European News

MHEG For Irish DTT

philsandberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:43:58 +0000

IMPALA, the International MHEG Promotion Alliance, has welcomed the news that Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ has selected MHEG as the interactive middleware for the rollout of its national DTT service.
“Our principal initial objective with reception equipment is to encourage the development of a competitive horizontal market,” says Emer Conlon, IT Project Manager, RTÉ Publishing. “The key reason for selecting MHEG is the broad consumer choice based on existing product development in other markets and the short-term availability of receiver products using existing supply channels. We have seen the success of MHEG in the UK and elsewhere and that simply isn’t the case for other middlewares. MHEG has very strong manufacturer support.”
RTÉ has initially specified the MHEG 1.06 profile with the addition of HD capabilities with the broadcaster looking at further options as the DTT project develops. The broadcaster will be providing a free-to-air service to the Republic of Ireland’s approximately 1.6 million TV homes and it will launch with the digital teletext service RTÉ Aertel. There will be two DTT multiplexes with HD content forming part of the offering soon after launch. A satellite service – similar to Freesat in the UK – will provide access to the small number of households who can’t receive the DTT signals.
David Cutts, MD of S&T and Founder of IMPALA, says, “A vibrant supply chain is vital to support the effective rollout of new platforms and services. Over its years of success manufactures have consistently supported MHEG, via a stringent conformance regime and the development of country-specific profiles. We are pleased that these benefits have been recognised by RTE.”
The founder members of IMPALA are Strategy & Technology (S&T), Cabot Communications and Echostar Europe
Visit www.impala.org

ToolsOnAir For Berlin Philo

philsandberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:34:54 +0000

The Berlin Philharmonic has a long-standing reputation for excellence, and this year’s program is no exception. Recently the orchestra hosted the worldwide debut of Grammy Award-winning composer Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, conducted by Simon Rattle. The production was accompanied by 170 students from local Berlin schools performing a choreography by Rhys Martin.
The landmark performance was recorded live in HD, using a multi-camera setup that included video ingest solutions from ToolsOnAir’s innovative just: Broadcast Suite. As resident engineer and videographer Stephan Hermann Kelch explains, this was the first production to utilise ToolsOnAir’s LiveCut and just:in Multi, along with Telestream Pipeline HD interfaces, and the results were impressive.
“I had heard about ToolsOnAir’s Broadcast Suite, and was intrigued,” says Kelch. “I visited the company in Vienna and was impressed with LiveCut’s potential, and felt that it could be a good solution for some of our live broadcasts. I was interested in trying it out in a live situation, and the Swing Symphony performance was a good opportunity.”
With a full orchestra, 170 dancers and numerous other performers and production personnel, space inside the venue was limited, so the decision was made to set up production suites in a mobile truck outside the venue. “Typically that’s a fairly complex undertaking,” says Kelch, “so it was pretty impressive when the ToolsOnAir guys showed up, just two guys in a Volvo, and built the entire eight-camera HD recording setup in about an hour.”
Hardware was provided by Hamburg-based MPEC Broadcast & Production.
The production was done in 1080i using Apple ProRes, and is entirely server-based. LiveCut and just:in Multi create a multi-camera sequence in Final Cut, incorporating all cameras, cuts and fades. All incoming files are available for editing even during ingest.
Not surprisingly, the Orchestra’s standards for video broadcast are exceptionally high, and the ToolsOnAir system did not disappoint. “The video signal is very high quality,” says Kelch.
With the orchestra’s busy calendar of events, Kelch points to LiveCut’s ability to streamline the ingest process as an invaluable time-saver. “We typically stream around 30 to 35 concerts per year in HD,” he says. “Using LiveCut, we could immediately access the incoming streams from eight different cameras - far faster than with our usual hardware-based system. The director sat with me during the broadcast and was able to set markers as the material was recorded, making the final editing process much easier.
“It’s so immediate. The producer was very impressed, and was already talking about using it on some future projects,” concluded Kelch.
Visit www.toolsonair.com

