ABC Pays Tribute to Cameraman Killed in Iraq

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has paid tribute to Paul Moran, a cameraman killed on assignment in northern Iraq.
Managing Director Russell Balding said that Mr Moran died performing a job that he loved and for which he was deeply respected.
"Paul was working on assignment for the ABC when a car bomb exploded next to him" Mr Balding said. "The ABC is collectively grieving today and our thoughts are with Paul's family. Their loss is incalculable."
Mr Moran was Adelaide raised, spent 12 years working in the Middle East and recently moved to Paris. Paul was 39 and leaves a wife, Ivana, and a one-month-old daughter.
Mr Moran had worked extensively throughout the Middle East, covering the 1991 Gulf War as a freelance correspondent. After the war, he remained in the Middle East, making commercials for Saudi TV warning about landmines left behind by the Iraqis. He filed ABC reports last year on the role of the Australian Navy in the United Nations' Persian Gulf blockade.
According to a Sydney Morning Herald report, Mr Moran died along with three Kurdish fighters, known as peshmergas, becoming the second Australian cameraman in as many years to die in a war zone. ABC reporter Eric Campbell, among eight wounded in the blast, suffered minor shrapnel wounds and shock.

top

Austar/Telstra Deal on Subscriptions, NZ Operations

Austar United Communications Limited (Austar) and Telstra Corporation have announced arrangements that will see Telstra move to full ownership of the parties' New Zealand joint venture, TelstraClear Limited. The two companies have also agreed in principle to allow Telstra to resell the Austar subscription television service to Telstra customers in regional Australia.
Subject to the satisfaction of various conditions including New Zealand Overseas Investment Commission approval, Telstra will acquire full ownership of TelstraClear. Telstra CEO Dr Ziggy Switkowski said the agreement to purchase the remaining 42 per cent shareholding in TelstraClear for $A25m ($NZ26.86m) was a reflection of Telstra's confidence in the business. "TelstraClear is making solid progress towards profitability and has become a significant player in the New Zealand communications market," said Switkowski. "It's a promising business that brings Telstra's Trans Tasman strength to New Zealand to the benefit of New Zealand customers. This deal demonstrates that New Zealand is a pivotal part of Telstra's long term strategy."
Austar CEO Mr John Porter said "Since its early days, TelstraClear has been about challenging the status quo, and Austar is proud to have been a major part in bringing competition to the New Zealand market. Given where the company is today, it is a natural point of exit for Austar, particularly as we focus on our core business of providing subscription television services to regional Australia."
Dr Switkowski said there would be no changes to TelstraClear's management team, with the business continuing to be managed in New Zealand and to trade under the TelstraClear brand.
With regard to Australian regioal Pay TV arragement, the parties have signed a Heads of Agreement which, subject to regulatory and other approvals, will allow regional Australians to acquire Austar subscription television services with Telstra's telephony services.
"As a company that has invested over $1 billion dollars to provide services to regional Australia, we are pleased to be working with Telstra to allow customers to have increased choice and opportunities," said Austar's John Porter.
It is expected that the bundling arrangements will be made available later in the year once operational requirements have been finalised.
The agreements come just as the United States Bankruptcy Court has approved the Plan of Reorganisation for Austar parent company United Australia/Pacific Inc (UAP) which was filed with the Court in December. This Court approval completes a further stage in the process by which Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP) will become a substantial shareholder in Austar.

top

Rydges Switches Onto Ethernet VOD

Rydges Hotel Group has implemented a digital video-on-demand pilot scheme at its hotel branch in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. Based on Ethernet switching solutions from US company Extreme Networks, the multi-vendor project has been brokered and managed by Entertainment, Media and Telecoms Corp (EMT).
The system uses IntrigueT from General Dynamics, an interactive, multi-media, in-room entertainment and information system. 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. EMT is the General Dynamics Channel Partner for the supply of the IntrigueT system throughout the Asia Pacific region.
The Parramatta implementation is a first-of-kind project for Australia, and an indication of the strategy being driven by parent company AHL to ramp up in-house offerings for international and domestic travelers. EMT has confirmed that IntrigueT will be rolled out to the rest of the 25 Rydges Hotel sites across Australia and New Zealand as soon as the pilot period is completed, which is expected to occur by mid to late April 2003.
EMT has entered into a partnership with Extreme Networks as a preferred supplier of Ethernet infrastructure solutions to ensure jitter and delay free services to the rooms. With the prospect of hundreds of simultaneous users accessing the system for a myriad of purposes, reliable, stable infrastructure is crucial in order for EMT to meet the service level expectations.
According to EMT Chief Technology Officer, Richard Street, "The Ethernet switching capacity and guaranteed bandwidth is absolutely critical to the overall viability of the system. The hardware based Quality of Service (QoS) within Extreme Networks' non-blocking, wire speed switches ensures the requisite bandwidth can be provided reliably. QoS ensures traffic for the services is delivered without interruption, and data is transferred at the same rate it is received ensuring picture quality. It's fair to say the Extreme products are crucial to the success of the DVOD system."
Core and aggregation switches from Extreme's Summit product range are used within the hotel's network. The key guest services - digital video, guest billing and the high speed internet connection are all connected together using the core switch, a Summit5i. The switch also provides a gigabit Ethernet connection to the Summit48 aggregation switches chosen for its high density of ports. This feature simplifies the network by allowing the aggregation of services to multiple hotel floors, minimizing impact during installation and the physical footprint of the kit within the hotel.

top

Telstra: DSL Uptake Grows by 176 Percent

Telstra claims that healthy competition is driving rapid growth in the DSL market, with wholesale DSL connections increasing by 176 percent in the nine months from the end of June 2002 to the end of February 2003.
Wholesale DSL connections increased by 51 percent in the last three months of 2002 alone. DSL has been identified as the "killer" broadband technology by the industry in the latest Deliotte Telecommunications Competition and Outlook Survey, which also found that wholesale access cooperation was high.
According to Telstra Wholesale MD, Ms Deena Shiff, "DSL Growth is exceeding initial expectations and we expect it to continue to do so as more people see the benefits of broadband - both at home and at work - and as new and exciting bandwidth hungry applications come on-line."
Total wholesale DSL connections increased by 114 percent in the six months to the end of 2002.

top

ABC Gives Iranian Broadcasters a Sporting Chance

The ABC has recently completed a joint Sports Broadcasting Training Course with IRIB, the National Broadcaster in Iran. Alan Marks, Coordinator of ABC Radio’s Special Events Unit, spent eight days in Iran conducting the course at the IRIB’s training facility at Zibakenar on the shores of the Caspian Sea, about five hours drive north of Tehran.
The 82 participating broadcasters came from all of Iran’s major cities and larger provincial centres. Some were also invited from Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Alan’s training notes for the course were translated into Farsi and over 60,000 pages in Persian script were distributed to the participants.
Football (soccer) is the dominant sport in Iran with wrestling and weightlifting also attracting a large following.
According to Marks, "The course was very intensive, devoting considerable time to a whole range of broadcast-related subjects including speech, mass communications, microphone technique, writing, interviewing, and commentary for radio and television. Over 300 people attended the sessions from time to time and the attitude and responses were terrific.
"What did surprise me was the amount of time devoted to the course on Iranian National Television by way of live appearances on ‘Today’ style talk programs, interviews, news reportage and even live telecasts of some complete sessions."

