Viewing audiences are continually driving broadcasters to deliver improved video formats to further enhance the immersive experience. It didn’t seem so long ago that HD was lauded as the best format ever. Not only did we end up quadrupling the number of pixels and frame rates to deliver 12G-SDI, but we also mixed them with high dynamic range and wide color gamut.
Many businesses and individuals have had to adapt rapidly to remote online working and in many cases adopted innovative approaches to distant collaboration.
When Lawo’s Virtual Studio Manager (VSM) control system was first developed in the late 90’s, it was in reaction to the need to control and monitor the video and audio signals that travelled around a facility or an OB truck. Nowadays, far more than 1000 installs and millions of lines of code later, the genetic roots of the product make it the perfect choice for IP environments. It’s one thing to want flexibility to use thousands of signals in a myriad of ways, but it’s quite another to quickly and accurately distribute signals to the right person at the right time. That’s when the benefits of IP and a powerful control system become fully realized.
The traditional level standards were based on electrical signals of specified power. When these signals are recorded on media, or transmitted in other ways, these definitions no longer apply.
In the last article in our three-part series, we explored the advantages of SDI and how 12G-SDI is applied in broadcast facilities. In this article, we investigate applications where SDI excels.
Reporters for WAFF-TV, the NBC affiliate in Huntsville, Alabama, have seen their share of weather disasters and learned to adapt to working from home for short periods of time. It goes with covering the territory. The current pandemic situation, however, is another story all together. It’s a story that, with each week, brings mental fatigue but also a can-do spirit to help the local community get through the crisis.
High dynamic range and wide color gamut combined with 4K resolution and progressive frame rates have catapulted broadcast television to new levels of immersive experience for the viewer. As HDR and WCG are relatively new to television, we need to both understand their application and how we monitor them to enable us to surpass the levels of quality and immersive experience cinematographers demand.
Until very recently, the idea that editors and VFX artists could work remotely from one another seemed a far-off reality. Yet, Work From Home measures mean media companies have had to pivot overnight to a remote work setup. Content creation may never be the same again.
