CORPORATE MOVES

Autodesk Re-brands Discreet

Autodesk, Inc. has announced the formation of the Autodesk Media and Entertainment division. Formerly known as Discreet, the division will remain dedicated to providing products and services for the film, video, gaming, and related media and entertainment markets.
The transition of Discreet into Autodesk Media and Entertainment demonstrates Autodesk’s continued commitment to customers it has served for more than a decade. While the dedicated sales, support and product development teams remain unchanged, the brand change signifies the incremental resources Autodesk Media and Entertainment will be utilising to better serve customers. This ensures that the creative toolset from Autodesk Media and Entertainment will stay on the leading edge of product innovation and continue to empower artists to solve their most complex production challenges. Additionally, Autodesk Consulting is extending its organisation by adding a dedicated Media and Entertainment practice.
“When we launched our new corporate branding effort in March, we made it clear that Autodesk is in the business of helping customers realise their ideas,” said Carl Bass, chief operating officer of Autodesk. “Creating Autodesk Media and Entertainment is more proof that we have a single mission as a company, whether we are serving customers who design our buildings, infrastructure and manufactured products or create the amazing content we see on movie, TV and video game screens. Autodesk is a trusted advisor, and we have the technology to make these customers more creative and competitive as they turn their ideas into reality.”
“The media and entertainment industries are at an inflection point, where creativity and productivity must meet. From the 4K digital intermediate process for film making to uncompressed HD programming and next generation game consoles, our customers are expecting us to innovate and solve the most complex of production requirements,” said Martin Vann, vice president of Autodesk Media and Entertainment. “By integrating and unifying our brand with Autodesk, we position ourselves to become a more closely aligned division of a billion dollar plus company. Autodesk Media and Entertainment will not only provide a broader and more strategic presence for Autodesk, but a better platform for us to compete within our core markets of film, television, gaming and design visualisation”.
Autodesk Media and Entertainment Division will be headquartered in Montreal, Canada, where Discreet has been based since Autodesk acquired Discreet Logic in 1999. Autodesk will be maintaining its strong presence in Montreal, taking advantage of the base of talented, experienced creative professionals there.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Avid to Acquire Pinnacle

Avid Technology and Pinnacle Systems have announced that Avid has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pinnacle in a cash and stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Pinnacle shareholders will receive .0869 shares of Avid stock and $1.00 in cash for each Pinnacle share. At closing, it is expected that Avid will issue approximately 6.2 million shares and pay $71.3 million in cash, for a total estimated value of $462 million based on Avid’s stock price of $62.95 at market close on Friday, March 18, 2005. Upon completion of the transaction, the 6.2 million shares to be issued to Pinnacle’s former shareholders will represent approximately 15% of Avid’s outstanding common stock. The acquisition is subject to satisfying a number of closing conditions, including shareholder and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2005. The purchase price represents a 30% premium over Pinnacle’s closing stock price of $4.97 on March 18, 2005. Assuming a closing date of July 1, 2005, Avid expects the transaction, excluding acquisition-related charges, to be dilutive to its pro-forma earnings per share in the third quarter and accretive in the fourth quarter, resulting in full-year 2005 pro forma earnings per share of approximately $2.70 per diluted share. In 2006, Avid expects the transaction to be approximately 10 cents accretive, resulting in pro forma earnings per share of approximately $3.20 per diluted share. After payment of the cash portion of the purchase price, Avid expects its cash position to be $280-$300 million at the end of 2005.
Following the closing, the parties expect that Pinnacle’s professional products – such as the MediaStream broadcast playout server and the Deko on-air graphics system – will enhance Avid’s end-to-end broadcast production pipeline, which has helped Avid become a global leader in that industry. In addition, Pinnacle’s consumer video business – which to date has shipped more than 10 million units -will form the basis for a new consumer video division at Avid, providing the company with an immediate avenue into that segment.
Avid president and CEO David Krall said, “We see this acquisition as the next logical step in our long-term strategy. Just as our acquisition of M-Audio in 2004 brought us into the consumer audio business, by acquiring Pinnacle’s consumer video business, Avid will be able to tap into the next generation of video editors while they are still learning their craft. This creates a very large potential customer base for Avid’s future. At the same time, we believe that Pinnacle’s professional broadcast offerings will fit seamlessly with Avid’s business, extending our end-to-end broadcast solutions with servers and on-air graphics products. We think it would be hard to find a more complementary match for these two businesses than what this combination provides.”
Krall added: “As a result of this transaction, we expect to derive savings from a number of sources, including reducing public company expenses, combining infrastructure functions where appropriate, and providing our global sales teams with a broader portfolio of product offerings. Over the past five years, Avid has increased its profitability and shareholder value by growing our top line, expanding our gross margins, and leveraging our talent and technology across the entire company. By working with the dedicated team at Pinnacle, we’re confident that, together, we can succeed with this same strategy following the completion of the transaction.”
Pinnacle chairman and CEO Patti Hart said, “We believe that this transaction creates significant value for our shareholders and provides excellent opportunities for continued growth for the combined company. Avid has built a strong, well-deserved reputation for efficient business management while continuing to live up to its tradition of technological innovation in the video and audio industries. By bringing our own award-winning products to the table – including Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Liquid Edition, and our broad array of broadcast systems – we’re confident that Pinnacle will strengthen and diversify Avid’s business. Our customers can also anticipate a richer set of offerings within an organization that will be even better positioned moving ahead. We see this as the right move for Pinnacle, and we look forward to joining the Avid family.”
The Boards of Directors of both Avid and Pinnacle have approved the definitive agreement. Avid will seek stockholder approval of the transaction at its annual meeting, and Pinnacle will hold a special meeting of shareholders to consider approval of the transaction. The dates of the shareholder meetings will be announced following completion of initial regulatory filings.

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CONVERGENCE

Interactive Pioneers Form ‘Supergroup’

Some of the best-known pioneers of Australian web content have joined forces to create what they describe as “an new kind of omni-media company to assist major brands and leading traditional media groups that want to exploit the increasingly complex intersection of entertainment and information content, brand communication, and technology.”
Tom Kennedy, Mark Tesoriero and Scott-Bradley Pearce, the founders of interactive agency, Brainwaave, are partnering with Creed ‘Chris’ O’Hanlon, the man behind Spike Networks – and most recently, the ‘Creative Spark’ for Global Brand Marketing at Mazda Motor Corp, in Japan – and Mark Eland, the multi-award-winning former art director of Brainwaave, in the new company.
Called Media Zoo, Sydney-based company will, according to Tom Kennedy, “devise strategies, develop original content and deliver integrated systems of interaction and transaction that link both new and old media – and create a more responsive relationship with fast-growing digital audiences in Australia and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Kennedy adds, “Media Zoo will also demonstrate to clients a better understanding of the various, individualized needs of these audiences than is currently available among traditional advertising and communication agencies, even interactive agencies, and content producers.”
Media Zoo will be headed by Tom Kennedy, the former CEO of Brainwaave and most recently, the CEO of the publicly listed web services group, Hyro Ltd.
He is currently the Chair of the Federal Government’s Digital Taskforce, and is a Commissioner of the Australian Film Commission. Over the past decade, he has also been the President of the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association and Chair of the Internet Industry Association.
Together with Creed O’Hanlon, who, as CEO of Spike, was a member of both Austrade’s Telecommunications Industry Advisory Panel and the Governor of California’s Advisory Committee on the Arts and Technology, he has represented the local digital industry on international trade missions and consulted with various Government ministers and departments as well as Shadow Ministers.
“Now is the perfect time for a company like Media Zoo,” Tom Kennedy says, “especially with its founding partners’ unique, well-proven expertise in strategic thinking, project development and management, technology innovation and creativity.
“The Australian market is at an intriguing tipping point, with the possible introduction of the cross-media ownership bill in the Senate in July, the proposed changes to restrictions on foreign ownership of local media, and the potential sale of the Government’s remaining share of Telstra. These three events, if they happen as we foresee, will restructure the Australian media and business landscape for decades to come.
“It provides a unique opportunity for an entirely different sort of media vision – and Media Zoo is a partnership of acknowledged media visionaries!”