top

AFTRS to Launch National Screening Tour

Newly appointed Director Malcolm Long will launch the AFTRS 2003 National Screening Tour in the SAS Visions Theatre of the National Museum of Australia in Canberra on Friday 11 April. The tour will showcase of film, television, digital media and documentary productions made at the AFTRS in 2002.
Malcolm Long said "In its 30th year, AFTRS remains at the centre of Australia's screen production industry, producing the professional and teaching skills that will continue to drive excellence in the Australian and international market. The touring program provides insights into AFTRS work."
As well as screenings, there are free information seminars about the AFTRS and how to apply. The seminar in Canberra will be presented by AFTRS Head of Film and Television Annabelle Sheehan and 2003 Producing graduate, Tim Kreibig.
Information Seminars are free. Screenings: $10.00 /$7.00 concession.
For further details visit: http://www.aftrs.edu.au

top

Mesh Mobile With Asian TVC

Australian post house mesh22 has completed a major visual effects project for Shanghai-based production company, Flirting Pictures and Australian production company, Luscious International.
The series of TVCs, entitled "Reincarnation", comprise of 1 x 60, 2 x 30, 2 x 15 second spots with soundtracks scored by Ramesh Sathiah. They will be aired across Europe and South East Asia to launch the first in a new line of high-end mobile phones for Amoisonic Electronics Company Limited, a major manufacturer and supplier of consumer electronics in China.
The TVCs represented a challenging assignment, with Richard Swan (Creative Director at mesh22), working arm in arm with Australian director, Richard Gibson (Luscious International). The brief was epic, with a storyline part 'Gladiator,' part 'Cleopatra,' and part 'Minority Report.'
The multinational nature of the project made it essential that the visual narratives created would communicate across diverse cultures, to ensure that the hero and heroine of the spot embodied the universal attributes of the masculine and feminine phones respectively. It was therefore necessary that mesh22 approach the story from a number of cultural perspectives.

For details and pictures, click here.

top

Pixel Power/Reuters Ramp Up ABC Graphics

Pixel Power, a UK provider of broadcast character generators and graphics systems, and Reuters Media have partnered to provide a graphics solution to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Reuters Media has developed software that links Pixel Power's Collage systems directly to Reuters' data. The software Reuters developed resides within the Reuters data terminal as a small application. A simple user interface allows selection of which stocks prices, currencies or commodities to be displayed.
Serial connection from the Reuters Terminal to a Collage then allows a television broadcasters to display, in real time, financial information on the television screen. Once configured, no further operator intervention is required as the data is continually updated by the Reuters data feed.
The software can also be used to display news, sports results or any other type of information that is required. The software was developed for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used for their early morning business program "Business Breakfast".
Reuters will make the software available to other broadcast users of their financial data services. Development of the software was required so that data and/or content could be displayed on the Collage system, and subsequently was used by the ABC in their programming. Integration with the Collage system was a key requirement of ABC, as it is their primary on-air graphics system.
A Reuters' programmer worked closely with Pixel Power staff in England and local distributor, AMtech, to ensure the software worked seamlessly with the Collage system.

top

The 'New Magic' of PVRs

Disk-based Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) continue to make inroads into the Australian market with New Magic Australia announcing it has begun shipping an Australian version of the Hauppauge PVR 350. The PVR 350 is the latest model in Hauppauge's range of PCI-based Personal Video Recorders.
The PVR 350 is claimed to bring the convergence of the desktop PC and the Home Entertainment System one step closer with its ability to playback TV and video recordings on almost any TV set (those equiped with AV inputs).
Television and Video material is recorded in DVD-quality MPEG-2 to the PC's hard drive and played back using the PVR 350s dedicated MPEG decoding hardware to a television via a video output on the card. The PVR 350 supports the ability to pause playback, rewind, fast-forward and perform 'time-shifting' while watching a television program, as well as offering an FM stereo tuner.
Recordings can be scheduled for unattended recording. Recorded material can be burnt to a DVD or Video CD (DVD-R and or CD-RW drive required) for archiving purposes.
The unit ships with a remote control and both S-Video and Composite Video outputs. The PVR 350 will retail for AUD$529, including GST. It joins the existing model, the PVR 250 which offers the same features without television playback or FM tuner.

top

Pay-TV Offers 'Digital Assistance' To Terrestrials

A digital leg-up via free retransmission over pay-TV. That was the "offer like no other" made to Australia's terrestrial broadcasters by News Corporation Deputy COO, Lachlan Murdoch at the 2003 Conference of the Australian Subscription Television & Radio Association held in Sydney.
Citing the potential for the free-to-air networks to increase their current "digital coverage" by 5000 percent, Murdoch urged terrestrial broadcasters to follow the lead of the Nine Network and enter into retransmission agreements with pay-TV operators as the subscription networks complete digitalisation of their delivery infrastructure.
Taking the digital baton, Murdoch was followed by Foxtel CEO Kim Williams who offered all free-to-air networks a no-cost, standard definition, digital platform with interactivity should they choose to have their services retransmitted over Foxtel's digital cable network to be commissioned later this year. Williams emphasised the free nature of the offer saying that such arrangments in the UK often involved fees of millions of pounds. Also guaranteeing a transparent EPG, he said retransmission would be free within the Foxtel cable network, but that terrestrial broadcasters would have to enter into separate satellite arrangements with Optus.
For its part, Optus declared it was now in the business of offering "bundled services" to consumers. According to Martin Dalgleish, Managing Director, Optus Consumer & Multimedia, the recent content sharing agreement between Foxtel and Optus meant television had become a "gateway" product that could be used to sell services such as telephony and broadband Internet access. Dalgleish said the company had moved from a focus on "volume" to a business model that would aim to increase average revenue per user with extra services.
Interactive TV, however, would not be included in these bundled services. According to Martin Dalgleish, Optus' current iTV trials, which have involved over 30 applications and 50 developers, will end in March with no plans for a commercial launch.
"The time is not right for Optus to deliver interactive television," said Dalgleish. "ITV requires a capital investment that doesn't match Optus' current capital appetite."

top

Astra Awards Smart for Outstanding Contribution

Foxtel Director of Engineering & Technology, Peter Smart, has taken out the award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Subscription TV or Radio at the Inaugural Australian Subscription Television & Radio Association Awards held recently at Sydney's Star City Casino.
Praised for "challenging the open broadcast tech folk", Smart oversaw the installation of Australia's first multi-channel, MPEG video server system at Foxtel's facilities in Pyrmont, Sydney. This year will see Smart oversee the pay-TV network's conversion to digital.
Other winners at the Inaugural Astra Awards included:

