20 MANAGEMENT
January 2015
Hong Kong movie adopts 4K workflow
Working with Hong Kong director Alfred Cheung , cinematographer Henry Chung created feature film Poor Rich Father entirely using a 4K camera-to-editorial workflow that relied heavily on an AJA Ki Pro Quad 4K / UHD / 2K / HD file-based recorder and the Canon EOS C500 camera .
During production last summer , Chung shot more than 15 hours per day across China and Hong Kong . To capture dramatic details and fully convey the emotional aspects of the film , he shot in 4K using two Canon EOS
VidiGo is extending its partnership network in Asia by launching a premium alliance deal with systems integrator Ideal Systems .
As part of the agreement between the companies , VidiGo obtained partnerships with seven offices of Ideal Systems , introducing “ exclusive access ” to countries such as China , Taiwan , Hong Kong , Thailand and India .
Steven Young , director of Ideal Systems Asia-Pacific , said : “ Ideal Systems is always targeting emerging markets such as visual radio and AV live studio events . Upon seeing first-hand the current applications and capabilities of VidiGo ’ s products , Ideal was excited to represent VidiGo as they offer clients unique , user-friendly and intuitive solutions that are incomparable with other solutions in the market .
“ Unlike the traditional studio set-up , the all-in-one solutions
C500 cameras .
Each camera was connected to a Ki Pro Quad file-based recorder that captured ProRes 444 footage in 4K . Utilising the Ki Pro Quads ’ roll-over capabilities between two SSD-based 256GB Pak Media Drives in each Ki Pro Quad , the flow of production was uninterrupted , Chung reported .
He added : “ Ki Pro Quad was critical to our 4K end-to-end workflow during production . It enabled us to shoot at the highest resolution possible with the C500 in a very limited amount of time .”
A 4K camera-to-editorial workflow was created for the Hong Kong feature film Poor Rich Father .
VidiGo reaches into APAC with Ideal Systems
Systems integrator Ideal Systems , seen at Inter BEE 2014 in Japan , has signed a premium partnership deal with VidiGo .
offered by VidiGo provide an excellent platform for clients to handle live events with few complications .”
Young is also convinced that this partnership will turn out to be a mutually beneficial one . He elaborated : “ On one side , we have a new and innovative solutions provider with an established range of products and countless appli cations , and on the other ,
Once production wrapped , Chung ’ s team loaded the ProRes 444 footage from the Pak drives onto MacBook Pros via AJA ’ s Thunderbolt-enabled Pak Dock . “ The quality of the ProRes 444 files looked identical to the raw Canon footage ,” explained Chung . “ And by using Ki Pro Quad , we never had to stop shooting to swap out the drives . The roll-over feature saved us money while allowing us to shoot more efficiently by seamlessly relaying footage to our Pak drives .”
After the footage was loaded onto the MacBook Pros , the film was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CC , with AJA ’ s Io 4K leveraged to facilitate the 4K post-production workflow .
Chung concluded : “ Ki Pro Quad simplified a complex 4K workflow on our production while still retaining the highest-quality footage . I have faith in AJA ’ s 4K technologies ; their products are truly engineered to withstand even the toughest rigours of production .”
we have an industry-recognised systems integrator with more than 20 years ’ experience in the region . The partnership between the two will bring expertise and benefits from different areas to identify and tackle new markets in Asia-Pacific .”
As for VidiGo , the company believes it has found a “ strong partner ” to represent its business in the Asian market . Reinout Lempers , CCO of VidiGo , explained : “ They ( Ideal Systems ) have a very good reputation and broad network , and really know how to approach the Asian market . But even more important is that they really embrace our vision and understand how our solutions can benefit their customers . It is not always easy in this industry to find partners that are able to bridge the gap between software technology and traditional broadcast workflows .”
Korean networks trial 4K at 17th Asian Games
South Korea has taken another stride towards 4K Ultra HD ( UHD ) after broadcasters SBS , KBS and MBC collaborated for 4K production and UHD public test broadcasts of the 17th Asian Games , held last year from Sept 19 to Oct 14 in Incheon .
