the LaB sydney's Project of Dreams

When renowned Australian director, David Denneen, was one of only eight world-class directors to be asked to participate in Young & Rubicam's "Dreams Project' using the latest Sony HD camera, he turned to internationally renowned and number one Australian colourist, Ben Eagleton, and the highly experienced HD team at the LaB sydney.
Ben joined the LaB sydney in April 2001 from Rushes, London, where he was reputedly one of the postproduction industry's top colourists, and was heavily involved with the beta testing of the C-Reality telecine. When the LaB purchased Australia's first C-Reality machine along with a $6 million dollar investment in high-definition and film capabilities, Ben couldn't wait to jump on board.
David Denneen's four-minute short film is entitled 'The Waltz.' Screened at the Siegfield Theatre in New York and the DGA in LA, the film will also be screened in Chicago and San Francisco, at the Cannes Advertising Festival, and entered in various Australian short film festivals.

For more, click here.

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Encoda Helps TEN get Seriously Digital

For the last five years a move to digital was clear to Network Ten. The Network Ten infrastructure consisted of five capital city sites, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth all running analogue presentations using a variety of automation systems. Each city received a clean feed signal from Sydney and then locally inserted news, commercials and certain sports events. Realising the replication of staff and technology at each city Ten decided to act. Compounding this decision by Ten was the move to digital TV which, at the time was scheduled for 1 January 2001, and bought with it new issues such as 16:9 high quality pictures transmitted in both standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) formats. Ten also had to bear in mind the business challenge of investigating solutions for Disaster Recovery (DR).

For more, click here.

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Prodigy and Postmodern Cook Visual Feast for StarHub

Prodigy Films continues its association with StarHub, with the production of 3x30 second vision-mixed TVCs for the Singaporean info-communications company.
In association with Batey Singapore, Prodigy directed and produced the TVCs for the Family, Youth and Business audiences with Postmodern Sydney handling all post-production.
The technically complex TVCs convey StarHub's new "hubbing" concept, with the tagline "Things happen when you hub," aiming to explain how a multi-platform service provider can benefit the consumer. The TVC introduces StarHub's new integrated range of communications, entertainment, information services, including mobile, MMS, cable TV, cable broadband and a variety of wireless services.

For details and pics, click here.

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Optus C1 Satellite Successfully Launched

Optus has announced the successful launch of its AUD$500 million C1 satellite. The C1 satellite is jointly funded by Optus and the Australian Department of Defence, and is the largest hybrid communications and military satellite ever launched.
Optus Chief Operating Officer, Paul O'Sullivan said the successful launch of C1 reaffirms Optus' position as Australia's leading satellite operator.
"The demand for satellite communications services is growing strongly ' for direct to home subscription television, for remote and rural communications, and for broadband. As Australia's leading satellite provider, Optus is launching C1 to provide the additional satellite capacity that Australia needs," Mr O'Sullivan said.
Fifty per cent of the C1 satellite's payload is allocated to the Department of Defence. The balance will be used by Optus to increase its capacity to deliver broadcast services, high speed internet and voice and data communications across Australia and into Asia. C1 is a significant addition to the combined satellite resources of Optus and SingTel. Optus can now give its customers access to more than 25 satellites. This positions Optus firmly as a leading satellite operator in the Asia Pacific region and will open further business opportunities for both Australian and Asian businesses.
"C1 will contribute significantly to Optus' bottom line. Launch revenues from C1 will be A$250 million, and Optus will receive an additional $40 million a year from the sale of C1 transponder capacity to Foxtel," Mr O'Sullivan said. The C1 satellite was launched from French Guiana on an Ariane 5G rocket and will be positioned in orbit at 156 degrees east longitude. The satellite has 24 Ku band transponders that will provide coverage for Australia, New Zealand and East Asia. It has a 15 year life span and is controlled from Optus' Sydney earth station. The C1 satellite is the fourth satellite in Optus' fleet.

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New Digital TV Releases at Consumer Electronics Show

June's Consumer Electronics & Entertainment show, held at Fox Studios in Sydney, has seen a raft of new digital TV products and price points designed to spur public uptake of digital receivers and provide a boost for the transition from analogue TV. Companies releasing new product included Panasonic, Toshiba and Philips.
Panasonic Australia announced its strategy for digital television, introducing a range of product, service and education offerings.
"Our goal is to bring consumers all the benefits the technology has to offer, including sharper pictures, better sound quality, widescreen viewing (16:9), multichanneling and electronic program guides," said Ritchie Djamhur, Panasonic's strategic marketing executive for TV. "The elements of our new campaign include offering the widest range of digital TV product by any brand; an education campaign to increase awareness of and preference for digital TV; use of local engineering strengths to ensure products are tailored for the Australian environment; and a range of new services that will make the transition to digital TV much easier for customers."

For details and pictures, click here.

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Rydges Completes Broadband Trial

Entertainment Media & Telecoms Corporation Ltd has announced the completion of a pilot phase of testing for the Intrigue Multimedia System at the Rydges Parramatta Hotel, paving the way for the anticipated roll out of the system across the majority of Rydges properties in Australia and New Zealand.
Intrigue is an interactive, multi-media, in-room entertainment and information system designed to meet the increased hospitality sector demand for digital upgrades to incumbent analogue in-room entertainment offerings. It features access to the Internet at speeds up to 50 times faster than dial-in links, true Digital Video-On-Demand (DVOD), electronic shopping, video games and access to other hospitality services and options, all via a television in guests' rooms or via their own laptop computers.
Under the terms of the agreement signed with Rydges Hotels, EMT Corp. undertook the pilot installation of the system at the Rydges Parramatta Hotel in January 2003. The system commenced commercial operation in February 2003 and successfully operated during the 90-day pilot period. As a result, planning for the commercial roll out of the remaining contracted Rydges Hotels has commenced with site surveys of the Australian and New Zealand based hotels currently underway. Further announcements regarding the installation of the Intrigue system to other Hotel groups with the Asia Pacific region are expected in the near future.