Bundling Bargins For Brits

philsandberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:21:55 +0000

Sky and Simplifydigital - the UK’s only Ofcom accredited retailer of digital TV, broadband and home phone deals - have released new data on the savings available by “bundling” digital TV, broadband and home phone services with a single provider. The latest data shows that a staggering 760 pounds Sterling per year can be saved by choosing the best digital bundle deal.
The data comes from a sample of 400 customers between January and May 2010. The average customer saving was 262 pounds, while 20% of customers saved more than 577 pounds and 10% more than 760 pounds per year.
Charlie Ponsonby, CEO of Simplifydigital, said: “The digital TV, broadband and home phone market is cut-throat and there has never been a better time to take advantage of the savings on offer. Bundle deals now start from as little as 18 pounds per month for all three services (broadband, digital TV and home phone) – plus there are some amazing introductory offers to be had on top. There really is no excuse for customers to keep wasting big money with overpriced legacy tariffs.”
Earlier in the year, Sky was named winner of the ‘Best digital TV, broadband and home phone bundle’ award in the Simplifydigital Customer Choice Awards 2010.
The Simplifydigital Customer Choice Awards for digital TV, broadband and home telephony services are based on the UK’s only large scale qualitative review of customer experience, compiled using the unique Feefo feedback service, which pulls together people’s opinions, likes and dislikes 60 days into the service.
Visit www.sky.com

Russian XPression With Ross

philsandberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:10:46 +0000

TV Podmoskovie, the Television Channel servicing “The Moscow Area” in Russia, chose Ross Video’s XPression Character Generator and Graphics Systems to provide live, vivid graphics on demand.
Late in 2009, TV Podmoskovie attended an XPression demonstration at NAT Expo in Moscow and were immediately convinced XPression was the right character generator to fulfill their broadcast needs.
“I was very impressed watching XPression in action,” said Vlad Pavlov, Technical Director, TV Podmoskovie. “XPression is one of the few character generators with the ability to demonstrate how all their available features work, and how easily it can be done.”
“We are excited TV Podmoskovie is the first broadcaster in Russia to invest in XPression,” said Alan Webb, Regional Sales Manager – Eastern Europe, Ross Video. “XPression was purchased in April 2010, and after installation, their staff was trained by Ross Technical Support. This allowed an easy and seamless transition on air where their viewers could visually reap the benefits. We look forward to continuing our relationship with TV Podmoskovie.”
Visit www.rossvideo.com

