Since earliest days of professional audio, there has been a continuing argument about the quality of cables. Should users buy premium brands or very basic cable? What’s the real difference? Does audio sound better with premium cable? As with most everything these days, the answers vary widely. But there are clear answers.
The media and entertainment industry is moving toward 4K and UHD because of the beautiful resolution and increased depth and color these formats offer. With more information in every frame, editors and other artists are empowered to be more creative — and they are better able to use the latest technology and tools to manipulate media files and create richer content that compels audiences to consume it.
While there’s been a lot of talk about how large multi-channel video distributors—mostly cable and satellite TV—are using highly automated over-the-top (OTT) infrastructures and other forms of streaming methods to reach new customers with on-demand and live audio and video content, many independent TV station groups and individual stations themselves have also begun targeting the variety of mobile devices now in consumers’ hands; but for different reasons.
I was all set to write my next chapter on standards and terminology when the The Broadcast Bridge published an article quoting the Olympic Broadcast Service (OBS) that said, 4K is just a Bus Stop to 8K (along with 22.2 audio channels).
It has already been a big year for CDN launches with new entrants along with developments from the large existing players such as Akamai and Amazon. At least three somewhat overlapping themes can be identified, optimization for Ultra HD (UHD) content, CDNs specializing in delivery to mobile devices and moves into the field by satellite platform providers.
Since the dawn of digital production, many links in the workflow chain have produced their own metadata. Now the “Production in the Cloud” project is making all that metadata useful.
There was a time when the use of fiber optic cable struck fear in hearts of live production crews because it was difficult to work with and there was a certain black magic associated with distributing optical signals that had to be done right in order for multiple paths of video and audio to cleanly pass through tiny strands of glass. Today, the technology has advanced to include military-grade tactical cable and fiber/copper hybrid cabling that is much more robust to work with. Along with better equipment, there is a better understanding across the industry of how to deploy fiber cable and hardware with the least amount of effort and on-site field problems.
Historically, the value System Integrators (SI) brought to a project centered on providing specialist broadcast, video and audio expertise and knowledge. But as more installations become a mixture of servers, databases and web browsers, today’s system integrator must adapt to support the new demands of IT-centric hybrid broadcast systems.