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UNESCO Honours Cinesound Movietone Productions

The United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has announced that Cinesound Movietone Productions has been honoured for its archival film footage collection, which will now be added to the Australian Memory of the World Register. Canberra-based Australian Film archive, Screen Sound Australia, successfully nominated CMP's historical film collection for inclusion on the world register.
The prestigious award means CMPs historical footage can now be an immense resource of nation's bygone years for future generations of researchers, historians, and end user producers for information.
Glenn Eley, CMP Operations Manager, says, "Our Company is very proud of achieving this prestigious honour. As a major supplier of uniquely Australian and historical world footage to the industry, CMP remains mindful of its responsibility to ensure this wonderful collection survives for future generations of the Australian public to enjoy."

For details, click here.

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Media 100 has Adelaide Prophecy

Operating from a new purpose-built suite at Kent Town in Adelaide, prophecy post has installed a Media 100 844/Xe edit and compositing system.
Tom Molnar, owner/operator of prophecy post, is one of Adelaide's best known editors. With 20 years experience in the broadcast industry, Tom's choice of the 844/Xe was based on the need for a high-end system with real time capabilities.
"Slow rendering is what clients and operators don't need in the post production environment. With the 844/Xe and its 8 layers of video and mattes in real time, I can concentrate on creativity with my client, without continually waiting for long renders to finish."
His work spans many types of projects and budgets for clients that include advertising agencies, producers and directors. This new facility will allow prophecy post to deliver what Tom's clients have been asking for.

For more, click here.

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AVcentral Launches in Sydney

The inner-west suburb of Rozelle recently played host to the launch of the Sydney branch of the Sony-endorsed AVcentral premium dealer network.
Made up of Electronic Concepts in Adelaide, Videopro of Brisbane, CPE of Canberra, Video and Audio on the Gold Coast, Melbourne's Tasman AV and Perth's Optel Audio Visual, the network has been joined by BRE in Sydney.
According to AVcentral National Marketing & Business Development Manager, Simon Wehr, each AVcentral dealer has to meet the highest criteria to become a "Sony premium dealer".
"This includes technical expertise, an ongoing focus on changing technology and, above all, an ability to provide a level of excellence beyond the customer's expectations."
As well as Sony, the AVcentral network represents manufacturers such as Avid, Miller, Bose, Canon, and AMX.
Special guests at the launch included Network Ten sports presenter Tim Webster and Olympic Beach Volleyball Gold Medallist Natalie Cook. The event also saw the launch of the AVcentral magazine which covers both technical and product information.

For pictures of the event, click here.

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Star Wars to Use Fujinon in Sydney

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Industrial Light & Magic will use Fujinon's new E Series digital cinema-style lenses exclusively for all principal and effects photography on the upcoming Star Wars Episode III feature film when shooting begins in Sydney in June.
Introduced at April's NAB convention, the HAe3x5 (5-15mm) and HAe10x10 (10-100mm) zooms are the latest in Fujinon's expanded line of "Cine Super E" style lenses.
This marks the first time Fujinon lenses will be used on a Star Wars film exclusively, including principal photography on location and for the movie's special effects production at ILM.
In the previous production of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released in May of last year, Fujinon "Cine Super C" series HA10x5B-10 (5 - 50mm) zooms were used for almost all of the special effects cinematography, including: motion control, miniatures, green screen and pick-up shots. "Fujinon has been extremely responsive to our special requests and absolutely great to work with," said Fred Meyers, High Definition Supervisor, Star Wars feature films, Industrial Light & Magic. "We wanted a higher quality wide angle and a lighter, long zoom, and they provided us with both. And the HAe3x5 (5-15mm) and HAe10x10 (10-100mm) are physically the same size as previous Fujinon lenses we've used. The ability to servo control the lenses with the DSC-1 is another huge benefit. The DSC-1 provides us with useful and time-saving features, including automated back focus and a focal positioning sensing system."
Rick McCallum, Star Wars Episode III Producer, also pointed to the responsiveness of Fujinon's engineering team in the decision to go exclusively with Fujinon lenses.
"We've really been impressed with the flexibility of Fujinon's engineering team," he said. "They're very responsive to the needs of digital cinematographers. We supply them with the specific features and benefits we're looking for, and they produce lenses with exactly the quality, focal length and overall features we need. To achieve the image quality we require for Episode III, we needed to employ new generation lenses."
The HAe3x5 (5-15mm) and HAe10x10 (10-100mm) lenses are especially designed for 2/3" CCD high-definition digital video cameras.
In addition to its HAe3x5 and HAe10x10 Cine Super E zoom lenses, ILM uses HA10x5B-10 (5-50mm) lenses and a five lens set of Fujinon HDTV Cine Style prime lenses (5, 8, 12, 20 and 40mm). The HAF8B-10 8mm and HAF12B-10 12mm prime lenses have been particularly useful to ILM for special effects production.
The new HAe3x5 is a 3X zoom ratio zoom lens that features 5-15mm focal lengths in a portable, compact design weighing 11 pounds. The HAe10x10 has a 10X zoom ratio that offers 10-100mm focal lengths and weighs 12 pounds.
Both lenses employ large, 11-blade apertures that provide steady T1.8 performance throughout the zoom range. The new zoom lenses are scaled and colour etched on both sides of the lens for easy reading of zoom, focus and iris settings. They are available with scales in feet or meters, and have 280 degree barrel rotation for accurate focusing.
Star Wars Episode III will be shot in Sydney, starting this June for a tentative mid-2005 release date.