• Best Program Event - "Switched on Schools", Austar
• Best Integrated Subscription TV Campaign - (1st) "The Office", UKTV. (2nd) "NetMD Walkman", Ikon Communications for Sony Australia.
• Best Consumer Advertising Campaign for a Platform or Channel - "Take Your Sports Seriously", Sacchi & Sacchi for Austar
• Most Outstanding Local Production, Kids & Youth - "Foul Facts", Nickelodeon Australia. Animation by Fudge Puppy, sound by Stellar Sound.
• Most Outstanding Local Production, Sport - "From the Lips of Lethal" (mic'ed up coach's box), Fox Footy Channel.
• Most Outstanding Local Production, News & Documentaries - "One Track Mind - Understanding Autism, Lifestyle Channel.
• Most Outstanding Local Production, General Entertainment - "Home", Series 2, Episode 6, Lifestyle Channel.

top

TARBS Takes on Americas With Scopus

Scopus Network Technologies, the supplier of digital broadcast platforms for the worldwide transmission of the 2002 World Cup Games in Korea, announced that Television and Radio Broadcasting Services Australia (TARBS) has selected Scopus to supply a complete head-end digital broadcasting system.
This new Direct-to-Home (DTH) system is targeting the ethnic television market in the North and Central America. TARBS is using Scopus' digital platform, deployed at PanAmSat's teleport in the Napa Valley, California (USA), to broadcast 52 channels over four satellite transponders to North and Central America and greatly expand its operations in the Americas.
The coverage of PanAmSat's Galaxi beam for the ethnic channels is estimated in the hundreds of millions of viewers. TARBS' head-end is based on Scopus' CODICO product line and includes professional encoders and multiplexers.
Managed in Sydney by Scopus' Network Management System, the operation also includes a remote management module to supervise PanAmSat's North American teleport in California.

top

ADB Trials MHP TV Guide

Set-top manufacturer, ADB used the recent Australian Broadcasting Summit in Sydney to demonstrate a prototype MHP TV Guide Application. The development comes after several months of Collective effort between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Seven Network, Ten Network, Special Broadcasting Services, Sun Microsystems, Advanced Digital Broadcast Ltd. and Strategy & Technology Ltd.
The MHP TV Guide application has been built in Australia by an Australian development team to suit the unique requirements of the Australian Free to Air market. The purpose of the trial is to evaluate the technical issues associated with transmitting an application in Australia's terrestrial television market.
This includes viability of the transmission and reception systems as well as providing a beta platform for continuing refinement of the application. During development, the application was tested on the ADB MHP compliant STB. The MHP TV Guide application is service "Unbound" so that it can operate independently of the transmitted channel. This means it will be available to the user regardless of the channel the user may choose to watch.
The prototype application will continue to be refined and used as a transmission benchmark to evaluate future services for Free to Air TV. According to ADB, the trial signals that MHP, the open standards application system, is here in Australia and that Interactive TV is quickly becoming a reality.

top

Broadcast Australia Highlights Mobile Applications, Announces DVB-RCT Trial

Mobile is the future of broadcasting in Australia. That was the word from Gerry Moriarty, Chairman of Broadcast Australia (formerly NTL) in a keynote speech at the Australian Broadcasting Summit held recently in Sydney.
The Broadcast Australia Chairman also pointed to disk-based Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) as one of the most important products that would shape broadcasters' business plans and called for upgradable receivers that could take advantage of such new technologies as MPEG-4 without legacy issues.
Addressing legislative issues, Moriarty encouraged the Federal Government to look at the lessons of the Digital Radio Broadcasting experience in the UK, and to work with automotive industry as a "driver" of digital receiver take-up.
Emphasing this, the Broadcast Australia Chairman predicted more and more in-car electronic entertainment options, as well as more mobile digital services carried by public transport.
"What was true for FM will be true for digital," he said. "The car industry is key."
Moriarty also highlighted the potential for digital radio and TV datacasting bandwidth to be employed by the emergency services.
"The fire brigade could datacast weather and traffic maps and information on the chemicals in the fire, to fire trucks at the scene," he said. "The fire brigade could datacast a map showing alternative traffic routes and an emergency contact number to a public broadcast TV channel. Just like triple zero for the telephone, there could be a dedicated 'emergency channel' on the broadcast spectrum. In the future, the Fire Brigade could well be a broadcaster."
In April, Broadcast Australia intends to begin datacasting trials of DVB-RCT from Tuggeranong in Canberra. With potential data rates greater than 3G or GSM, the trials existing digital TV transmission facilities, prototype set-top boxes complete with DVB-RCT return transmission capability and base station technology from Israeli company Runcom to handle the more bandwidth intensive applications featured in the trial.

For complete text of the speech, click here.

top

ABC New Media Releases iTV Research

Australian audiences are interested in watching more interactive television (iTV) documentaries, according to a new audience survey on the ABC's Long Way to the Top Live in Concert iTV program.
Released at the recent Australian Broadcasting Summit in Sydney, the research conducted by ABC New Media in December 2002 found that 97% of those who responded to the survey were interested in watching more interactive television. The survey was conducted following the broadcast on December 1st of the Long Way to the Top Live in Concert music documentary on Austar's digital satellite subscription service.
Of the survey respondents who used the interactive features, 81% were positive about the interactive options available and 82% felt that the additional information that was available through the interactive streams improved their enjoyment of the series.
The findings come as Long Way to the Top Live in Concert iTV was named Best New Digital Content at the Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA) Awards in February. The judges said the iTV documentary "delivered rich content, was usable and accessible and worked within the limitations of interactive technology for a broad audience."
Director of ABC New Media and Digital Services, Lynley Marshall, said the results consolidate the findings of the iTV survey conducted on the BBC Walking With Beasts Interactive, following its broadcast on the ABC's services on the Austar digital satellite platform and Optus' cable iTV service in July and August last year.
"Like the Walking with Beasts Interactive research, this survey tells us that the audience wants more innovative, interactive programming. By building this body of research, and responding to audience demands, the ABC is playing an important role in supporting the development of the digital industry in Australia," she said.
Long Way to the Top Live In Concert is the first programme of its kind produced in Australia, and was made possible by the collaboration between the ABC's New Media and Television divisions and Austar.