Visit www.mediazoo.com.au

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LEGISLATION

Copyright for Australian Film Directors

Legislation has been introduced Australian Federal Parliament that recognises, for the first time, the right of directors to a share of the copyright in their films, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock announced.
Mr Ruddock said the Copyright Amendment (Film Directors’ Rights) Bill 2005 will give directors a right to a share of royalties with producers when their films are shown on pay-TV channels.
He said the Government has consulted with stakeholders in the preparation of this Bill.
“This Bill is good for Australian directors and is a major step in recognising their role in creating films,” Mr Ruddock said. “It is designed so as not to disturb screen producers’ rights over film distribution or the existing investments in Australia’s important film industry.”
The Government made amendments to the Copyright Act in 2000 which required pay-TV broadcasters to pay royalties to copyright owners for retransmitting free-to-air broadcasts of their films and other copyright materials.
Mr Ruddock said this new Bill would give directors a share of the royalties payable for films under that scheme. The amount of royalties paid by pay-TV broadcasters is yet to be determined by the Copyright Tribunal.
“These rights for directors will only apply to films made after the legislation is passed and will not affect film producers’ existing revenue streams,” he said.
This new Bill follows on from amendments passed in 2000 which gave moral rights protection to the work of film directors. These changes will bring the position of directors in Australia closer into line with their rights in European Union countries.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Provideo/Talia Merge to Form Codan

Codan Limited, parent company of Provideo Systems Pty Ltd, has announced the merger of Provideo and Talia Sound & Vision Pty Ltd to form Codan Broadcast Products Pty Ltd. Under the deal, Codan has purchased the assets, intellectual property and taken on the staff of Talia, but not the company entity itself.
TS&V’s Joe Talia will head up R&D at Codan Broadcast Products. Talia says the immediate focus for the new company will be on unifying product lines. According to Talia, there is not a great deal of crossover between the Provideo and Talia ranges, but there will be some rationalisation with the aim of taking the best from both. He says the expectation is that, with the combined resources of the two companies, the product range will grow.
Provideo’s Steve Lukacs will assume the position of General Manager of the new company. He says the merger should ultimately result in greater overseas exposure for the two company’s technologies and that the big target is the export market and broadening the product offering. Lukacs expects Codan Broadcast Products to be able to take advantage of its parent company’s overseas distribution network, now covering over 150 countries.
Established in 1959, Codan designs and builds High Frequency (HF) Radio, Satellite, and Microwave Links products. More than 84 per cent of the company's equipment is exported from Australia.

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INSTALLATIONS

TEN Sports Chooses VizRT

Australia’s Channel TEN today has installed the Vizrt VIZRT Trio real-time 3D graphics systems for its 2005 AFL and MotorSport Racing coverage.
TEN’s first showing on-air with VIZRT was at the Bathurst 1000 with a real-time flyover graphic of the V8 supercar starting grid. The VIZRT 3D render engine enabled this complex 3D animation to be updated and rendered ‘live’ in real-time, eliminating the need for pre-production rendering.
In a deal involving Zspace, TEN’s graphic design provider, and ChampionData, Melbourne based Sports data provider, Ten Sports now have an automated and future-proof high-end 3D graphics solution based on the VIZRT Trio 3D CG.
Australian distributor AMtech put together a business plan for introducing Vizrt VIZRT to the network. After evaluating the business case, TEN decided to purchase the VIZRT kit and amortise the costs over a number of years. The plan enabled TEN to purchase several VIZRT 3D CG’s and replace its existing graphics service with a VIZRT solution managed by Zspace.
Viz|trio is a powerful, real-time 3D character generator. It contains a 3D authoring system that gives access to true 3D objects and animations. The 3D renderer viz|engine is the output engine for viz|trio. viz|trio generates real-time 3D animations and transitions, and has multi-layer graphics control accessible through multiple client stations. Multiple viz|trio clients can prepare graphics simultaneously, without tying up the on-air graphics channel during the preparation process. Real-time data feeds are supported, allowing graphic content to be updated while on-air, even when an animation is running.
Vizrt equipment is now used to provide graphics for all AFL broadcasters including Network TEN, Channel 9 and Fox Footy.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Madison Launches Tech Rentals

This past summer has seen Madison Technologies put forward its name as a brand new hi-tech rental business with its participation in two of Australia’s biggest annual events – “Carols in the Domain” and Sydney’s New Years Eve 2004.
Madison Technologies was responsible for co-ordinating the voice communication and data distribution for both events.
According to Madison Technologies Manager of Special Projects and Rental, Peter Cochrane, “Carols in the Domain, an event that attracts in excess of 100,000 Sydney-siders, involved installing a digital intercom system to link the stage management radios, four-wire communication for outside broadcast vehicles, the EPA and sound desk fireworks to stage-managers and several other elements of the live production. Riedel Max headsets coupled with the new C2 AES-EBU digital beltpacks played a critical role in ensuring the event’s success.”
For Sydney’s New Years Eve celebrations, Madison Technologies provided audio, data and communications infrastructure in the control room, downtown Sydney.
“We were required to take an extremely flexible approach to the ever-changing task at hand,” said Cochrane. “Our comms system fulfilled the primary job of ensuring the safe delivery of the fireworks. Alongside this, the system also enabled clean comms to a number of indirectly involved public areas.
“Madison Technologies are currently marketing the Riedel Communications range as a rental system to compliment sales across several industries. There will be a formal launch of the Madison Technologies Rentals in the coming months.”

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INTERACTIVE

OpenTV/Nine Sign Headend Agreement

OpenTV Corp. has signed a first of its kind license agreement with Australia's Channel Nine to initially install two OpenTV headend solutions consisting of OpenTV Streamer and OpenTV H20. The solutions will enable Channel Nine to broadcast just once to multiple platforms with different standards providing viewers with the opportunity to enjoy all of the network's program offerings.
OpenTV's headend solution will also facilitate Channel Nine's ability to publish one application that can be viewed across the Foxtel PayTV network and Australia's DTT set-top-boxes using open standards. The solutions will make it possible for them to use their existing digital television broadcast infrastructure to manage the creation and delivery of interactive services. OpenTV Streamer will enable Channel Nine to integrate applications and data with audio and video signals on STB's enabled with OpenTV Core middleware. OpenTV Streamer relies on hardware architecture that is capable of interfacing with any standard digital broadcast system. OpenTV H2O enables the transformation of Web-based HTML and JavaScript content into interactive applications that can run on basic digital STB's.
"We are excited to provide Channel Nine with a selection of solutions designed to create effective digital TV platforms with compelling iTV experiences," said Mike Ivanchenko, OpenTV's senior vice president worldwide sales and managing director Asia Pacific. "This agreement lays the groundwork for OpenTV to further support Channel Nine with innovative interactive technologies and applications."
"The benefit of using the OpenTV H2O solution is that Nine is able to author once in open standards HTML and then publish to both the digital free- to-air and Foxtel platforms. This allows all viewers of Channel Nine access to rich and exciting interactive content. Nine is committed to being the leading provider of innovative entertainment on all digital platforms," said Veronica Chalom, director of digital for Channel Nine. "We are delighted to enter into this agreement and have assured ourselves of fully benefiting from OpenTV's sophisticated suite of products and support to meet the demands of the Australian digital interactive television market. We look forward to using OpenTV H2O for many projects in the future."