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HHB Puts TAG in Media Spotlight

Recording specialist HHB has appointed Technical Audio Group exclusive Australian distributors of its portable and studio recording products and HHB professional recording media.
With the launch of the new HHB Portadrive location sound recorder imminent, Anthony Russo, TAG Technical Director, said "HHB's Portadat and Portadisc have been very popular with Australian sound recordists and broadcasters, and we're naturally very excited about the new Portadrive. As is the case in the rest of the world, sound recordists in Australia are increasingly being asked to record hi-resolution multichannel audio, and to produce their work in 'post-friendly' formats. With eight channels of 24-bit/96kHz recording on a convenient, removable HD, the Portadrive is perfectly equipped to meet their needs."
Speaking on behalf of HHB, International Sales Manager Jeremy Curtis said, "Technical Audio Group is a company built on a strong reputation for service and their experience in Australia’s professional audio market make them an ideal distribution partner for HHB. We are looking forward to a successful relationship with Technical Audio Group for many years to come."
Contact Technical Audio Group on (02) 9519 0900 or visit www.tag.com.au

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McGrath Named Cinematographer of the Year

A ceremony in Adelaide has seen Martin McGrath ACS presented with the prestigious Milli Award for Australian Cinematographer of the Year for his work on the feature 'Swimming Upstream'.
Based on the novel by author Tony Fingleton and starring Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis, Jesse Spencer and Tim Draxl, the film follows the life of Tony Fingleton (Jesse Spencer) who longs for his father Harold's (Geoffrey Rush) affection. Overshadowed by his footballer brother's talent Tony has always felt neglected. It is only when Tony's father witnesses his extraordinary swimming talent that Tony feels that he has a shot at his father's heart. This hope however is short-lived.
The ceremony also saw Geoff Owen presented with the Ross Wood Memorial Award for continued development of his "Watoosie" Dolly, which was primarily designed to aid in the production of fast turn-around television drama.
The late Ron Hagen ACS, Ron Johanson ACS, David Wakeley ACS and the late Frank Hurley were the 2003 inductees into the Australian Cinematographers Society Hall of Fame.

Other winners included:

• Best Student Award - Tim Alewood ‘The Shot’
• Experimental and Specialised - Jo Rossiter ACS ‘Tales from the Powder Room’
• Station Breaks & Promos - John Bowring ACS Seven Network 2002 ID
• Music Clips - David Wakeley ACS ‘Arcanum – Hide and Seek’
• Single Camera Newsgathering - Adam Wilson ‘7 News – M1 Protest’
• Multi-camera Newsgathering - Tim Stewart/Paul Walker ‘7 News - Boxing Day Night Bush Fires’
• News Magazine - Matt Koopmans ‘Emu Plague’
• TV Magazine - Matt Koopmans ‘Woolnorth – Past & Present’
• Current Affairs - Gregory Barbera ’60 Minutes – War Against Saddam’
• Wildlife & Nature - Peter Coleman ‘Living Edens – Tasmania: Land of the Devils’
• Commercials - Geoffrey Wharton ACS ‘Nescafe – Cuba’
• Corporate Productions - Kent Smith ACS 'Colonial Stadium'
• Training & Education - Greg Parish ACS ‘Sleepless Frights 2 —The Human Factor’
• Documentaries - Terry Carlyon ACS ‘The Brotherhood’
• Fiction/Drama Shorts - Tristan Milani ACS ‘Roundabout’
• Telefeatures, TV Drama & Mini Series - Laszlo Barranyai ACS ‘Roy Hollsdotter Live’

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Alston Announces Digital Radio Group

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology & the Arts, Senator Richard Alston has announced the formation of a study group to analyse digital radio technologies and implementation around the world and assess their potential applications for Australia.
Speaking at the Australian Broadcasting Authority Conference held at Canberra's Hyatt Hotel, Minister Alston said, "I remain of the belief that digital radio has considerable potential for the consumer. However, it is also the case that around the world the business case for digital radio has been relatively slow to emerge.
"The more informed we are at the outset, the greater the prospect of making digital radio work-for Australian industry and equally importantly for Australian consumers. To that end, I am pleased to announce the formation of a Digital Radio Study Group involving DCITA, the ABA and the ACA."
The main task of the Study Group will be to establish a fact base which Government can use to look at the policy issues associated with implementing digital radio in Australia. It will work in close association with industry and relevant stakeholders where necessary and as widely as possible analyse the technological and regulatory ramifications of the different technologies.
"I expect to receive a report in late November this year," said Alston. "It is important that we are as conversant as possible about the relative merits of alternative digital radio formats in order that we maximise the potential benefits to consumers and to industry."
However, the formation of the Minister's Digital Radio Study Group was questioned by Joan Warner, Chief Executive Officer of industry body Commercial Radio Australia. Also speaking at the ABA Conference, Warner said that most people in the industry were aware of the "furious level" of activity that had gone on in the development of digital radio over the past 12-18 months.
"It's always nice to receive advice from others on what we should be doing and how we should be doing it," she said, "but it does become a little bit frustrating when we are actually already doing it."
Warner said trials set to commence in Sydney remain stymied due to the slowness of local government planning approvals.
"The fact is, though, that we do take exception to inferences that nothing is happening, that we need to have a Digital Radio Study Group to force us into action when, in fact, any action that has taken place over the past 12-18 months has been initiated, funded and driven by Commercial Radio hand in hand with the ABC and, now, SBS. So, you can understand the frustration in hearing some of these comments.
"The Digital Radio Study Group is a great initiative for the Minister and I'm sure it will bring back some of his focus to where digital radio should go and will present him with a very consolidated and, I hope, concise overview of what's going on overseas.
"Of course, it would be our view that no decisions on appropriate technology could be made at this stage until our trials are up and running and we have the opportunity to test a number of hypotheses that we have about digital radio."
Warner added that transmission technologies being considered by the industry, IBOC (In-Band On-Channel) and DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), both had their advantages and disadvantages and their individual proponents within the industry.