To read the survey, click here.

top

Seven Warms Up For Rugby

Despite broadcast rights negotiations for the 2003 Rugby World Cup remaining unfinalised, a World Broadcasters meeting for the event was held in early February attracting 30 representatives from 15 television and radio companies. During this time, three bidders presented World Cup organizers with host broadcast plans.
Among the front runners was Australia's Seven Network. Current rights holder for Australian Rugby Union matches, the Network was domestic rights holder for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and, for a number of years, has acted as host broadcaster for the Australian Open tennis tournament.
According to Seven's Rugby Project Manager, Tony Sinclair, Network Seven plans to use a crew of around 300 and to set up an International Broadcasting Center at its Sydney station in the suburb of Epping.
"Our plans call for a 10-11 camera coverage for each match," says Sinclair. "Although, we plan to use more for the opening ceremony and the finals. We have already looked at items like cameras, lenses and Super Slo-mo systems and a tender has been sent out to Australian-based and overseas OB companies which is due to be completed by the end of March. The cameras used will be up to the OB companies to decide on, but they would be digital, 16:9 capable.
"Our minimum coverage would not include anything experimental, but we would use enhancements such as tracking cameras for the opening ceremony and finals matches.
Broadcast arrangements for the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup will be made in concert with Australian company, Accolade Event Management, which has been appointed Ceremonies Director for the tournament. Accolade has produced a succession of special events and festivals around the world, including the London Millennium Celebrations and the Sydney Olympic Skyline Spectacular.
"The International Rugby Board has mandated digital, standard definition widescreen coverage as a minimum requirement," says Sinclair. "We are looking at high definition, but this will probably be for domestic purposes as a great number of Rugby playing countries are not wealthy broadcasting nations and it would be sensible to produce the coverage in a format that can be used by as many countries as possible.
"Even though we are looking at HD, there is a strong likelihood that we will produce digital, standard definition, multiview broadcasts for our domestic audiences.
"Multiview makes sense as the competition won't feature simultaneous matches," says Sinclair. "It will be a great opportunity for us to use the bandwidth we have and showcase digital technology."

top

Omnilab Group Becomes Pay-TV Powerhouse

The Omnilab Group, one of Australia's largest design and post production facilities, is set to grow rapidly in size, resources and technical capability this year following the outsourcing of Optus' channel production and operational services. The Group's purchase of all the VOC's (Video Operations Centre) channel production and operational assets was announced by Optus in conjunction with Foxtel's acquisition of the NDMC (National Digital Media Centre).
Optus has outsourced the production of MTV and the production and playout of Ovation and Odyssey, the compilation and playout of ACC and commercial insertion of Sky News to Omnilab. Although a number of Optus personnel were made redundant due to the VOC and the NDMC announcements, Omnilab will be looking to hire 42 people to operate the new facility.
"There are some very skilled people working at the VOC and we will be offering interviews to all staff interested, but will also be looking at the industry at large to help compliment the new team," said Christopher Mapp, Deputy GM, Omnilab.
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. This has added to its three Movie Network channels Movie One, Movie Extra and Movie Greats on Foxtel and Optus. MTV, Ovation, Odyssey, ACC and Sky News are all welcome channels to the Group and each of the divisions including, the LaB Sydney, mesh22, Cornerpost and the Playroom are excited about the opportunity of adding value to their services.
The purchase of the assets adds even greater depth to the group adding numerous post productions video and audio suites and importantly a fully digital studio for either live or recorded productions.
"The digital studio is something the group has been thinking about for a couple of years. It will work well with the many visual effects shots that we work on in our facilities. We will now be able to package studio facilities with design, visual effects, telecine, edit, composing, multimedia, duplication and satellite delivery to the networks all within the one company," says Mapp. "With continued pressure on time, budgets and the need to be able to take creatively successful shortcuts, has meant that having all these services within the Group can only add value to the services we already provide." "Being awarded the production and playout of the channels realises a strategy of Omnilab's to strengthen its position in the Pay TV market as the role out of digital is eminent, and the introduction of possible new channels is being realised," concludes Mapp.

top

Euphonix Swings Into Action at NZ Golf Open

Starting off with a "Fore!" in New Zealand, the new Euphonix Max Air digital audio console installed in Moving Pictures' latest OB truck got its first on-air run-through for the 'New Zealand Golf Open Championship' in January 2003.
This is the first OB truck completed with a Max Air 96-channel, 32-fader console.
As the outside broadcast division of Television New Zealand (TVNZ), Moving Pictures operates nine outside broadcast units in New Zealand, ranging from 16 camera-capable semi-trailers to three camera capable OB facilities. They also offer 'Fly Away' capability allowing service to clients throughout the Pacific Rim.
"We were very comfortable with Euphonix because of our history with the CS console," said Eric Rudolphe, General Manager of Moving Pictures. "It was time for us to make the change to all-digital audio and after checking out other consoles we settled on the Euphonix Max Air. It has all the features we need, its very powerful for its size and comes within our budget. The operators all took to it very quickly and, most importantly, it is based on the tried and tested hardware DSP and I/O of the System 5. The level of redundancy and backup is very reassuring when you consider the rigors of OB work."
"Covering a major golf event is a great test for any console, as any OB engineer will tell you, and Max passed with flying colors," Eric continued. "We had 46 mics setup around the course, 8 announcer mics and 9 VTR feeds together with feeds coming in from the network. Max Air's grouping facilities allowed us to handle this complex combination of sources and the rapid fire switches from one hole to another with ease. This will definitely improve our competitiveness in providing high quality audio and also gives us the capability for 5.1 surround."
The New Zealand Golf Open was broadcast locally and internationally, including coverage in the USA by the Golf Channel.

top

Cutting Edge Hits the Road With RealViz

Brisbane-based post house Cutting Edge VFX has recently completed a series of distinctive commercial spots for leading car manufacturers: Suzuki, Ford and Mitsubishi, using RealViz's automatic tracking software, MatchMover 2.5 Professional.
Filmed against an array of Australian scenic backdrops, Cutting Edge have successfully created a seamless mix of CG and real-life elements, showcasing each of the featured vehicles to maximum effect. The first of these commercials, for Antonio Saraceno and Asatsu Tokyo, entitled Mitsubishi 'Observatory', features an impressive CGI city fly-thru, numerous composites, and a number of 3D digital matte paintings, which required input from a diverse section of the facility's vfx team, and was filmed in a number of Australian locations, including arid desert scenes, a yacht race, and in and around Melbourne.

For details and pictures, click here.

top

Telstra Provides Broadband Boost

The Australian broadband market has been given a nudge along with the announcement of a $4.6 million allocation of cash and bandwidth to 19 applicants in the first round of the Telstra Broadband Fund.
The Telstra Broadband Fund provides cash and bandwidth contributions to support the development of new and innovative technologies that will encourage the uptake of broadband in Australia.
Dr Hugh Bradlow, chairman of the Telstra Broadband Fund Board, said the $4.25 million in cash and $0.35 million in bandwidth grants would fast track the development of projects suitable for broadband services in a wide variety of industries.
The supported projects include:

• HealthShare, which aims to allow clinicians to communicate with each other and with their patients anytime, anywhere, using high quality secure video, audio and data delivery.
• An internet based livestock recording and feedback application initially targeting the beef industry.
• Software that aims to enable broadband ISPs to offer superior video programming.
• A digital music distribution application that protects copyright.
• "I Can Read", a broadband reading and literacy application.
• Real time document collaboration for the construction industry, to enable plans, drawings and 3D architectural models to be shared and concurrently edited.