Abbey Road Adds NTP DADs

philsandberg — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:56:26 +0000

Abbey Road Studios has taken delivery of four NTP DAD AX24 eight-channel ultra-high-quality analogue-to-digital/digital-to-analogue audio signal converters. All four will be deployed during recording sessions as microphone preamplifiers and analogue-to-MADI interfaces. They will be operated in conjunction with Abbey Road’s Pyramix digital audio workstations. Two of the units are additionally fitted with the IO192-PHD interface card allowing them to work with Avid Protools.
“The AX24 units have been purchased primarily for use by our mobile recording unit,” comments Simon Kiln, Head of Editing at Abbey Road and a producer of recordings both in the studios and on location. “They give us the benefit of exceptionally low-noise analogue signal preamplification, high quality digitising and considerably shorter setup and dismantling times. We have been trying to build affordable recording packages for many styles of music. Key to this was the ability to set up quickly without compromising the quality people expect from Abbey Road Studios. Our equipment is transported in flight cases to wherever it is needed and then set up with an onsite control room. Putting kit in place to record a medium-size orchestral production can easily take three hours and includes running as many as 30 microphone cables out to the control room. The four AX24 converters allow up to 32 microphones to be combined into a single MADI channel and routed to the control room as just two cables: the MADI feed itself plus wordclock timing reference. They also give us the ability to adjust the level of each preamplifier channel from a laptop PC or digital audio workstation in the control room.
“Having one box that performs preamplification, analogue-to-digital conversion and MADI integration has greatly improved operational efficiency,” adds Abbey Road Senior Recording Engineer Jonathan Allen. “We also wanted the option of working at higher sampling rates and, after comparing it to other converters, I found the AX24 made one of the best cases for working at 96 kHz and above.”
“The DAD AX24 has the quietest front-end amplifier we have ever tried,” details Arne Akselberg, Abbey Road Senior Classical Engineer. “Comparing the AX24 with other brands, the difference was astonishing. And it is one of the few such devices that sounds really good at 96 kHz.”
The four AX24 signal converters were supplied via NTP Technology’s UK distributor, eMerging, which also supplied the Pyramix digital audio workstation used by Abbey Road Studios as a mobile recorder and editing system.
Designed for high quality music recording as well as mastering and monitoring in DSD, the NTP DAD AX24 offers A/D and D/A conversion in PCM at up to 384 kHz sampling rate, DSD at 64 frame/s or 128 frame/s, and 352.8 kHz DXD. The optional microphone preamplifier incorporates analogue gain control in 3 dB steps as well as digital gain control with 0.25 dB precision. Dynamic range is between 118 and 121 dB. The preamplifier’s equivalent noise floor is -130 dB.
The AX24 is fully remote controllable via RS-422, USB or Ethernet. Preamp parameters can be represented on the channel strip of industry-standard audio production consoles and workstations. MADI output is configurable to operate in loopthrough mode, connecting multiple converters to a single data output. The interface can be set to access any configuration of 64 MADI channels in blocks of eight consecutive channels. The AX24 can be synchronised to incoming AES 11, Word Clock, Super clock or video (PAL, NTSC, SECAM). An integral phase-locked-loop circuit is able to correct for minor variations in external sync timing.
Existing users of NTP DAD audio signal processors include Bauer Studios, CMC Studios, Danish Radio, DEX Mastering, DPA Microphones, Galaxy Studios, Lindberg lyd, Master Touch, McGill University, Moscow Music Conservatory, NDR Hamburg, NHK, NRK, Real Sound, Royal Danish Opera House, Royal Opera London, Sidney Opera house, SK Works, SoundWorks/Jeff Sheridan, Spanish Radio, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Stock Fish Records, Swedish Radio, Telarc International, Ultimo Productions and the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.
The world’s first purpose built recording studio, Abbey Road Studios celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2010. Offering recording, mixing, mastering and online mastering, audio product and post production services, Abbey Road Studios continues to be at the cutting-edge of new technologies and innovations and is the studio of choice for the world’s music talent. See www.abbeyroad.com
Pro-audio sales and distribution company eMerging was founded in 2007 by a group of professionals with long experience of the audio, video and technology industries. In addition to running Merging Technologies’ UK distribution for the Pyramix digital audio workstation, VCube video player and Ovation media playout system, eMerging is a UK reseller and distributor for other high-value high-tech brands, including PSI Audio, Smart AV, DAD, MicW and Trinnov Audio, Steinberg and Euphonix. eMerging’s customers include recording studios, post-production facilities, broadcasters, further and higher education colleges and schools.
Digital Audio Denmark is a brand of NTP Technology. Established in 1958, NTP is a major supplier of high-reliability audio routing systems for major international broadcasters. NTP products are integrated into television and radio stations as well as major production centres, post-production facilities and outside broadcast vehicles. Since 2003, NTP has been a member of the Dan Technologies A/S group which has more than 125 employees and is one of Scandinavia’s largest suppliers of audio and video broadcast equipment.
Visit www.ntp.dk

BBC & Arqiva Sell DTT Capacity

philsandberg — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 06:04:59 +0000

