1 June 2016
15 BROADCASTASIA2016 SHOWDAILY 15
What ’ s going on in Hollywood ?
by stan moote
In yesterday ’ s Show Daily , I covered how binge watching is changing post and how adding in IP components can help you migrate into the future .
IP – it ’ s not ‘ if ’, it ’ s ‘ when ’ and ‘ how ’
At a recent event I attended , Ericsson ’ s Matthew Goldman moderated a panel of broadcasters , giving the attendees the opportunity to query them on any topic . As expected , the transition to IP was the big debate , with security being the most controversial topic : “ SDI has never been hacked ” was repeated several times .
However , the broad consensus was that IP workflows are happening along with remote productions using IP , and while security clearly remains an issue of real concern , this won ’ t stop the IP transition . All agreed that no one has the full answer yet , but hybrid approaches with ‘ air gaps ’ will add comfort while the remaining chapters are being written to deliver the complete IP production story .
Better pixels open new choices
Having more and deeper pixels , lower noise , better colour and higher frame rates doesn ’ t automatically mean a better story is guaranteed . However , the greater palette of creative choices they offer gives producers new and exceptional ways to enhance storylines .
Remind your production crew not to get too tied up in the technology while forgetting the storyline !
Notice that I stated better pixels , not more pixels . The Walt Disney Studios ’ Annie Chang coordinated a three-and-a-half-hour high dynamic range ( HDR ) Power Session that started with a short primer on HDR . Different groups presented HDR production workflows and the knowledge needed on-set to create HDR .
Post and mastering for HDR are again new elements that are successfully being done now . Take the time and learn how better pixels using HDR and wider colour gamut ( WCG ) ( simply put — extended colour ) work .
Imaging standards – bye-bye CRT
As a result of the recent advances in imaging and display technologies , there is a need for new technical reference standards . We are no longer in a CRT world , but we are still working with standards that were established when CRTs were in their hey-day .
Norm Hurst from SRI Sarnoff gave an excellent presentation on How Many Nits Is Colour Bars ? Nits certainly isn ’ t something we were concerned about in television before .
To mystify the matter even more , Dolby ’ s Jaclyn Pytlarz followed up with a demonstration of the need for different colour matrix coefficients because of the clarity of HDR and WCG — this being the change from Y ’ C ’ B
C ’ R to IC T
C P
. The fact is , your viewership will notice noise and compression artifacts more and more . Keep on top of this before the complaints roll in .
Bill Miller of Miltag Media Technology explained how , back in the ’ 60s , CBC in Montreal , Canada , validated a 10 % surround-level specification for monitor viewing that was adopted by both SMPTE and ITU-R ( ITU Radiocommunication Sector ).
This is still in use today , yet totally inappropriate now because we don ’ t have CRTs . What we do have are much greater contrast ratios , environmental lighting that is much better controlled and a much lower base luminance .
The bottom line is that “ but we ’ ve always done it that way ” is not a valid argument ; one must always ask why . This goes for the complete workflow from acquisition / capture , post , mastering and the plethora of distribution formats required , making the previous task of handling just multi-language seem simple .
Don ’ t be scared — learn at BroadcastAsia2016 and dive in before your competitors do ! ❑
Stan Moote is CTO of the International Association for Broadcast and Media
( IABM ). For further reading on this topic , visit www . theIABM . org .
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