The projects were selected by the Board of the Telstra Broadband Fund. The Board members are: Mr John Rimmer, CEO of National Office of the Information Economy, Ms Lindy Hyam, CEO of IDP Education Australia, Mr Kim Dalton, Chief Executive of the Australian Film Commission, Mr Rob Clemente, Chief Executive, Television Education Network Pty Ltd, Mr Ramin Mazbani, Managing Director, ACNielsen.consult, Dr Hugh Bradlow, Chief Technology Officer of Telstra and Mr Don Pinel, Regional Managing Director, Telstra Country Wide. A brief summary of all Telstra Broadband Fund supported projects is available at: http://broadbandfund.telstra.com/

top

Bust in Bendigo for Pay-TV Pirates

Two Bendigo men have been questioned by police and will be summonsed to appear before the Bendigo Magistrates Court in relation to their involvement in a highly-organised subscription television piracy ring operating in Bendigo and surrounding areas. Three further men are currently under investigation for the same crime.
Evidence gathered during a joint investigation by pay-TV provider Austar and Victoria Police shows that during the past four months, the men may have conned hundreds of residents in the area into buying unauthorised smart cards that are used to illegally access subscription television channels. The residents must legitimately subscribe to Austar's basic package of channels, however, the unauthorised smart cards bought from the men allows them to fraudulently access all channels provided by Austar, Foxtel and Optus, without payment to the providers.
Austar says residents may have been convinced by the men that they were purchasing a legitimate service, but should be warned that the smart cards sold by the con-men are not genuine and that the company can detect the unauthorised smart cards and will disconnect the illegal subscription television service to those homes.
The two men, aged 73 and 39, will be summonsed to appear in the Bendigo Magistrates Court at a date to be determined. Police will continue to investigate other leads in relation to this case.

top

Weekend News for ABC Territories

ABC TV News has launched weekend bulletins in the ACT and the Northern Territory. In both Territories the ABC is now producing local bulletins seven days a week. This is the first time ever that the ACT has produced its own complete weekend TV News bulletin.
Last year a weekday 7pm bulletin was launched after 10 years of the Sydney bulletin being broadcast in Canberra and the region. It is more than 30 years since the Northern Territory produced its own weekend bulletin. For some years after Cyclone Tracy the Northern Territory carried the Brisbane News with a seven minute NT insert. Production of the local weekday bulletins resumed in 1980. Now Darwin staff also produce bulletins at the weekend.
In Sydney ABC TV launched its new look weekday news bulletin from the recently completed news studio in the ABC Ultimo Centre. The bulletin is now presented by two newsreaders, Tony Eastley and Juanita Phillips. One reason for the change is that it allows for greater flexibility in the format so that either might conduct an in-depth interview during the bulletin or report from the field. The presentation of the bulletin has been updated with new set and new theme music.

top

NDC Folds Into Telstra

Telstra has announced that its wholly-owned network design and construction subsidiary, Network Design & Construction Limited (NDC), would be integrated into Telstra because it was no longer commercially prudent to maintain it as an external entity.
Telstra Chief Executive Officer, Ziggy Switkowski, said that when NDC was established four years ago it was anticipated that an increasing proportion of its workload would come from outside Telstra.
"The network design and construction industry has undergone dramatic changes since that time. The outlook for the industry in which NDC operates remains soft and the overwhelming proportion of NDC's work still is derived from Telstra," Dr Switkowski said. "The combined demand from Telstra and other customers has steadily declined for some years now, and will decrease further as capital expenditure budgets continue to be tightly managed."
Dr Switkowski said he expected that integration would be concluded by July 1, 2003 and he emphasized that NDC customers would continue to receive high levels of service, both during and after integration.

top

Students Go From AFTRS to Oscars

The Australian Film Television and Radio School [AFTRS] is celebrating with Producing graduates Steve Pasvolsky and Joe Weatherstone who have been nominated in this year's Academy Awards in the Short Film (Live Action) category for the AFTRS short Inja [Dog].
AFTRS Director Rod Bishop said "This is the first time an AFTRS short has been nominated for an Oscar. It is a fantastic recognition for a wonderful short film. It is also the first time an Australian short has been nominated in this category".
Pasvolsky and Weatherstone also join 1990 Cinematography graduate Dion Beebe, nominated for his work on Chicago. It is the second year running an AFTRS graduate has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography with Andrew Lesnie [1978] picking up the Oscar for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Set in South Africa in the '80s, Inja [written and directed by Steve Pasvolsky and produced by Joe Weatherstone] is the story of a young Xhosa boy whose puppy is being taught to be racist by a white farmer.

top

Australian Claims Honors In Kodak Student Competition

Yen Ooi from Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Australia, has taken top honors in the annual Kodak Filmschool Competition. The cinematography competition is open to film school students and recent graduates in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions.
Ooi was awarded for his role as cinematographer on L'Envie (The Desire). The prize includes a trip to the 2003 Cannes International Film Festival where his film will be screened at the Kodak Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, and he will participate in several program activities hosted by Kodak.
Entries by finalists representing numerous countries were judged by renowned cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, ASC, who earned Oscar nominations for The Right Stuff, The Natural, Fly Away Home and The Patriot. L'Envie (The Desire) was shot entirely in black and white and captures the imaginations of two friends in a style reminiscent of French films from the 1950s.
"The photography in L'Envie is so brilliantly in sync with the story," notes Deschanel. "The lighting, camera moves, and compositions show much maturity ... The choice of black and white is perfect because it makes the film feel timeless."
"The Kodak Filmschool Competition is designed to provide a prominent showcase for talented young filmmakers at an important juncture in their careers," says Wendy Elms, marketing communications manager for Kodak's Entertainment Imaging in the Greater Asia & Japan regions. "We hope to inspire as well as recognize the pursuit of artistic excellence. We also want to draw attention to the vital role cinematographers play in the collaborative process of filmmaking."
The Kodak Student Filmmaker Program launched The Kodak Filmschool Competition in 2000. Participation is limited to current students and recent graduates who completed their education within 12 months of the entry deadline. Films must be produced in either 16 mm or 35 mm format with a student crew. Judges in each country in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions selected national finalists.

top

Atlab Takes Plunge With Swimming Upstream

Scheduled for release in early 2003, 'Swimming upstream's' Director, Russell Mulcahy's most challenging task was to tell a period story with a craft style that would appeal to a modern audience.
Atlab Australia was chosen to make this vision a reality. Atlab's Digital Supervisor, Robert Sandeman and his team, created over 50 digital optical effects, as well as the feature's complex swimming race sequences whilst colourist Tony Manning graded all elements. This ensured the successful integration of both the digital and photochemical processes, all under the one roof, creating seamless results.
Based on the novel by author Tony Fingleton and starring Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis, Jesse Spencer and Tim Draxl, we follow 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 race scenes were the most challenging elements of the film and involved multiple layers of images (at times up to ten) composited into one final finished sequence.