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INSTALLATIONS

NBN Grows With XDCAM

As the fourth largest television market behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane NBN's broadcast footprint currently reaches 1.8 million viewers. But this is set to grow rapidly as Northern NSW and the Gold Coast become a migration mecca for an increasing number of Australians.
This marked development meant the Newcastle headquartered NBN had to build a comprehensive and technologically advanced service that can deliver a personalised transmission to a very diverse area.
“It came time to develop and upgrade our network when we needed to expand our services for both news and commercial production,” said Steve Bates, Studio Engineering Supervisor at NBN. “This meant an increase in resources but also in technology. We wanted to move across to delivering in 16:9 so we needed to find a new format.”
NBN investigated the various tapeless formats on offer with a view to choosing a system that would integrate tightly with their plans to move the network to a next generation all digital workflow.
“We wanted something that was not based on a tape transport. We choose the optical disk XDCAM from Sony after testing other formats including the Panasonic P2,” explained Bates. “Our main concern (with P2) was the considerable cost of the PC Cards. Plus, we didn’t want to have to be downloading directly from the camcorder to the editing system. We wanted to be able to remove all the media as you can with XDCAM.”
NBN took delivery of eight XDCAM cameras and 6 decks in February. The first priority in the rollout was the Gold Coast, closely followed by some of the networks other regional areas.
The change to XDCAM will eventually flow to the entire network and be used for ENG and production work. XDCAM is easily integrated into popular NLE and server products. This will allow the faster than real time file transfer of footage between the XDCAM disc and the editing system and then onto the network. Once on the WAN, edited stories and overlay can be transferred daily from the field offices back to Newcastle for central playout.
NBN are also investigating using XDCAM for archiving so the broadcaster can take advantage of the format’s metadata capabilities which enable editors and producers to quickly locate and preview images and audio.

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INSTALLATIONS

Double G buys VCube

Merging Technologies’ distributor ATT Audio Controls has sold two VCube HD audio post-production Player/Recorders to Double G Post Production in Perth to complement its Pyramix digital audio workstations already in use.
Double G Audio Post Production Director Ric Curtin said, “The two systems are so interactive that it is like operating one machine.”
Ric Curtin has owned and run sound studios in Perth for the past 10 years. In 1995 he established Double G Sound, currently one of the top studios in Australia for editing and mixing television programs, films and documentaries.
Double G Sound consists of two fully digital sound studios for the sound post production of documentaries, films, TV shows and commercials. All aspects of the sound track including editing, foley, narration, recording and mixing are handled by award winning engineers. The mix can be in stereo, Dolby surround or Dolby 5.1 for DVD release.
Ric Curtin went on to explain that VCube has a number of features that are particularly useful in Double G Sound’s operations. Namely; that picture changes can be inserted without having to digitise the whole episode, the picture can be copied and pasted to different timecodes, a feature used frequently in commercial work, two layers can be run on the screen, allowing picture changes to be checked and online pictures to be checked against the reference offline.
In addition, the picture locator is an excellent memory aid, timecode can be overlaid on pictures, which is useful for client reference in viewing mixes and the PAL output is able to run the client monitor.
Double G personnel have been lured from Australia and overseas to form a one stop shop providing sound, edit, effects and animation designed to service the Australian market and many clients from overseas including Japan, Bangkok, Jakarta, India and Singapore.

Visit www.doubleg.com.au

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OLYMPICS

Beijing Calls for Opening/Closing Proposals

The Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad – Beijing 2008 (BOCOG) has launched a search for proposals for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Games. BOCOG is looking, not only for propositions that could create a fabulous show for both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, but also for proposals that could contain indications or ideas that could be included in the ceremonies.
The proposals for the ceremonies should help to promote the Olympic spirit, create a jubilant atmosphere for the Games and give the participants a warm welcome. They should embrace the concepts of Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People’s Olympics, which are the three pillars of the Beijing 2008 vision. The proposals should be creative and original and interpret the rich connotations of “harmony” and “peace” that are central to the idea of People’s Olympics.
A BOCOG selection panel will examine the proposals and look for submissions that promote the distinguishing features of Beijing 2008 that may guide or inspire the ceremonies design team, with some improvement. Anyone who is interested in contributing to these ceremonies, by proposing a concept, should visit www.beijing2008.com for further details and all the documentation submit a proposal. The deadline for submissions is 31 July 2005 and the final plans for the ceremonies are expected to be finalised no later than May 2007. The Games will take place from 8 August until 24 August 2008.

http://www.beijing-2008.org

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NAB 2005

Excellence Award for Sri Lanka

WASHINGTON, DC - Sri Lanka's Colombo Communications Ltd. (CCL) and Moscow's Avtoradio will receive the US National Association of Broadcasters' 2005 International Broadcasting Excellence Awards. The awards, established in 1995, recognise international broadcasters who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in providing services to their community. Awards will be presented at the International Reception at NAB2005 in Las Vegas on Monday, April 18.
Colombo Communications began operations in 1993 as one of the few privately owned broadcast groups in Sri Lanka. When the devastating tsunami struck on December 26, CCL management and staff quickly developed a plan and responded immediately to organize makeshift field hospitals, solicit doctors and medical supplies and locate missing persons. To begin medical operations without delay, the staff of CCL donated $6,125 of their own funds to purchase medical equipment. CCL established a missing persons alert service, which was able to provide distraught families with a coordinated, wide-ranging method of finding loved ones. CCL staff continued for weeks to coordinate emergency medical facilities, dispense supplies and help find the missing. CCL donated an additional $285,000 toward these efforts.
Avtoradio and its network affiliates comprise one of the few privately owned broadcast companies in Russia. In September - October 2004, Avtoradio launched and financed a major 6200-mile motor rally "For the Sake of Life," from Vladivostok to Moscow, stopping for organized benefit concerts in cities across the country. The rally was joined in each city by cars from every Avtoradio affiliate station along the route. The rally had two purposes: first to gather small boxes of soil from sacred sites all over Russia to take to a tree planting at the school in Beslan, where terrorists murdered many Russian children in September. Avtoradio gathered not only 80 boxes of soil but also messages along the way from the Russian people expressing support for the people of Beslan. The second goal was to promote safe driving in a country where more than 30,000 people die in traffic accidents each year. Avtoradio donated nearly $100,000 for the motor rally.

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INSTALLATIONS

Bumper Cropp for Sony HDV

The first Sony Professional 1080i HDV camcorder to be delivered in Australia has been enthusiastically received by its new owner, leading marine filmmaker Ben Cropp.
From his home at Port Douglas in Queensland, he serves as producer/director/cameraman/writer for a wide range of marine-based projects that have been screened on the Seven Network, the National Geographic Channels and many international outlets.
His latest choice of camera is the HVR-Z1P camcorder, Sony’s entry-level HDV acquisition solution, designed to provide video professionals with a flexible and affordable migration from Standard Definition (SD) infrastructures to the rapidly expanding world of HD. The HDV system provides backward compatibility with existing SD DVCAM equipment and uses standard DVCAM tapes.
“I’ve been eagerly waiting for this new HDV camera,” said the award-winning veteran of more than 150 marine and wildlife adventure documentaries. “High Definition (HD) is the future of broadcasting and I ordered this camera as soon as I heard about it.
“I have been shooting in widescreen for three years because it’s now a standard required by the television networks. I have been using a Sony PD-150 DVCAM camcorder with anamorphic lenses but now I will shoot in HD with the HVR-Z1P camcorder,” said Cropp. “All the material I shoot is kept in our library for use in films later on. In the work I do you can’t just hope to go out and shoot when the networks call for it. Soon everyone will demand HD images and I want to build up our stock footage library using the HDV camera – even now NHK in Japan will only accept HD images.”
Cropp has ordered a Gates underwater housing which he hopes will include a prism set up to view the cameras inbuilt LCD monitor as a 45 degree angle.
“I prefer to work with as little equipment as possible to avoid dealing with bulky systems underwater. I want something that is easy to hold and operate and the older I get the less weight I want to be carrying around. My sons are also cameramen and they get sore backs from big shoulder mounted cameras so I prefer lighter DVCAM cameras and now the HDV camera.
“I have to use lighting to properly illuminate subjects underwater and with a wide angle lens it is a matter of holding out the camera and pointing and shooting to capture the action – I don’t need to look through
the viewfinder.”
He also uses a special U-R Pro orange filter for blue water background shots to enrich warm colours and increase contrast. Cropp is keen to put the HVR-Z1P camcorder through its paces aboard his 58 foot long range catamaran cruiser which is customised for diving and filming. The HDV system joins his existing range of equipment, which includes Sony DSR PD-150P and DSR PDX-10P camcorders.