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Southern Cross to Centralise in Canberra

Southern Cross Broadcasting has it has finalised plans to establish a centralised digital television presentation facility at its Canberra studios.
Regional television services in respect of Southern Cross Ten stations in Queensland, northern and southern New South Wales and Victoria will now be presented from the digital play-out centre in Canberra. Southern Cross Broadcasting's 7 Darwin and 7 Central satellite services will also emanate from the Canberra facility.
Southern Cross Broadcasting has committed approximately AUD$20,000,000 developing the new presentation facility which will assume responsibility for the play-out of twenty four individual television channels. The company took advantage of recent developments in digital technology coupled with significant advances in digital distribution infrastructure to provide an efficient model for the centralisation of the majority of its regional television presentation facilities.
The centralisation project also extends to the scheduling process responsible for the management of airtime inventories encompassing the twenty four play-out channels utilising the recently developed IBMS Sales and Content software provided by Pilat Media. In addition, the company has recently committed to purchase over twenty Pinnacle Liquid non-linear editing systems for deployment in eighteen television markets throughout regional Australia.
The company said in a statement that "... the centralisation process will require Southern Cross Broadcasting to hire additional staff in Canberra to operate and service the new digital centre. Upon commissioning of the new facility, expected in June/July 2003, presentation operations in the company's Townsville, Coffs Harbour and Bendigo stations will no longer be required.
"Unfortunately the cessation of these presentation operations will mean that some positions in each station will become redundant, however opportunities for relocation will be extended to current staff wherever possible."
The company also stated that it would retain full administration, sales, production and engineering facilities in Townsville, Coffs Harbour and Bendigo and continue to provide services to the Queensland, northern New South Wales and Victorian markets.

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Fairlight Reborn

Following a month of uncertainty, the Fairlight name has been given new life with the formation of a new company headed by Fairlight veteran John Lanken. The company will continue to trade as Fairlight. Subject to finalising arrangements for new premises in Sydney, manufacturing of new products is expected to commence in early May 2003.
According to Lanken, Chief Executive Officer of the revamped company, "I am excited to apply my experience to a company that not only do I love but also has been a huge part of my life. The new company was formed after finding four other passionate leading audio professionals and business partners throughout the world, willing to devote their time into making this company a leading force in audio production once again.
"Although the 'new' Fairlight has new owners we have retained the experience of key R & D and management personnel to ensure there is continuity in product development, support and manufacturing. We have also purchased all the essential assets including intellectual property, trademarks, patents, inventory, plant and equipment."
Lanken says he expects to soon announce the availability of an entire suite of software upgrades for the 'Dream' family as well as for products such as 'FAME/Prodigy' and 'MFX3.48'.

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SARS Sinks BroadcastAsia

Singapore Exhibition Services, organiser of BroadcastAsia2003, has decided to forego the 2003 edition of the event which was scheduled to take place from June 17-20 at Suntec Singapore. CommunicAsia2003, which was to be held concurrently at the Singapore Expo, will also be cancelled.
According to Singapore Exhibition Services Chief Executive, Stephen, "The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Singapore has shown little improvement over the past few weeks and somewhat worsening in other parts of Asia, exhibitors and visitors alike had expressed concerns about their safety at the show. With the WHO and U.S. CDC advisories against traveling to SARS affected areas, it became painfully obvious that foreign visitorship to the show will be severely affected.
"As such, we are concerned that BroadcastAsia would not live up to its reputation as an international platform gathering sellers and buyers from all over the world. A search for another suitable date to hold the exhibition then became our top priority. However, the world calendar for the second part of the year is already filled with other events such as BIRTV (Beijing), IBC (Amsterdam), ITU World Telecom (Geneva), CTIA Wireless (Las Vegas), InterBee (Japan) and Comdex (Las Vegas).
"With many exhibitors and buyers already committed to exhibiting at and visiting these events, it became clear that we would not be able to find a suitable slot without moving it too close to next year’s show. This was a tough decision borne out of the necessity due to the SARS outbreak and the lack of options for a suitable time frame in which to re-schedule the event. It is also our utmost priority to safeguard the well being of our exhibitors and visitors who have shown us unwavering support all these years."
The next BroadcastAsia is scheduled to take place from 15-18 June 2004.

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New Media Incubator Launched

Sydney has seen the launch of a ground-breaking thinktank, concept laboratory, and production workshop for new media people in film, interactive media, games, entertainment, arts, publishing, music, advertising, communications, and information technology.
Headed by Director Brendan Harkin, X|Media|Lab ("cross media lab") aims to help create successful new digital media projects in the film, music, games, interactive media, and broadband content industries. The Lab will assemble international and local mentors to work with Australian content creators to combine conceptual, creative, and technological developments to produce exciting new media projects likely to be commercially successful.
X|Media|Lab will be held as part of the 50th anniversary Sydney Film Festival June 7-10, 2003 with a roster of specially selected international mentors and speakers including:

• Frank Boyd, Director of Creative Development from the BBC
• Matt Costello, the author of DOOM 3 Mark Pesce, creator of VRML and author of The Playful World
• Femke Wolting, the creator of the "Exploding Cinema" Rotterdam Film Festival
• Steve Mack, the author of the Streaming Media Bible
• TNC Net from Paris as well as special guests from the Sydney Film Festival as mentors to Australia's outstanding new media creators and practitioners.