For details, click here.

top

Avid SMPTE Winner Finds DV Joy

When Martin Thorne found out he was the lucky winner of an Avid Xpress DV video editing system at the annual Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers exhibition in 2001, he immediately knew he would be able to put his prize to good use. Martin is an editor and graphics support specialist with Frame, Set & Match.
Based in Sydney and established in 1970, Frame, Set & Match was one of the very first Australian companies to install Avid's software. Amongst the firm's current arsenal of Avid equipment is the Avid Media Composer and the Avid Symphony. During his time with Frame, Set & Match Martin has worked on a wide variety of projects including corporate videos, television commercials and television dramas.
When he suddenly became the proud owner of an Avid Xpress DV, he saw an opportunity to take advantage of the portability and flexibility of the system.

For details, click here.

top

Straight Sets Win For Euphonix

While Andre Agassi and Serena Williams triumphed on court at the 2003 Australian Tennis Open during January, behind the scenes host broadcaster Network Seven put together a championship-winning performance of their own. With the help of three Euphonix audio consoles, including two of the new all-digital Max Air systems, Network Seven not only provided exclusive Australian coverage for their own broadcasts but also delivered feeds to 25 international broadcasters. With over 300 Network Seven staff involved in technical installation and operation ‘The Open’ is the largest annual OB in Australia.

For details and pictures, click here.

top

Americas Cup Sails Digital Rapids

Private Broadcasting Solutions (PBS), a New Zealand-based Streaming Solutions Company using exclusively Digital Rapids Media Encoders are covering the 2003 America’s cup being held in Auckland New Zealand. Not only will PBS be there for the finals that start on the 14th of February, but they are also providing other services such as the exclusive broadcasting of the Swiss team’s pre-race trials back to their base in Europe some of which is broadcast live direct from the boat.
Digital Rapids is a high technology design company whose "stream" products are designed to encode broadcast video signals into Internet streaming media. Digital Rapids are represented in Australia by Quinto Communications who will shortly be making a major announcement regarding Digital Rapids equipment being used to stream Australian AFL football matches in the new season.

top

Tennis Australia Trials Interactive TV with NDS

During the recent 2003 Australian Open tennis tournament, Tennis Australia conducted a series of interactive TV trials designed to improve the services it offers television viewers, helping to bring them closer to the action, and enabling tournament broadcasters to offer the best entertainment on and off the court.
Tennis Australia showcased digital interactive television via a demonstration designed by NDS. The Australian Open boasts a significant international television audience, with a reach of more than 497 million and broadcast to 177 territories across the globe.
The interactive services shown during Australian Open 2003 included the ability for viewers to select between four live matches or even watch all four at once, display match statistics on the players, follow current players through the draw and access further detailed information on the player.

For details and pictures, click here.

top

Comedy Channel Idents a 'Laugh' for GMD

GMD has completed the new 2003 identity for Foxtel's Comedy Channel featuring a series of live action and animated ID's and program spots that revolve around four distinctive colour palettes; vivid blue, precious gold, emerald green and candy apple red. The brief was to reflect the new Comedy Channel programming by injecting flamboyant colours and a sense of the iconic humour that links us all to the fun side of life. The role of the C'Fer Star character was redefined by the client to become the mascot for Comedy Channel enabling the audience to become familiar with new elements of the design like the dazzling white monolithic logo.

For details and pictures, click here.

top

Seven Aces Australian Open

Acting once again as host broadcaster for the Australian Open tennis tournament, Seven Network Australia showed more than ten hours of free to air coverage of the "Open" each day. Seven Sport, covering six matches simultaneously at times, operated a number of slow motion and server systems from Belgian company, EVS Broadcast Equipment.
In a technological world premiere, the Network used a complement of EVS' LSM slow motion systems, one running in super motion mode.
Also in use were two LSM-XT servers networked with the new SportServer from EVS.
SportServer integrates into an EVS SportNet slow motion replay network and adds automatic archiving and non-linear editing capability to the system. The storage of media on SportServer takes place without causing any interference to the live slow motion replays. CleanEdit NLE software on the SportServer allows highlights packages being assembled and aired at the same time.
According to Frank Chiodi, project manager with Seven, "The reliability and instant operation of this new system gave us unprecedented efficiency and freedom during editing, with such a vast choice of pictures to choose from. The EVS SportServer has a promising future and provides the perfect complement to the LSM-XT slow motion system for sport and event productions of all kinds."
International sports channel, ESPN, also covered the tournament extensively using the CleanEdit non-linear editing system, but in a slightly different manner.
All five available feeds were recorded permanently into an EVS MPEG-2 Server during the full two weeks of the tournament. Several CleanEdit operators would log the games, sets or matches while others would be compiling highlights packages and resumes, re-using any of the produced sequences, all at the same time. The systems allowed the same pictures to be used in different edits concurrently without needing to make any copies. Thus, ESPN International was able to share all resources with ESPN USA in real time but could define different montages.

top

Maser Up For Sunrise

Maser Technology is now the sole distributor of Sunrise Telecom products in Australia. Sunrise was founded by three former employees of Wiltron Company, a leading remote test equipment manufacturer.
Sunrise Telecom has acquired four complementary companies in the past three years. The first, Hukk Engineering, is a leader in QAM digital testing. The second company acquired was Pro.Tel. S.r.l., a provider of protocol analyzers and testers for telecommunications, enterprise network, and IP applications. Avantron Technologies, a Canadian corporation which specialises in the design and manufacture of Cable TV Test Equipment and Performance Monitoring systems, was the third acquisition with February, 2002, seeing Sunrise Telecom acquire the CaLan Cable TV Test business from Agilent Technologies.
For more details, call Lisa or Steve at Maser on (02) 9970 7644.

top

Telecom NZ and Sohonet Link Up For Rings

Sohonet, a provider of secure, high-bandwidth digital connections for the film and television industries, partnered with Telecom New Zealand (TNZ) to pioneer super-fast, high-quality connections between London and Wellington during the post production of New Line Cinema's recently released The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers.
During 2002, Sohonet and Telecom New Zealand established a 10Mb/s connection between London and New Zealand that enabled the filmmakers to rapidly send images and audio over 12,500 miles between different facilities engaged on the movie. The successful collaboration between the two companies is likely to lead to similar projects across New Zealand and Australia in the future.

For more details, click here

top

Photon On Board With Ghost Ship

Warner Bros film Ghost Ship is the largest feature film project that has been shot and had all visual effects produced entirely in Australia, and pioneering visual effects specialist Photon VFX provided the huge production with a total effects package.
Filmed in Queensland, Ghost Ship tells the story of a boat salvage crew that discovers the eerie remains of a grand passenger liner, thought lost for more than 40 years, in a remote region of the Bering Sea. Once onboard, the crew must confront the ship's horrific past and face the ultimate fight for their lives. The effects-laden movie is in the mould of a horror classic and Photon was selected as the principal contractor for all visual effects. Photon's diverse range of skills and techniques was crucial to the production of Ghost Ship, which required a full spectrum of services including computer generated images (CGI), animation, miniatures, live action, prosthetics, pyrotechnics, and aerial, underwater, and motion control cinematography.