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INSTALLATIONS

Seven Logs with mediaproxy

mediaproxy pty ltd has announced the installation of its new Enigma 5 monitoring and logging platform by the Seven Network Australia (SNA) for compliance logging of 36 channels throughout Australia.
The Seven Network project is unique as they are one of the first broadcasters to log multiple emissions from the same program market simultaneously. Seven are able to monitor and review 12 Analog, 12 Standard–Definition and 12 High-Definition digital services across Australia from the Melbourne Broadcast Centre.
For mediaproxy, the contract follows provision of compliance broadcast logging equipment to Channel 10 and Prime TV.
Enigma 5 is mediaproxy’s latest “operator free" server based recording platform, offering users features including: web-based clients, multiple time-zones, third-party integration, enhanced security, performance and reliability across all levels.
“This agreement represents a landmark in strengthening our position and reputation in the marketplace as a quality provider of reliable broadcast compliance solutions,” said mediaproxy Managing Director, Dragan Dimitrovici. “We look forward to working with the Seven Network in implementing a solution that will add to the efficiency of their overall workflow.”
“We identified mediaproxy’s ENIGMA 5 logging system as a practical tool to ensure that the network’s legal compliance and transmission alarms are captured reliably “said Andrew Anderson, General Manager of Group Broadcast Services. “It provides flexible access for subsequent review by our Executive, Programming, Sales, Engineering and Legal personnel across the network.”

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INTERACTIVE

TEN Votes for Legion

Network Ten and Legion Interactive have entered into an exclusive agreement for 2005 for TEN’s programs with a public voting component.
The arrangement includes TEN’s big event shows, Big Brother, Australian Idol and The X Factor. Legion will also provide SMS and 190 services for programs such as Ten News, Sports Tonight and Video Hits.
“Legion is thrilled to have reached this exclusive agreement with Network Ten and we are looking forward to a highly successful and exciting year. Legion has always enjoyed a strong relationship with Network Ten, having handled the voting process for four seasons of Big Brother as well as Australian Idol in both 2003 and 2004, and the signing of the agreement cements our ongoing relationship,” said David Burden, Legion Interactive’s CEO.
Darren Farnham, TEN’s manager – television operations and services, said: “TEN has the biggest interactive television events, and Legion has proved repeatedly it has the resources and experience to handle the all-important viewer input. We’re looking forward to another terrific year.”

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INSTALLATIONS

Seven still got that Voodoo

H-Digital originally provided five Digital Voodoo Apple G4 systems to Channel 7 three years ago ( 1 X 64AV & 4 X D1 Lite) and now after three years of trouble free operation and high video quality have upgraded to G5s with Digital Voodoo SD|Edit cards and shared storage via the Caen V-Stor NAS allowing multiple users to record and playback uncompressed 10 bit SD SDI video directly to/from the server.
H-Digital upgraded the installed Digital Voodoo cards with new G5's and peripheral equipment using the new Digital Voodoo unified installer 7.3.2 for use with FCP 4.5 HD, plus Combustion, After Effects, Photoshop and Panther OSX. The improved workflow allows all applications that support Quicktime on Mac or Windows to be able to seemlessly share data within the Digital Voodoo Environment.
H-Digital have been providing High-End Digital Media Solutions to the Video/Film/Broadcast and Games market since 1992 from Sydney, Australia. H-Digital And Digital Voodoo are now collaborating further after entering into a distribution agreement for the Australian territory.

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INSTALLATIONS

Ghost Rider Blazes HDCAM-SR Trail

Digital Pictures Melbourne has taken delivery of two Sony SRW-5000 HDCAM-SR VTR decks as part of the company’s move to use digital technology in the creative processes of feature film production. The first project to benefit from the investment is the feature film Ghost Rider, the adaptation of the Marvel comic book series.
The move reinforces HDCAM-SR as a high quality mastering format, suitable for digital cinema production, broadcast and distribution.
“The movie is being shot on 35mm film at Central City Studios and some plates are being captured using a Sony HDC-950 camera,” said John Fleming, General Manager, Digital Pictures Melbourne. “We will be processing the film here and using our Sony VIALTA telecine and da Vinci 2K grading system to transfer daily best light rushes to the HD SR format in 4:4:4. Dailies will also be transferred to Sony/Columbia Pictures’ Digital Media Technology Centre in Los Angles using a high speed internet link and a Digital Fountain data accelerator.”
The rushes will be used in all forms of publicity, marketing and audience research as the director works very closely with Ghost Rider fans.
“We will also be conforming off the HDCAM-SR tapes for previews. We have installed a Barco DP100 projector so we can play a 4:4:4 signal off the SR decks into our digital screening theatre – it’s a very progressive way of dealing with the whole process,” said Fleming. “The Sony decks are the only machines delivering 4:4:4 capabilities - they provide a highly cost efficient way of enabling flexibility in the creative process, while still being able to effectively market the project in production and post production. Two decks are required to clone each tape every day and ensure redundancy.
"The HDCAM-SR decks are second generation machines that use less compression than the previous system and offer the advantage of 12 audio tracks which is an important requirement for us. 12 tracks come in handy for feature film mastering as we can include 5.1, stereo and stereo M&E tracks as well.
“HDCAM-SR is becoming the preferred international delivery format for mastering feature films and with this upgrade we can provide world class facilities to service future large scale projects,” said Fleming.

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INSTALLATIONS

TV3 Goes Non-Linear with Avid, P2

By Phil Sandberg, Content+Technology

A newsroom upgrade and the launch of late night bulletins and a new current affairs show have provided the impetus behind New Zealand broadcaster, TV3, investing in what is one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest implementations of Avid newsroom and shared storage systems. Supplied by Avid Australia and Amber Technology (NZ), the new systems will see the Kiwi network migrate from a linear, tape-based environment to a non-linear workflow.
Along with Panasonic’s P2 solid state acquisition format and an existing high speed fibre network, TV3 will use the Avid systems to produce its Auckland originated, hour long National News, a late evening bulletin, the new current affairs programme (Campbell Live) and a weekly NZ news round-up for Sky News Australia.
Having been established in 1989, TV3 is relatively young compared to other Kiwi broadcasters, and much of its infrastructure went in at that time.
“Currently we are completely tape-orientated,” says 3 News Editing Supervisor, Chris King. In New Zealand, I think we are the last of the manual, tape-to-tape newsrooms.”
Throughout the North Island and in newsrooms in Auckland and Wellington – the network has been using Sony SX D6 suites, and Grass Valley super suites. There are also three SX laptops in the field. The Christchurch and Dunedin newsrooms in the South Island have been using DVCPRO.
“Our workflow is still very much linear and, from our point of view, the changes are going to be in the ability to share; to share the footage, to make better use of it, to make lots of alterations, lots of variations, as well as just streamline our whole product.”
For the acquisition side of the non-linear chain, TV3 will employ Panasonic’s P2 solid state format. According to Chris King, P2 was chosen because it provided a significantly advanced acquisition to on-air workflow.
“We looked around at the available formats and P2 gave us what we considered to be the best interface to our short list of non-linear editing systems,” says King. “I think it gave us a flexibility of working that suited our operation in the South Island where multi-tasking is a key requirement. Basically, all our cameramen can edit and almost all of our editors can shoot.
“The resulting workflow that comes from P2 and Avid also complements the store and forward technology we developed internally a few years ago which is now used extensively to deliver footage.”
After stories have been acquired on P2, they will be sent to Auckland, which serves as a central production centre. Once there, the material will be ingested into Avid Unity servers with which TV3’s other studios in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin will be connected via high speed circuits.
According to Chris, the new system will boost TV3’s current practice of distributing editing tasks among its facilities.
“I envisage that flexibility to increase. I see it as being able to redistribute the workload at certain times of day up and down the country. Just because an item is shot in Auckland on some days, or Wellington or Christchurch, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be edited there.”
To support the workload strategy, says Chris King, TV3 Auckland will be establishing a media exchange ingest room. He expects one of the outcomes of shared access to media will be a slicker news presentation and greater and more effective re-use of material for promotional activity.
“With Media Manager, we’re giving the Producers, Editors and the Reporters simultaneous access to archived and current footage. Selection of grabs and timing of the story will be faster and easier.”
King says the network is still examining a long term archiving strategy with an intermediate solution being Sony’s SX tape format.
“It’s likely to be SX because we have the surplus equipment leftover from the de-rigged edit suites of the play-out units. I would say that we’d be looking within 18 months to move to some form of archival server.”