The BBC and Arqiva have sought to offer jointly to the market: (i) spare capacity which has become available on multiplex B ahead of digital switchover and (ii) new capacity that will become available on multiplexes C and D following digital switchover.
Digital switchover is happening region by region until 2012. In each region, when it happens, certain unused capacity on the BBC’s multiplex B is used to broadcast high definition TV services, while certain new capacity on Arqiva’s multiplexes C/D becomes available due to technical upgrades.
In these unique circumstances, pairing the BBC’s diminishing spare capacity with Arqiva’s growing spare capacity would enable two additional national TV channels to be broadcast in the near term rather than only after the completion of digital switchover.
In January 2010, the BBC and Arqiva requested Ofcom’s consent to start a joint sales process in respect of the paired capacity.
In April 2010, following completion of the auction process, the BBC and Arqiva sought separate consent for implementation of the joint arrangements.
In May 2010, the BBC and Arqiva entered into agreements for BT to make use of the paired capacity. BTs intention is to use this capacity to retail Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2. On 30 May 2010 and 1 June 2010, respectively, Arqiva and the BBC sought separate consent to broadcast those channels on DTT.
On 23 and 26 July 2010, respectively, the BBC and Arqiva sought separate consent to broadcast Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 on DTT in circumstances where BT or Top Up TV Limited are retailing either or both of those channels.
Visit www.ofcom.org.uk

A New Audio Season For Münster

philsandberg — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:50:20 +0000

The theatre of the city of Münster, Germany, used the summer break to renew its audio, lighting and stage technology and opted for Salzbrenner Stagetec Meidagroup as general contractor for the audio part. The contract involved the replacement of a thirteen year old Cantus console by a powerful Aurus desk with 48 faders and 128 input channels, new processor, interface and microphone cards for the existing Nexus network plus an upgrade for the Nexus software.
It also included a new monitoring system featuring Klein + Hummel speakers in the sound control room and Aviom personal mixers for the stage and orchestra, allowing the musicians and performers of the three-genre-theatre to individually adjust their monitor signal.
Visit www.stagetec.com

Wohler Opens EMEA Service Centre

philsandberg — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:43:36 +0000

Wohler Technologies has announced the opening of a new Wohler service centre serving customers in the EMEA territory. Based in France, the Wohler EMEA Service Center will act as the first line of second- and third-tier support for Wohler customers, not only enabling faster turnaround times, but also simplifying administrative paperwork and shipping procedures. First-tier support and administrative tasks, such as RMA requests, will continue to be handled by staff at Wohler’s U.S. headquarters.
“The increasing adoption of Wohler systems across the
EMEA market led us to establish this new service centre, which gives our
customers an added degree of confidence and peace of mind in accessing
repair services,” said Carl J. Dempsey, Wohler president and CEO. “With a
‘local’ service centre, our customers will be able to realise improved
efficiency, delivery times, and shipping costs while enjoying the
convenience of working with their preferred intra-Euro shipping firm and
avoiding U.S. Customs paperwork for temporary re-importation of goods.”
Customers
in EMEA markets previously sent units directly to Wohler’s U.S. office
for repair. Now they will be able to ship them to Wohler’s service centre in Europe, reducing both shipping costs and delays. The centre
will provide support and service for the entire range of Wohler
products, and its location in the same or nearby time zone will
facilitate timely responses to customer inquiries.
Lorys Tildian
will manage the Wohler EMEA Service Centre, which will be staffed by
service engineers according to demand. Customers may contact the Wohler
EMEA Service Center by e-mail at SupportEurope@wohler.com. The centre’s
delivery address is Wohler EMEA Service Center, c/o Ashiv, Les Perrettes, 26120 Bercelonne, France.
Visit www.wohler.com

SSL For First Hungarian HD OB Van

philsandberg — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:38:29 +0000

When Liga TV decided to move into HD production for its new Sport 1 OB
van, the console of choice was a 32+8 fader Solid State Logic C100 HDS
with an SSL Morse Stage Box. Liga TV specialises in providing production
services for live sporting events, large scale music concerts and other
live events. The new OB van is the first to offer HD capabilities in
Hungary. The choice of the C100 HDS was based on console features,
versatility, ease of use and SSL’s reputation for reliability and
service.