For more details, click here

top

Two Towers Tops 200TB For Weta

Weta Digital summoned up the visual supercomputing and asset management power of SGI to deliver the much-anticipated second film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers.
This film adaptation of the epic fantasy-adventure classic written by J.R.R. Tolkien has even more special effects, CGI-created creatures and battle scenes with hundreds of thousands of animated characters than The Fellowship of the Ring, its blockbuster predecessor.
Weta Digital relied on the same full complement of SGI IRIX OS-based Silicon Graphics Octane visual workstations, Silicon Graphics Onyx2 visualization systems, SGI Origin family servers, and SGI Linux OS-based visual workstations and servers as on the first film. For The Two Towers, Weta Digital, the digital effects arm of Weta Ltd., the Wellington, New Zealand, production company that shot all three films back-to-back, upgraded its SGI Origin 2000 server to handle twice the data load of the first film.
For more details, click here

top

Restructure For Prime

The Directors of Prime Television have announced that the company is to undergo a significant restructuring that will include the downsizing of its corporate management team. The restructuring will see the departure of CEO Brent Harman, Finance Director Darryl Guihot, and other corporate managers, and will result in the relocation of the company's head office from North Sydney to its digital operations centre in Canberra.
The changes follow consideration by management and the Board as to how to best grow shareholder value in the short to medium term. This process concluded that "slimming down" the company and increasing the cash flow from core operations would best serve the interests of shareholders. The Directors would have several options for returning this increased cash to shareholders, by way of higher dividends, expanded buy-back programs or accelerated debt reduction.
The changes are wide-ranging. In addition to the changes at the corporate level, the company will also implement further efficiencies within its operational units, flowing from the consolidation of its broadcasting functions in Canberra. Also, the Board will review the fees paid to non-executive Directors with the intention of reducing the aggregate level of Board costs.
The changes in aggregate are expected to result in savings of the order of $4m in a full year, with a partial impact to be seen in the 2002/2003 fiscal year.
Mr Harman and Mr Guihot will continue to work until they relinquish their positions with the company during the first quarter of 2003. From that time, Mr Chris O'Connell, currently the Chief Operating Officer of Prime Television will become Group General Manager, reporting directly to the Board. Chris O'Connell has had operating responsibility for the Australian operations since 1998 in his present capacity. Warwick Syphers, a long-term Prime executive who is currently the CFO of Prime New Zealand will be the General Manager Finance of Prime Television after the restructuring.

top

2002 AFI Winners

Allan Collins and Denson Baker have taken out awards for cinematography in their respective sections at the recent 44th Australian Film & Television Awards.
Allan received the AFI Award for Best Cinematography (Feature Film) for his work on Beneath Clouds, while Denson was awarded in the Documentaries and Short Films category.

top

Euro Success for ARX

Australian-based pro audio manufacturer, ARX Systems, reports a surge in sales of its products throughout the European Union.
According to Managing Director Colin Park, "ARX is enthused by the performance of many of our newly appointed European Distributors.
"Recently appointed Netherlands ARX Distributor, Electric Audio, have supplied EQ-60 Graphic Equalisers to the "Ogterop Theatre" Meppel Holland, Maximix Line Mixers to "Video Schaay" Rotterdam Holland and EQ-60 and EQ-15 Graphic Equalisers to Super Sound the Leiden, Holland, based Rental Company.
"Our German Distributor Show Service supplied DI-4 Direct Boxes and AFW 1 Anti Feedback Workstations to the Baptist Church of Waldbrol and EC 2 Electronic Crossovers and AFW 1s to the Detmold Gospel Church, Mixxmaster Mic Line Mixers to "Siro AV" in Mainz and Maxisplit Line Splitters to "AV Long" in Lindlar.
"Show Service also outfitted the "Club Decadence Discotheque" in Ludenscheid with EC 2s, SX Series Power Amplifiers and ZA Multi Channel Power Amplifiers and supplied MicroMax 1 Loudspeakers to "Hell The Mut" in Cologne."
Other successes include the Achern-based Moeckel Music Service and the installation by Swiss Distributor, TonArt, of a new Audio System into the new Nelson Pub "anno 1492" in Zurich.
Closer to home, Advanced Audio, the Melbourne-based ARX Install Dealer recently completed installation of an updated Audio System into the refurbished Melbourne Royal
Exhibition Buildings.
Advanced Audio installed ARX ZR 850 C 100V Constant Voltage Installation Series Power Amplifiers to power a sizeable array of Bose 402 Loudspeakers spread out over 3km of loudspeaker cabling.
According to Park, the company will be announcing several more Distributor
appointments in early 2003.
"With new people on board and the range of new products being released at the Frankfurt Show in March, 2003 looks
like being an exciting year for the ARX worldwide," he said.

top

Austar Improves iTV delivery

Australian satellite pay TV operator, Austar has announced it has launched pioneering technology to automate its interactive television content.
Austar developed the new detection and triggering software, which uses digital watermarking technology to automatically synchronise interactive content with video content. This new automated system replaces the previous manual system.
Ian Harris, Austar's Manager, iTV Technology, said "This innovative technology will help drive digital interactive television. It increases the flexibility and scope for interactive content providers - such as advertisers and other television producers - to create innovative, customised interactive content, without the restrictions of the old manual or schedule-based activation system. This enables content providers to broaden the appeal of their content for television viewers by coming up with new and better ways to make the content interactive.
"The new technology also removes the technical challenges and cost associated with the old system," Mr Harris said.
The new technology will allow interactive content to be delivered during live broadcasts, which is unachievable using a manual or schedule-based system. Austar will no longer have to manually monitor any unexpected programming changes. The software simply detects the digital watermark in the video content whenever it is broadcast and will automatically trigger the appropriate content layering. For example, when a particular segment on the Weather Channel or ad is broadcast, the interactive layer for the content is automatically displayed in sync with the video.
Previously, Austar's interactive content layering was manually activated according to the schedule of the video content. Other systems activate content according to a predetermined schedule. Both methods are prone to error and are not suitable for live content, but are still in use by many subscription television operators around the world.

top

Austar Retransmits SBS Digital

In a move that will have implications for digital terrestrial broadcasters, subscription television provider Austar and Australia's national multicultural broadcaster SBS have announced an agreement to enable SBS's digital services to be retransmitted over Austar's satellite television service.
The move will see 35,000 Austar customer homes able to watch SBS, that could not previously receive it via analog television, due to blackspots. In all, SBS will be available via satellite to 170,000 homes. When the new C1 satellite is launched next year, this number will rise to an extra 220,000.
Austar's Chief Executive Officer John Porter said, "We are delighted to offer SBS as part of our digital service at no extra cost to subscribers, enabling many regional Australians to receive SBS where it wasn't available before.
He added, "We look forward to working with SBS to explore opportunities offered by our digital transmission including interactive enhancements, in a similar way to how we are already working with ABC New Media on projects such as the interactive documentary Long Way to the Top."
SBS's Managing Director, Nigel Milan, said, "Carriage of our services on Austar is a great opportunity, not only for the increased ability to distribute our socially important TV and Radio services, but for our ability to innovate. SBS has a reputation for innovation and the digital platform that Austar has created can only help us enhance that reputation".
Austar will screen SBS's primary digital service on channel 13 at no extra charge to subscribers. Longer term, the two broadcasters will work together to retransmit SBS's other digital services, including extra channels, SBS Radio and interactive programming enhancements.