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PRODUCTION

International Directors Choose Prodigy

Frederik Planchon, one of the world’s leading tvc directors with Paris based production company Irene, recently completed a three-day shoot in and around Sydney for VW’s Passat’s latest European wide tvc campaign for major French agency, Agence V.
USA’s Anonymous Content’s director Robert Logevall’s tvc for Toyota’s Brand campaign for Publicis Mojo, Sydney shot for 4 days in Sao Paulo and 1 day in Sydney.
Dentsu Tokyo shot 3 days in New Zealand for Suntory’s leading brand ‘Boss’ which was post produced in Sydney.
In addition, Prodigy’s Charles Williams, has returned from Asia shooting BBDO’s first tvc campaign for Tiger Beer whose Creative Director, Frances Wee, was ranked in the top five of Campaign Brief Asia’s ‘Asia’s Top Creative Directors’.
Entitled ‘Batman’ great lengths were taken to reproduce the strengths and weaknesses of the big budget B superhero movie genre as a style for the humour to play against. To achieve this scale, the production was moved out of Singapore and into Hong Kong; shooting a mix of expansive Hong Kong skylines and marrying with sets against green screen.
Coinciding with the Australian Tennis Open, Charles began the new year completing a quirky set of 30 second tvcs for ANZ’s Mortgages based around the tennis court for M&C Saatchi in Melbourne with creatives Darren Pitt and Rowan Lancaster.
This was followed by a Molson Beer Campaign with acclaimed Canadian agency Zig, jetting director Nicholas Reynolds overseas shoot this time to North America for a 4 day whirlwind shoot which took him both to Canada and the US. This is Nicholas’ third overseas shoot in the past 6 months.
Meanwhile, Tim Bullock began his year shooting for Yellow Pages, his second time in two years running for Melbourne agency, Y&R and creative Tony Greenwood. The first in a series of 5 spots, Hyena is currently on air and is a classic example of Tim’s wry sense of humour and ability to transfer a comical situation to the screen.
Tim recently completed a tvc campaign of five spots for Virgin Blue with Cummins & Partners in Melbourne. The five scripts were shot over three days in Brisbane, headquarters for Virgin Blue and the hysterical spots were post produced in Melbourne and were on air as of March 6th.
Director Tina Bull finished a beautiful 30 second graphic tvc for Johnson & Johnson introducing Neutrogena with with actress Erica Heynatz for DDB Sydney.
Lee Rogers who joined the Prodigy team late last year has already begun production in Melbourne on a national project.

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INSTALLATIONS

Seven Boosts Videoconferencing with Sony

The Seven Network has expanded its videoconferencing capabilities with the addition of 11 Sony PCS-1P systems. The broadcaster has extensive videoconferencing abilities built around its own bridge, which provides multiple flexible connections via ISDN or IP. Discreet fibre links cover all states providing point to-point connections at 512 kb/s and multipoint connections at 384 kb/s.
“The technology allows us to have meetings with remote colleagues without having to spend time and money on flights,” said David Watts, Seven Network Telecommunications Manager. “It makes sense to utilise our data network for meetings and we can still see the nuances on the face of the recipient that you can't see on phones.”
The new equipment has been installed at the broadcaster’s new offices at Jones Bay, Sydney.
“We have used Sony equipment before so it is also easier from a maintenance and repair point of view to have the same systems.”

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AWARDS

Australian, Kiwi Shorts up for Oscars

The antipodean takeover of Hollywod is set to continue at this year's US Academy Awards with short films from Australian and New Zealand garnering nominations.
An animated short film made by students at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) has been nominated for an Oscar.
Birthday Boy, written and directed by Sejong Park and produced by Andrew Gregory, is an Academy Award nominee in the 2005 Animated Short Film category.
Both Sejong Park and Andrew Gregory will travel to Los Angeles for the gala Oscar presentation ceremony - a dream for any filmmaker - but even more so given they only graduated from AFTRS last year.
Park said the news of the nomination was still sinking in.
"I am still pinching myself and asking 'is this real?'," he said. "I am thrilled, as I just worked so hard on this film. It was two years of my life.
"I had faith in this project and courage, but never dreamed it would travel so far and wide."
Birthday Boy has won 30 film festival awards and screened at 52 festivals worldwide since it was completed in April 2004.
Members of the nine member crew who worked on the film are also gathering nominations for awards, including Megan Wedge, who has been nominated for a Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Award.
Gregory said the nomination was great news for everyone who was involved in the making of the student film.
"It's a huge relief in a way, because so many people have had such high hopes for the film as it has travelled the film festival circuit. It's great to be in this position now.
"The film has made it onto the international stage, but most important for us is that people like the film. It is great to know Birthday Boy resonates so strongly with audiences.

More info about Birthday Boy can be found at http://www.birthdayboymovie.com/

Meanwhile in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Two Cars, One Night from writer/director Taika Waititi has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Short Film Live Action category.
Recently screened at the Bondi Beach Flickerfest, Two Cars, One Night, produced by Ainsley Gardiner and Catherine Fitzgerald, tells the story of first love when two children develop a relationship as they wait for their parents in the carpark of a rural pub.
Two Cars, One Night is the first New Zealand short film to be nominated in a short film category since Bob Stenhouse was nominated in 1986 with this animated short film The Frog, The Dog and The Devil. Snows of Aorangi produced by George Brest for the New Zealand National Film Unit was also nominated for a Live Action Short Film Oscar in 1958.
Two Cars, One Night was produced with finance from the New Zealand Film Commission and executive produced by Vanessa Alexander.

More information about Two Cars, One Night can be found at: www.twocarsonenight.com.

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AWARDS

Ambience Propels ATTIK TVCs to World Acclaim

Global creative agency ATTIK has announced that several of the spots from its ongoing cross-platform advertising campaign for Scion – the new line of vehicles from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. for which ATTIK serves as creative agency of record – have been honoured in the New York Festivals’ 48th annual International TV, Cinema & Radio Advertising Awards.
The awards presentation, held at New York City’s historic Hudson Theater, saw ATTIK’s Scion campaign broadcast spots “Transformer” and “3D Artist” win the Gold World Medal for Best Computer Animation. Those two spots and a third (“Teleporter”) also earned the Silver World Medal in the Best Special Effects category. The competition considered over 3000 entries from nearly 60 countries.
All three spots were produced under the direction of ATTIK’s global creative director and co-founder Simon Needham by Sydney-based visual effects, animation and design company Ambience Entertainment (an Omnilab Group Company) and their director Rob Dupear.
“Transformer” – which originally debuted as a cinema spot in top California markets – dramatically fictionalizes the evolution of Scion's first models, the Scion xA and xB, from robot form. The visual-effects intensive “Teleporter” is an artistic showcase of Scion’s tC model from the perspective of a quantum physicist, and “3D Artist,” in which the tC races to survive inside a futuristic 3D videogame, is tagged, “Scion tC by Stan, 3D Artist.”
"We set out to create commercials that set themselves apart from typical automotive spots by showcasing the product in ways that appeal directly to our unique audience," Simon Needham said. “These honors are a tribute to a powerful creative vision, the extraordinarily sophisticated group at Toyota and Scion who have successfully focused that vision, and solid production efforts by many people around the world.”
For Ambience, in addition to Rob Dupear, other team members included executive producers Mark Smale (“Transformer”) and Peter Davies (“3D Artist” and “Teleporter”), creative directors Eddy Herringson (also co-editor, “Transformer”), Simon Morrison (“3D Artist”) and Garry Jacques/David Park (“Teleporter”), post producers Rowan Matheson (“Transporter”), Mandy Fanning (“3D Artist”) and Kara McCombe (“Teleporter”), designer Morten Rowley (“Transformer” and “3D Artist”), editors Damien Messingham (“Transformer”) and David Clarke (“Teleporter” and “3D Artist”), VFX supervisor Marcus Bolton (“Teleporter”) and lead 3D animator Dean Ervik (“Teleporter”) and lead 3D animator Shaun Schellings (“3D Artist”). Human Music & Sound Design Initiative (Sydney and New York) handled each spot’s post audio.