In launching the X|Media|Lab, NSW Minister for Commerce, John Delia Bosca said, "New Media lies at the intersection of information technology, arts and media. The IT, arts and media industries are strategically important to the NSW economy. Together they employ over 160,000 people and include some of our fastest growing. industry sectors.
"The New Media industry is expected to become increasingly important in generating new jobs and export income for New South Wales and Australia," he said.
The Lab is presented by Sun Microsystems, the Department of Information Technology and Management and the NSW Film and Television Office and supported by the cream of Australia's media, arts, and industry bodies including the Sydney Film Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art, Fox Studios, Office of Information Technology, the Australian Film Commission, and the British Council, with major industry partners AIMIA, IIA, and SPAA, and with the assistance of the Biennale of Sydney, the Sydney Writers Festival, Apple Computer, the BBC, and Baker & MacKenzie.
X|Media|Lab is now inviting people to nominate themselves and their project teams for inclusion in the Lab. The Lab will also stage a major Public Day conference at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The X|Media|Lab - Thinktank and Production Workshop will be held Saturday June 7 - Tuesday June 10, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
The Public Conference on "Creativity and Content" will be Wednesday June 11, also at the MCA.
Visit www.xmedialab.com.au

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Holotype launches iTV Betting Service in New Zealand

Sydney-based interactive television developer Holotype has helped Sky Television New Zealand and New Zealand TAB launch its first ever interactive television sports betting service SkyBet.
Running across Sky's 'Trackside' channel the service allows 'next race' betting for horse and greyhound racing and trots and is also providing 'sports betting' on Sky NZ's 'Sky Sports 1' channel for rugby, soccer and rugby league. Following Holotype's initial launch of an OpenTV sports statistics application in 2002, the company has upgraded the solution to provide dynamic odds that update every 40 seconds (on average the access time is 26 seconds) and more importantly, the ability for viewers to place bets from their armchair using their remote controls. Driven by Holotype's 'ITV Sports System', the solution helps Sky Television manage the whole interactive broadcast with just one member of staff on duty.
According to Daniel Barton, Account Director at Holotype, "services can be updated and configured very rapidly so that different bets can be scheduled across different channels and timeslots."
Holotype's application also allows the service to look completely different across different channels and dynamically change the menu structure on those multiple channels. Dynamic change is particularly important to Sky and TAB as events can change very quickly at certain times of the day, with new races appearing every 2-3 minutes at peak times.
Sky New Zealand's digital satellite service reaches more than 350,000 subscribers. During the last two weeks, a soft launch of the service with no on-air promotion or marketing has already resulted in more than $ 40,000 worth of betting sales. At this early stage, the service is limited to allow a maximum of $100 New Zealand Dollars on each bet, but this is easily configurable according to Barton.
Holotype and Sky have had the challenge not only of launching a flexible dynamic odds and statistics service, but also of launching the first fully transactional interactive service on Sky NZ (with the exception of email). The other primary challenge has been in putting in place a robust return path solution.
According to Barton "betting transactions are very peaky with 90 percent of bets arriving in the final minute before the race. Once the viewer starts the process of making a bet, the box pre-emptively starts dialling so that waiting times are reduced."
Once a bet has been entered by the viewer, the request reaches Holotype's transaction gateway, a flexible solution which is hosted at Sky's office. The gateway sends the bet request to TAB's Jetbet server which approves or declines the bet with the confirmation being sent back the subscriber in less than a second.
The local betting community has already prompted Holotype and Sky to look at some other developments which include the addition of Australian betting odds and the capability to offer 'easy bets' at fixed amounts e.g. $8 bets at the touch of a button.
Visit http://www.holotype.com.au

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The LaB Transmutes with Alchemist

The LaB Sydney, a division of the Omnilab Group, has upgraded its standards conversion facilities with the installation of a Snell and Wilcox Alchemist Platinum.
The investment of over $450,000 aims to provide clients across the Omnilab Group with end-to-end post production, duplication and distribution services that are of the highest quality, cost effectiveness and convenience.
Now the most fully optioned Alchemist in Australia, the LaB can offer high quality broadcast standards conversion, vector motion control, CleanCutTM technology with the addition of aspect ratio conversion and tape legalization facilities. The system is also equipped for the HD world to provide up and down conversions to and from HD formats.
According to James Douglas, Head of Broadcast Services, the LaB Sydney,"We wanted to do more than a simple upgrade, so we invested in the best equipment available. This means that we can provide our clients with the fastest and most cost effective system for standards conversion and up conversion. The Alchemist provides imperceptible transformation to and from NTSC & PAL, broadcast and non-broadcast formats, including Digital Betacam NTSC & PAL.
"In addition to the installation of Alchemist Platinum, the LaB is also the only Sydney facility, apart from DubSat that is capable of transmitting TVCs directly to FACTS and TV stations, this means that we can package both these services with the general post production requirements of our clients and provide unrivalled end-to-end postproduction services."
Although located at the LaB sydney, the services of the Alchemist are available through the Group's other facilities, mesh22 and Cornerpost.

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ScreenSound Australia Digitises with StorageTek

ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive, has purchased StorageTek's automated tape library solutions to support its digitisation strategy. ScreenSound Australia's extensive collection of audio recordings and still images is being ingested into a StorageTek L700 automated tape library with fibre-attached LTO Ultrium drives.
The L700 has a capacity of 10 terabytes and will be progressively expanded, starting with the addition of higher capacity 2nd Generation tape drives.
"Data is now the preferred storage medium for all recorded sound," said Michael Tuite, ScreenSound Australia's E-Business Manager. "ScreenSound Australia is currently ingesting audio into digital data formats using seven purpose-built studios at the rate of two terabytes per year. The rate will increase to 100 terabytes per studio per year with stage two of ScreenSound Australia's digitisation project, which will encompass video."

For more details, click here.