top

ABC Installs 20th Kalypso

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has ordered its 20th Grass Valley Kalypso Video Production Center for a new world-class broadcast and production facility located in the Sydney suburb of Ultimo. The order positions the ABC as the largest single customer for Kalypso systems in the world.
To date, the ABC has installed Kalypso systems in all of its interstate studios being converted to digital and its new OB fleet of eight vehicles; the latest installation in Ultimo was scheduled to go on air near the end of 2002
"We continue to be impressed with the success of the Kalypso system," said Brian Bailey, executive engineer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "It is a very powerful machine and we believe it will give us many years of excellent performance."

top

Montage Adds Flame HD For Ads

Sydney-based Montage Productions has boosted its post-production equipment firepower by investing in a flame HD system.
"We chose the flame mainly because we knew there was strong demand for it in the advertising post-production market," said Jonathan Berry, Managing Director of Montage. "There's a popular opinion among agencies
that flame is the one-stop solution for the finishing of high-end TVCs. With flame we can provide a forum where our clients have the flexibility to make changes, experiment, and see results fast."
The installation was timed to coincide with the company's strategic move from Crows Nest to a sleekly-equipped and spacious facility in Pitt Street, just minutes from the cluster of advertising agencies located in Sydney's CBD.
"Many advertising agencies have relocated to the city in recent years," explained Berry. "As a large proportion of our clients are agencies, the motivation behind our move is to be central and easily accessible."
The flame installation marks Montage's first HD-capable system. While Berry is not sure about the overall market's immediate willingness to invest in HD TVCs, he believes in the potential for the hi-res finishing of elements for cinema commercials, which produces vastly superior images. Montage also acknowledges the ability to import and export large graphic files, including print material, as another factor in its decision to choose HD-capable equipment.
"I don't want to be limited by the size of a standard definition frame," said Berry. "We often work with massive files, and our data network enables us to import them into the flame from our offline and 3D suites".
Montage, which has been trading since 1990, has some prior experience of Discreet's software products, including cleaner and adds the flame to its existing offline, online, 3D, design and effects facilities.
Berry said a combustion seat is also likely to be added in the near future.

top

Editscope Post First With 844/X

Sydney post-production house Editscope Post has acquired the 844/X editing system from Media 100.
Editscope Post caters for a large number of leading brand and media clients and recently completed the "Beauticians Secret" TVC for agency Simkins & Smart using the system.
"Our commercial for Beautician's Secret was a concept that relied on a very technical post facility," said Mark Simkins, Creative Director, Simkins & Smart. "When we put the job out to quote, all the production companies had post budgets that exceeded our entire budget. Editscope Post was suggested to me because of their recent acquisition of the Media 100 844/X. Now I don't claim to know s**t about these things but I was very impressed by the results, that were on time and on budget. It is definitely worth a look if you have some tricky post concept."
"Having produced our first television commercial, we've tried it and proved it," said Glen Streten, Principal, Editscope Post. "844/X provides 10 bit image quality with no compromises. It lets you do things at the speed you think. The most attractive feature from our business perspective is that we are able to keep a client's budget on track but free up about 50 percent of their time."
James Hudson of Ripe Productions and director of the TVC was impressed with the speed and simplicity of finishing all elements in one system.
"One of the real joys of working in the 844/X is that it is a one stop machine," said James. "After digitising the rushes, we did the first cut to final cut and all compositing in the same environment. And all at full resolution. Fantastic.
"I really liked the fact that on a heavily multi layered commercial we were able to get a realistic looking "cut" together in no time," continued James. "This enabled us to get the client in early and proceed to the next level. Spending more time on the compositing and effects."
The 844/X made any revisions the client requested simple. Editscope was able to do them in real time with the client present. The client came back after everything was composited and wanted to change the grade on the background layer. Normally this would have meant re rendering everything with a huge cost to the schedule. With the 844/X it was easy. Using a combination of transfer controls and colour correction this was achieved immediately. No re rendering of effects and no cost to the schedule. The master was still delivered on time.

top

First Hard-Disk Nagra V For Australia

Australian Nagra distributor, Broadcast Workshop, has announced the first hard disk based Nagra V location recorder to be sold in Australia.
The recorder has been received by Lodestar Recordings, a Brisbane-based firm specialising in 'Classical Music Recordings' predominantly out on location in the fine concert halls and places of worship in South East Queensland.

top

mesh22 Answers Call Of Virgin Mobile

Ad agency Host gave mesh22 a fairly open brief to create a three-minute hype tape using supplied footage for client Virgin Mobile.
mesh22 was asked to keep the reel 'fun and trendy', while using the Virgin Mobile corporate colours - lozenge red, white and black. The result was a joint effort between creative director, Richard Swan and compositor, Matthew Unwin.
As Richard Swan explains, "We attempted to push the job as far as we could - giving a young, contemporary flavour is perfectly suited to the type of work we do. The client wanted to communicate the success of the brand in the marketplace, so it was vital to keep it informative as well as fresh and fun."
The opening sequence is a long scene moving through graphics supplying information (mainly statistics) which is represented in a dynamic and contemporary way using animated typography. Using the corporate colours - with the red logo, white background and black type - the message was conveyed using bold shapes.
The reel was sent back to headquarters in London, to be presented before Richard Branson.

top

NewTek Calibrates With National Instruments

NewTek Support Pty Ltd has announced it is now an approved Calibration Centre for a wide range of National Instruments computer based measurement hardware.
The arrangement will see NewTek Support, the service and calibration company established with NewTek Sales in Sydney, providing calibration services for the card modular components supplied by National Instruments to customers in Australia. New test fixtures and software have been purchased to ensure the services will be available to support the current and popular range of NI hardware.
"The availability of a local, established, quality assured service and calibration organization will make it easier and more cost effective for customers in Australia to have their instruments calibrated when required " said Jeremy Carter, managing director National Instruments Australia. "In the past some of the hardware had to go back to the U.S. for calibration, which often led to a longer turnaround time.
"I am very pleased that NewTek Support has gained the confidence of National Instruments in Australia to undertake this important task on their behalf, " said Denis Cobley, managing director of NewTek Support. " The efforts we have made in the last 12 months are paying off as we are getting work from many unexpected sources as customers find we can deliver quality work on time and very cost effectively", Cobley said.
NewTek Support Pty Ltd can be contacted on (02) 9888-0100.

top