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STANDARDS

Expansion for MPEG-4

The recent 71st meeting of the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) hosted by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology saw the partnership of MPEG and VCEG (Video Coding Experts Group) that brought AVC (MPEG-4 part 10 | H.264) to the marketplace poised to extend itself once again into Scalable Video Coding (SVC).
SVC efforts began as a stand-alone effort in MPEG but quickly merged into the work of the JVT when it was proven that AVC is the best technical base for this new technology.
A first working draft was produced in Hong Kong with completion scheduled for mid-2006. The SVC extension to Advanced Video Coding will add enhanced forms of quality scalability to further enable advanced video coding uses in a wide variety of applications, particularly including highly-heterogeneous environments.
The continued success of joint efforts between experts was expressed by Stephen C.K. Lam, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff of Freescale Semiconductor Hong Kong Ltd. Wireless and Mobile Systems Group when he said, "We are delighted to sponsor the 71st ISO/IEC MPEG Meeting organized by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The advancement of MPEG standards and their benefits to multimedia systems, as demonstrated in this meeting, are vital to our future mobile and handheld products and platforms in 2.5G, 2.75G, 3G, UWB, and application processors."
In other news, MPEG is considering modernizing one of the fundamental components of MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 part 2 video technology, known as discrete cosine transform. The addition of a fixed-point version is being considered as a compatible, but optional, means of improving decoder precision. A draft call for proposals was issued for this technology.
The 2nd edition of Digital Item Declaration (DID is MPEG-21 part 2) was also completed. This new edition has features that greatly improve flexibility and the range of applications for MPEG-21. New MPEG-21 technology was also started in the area of Digital Item Streaming and Media pointer and Fragment Identification Schema. When completed, the Digital Item Streaming features will broaden the appeal of using Digital Items in multimedia collection creation and delivery. The fragment identification part of MPEG-21 will provide technology to assist consumers in accessing specific parts of a movie stored in a consumer device. Other elements of MPEG-21 part 17 will also address physical media such as DVDs.
In addition, MPEG-4 Lossless Coding of one-bit Oversampled Audio is in the final ballot phase. One-bit oversampled audio is popular as audiophile high quality consumer format on high-density optical discs. It is also valuable as an audio archiving format.
MPEG has also completed a suite of profiles for MPEG-7. The Simple Metadata Profile (SMP) is used to describe simple multimedia clips such as music, images, and mobile applications; The User Description Profile (UDP) can be used to describe personal preferences and usage patterns of users of multimedia content; and the Core Description Profile (CDP) is used to describe a collection of multimedia contents for images, such as videos, and audio that can be used for distribution, broadcast television programming, and educational courseware.
For more information, visit http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg

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COMMUNITY TV

Technical Changes for Television Sydney

The Australian Broadcasting Authority is proposing to vary the technical specifications of the community television service in Sydney.
‘The ABA’s proposal follows a request from the Sydney community television licensee, Television Sydney Ltd (TVS), to operate at a higher power to that determined in the Sydney licence area plan,’ said Lyn Maddock, Acting ABA Chair.
The proposal, to allow the service to operate on UHF channel 31 from the suburb of Artarmon, with a maximum effective radiated power (ERP) of 850kW, is contained in the draft variation to the Sydney analogue television licence area plan released recently for public comment.
In November 2002, the ABA made channel capacity for a community television service in Sydney, to operate from a nominal site at Artarmon with a maximum ERP of 140 kW. This is the power level that the Sydney television trials had been conducted on in Sydney.
Prior to determining the Sydney licence area plan, the ABA indicated that it would consider an increase in the maximum ERP of the Sydney community television service as part of a licence area plan variation if requested by any successful applicant.
In March 2004, the ABA allocated the Sydney community television licence to Television Sydney Limited. The licensee has requested to operate the service with a maximum ERP of 560 kW.
The ABA has assessed the use of channel 31 at a maximum ERP of 850 kW, equivalent to that of the existing SBS UHF television service, and determined that it is possible for the service to operate at this maximum power. The ABA recognises that it is unlikely that the community television service would be able to operate at the higher 850 kW ERP in the medium term, but is proposing to vary the specification of the community television service to allow it to do so should it be achievable in the future.

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POST-PRODUCTION

Asia Full of Thomson Spirit

Strengthening its foothold in the rapidly developing Asian post-production market, Thomson has delivered nearly €12 million in Grass Valley brand datacine equipment orders in the region.
Thomson has detailed major orders that include two Grass Valley Shadow telecine systems and 10 Spirit DataCine and four Spirit 4K DataCine systems to companies in the Asian region in the last 18 months, Post Bangkok, Fame Post, Prime Focus, Pixion and Famous Studios.
“Thomson is delighted by the support for our Grass Valley post-production products in the Asian region, a market that is comparable in size to both Europe and North America,” said Marc Valentin, executive vice president of Thomson Broadcast & Media Solutions.
Pioneering post production in Asia, Post Bangkok is adding a Spirit 4K DataCine to its Spirit DataCine to create commercials, the biggest sector of the Asian broadcast market. In addition, Fame Post uses a Spirit 4K DataCine for feature film and TV commercials.
“The Spirit product family brings the highest quality standards available anywhere in the world to the Bangkok market,” said Suchada Somasavachai, president of Post Bangkok. “We intend to expand it to be the centerpiece of a complete digital intermediate workflow so all our customers can enjoy all the benefits of working in Bangkok without compromising their critical image-quality standards.”
At the center of India’s booming “Bollywood” industry, Prime Focus has one Spirit DataCine in its television commercials facility and a second at AtLab, its film laboratory for feature-film work. Thomson will soon deliver a third Spirit DataCine and a Spirit 4K DataCine to the group to double its film-imaging capacity.
“The Spirit family delivers outstanding results and ensures we remain competitive in this growing market in particular for the expanding digital intermediate market,” says Namit Malhotra, director of Prime Focus. “Its multi-standard, multi-resolution real-time operations mean we have the perfect solution for each job.”
Also in Mumbai, Famous Studios uses a Spirit DataCine with a data output option for its digital intermediate infrastructure for commercials, television programming, and feature film work. Pixion recently opened a new facility with complete digital intermediate workflow, including a Grass Valley Spirit 4K scanner.
The Spirit DataCine system addresses the demand for digital intermediate production—supporting SD, HD, or 2K data from 35 mm, 16 mm or Super 8 mm film. The Spirit 4K high-performance film scanner features high-speed Gigabyte Systems Network (GSN) data output—and can be upgraded to a full-featured DataCine system that includes interfaces for standard- and high- definition (SD and HD) video and 2K or 4K data.
The Grass Valley Shadow Telecine system is a low-cost telecine designed specifically for television production in SD and HD resolutions. Leveraging key technologies and proven concepts from the Spirit DataCine line, it features advanced CCD scanning technology and an all-digital design to ensure the lowest possible operational and maintenance costs and high system availability.