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AFTRS Calls For Volunteers

The Australian Film Television & Radio School is calling for volunteers to register for work on AFTRS productions. Approximately half the crew members working on AFTRS productions are volunteers. According to the School, it is a great opportunity to gain filmmaking experience and provides networking opportunities.
Once registered, volunteers will be invited to an orientation day designed to offer an insight into the production process at the school and to view a range of recent AFTRS films. There will also be a BBQ in which volunteers can meet the students and discuss their upcoming projects.
In order to register as a volunteer please email or post a letter outlining your areas of interest to:
Daniel Conroy
Operations and Facilities Coordinator AFTRS
PO Box 126
North Ryde
NSW 1670
Tel: 02 9805 6556
Email: Danielc@aftrs.edu.au

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CineAlta Brings Joy to Short Films

Advertising and production types gathered during the week before NAB at Los Angeles' Directors Guild Theater for the screening of a series of short films shot on Sony's 24P CineAlta System by eight leading TVC directors.
Sponsored by Sony and coordinated by Ken Yagoda, Director of Broadcast Production with Young & Rubicam New York, the screening centred around the theme of Joy and included work by Australian directors Jeff Darling and David Denneen.
Written by Josh Whiteman, and starring Penny Cook and Steve Jacobs, The Waltz, directed by Denneen, portrayed a drought stricken farming family and the meteorological rule that comes into play when you get around to washing the car.
Darkly humorous by contrast, in:dex directed by Darling and co-written by Darling and Matt Dooley, is the story of three colleagues needing to prove an assassination has taken place. That proof lies in the stomach of a fourth individual who is very much deceased.
Camera equipment for both productions was supplied by Panavision Australia with assistance from Sony.

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Ambience Grabs gQ from Quantel

Sydney-based Ambience Entertainment is installing Australia's first Quantel gQ along with a QEditPro, and QPaintbox system.
According to Managing Director Matthew Street, "The Quantel turnkey solution means we now have a platform from desktop compositing through high-end editing to 2K and High Definition Compositing."
Ambience is also installing a JVC D-ILA High Definition Projector and a Stewart Filmscreen Corporation's Greyhawk projection screen. This will allow clients to view film and television in a large format assisting with composition and design and deliver on film.
"With the volume of Broadcast Design work the company does," said Street, "we needed to find a solution that allowed us to cost effectively offer our clients High Definition title and branding, the Quantel system met all our criteria." According to Managing Director of Quantel Australia, Julien James, "It is almost ten years to the day that Ambience Entertainment and Quantel commenced their relationship. Quantel always viewed our support of Ambience in the long term and Ambience's early adoption of the new range generation Q follows on from good experience with Quantel technologies in the past. Given Ambience's client needs, the new range generation Q technology held the answers."
The system allows Ambience's designers, editors and compositors to learn the system on cost effective PC Platforms, with a common user interface across the whole range.
"This means we will no longer have a lot of individual specialist in a variety of different design and compositing software packages," said Street. "We will be training our team to be able to operate the whole Q-Generation range, including the high-end boxes thereby allowing better work flow efficiencies. This is a win for our customers as we can now deliver our design and effects capability more cost effectively at High Definition and Film Resolutions."

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WIN TV Goes Liquid with Pinnacle

WIN Television Network, Australia's largest regional coverage television broadcaster, has chosen Pinnacle Liquid NLE systems, for installation throughout its network.
The installation includes multiple Liquid 'silvers' and 'purples', as well as Pinnacle's flagship product, Liquid blue, a native digital NLE, which will be housed at WIN TV's Wollongong facility. WIN is no stranger to the Liquid NLEs, having previously installed five Liquid silver systems into the network back in January 2000.
"I had a good look at the Pinnacle range at last year's IBC which is what lead us to the conclusion that the Silver and Blue were appropriate for our needs," said Peter Gough, Chief Operating Officer WIN Television.
Pinnacle Liquid blue offers complete native support for every video format, eliminating transcoding and degradation from re-compression. The system is designed to support a variety of network solutions and topologies from simple transfer networks to large storage area networks. The systems will be supplied, installed and training provided by Brisbane based Broadcast Solutions provider Provisual Australia.

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Atlab Captures Sound of Deckchair

Starring Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill) and Miranda Otto (Lord of the Rings), Danny Deckchair is a romantic comedy directed by Jeff Balsmeyer, produced by Andrew Mason and filmed on location in Sydney and Bellingen, New South Wales. Atlab Australia was chosen to complete the final audio mix for the film which took place at its THX theatre.
According to writer/director Jeff Balsmeyer, 'Danny Deckchair' tells the story of Danny Morgan, a cement truck driver, who when forced to miss a long awaited holiday thanks to his girlfriend Trudy's work-related ambitions, attaches a bunch weather balloons to his deck chair and escapes his suburban prison.

For more details, click here.

