronics has released a new HD-SDI miniature camera providing full HD 1920x1080i/59.94 video for filming all types of broadcast applications. The CV500-MB is only an inch and a half in size, enabling unobtrusive placement or concealment. The CV500 series incorporates a newly designed Sony Exmor 2.2 megapixel CMOS sensor and a miniature HD prime lens. Marshall offers a variety of other miniature HD lens options to accommodate specific conditions in the field. The CV500-MB can be integrated into reality shows, green rooms, helmet cams, stunt cars, dash cams, remote transmitter packs and other small areas where other cameras would not fit or would be obtrusive. All versions have the ability to switch between PAL/NTSC, and offer a second simultaneous video stream through a CVBS (BNC) output cable It also comes programmed at a resolution of 1080i/59.94 for broadcast applications. “The CV500-MB is capable of capturing difficult and compelling shots by going where other cameras can’t go. With the prevalence of reality and documentary television, a tiny camera with these capabilities is invaluable to today’s broadcasters and filmmakers,” said Leonard Marshall, CEO of Marshall Electronics. Video enhancement features such as Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), Digital Noise Reduction (2D+3D), High Light Compensation (HLC), Automatic White Balance, Digital Defog, Auto Day/Night, Privacy Masking, Digital Zoom, and Motion Detection offer effective tools for clear, crisp images in all types of applications.

More storage with Avid’s ISIS7500 Avid has introduced the new Avid ISIS 7500 online shared storage system, offering real-time editorial collaboration and larger storage capacity and performance for large-scale broadcast and post production environments. The next-generation ISIS 7500 represents the continuing innovation of the company’s industry standard storage systems. It provides critical new capabilities to help large media organisations more easily and efficiently deliver higher quality, inspiring content by streamlining and accelerating editorial workflows.

“Media organisations are facing relentless pressure to increase content production while simultaneously improving operational efficiency and controlling costs,” said Chris Gahagan, Senior Vice President of Products and Services at Avid.

“With double the storage capacity of ISIS 7000, ISIS 7500 brings high capacity and performance to large-scale facilities, ensuring the real-time workflows needed to accelerate production and complete projects faster.”

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The empty floor space means more room for all the OB functionality that you’d expect with a truck, but on a more compact footprint. Flexibility is another area where a trailer delivers; there’s no requirement for a driver with a special HGV licence – you can just hook it up to a 4X4 instead.

It’s not just traditional broadcast content that a mid-sized OB vehicle would be appropriate for. Producing content for non-traditional forms of content delivery, such as IPTV and live web streaming service providers, is an alternative and growing market for a more affordable and compact OB vehicle.

As the number of web streaming and IPTV providers grows, they will have to compete not just with each other but also with broadcasters. Just as it acts as a differentiator for broadcasters, live content offers IPTV and web-based content delivery services to stand out from the crowd.

A more compact and affordable OB option that still provides high quality output offers a convenient way to generate more content, deliver more services/channels and compete with bigger broadcast rivals. This type of mid-range OB would also enable broadcasters looking to deliver their own services via alternative platforms to create a wider range of coverage, including exclusive content from live events specifically for online or mobile access. PRO

Encouraging consumers to watch scheduled content is one of the biggest challenges that broadcasters face. Today’s consumers are more likely than ever to make use of time-shifted viewing, with access to a time and a place that suits them.

Live content is one of the main ways to drive audience engagement, and broadcasters are increasingly looking at covering more sports and live events. We can all expect to see an increase in non-mainstream sports, live events such as concerts, movie premieres, awards ceremonies and extended news coverage (such as elections or celebrity weddings) on our TV screens from now on. However, from a broadcaster’s perspective, capturing these types of live event presents something of a challenge.

As broadcasters look to deliver more live content, they have to find a way to affordably produce it, without compromising on quality. Maintaining production values across a growing amount of live events means that any OB set-up, however large or small, has to be able to support full HD quality and be flexible enough to cope with a sports production on the one hand and a red carpet event or concert on the other.

Although broadcasters now have to deliver more and more content to remain competitive, their budgets are being squeezed. Producing more content with fewer resources is now a reality. This is where commissioning a regular OB truck presents a huge challenge. With a big OB truck or supertruck, the build time of several months means there’s a significant

cost associated before you’ve even thought about investing in all the equipment to get it properly kitted out.

At the moment, the OB production world is an environment of two extremes; we have large 20 plus camera sports productions, or small one- or two-camera ENG flyaways. To date, the middle section of the OB market has not really been an area that broadcasters, OB companies or manufacturers have placed much emphasis on. Large OB trucks are impractical for smaller events, and can’t be used in locations that are not easily accessible or where space is at a premium. At the other end of the spectrum, small flyaways are unable to handle the more complex requirements of a six- to eight-camera live production.

The answer is a mid-sized OB vehicle that offers a compact but flexible footprint, and can still cope with a complex production workflow. It is also important to try and combine the maximum amount of functionality in as small a space as possible, while still comfortably housing a large enough production crew, with space for a production gallery, audio workstations and engineering control area. Low power consumption is also another consideration that needs to be taken into account, particularly when covering events such as festivals or concerts.

A Sprinter van or similar foots the bill. However, the wheel bases limit the space available for equipment. A custom-built trailer, on the other hand, is something that hasn’t really been considered as a solution for the mid-sized OB segment.

PROGUEST

“Although broadcasters now have to deliver more content to remain competitive, their budgets are being squeezed. Producing more content with fewer resources is now a reality”

The new OB landscape

Eamonn Dowdall is Business Development Director at Gearhouse Broadcast.

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