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INTERACTIVE TV

Fox/NDS Serve Up Interactive Tennis

For the first time, NDS technology has brought Australian digital subscription TV viewers the Australian Open 2005 in an interactive TV format. Interactive TV (iTV) delivers more of the Australian Open 2005 action in real time than previously available in any terrestrial broadcasts, and also provides extended tournament information and video coverage all on the same channel.
The FOX SPORTS Active iTV tennis application allows FOXTEL Digital viewers to select from multiple video services to watch their choice of two matches broadcast simultaneously, tournament news, press conferences and player interviews from Melbourne Park.
Today's Results, Today's Schedule, Match Stats and Player Profiles interactive services are broadcast with quarter-screen video so that viewers don't miss the live action. A unique feature of the iTV tennis application is The Draw - a quick reference to singles and doubles competitors' standings during each round of the tournament. NDS technology enables dynamic updates of the results of The Draw and keeps viewers informed of the standings as the tournament progresses and the excitement builds.
The FOX SPORTS Active interactive TV tennis application uses the NDS interactive TV technology and was authored in xHTML. Leading broadcasters around the world, such as BSkyB, Canal Digital, Canal Satellite, CCTV, DIRECTV, Sky Latin America and Sky Italia, also use NDS technology to power a variety of iTV applications.

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TVCS

Cranbrook's Tompkins Takes on Landmines

Cranbrook Films director, Roger Tompkins, has just completed a TVC written by Arnold CD, Jay Furby, for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Entitled ‘Playing for Keeps,’ and produced by Angela Bray through Independent Films, the 30-second spot shows a mud covered soldier creeping into an ordinary suburban house to set a green landmine on a popular children’s game laid out in the front room. The commercial demonstrates the horrific fact that antipersonnel landmines are still being laid today and, together with mines from previous conflicts, continue to claim child victims as they play. A voiceover states that 2,649 children were killed or maimed by landmines last year.

For details and pics click here

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INSTALLATIONS

ESPN Singapore Streamlines with Miranda

Miranda Technologies has announced that ESPN STAR Sports in Singapore has installed 17 Kaleido-K2 multi-image display processors and seven Oxtel series Imagestore master control switching and channel branding processors in an upgrade of its 16-channel transmission facility.
ESPN STAR Sports is using the Kaleido-K2 systems for signal monitoring, and
has integrated the Imagestore 2 processors into its master control operations for dynamic logo insertion and branding graphics during program broadcasts.
"We're very pleased that the KaleidoK2 and Imagestore 2 products have been selected by ESPN STAR Sports for the network's sports broadcasts," said Kevin Lu, president of Miranda Asia. "Viewer expectations for this type of programming are very high, both in terms of video quality and the sophistication of graphics."
A key characteristic of Miranda's Kaleido-K2 multi-image display processor is its ease of use and flexibility. Operators at ESPN STAR Sports can use a mouse for all the key functions, such as selecting a window for large-scale viewing, instantly changing layouts, or for source selection.
The 32-input Kaleido-K2 processor features robust design and provides a high-quality, feature-rich display that can support multiple video formats, including HD-SDI, SDI, composite, Y/C, RGB, PAL, analog HD, and streaming
video.
Miranda's Imagestore 2 processor provides the entire breadth of mixing and on-air graphics capabilities required for dynamic and engaging presentation, including video and audio mixing, clip playout, dual 3D-DVEs, animation/clock insertion, and automated character generation.

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INSTALLATIONS

HK Uni/Star TV Cooperate on New Production Centre

The University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC), one of Asia’s leading centres for the training of professional journalists and media practitioners, has announced today the establishment of a new TV production centre using the extensive archives of STAR’s FocusAsia as backbone teaching materials.
JMSC students will also have access to TV production and editing facilities provided by STAR. In conjunction with this project, the JMSC will launch a new broadcast curriculum on January 25th.
FocusAsia, a documentary and current affairs programme, was aired on STAR Group Ltd.’s STAR WORLD channel from January 2000 through July 2004. The extensive archives of the television series, more than 240 programmes or nearly a thousand stories collected by 30 reporters in 18 Asian nations, have been donated to the University by STAR.
Steve Askew, Chief Operating Officer of STAR Group Ltd., remarked, “STAR is pleased to contribute content to the development of the news reporting programme at the University of Hong Kong and we believe the JMSC will become a major force in developing future broadcasting talent for Hong Kong.”
Yuen Ying Chan, Professor and Director of the JMSC, said, “We are grateful to STAR for this in-kind contribution. We believe the key to world class journalism education is learning by doing. Housing a professional production centre at the JMSC will contribute significantly to our broadcast training effort.”
Professor Chan also announced that veteran journalist and broadcast executive Jim Laurie, who created the FocusAsia programme in 1999, would serve as Senior Consultant to the JMSC’s television initiatives and would use the FocusAsia archives as teaching materials for the new curriculum.
During its nearly five year run, FocusAsia was recipient of numerous television awards including Amnesty International Human Rights Awards, New York Festival Prizes and commendations from the Asian Television Awards in Singapore.

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CORPORATE MOVES

PANAMSAT Buys TARBS Assets, Launches PanGlobal TV

PanAmSat Corporation subsidiary, PanAmSat Asia Pty. Ltd., has acquired certain of the business assets from the receivers of TARBS World TV Australia Pty. Ltd. (TARBS). The agreement includes the subscriber list, intellectual property and subscriber-installed equipment of TARBS, an Australian pay TV provider. Concurrently, PanAmSat announced that PanGlobal TV had opened for business as Australia’s new multi-ethnic Direct-To-Home (DTH) platform. “The assets we have obtained will help facilitate the growth of the PanGlobal TV platform by assisting our channel partners to reach the ethnic TV audience in Australia,” said David Ball, vice president, Asia-Pacific. "PanGlobal TV is up and running offering Arabic, Serbian and Russian channels and is capable of reaching all of the homes formerly served by TARBS. Additional channels are planning to join the platform shortly.”
PanGlobal TV is hosted on the PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellite. MySAT, the Arabic Pay TV service, offers the following networks through PanGlobal TV: ART, LBC, Al Jazeera, ART Movies, Future TV, MBC and Noursat. Horizon World Plus TV Pty Ltd is distributing a bouquet of four Russian television channels on the PanGlobal TV platform in Australia. They are: RTVi, Teleklub/Detski Mir, Nashe Kino and RTR Planeta. TV Plus offers Serbian services Pink TV, BN and BK Sat.
PanGlobal TV is a joint marketing alliance between PanAmSat and GlobeCast Australia, which offers a range of transmission services to international broadcasters who wish to reach Australia’s diverse multi-cultural communities. The service transmits digital television channel signals from either GlobeCast Australia’s Sydney teleport or the PanAmSat Napa Valley, California teleport to the PAS-8 Ku-band Australia beam. The teleports offer digital encoding, signal processing and transport services in addition to the uplink service to the satellite. PanGlobal TV offers backhaul to either the Napa teleport or the Sydney teleport by satellite, fiber or hybrid satellite/fiber contribution. TARBS had antennas serving more than 50,000 Australian homes. These antennas are included in the assets that were acquired from the TARBS receiver. The relationship with the subscriber is directly between the programmer and the consumer.

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SPORTSCASTING

SingTel Connects Tennis to Tokyo

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) has announced that NEXION Corporation Limited (NEXION) has used SingTel to connect Tokyo and Melbourne to allow satellite TV viewers in Japan to watch the Australian Open, Australia’s biggest tennis event, ‘live’.
Tokyo-based NEXION is a major service provider in Japan that provides broadcasting networks and services to Japanese TV broadcasting corporations, such as NHK. SingTel, together with its wholly-owned subsidiary in Australia, Optus, provided the dedicated backbone connectivity between Tokyo and the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne, using both local and international private leased circuits.
This enabled WOWOW, Japan’s leading satellite Pay TV company and a customer of NEXION, to broadcast the Australian Open in Japan. This is the first time that live footage of the Australian Open has been sent to Japan over fibre-optic cables.