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Film Unit Buys iQ, Pandora

NAB, Las Vegas - The Film Unit, a company owned by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) alongside Weta Digital, has purchased an iQ Digital Intermediate system from Quantel. The iQ is configured with the QColor in-context grading option as well as the Freeflow high speed interface to Pandora.
Peter Jackson said, “Quantel has come up with a breakthrough technology for film-makers. iQ offers me a fast and exciting digital colour solution. And we will be looking forward to further developments over the next months. As a filmmaker I feel that great stories can only be enhanced by innovation in technology.”
Quantel Market Development Manager, Mark Horton, said, "Peter Jackson's team is at the cutting edge of movie making, and we're big fans of their work. We’re really looking forward to seeing what they will be able to produce with iQ."
iQ is capable of editing 2k interactively at full resolution, of mixing resolutions and frame rates and playing out multiple versions on the fly.
The installation also includes Pandora’s new POGLE Evolution controller and PiXi data colour processor, as well as a Thomson Spirit datacine. The new room is equipped to run at resolutions up to 4k digital film data.
The Pandora PiXi data colour processor is connected to the IQ with the “Freeflow ” optical link providing real-time vector-based colour control at 2k resolution and editing decisions at will, enabling review of results instantaneously at full resolution on-screen.
“We are seeing an increasing trend for film finishing in the digital environment,” said Sue Thomson, CEO of The Film Unit. “We have been providing services to major production houses in the past years, film processing and printing, sound mixing and post production services, editing, telecine, digital scanning and recording amongst other new technology services. We now intend to expand into the digital film arena,for both in house use and external digital intermediate services so we can put to good use all of the experience that being involved in the [Lord of the Rings] Trilogy has given us.”
According to Ian Bidgood, Technical Manager, “We have been thoroughly evaluating all available systems that manufacturers provide today. We came to the conclusion that the Quantel/Pandora combination with the internal optical link was the most appropriate and elegant system to meet our needs. We are a film house and are looking to work with no technical compromises, processing and viewing images at film resolution is our goal.”

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ABC Goes HD with Discreet

NAB, Las Vegas - Discreet has announced that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has moved its Production Resources department into high definition production with the purchase of a full range of Discreet online editing and effects systems.
The order includes three smoke HD finishing systems, two flame visual effects systems and 19 combustion visual effects software licences. The combined effects-to-editing Discreet workflow and ability to integrate with existing ABC equipment factored strongly into the decision. The new sales add to the ABC's existing Discreet 3ds max animation software licences.
As part of Government funding for the first phase of its migration to HDTV, ABC was required to significantly expand its HD editing and compositing capabilities.
"Dsicreet is proud to have been chosen to provide Australia's largest public broadcaster with a suite of tools that will introduce HD post-production to the network," said David Edgar, Discreet Regional Manager for Australia and New Zealand.
While the need to migrate from standard definition PAL to HDTV was the main motivator behind the ABC's decision to upgrade its post-productioncapabilities, the overall efficiency of Discreet's HD workflow between editing and graphics was a major factor, as was the ability to work with the existing editing and effects software applications.
The ABC performs a large amount of preparatory work at lower resolutions, so the ability to of the flame system to integrate material from combustion effects software, 3ds max animation software and other applications provides a highly effective graphics workflow.
"Discreet offered the Australian Broadcasting Corporation its state-of-the-art high definition post-production work and can effectively handle even higher resolutions than the ABC currently requires. This offers the added benefit of future proofing their investment," stated David Edgar.
The ABC will initially use the Discreet systems at SD resolution to enable half of its 15 editors and 13 graphic artists to immediately familiarise themselves with their capabilities on current projects; HD projects are scheduled to rapidly follow. Currently, all material is broadcast in widescreen format except news and current affairs. The bulk of the equipment will be installed in new suites at the ABC's Ultimo, Sydney, HQ with the remainder being installed in Melbourne.

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Southern Cross Picks Pilat, Masstech

NAB, Las Vegas - Southern Cross Broadcasting has signed an agreement to implement the Integrated Broadcast Management System (IBMS) from software specialist, Pilat Media.
IBMS will be used to fully integrate Southern Cross' entire regional television broadcast operation of some 30 television markets, including advertising airtime yield and inventory. Replacing four separate systems, IBMS will manage sales, traffic and programme scheduling, from a single Oracle database, enabling Southern Cross to standardise work practices, and eliminate potential errors and the substantial cost of multiple data entry. The system will be hosted in a single location allowing over 370 users to access the system nationwide.
Commenting on the decision to implement the the integrated IBMS system, Bruce Abraham, Group General Manager of Television for Southern Cross Broadcasting said, "By integrating the total workflow, from advertising proposal to airing a campaign, we will be able to serve our customers better, be more responsive to changing client and market needs, and run a more efficient sales operation.
"With the possible extension of IBMS to include radio airtime sales, we will be able to achieve our cross media vision, offering our clients the ability to plan and manage campaigns across multiple media types, maintaining Southern Cross Broadcasting's position as one of the fastest growing, most innovative broadcasters in Australia."
Southern Cross has also joined Foxtel in implementing the MassStore nearline, archive and asset management solution from Masstech Group. The system provides from 1000 to 100,000-plus hours of nonlinear audio/video storagewith full content management and tracking. A full-featured Oracle 9i asset management database provides advanced, web-enabled metadata access and control.
A nearline RAID cache acts as a transfer speed abstraction layer between a video server network and a data tape library. MassStore also provides support for VDCP, VACP and NDCP protocols.

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AMtech Signs with Xytech

NAB, Las Vegas - AMtech Australia has signed an agreement with Xytech Systems Corporation to resell, support and help manage implementations of Xytech'sEnterprise and FMS2000 software systems in Australia and New Zealand.
"We are very pleased to be associated with AMtech," said Xytech President Hugh Heinsohn. "It's hard to find a group of people who have the depth of experience and technical knowledge required to work with sophisticated business software systems.like Xytech Enterprise. AMtech certainly has this sort of expertise and we're very happy to have this group working with us."
According to AMtech MD Phillip Gardiner, "Xytech's business software has proven itself to be extremely useful to the types of customers we deal with every day. It helps them control costs, organise their billing, keep track of media assets, and optimise the scheduling of their facilities and people. We're very excited by the prospect of working with Xytech to implement and support their systems in Australia and New Zealand."