“When we did research on the audio console for the new HD OB van, the SSL C100 HDS quickly rose to the top of our list,” says Vilmos Váradi, chief accountant for Liga TV. “Console features were of primary importance in choosing the C100 HDS. This console absolutely fit the criteria for our live broadcast applications, giving us the power to easily handle events as diverse as a football match and a rock concert. Also, the console interface is industry standard and very user friendly, which is very important to us as we often work with freelance engineers.”
In addition to considerations of versatility and ease of use, other key factors for the Sport 1 team were quality, reliability and support.
“We wanted to choose a manufacturer where high build quality, service and support were as important as the feature set,” Váradi states. “When you are providing audio/video services for a live to air event, you must have systems in place that work flawlessly as there is no such thing as a second take. We are very familiar with SSL’s reputation for building industry leading consoles that are rock solid reliable and for supplying excellent service and support.”
The final consideration for the C100 HDS was the capability to handle all levels of production quickly and easily. “Our engineering staff has found that the C100 HDS is very easy to configure from one production to another,” continues Váradi. “This helps to streamline our production schedule by reducing setup time. We are very happy with the C100 HDS for our new HD OB van.”
Visit www.solidstatelogic.com

Skyline Empowers Gateway in Africa

philsandberg — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:29:37 +0000

Skyline Communications, a global leader in end-to-end, multivendor network management solutions for the satellite, HFC broadband, broadcast, and IPTV industries, has announced that Gateway Communications has selected Skyline’s flagship DataMiner network management platform. Gateway is a leading pan-African wholesale connectivity and telecommunications provider.
The installation enables complete cross-vendor management of Gateway’s Africa IPJetDirect, the company’s continent-wide Internet backbone service, using Skyline’s DataMiner network management platform and RF carrier management solutions.
The DataMiner Network Management System enables end-to-end management of complex technical ecosystems, across traditional manufacturer-specific boundaries and through full integration with over 1,750 products from more than 300 industry suppliers. The interoperable network management system is further enhanced by specialised applications selected by Gateway, such as Skyline’s DMS Spectrum Analysis for RF monitoring. The signal monitoring application enables Gateway to ensure optimal operations across its network that includes a large number of RF carriers.
“With DataMiner, Gateway is able to offer remote monitoring to all customers. This improves the speed and precision of investigating issues and finding solutions on customers’ satellite equipment,” said Jacky Droushoudt, head of global support at Gateway Communications. “Our customers are some of the world’s leading communications providers, such as Bharti, Vodacom, and Zain. Being able to offer them a solution for remote spectrum monitoring, like DataMiner, plays a crucial role for us and is one of our key differentiators.”
Gateway Communications was recently recognised with two of the prestigious Satcom Star Awards presented at the SatCom Africa show in April. Gateway earned awards for First Class Customer Service and African GSM Backhaul Operator of the Year.
Skyline initially deployed the DataMiner Network Management System as part of the Gateway IPJetDirect platform, which delivers IP services to mobile phone operators in Africa. Gateway later also chose to utilise the DataMiner Spectrum Analysis Solution for around-the-clock RF carrier monitoring. The unique open-architecture, multivendor network management capabilities of the DataMiner suite are enabling Gateway to consolidate its operations, reducing operational costs while also increasing service quality and availability.
“Gateway Communications is widely recognised as a company that continuously strives to streamline and optimise its complex operations,” said Ben Vandenberghe, Skyline’s sales and marketing director. “An extremely complicated network structure like theirs is ideally suited for our technologies. We’re honoured by Gateway’s decision to leverage DataMiner to further streamline its operations and to enhance its customer service. A strategy that clearly pays off, as evidenced by the industry awards they recently received at SatCom Africa.”
Visit www.skyline.be