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DISASTER RELIEF

Free TV Networks Unite for Tsunami Victims

8.6m viewers spanning every region of Australia tuned in to Free TV’s Australia Unites – Reach Out to Asia telecast on January 8, in the process donating more than $15m to World Vision’s tsunami relief effort.
In an historic joint national broadcast the Seven, Nine and Ten networks simultaneously televised the 3 hour 20 minute event, while the involvement of their regional affiliates –NBN, Prime, Southern Cross and WIN – along with Imparja ensured the program reached every television household in Australia.
Meanwhile, ABC Asia Pacific broadcast Australia Unites – Reach Out to Asia to 52 countries and territories, many of which were directly affected by the tsunami disaster. The event was also simulcast on radio by MMM in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, and MIX FM in Perth.
The evening included performances from top Australian musicians on the Sydney Opera House forecourt and a live telethon from Melbourne’s Telstra Dome. More than 100 celebrities took calls from generous Australians.
As of 2am January 9, donations flowing from the telecast exceeded $20m while the cumulative figure since Free TV’s appeal began exceeding $50m. Several major corporate donations were announced on the night, including: $1.45m from ANZ; $1.1m from NAB; $500,000 each from BHP Billiton and McDonald’s; $250,000 each from AAPT, Network Ten*, Seven Network* and West Track; $150,000 from Mazda; $100,000 from Hyundai; $55,000 from Mitre 10; and $50,000 each from ACTEW/AGL Canberra, IAG and Metricon Homes.
In a joint statement, the Free TV network CEOs – Seven’s David Leckie, Nine’s David Gyngell and Ten’s John McAlpine – said: “We want to congratulate everyone involved in last night’s broadcast for producing such a spectacular event in such a short space of time.
“This historic evening has shown the power of Free TV in being able to reach virtually every person in Australia, and so many of those people have given so generously to the tsunami victims appeal. We thank everyone for their donations.”
The regional CEOs – NBN’s Denis Ledbury, Prime’s Warwick Syphers, Southern Cross’ Tony Bell and WIN’s George Papadopoulos - said: “We’d like to thank all our viewers in the regional areas of Australia for giving so generously last night. It’s been an amazing experience to be part of an event which, through the combined efforts of every broadcaster, could be viewed in every home in Australia.”
Funds from AUSTRALIA UNITES: Reach Out To Asia will go to World Vision's tsunami disaster relief appeal.
The World Vision web site can be reached at www.worldvision.com.au
The number for the World Vision donation hotline: 13 32 40.
Alternatively, you can send a cheque or money order to:
World Vision Australia
GPO Box 9944, Melbourne VIC 3001.
Please indicate that you would like to donate to the Tsunami Appeal.
Donations can also be made as cash deposits at any branch of the National Australia Bank or ANZ.

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SPORTSCASTING

Gearhouse ‘Set’ for Australian Open

Gearhouse Broadcast will be providing all of the host facilities for Australia’s Seven Network for their coverage of the Australian Tennis Open 2005 as well as the networks unilateral requirements. The tournament will be held at Melbourne Park in Melbourne and will be the 100th Australian Tennis Open held since the event was first started in 1905.
Gearhouse Broadcast have been involved in the project from the planning stage, carrying out venue inspections, specifying the requirements for the coverage of the tournament and preparing CAD and system diagrams of the set-up. Gearhouse Broadcast engineers will be installing the host facilities before testing the feeds and handing over the site to Seven Network, who will be providing coverage for the event, which runs from Monday 17th to Sunday 30th January.
There are six courts covered for television including the Rod Laver Arena and the Vodafone Arena that Gearhouse Broadcast will rig. The Rod Laver Arena with its retractable roof is the centre court for the event and will have continued coverage during the event with the final match being the Men’s’ Singles Final. This court will have a total of 16 cameras including one Link radio camera.
In total 59 cameras will be utilised for the event including both Sony BVP-550’s and Sony BVP-950’s, 5 Thomson LDK-23 MKII Super Slo-mo camera systems and 1 Link XPR radio camera. 27 VTR’s including Sony DVW-M2000 decks and 14 EVS Hard disk systems will also be used.
A total of 7 vision mixers will be used for the coverage of the event including 3 Sony DVS-7350’s, 3 Sony DVS-7150’s and 1 Thomson DD35, with a total of 6 audio mixers across the venue.
There will be three edit suites installed in total. One linear edit suite will be situated in a host administration area, which will be bookable as required. This edit suite will consist of 3 DVW-M2000’s, 1 BVE 2000 edit controller, 1 DVS-2000 Vision mixer and 1 Sony MXP-S390 Audio mixer.
There will be two edit suites as part of the unilateral facilities. The first will be a linear edit suite, the same set-up as the other linear suite, with the second an Avid non-linear suite.
Gearhouse Broadcast are creating a very flexible system in terms of signal distribution. Using 1 x ‘256x256’ router and 2 x ‘64x64’ routers, all signals will be available to any production area at any time at the push of a button. A 200 x 200 comms matrix will also be used to fulfil all the communication requirements for the host and channel 7 unilateral coverage.
The nature and profile of this event dictates an enhanced focus on redundancy. Gearhouse Broadcast will install a 64 x 64 SDI emergency router, providing back up in case any vision mixer fails, or if the 256 x 256 squared router incurs technical problems. This router will be able to create a dirty or clean feed of each court using a limited number of court cameras and slo-motion sources.
One of the most unique aspects of this project is that the whole production will be using embedded audio. All audio signals will be embedded into their associated video signals. This will be achieved by using a total of 66 embedders and 37 de-embedders. Using embedded audio will reduce the onsite cabling needed and the need for large analogue audio routers and associated distribution equipment.
The Australian Open 2005 is one of the biggest single jobs that Gearhouse Broadcast has undertaken. Based on previous experience working on the Tennis Masters Series earlier this year, the technical set-up has been expanded to accommodate the size and magnitude of this event.
Once the rigging is completed the site will be handed over to Seven Network who will use their staff to run the production of the tournament, which will be watched by millions worldwide. During the event Gearhouse Broadcast will give technical support to Seven Network by offering guarantee Engineers to oversee the performance of the equipment.

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REGIONAL DTV

China Announces DTV Chip

A university in Shanghai says it has designed China’s first home-made digital TV chip in collaboration with two domestic companies - Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.
The China Daily newspaper reported that the chip, known as "Zhongshi No 1", was designed based on China's Digital Multimedia Television Broadcasting (DMB-T) standard. It quoted Zhou Dian, president of the School of Microelectronics at Fudan University, as saying the chip had outdone European and US standards for experimental broadcasts of digital TV.
China plans to broadcast the 2008 Beijing Olympics with digital TV and to popularise digital TV nationwide by 2015.
According to other reports, however, China's digital TV standard is losing appeal among manufacturers and broadcasters, which have been turning to foreign systems after Beijing failed to announce its own standards.
The China Daily newspaper reported that regulators have been pushing for China to develop its own digital TV standards, hoping to avoid dependence on Western technology and nurture a new domestic industry. But after they missed a deadline to issue a digital TV standard by the end of 2003, broadcasters and manufacturers have been exploring foreign standards.
State-owned Guangdong Radio & Television New Technology Development is using DVB-T for a trial programme to broadcast to receivers in taxis, public buses and other vehicles. Similar trials of "mobile television" are starting in Beijing and the central province of Hunan.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Leitch to Acquire Inscriber

Leitch Technology Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Inscriber Technology Corporation, based in Waterloo, Ontario. Inscriber is a privately held video software company that develops SD (Standard Definition) and HD (High Definition) television graphics and digital signage products for the broadcast and video post-production markets.
The companies expect to close the transaction in early January 2005, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The total purchase price is US$18 million, including the assumption of $1.5 million in debt. The purchase will be funded through Leitch's existing cash balances. Inscriber extends Leitch's position in the market with a complementary product range focused on broadcast graphics, content branding and logo generation, enabling an Integrated Content Environment (ICE) that will streamline workflow for broadcast and media companies, the customer base currently served by both companies.
"Our customers will benefit from an extensive range of products that are complementary to our existing Leitch offering," said Tim Thorsteinson, president and CEO of Leitch Technology. "This acquisition is one more step in our commitment to focus on broadcast television customers - providing them with technological