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Seven Takes Sony Optical Disc Technology

NAB, Las Vegas - Sony Australia has announced a business partnership with the Seven Network, to implement cutting-edge optical technology throughout its operations. The Sony optical disc system, comprising two new camcorders and three decks, is expected to bring a revolutionary change to broadcast news and electronic field production and will offer the Seven Network a new model in field acquisition and editing.
“The operational benefits emanating from optical technology are enormous; the Seven Network has been very quick to realise this and we are delighted to be their business partner,” said Charles Montesin, Vice President Product Marketing, Sony Australia.
“By using the breakthrough technology offered through optical disc system the Seven Network will enjoy significant new efficiencies to the network’s overall workflow while continuing to provide the high-quality news services it is renowned for,” he said.
Sony’s optical disc system will record not only high resolution video and audio, but also low resolution, frame-accurate video and audio called “proxy data” at the same time. From the camcorder, or a battery-operated mobile deck, Seven’s newsgathering teams will then be able to transfer the proxy data to laptop editors or back to the studio at up to 30 times faster than real time, allowing producers to immediately start writing scripts. Based on those scripts, field engineers will be able to transfer the high-resolution footage either as video or as a data file over IP networks. In the case of compact decks or studio decks, this proxy data will transfer at up to 50 times faster than real time.

For more details, click here.

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Foxtel Takes NDS for Digital

NAB, Las Vegas - NDS Group has announced that Foxtel will use NDS systems for the launch of Foxtel's full digital service which it intends to launch in early 2004. NDS will act as prime systems integrator and provider of key digital technology solutions that will deliver secure subscription broadcasts and enable interactive services.
Foxtel's Chief Executive, Mr Kim Williams, said: "Foxtel is leading the development of digital television in Australia and our alliance with NDS will enable us to deliver innovative new services reliably and securely with maximum ease of operation for our subscribers. NDS is a world leader in digital broadcasting technology and their proven systems offered the best solutions for Foxtel."
Mr. Peter Iles, General Manager of NDS Australia and New Zealand operations said: "VideoGuard conditional access is established with broadcasters around the world as a reliable and secure DVB conditional access system. In addition, the NDS technology chosen by Foxtel creates a digital interactive platform that will enable Foxtel to offer numerous value added TV services to its viewers."
NDS solutions chosen by Foxtel include the VideoGuard digital conditional access system, the StreamServer digital broadcasting playout management system, the Value@TV interactive TV headend, the iVG (interactive VideoGuard) providing conditional access service to interactive applications and an NDS and Foxtel co-developed electronic program guide.
In addition, Foxtel, in a later phase of its digital roll-out, will introduce the NDS XTV Personal Video Recorder (PVR) to enhance its digital system. It is anticipated that Foxtel will offer the PVR approximately 12 months after the launch of the first phase of its new digital services.
The NDS VideoGuard conditional access solution will provide secure broadcast of digital subscription television services to cable and satellite subscribers of the Foxtel network. The agreement provides for the installation of the VideoGuard conditional access system to the existing cable subscribers who will be transitioned to digital over an expected period of two years. On satellite the VideoGuard system will simulcrypt with Foxtel's existing Irdeto conditional access system and provide the enhanced Foxtel digital services on satellite as well.
NDS will also be the prime integrator for the introduction of new digital set-top boxes to the cable and satellite environment.
The Foxtel EPG will assist viewers to easily access program schedules, synopsis and summary information at the click of a remote.

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TEN Takes Omneon for Time Delay

NAB, Las Vegas - Quinto Communications has used the NAB show in Las Vegas to announce the sale of Omneon’s Media Server System to Network in Sydney. The Omneon Media Server, configured with 200 hours of storage and 24 I/O Channels across a redundant Extended File Sharing configuration, was recently installed at TEN’s Centralized Network Playout Center in Sydney. In its first stage of operation the Omneon Server will be used to ingest and store program material from weekly AFL matches and then delay the program playout to three different Australian time zones.
According to Network Ten’s Sydney Chief Engineer, Jeff Yeates and Operations Manager, Mike Lewis.
“We required a reliable, scalable and cost effective server solution that would not only reliably meet our immediate storage and program delay requirements, but a solution that could be easily expanded to meet our future needs. After comprehensive evaluations and visits to various broadcast installations around the globe and talking to users and manufacturers, we decided to go with the Omneon Media Server because we were impressed with the user feedback and the unique scalable system architecture”

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Omnilab Opens Playroom

April 2003 heralds the official opening of the Omnilab Group’s new facility, The Playroom, North Ryde. This strategic move positions the Group, (already one of Australia’s largest post production, design and broadcast facilities), as the second largest facilitator of production and playout services in the Australian Pay TV market.
The new facility located in North Ryde will be responsible for the production of MTV, the production and playout of the Ovation and Odyssey channels, as well as the compilation and playout of ACC, and commercial insertion of Sky News. To ensure a seamless creative and production process, Optus is co-locating it’s channel management and creative resources with the Omnilab team.
The opening of the new facility now means the Playroom will exist in two separate locations – North Ryde and Artarmon.
Omnilab, whose traditional strength still lies with clients in the commercial, television and film production markets has continued to develop its broadcast production, design and playout client base over the last year. As a result, this has added to its three Movie Network channels, Movie One, Movie Extra and Movie Greats, which are played out from Artarmon, to Optus, Foxtel and Austar.
Christopher Mapp, Executive Director says, “This system was purpose built and is state of the art and subsequently, it has been adopted by a number of other international broadcasters. The Optus-owned channels MTV and Ovation plus independent channels Odyssey, ACC and Sky News are all welcome additions to the Group’s portfolio. The LaB Sydney, mesh22, Cornerpost and the Playroom are all excited about the opportunity of adding value to their services.”
“The opening of the new facility will also add greater depth to the Group’s resources by adding numerous edit, graphic and audio suites and importantly a digital studio for either live or recorded productions,” says Mapp. “The digital studio is something the group has been thinking about for a couple of years. We will now be able to package studio facilities with design, visual effects, telecine, multimedia, duplication and satellite delivery to networks, all within the one company.”

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