According to SBS , KBS and MBC , the 4K trial at the Asian Games represents the “ world ’ s first ” test of live 4K broadcasting to the public , and also provided an opportunity to compare the currently available 4K UHD technologies and equipment from different manufacturers and suppliers during a true live on-air broadcast . While the broadcasters shared a single telecast banner , each broadcaster chose their own preferred production equipment and public transmission network .
For SBS , which plans to build a 4K studio and an OB van this year , and to be fully equipped with 4K UHD by Q1 2017 , in time for its coverage of the 2018 Winter Games to be held in Pyung-Chang , South Korea , Grass Valley was its equipment provider of choice for the Asian Games .
The 4K production system provided by Grass Valley to SBS included : Four prototype LDX 4K triple-sensor , FT-CMOS , 2 / 3-inch , B4 lens mount cameras ; copperhead 3404 4K fibre-optic transmission systems ; K2 Dyno replay system with K2 Summit 4K media servers ; Karerra video production centre switcher ; and K2 10G RAID storage system .
Sang-Il Kim , DOP and general manager for 3D / UHD production
South Korean broadcaster
SBS selected Grass Valley equipment for its 4K coverage of the beach volleyball events at the 17th Asian Games .
at SBS , reflected : “ Grass Valley ’ s LDX 4K camera system enabled us to use conventional broadcasting B4 lenses with the same workflow with superior 4K images .”
Covering the beach volleyball events at the Games , SBS eventually produced and broadcast 31 beach volleyball games over 10 days in 4K UHD . Kim said : “ As the workflow and handling of the 4K cameras was exactly the same as in an HD production , we were able to concentrate on creating the most dynamic pictures with no issues in focusing or camera composition — without any training or practice … and we realised that Grass Valley ’ s 4K technologies allowed us a seamless transition from HD to 4K and UHD broadcasting .”
There is growing interest in 4K in the Asia-Pacific region , particularly in the live production of sporting events , observed Andrew Thornton , VP of Asia-Pacific at Grass Valley . What Grass Valley offers content producers , Thornton told APB , is an end-to-end 4K workflow to shoot the best 4K content . Thornton also revealed that Grass Valley is currently working with a major direct-to-home ( DTH ) ope rator in India to shoot live cricket matches in 4K .
As for when 4K will be available in the home in Asia-Pacific , Thornton casts his eye to 2016 , where he expects the first 4K content to be transmitted over DTH and cable networks . “ When the HEVC H . 265 standard becomes widely available , is when we can expect 4K to really take off ,” he concluded .
ATG Danmon provides Dalet Amberfin solution to ABS Broadcast
Systems integrator ATG Danmon has provided playout and TV facilities company ABS Broadcast with the Dalet AmberFin transcoding and file-player software for its broadcast playout facility in West London .
ABS Broadcast founder and CEO Sass Jahani said : “ A very large proportion of content from our clients arrives as files , either on couriered storage media or , more commonly now , online . The challenge was to find an efficient way to augment our existing infrastructure so that we could transcode files for playout of content from and to various codecs and wrappers .
“ Dalet ’ s Amberfin transcoding platform was chosen after a careful study of the available technologies . It incorporates ingest , mastering , quality control and review functions which can all be accessed via a single graphic user interface .”
AmberFin Play also enables ABS Broadcast to review shared assets at any point in the workflow , according to Mukund Patel , head of technology and engineering at ABS Broadcast . ABS Broadcast runs the AmberFin software on hardware located in its server room , and controlled from the operations control room . The AmberFin modules , in combination , have proved a “ highly effective and successful ” solution to ABS Broadcast ’ s file creation and workflow requirements , said Patel .
Chris Elson , ATG Danmon ’ s product sales manager , added : “ I am very pleased that Amberfin ’ s transcoding and file-player platforms are able to provide ABS Broadcast with a complete file preparation solution for their playout operation . These platforms meet the demands of a 24 / 7 operation while maintaining the highest image quality and workflow efficiency .”